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    TOTP on BBC4

    Jah Womble wrote:
    The lyrics to Suzi Quatro's Mama's Boy pretty much illustrate why this was the first - and only - self-penned hit she'd enjoyed. (And I'd been a fan.)
    That was awful. A disappointment , because I'd always had the impression that she was dumbing down to song Chinnichap songs (great tunes, shit lyrics) and would do something more proto-punk if she cut loose.

    The lead singer of The Regents (I knew nothing about them then, even less now) didn't look quite the part, but that record was a lot better than I recall. His two backing singers call to mind a prototype Shampoo.
    The Regents have some punk / post punk connection but I can't remember what it was. It might be really tenuous. Good pop song. The Beeb DJs probably wondered why anyone would sing about some bird who was over the hill (17 and not yet a woman? I don't think so, Nicey!).

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      TOTP on BBC4

      Ooh, not pleasant when you put that slant on it!

      They had a run of new-wave-ish singles, The Regents, of which that (their debut) was the only hit. The follow-up See You Later (which I do remember - it wasn't great) would've been granted a TOTP slot had the show not been on strike that week.

      One of those backing singers was called Bricka Brak apparently, which I quite like.

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        TOTP on BBC4

        Jah Womble wrote:
        One of those backing singers was called Bricka Brak apparently, which I quite like.
        The b-side to the Bee Gees' UK number one You Win Again was called Backtafunk. I don't like that at all.

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          TOTP on BBC4

          It is slightly disappointing that Bricka Brak didn't go on to join Shakatak.

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            TOTP on BBC4

            The Bee Gees had well-and-truly vaulted Mr Jaws by 1987...

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              TOTP on BBC4

              Loved John Foxx last night, in fact great all round till Kid Pension introduced Wayne Carr at the end!

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                TOTP on BBC4

                Just been catching up on these over the last week or so. That Dollar cover was indeed shockingly bad, as was the accompanying performance.

                More interesting was the aforementioned revival of Green Onions and the Legs and Co routine that went with it, decked out in two tone mini dresses (?). This sort of stuff always bends my mind now - that in 1980 they were pastiche-ing stuff from say 15 years earlier, clearly in a ooh-look-how-things-have-changed way. Whereas now, firstly stuff that happened 15 years ago still feels recent, and secondly you'd be hard pushed to do an easily recognisable pastiche of 2000 and it be much different from now.

                The other thing this brings to mind, and it's been said on here before - that for example the time frame from Love Me Do to Anarchy in the UK (not to mention all of the stuff that came between) is now shorter than the time frame from Yellow by Coldplay coming out, and now.

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                  TOTP on BBC4

                  But you need to understand that this perception (no matter how accurate) is purely down to nothing more than a sector of the record-buying public becoming older and grumpier - and is in no way indicative of a collapse in standards and a music industry per se in more desperate need of a revolution than it has been in sixty years.

                  Or so some on here would have you believe.

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                    TOTP on BBC4

                    Captain Beaky is my new vision of hell.

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                      TOTP on BBC4

                      Commodore wrote: Captain Beaky is my new vision of hell.
                      Used to play football on a Sunday morning and no matter who's dad you were getting a lift back with, they always seemed to have Noel Edmonds on the radio and he constantly played that shit.

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                        TOTP on BBC4

                        Squarewheelbike wrote: Loved John Foxx last night, in fact great all round till Kid Pension introduced Wayne Carr at the end!
                        Foxx was definitely the highlight. Not sure I can think of an adjective that accurately describes Legs & Co's 'animals' routine.

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                          TOTP on BBC4

                          Mumpo wrote: Not sure I can think of an adjective that accurately describes Legs & Co's 'animals' routine.
                          It was a bad one, even by Legs' standards. Kid Zoologist misidentified their species too: it became pretty clear that they were supposed to be otters when they all went to sleep in a pile at the end.

                          John Foxx seemed extra cool following on. The Shadows' attempts to get to grips with the electronic music age were somewhat faltering by comparison.

                          That Ramones clip is a grower, just for Johnny and Dee Dee's unease at the low tempo.

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                            TOTP on BBC4

                            Back in about 1982 I spent a quality hour with John Foxx in the Adelphi pub in Preston lovely interesting man.

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                              TOTP on BBC4

                              I saw a bit of one late last night when I got home from work.
                              AC/DC's genius Touch Too Much greeted by blank looks from bewildered shufflers clearly disappointed that it wasn't the Nolans which was cut short just before the solo as the camera panned to Steve Wright who clearly had something wrong with his neck as his head was wobbling all over the place.
                              I realise that AC/DC were just playing the game and that's the kind of shit you had to do to sell records but fucking hell, what an awful programme it really was.

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                                TOTP on BBC4

                                This was Steve Wright's debut performance and somewhat diffident compared to his mature style. Even so, his offhand intro for Legs & Co manages to be as off putting as the more full-on, hubba! hubba! approach of some of his colleagues, marking him out as a talent to watch for the future.

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                                  TOTP on BBC4

                                  Bob Geldof was the biggest looking twat. Dancing around like a 5 year old in a 20 year old's body to Springsteen-lite.

                                  Legs & Co to The Whispers was wonderful. Quite classy.

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                                    TOTP on BBC4

                                    Billy Preston was actually a child star, such as here with Nat King Cole:

                                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahjOLYiLs4

                                    This period of TOTP seems to be "waiting for the New Romantics to come along so we can start the 80s".

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                                      TOTP on BBC4

                                      There are not the words to describe how much I have always hated Steve Wright, maybe because I was a nightly Peel listener, but had no time for the man.

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                                        TOTP on BBC4

                                        Other DJs at least pretended to be interested in music, but Wright openly paraded the fact that the music was just a backdrop to his racist, sexist, homophobic schtick.

                                        He was like The Sun on the wireless. He also ridiculed any music that was serious, as if to say that the form had no cultural or political value.

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                                          TOTP on BBC4

                                          Yep, Wright and his yelping entourage with their tedious skits and jingles did nothing for me either.

                                          His tedious dig of 'sonic cathedrals' at anything slightly different coupled with an intense dislike of the Smiths affords me a wry smile nowadays as he is often heard to play this stuff on his afternoon slot on radio 2. He still cuts much of it off early though.

                                          On the tip of bland ex-TOTP presenters on Radio Devon we now get the regular bleating of Simon Bates which I sometime stumble across if I forget to retune after the football.

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                                            TOTP on BBC4

                                            I remember Bates in the early '90's announcing a you'll never believe this moment. He was referring to Vic Reeves Abide With Me and said something along the lines of, "everyone thinks it's a football song, but it's actually a hymn!"

                                            No just you Simon!

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                                              TOTP on BBC4

                                              Listening to Steve Wright today on Radio 2, I always expect to hear news flashes about Zeebrugge or Kings Cross or Hungerford, because it sounds so much like 1987.

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                                                TOTP on BBC4

                                                Nothing Wright has done has changed since the 80s. I'm amazed he's managed to maintain a flagship midweek daytime show for this long on national radio. A tedious cock who isn't even a tenth as entertaining as he thinks he is.

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                                                  TOTP on BBC4

                                                  Calvert wrote: I saw a bit of one late last night when I got home from work.
                                                  AC/DC's genius Touch Too Much greeted by blank looks from bewildered shufflers clearly disappointed that it wasn't the Nolans which was cut short just before the solo as the camera panned to Steve Wright who clearly had something wrong with his neck as his head was wobbling all over the place.
                                                  I realise that AC/DC were just playing the game and that's the kind of shit you had to do to sell records but fucking hell, what an awful programme it really was.
                                                  The version I just watched included the solo as well. Did you watch the 30 minute version of the show as opposed to the 40 minute version? I can only assume it was edited out for that along with some other stuff. The audience clearly looked flummoxed at what they were watching, though.

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                                                    TOTP on BBC4

                                                    Sean of the Shed wrote: Nothing Wright has done has changed since the 80s. I'm amazed he's managed to maintain a flagship midweek daytime show for this long on national radio. A tedious cock who isn't even a tenth as entertaining as he thinks he is.
                                                    Lots of people love the show, though.

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