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    TOTP on BBC4

    'These guys are shit. The song is shit, they look like shit and they're acting like cunts. Why are they on my show?'

    'That one singing is John Lydon's brother'

    'Oh, well why didn't you say?
    That can't harm the viewing figures'

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      TOTP on BBC4

      I have a couple of decent records by Jock MacDonald (4Be2s) in his other guises:

      The Bollock Brothers - The Act Became Real
      Red Lipstique - Drac's Back (a good song for Halloween, and one I genuinely love)

      He ran some clubs until quite recently, might still be doing it.

      But yes, the 4Be2s were crap. Luckily for the Ants they had Amanda Donohue to protect them.

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        TOTP on BBC4

        Interesting fact from Gambo's book. Around 1984, Michael Hurll paired up the DJs. Gambo was given Mike Read, but Reid cried off one Thursday so Hurll dumped the pair. Thus was Gambo's TOTP career confined to three episodes plus one special.

        I'm also intrigued by whether Gambo fell out with Read over Relax. Gambo was very supportive of Frankie, so I doubt he'd have approved of censoring an important gay disco record.

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          TOTP on BBC4

          Amusing with hindsight to watch Bates idly wonder what the Christmas number 1 might be. (Fortunately we should be mostly saved from it by the festive episodes being unbroadcastable for Yewtree reasons)

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            TOTP on BBC4

            1) If the year was 1980, the Xmas No. 1 is still disputed by some who believe that Lennon's Xmas song was the best seller in the week the chart was not published but which included the sales up to Xmas.

            2) What was the last Xmas No. 1 that was not specifically released to target that slot? Mull of Kintyre?

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              TOTP on BBC4

              Satchmo Distel wrote: 1) If the year was 1980, the Xmas No. 1 is still disputed by some who believe that Lennon's Xmas song was the best seller in the week the chart was not published but which included the sales up to Xmas.

              2) What was the last Xmas No. 1 that was not specifically released to target that slot? Mull of Kintyre?
              Seeing as last Xmas No1 before 1980 was Another Brick In The Wall, then erm, that I guess!

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                TOTP on BBC4

                Pink Floyd is a good shout as I think the success of that record was as much of a surprise to the band and record company as anyone else.

                Arguably you could say the same about The Flying Pickets "Only You" from 1983 which held off Slade's "We all joined hands" which was aimed at being Christmas No.1 and the re-released "Reet Petite" in 1986 which knocked The Housemartins more Seasonal "Caravan of Love" off the top right at the death.

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                  TOTP on BBC4

                  I remember coming to that London, going to the Sound And Vision pub in Soho and putting on Fashion on the first video-jukebox in the country. I've always associated the old bloke with the pipe with Tom Forrest.

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                    TOTP on BBC4

                    Interesting tonight, UB40's white/blacked up video, 3 cringe worthy interviews for Tommy Vance and The Stray Cats debut!

                    BTW. That big light in Abba's Super Trooper video isn't a Super Trooper, it's a 2K profile! Just saying like!

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                      TOTP on BBC4

                      Just sought out this thread to comment on that UB40 video, which is a contender for the WTF thread in World. That Hall and Oates interview brought to mind Big Train. Not sure what Tommy Vance's jumper brings to mind - despair, probably.

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                        TOTP on BBC4

                        wittoner wrote: Pink Floyd is a good shout as I think the success of that record was as much of a surprise to the band and record company as anyone else.

                        Arguably you could say the same about The Flying Pickets "Only You" from 1983 which held off Slade's "We all joined hands" which was aimed at being Christmas No.1 and the re-released "Reet Petite" in 1986 which knocked The Housemartins more Seasonal "Caravan of Love" off the top right at the death.
                        My Oh My was the Slade tune kept from number one in 1983. It's hard to quantify, though - I mean, would anyone suggest that the Pet Shop Boys' sappy version of Always On My Mind was 'specifically' targeting the Christmas number one in 1987? (Particularly in light of strong opposition from Nat 'King' Cole and Rick Astley's When I Fall in Love, plus The Pogues & Kirsty, etc...)

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                          TOTP on BBC4

                          Squarewheelbike wrote: Interesting tonight, UB40's white/blacked up video, 3 cringe worthy interviews for Tommy Vance and The Stray Cats debut!

                          BTW. That big light in Abba's Super Trooper video isn't a Super Trooper, it's a 2K profile! Just saying like!
                          That was probably the beat episode for quite a while.

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                            TOTP on BBC4

                            Jah Womble wrote: Pet Shop Boys' sappy version of Always On My Mind
                            Hobbesian...

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                              TOTP on BBC4

                              Okay then, '...Pet Shop Boys' Hobbesian version of Always On My Mind...'

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                                TOTP on BBC4

                                The most salient thing I learned from TOTP this week is what a short arse John Oates is. I'd only ever seen pictures of Hall & Oates together and of their upper torsos, but at the end when you saw the pair standing next to each other, full length, Oates was only up to his partner's shoulder.

                                Supertrouper is an interesting song of two distinct halves and qualities - a wimpy, drippy, simpering ballad that just explodes into life with that quite wonderful chorus.

                                Women you fancied as a child that you still really fancy today is probably another thread, but Agnetha. Just wow.

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                                  TOTP on BBC4

                                  John Oates is short, you say?

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                                    TOTP on BBC4

                                    Serge Gainsbourg wrote:

                                    That was probably the best episode for quite a while.
                                    A bit disappointing this week.

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                                      TOTP on BBC4

                                      Serge Gainsbourg wrote:
                                      Originally posted by Serge Gainsbourg

                                      That was probably the best episode for quite a while.
                                      A bit disappointing this week.
                                      Oh I don't know it had some moments. Legs & Co pretty much in burkas, PP's high waisted brown leather trousers and Mike Oldfield as Chav fashion icon!

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                                        TOTP on BBC4

                                        dalliance wrote:

                                        Supertrouper is an interesting song of two distinct halves and qualities - a wimpy, drippy, simpering ballad that just explodes into life with that quite wonderful chorus.
                                        For me, it begins and ends with the Swedish pronunciation of Glas-go. My older sister loved it.

                                        Reminds me of Prince Albert from Blackadder's Christmas Carol. When asked by Blackadder where he was from, as his accent wasn't from round 'these parts', he replied,

                                        "Ah nein! I am from Glahhs-go."

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                                          TOTP on BBC4

                                          "When I was a kid tattoos were for dockers, miners and those involved in seriously hard industry."*

                                          Or maybe for members of the Stray Cats. Didn't tattoos look so much more dangerous back then?

                                          *From Alex Anderson's recent WSC Daily article.

                                          The first two records I ever owned have featured on the last two Top of the Pops. Stray Cats Runaway Boys and Jona Lewie's Stop the Cavalry. I got them both for Christmas that year. The Stray Cats performance was great, why didn't they have more success that they did? And the Jona Lewie song probably didn't sound too bad, until it got played to death in years to come. Who were the famous people in his band that Peter Powell was referring to?

                                          I found Gladys Knight and the Pips' Bourgie Bourgie on a recent episode to be interesting. I thought the term 'bourgie' (meaning bourgeoisie) had only been around since the start of this century. Seems Ashford and Simpson were writing about it back in the 70s.

                                          Kind of similar to the time when I heard The Icemen's 1966 single She's a Fox (featuring, I believe, Jimi Hendrix on guitar) and hearing the lyrics - 'She's a fizzoz' - some 30 years before I thought the fo'shizzle speak was invented by Snoop Doogy Dogg.

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                                            TOTP on BBC4

                                            The Stray Cats performance was great, why didn't they have more success that they did?
                                            I think that the Stray Cats did well to make it last as long as they did, tbh. The rockabilly revival per se was on its last legs by the back end of 1982 - at least in commercial terms.

                                            They had their moments, though. Runaway Boys still sounds pretty good to me.

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                                              TOTP on BBC4

                                              Jon wrote: Who were the famous people in his band that Peter Powell was referring to?
                                              A question that's bugged me for 35 years. I've even asked it on Digital Spy, but to no avail.

                                              *Just checked Digital Spy, and got this:

                                              I've read at another message board that the drummer was John Otway and that Otway has himself confirmed that he was playing (or rather "miming") the drums.

                                              The trumpet player has been mentioned as being Will Birch (ex-Kursaal Flyers) while Stiff Records press officer Nigel Dick plays tuba. Nigel Dick went on to be a well know music video director ('Do They Know It's Christmas' by Band Aid being his first major success, later he directed the most well known videos by Tears For Fears, Guns n Roses, Oasis plus 'Baby One More Time' by Britney Spears among hundreds of others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Dick ). But how many people knew of these acts in 1980? I didn't even recognise John Otway!

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                                                TOTP on BBC4

                                                I remember buying Runaway Boys along with Dog Eat Dog. Great song. It's successor, Rock This Town, was ok and I'm sure The Stray Cats probably had one more top 40 entrant too - though I can't for the life of me remember its name.

                                                We intermittently do threads about bands whose entire valuable output can be summed up with a single song. The Stray Cats belong in those threads.

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                                                  TOTP on BBC4

                                                  Stray Cat Strut was also a Top 20 hit in 1981, and Sexy & 17 a later Top 40 entry.

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                                                    TOTP on BBC4

                                                    Yes, Stray Cat Strut was the third one but I've never heard of that other track at all.

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