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Post by Jeff Leach on Dec 13, 2014 22:57:52 GMT
Well folks despite all the odds the pops rolls on to 1980 in the new year on BBC4 Fri 2 Jan 2015 9:00pm Top of the pops The story of 1980 followed by a big hits kick off show (hopefully using clips from the JS/DLT shows that will be omitted) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04w0fz11980 - Big Hits British pop and the BBC's flagship chart show said goodbye to the 70s and trembled on the edge of a new era for the show, for British music and for British society. This meant a continuing love with the nutty boys, Madness, who feature in this compilation with My Girl, and the man with the best cheekbones in pop, Adam Ant, gave us Ant Music. We get to check out the Pretenders' first number 1 with Brass in Pocket, alongside Dexy's Midnight Runners' tribute to soul legend Geno Washington. There's the early stirrings of new romantic with Spandau Ballet, and it's a veritable mod revival with the Piranhas and 2-Tone with the Beat.
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Post by peterfitzpatrick on Jan 3, 2015 12:30:38 GMT
I think the biggest revelation (at least for me) is the unbroadcast pilot from which clips were shown last night. Does anyone have more information on this? Is it something that could conceivably be broadcast ?
As for the music this was the year I turned 14 and it was essential viewing. I got into electronic and synth pop this year so will enjoy some better quality copies of the early Human League and OMD appearances
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Post by Richard Marple on Jan 3, 2015 13:09:51 GMT
The 2 programmes about TOTP in 1980 were very good, especially showing the changeover of style after the MU strike, leading to the "party" era that I first remember TOTP being like.
The pilot looked odd with BBC staffers miming very badly.
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Post by andyc on Jan 3, 2015 13:42:25 GMT
The pilot looked odd with BBC staffers miming very badly. It was still way more entertaining than the X-Factor......
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Post by lee jones on Jan 3, 2015 18:34:11 GMT
At the end of the second programme I noticed that BBC4 showed "Adam and the ants/Antmusic" - you can see an it here (on BBC4 show it was the last performance); I note years ago though on TV Cream's webpage they stated, and I quote Wonder how true that is - did it really break down? Given in the pilot episode in the first programme and that they had some problems with their 'big screen' not working quite right (it also looked very dark and blue in the programme) maybe it did? Link to old TV cream webpage btw, broken (*lots* of missing pictures) but readable. ljones
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Post by Sal Mohammed on Jan 3, 2015 21:15:21 GMT
Just been looking at the Popscene website to see how many episodes won't be broadcast. Looks like there's a few DLT and Saville episodes plus the gap with the union strike, so there's gonna be larger gaps in the broadcasting schedule this year.
The recent deluxe box set of The Jam's Setting Sons has a DVD of TOTP's performances including the first performance of "Going Underground" from March 1980 but it didn't include the New Years Day performance introduced by DLT With Weller playing a pop art "Wham!" guitar. I'm not sure if it was missed by the record company or whether the BBC didn't licence the clip.
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Post by Richard Marple on Jan 3, 2015 22:46:02 GMT
TV Cream estimated that there will be the same number of episodes as for 1979, 34 IIRC.
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Post by Paul Watkins on Jan 4, 2015 11:08:49 GMT
One less, it's 33
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Post by nicadare on Jan 4, 2015 11:40:11 GMT
The pilot looked odd with BBC staffers miming very badly. It was still way more entertaining than the X-Factor...... LOL TOTP vastly improved during 1980, no more live singing necessary, better sets and the beginning of the new romantic era, 1981 and 1982 were even better. Not so sure about the 4:3 aspect ratio though, the black borders on the left and right are simply too big, there are not many CRT 4:3 TVs around now so assuming most have widescreen TVs the picture could be shown slightly zoomed in, if it's done properly it is unnoticeable. TOTP Aspect Ratio
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Post by Dale Rumbold on Jan 4, 2015 13:11:32 GMT
TOTP vastly improved during 1980, no more live singing necessary, better sets and the beginning of the new romantic era, 1981 and 1982 were even better. I couldn't agree less : pop music had been deteriorating slowly from 1975 onwards, with Disco being the main culprit, but the "everything on a synthesizer" New Romantic rubbish sounded the death-knell for anything worth listening to in the Top 40. The then awful decision to revamp TOTP and allow/encourage the audience to whoop and holler over the top of the songs so you couldn't hear them (a state that continued until its inevitable demise), and the even worse decision to tear up the MU agreement and allow bands to mime to their records, utterly ruined it for me.
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Kev Hunter
Member
The only difference between a rut and a groove is the depth
Posts: 603
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Post by Kev Hunter on Jan 4, 2015 16:20:35 GMT
The thing that I find most depressing about the current run of TOTP repeats is that I'm going to be 67 when the BBC get around to reshowing the programmes from 1990! I personally found the early 1990s to have far more musical worth than the 80s in general, and last year's "Britpop At The BBC" compilation reinforced my feelings. Pity that the two decades can't run alongside each other.. after all there's bugger all else on that's worth watching.
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Post by Alan Turrell on Jan 4, 2015 17:12:03 GMT
For me the mid 80s for pop music was dire absolute dire from around 84 right through to somewhen in the 90s then we had that spell of brilliant brit pop and even the dance music in the 90s was pretty good well some of it ,but for me from around 98 to the present day it just ain't worth bothering with and i really can't ever see it getting any better.I cannot sit down and watch TOTP's simply because it's TOTP's the vast amount of music from the mid 80s onwards with the exception of brit pop in the 90s just doesn't make me want to watch it. TOTP's has to be about the music it shows and if the music is rubbish then the show isn't any better.
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Post by markandresen on Jan 4, 2015 17:20:08 GMT
For me the mid 80s for pop music was dire absolute dire from around 84 right through to somewhen in the 90s then we had that spell of brilliant brit pop and even the dance music in the 90s was pretty good well some of it ,but for me from around 98 to the present day it just ain't worth bothering with and i really can't ever see it getting any better.I cannot sit down and watch TOTP's simply because it's TOTP's the vast amount of music from the mid 80s onwards with the exception of brit pop in the 90s just doesn't make me want to watch it. TOTP's has to be about the music it shows and if the music is rubbish then the show isn't any better. Certainly agree about the MID-Eighties, Alan. A couple of decent bands but too many awful and inappropriate remixes of re-releases and power ballads, etc. Around '88 things - for me anyway - improved somewhat, and, yes, I thought the '89 - '95 period was particularly fruitful. This year's been odd; I enjoyed the first half, but since August it's been a crock. Not sure what happened there...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2015 19:12:51 GMT
Excellent TOTP appearance by The Hooters, Dec 1987 (Satellite). The Proclaimers' Letter From America ... not much else really :-(
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Post by Jeff Leach on Jan 4, 2015 20:43:58 GMT
Good "Story of 1980" doc though it would have been even better without the dreary Mel Giedroyc's narration perhaps using someone who knows something personally about the industry - perhaps Mark Goodier or Simon Mayo - Paul Gambaccini is available these days !
Noticed the interesting choice of track from the Human League
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