Top of the Pops

[www.doyouremember.co.uk]

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, was a Music phenomenon when I was growing up. You watched it religiously, every Thursday evening at 7pm. It was broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. and had always been shown on Thursday evening on BBC One, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC Two in 2005. Each weekly programme had performances from some of that week's best-selling music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. The way the programme worked in my generation is you had a studio audience who stood behind the presenter, who - to raucous screams and cheers - announced who you had just seen, and what countdown was of the top 40 singles that week. The studio audience always seemed slightly mental to me, they cheered and made so much noise - they seemed so constantly excited! What did the TV executives do to them to make them so excited?! I bet you don't know this - but in 1990s, the show's format was sold to several foreign broadcasters, and at one point various versions of the show were shown in nearly 100 countries! And right now... a local version of TOTP is still regularly running in Italy! The show was originally intended to have only a few programmes but ran for over 42 years, reaching an amazing landmark 2000 episodes 2002 (Shortly before it was axed!) 42 years though! Imagine Jools Holland running that long! In the 1970's it had 15 million regular viewers every week. It was phenomenal EVERY act appeared on it. The Beatles, David Bowie, even the Sex pistols. All the acts that you would never find on TV screens now, performed on that show. It was seminal and a massive issue! It was where you got your pop music references, you would discuss it at school the next day. How strange Gary Glitter looked, or what Slade were wearing! It's still very much in the Nation's consciousness - in 2007 Comic Relief revived it for a pastiche Top Gear of the Pops. Or on 13 March 2009 Top of The Pops there was a special live Comic Relief edition, airing on BBC Two while the main telethon took a break for the BBC News at Ten on BBC One.

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[Jacqueline]

Re: Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops was an important part of many people's teenage lives including mine.

I remember many instances where the groups deliberately lip synced badly or played up to the camera. Adam Faith famously looking at his watch mid song if I remember correctly.

The dance groups were SO BAD when you look at them compared to today's far more talented dancers. Pan's People had a limited repertoire they seemed to rehash each week and were masters of the literal interpretation of songs. E.g. "Get Down" by Gilbert O'Sullivan.

[darren]

Re: Top of the Pops

should never have been axed in the firstplace as i think it was still very popular.

it give acts there big break got the noticed.

loved the interaction between the audience and the presenters.

[amethyst]

Re: Top of the Pops

Love to watch top of the pops every thursday night great show

[stud1al]

Re: Top of the Pops

Speaking of TOTP,Anybody been recording it?We don't get it in Oz so i have had to look for episodes online.Managed to find quite a lot from 1976 onwards (Though still a few missing)Anybody willing to help me out?If so ,you can email me at stud1al@iweb.net.auThank you.

[George 1978]

It takes me back to Thursday evenings after Police 5 in around 1989 around the same time that it was simulcast in stereo on BBC Radio 1. It always reminds me of sitting with my legs crossed on the sofa while wearing a white bathrobe dressing gown after having a bath, and watching anything featured in the charts that week - all the boybands, girl groups, pop stars and anyone else who was on there that week. Funnily enough the BBC Four showings don't capture that nostalgia value as an original BBC 1 recording would have from back then.

[Moonraker]

In the mid 70s TOTP on bbc1 coincided with my favourite The Six Million Dollar Man, which was on ITV.
THis was an issue as my uncle wanted to watch TOTP, so I'd watch about 70% of my show.

[George 1978]

Another memory during my "sitting with my legs crossed on the sofa while wearing a bathrobe" Thursday evenings when Top of the Pops was on, was hearing a song which had the DJ doing that "moving the record backwards and forwards with the needle still on it" sort sound - the word for doiing that hasn't come to me at the moment of writing this, apart from "scratching" or "mixing" - I know that it is a familar one!

My parents asked me whether I would like to have done that if I got older (but not with their old 1960s singles collection, no doubt as they would gone livid!) I don't think that I answered them as I was too busy with my own thoughts. I thought that it could have been Pump Up the Volume by M|A|R|R|S, but that was in the charts in 1987 and my memory was close to 1989. So many songs could have fit into that catagory in that year.