Old TOTP (BBC4) (2 Viewers)

So, what happened to Bucks Fizz in the skipped episode?
 
I always thought Spandau Ballet looked (a) like a right bunch of cunts and (b) like the kind of people who would take that as a compliment.
 
Oh hang on, was this the one where they were on the week before but the performance was cut short? There was some frankly BAFFLING live story about a record breaking train journey or something, which they cut to in the middle of the Bucks Fizz performance, if I recall correctly. Well, I may have forgotten the finer points, but I remember being devastated the week before.
 
Oh hang on, was this the one where they were on the week before but the performance was cut short? There was some frankly BAFFLING live story about a record breaking train journey or something, which they cut to in the middle of the Bucks Fizz performance, if I recall correctly. Well, I may have forgotten the finer points, but I remember being devastated the week before.

Yeah, that's the one - John Peel starts explaining it and Janice Long cuts him off in an entirely rehearsed piece of banter.
 
Incidentally the Bucks Fizz track is a cover of this track that was a #3 hit in the US, #1 in Canada and a medium sized hit in quite a few other countries earlier in 1984, although notably not the UK. It's a pretty faithful cover, although with the odd Andy Hill production flourish.



I'm guessing the commercial failure of the two Greatest Hits singles left them looking for another sound, as much as at the time it was all a bit US soft rock (and Bobby G heavy) leaning for me. It got them back in the top 20 though, so it worked to an extent.

I don't think they will appear again on TOTP until 1986 and New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) now. There are four singles in between, but all bar one failed to break the top 40. I Hear Talk did manage to limp up to #34, and that was off the back of the coach crash. I'll never forget doing my paper round and sobbing at the tabloid front covers :(
 
The song did very little for me (a recurring theme with Bucks Fizz for me) but the performance was quite :disco: .
 
That Elton John song was utter cack. He didn't have another great hit for me after Sad Songs until the George duet.

Gloria Estefan looked like she was about to be sick in the Miami Sound Machine performance - weird how it took them two years to follow that up and four years to actually maintain a full era.

Spandau's take on Sade was quite tragic.

They genuinely could've had George stand in for any public appearances Diana couldn't be arsed doing in '84.

Why did Sister Sledge re-release two of their hits in '84? It seems like a bit of an odd move even back then. At least their 1993 resurgance was based on remixes.

That new chart countdown background music is shit! :D
 
I think the Sledge revival was down to POPULAR DEMAND for THINKING OF YOU after it became a CLUB HIT. It wasn't even released as a single in 79
 
Were live pre-records a thing back in '84? The Sledge vocal last week didn't sound like the studio version but looked mimed.

I love the show outros. Yellow shirted homosexual was having a tremendous time to Love Kills. Just wondering whether they used to show all that we see on BBC4? The credits always seem to finish well before the programme ends.
 
I love the show outros. Yellow shirted homosexual was having a tremendous time to Love Kills. Just wondering whether they used to show all that we see on BBC4? The credits always seem to finish well before the programme ends.
Oh God yes. It's a highlight, especially if they drop a :disco: number, they're among the most fabulous 80s moment I have ever seen.
 
Seeing Duncan Norvelle gyrating in lemon is always a treat.
 
Gloria Estefan looked like she was about to be sick in the Miami Sound Machine performance - weird how it took them two years to follow that up and four years to actually maintain a full era.

Only over here. She hit big in the US in '85 (three top ten hits if I recall) and she stuck with promoting over there to cement her name. They never really pushed Miami Sound Machine until "Anything For You" came out in '88...
 
God I love 'I Just Called To Say I Love You' so much

So many cliches, so little time. And everyone was AGOG that someone like STEVIE WONDER could come up with such a load of OLD GUFF
 
Tonight’s was an essential episode except that FUCKING NUMBER ONE :manson:
 
Even PAUL YOUNG?

Sade and Alison Moyet are good. Could do with a bit more :disco:, although I can with this mellower sound, better than some of the shit.
 
The Stevie Wonder video is so phenomenally SHIT. What the fuck are those graphics about?
 
I don't actually hate I Just Called... It's unfeasibly cheesy, but that's half the JOY.
 
Time to catch up a bit...

That Bronski Beat single was seriously ballsy. Sad how little has changed in the intervening 33 years.
 
God, that Bowie video with Richard Fairbrass on bass....there was a 20 minute version of this with a "plot" and everything. It was actually quite funny.
 
I had "Human Racing"...it was a double 7" with a "board game" in the gatefold sleeve. Seems quite overwrought now.
 
The apex of shite 80's here from John Waite. Not an ounce of actual soul in this at all. As washed out as his pan-stick make-up.
 

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