I'm surprised they showed Blondie (who I love) and not Suzi Quatro. She was fronting a rock band on TOTP back in about 73/74 and had enormous success long before Blondie.

@user-gu2hk8sg1p

5 ай бұрын

You took the words out of my mouth (or keyboard).

@susanpeters5392

5 ай бұрын

Same X

@ashdrive

5 ай бұрын

Totally agree

@fibrown444

5 ай бұрын

Ironically her only hit in America was the excellent 'Stumblin 'In' (with Chris Norman), which was never hit here.

@skasteve6528

5 ай бұрын

Suzi Quatro was a big influence on Joan Jett.

The biggest "Did you see TOTPs last night?" moment for me, was Sparks playing "This town ain't big enough for the both of us". Their first appearance was absolutely electric. Mostly due to a great song and Ron's Hitler moustache and his insane stoic expression. Unforgettable.

Practically everyone in the UK watched TOTP on a Thursday evening. It was so exciting to see who was going to be playing and also who would be number 1.

@hamblyl

5 ай бұрын

Simply cannot be underestimated the position this programme held in society in the 70's and 80's and it is hugely absent now, more than ever. No matter who you were, you watched TOTP, even the "olds" had to endure it, as the kids would cry bloody murder if they couldnt, and most families had just the one central tv. And what this did, was show everyone, regardless of their own taste, what everyone else was listening to.

@Medusa13579

4 ай бұрын

It was the ONLY topic at school the next day. Ah, happy days 😊

@colinbaker3916

4 ай бұрын

Most people who were interested already knew what was number 1. The charts were announced on a Tuesday, which changed to a Sunday in 1987.

@colinbaker3916

4 ай бұрын

Are Friends Electric was a huge hit, number 1 for four weeks in the summer of 1979. Cars was number 1 for one week in October 1979. Complex and We Are Glass followed in 1980, and Cars was a US hit in 1980.

John Peel was a BBC Radio DJ and sometimes Top of The Pops presenter. His influence on British music is incredible with his live sessions and interviews on his show. He was the man with his finger on the music pulse, his judgment always came through. RIP John you are missed.

@sarahradford9822

5 ай бұрын

I loved John peels show.. the soundtrack to my homework through high school and university 🙌

@skasteve6528

5 ай бұрын

When I was at school in the 1970's. if you hadn't listened to least night's John Peel show, you were uncool. Of course, we all either read Sound or NME & watched the Old Grey Whistle Test.

@sjbict

5 ай бұрын

He still is on BBC Radio 2 but only once a week. Playing country these days. Also Jonny Walker Sunday afternoons and Tony Blackburn couple times a week.

@Shoomer1988

5 ай бұрын

@@sjbict Still on Radio 2? Impressive for a man that died 20 years ago.

@michaelthain4488

5 ай бұрын

@@skasteve6528 Crikey that was my routine

My 15 yr old daughter can't understand that TOTP was the only place to hear your favourite music on TV and of course the charts rundown on radio on a Sunday.....ahh the good old days!!

@Sofasurfa

4 ай бұрын

Ahh Sunday, I would sit by my radio cassette player my right forefinger hovering over the red record button and my left forefinger poised to depress the stop button determined to make sure I had a clean recording of the charts 😂

@chadUCSD

14 күн бұрын

​@@SofasurfaI did exactly the same too as a kid. Finger poised to press pause when the end of the song came and the radio presenter would start talking. Lol. The good ole days.

For the record, Bowie had already performed Starman on a kids' teatime show called Lift Off . I nearly choked on my fish fingers.

@MrChristbait

5 ай бұрын

A four fishfinger sandwich was my caviar at primary "skool"!🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤪

@stephanieharding9764

5 ай бұрын

Lol! You could almost hear the rush of Mums racing to turn it off!

@simonhawksley817

5 ай бұрын

I remember that TOTP episode, I was in the NAAFI at Warcop camp in Northumberland, a 14 year old army cadet on annual camp. I was blown away, and the Spiders were from Hull, my home town!

Watching Top of the Pops was a must. We were all so excited to see our favourite musical acts and Pans People/ Legs & Co's choreography. Marc Bolan was so brilliantly creative and will be forever missed ❤

@AmethystDew

5 ай бұрын

YES!! My love - Marc did'nt just daub glitter on his face - they were his glitter tears. Remember keep a little Marc in your heart. 💖

It changed across the years from lip-synch to live & back again quite a few times. One of the joys of TOTP was the sheer variety of artists on any one show. Our charts weren't split up into genres so if a film instrumental or classical piece made it into the charts it could be on TOTP. Culture Club & Boy George is probably my most memorable moment. 'Is that a boy or a girl???' Then we decided it didn't actually matter. The 80's were my peak watching years & it was unmissable tv when you were a teenager. It was one of the few dedicated music programmes, The Old Grey Whistle Test was on later in the evening - Meatloaf giving it a full on, every ounce performance to an empty room & Whispering Bob turning to the camera at the end in his understated way & basically saying 'nice'. (Ref: The Fast Show - Jazz club) The Tube didn't show up till the mid 80's & was much more anarchic & always live.....then came MTV...

@carolineskipper6976

5 ай бұрын

Nice! 😂

@jitsukerr

5 ай бұрын

I was watching when Everything But The Girl's single "Martha's Harbour" finally made TOTP management reconsider their insistence on acts miming to their single. The singer couldn't hear the single come through the monitor speakers, so just waited, while we at home, listening to the live broadcast, could hear everything. It seemed like a deliberate act of rebellion against TOTP management, but I'm not sure it was intentional, and it had the effect of torpedoing the band's career.

@140cabins

5 ай бұрын

@@jitsukerr All About Eve.

@andybaker2456

5 ай бұрын

I shall never forget the first appearance of Boy George on TOTP. My uncle (who lived with us) took one look at him and exclaimed, "What the bleedin' 'ell's that??"! 😅

Trash Theory is a brilliant channel. Interestingly, Marc Almond of Soft Cell having copied Marc Bolan's spelling of his first name, 'Tainted Love' was a cover of a Northern Soul hit by Gloria Jones, who is Marc Bolan's widow.

@kristinajendesen7111

5 ай бұрын

I thought Marc Bolan only had a girlfriend - Marsha Hunt, who was driving the Mini Clubman in which he died. Of course typical dark British humour at school at the time - 'What was Marc Bolan's last hit?' A. 'An oak tree.'

@TheCount66

4 ай бұрын

​@@kristinajendesen7111Marsha Hunt was romantically linked to Mick Jagger. Gloria and Marc weren't married but they did have a son together.

@archivist17

3 ай бұрын

​@@kristinajendesen7111 Gloria was driving. Marc had had an affair with Marsha years before.

Jeffrey Daniel didn't invent the Backslide/Moonwalk the firt Backslide to be recorded on film was dancer Bill Bailey in the 1943 film Cabin in the Sky. Bill Bailey is the person credited with inventing the move.

16 years old in1969, the ska boom began. We were well aware it was another culture, but how good it sounded and the youth club disco was never the same.

@vernon523

5 ай бұрын

Al Capone guns don't argue.

@no-oneinparticular7264

5 ай бұрын

Me too (same age) 😂

@bobclarke1815

5 ай бұрын

Loved Prince Buster.

@user-wu5im2uh6h

5 ай бұрын

Train to Skaville

@user-wu5im2uh6h

5 ай бұрын

Living on free food tickets, water in the milk from the holes in the roof

Remember that the only place to listen to 24 hour pop music was only on Pirate radio stations, first was "Radio Caroline" anchored out in international waters in the North Sea. Watch the movie "The Boat that Rocked" called "Pirate Radio" in the USA.

@elizabethsimpson4430

5 ай бұрын

My step dad was complicit 😂

@no-oneinparticular7264

5 ай бұрын

I used to listen to radio Luxembourg and radio Caroline.

@elizabethsimpson4430

5 ай бұрын

@no-oneinparticular7264 yes! Mee tooo

@roowyrm9576

5 ай бұрын

Over 40 years ago now, my daughter was named Caroline, in part, because of Radio Caroline.

@bobclarke1815

5 ай бұрын

There were dozens of them, one on the forts at the mouth of the RiverThames. Caroline became two.Caroline South and North. Radio Essex, Radio London, Radio Mi Amigo of the dutch coast. +others. Before these though there was Radio Luxembourg, with Kid Jensen, Used to fade in and out on my old Transistor Radio.

TOTP - was great, but I'm OGWT - Old Grey Whistle Test baby -those days, OGWT started at odd times, and lasted for whatever time it took. great times... Ska music is the genesis of reggae. and yes, I remember it all! John Peel, Annie Nightingale (RIP girl) I had the best time listening to every type of music. We heard The Police on John Peel on a Sunday evening, my bro took ages to find the single, and then about 5 months later it became a hit...I had the best time to listen to music...

@andrewvaughan2911

5 ай бұрын

I remember seeing a few bands play on the OGWT and I bought the album on the strength of the performance, Jess Roden Band and The Skids among them.

The Jam were most certainly NOT a punk band....they were a mod band through and through and revived the whole mod movement, complete with vespa's, skinny tie's and suits, winkle pickers and the whole black and white imagery, that had first found popularity in the early 1950's. If you'd have called a mod, a punk, they'd have hit you! Also, no mention of Madness or The Police! 😱

@roryclarke

5 ай бұрын

They were definitely new wave/punk when i first saw them.

@LauPulstar

5 ай бұрын

What are winkle pickers? (Non english speaker)

@hazelwren7252

4 ай бұрын

​@@LauPulstar like Chelsea boots but with very pointy toes. Very popular with the New Romantics and goths.

@TheCount66

4 ай бұрын

​@@roryclarkeYes, definitely punk / new wave until they found their groove.

TOTP was huge. Everyone watched it. Usually as a family. I was born 72, but I still remember it vividly from around 77-84. It provided an amazing focal point for British music, enabling new music to burst out of the shadows. You never knew what was up next. The creativity and experimentation that encouraged was something special. I think it had a lot to do with why British music was so amazingly strong in the 70s, 80s through to the 90s. And, I think its demise goes hand in hand with Britain's global influence on music moving down a division in the 21st century. Britain still punches above its weight musically, but in previous decades it was a literal superpower.

My parents ran a group home for adults with cerebral palsy and my dad had an arrangement with the manager of The Baths Hall (a swimming pool which turned into a music venue at night on weekends!) for bands playing there to visit the centre. I met Desmond Dekker, The Small Faces, Jimmy Young and many others from the age of 6. We were also visited by various other celebreties of the time including some touring wrestlers which included a giant Japanese man who was well over 6 feet tall but was so polite, gentle and funny. xxx

Top of the pops was iconic on Thursday, and top 40 count down on radio 1 Sunday evening. And look into the old grey whistle test hosted by whispering Bob Harris.

Suzi qutero also was in front of her band

@elemar5

5 ай бұрын

Suzi Quatro was better though.

@chardywork

5 ай бұрын

I remember Poly Styrene fronting X-Ray Spex too. Siouxsie Sioux as well ofc.

Subverting the miming was another thing that went back to Marc Bolan, who, on one appearance, had a guitar lead (normally missing) clearly tucked into his jean’s back pocket instead of an amplifier.

There was another popular music show called "The Old Grey Whistle Test" all live sessions and the hippy presenter "Whispering" Bob Harris. Many mega brands appeared on the show.

@MultiNacnud

5 ай бұрын

The theme music to the OGWT was better than a lot of the acts on TOTP.

@Russ_Keith

5 ай бұрын

@@MultiNacnud Stone Fox Chase by Area Code 615 (Nashville). I went out and bought both of their albums as a double album on the strength of that track on OGWT. The whole album it came from was nothing like that track but great in it's own way. The other earlier album had good music (they were all top tier Nashville session musicians) but nothing like the originality of the second one. OGWT also introduced me to John Martyn and I became a lifelong fan. Whispering Bob had good taste.

If I recall correctly, live performances on TOTP were stopped after The Who smashed up their set live on air. I saw Bowie's Starman performance and the day after in school the person I sat next to in Geography class had a Bowie notepad on his desk. We struck up a conversation after I told him I enjoyed Bowie on TOTP, enjoyed the discovery new music together, illegal drinking, saw our first gig together (the first we saw was KISS at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester - first gig of their first British Tour)he taught me to play guitar, and we're still best friends today even though we live in two different countries. Music brings people together.

@ChorltonandtheWheelies

4 ай бұрын

Did you go to Manchester Grammar? ✌

TOTPs was the break for unknown band's to push the release of new material. One slot on TOTPs meant guaranteed top40 hits...it changed my life

I remember watching that very performance of Bowie on T.O.T.P. I got my first Bowie album 53 years ago for my 10th birthday, it was the Hunky Dory album. I have quite a lot of stuff of his including original 7inch vinyls from the 1960s before he changed his name from David Jones to Bowie. They are with the different bands he was with at those times,,Davy Jones and the Lower Third,,,,Davy Jones and the King Bees and Davy Jones and the Manish Boys. I still play his stuff today (nice and loud) especially in the car, which I was doing just today. There will never be anybody quite like him again. Tony here in the UK 🇬🇧

@Sofasurfa

4 ай бұрын

Thus like me you grew up knowing what great music was. We were the lucky ones.

The importance to a band for appearing on TOTP cannot be overstated enough. It was everything for bands to appear on it right up until the 90s. They all coveted performing on it. It had profound effects on a band's record sales and popularity.

Tainted Love wasn't a "forgotten American B side" it was a northern soul classic, whoever produced this video skipped or was unaware of a lot of detail about UK music

Top of the pops was my lifeline as a teen in the 90s. Reliving this on bbc4 on a fri night

My biggest memory from growing up with Top of The Pops was the female dance troupes. Who used to dance to one record every week. Dressed in skimpy costumes, they were many young boys fantasy. Check out Pan's People.

@gavinspence2381

5 ай бұрын

Giggiddty giggity :)

@chadUCSD

14 күн бұрын

Legs and Co and then Pans Peaople. Lol.

The battle of the bands was so big at the time even my dad complained when it was featured in his broadsheet newspaper. Being a southerner I was glad when Blur won though.

I was an 8 year old Beatles fan when The Jam played In The City on TOTP and I could not believe it. Problem was the programme didn't get repeated and we didn't have video recorders so that was that unless you caught it on the radio! I begged and begged until my Mum bought me the album, still got it even if it is scratched beyond playability!

In 1969 I lived near Brixton Market, I loved reggae which used to blare out and I bought reggae singles, which had a different pop chart. But also loved all the TOTP chart pop songs. Favourites were T Rex who I saw locally in 1971...I was still at School, and Rod Stewart and Faces and The Who who I first saw in 1970.

@no-oneinparticular7264

5 ай бұрын

I used to buy all the import ska and reggae singles that came into the shops in the 60s.

That unexpectedly hit me in the feels 😢 My childhood and teenage years laid out like that. TOTP was super exciting and kids did go to school the next day and discuss it. Then into town to the record shops on Saturday and use your pocket money to buy the single of your fave new band on the show, then excitedly listening to the top 40 on Radio 1 on Sunday to hear where it charted. Simple, happy days.

There was also a pop show called Ready Steady Go which I preferred. You can catch it on KZread too.

@lindastaines8288

5 ай бұрын

Yes Ready Steady Go was much cooler and was really leaning towards the mods. I remember so many firsts on there such as Sonny & Cher and Tom Jones’s first appearance. Also Charles and Ines Fox introducing dances from America which we practiced in the playground

I was 8 in 1969 (giving my age away now) and I always watched Top of the Pops. I remember seeing Desmond Dekker and realised it was a new music genre. The words were easy to remember and you could dance to it. The presenters from Top of the Pops had been presenters on the pirate station Radio Caroline before Radio 1 was formed and thereafter the presenters were from Radio 1. I remember in the 1970's that you could get books to write the charts in and every Sunday night I (and my friends) would be glued to Radio 1 listening to the charts and noting them down in the book. If they couldnt get the band in Top of the Pops then the BBC would play the music and have go go girls dance to it and initially they were called Pan's People.

@no-oneinparticular7264

5 ай бұрын

I was exactly twice your age and allowed into the Top of the pops studios. I never went though, my mum wouldn't let me 😂. Maybe a good thing considering the amount of dodgy male presenters then.

@chadUCSD

14 күн бұрын

Pans People and before them there was Legs and Co. Lol

I was born in 1960 and from the very first episode I was hooked..no-one went out on a Thursday evening, not even on a warm summer's day, until TOTPS was finished..if you did, what did you talk about in school the next day? Lol ...and no repeats were played or video recorders, if you missed, it you missed it! Named my eldest son Marc btw..😊✌🇬🇧

The TOTP performance that most indelibly engraved itself in my memory was in 1967, when "The crazy world of Arthur Brown" performed the song *"Fire"* and the lead singer came on with what can only be described as a flaming lyre on his head and announced _"I am the god of hellfire"_

Tainted Lover was 1964 by Gloria Jones. Jones was later a backing singer with Marc Bolan and was driving the Mini which crashed killing Bolan. They also had a son together.

The Oasis v Blur was great for us growing up in the 90s. Blur won the battle but Oasis won the war.

@DadgeCity

5 ай бұрын

Yup. I was a Blur fan, but Country House was just silly.

@Gavsy1874

5 ай бұрын

@@DadgeCity Both great bands. God I miss those times.

@chadUCSD

14 күн бұрын

Blur were actually the very first band that I went to see in concert live whilst I was in my very early teens.

I can't believe you have never heard 'Are Friends Electric'

Suzi Quatro was the first female rocker I ever saw on Top of the Pops and was immediately attracted to her. She was around 5 years before Blondie had their first hit.

In the early days TOTP was filmed in an old church hall in Manchester in the north of England, the last place that you would expect to see some of the early names on the music scene, but the bands if they wanted to be noticed had to climb aboard whatever transport they could find and make the long trek north. The man who had found the church hall and was the presenter of TOTP for the first few recordings of the programme was the later infamous J Saville, but because the venue was cheap and most of the acts were appearing on the cheap, more for the publicity than for any fees the BBC were willing to take the initial leap of faith with featuring the show. The record companies were happy for the bands to make their appearances and the agents of the bands were willing to find other gigs in the north to make another fee while they were in the area so everyone was happy.

Bill Bailey did the first moon walk at the Apollo theatre

I used to love the 'Old grey whistle test' with there monotone commentator Whispering Bob Harris and the odd bands from the US and UK bands you would never of heard of if not for this program.

Echo and the bunnymen are English!!!? I thought they were American. Love Alex James in the oasis top. Bez. What a legend. He always makes me think of the late, great Keith Flint who of course started out as just a dancer for the prodigy before becoming the lead singer. Wish I could have seen them live. Gotta laugh at Nirvana's TOTP performance where they rebelled because they couldn't sing live. Good on them!! JJ, you should check out top 10 modern british bands to crack the US

@JaEDLanc

5 ай бұрын

Bunnymen the best band to ever come out of Liverpool ask any scouser lol.

@zoeblay8771

5 ай бұрын

@JaEDLanc my fav scouse band is Space. I finally saw them live for the first time last year and they did not disappoint

@sarahradford9822

5 ай бұрын

The prodigy were a great live act.. I can't bear to see them without Keith.. tragic loss.

Stumbled accross your videos a few weeks ago and now my wife and I watch them All the time, we are irish so lots of influences and tv come from the UK. it's mad sometimes that Americans have no clue about lots of British stuff. Any chance you'd do a an Irish video we have even more different stuff to the British. Also We love how you stop and Google stuff it's class Anyway Keep it up.

Makes me feel so nostalgic, i was a teenager in the fabulous 60s . Used to play charts in phone boxes during the 60s. Just went in, dialled a number and stood there listening. Sometimes 5 of us at a time. 😂

The link between soft cell and tainted love was marc almond was a Marc Bolan fan and tainted love was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in the 60s she was Marc Bolans girlfriend who was driving the car that crashed and Marc sadly died in it 16th September 1977

The allure of TOTP was the diversity of music and artists you would get. I always thought it was a reflection of how British ears were open to a wide range of music and influences and perhaps lead to the success of British artists internationally. Btw the first person to perform the moonwalk/ backslide that was recorded was a guy called Bill Bailey in the 1940's.. It's available on KZread.

David Bowie's Starman is still my favorite. Love it. From the UK.

I've just found out that the great Steve Wright has passed away. Truly the godfather of British DJ's from the eighties onwards. RIP Wrighty.

I remember when Marc Bolan had his guitar lead tucked into his pocket because they were told they couldn't play live.

My dad loved reggae and Soul. i grew up with Reggae, Soul and Motown as well as 70s rock like ELO,T-Rex and Bowie. My parents thought the Beatles were too square.

I can remember watching Bowie on TOTP back in 1972 i was 14 and people especially my parents generation were outraged and even disgusted, the press in an interview with Bowie suggested it looked a bit queer Bowie replied yeah I'm bisexual actually, the following day all the tabloids were suggesting it was all over for him only to be totally gobsmacked when his next album went straight to the top of the charts, and as young closet queer it made me feel like I wasn't alone in the world, so thankyou David

Haha....... I'd forgotten how much I used to love "Are Friends Electric". now I'm gonna search it on youtube and watch it again. thanks.

It was so loved, the queues for the live television shows were literally half a mile long to get into the studio. The shows as you saw were usually broadcast on Thursdays, so they'd record them on a Thursday morning, and that part of the town would be chock- a- block of people waiting to get in. The hey day was the middle of the seventies till around the end of the nineties, where their'd be loads of people waiting to get in. It was one of the main buildings of the BBC in West London.

I ran a black music jazz funk hip hop imports store from NY in 82 .The shop was Spin Inn records in Manchester UK had music labels clammering to see what imports really meant to Manchester culture .Often these a+r Guys used our outlets to ease the workload for themselves. Many local Manchester djs knew that they were way ahead of the country by buying imports from new York you were 2 weeks ahead of rival djs...competition to break new styles was a mashup of hip hop then in86 Chicago sent a box of house music massive in the gay scene there. 86-87 blew every dj at a crossroads. Didn't understand the 120bpm and piano breaks there were plenty of different tolerances to house music. One club Fac51was a breathable musical oxygen...I have 21k imports of every early 70s disco releases Harry Taylor ran the very underground gay scene due to the ignorance around HIV...unfortunately Harry my partner in business passed in 92..5 years later and he will still be there life of the party....music is life..our business was destroyed by the IRA bombing of Manchester UK...I'm still traumatised to this day..😢

@ChorltonandtheWheelies

4 ай бұрын

@kengrogan3736. Omg Spin Inn!! That was *the* place to get 12inches! I was thinking of Spin Inn when I watched the original video that this guy is reacting to. Before Jack your Body came out as a regular record - I had heard it in clubs round Manchester and I *had* to have it. I remember going to Spin Inn and buying the 12inch Jack Your Body Steve "Hurley" Silk and I remember paying £7 for it - £7 was a fortune to me as a kid ( well a teenager - practically a kid) and then - it got released as a regular record and I was gutted!! Spin Inn was so integral to Manchester music, thank you for being such an important part of the scene 🙌🙌🙌🎧🎛🎵

@ChorltonandtheWheelies

4 ай бұрын

* Steve "Silk" Hurley * I got it the wrong way round! We are talking 30 odd years ago!! ✌

In the 90s during the britpop era i was about 10 and used to always wait for top of the pops with my guitar on my lap and try and play along. Then I'd keep playing what i figured out. Sometimes parts of songs and sometimes a whole song if not too complex. I didn't like when a non guitar group were on the show because i wanted to see and be the guitarists i was watching. Was a dream to one day be on TOTP. It didn't happen of course. Still, good memories!

Totp was an exciting point of the week in the 80s

Tainted love was originally sang by gloria Jones who was marc bolan g/f she was also driving the car when they had an accident in which marc died in 1977 he 29...

It was Top of the Pops on BBC1 on a Thursday evening and then the same chart was counted down in full on BBC Radio One on a Sunday afternoon from 5pm to 7pm (which was the most listen to Radio show in the UK at the time with over 17 million listeners at its peak) the good old days I listened to this chart show for over 25 years armed with my tape recorder, I was so happy that BBC Radio One never had commercials, and still hasn’t !

Re: the Desmond Dekker question, I was around 15 at the time and it was just another great dance song. I remember we used to discuss what the actual words were! "Get up in the morning, baked beans for breakfast" 🤣

Marc Bolan was one of my faves! ♥

Never missed Top of the Pops

Two of my favourite performances were Sparks' "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" - electrifying and mistifying in equal measure, as were all their songs. And Polly Styrene fronting X-Ray Spex singing "Germ-Free Adolescent" in November 78.

There was a pub in Norwich that had a Prince Buster track on the juke box which was played over and over again until it got worn out. I was demobbed from the RAF in 1971( served at RAF Coltishall) so it was a long time before 1971.

I grew up with totp. Eventually MTV became my go to. But many of these bands are so much part of my youth. Good channel, thank you 😉

Biggest influences on British music and therefore world music - Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle Test and John Peel.

Everyone watched top of the pops in Ireland too. It was the only way to see the music we knew from radio .

In 1970 I was working in the record department of a local store. My colleague insisted on playing Mungo Jerry's "In The Summertime" all day, every day for weeks on end. I still haven't recovered.

David Bowie. What a star. TOTP (TV) and Disc 45 (Pop mag) were what I lived for as a young thing with my mates.

The back slide originated in the jazz/swing era and was used by tap black dancers in their routines.

On the Oasis vs Blur segment you missed that the guitarist (Noel) and singer (Liam) swapped places for the show. Noel pretends to sing Liams vocal, while Liam pretends to play Noel’s guitar.

Marc Almond is the subject of my favourite ever piece of graffiti. I still chuckle about it now.

The Ed Sullivan Show had great live US performances back in the day. I remember The Beatles, Elvis, Janis Joplin, The Mamas and the Papas, etc, etc. I sure these will now be on KZread.

The back slide/ moonwalk was actually first seen in 1943 by BILL BAILEY in a movie called THE CABIN IN THE SKY plus JUDY GARLAND and MARGARET O'BRIEN in the 1944 in a performance of UNDER THE BAMBOO TREE in MEET ME IN ST.

Marc Bolan was the instigator of glam rock, he had chart success in the 60s way before Bowie. check out John's Children especially should I stay or should I go,yes the clash copied it note for note 10 years later, and there were never any copyright issues as far as I'm aware

Love these video reactions 👍

I always remember saying to my dad every Thursday dad can I put top of the pops on he would tut and say go on then lol bless him ❤

Very insightful as usual,thanks for your reactions.

English, Born 1957, Yes I watched top of the Pops from the beginning. This was on a 12inch black and white TV. This was a cult event for all the family, Thursday night. yes i remember Desmond Dekker the first time, WoW! this was new. I have wide and varied musical tastes, now a lot of Opera, some classic, Progressive rock, punk rock, Folk but get back to top of the pops Check out Jimmy Cliff another Monster pre Marley. Look, as I grew up I became what was called a Greasser. Fast motorbike leather jacket filthy jeans, not looking for trouble but very ready. We were supposed to just like Rock and Roll. Because at a very young age I had been exposed to diverse muscal styles on top of the Pops. I loved Reggae, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, burning Spear. Also loved Motown, smokey Robinson, Marvyn Gaye, Tina Turner. I would go to a live concert every weekend, so yes I saw Tina play with Ike, saw Bob marley LIVE, saw The Who several times. However getting back to the point. Top of the pops was all dominant. Competition arises. It was the Pirate Radio stations. To get round the BBC monopoly they put their transmitters outside of English territorial waters. They transmitted everything and anything they liked. So on Thursday night, top of the pops, every night as you went to bed Pirate Radio. Now the BBC is not completely stupid. They decided to compete and they created "The Old Grey Whistle Test", If I remember right it was Sunday night, late, now the Presenter Bob Harris knew his stuff, was adorable, or very critical. The bands played REALLY live. KZread "The Old grey whistle test" and you will find some of the monsters of rock playing on their night off. My particular favorites, Patti Smith and Captain Beefheart

The U.K. had a huge number of Reggae no1 songs. I watch the re runs on BBC 4 it’s great fun and people do watch alongs on Twitter!

Top of the Pops was huge. The only program for young people on TV.

When I was growing up there was a lot of racial tension in the UK. Third generation West Indian immigrants were getting pissed off with getting treated like they were just off the boat, but 2nd gen Ska bands like The Specials and the whole TwoTone thing were a cross cultural thing that really bridged the gap between black and white British working class culture. Before the whole skinhead aesthetic was subverted by the National Front on the Football terraces of the 1st division, Rude Boys and Skinheads shared the same working class / Jamaican aesthetic of Ska. It was proper magic.

Love watching your music and acting videos, interesting to hear the views of someone knowledgeable on the subjects and also introduced to new aspects at the same time

This is one of my fave music history channels, well worth a subscribe.

I was 12 when Top of the Pops started and my mum and I watched it together. She was still watching it long after I had left home. It was a great time to be young, or someone young's mum 😊

My then middle-aged parents had seen Bowie years earlier when Bowie was low on the billing at an old-time traditional music event.

David bowie is just everything ❤

The Bowie/Ronson moment was absolutely earth shattering for a whole generation of young British people.

They need to cut Saville out of episodes of top of the pops so we can see those episodes. The smiths, stone roses and house music were my teenage years. Happy memories, but sadly all my vinyl records in boxes under my bed.

@Escapee5931

5 ай бұрын

Yeah, cut out Saville so we can watch Gary Glitter doing "Do You Want To Touch Me (There)! 😂

@tracyconnor6166

5 ай бұрын

@@Escapee5931 I have a daughter and two granddaughters....I don't think that's something to laugh about. If you want to joke about it then please leave your comment elsewhere.

The first man to do "moonwalk" was called Bill Bailey and TV was still black n white, I remember it from QI.

Before TOTP there was Ready Steady Go and in the early 60s Cher became famous with Sonny for the first time on the show as no one in the US cared for her. Upon Sonny and Cher's return to the US everyone thought they were English! Cher recently told that old fact on the Graham Norton Show just before Christmas. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones also appeared on RSG long before TOTP ever existed!!

I grew up with TOTP from the 80s, it was my Thursday night thing until I was old enough to go to gigs or watch The Word. That show had some amazing bands on.. Great list, but you edited out Evan Dando/The Lemonheads- one of my favourite bands! How bloody fucking dare you!

Throbbing Gristle was a risky web search 😅

Rod Stewart and the Faces were over fifteen years ahead of the Smiths and the Stone Roses in "subverting the whole thing". Watch them supposedly performing Maggie May in 1972. They end up playing football on stage while the song keeps going, and John Peel sits there pretending to play the mandolin.

Wonderful nostalgia here... thanks.

My pops frowned on what you said when you said those of you who are still alive when British reggae became a thing in the uk 🤣

Love Bez! My wife danced with Bez at Glastonbury!

There was a show in the US called 'Don Kirshner's Rock Concert' that featured various live bands...

Blondie also broke the British mould as their performance of "Rapture" in 1980 is considered to be the first Rap performance on UK TV. Some say it was Adriano Celentano with "Prisencolinensinainciusol" on another TV show in 1972. Though my first real personal recognition of Rap would be either of Grand Master Flash with either The Message 1982 or white Lines in 1984 for full on Rap. Loved that I experienced all this stuff from Bowie on.

I remember it well in the 80s and 90s.