Top of the Pops

With digital delay and statistical multiplexing you're always watching on catch up.

They did react to the voice of the announcer.... but it didn't care where the announcers voice was live or Memorex

It was confirmed in the letters pages of the Radio Times about a Month ago Rich, so presumably it's the usual two for one Year deal.

Re "Winterset" we're only in September, so one can only speculate which mind-bending substance the Beeb's data entry clerk has been using, though it could be the same geezer that timeshifts primetime BBC4 & turns it into the pop picking equivalent of a false start at the Grand National.

I dunno about "the Lord's".

On occasion the vibe at "the other place" can be like a reverse trip to Lourdes, and certainly has the potential to make you sick after visiting.

BIB: Just my little jokette but based in some truth as there does seem to be more bad-tempered forum users per square foot at 'the other place' generally, (Politics forum especially), but perhaps it's due to there being just more users.

Some crackerjack posters there too though as you know...

Anyhows, will try to do a 'Caper' on the Poptastic Bates Experience in due course, but some initial thoughts on 'the Pops'.

Red Box - Ridiculously overmanned on percussion. Two drummers could've been dispensed with in a 'Time & Motion' study, leaving the enthusiastic woman drummer (wommer?) & the two main blokes. Shouty, picket-line earworm, rather good and purchased.

Madge - Good album track, cobbled together chopped ham & pork video (reconstituted). Ker-ching! said Warners. Better tracks unreleased as single A-sides from "Like a Virgin", such as...





Midge - Terrible coat, terrible dancing, looks like he's 'squeezing one out' when he's pondering on life as a sailor. Song getting a bashing at 'the other place' but I liked it, even though I preferred the follow up.

Breakers
Cameo - The nasal whine of the talking codpiece. Didn't really 'get' Cameo but liked this, Word Up & She's Strange.

Rene & Angela - Decently structured soul with squelchy bits. I approve.

Billy Idol - Hell yeah! Stone cold classic that clears away the cobwebs (like his stiff Porcupine/Bog-brushy hair)

Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Overrated 6th form-y nonsense from a bloke that can't sing (see also Tom Waits & Leonard Cohen). Follow-up much better.

David Bowie & Mick Jagger - Great fun, hard to dislike with the video but if it's on a CD it's normally a skipper.

Colonel Abrams - Saving the best one 'til a playout, this one's class.

The Poptastic/Bates pairing seems more relaxed than a Poptastic/'Bloke who Fixed our Boiler' combo. I thought Poptastic struggled to hide his irritation with Mike Smith on a previous episode & Slimes did seem a safer bet.

Apart from the BBC voiceovers, I also remember Simon Bates doing the intro warnings for the Video Standards Council, most of which were probably fast-forwarded



Sent up brilliantly here , by someone who seems vaguely familiar...

I suppose with Lloyd Cole I tend to lump him in with other vaguely pretentious stuff that's interestingly jingly-jangly, but doesn't seem to fulfill it's potential ("Perfect Skin" & "Lost Weekend" being exceptions).

It doesn't float my boat somehow, there doesn't seem as much meat on the musical bone (unlike the Smiths) & I think of LC & the Comms in similar terms as the Blow Monkeys, in they had a couple of decent tracks but I found their other stuff a bit "close but no cigar".

Also, in this LC one the lyrics I find a source of irritation (I know, I need to get out more)

"Jane was in her turtleneck
I was much happier then"

Just buy her a new turtleneck then Lloyd if it makes you happier, you miserable tight get!

Other than that...!

If you're invite got lost in the post, fear not!
As zero compensation whatsoever, pop pickers are cordially invited to...

The Countdown Capers
19th September 1985 (Our TuneLord & Poptastic Pete)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0b23fcv/top-of-the-pops-19091985

This Week's merriment is presided over by Our TuneLord and a much more energised Poptastic Pete, relieved no doubt at finally managing to extricate himself from the short-strawed pairing with "the Bloke who Fixed our Boiler" .

Herr Hurll was right to separate the two, as on previous episodes Poptastic looked like he was going to stick one on Mike Smith at any given moment, which might have temporarily given the ratings a lift but wouldn't have been appropriate prior to introducing Jennifer Rush.

A pairing with Simon Bates would have some scurrying for the nearest exit, but Poptastic seems infinitely more at ease with Our Tune and following extensive research lasting no more than 0.33 seconds according to the Google clock, since retiring from the Pops Simes has taken an interest in the countryside, all things farming-related & has also become an expert on how to upset Liverpudlians

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/bbc-says-dj-simon-bates-10770451

There's some random stuff in Farmer Bates "Top 10 things you don't know about me" at the link below, taking in areas of inexpertise as Japanese Brush Painting, pilotry straight from the Gary Numan School of Aviation & Our TuneLord's incarceration in an Ethiopian Jail where he was swiftly released, presumably as an act of mercy for the guards

Click if you dare, but don't stray from the path.
http://www.devonlife.co.uk/people/celebrity-interviews/simon-bates-talks-about-how-much-he-enjoys-living-and-working-in-devon-1-3953987

Having said all of the above I actually like Simon Bates as a presenter. He always comes across as friendly and amiable, like an uncle you'd go to if you have a problem. I always enjoyed the " Golden Hour " (and the ubiquitous "Our Tune" of course), both broadcast on FM at a time when "Gold" stations weren't as numerous as they are now.

Meanwhile, back at 'the Pops'..

18 - Red Robbo - Come On, I Lean (Aap-Kaa-Hak)

Initially sounding like a gentle theme to a programme you might find on CBeebies close to bedtime, Red Box make their debut with this "Buy one get two free" track, which from the sedate opening gathers momentum and eventually peaks into a rabble-rousing picket-line shouter straight from the days of Arthur Scargill & the Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club.



"Give Order! All those in favour of bringing on Five Star say aye"



"Lean on Me" is a proper earworm, the chorus memorable for the right reasons, and it's hard not to be caught up in the exhuberance, so much so I succumbed, paid my dues and supported the cause.

It was a miracle the band got going in the first place however without going bust, as following negotiation involving the consiliation service ACAS, an agreement was reached that there would be no fewer than three members of the percussion department on duty during all television performances, despite two of the drummers being completely surplus to requirements & one missing the target completely.

It's what made Britain great

An excellent start and UP THE WORKERS!

With you 100% on that one Riccardo. I don't understand it either.

I'm all for self-expression, but in what universe does a 'sleb feel the need to inject crap into their face (or other departments), in the misguided view it's somehow an elixir of life?

Most of the time it makes 'em look like a Cabbage Patch doll or they're permanently sucking a lozenge.

At the extreme end of the scale of course was Pete Burns, who should serve as a warning to anyone on the dangers of extreme cosmetic surgery. With him it started off with a broken nose he got in the punk era of the 1970's, which started him on the journey from this...



To this...



Frightening.

Re Jennifer Rush, there's a QI interview from South Africa from a couple of Years ago on 'ver Tube. For some reason I didn't think she was American, probably due to her massive success in Europe (particularly Germany ISTR).

Terrible interviewer though..