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Top of the Pops

1990 on BBC Four (January 2018)

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VM
VMPhil
I don't know if it was timed as well, but Surfin' Bird was used in the 2009 GCSE Music Exam (OCR Board) as part of the aural exam, having to dissect the tune in questions (can't remember what the questions were, it was more than 11 years ago!). Unfortunately for us doing the exam that day, "I Dream of Jesus" had premiered on BBC Three just three days earlier, and when it came on, there was so much sniggering, that the invigilators had to stop the tape to let us regain our composure! Thanks OCR, great timing!

This is amazing. I don't think I would have been able to stop laughing for the whole exam!
DE88 and JamesLaverty1925 gave kudos
JO
Josh
RE the Boris Johnson situation, presenter briefly mentioned the song but said they can't play it because "it has too many bad words to play on daytime radio".
JA
james-2001
I don't want to hear Boris Johnson's name during the daytime either.
AB
AcerBen
I thought it was one of the better editions of recent years. Ideally they would've found a performance of The Weeknd to use too but other than that they had most of the big pop hits on in some capacity and production values-wise at least, the in-studio performances looked really great.
Colm and tightrope78 gave kudos
JA
james-2001
I think this must be the first Christmas show without an audience since 1980.
MM
MusicMan
I think this must be the first Christmas show without an audience since 1980.


Interesting - what was the reason for no audience in 1980?
CO
Colm
They just weren't there.

Mind you, many of the Christmas Day shows in the 70s also had no audience, whether intentional or not.
RO
robertclark125
Wasn't there also a scene shifters strike in 1980? I remember reading somewhere that Blue Peter had to be done in a totally empty studio.
CO
Colm
That happened (and affected TOTP) in October 1980 - it's a Simon Bates episode with just videos and repeated performances, and a guest appearance by Olivia Newton-John.
JA
james-2001
Presumably she'd already been booked, probably wasn't expecting to be stuck in an empty studio introducing clips.
CO
Colm
Presumably she'd already been booked, probably wasn't expecting to be stuck in an empty studio introducing clips.


And with Bates.
JA
james-2001
Colm posted:
They just weren't there.

Mind you, many of the Christmas Day shows in the 70s also had no audience, whether intentional or not.


1978 didn't either. Don't think 1975 did as well, BBC4 have repeated both of them in recent years.

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