Top of the Pops Review of the 80's (28/12/1989)

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Mike Read: “Hi. Welcome to our farewell party.”
Paul Gambaccini: “It's time to say goodbye to the eighties.”
Mike Read: “We have Police, the [can't make out, sounds like Brits?]*, we have Madness to Madonna. They're all here in tonight's party.”
Paul Gambaccini: “In the studio or on video. All your favourites here. We begin with the most consistently successful group of the eighties. Status Quo, Burning Bridges.”
*I cannot work out what Mike Read says here, or even guess at a word which would make sense in context.

 STATUS QUO: BURNING BRIDGES: “That was a dreadful rag bag programme and was thought of such at the time within TVC; it was put together very last minute and some of guest choices were definitely a case of who was around rather than genuinely representing the 80s.” That's Richard Marson, writer, television producer and director, who was working for the BBC at the time, commenting on the Review of the 80's at Roobarb's DVD Forum.

Maybe this explains why the first act is Status Quo. The same group who, less than a year ago, played out the 25 Years of Top of the Pops. Does the Top of the Pops office have them on speed dial? And why are they singing 1988's Burning Bridges? A song slightly over a year old. What about 1983's Marguerita Time, that got to [3]. Or 1980's What You're Proposing, [2]. Or In The Army Now, from 1986 which also got to [2].

I get that Status Quo had ten Top 10 songs in the decade (it's not quite 1 a year, their two 1989 singles didn't break the Top 40). I get that they're successful. I get that they are popular. I get that their answerphone message is “we'll do it.” But it bodes poorly for the the rest of the studio acts. Right from the start, this review of the eighties feels past its sell by date.

Broadly speaking, all Brian Whitehouse and his team need to do is repeat the success of 25 Years of Top of the Pops which hit on the ideal format at the end of 1988. A mix of old clips and representative studio performances. A few talking heads would be nice but not essential. Most importantly, the programme should be built around 10 studio performances to represent each year. A show like this takes work. Or you can call Status Quo.

 

TV Review- Doctor Who: Joy to the World

 

Unashamedly sentimental and including variations on ideas Steven Moffat has utilised before, `Joy to the World` is the best episode featuring Ncuti Gatwa so far. It’s a three-act story, the first frantic and light as we have come to expect for Xmas Specials, the middle part quieter, considered and the best thing about it and then an ending that is likely to provoke differing responses.

 

Top of the Pops 21 December 1989

 Words: Chris Arnsby

 Anthea Turner: “Hello. Good evening and welcome to the very last chart Top of the Pops before that Christmas spectacular.”

Bruno Brookes: “Yup, absolutely. Bros and Sonia and a brand new number one coming later. First of all a climber of ten places to number thirty here are the FPI Project going Back To Their Roots.”

 [30] F.P.I. PROJECT present RICH IN PARADISE: going back to my roots. The hosts introducing the show from the Crow's Nest! Quantel transitions used as part of the performance! No. Paul Ciani isn't back but it's odd how much Stanley Appel decides to ape his preferred format for the final “real” Top of the Pops. (The next two are the Christmas Day show and a look back at the eighties.)

TV Review- Phil Collins: Drummer First

 

Phil Collins’ prowess as a drummer is less discussed these days than his incredible Eighties ubiquity, his ever turbulent private life and, more recently, health issues. So it is refreshing to find that as the name suggests  Phil Collins: Drummer First aims to place that side of him foremost in his long career. He has always described himself as a drummer who sings rather than vice versa and over two hours the breadth of his musical endeavours is explored.

 

Top of the Pops 14th December 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Nicky Campbell: “Welcome to Top of the Pops. We have got the best shirts on television. We're going to start with Rob and Raz featuring Leila K. A bit of Swedish house music. And every Swedish house has a sauna and like this, like a sauna, it's hot, steamy and enervating. Got to give it.”

 [13] ROB 'N' RAZ featuring Leila K: got to get. The problem with Nicky Campbell showing me how smart he is, is that it makes me all the more delighted when he cocks up. I am small and petty. It's a delight that he gets the name of the song wrong right after he has opened the top of his head to show you all the folds in his cerebellum. Also, his shirt is vile. Somewhere in TV Centre reception a building manager is furious at the Nicky-Campbell-torso-shaped hole in his carpet. The fact that Campbell has found two people with equally poor taste in shirts just goes to demonstrate the mess that was Thatcher's Britain. And that's it. No more booing at Nicky Campbell this week.

What was Xmas like before the Victorians?

 As most people are aware the so called Christmas traditions we follow each year were actually only created during the Victorian era,. Xmas imagery and festive staples like Xmas trees, cards, Xmas dinner, carol singing and even marking it with a bank holiday only started in the mid-1800s. So what happened in England before then?

 

Top of the Pops 7 December 1989

Words: Chris Arnsby.

Mark Goodier: “Hello. Good evening. Welcome to Britain's favourite pop show. We have the charts and we have Britain's number one and all the new entries and it's all in stereo on Radio 1FM. Let's start tonight with a huge Top 10 smash. Here comes Big Fun. Can't Shake The Feeling.”

 [8] BIG FUN: can't shake the feeling. Big Fun are on the Main Stage and it doesn't look like it did last week. The wings of the stage are back where they usually are. Clearly the unusual placement last week was a one off.

When Top of the Pops starts, the camera cranes up to find Mark Goodier in the Crow's Nest over the main stage. Stanley Appel doesn't like doing that, has Paul Ciani returned? Nope. This week's Producer (and Director) is Brian Whitehouse, not seen since 22/12/1988.

TV Review - Cobra Kai Season 6 Eps 1 -10

 

The thing about ongoing television series, especially when they reach what these days is a rare sixth season, is that they can never quite match expectations. On the one hand the viewers want more of what they liked before yet on the other they want something different. Caught in the middle showrunners and writers often try to meet both these criteria but the results satisfy neither. Cobra Kai has never lacked heroics and excitement  as well as some mad twists but even the biggest fan would have to admit that it’s plots have recycled similar tropes across the previous five seasons. When you reach a point wherein characters are discussing how to get two people to fall out to increase their fighting prowess you know the show is eating itself! So the first batch of episodes, dropped in the summer, seemed to lack the tournament vigour required though they had their moments.

 

Top of the Pops 23rd & 30th November 1989

 

Words by Chris Arnsby

23/11/1989

Jakki Brambles: “Hello and welcome along to the UK's top music show. Amongst others tonight we've got three great British bands and Jenny Powell.”
Jenny Powell: “Yeah pleased to meet you Jakki...
Jakki Brambles: [overlapping] “You too my love...
Jenny Powell: “… put it there. [They shake hands]. First things first. Three lovely lads. They're called Big Fun. Song's called Can't Shake The Feeling. And they're at number twenty seven this week.”

 [27] BIG FUN: can't shake the feeling. What are Big Fun wearing on their feet? Awful clumpy khaki boots which look a couple of sizes too big. Doctor Frankenstein would reject these for his monster. Unfortunately the lads have been coached in a dance routine which often involves them wiggling on the spot. The result, it look like the shoes have been nailed to the stage and the trio have stepped into them for the performance.

TV Review - The Making of Do They Know It's Christmas

 

There is not that much footage of landmark musical moments being made in the studio because acclaim and legend come much later. Yet when you gather a clutch of an era’s pop stars in one place to work together one time only the cameras are going to be there and for the recording of `Do They Know It’s Christmas` in November 1984 they certainly were. Eight film crews and a phalanx of photographers, (some of whom came with their own step ladders) were present to capture the recording and some of that footage has never been seen until now. Recently debuting on iPlayer, this making of documentary plays like its 1984 without any contemporary perspective or additions and if you remember the era (or even if you don’t) it is fascinating.