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.

 

80. Mike Read: “Let's go back to the beginning of the decade. Some of the big hits of 1980.”
(I've noted down captions where they are present. All BBC VT dates are borrowed from the good people at Popscene. There's no way for me to check them all.)
PRETENDERS: BRASS IN POCKET “The first new No.1 of the 80s” (BBC VT 17/01/1980)
BLONDIE: THE TIDE IS HIGH “Three No.1s in 1980” (Promo VT)
POLICE: DON'T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME “BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR” (Promo VT)

IDOLS. Mike Read: “Here come the artists who made you scream during the 1980s”
HAIRCUT 100: LOVE PLUS ONE (BBC VT 28/01/1982)
DURAN DURAN: IS THERE SOMETHING I SHOULD KNOW (BBC VT 23/03/1983)
KYLIE MINOGUE: I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY (Promo VT)
BROS: I OWE YOU NOTHING (BBC VT 16/06/1988)
JASON DONOVAN: TOO MANY BROKEN HEARTS (Promo VT)
A-HA: THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES ON TV (BBC VT 16/01/1986)

81. Mike Read: “Four more legends at large in 1981. Here come five number ones from that year.” (I have no idea what this means).

SPECIALS: GHOST TOWN “No.1 the week of the Royal Wedding.” (BBC VT 02/07/1981).
JOHN LENNON: WOMAN “One of three posthumous number ones” (Promo VT).
ADAM and the ANTS: PRINCE CHARMING “Most successful act of the year.” (Promo VT).
BUCKS FIZZ: MAKING YOUR MIND UP “Eurovision Song Contest winners” (BBC VT 19/03/1981).
SOFT CELL: TAINTED LOVE “BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR” (BBC VT 03/09/1981).
SHAKIN' STEVENS: THIS OLE HOUSE. Representing 1981. Four Number Ones and Top 10 hits in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1987. Shakey certainly deserves to be featured but did he have to sing the same song he did on 25 Years of Top of the Pops?

Mister Stevens appears on the new Unfinished Stage. Oh, and while I remember, Status Quo were on the main stage which has been modified slightly. Two smaller panels have been added to slightly cover the gap between the main wings of the stage and the central column. This modification wasn't present on the Christmas 1989 show (the gap was covered by some snowmen) and suggests the change is new for the Review of the 80's studio session; Top of the Pops was normally recorded on a Wednesday, so 27 December. Wider shots of the stage show it has been stencilled with “THE 80's”

 

82. Paul Gambaccini: “1982 a great year for the groups and Diana.”
THE JAM: BEAT SURRENDER “Their third single to go straight to No.1” (BBC VT 02/12/1982)
MADNESS: HOUSE OF FUN “Twenty straight Top 20s for The Nutty Boys”(Promo VT)
BBC VT 03/09/1981)
WHAM: YOUNG GUNS “Their first Top Of The Pops” (BBC VT 04/11/1982)
EDDY GRANT: I DON'T WANT TO DANCE “First No.1 hitmaker from Guyana” (Promo VT).
DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS: COME ON EILEEN “BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR” (BBC VT 25/12/1982).

DAVID ESSEX: A WINTER'S TALE. This song was released at the end of 1982 (the tale end you might say, ho ho!) but it reached its [2] peak in January 1983, so let's say that is the year it represents.
David Essex is the third act from 25 Years of Top of the Pops. At least he's singing a different song. David Essex was all over BBC1 in 1989. There was a repeat of his series The River in May and June. Then on 24/06/1989 he appeared on Test Match Special to chat with Brian Johnston. Next up, The Noel Edmonds Saturday Roadshow, 07/10/1989. Then, The Les Dawson Show, 02/11/1998. Tomorrow's World, the Christmas Quiz 19/12/1989. And then this. 

CLASSICS: Mike Read: “David Essex did it and here are ten more acts who've stayed the course in the 1980s.”
BEE GEES: YOU WIN AGAIN “The only group to top the charts in the 60s, 70s, and 80s” (BBC VT 01/10/1987)
ABBA: SUPER TROUPER “70s superstars had two 1980 No.1s” (Promo VT).
ROD STEWART: BABY JANE (Promo VT).
ELTON JOHN: NIKITA (BBC VT 17/10/1985)
QUEEN: RADIO GAGA (Promo VT)
BOWIE & JAGGER: DANCIN' IN THE STREET “Recorded especially for LIVE AID” (Promo VT).
DIANA ROSS: CHAIN REACTION “Written & produced by the BEE GEES” (Promo VT).
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE (Promo VT)
STEVIE WONDER: I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU “Motown UK best seller” (Promo VT).
CLIFF RICHARD: DADDY'S HOME “The only artist to have a No.1 in each of the last four decades” (Promo VT)

 

83. Paul Gambaccini: “Eighty three, one of the best years of the decade was sweet for Eurythmics."
EURYTHMICS: SWEET DREAMS “Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart (BBC VT 25/12/1983)
BONNIE TYLER: TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART (Promo VT).
UB40: RED RED WINE “UK No.1 1983, USA No.1 1988” (BBC VT 25/12/1983).
HOWARD JONES: NEW SONG (BBC VT 22/09/1983).
CULTURE CLUB: KARMA CHAMELEON “BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR” (BBC VT
29/12/1983).

 SYNTH. Mike Read: “During the 1980s synthesisers gave music new dimensions and new possibilities.”

PET SHOP BOYS: WEST END GIRLS “Neil Tennant & Chris Lowe” (BBC VT 05/12/1985).
DEPECHE MODE: JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH “Vince Clarke vintage” (BBC VT 24/09/1981)
O.M.D.: SOUVENIR (BBC VT 24/09/1981).
NEW ORDER: BLUE MONDAY “Best selling 12 inch” (BBC VT 31/03/1983).
HUMAN LEAGUE: DON'T YOU WANT ME (Promo VT).
ULTRAVOX: VIENNA (Promo VT).

ERASURE: SOMETIMES. Twenty three minutes in and we finally get a group who didn't appear in 25 Years of Top of the Pops. Erasure have always made time for Top of the Pops and its great to see them here with a song which should probably have opened the programme.

The stage has been decorated with a couple of flimsy clear perspex uprights, again with THE 80's stencilled on them. (There was one behind the piano for This Ole House and it wobbled like crazy). Brian Whitehouse gets a great shot of the studio from behind one of the uprights. It sells the scale of the studio and it's the kind of image I love. Yes. This performance really should have been at the top of the show.

Just after the instrumental as the camera pans back from stage left to right, keep an eye on Andy Bell. You can see his BBC pass dangling from his belt. Also, look in the space under the bridge behind him. The camera crew have all been issued with Review of the 80s t-shirts; it's possible a lot more effort went into the wardrobe. 

84. Paul Gambaccini: “1984. The year U2 first made the top five.”
U2: PRIDE (Promo VT).
PAUL McCARTNEY: PIPES OF PEACE “The only artist to reach No.1 as solo, duo, trio. Quartet, quintet and charity aggregation” (Promo VT).
TINA TURNER: WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (Promo VT). 

LOVE SONGS. Mike Read: “OK, you want loooove? The 1980s had the love songs.”
BARBRA STREISAND: WOMAN IN LOVE (Promo VT).
SPANDAU BALLET: TRUE (BBC VT 29/12/1983).
ELAINE PAIGE & BARABARA DICKSON: I KNOW HIM SO WELL “Best selling single by a female duo ever” (BBC VT 10/01/1985).
GEORGE MICHAEL: CARELESS WHISPER (BBC VT 23/8/1984).
FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION: PERFECT (BBC VT 28/04/1988).

CHRIS DE BURGH: LADY IN RED. I don't know what's wrong with this bloody Monkey's paw. I wished for more songs not featured in 25 Years of Top of the Pops and I got my third most hated song ever.  Settling my personal dislike aside. This song deserves to be here (you've no idea how much it hurt me to write that). It was a phenomenon in 1986. A year which is now overrepresented in this review of the decade.

 

85. Mike Read: “We're halfway through the decade as 1985 saw the US answer to Band Aid.”
USA FOR AFRICA: WE ARE THE WORLD (Promo VT).
KATE BUSH: RUNNING UP THAT HILL (BBC VT 22/08/1985).
SIMPLE MINDS: DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME (Promo VT).
ALISON MOYET: THAT OLE DEVIL CALLED LOVE (BBC VT 14/03/1985).
DIRE STRAITS: MONEY FOR NOTHING “From Britain's al time best selling L.P. 'Brothers In Arms'”(Promo VT).
TEARS FOR FEARS: EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD “They later ran the world for SPORT AID” (BBC VT 28/03/1985).

JENNIFER RUSH: THE POWER OF LOVE “BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR” (BBC VT 26/09/1985). 

METAL. Paul Gambaccini: “The metal bands and Iron Maiden in the charts every year.”
IRON MAIDEN: RUN TO THE HILLS (Promo VT).
BON JOVI: LIVING ON A PRAYER (BBC VT 06/11/1986).
MARILLION: KAYLEIGH (BBC VT 06/11/1986).
EUROPE: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN (BBC VT 06/11/1986).
ZZ TOP: GIMME ALL YOUR LOVIN' (Promo VT).

 

86. Mike Read: “The review of the 1980s and these were some of the big hits of 1986.”
BILLY OCEAN: WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH (BBC VT 30/01/1986).
FIVE STAR: SYSTEM ADDICT (Promo VT).

SIMPLY RED: HOLDING BACK THE YEARS (BBC VT 22/05/1986).
PETER GABRIEL: SLEDGEHAMMER (Promo VT).
THE COMMUNARDS: DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY “BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR”(BBC VT 04/09/1986).

KIM WILDE: YOU KEEP ME HANGING ON. A third song from 1986. Once Erasure and Kim Wilde and Chris De Burgh all said yes, why not try shuffling things round a bit? Kim Wilde could cover 1981 with Kids In America. Shakey could sing a different song from 1982. And Erasure had plenty of hits in 1987 and 1988.

I appreciate I'm underestimating the logistics of putting on a programme like this but it really does feel thrown together. I wish I could stop comparing Review of the 80's (I'm sure that apostrophe isn't right) to 25 Years of Top of the Pops but 362 days ago the programme nailed this format and Review of the 80's keeps coming across as a pale copy.  Paul Ciani's extended absence probably didn't help. 

80's USA*. Paul Gambaccini: “Kim got to number one in the states with that. These were the leading American stars here.”

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: DANCING IN THE DARK (Promo VT).
LIONEL RICHIE: HELLO (Promo VT).
MADONNA: INTO THE GROOVE “The top chart star of the 80s” (Promo VT).
KOOL & THE GANG: OOH LA LA LA “Top USA group of the 80s” (BBC VT 21/10/1982).
PRINCE: 1999 (Promo VT).
MICHAEL JACKSON: BILLIE JEAN “From the world's best selling album, THRILLER” (Promo VT).
WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (BBC VT 21/10/1982).
BILLY JOEL: UPTOWN GIRL “Mrs Billy Joel- Christie Brinkley” (Promo VT).
* The 80's USA section could have showcased American stars lured across the Atlantic to appear on Top of the Pops (De La Soul, Bon Jovi, The Four Tops, Mr. Mister, Terence Trent D'Arby) instead it's mainly Promo VT clips which can be seen anywhere.

87. Mike Read: “Some of the hits of 1987 take a bow.”
THE SMITHS: SHEILA TAKE A BOW (BBC VT 23/04/1987).
BOY GEORGE: EVERYTHING I OWN “A former 70s No.1 for Ken Boothe” (BBC VT 12/03/1987).
T'PAU: CHINA IN YOUR HAND (BBC VT 25/12/1987).
MEL & KIM: RESPECTABLE (BBC VT 05/03/1987).
RICK ASTLEY: NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP “BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR” (BBC VT 13/08/1987). 

TECHNO. Paul Gambaccini:“Some hits were made possible by the decade's technological innovations. Relax.”
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD: RELAX “Top act of 1984” (BBC VT 25/12/1984).*
PAUL HARDCASTLE: NINETEEN “Average age of a U.S. soldier in Vietnam” (Promo VT).
STEVE SLIK HURLEY: JACK YOUR BODY (Promo VT).
M.A.R.R.S.: PUMP UP THE VOLUME (Promo VT).
BLACK BOX: RIDE ON TIME (BBC VT 14/09/1989).

* The placing of Relax here doesn't make any sense. It really should be in the 84 section. Was Relax taken out of the 1984 package?

88. Mike Read: “Here we go coming up to date with some of the hits from 88.”
TERRENCE TRENT D'ARBY: SIGN YOUR NAME (BBC VT 14/01/1988).
WET WET WET: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS “Childline Charity No.1” (BBC VT 12/05/1988)*
YAZZ: THE ONLY WAY IS UP (BBC VT 28/07/1988).
CLIFF RICHARD: MISTLETOE & WINE “BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR” (BBC VT 08/12/1988).
* A double a-side with She's Leaving Home by Billy Bragg and Cara Tivey. A performance airbrushed from history, see the entry for 19 May 1988.

ASWAD: DON'T TURN AROUND. Representing 1988, so at least its position makes sense in the running order.

What I thought were new perspex wings added to the main stage turn out to be the two “THE 80's” uprights which are being moved around the studio. I wonder if they were commissioned with the intention that some performances would be pre-recorded, and these set elements could be dropped in as part of the scenery to make the show look seamless. If that was the idea, it never happened. I don't think any of tonight's performances were recorded earlier. Status Quo, Shakin' Stevens, David Essex, Erasure, Chris De Burgh, Aswad, and Phil Collins (coming up next) are all introduced with a pan from the host to the performance. The only person who looks like they might be pre-recorded is Kim Wilde, and she appears on the Unfinished stage which is in the same configuration as when it's used for Shakin' Stevens and Phil Collins.
It also makes sense for all eight acts to be recorded in one studio session. Top of the Pops normally manages four acts in one half hour show, therefore eight acts in the studio for a one hour programme would be logical and mathematical. 

89. Paul Gambaccini: “In 89 the Fine Young Cannibals drove the world crazy.”
FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS: DRIVES ME CRAZY. (BBC VT 19/01/1989).

SOUL II SOUL: BACK TO LIFE (Promo VT).
THE BANGLES: ETERNAL FLAME (Promo VT)
JIVE BUNNY: SWING THE MOOD “Joins Gerry and the Pacemakers and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.... they all had their first three singles go to No.1” (Promo VT)

 

PHIL COLLINS: IN THE AIR TONIGHT. Another song from 1981. That's two from 1981. One from 1983. Three from 1986. And two from 1988.

Phil Collins has brought his pot of paint back with him again. Let it go Phil.

Review of the 80's plays out on an uncaptioned repeat of Do They Know It's Christmas, from the Christmas 1984 edition of Top of the Pops. It was as Mike Read points out “the best selling UK single of all time,” which accounts for the lack of a BEST SELLER OF THE YEAR caption on the 1984 package.

It makes sense to show this song last. Band Aid II was still at Number One at the end of 1989. The Christmas day performance of the original is one of the high points of Top of the Pops. It captures a very precise moment in history. The culmination of a mass movement to do something, anything, to help, in the wake of those terrible pictures in Michael Burke's news reports. This was also the year when Blue Peter ran two appeals simultaneously, the original one to replace four lifeboats and the other for water tanks and pumps for Ethiopia.

The 1984 performance is a logistical and emotional triumph (check out the visibly moved Bob Geldof) and deserves to be celebrated; and according to the Radio Times it went out live on Christmas Day although I'm not sure there haven't been some wires crossed about that.

It's a bathetic for me to now write about the closing credits but, check out the closing credits. They've got a sort of Crossroads effect going on, with new credits coming in from the left and the old ones disappearing of the bottom of the screen.

Performance of the week: Erasure, Stop.

And that's your lot for the eighties and 2024. Before I go, I want to thank Billy Smart who keeps these posts going by sending me Top of the Pops episodes (I can exclusively reveal I am downloading the 02/02/1990 show RIGHT NOW!) and mumu03 who leaves comments and sends me useful behind the scenes facts which are massively helpful and stop me writing too much about pop stars' trousers.