Top of the Pops 14 July 1988

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby.
Simon Bates: “Hi. Welcome to studio four at Television Centre. It's one minute past seven and this is Top of the Pops live. We have the new Michael Jackson video later on, we have the charts, and we have Bruno Brookes.”

Bruno Brookes: “Yes, and off to a great start. Down here on the centre stage at number fifteen on the chart this week Transvision Vamp, I Want Your Love.”

 [15] TRANSVISION VAMP: i want your love. This is going to be rocky. In 1988 some silly sausage at the BBC stuck the EAR lead in the MIC socket, and vice versa. The result was the audio from the hosts' microphones didn't get recorded to videotape, their words were only picked up by the general studio microphones. You can just about make out what Bates and Brookes are saying but the pair are frequently drowned out by the sound of the crowd.

I normally watch Top of the Pops from a comfy chair in front of the television but this time I'm hunched over my computer listening via earphones and having to decipher the soundtrack like some pioneering radio ham trying to pick up Hilversum on a crystal set.

The other oddity of this archive copy. It has no on screen captions. Apparently 14/07/1988 was a technical nightmare at Television Centre. And, speaking of technical nightmares, check out the moment 45 seconds into the Transvision Vamp performance -just after the first transition to a crane shot- when the camera bashes into one of the neon lighting units hanging from the ceiling and the picture shakes violently. Who's driving that thing?

Two notes about Transvision Vamp. One, I've persisted for decades in calling them Transmission Vamp. Two, it turns out Transvision Vamp are the reason I don't remember The Primitives, my memory amalgamated them into a single group.

 

[2] SALT 'N' PEPA: push it. The pressure of live television causes Simon Bate's brain to jump a time-track.  He back announces Transvision Vamp as “That's Salt N Pepa... coming up after Transvision Vamp.” Nice recovery Bates. Salt 'N' Pepa are aloof from such errors because they are on video but it's a different video from the one Top of the Pops showed two weeks ago, 30/06/1988. That one, listed on Youtube as the official promo, features concert footage. This one is much more basic and shows the group pushing it in a tiny studio, and is missing (I think) producer Hurby Azor. The bloke in the official video handling the “ah-push it” duties; or at least he pretends to, it's really a sample. There's no clue where or when this footage was recorded.

TOP 40 FROM 40 TO 31. Now the hosts' audio is totally muted. Bruno Bookes makes mouth shapes at the camera but all that can be heard is an odd whirl of tape noise as the Salt-N-Pepa video spools to a halt off screen. The charts run with captions, because they are edited together as a package which is played into the studio, but there is no commentary. I know at the chart countdown used to be recorded earlier in the day, during rehearsal. That can't be the case now because if the audio was also being played in from video (as it was with Salt-N-Pepa) I would be able to hear it. Apparently by 1988 the chart countdowns were being done live during the broadcast (or recording for broadcast).

Because the wrong audio channel is being recorded a few muttered moments of studio gallery chatter can be heard during the charts. As the ERASURE caption comes on screen a voice can be heard saying “this is really quiet on foldback” followed by a request to Martin, something like “Martin that's something quite low through.” Then finally a brusque “thank you.”

[7] UB 40 WITH CHRISSIE HYNDE: breakfast in bed. A repeat from 23/06/1988. The edit into the repeat is really abrupt. A legacy of the sound errors? Maybe.

It's at this point I remember the really helpful comment left by mumu03 under the write up for the 30/06/1988 and 07/07/1988 double bill. Point your internet browser to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Z5rs6XkwI and you'll find an edited off air recording in which the hosts are all properly audible and the captions, played in live, are visible. A few quick moments of research establish that “Martin” must be Martin Deane, credited ironically with Sound this week. I also learn the edit into UB40 is equally terrible on the off air copy. The caption used on the repeat also has a rogue space, turning UB40 into UB 40.

TOP 40 BREAKERS: [28 ZIGGY MARLEY & THE MELODY MAKERS tomorrow people]; [20 DEF LEPPARD love bites]; [30 PAT BENATAR all fired up].

[18] DEBBIE GIBSON: foolish beat. On video.

TOP 40 FROM 30 TO 11. No gallery chat this time, disappointingly.

[29] WEE PAPA GIRL RAPPERS: heat it up. Great. But I have nothing constructive to add.

TOP 10. A little more talkback. I think someone says “here we go,” as the BROS caption appears on screen.

[1] GLEN MEDEIROS: nothing's gonna change my love for you. A repeat of Glenn's performance from last week. No cake for Glenn this time but you do get the chance to see Simon Mayo and Janice Long again. Some remarkably slack editing means last week's hosts appear on screen for about two seconds as the tape runs on into their final link, before it cuts back to Simon Bates and Bruno Brookes. “Listen, it's twenty eight minutes past seven,” says Bates. His second time check of the evening. However, lets cut him some slack because this turns out to be his last regular host shift. As he says “see ya... bye,” that's it. He's off to see Michael Jackson at Wembley. Eight years at the Top of the Pops coal face end here. This, was his finest hour https://thiswayupzine.blogspot.com/2017/11/top-of-pops-28-oct-1982.html

[14] MICHAEL JACKSON: dirty diana. On video. Who's hosting next week? No idea. No one bothers to tell us.

Plus... on my downloaded copy towards the end of the Michael Jackson video the audio (which is suddenly working) fades to someone shouting and general studio chatter. “OK everybody. What a wonderful show we've just done. Give yourselves a round of applause. Ok. We've got a nice treat for you. The Mac Band. Round of applause for the Mac Band please!” [now the picture cuts back to the studio] “Now you're going to be on two shows running. Alright. We're just setting the stage and setting the cameras. So bear with us for a little while... Who didn't enjoy the show?” [heckles of “me”... “me” from some showoffs] Who didn't enjoy the show? [louder “me”s] Well go home now then... [laughter and a few mocking “bye”s]. We're going to have some music and I want you to get some groove going [the Mac Band, Roses Are Red, begins to play and the picture cuts out as my recording stops].

 PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: Transmission Transvision Vamp, I Want Your Love.