Reviewed by
Chris Arnsby.
Mark Goodier: “Hello
and welcome...”
Steve Wright:
“Hello!!”
Mark Goodier:
“... to a very special Top of the Pops tonight because it's the first ever
nation-wide stereo simulcast.”
Steve Wright:
“The man speaks the truth!! And here are the frequencies!! In Central Scotland
at 98.6!!
Mark Goodier:
“Yup, 98.6”.
Steve Wright:
“In the north at 98.8 FM!!”
Mark Goodier:
“98.8”.
Steve Wright:
“And in the Midlands at 98.4 FM now!!”
Mark Goodier:
“98.4”.
Steve Wright:
“[to the crowd] Shut up you lot!!”
Mark Goodier:
“Brilliant. So make sure you turn down the TV sounds, switch up Radio 1 FM...”
Steve Wright:
“Woo!!”
Mark Goodier:
“... and hear crystal clear stereo Top of the Pops. Now our first band tonight
have been away for a long time. Welcome them back. Straight in to 18 at the
chart, Level 42.”
The stereo
launch is marked with massive amounts of Radio 1FM branding slapped
around the screen. I don't know if Paul Ciani would have allowed this in his
studio, it kind of suggests Top of the Pop is just the television wing
of Radio 1 (FM) and I think both Ciani, and Michael Hurll before
him, would have preferred Top of the Pops to be regarded as a programme
in its own right.
Steve Wright
and Mark Goodier (ugh, what a combination it's like chalk!! and boiled
potatoes) are both wearing nasty white jackets. We never get a good look at
them, but they seem to have the Radio 1 eff em logo as a repeating
pattern, with a big red F on the right and on the left a corresponding M.
Meanwhile, Top
of the Pops is broadcasting across the UK in stereo and Level 42 get the
honour of being the first band on the first programme. Level 42. The band who
make music for edgy wine bars where the white wine is served in red wine
glasses!
[5] JULIO
IGLESIAS WITH STEVIE WONDER: my love. On
video.
TOP 40 FROM
40 TO 31. Steve Wright
and Mark Goodier have sensibly ditched the nasty jackets.
[7] WOMACK
AND WOMACK: teardrops. Stanley
Appel is really committed to recording Top of the Pops as a single
event. At the end of the Level 42 performance there was a lovely pull back to
bring Mark Goodier into shot so he could take us straight to the next song.
Likewise at the start of Teardrops Steve Wight introduces the song in a single
camera move [With a teenager clowning around right next to him, “hi mum”, and
apparently doing his best to sabotage the link. The kid's a television natural,
watch the way he moves so Steve Wright never masks him from the camera].
Anyway, at the
end of Womack and Womack watch out for Goodier and Wright scuttling for
position at the back of the stage so they can be ready for the Breakers.
BREAKERS: [24 GUNS & ROSES sweet child of
mine]; [19 GLORIA ESTEFAN & MIAMI SOUND MACHINE anything for you]; [14 YELLO the race].
[12]
A-HA: touchy. “We're having so much fun on this stereo Top of the Pops,” intones
Mark Goodier with the passion of someone wondering when the kettle will boil.
There's an abrupt edit into a-ha. It would have been noticeable in a regular
show but here, where everything has been as seamless as possible, it really
stands out. I suspect this was a pre-recorded performance.
TOP
40 FROM 30 TO 11.
[6] BOMB THE BASS: megablast/don't make me wait. It's a video effect. Check out the super false colour/solarisation at the start. Lovely. The single is a double-A side with Megablast and I'd have quite liked them to give that a play, but if I want to listen to it I can always go and play Xenon 2 Megablast.
TOP 10.
[1]
YAZZ AND THE PLASTIC POPULATION: the only way is up. Yazz can't make it into the
studio so here's the video.
I've
got a complicated relationship with The Only Way is Up. On one hand its a
brilliant pop song on the other it reminds me of a very specific point in my
life when I was bored beyond the event horizon of sanity.
I
briefly got a summer job in a frozen chicken factory. At the end of the packing
line were people who sorted the prepared chickens into boxes by weight. My job
was to turn the chickens round as they came down the conveyor belt so the
packers could easily read the labels. This was very boring. One day I noticed
the conveyor belt had a seam in it. I timed how long it took the seam to do a
single circuit of the belt. Then I worked out how long it was until the next
break. Then I worked out how many circuits the conveyor belt would do in this
time. Then I counted the number down.
The
factory piped Radio 1 (pre-FM) onto the factory floor. This was peak
popularity for The Only Way is Up. It was also the peak period for the Radio
1 playlist and every DJ wanted to play the Number One song, so over the
course of the working day I'd hear The Only Way Is Up at least four times (Simon
Bates, The Radio 1 Roadshow, Gary Davies, Steve Wright), going up to five
if Simon Mayo played it after 9am on The Breakfast Show. Thus, I have a
very odd association between hearing the waah-waah sound of the trumpets and
thinking, “thank god, into single digits, only nine more times round until the
next break.”
[9]
PHIL COLLINS: a groovy kind of love. Top of the Pops ends with Mark Goodier
playing the role of continuity announcer for BBC1 and Radio 1. “Stand
by on Radio 1 for the seven-thirty news and for Eastenders on BBC1.”
Mike
Read and Andy Crane next week. You will remember to tune in next week won't
you. In stereo.
Me:
Bomb the Bass, Julio Inglesias with Stevie Wonder, Womack and Womack, Level 42,
a-ha, Yazz and the Plastic Population, Phil Collins
I personally think all the Radio 1 branding being brought in could've been done in anticipation of more of the kids TV presenters coming in - they keep that on-screen link to TOTP strong so nobody at R1 makes unapproving noises.
ReplyDeleteOf course TOTP did also celebrate R1's fifteenth on air anniversary in 1982 with its branding all over the place as well, but that was only temporary. And in the context of being the same month that they celebrated the BBC's own 60th too.