It’s 1981 on this week’s Off The Chart as Steve and Julian play some of the week’s forgotten hits, three tracks from a featured album and the top five in full. Just how many terrible medley singles are there in … read more
Time for a celebration, as Michael Hurll has got his abacus out and decided that we’ve reached the 900th edition of Top of the Pops. Blow up the balloons! Break out the streamers! Bring on the dancing girls! And then … read more
Revisiting the chart of 2 July 1981. Steve and Julian play the records you don’t normally hear on a chart show, as well as three tracks from a featured album of the week and the entire top five singles, whether … read more
Finally! After months and months of recycling the same tired joke, the powers that be at TOTP have finally taken my advice and commissioned a proper theme tune and title sequence. Don’t tell anyone though, because it’s still under wraps … read more
Rush rush, busy busy, rush rush, busy busy! A combination of a condensed thirty minute show due to Wimbledon fortnight, the continuing lack of a proper opening sequence and a poorly chosen first song with a short intro means that … read more
“Hi folks! Welcome to Top of the Pops once again!” Well, hello sailor. It’s solid, reliable Peter Powell in charge this week, in a strangely nautical white shirt with navy blue stripes and – yes! – red trousers. A full … read more
Looking for a 54-year-old silver haired loon in a ridiculous tracksuit made up of random, uneven patches of different gaudy colours, desperately attempting to stay relevant to the record buying audience despite being old enough to be their grandfather? It’s … read more
“Yes, it’s Top of the Pops with today eleven top acts!” Six months on from Richard Skinner’s first solo hosting gig and Operation Make Skinner Look Less Like A Newsreader And More Like A Human Being is finally seeing some … read more
Hey everyone, let’s play “good news / bad news”! The good news is, after missing a huge chunk of musical history due to presenters’ off-screen activities and someone’s inability to record a live programme for the archive, BBC Four viewers … read more
If you had fond memories of late April and early May 1981 and were looking forward to reliving those memories via the BBC Four reruns of Top of the Pops, you’re probably feeling pretty short changed by now. What with … read more
That idea of showing two editions of TOTP a week on consecutive nights seemed great at the start of the year. Quickly, though, we ran into problems due to the, shall we say, unavailability of certain episodes. Miss out a … read more
By this stage of the BBC Four reruns the audience has formed itself into two distinct groups. One one hand there’s the casual viewer who isn’t really following the timeline but will greet every deviation from the norm – anything … read more
