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Off The Chart: 29 June 1981 (with a red triangle in the top left corner)

Off The Chart: 29 June 1981

Listeners are advised that this week’s Off The Chart includes strong language and scenes of a sexual nature. Yes, even more so than usual. It also includes a brace of obscure hits from this day in 1981, as well as a look at the day’s events, three of the week’s new hit albums, a track from a John Peel session broadcast on this day, a romp through the West German chart (which could go either way depending on how the football goes earlier in the evening) and the top five in full.

  • Who quit one band struggling outside the top 50 this week to join another in much the same position?
  • Whose first hit was described as sounding like “Dave Edmunds singing a song by Chris Sievey”?
  • And whose only top 40 hit had both the title and artist’s name censored by Tony Blackburn?

Tune in and find out!


Listen to Off The Chart on Noisebox Radio at 9pm every Tuesday! You can stream Noisebox Radio via their website, their apps for iOS or Android, or through TuneIn and MyTuner, or ask your smart speaker to “play Noisebox Radio” – and don’t forget to tweet along using the hashtag #OffTheChart. If you’re not around, you can hear the show again on Noisebox Radio at 10am on Friday, or catch up on Mixcloud after that.

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Spotify playlists

If you’ve missed a previous edition they’re all on our Mixcloud page, or for a taster of the music we play, listen to our Spotify playlist Way Off The Chart including one track from each show!

We also have a Spotify playlist for our #ICEOTWF feature, including all (well, most) of the international hits we’ve played since the feature began in March 2017. There are all sorts of oddities in here, all of which were hits somewhere in the world but not in the UK!

“Don’t kid yourself you’ve seen it all before” – Top of the Pops, 6 August 1981

The Human League

“Ho-ho! Yes indeed! How about that!” Oops, look out, it’s Creepy Uncle Jimmy™ again, ruining another episode of TOTP with his continued unwelcome presence. This week he’s kitted out in a yellow satin top with “26.2” written on it – … read more

“All I’ve learned has overturned” – Top of the Pops, 23 July 1981

Tight Fit

“They always say it’s ‘Welcome to Top of the Pops‘ and tonight it’s just the same as ever!” Newsbeat’s Richard Skinner there, opening the UK’s top music show with a confusingly constructed sentence that rather downplays the sense of breathless … read more