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Post by Windy Miller on Jan 19, 2016 16:30:51 GMT
It's just like buses - you wait for ages and then two turn up one after the other. Top Of The Pops bus number 220181 follows directly behind bus 080181, with the next edition of TOTPs broadcast this Friday, 15 January. And to continue the bus analogy, bus number 150181 was withdrawn from service because of problems with the driver (DLT) The 22 January 1981 edition of TOTPs is presented by Peter Powell and featured on the show are :- (6) The Look – “I Am The Beat” (14) Blondie – “Rapture” (45) Spandau Ballet – “The Freeze” (13) Racey – “Runaround Sue” (54) XTC – “Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me)” (23) Visage – “Fade To Grey” (8) Yarbrough & Peoples – “Don’t Stop The Music" (2) Adam & The Ants – “Antmusic” (64) Honey Bane – “Turn Me On, Turn Me Off” (22) Bad Manners – “Lorraine” (1) John Lennon – “Imagine” (30) The Gap Band – “Burn Rubber On Me” On paper, this looks like a good show, despite the number of repeat acts appearing. Blondie's "Rapture" which explored the new Hip-Hop genre, Spandau Ballet's New Romantic anthem "The Freeze", Visage's synth pop and New Romantic anthem "Fade To Grey" with accompanying promotional video, and XTC's "Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me)" are all stand out acts. John Lennon continues his run at No. 1 with "Imagine". In fact, this is the mid point of his six week run, and the video for this is the white piano in the white room which also features Yoko by John's side. A much better Top Of The Pops this week, and a monumental step forward in quality from the previous two 1981 editions. It was also a very inspirational show for many …. The Look get things underway with a new performance of “I Am The Beat”. The Look started their music careers as a Prog Rock group called The Creed, but they never got that breakthrough record. A change was needed, and the band renamed themselves as The Look, a name inspired by Jean Shrimpton. Who knows if Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, or Ice Cube ever got inspiration for writing “Straight Outta Compton” from listening to Blondie’s “Rapture” on Radio KJLH. What we do know is Rapture was the first Hip Hop rap video to be played on MTV. And Destiny's Child, “Independent Women” takes a sample of the song at 2:56. Back in the TOTPs studio are Spandau Ballet who put in a fine performance of “The Freeze”. Legs & Co perform to Yarbrough & Peoples – “Don’t Stop The Music”. Flick Colby must have taken inspiration from Spandau Ballet’s earlier hit “To Cut A Long Story Short”; the girls are dressed in similar Spandau tartan style, but interpreted as, “To Cut A Long Skirt [Very] Short” .... Skip over Racey, and next was XTC who are needing help (inspiration?) from Sgt. Rock in getting a girl into bed. So good luck to them with that. Then it’s Visage “Fade To Grey”. Climbing the charts to No.8, this pioneering piece of evocative synthpop sets new direction both musically and visually. Visage were very much at the forefront of the Music Industry’s shift towards embracing the promotional video to represent the artist. Visage were created at the tail end of the 1970's by Midge Ure and Rusty Egan. It’s Rusty Egan’s girlfriend who provides the French words on the record as she’s Belgian, and it’s Princess Julia who appears in the video saying them. 16 year old Honey Bane could have been what Toyah was (and still is) had luck dealt her a better hand. Her musical career began at the age of 14 in 1978 when she formed the punk rock band the Fatal Microbes. But the band split up due to Honey serving a stint in a juvenile detention centre. To help her relaunch her music career, manager and Sham 69-er Jimmy Pursey collaborated with her on the single “Turn Me On, Turn Me Off”. The record was a one hit wonder, and Bane took her career into other artistic directions, as an actor in the film Scrubbers, playing the part of Molly, and as a pin-up model for erotic magazines. I’m not a Bad Manners fan, and there’s way too much domestic violence in that song. If you want to see the piano John Lennon plays in the “Imagine” video, it’s in the Beatles Museum in Liverpool. Go there and be inspired.
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Jan 19, 2016 19:14:14 GMT
Oh i forgot we haven't reviewed Jan 22nd yet. I will move the next show after the reviews for Jan 22nd 1981. This is how i saw this episode: The Bad :w***er:
(6) The Look – “I Am The Beat” (64) Honey Bane – “Turn Me On, Turn Me Off” (13) Racey – “Runaround Sue” The "yeah it's alright section" (22) Bad Manners – “Lorraine” (30) The Gap Band – “Burn Rubber On Me” (54) XTC – “Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me)” The Good stuff
(8) Yarbrough & Peoples – “Don’t Stop The Music" (45) Spandau Ballet – “The Freeze” (1) John Lennon – “Imagine” The Cream (14) Blondie – “Rapture” (2) Adam & The Ants – “Antmusic” (23) Visage – “Fade To Grey”
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Post by Windy Miller on Jan 21, 2016 17:57:14 GMT
Looking at the tv schedule, it looks like we will get another "double bubble" TOTP week The first presented by Tommy Vance and the second is presented by Simon Bates. The first show broadcast on Thursday the 21 of January is TOTP from 29th January 1981Tommy Vance presents :
58. Slade – We’ll Bring The House Down 2 . John Lennon – Woman 44. The Stranglers – Thrown Away 18. Madness – The Return Of The Los Palmas 7 46. Sheila Hylton – The Bed’s Too Big Without You 6. Ultravox – Vienna 26. The Gap Band – Burn Rubber On Me 25. Diana Ross – It’s My Turn (Danced to by Legs&Co ) 3. Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight 29. Susan Fassbender – Twilight Cafe 1. John Lennon – Imagine 19. Heatwave – Gangsters Of The GrooveBig name acts on the show tonight, but some are repeats. Ultravox and Phil Collins were both on the not shown DLT episode from two weeks ago. And it's second appearances for Ultravox and Susan Fassbender, who also performed on the yewtree'd DLT show, but I think these are new performances. I have no recollection of Sheila Hylton although I'm familiar with the song I'm also familiar with the cafe that Madness used for the video for The Return Of The Los Palmas 7, which was the Venus Café, Golbrorne Road - now an Austrian restaurant.
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Post by Steve Austin on Jan 21, 2016 21:17:49 GMT
Jan 21, 2016 17:57:14 GMTWindy Miller said: I'm also familiar with the cafe that Madness used for the video for The Return Of The Los Palmas 7, which was the Venus Café, Golbrorne Road - now an Austrian restaurant. Influenced by Blondie
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Jan 21, 2016 21:19:43 GMT
There's a few on that list where the song doesn't spring to mind. I'm sure i'll know them when I watch it later.
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Post by Dirty Epic on Jan 22, 2016 9:21:39 GMT
Watched this last night. Enjoyed seeing Ultravox's performance and thought the more new wave/electronic style of The Stranglers was interesting, sort of Joy Division light in a way... even Hugh Cornwell had a similar haircut to Ian too. Madness promo I'd seen before and Sheila Hylton, Gap Band, Susan Fassbender and Heatwave were okay(ish) too. Interesting to see Slade. They seemed a bit out of place on there tbh and not sure how that single faired in the charts in '81 but not the worst I've seen/heard! John Lennon aside the rest I could take or leave esp Phil Collins... alright(ish) song but has been played to death over the years and considering his hypocrital anti stance to dance music/electronica in the 1990's there's a surprisingly high amount of synths, sequencers and drum machines being used on 'Air Tonight'. :w***er: Also thought Leg's & Co. were a little subdued with their Diana Ross performance too.
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Post by Dirty Epic on Jan 22, 2016 9:30:51 GMT
Influenced by Blondie Nah Suzanne Vega Steve!
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Post by Windy Miller on Jan 22, 2016 10:19:09 GMT
Top Of The Pops, BBC Four tonight, 22/01/2016 is from 05/02/1981, and introduced by Simon Bates. On the show are :-
(35) Stray Cats – “Rock This Town” (5) Blondie – “Rapture” (17) Spandau Ballet – “The Freeze” (19) Fred Wedlock – “The Oldest Swinger In Town” (12) Rainbow – “I Surrender” (11) Dire Straits – “Romeo & Juliet” (28) XTC – “Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me)” (15) Cliff Richard – “A Little In Love” (34) The Passions – “I’m In Love With A German Film Star” (30) Joe Dolce Music Theatre – “Shaddap You Face” (1) John Lennon – “Woman” (1) (video/credits)
Spandau Ballet, Dire Straits and XTC are repeat performances.
John Lennon retains No. 1 but with a different song
The German Film Star referred to in the song by The Passions – “I’m In Love With A German Film Star”, is not Klaus Kinski, Rutger Hauer or any other leading German actor of the early 1980s. It was instead the very British Stephen 'Roadent' Conolly, one time roadie for The Clash. He was however, for a time in the late 1970s a TV actor on German television, notably playing the Joker in the 1979 mini series Das Ding (The Heist).
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Post by Windy Miller on Jan 22, 2016 11:41:58 GMT
Watched this last night. Enjoyed seeing Ultravox's performance and thought the more new wave/electronic style of The Stranglers was interesting, sort of Joy Division light in a way... even Hugh Cornwell had a similar haircut to Ian too. Madness promo I'd seen before and Sheila Hylton, Gap Band, Susan Fassbender and Heatwave were okay(ish) too. Interesting to see Slade. They seemed a bit out of place on there tbh and not sure how that single faired in the charts in '81 but not the worst I've seen/heard! John Lennon aside the rest I could take or leave esp Phil Collins... alright(ish) song but has been played to death over the years and considering his hypocrital anti stance to dance music/electronica in the 1990's there's a surprisingly high amount of synths, sequencers and drum machines being used on 'Air Tonight'. :w***er: Also thought Leg's & Co. were a little subdued with their Diana Ross performance too. Most concerning part of the show was the message written across Tommy Vance's jersey :-
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Post by Dirty Epic on Jan 22, 2016 12:03:08 GMT
Oh yeah! In certain scene's Mr Vance had his arms over bits of the 'Rock' bit of that jumper suggesting something else! LOL!
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