Anyone else watching TOTP 1981 on BBC4?

[Bad Dog]

A lot of it's nostalgia, but there is a cruel moment in pop history coming up. They showed two episodes last week. On Thursday it was Tommy Vance and Ultravox were 6th in the charts with Vienna. Last night's showing with Simon Bates had John Lennon on number 1 with Woman, (it was just after his murder, on Thursday Imagine was number 1.) Number 2 was Phil Collins with In the Air Tonight and Ultravox had moved up to number 2.

They also showed a "joke" record, Joe Dolce with Shaddap you Face, which had just crept into the charts at number 30. He did a panto performance complete with a blackboard and pointer so the audience could join in. At the end Simon Bates condescendingly said I'm sure it will be a hit before moving on to the "hits that matter," the top ten.

Now I'm sure you're all aware that Joe Dolce pipped Ultavox to number 1. That should be next weeks or the week after, (unless Savile or Travis presented it) and part of me is looking forward to the looks of amazement as Dolce races up the charts to the top spot.

Yes is was a tragedy, Vienna is a brilliant song and Shaddap you face is a joke, but it's already happened, and there's so very little joy in life at the moment what with Cameron at number ten and Nigel Farage still being alive.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. The charts, especially the singles, are littered with "bad decisions" by the public

Best selling single in 1965, when The Beatles released Ticket to Ride, Help!, and We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper, and the Stones released Satisfaction? Tears, by Ken Dodd.

I was looking at the UK best selling albums of all time, after Glenn Frey's death had people pointing out The Eagles' Greatest Hits (pre-Hotel California) as one of the biggest selling albums of all time. A lot of it is what you'd expect - greatest hits of very popular bands like Queen and ABBA, or albums by big acts at their peak - Sergeant Pepper, Thriller. But at number 17 we have 'Urban Hymns' by The Verve. Where the hell did that come from? And where did they go to? And at 16 there's James Blunt; I can remember him being flavour of the year, but I could never work out why. But he made an album that sold more, in the UK, than anything by The Who, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Elton John, U2 ...

[Bad Dog]

2. I remember chirpy chirpy cheep cheep spending weeks at the top.

I was a kid so I liked it, but it was,(and still is) awful.

[LeftishBrit]

5. That's a blast from the past! I actually like it, though at the same time I realize it's awful!

There are a number of songs like that for me.

The ones that I think are awful AND that I hate include Bobby Goldsboro's 'Honey'; Paul Evans' awful 'Hello This is Joanie', and my ABSOLUTE worst, 'No Charge' by Melba Montgomery.

[Bad Dog]

6. I think No Charge is equally as bad as One Day at a Time by Lena Martell

A load of sanctimonious horseshit where all the world's problems boil down to other people. If only we could all be tub thumping evangelists, the world's problems would disappear overnight.

[LeftishBrit]

7. Oh, don't remind me of that one..

Last edited Sun Jan 24, 2016, 11:39 AM - Edit history (1)

'Do you remember when you walked among men
Well Jesus you know if you're looking below
Its worse now than then
Cheating and stealing, Violence and crime
Help me today, Show me the Way, One day at a time'

As if there was no 'cheating and stealing, violence and crime' 2000 years ago!

[Bad Dog]

8. I don't think Jesus said anything about "crime"

Like black people using white only toilets.



It's worse now than then.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Agree

Last edited Sat Jan 23, 2016, 04:21 PM - Edit history (1)

'Ticket to Ride' in particular has always been one of my favourite songs, and especially as a kid, I really loved 'Satisfaction'; a relative had the record, and apparently I used to go around singing 'I can't get no SATISFACTION!!!' -really suitable song for a 5-or 6-year old! I think I just liked the word 'satisfaction'.

'Tears' by Ken Dodd beating these???

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. 'Fraid so; the biggest sales each year is a bit of a disaster zone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_singles_by_year_in_the_United_Kingdom

Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out did at least get into the top 50 all-time sales at 1.39 million, but Tears beats it with 1.52m.

http://www.nme.com/photos/the-uks-top-50-million-selling-singles/290240

(a bit of disagreement between the 2 lists, but they roughly match)

[Nye Bevan]

11. Without looking, name the most successful UK pop group of 1974.

http://bit.ly/1UHbRxD

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Hmm - assuming singles, too early for the Bay City Rollers, I'd say

so I'm going to guess 'Mud'.

[LeftishBrit]

13. I will make a wild guess: 'Wizzard'?

If not, my other guess is Slade.

ETA: I finally did look, and discovered that I was totally wrong - should have guessed, especially as I grew up in Wimbledon!

[Bad Dog]

9. Just saw "this week's" TOTP

John Lennon is still at number one with Ultravox up two places to number two. Ultravox's video was played, but no mention of Joe Dolce who shot up from number thirty to number three. It's like watching a slow motion car crash, next Thursday's should be the shocker.

[Bad Dog]

10. Sorry, there's 2 a week.

Thursday and Friday. On Friday Dolce hit the number 1 spot, and he's going to be number 1 on Thursday too. There's a lot of rockabilly in the '81 charts as well, none of which I remembered.