TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
1970
The first major re-
Credibility was paramount if you were an 'underground' band, so would you want to be seen on something as ephemeral as Top of The Pops? Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull argued his case to Beat Instrumental in late 1970 "Doing Top of the Pops is important because, however plastic and phoney it is, it does give people a chance to see us. I hope people get a kick out of seeing us there miming away. If you can ever switch on your set and see an hour of the Nice or the Family, then I'd like to think that we helped bring that situation about by appearing on Top of the Pops. The fault isn't with the Top of the Pops people, but the BBC itself, because it won't take any chances. But the situation can only improve until the 'underground' becomes a socially accepted thing. Then it'll find its place on TV and radio."
Tony Blackburn and Jimmy Savile will host alternate shows, while dance troupe Pan's
People will now perform a routine in each show. They must have felt they had finally
arrived as they were now getting a credit in the Radio Times. There will also be
a weekly prize of the top ten singles to the best dancer and the best dressed member
of the audience to be presented by a celebrity. A new title sequence had been designed
using a new Perspex logo with Pan's People dancing to the new theme. Although the
titles were new the show still retained its clarion call "yes, it's number one, it's
Top of The Pops", but this time it was played over a strange animation of the host
with a ventriloquist dummy's mouth. The New Release and Tip for the Top features
seemed to have gone, but new releases continued to be featured, however both sections
would later be re-
Instrumental hits were used as a link between each song while the host was green-
It was good news for viewers in March as the Musicians Union decided to lift their ban on American musical artists appearing on British TV. The American Federation of Musicians had imposed their own ban on all foreign artists, with the UK MU retaliating. However, a few American artists had appeared regardless. A similar agreement is announced the following year.
The chart used every week was compiled by the British Market Research Bureau, who would now provide the chart until 1983. The producers hoped to avoid tied placings which, on one occasion in 1966, resulted in three records tied for number one, but on several occasions in the mid seventies the wrong number one would be announced on a Tuesday, only to be amended hours later, causing anguish to the producers trying to assemble the show.
Producer Johnnie Stewart was given a year's sabbatical and the show was taken over by Mel Cornish and Stanley Dorfman. The new production team introduced an album spot with a chosen act playing songs from their new LP. Dorfman told Melody Maker "We shall feature artists doing two or three tracks from their albums on Top Of The Pops each week. At present we cover maybe 11 singles. This new policy will mean two or three fewer, but album tracks by soloists as well as groups will be a regular feature. There will also be new sets. Top Of The Pops will be given a new look, one hopes. But Pan's People and the orchestra will be the same." The LP spot would be dropped when Stewart returned as it was felt that it ruined the flow of the programme, however a new version of the New Release spot would continue until the mid seventies. Dorfman would leave the show in April to work on the forthcoming Glen Campbell series. Brian Whitehouse, who had previously worked on location filming for the show, replaces him.
Colour TV breathed new life into the show and the dancers, both professional and
in the audience, became a bigger part of the show's appeal than ever before. The
colourful clothing and the girls' mini-
By 17th September a new time slot 7:05 -
In October session band CCS release a cover of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love and
it is decided that a re-
In the past many of the acts were miming and the audience response was real, however
with the re-
Thursday 12th November 1970 saw the Pops debut of T.Rex, whose Ride A White Swan had been a slow climber since its release in September and although this probably wasn't the Great Glam Breakthrough, something new was brewing, and with the demise of The Beatles and The Stones seemingly on sabbatical maybe 1971 would be something to look forward too.
1971
The show continues in the same time slot, but on 11th March Ed Stewart joined Savile and Blackburn in hosting duties rotation.
The new opening credits featured a woman (in a car and a boat) with garish video effects to exaggerate the colour, although the names of the artists appearing would be added to the credit sequence by the middle of the year. The chart run down featuring the number one record now becomes part of the main show itself with a chart hit playing over it, but by the middle of the year it would move back to the beginning of the show again.
The new set design was more minimalist that the one from the previous year with larger stages with the audience now in front of them, and a blackout background. Although the set design would change from time to time the basis would remain until the early eighties.
The 25th March show featured another appearance by Marc Bolan's T. Rex, but this time it was noticeable that he had glitter under his eyes, while another band tagged with the glitter/glam label Sweet made their Pops debut a week later. Bowie's legendary Starman clip wouldn't be for another year, but he might have appeared on the 27th May show, backing Peter Noone on piano for his cover of Bowie's Oh You Pretty Things. We had a glimpse of the future.
In July the Musician's Union ban on foreign artists appearing on the show is lifted after about two years. Curtis Mayfield and his group record a session on June 30th for inclusion in the 8th July show, with The James Gang to follow.
The scheduling of the show proved problematic throughout the summer with the show
appearing in differing time slots and lengths, but by late September it seemed to
have settled down to 7:25 -
30th September saw American band Seatrain take the final LP Spot selection. The Pops's
album alternative The Old Grey Whistle Test had just begun it's fifteen-
The show celebrated its 400th show on 11th November with guest appearances by among
others Sandie Shaw and Clive Dunn suggesting that perhaps the industry were giving
the show less support then they had done in the past. Johnnie Stewart told the Melody
Maker "We hope to have a few names dropping in on the show, and Tony Blackburn will
be cutting a cake. But we shan't be looking back -
Caravel Film Services (later Caravel Film Techniques Ltd) would provide many of the specially shot clips for tracks where the artist could not appear. These would feature location shots with actors or models acting out the lyrics, while sometimes more abstract clips would be provided.
The TOTP orchestra would occasionally be in shot when accompanying a solo singer, seemingly dressed in uniform.
A Sunday newspaper expose alleging that young girls had been given access to stars
on the show led to a new security arrangement. Disc revealed in February 1972 "Security
at the studios has been tightened since last year's Sunday newspaper scandal, but
group-
A guest appearance makes part two the 1971 Christmas show one of the classics when Elton John plays piano on T.Rex's Get It On, even though he's not featured in either of the Christmas shows himself, and it's Rick Wakeman actually playing piano on the record he’s miming to.
1972
Savile, Blackburn and Stewart are still the regular hosts as the new year begins
with the show parked in the 7:25 -
Glam Rock was somehow less potent without its visuals and Top of the Pops became everyone's Glam memories, it's just a shame that so few of the shows exist from this important year.
About the time Top Of The Pops won the Disc music paper TV Show of the Year in February
it was getting about 12 million viewers each week. Disc commented on the subject
of pluggers, "Stars like Cilia, Cliff, Lulu and Olivia, plus the "untouchables" such
as McCartney, Lennon, Stones and T. Rex, are assured of this valued platform. While
"bubbling under" newcomers find it harder; often having to pander to producers' preferences,
hustling their hopeful hits via promotion teams at the all-
The opening titles changed slightly to include a carousel and a car on a motorway.
In April Jimmy Savile and producer Johnnie Stewart appear on BBC1's Talkback to respond to audience points of criticisms about the show, with Savile claiming that the usual TOTP film clips of young women walking through a wood or forest was as a result of a limited budget. Disc weekly music paper claimed "Perhaps Messrs Savile (a member of the "Beeb"s" advisory council, incidentally) and Stewart are getting just a little out of touch as far as what the viewing fans want?"
A show in June sees audience members sporting promotional stickers for the band Argent, this might be one of the first occasions when promo people or pluggers gave away items to the crowd, a tactic which would become more prevalent throughout the seventies.
Concerns about the lack of archive material leads one videotape engineer, Bob Pratt, to make copies of some of the best clips before the master tape is wiped, and it is down to him that we can now see now classic clips of Bowie and Roxy Music from this year.
1973
Top of the Pops begins with a new time slot 6:45 -
The opening credits are amended once again, this time it now includes a woman in
an old-
Complaints are made public about records not being played anywhere near complete, cutting some tracks in half in order to get more songs in the broadcast.
In April the show disappears for a few weeks returning on Friday 27th April from
6:50 -
The 13th September show sees the Pops return to its proper Thursday spot and a more
familiar time slot of 7:25 -
All four regular DJs appear together for the 500th edition on 4th October, which
to mark the anniversary was given an hour long slot from 7 till 8 pm and featured
many of the day's stars either appearing in the studio or contributing filmed messages.
During the rehearsals The Who's roadies pelt Cliff Richard with wigs from the BBC
props department. The wigs re-
Problems of another kind reared its head when The Osmonds appeared in October. Dozens of fans had turned up at Television Centre hoping not only to see their idols, but maybe gatecrash the show. A solitary BBC commissionaire was on duty at his post and while physically checking to see if the gates were secure enough had his hand grabbed and bitten by a fan, leading to not only a tetanus jab for him, but a ban from BBC Television Centre for both The Osmonds and David Cassidy.
8th November sees Radio 1's Dave Lee Travis join the show, replacing Kenny Everett who leaves the BBC to join London's Capital Radio.
The show gets several new credit sequences around this time finishing off with a countdown from 30 to 1.
There was only one Christmas show broadcast this year as the time-
1974
Radio 1's Johnnie Walker joins Edmonds, Blackburn, Savile and Travis for a few editions
at the beginning of the year, but doesn't last long, however he returns in 1994 as
voice-
Emperor Rosko and Paul Burnett joined the show as occasional hosts, as was Greg Edwards, the show's first black presenter. He left quickly though, joining Kenny Everett at Capital Radio. Despite joining this year Burnett would go missing throughout 1975, only to return the following year.
A strike by BBC production assistants would force the show off the air from 20th
June to 8th August. The 15th August show, pre-
On the 13th September the show moves back to Friday from 7:05 -
It was during 1974 that the show stopped using clips of the audience dancing to fill the time where the artist couldn’t / wouldn’t appear and a promo clip didn’t exist. They would still be seen dancing at the end of some shows for years to come.
Long-
However, the most notable event in this year crept in very slowly, but would grow
in strength over the next two years and by 1977 would re-
1975
The team of Savile, Edmonds, Rosko, Travis, Stewart and Blackburn continue to take
it in turns to present the Pops throughout the year. The only real change would be
the gradual phasing out of the show's commissioned film clips favouring bought-
The opening credit film sequence now disappears, leaving it to the host to say hello, followed by the top thirty chart run down with the now familiar Whole Lotta Love theme. The end sequence continues to use the fish eye and other effects lenses.
The inclusion of often bizarre appearances from the more showbiz, middle of the road end of the pop spectrum continues to make the younger audience roll their eyes in disbelief, but cross promotion is deemed important enough, however, this would leave The Pops sometimes indistinguishable from shows like Seaside Special.
Despite support for the show early in his career having to re-
Payments of some kind had been made to Radio 1 DJs and producers by record companies and pluggers in the early seventies, a practice that had probably gone on since the pirate radio days. Lurid stories involving Radio 1 DJs at drugs and prostitute parties made newspaper headlines at the time while the inclusion of unknown bands and low chart placed singles would also raise suspicions about Top Of The Pops. London Weekend TV would later drop a Mike Mansfield show as it was revealed that record companies had a direct hand it its financing.
There is no audience present for either of the two Christmas shows, so Travis and Savile try to out prank each other while Blackburn and Edmonds attempt to out pun each other.
1976
The uncomfortable truth for the Radio 1 DJs was that for each one that left, another would replace him and the show would carry one regardless without much notice from the audience and critics, let alone controversy. But the public response to the decision to replace the weekly dance troupe Pan's People with a newer, younger troupe showed the DJs who the stars of the show really were. On the 29th of April the dancers tackled two songs, Andrea True Connection and The Four Seasons and that was it, no thanks or even acknowledgment. Pan's regular Ruth Pearson would give up dancing and help assemble the next troupe. A valuable contribution, since the unstoppable march of disco would see the dancers' enter a new phase. Dee Dee Wide had a damaged ankle and had it bandaged for the last few months and left at the end of 1975, Babs had married actor Robert Powell and also decided to leave, Flick by that time had also retired as a dancer, so a new troupe was inevitable.
6th May 1976 would see the debut of Ruby Flipper, a team of seven dancers, three
men and four women (including two from Pan's People). This time around the dancers
would occasionally be seen dancing behind a singer as well as their own number. Flick
Colby had a meeting with a concerned Head of Light Entertainment, Bill Cotton. "Bill
Cotton called me in and said the British pubic didn't want to see black men dancing
with white women." An excuse that they weren't as popular as their predecessors was
created and Ruby Flipper were disposed of after five months. Talking to Music Week
in 1979 Flick Colby was honest about the demise of the show's most famous aspect.
"Pan's People died a natural death. All the original members had left for various
reasons. I also felt, prematurely as it turned out, that all-
There would also be one other new face as ex-
The show came under the remit of BBC Television's Light Entertainment department
and it was evident by the mid-
More and more promo clips are provided by record companies negating the need for the show to film its own clips when an act couldn't make the show, but the TOTP made clips would still occasionally appear.
Still more non-
Eddie and the Hot Rods appear on the 26th September show and although not the year zero of punk just like T Rex in November 1970 it certainly shows there's a change on the way.
The 21st October show sees the debut of the new dance troupe, this time six girls just like Pan's People, but they have no name, so a competition is held to name them. Legs and Co is chosen and they appear with the new name on the 11th November, while the following week new presenter Dave 'Kid' Jensen makes his debut.
The year seemed to be infected more than ever by novelty records and 'silly' behaviour by the hosts who saw themselves as potential hosts of other Light Entertainment programmes, extending their brand. Despite wanting to be seen on the show the studio audience looked bored and barely moved compared to just a few years earlier. Many of them took no interest in what they were watching.
The two Christmas shows see Travis and Edmonds bagging the Christmas Day show, while Savile and Blackburn took Boxing Day duties.
1977
The presenting team is now Savile, Edmonds, Travis, Blackburn, Burnett, Hamilton
and Jensen, and Peter Powell (with Radio 1 since 1971) would join at the end of the
year, while the show keeps a regular time-
Five years on, glam-
19th May 1977 not only sees The Jam make their debut, but members of the audience are seen pogoing. Something is happening. The following week The Stranglers made their debut, despite not having a top forty hit.
The Pops goes along with the BBC blanket ban of The Sex Pistols' God Save The Queen,
but they at least acknowledge it on the chart run-
Both punk/new wave and disco are regularly represented in the show, however many
new releases that would never trouble the charts were still making their way onto
the show leading to accusations of pay for play, compromising the integrity of the
show. Stories of chart-
The 21st July show bids a fond farewell to the Whole Lotta Love theme as it's replaced by a current hit played over the chart run down, taking us back to the presentation style before the theme was implemented.
1977 sees new visual breakthroughs. The 700th show broadcast in August uses hand-
Anyone who sees the shows from about this time can't help but notice a marked deterioration
in the quality of the musical accompaniment by the orchestra and the backing singers.
Simultaneous timing by musicians and singers was now a coincidence if it happened
at all. Check out the first Barry Biggs clip for an excruciating example. Sadly,
this would continue until both band and singers were disposed of in the early eighties.
Bands were still expected to re-
The Pops studio audience were not average gig-
Novelty records were still being played, but by now they were beginning to appear sinister, rather than just out of place.
Despite his previous reservations about the show Elton John takes over hosting duties on December 15th, a task he would do again several years later. It was also during this show that a new video console was implemented using computer generated graphics when wiping from one camera to another.
For several years, the behaviour of some of the presenters was giving some cause for concern backstage, but it would be decades before the public got to know the sad and shameful truth.
Wings' ode to Scots' mist Mull of Kintyre spends many weeks at the top of the chart and sells in excess of two million copies, and over the next year many other singles would sell in their millions, leading to probably the longest spell of million sellers the UK charts would ever see.
Again, there was no audience present for the Christmas shows, but Whole Lotta Love returns to introduce the show.
1978
We didn't expect it but we were about to experience another golden era, despite the fact that real punk and hardcore disco were beginning to feel watered down.
Althea and Donna are the unlucky recipients of probably the worst TOTP orchestra backing ever in January. The band just seemed incapable of playing any contemporary black music. By September things got worse as the drummer had been given syn' drums.
With the inevitable passing of time many of the punk acts seemed to veer more towards pop, making it easy to jump the queue onto the show, while the less hardcore gay disco also made its way to Television Centre. Pretty much every post punk act from wordsmiths like Elvis Costello to street poets like Sham 69 were seen most weeks. Except of course for one. The Clash refused to appear in person as they would have been required to mime, despite miming in their promo clips. Jimmy Pursey defended appearing on the show saying that young fans that couldn't get into the gigs could see them on the telly, something that never occurred to The Clash.
Talking to The Stage in February producer Robin Nash makes a surprising claim "I'd
love Top of the Pops to be live. That's when the adrenalin begins to flow. People
are using the television medium in the wrong way: rehearse, record, edit -
The show, for probably the first time in its history, found genuine competition and had no option but to try and compete. Thames TV's The Kenny Everett Video Show/Cassette had launched in the summer and its dance troupe Hot Gossip were raunchy, not like the comparatively maidenly Legs and Co. It used promo clips like they were a part of the show, not obviously crowbarred into an otherwise studio bound programme, while the gifted host was genuinely funny, not someone who thought they were funny. But most of all he had earned respect from the people who worked on the show, not contempt, or even disgust.
The BBC's biggest star, both on radio and TV Terry Wogan appeared twice on the show, performing his novelty hit, a take on The Floral Dance, waving flowers around like Morrissey would do five years' later.
In the autumn the producer thought getting Hilda Baker and Arthur Mullard to do their
Grease routine was a good idea. Or perhaps it was an "up yours" to RSO and Paramount
for not producing the real stars for their show. Throughout the whole Saturday Night
Fever and Grease era only Yvonne Elliman ever appeared on the show in person, despite
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-
Radio 1's Mike Read joins in November after his duties of hosting Yorkshire TV's Pop Quest are over.
It was also a sad inevitability that we were also witnessing the closing days of two major British record companies, Pye and Decca. Kept alive in the latter days by The Smurfs and songs about Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs there seemed to be an unwillingness on behalf of their respective owners to save them.
Once again there is no audience in attendance for the Christmas Day show, but this time it's due to a strike by the Association of Broadcasting Staff. Although the strike is called off just before Christmas it doesn't give the production team enough time to arrange a new studio show, so Noel Edmonds presents a clip show from a fake production office.
1979
The team hosting the show this year are Powell, Travis, Jensen, Read, Savile and Blackburn, while Andy Peebles, Paul Burnett and Simon Bates are given a show each.
The prototype computer graphics become a little more adventurous this year, but still don't smother the shows look, however an appearance by Electro dance act Telex on the 800th show gives the graphics department an excuse to show what they can do. Anyone who saw the Kenny Everett shows from about this time would be familiar with the results. The 800th show also sees another return for the Whole Lotta Love theme.
A fifteenth anniversary article in the UK music retailers magazine Music Week outlines
what happens in the TOTP office. "Every Friday record company promotion people arrive
at BBC Television Centre at While City to see the producer of the following Thursday's
show. These are not your average pluggers trying the hard sell. An atmosphere has
been carefully nurtured by executive producer, Robin Nash, in which the record companies
know exactly where they stand and relations are very happy. The criteria for a TOTP
appearance are well known and so the promotional visit consists mainly of acquainting
the production staff with artist information and availability, plus future product.
The conversation is full of 'ifs' and 'buts'". The chart is phoned through to the
production office on Tuesday morning, but that week's producer must have some inkling
as to what was likely to happen, so a vague line-
The show still features a number of records that are outside of the top thirty, many
of which are also the result of aggressive promotional tactics like coloured vinyl
and picture discs. Record pluggers were ruthless and did anything to get their act
on the show. On one occasion in summer 1980 Judd Lander from Epic Records and indie
plugger Olly Smallman camped overnight in producer Phil Bishop's office, winning
themselves a photo op' for music trade magazine Music Week. David Essex's manager
Derek Bowman told Music Week that an appearance could add another 20,000 sales to
a single. However, the show still sticks to their self-
A swarm of punk-
The Pops Orchestra and singers still have problems backing live singers, especially
disco/dance acts. An appearance by The Jacksons leads to complaints by their father
about the lacklustre orchestral backing. The shows' backing singers The Ladybirds
are re-
Bizarre requests to censor lyrics sees the Pops management in disagreement with Squeeze, Chas & Dave and The Gang of Four who, in a fit of pique, decide the show wasn't worth compromising for and walk off.
Autumn 1979 sees one edition reach an audience of nineteen million due to the ITV
strike, while November brings a one-
The studio audience still seem restless and unhappy with boredom only broken up by looking at the monitors in order to see themselves. It was obvious that the canned applause between the songs was undeserved. It could only get better.
TOP OF THE POPS
The 1970s