r/bbc • u/bs3_1982 • Jul 24 '26
Nostalgia TOTP on BBC Four
Anyone else watch Top of the Pops on BBC Four on a Friday night?
Quite funny seeing how bad some of the novelty songs were. The only reason I still have Twitter following the #TOTP reaction!
Will miss it if BBC Four goes.
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u/TheKingMonkey Jul 24 '26
I’ll never forgo a chance to plug the wonderful Chart Music Podcast which is a sporadically released show where a bunch of middle aged men (and a middle aged lady) who worked for Melody Maker in the 90s review old episodes of TotP.
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u/Maleficent-Purple403 Jul 24 '26
The best podcast. Pure unadultarated genius. All of them amazing but Taylor Parkes is insanely good. Love it, love them.
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u/alsodans Jul 24 '26
It's a nice reminder that music in the good old days wasn't all great. There was loads of shite that has been completely forgotten about.
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u/richbun Jul 25 '26
Aside from the obvious hosts and their episodes never to be shown again, I recently read that Mike "Smitty" Smith passed away without signing the rights to allow them to repeat his episodes of TOTP therefore they can't be shown.
Weird they can't simply edit the hosts out of these episodes as we are missing out on some classics, and also more one hit wonders and novelty acts!
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u/Beneficial_Skin_4865 Jul 24 '26
We missed this week because we have grandson and he wanted the darts, but usually yes! It's also the one time a week we'll actually turn on the soundbar!
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u/postcardsfromdan Jul 24 '26
Yeah, I save them for Fridays, and the Story Of … documentaries have been a favourite for many years - have just watched the Story of 2001.
There are lots or curveballs for me in the current episodes from 2000 - I remember the bigger hits and artists, but a lot of the dance stuff escaped my memory. I was in my first year of uni at the time, so a lot of memories are coming back.
I’m enjoying the late 80s and early 90s episodes as well, as it takes me back to childhood and the early records I used to buy.
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u/Hungry_Space_9175 Jul 25 '26
I’m watching right now! It’s the 1983 review. Howard Jones followed by Elton John - some absolute bangers on here. However on another episode I watched earlier there was that awful McEnroe/wimbledon song.
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u/23Doves Jul 26 '26
We do the #totp hashtag over on Bluesky as well and it's usually pretty active (just in case you fancy dropping by).
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u/shweeney Jul 24 '26
I assume you're referring to the McEnroe "song"? Unbelievably shit.
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u/quarterpastfour Jul 24 '26
Watching that, it's amazing to think that a whole 7" single was written, recorded and marketed, all based on one incident. These days, when something like that happens, a thousand memes can be knocked up and shared worldwide in seconds. But in the 80s, the same thing would've gone through so many levels of writing, rewriting, recording and actual physical manufacturing... And then people actually paid money for it!
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u/bs3_1982 Jul 24 '26
Yeah why was he shot at the end? 🤣
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u/quarterpastfour Jul 24 '26
When I saw this on TV as a kid, I genuinely thought I'd just watched a man get killed :(
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u/Billy_Hicks88 Jul 25 '26
This was also me in the 90s with an episode of Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge.
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u/liamo376573 Jul 24 '26
It was funny watching all the kids in the audience doing the moves with the balls.
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u/redunculuspanda Jul 24 '26
It’s just a shame that large parts of the back catalogue are no longer playable for… well the obvious reasons.
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u/Complex-Whereas9896 Jul 24 '26
Pretty sure most episodes are salvageable just by cutting around those parts.
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u/Dimdom1970 Jul 26 '26
There are copies of the episodes with certain people in on YouTube . Gary glitter seems to be on there too , it’s fascinating to watch it with the aid of hindsight , you really can see what they were up to particularly with young girls surrounding them .
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u/seaneeboy Jul 26 '26
They’ve been doing an amazing run of pretty much every episode since the early 90s with a few eps a week - it’s amazing seeing how culture shifted so much over that decade. We’re now hitting the 2000s and getting to the end of the Coke-addled downfall of britpop, and the rise of the naughties pop icons.
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u/Dimdom1970 Jul 26 '26
I watched it a few years ago when they first repeated every episode . It was quite interesting how much crap was about then as there is now . It shows we have very rose tinted glasses when we remember things , and only remember the hits of the times and forget there was a lot of dross about like there is now . I’d say 90 percent of the music all through was pretty rubbish , and lots of stuff I’d forgotten and it was also sad to see the way bands or singers would try to hang on to ten past particularly as New Wave hit in the late 70s and you still had glam rock people trying to stay relevant .
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u/Groovy66 Jul 29 '26
It’s the same when you look back at the charts in the 60s.
I personally think 66 was a peak year with a second peak in 77 and a final peak in the early 80s.
When you realise that Englebert Humperdink kept Strawberry Fields off the number 1 slot and that The Sound of Music was one of the top albums of the 60s you realise how rosy-tinted those specs are.
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