last ever Top of the Pops recorded tonight

[Dave the OAP]

Tony Blackburn, Pat Sharpe et al presenting it

Jimmy Saville will present the last ever link to the last record.

JS recons its a good idea it is now killed off as things like MTV etc have taken over and do it much better.


Sunday BB2 7 o/clock...1 hour long---split into decades.

another institution goes......memories of Christmas Day when it was on twice!

 

[crodonilson]

It's crap now, has been for ages but especially so since it was moved by Andi Peters to sunday nights on BBC 2.

I do enjoy the special on Christmas Day, that's a bit of a national institution and I'm sure they could do a one of special every Christmas still.

 

[Man of Harveys]

A sad event. Like Dr Who, give it a few years and I'm sure they'll bring it back in some form or other - it's too good a brand to forego.

 

[Silent Bob]

Tony Blackburn

Utter wanker.

 

[¸.·´¯`·.¸><((((º>]

has that fat lump Chris Moyles got in on it?

Wouldn't surprise me

fat git.

 

[Rusco]

I was on there on Dec 7 1987. Had a fantastic night with The Quo, Phil Collins, Bananarama and the legends that were Angry Andreson and Sir Cliff (Mistletoe and Wine)

 

[n1 gull]

They should never have moved it from its Thursday evening slot.
When it came on it felt like the start of the weekend.

Its utter shite now and really dated, I'm glad they're shutting it down.

 

[Muzzman]

Good riddance.

 

[seagully]

Its sad that its been axed but I personally feel that it isn't relevant anymore. The poor viewing figures gave the BBC no other choice really

 

[Kenhead]

I use to watch it every thursday night when i was younger, unfortunetly it had turned it to too much like cd:uk with so many exclusive videos of songs that were not due to come out for atleast 3 weeks. With mtv and all the other music stations its so easy to access music on tele these days, where as i use to listen to the chart on sunday and have to wait until the following thursday so see the acts!

Jackonary is makeing a come back in november and robin hood will be on later this year so i can easily see totp makeing a come back in 10 to 15 years times

 

[Trufflehound]

Last one in the UK maybe, but franchised all over the world.

Still going strong here... and just as crap.

 

[Rougvie]

Dave WTF has Pat Sharp got to do with it ?

Didnt he present the substandard NETWORK chart show ?

 

[BUTTERBALL]

End of an era really. We all grew up with TOTP. Sir Jimmy 'now then now then' Saville doing the last link

 

[Dave the OAP]

Dave WTF has Pat Sharp got to do with it ?

Didnt he present the substandard NETWORK chart show ?

no idea mate. It was a report on 5 live this afternoon and mentioned his name


I always look back nostagically on things like this on when they were at their best....1970/80's TOTP was at its best.

Simply Red's Live version of Holding Back The Years when Janice Long presented it was still one of the best live performances on the prog I can remember ( even if you think he is a git, he has a tremendous voice) Marillion's Fish doing Keliegh(sp) with cards as his voice had gone

 

[Man of Harveys]

End of an era really. We all grew up with TOTP. Sir Jimmy 'now then now then' Saville doing the last link

Necro...just doing the Duchess' dry cleaning again...philiac. Allegedly.

 

[The Large One]

So are we mourning the passing of an institution, or the mourning the loss of a sub-culture?

I mean, Top of the Pops has always been cheesy, presented by naff DJs (save John Peel - and his ejection was outrageous), naff dance routines by cheesy dancers (albeit rather sexy, girl-next-door dancers), some naff bands, with some even naffer performances. It became the epitome of mass consumerism and the vehicle for avaricious record companies to position their puppets - sorry, acts - to their best advantage.

The mere fact that you had to have a record in the Top 20 (or Top 30 or Top 40) meant that these were records which were already popular, and could be considered 'safe' for attracting viewers.

Or are we mourning the fact that the once-exciting time of not knowing who was at what position in the charts until they were announced by Noel Edmonds or Tony Blackburn or Peter Powell or whoever have now gone, the charts being known well before the official announcement is made.

And the fact that, to get a record into the top 20 requires the kind of marketing muscle that the music industry cartel just won't let you in on (Seagulls Ska was a one-off fluke - not to be repeated). This, combined with the fact that (and I am sounding like an old fart here) every record sounds the same as the last makes for an uninspiring, insipid, puerile popular music industry devoid of any depth or imagination.

Even the acts of any note are only good for one album - maybe two, and they take two or three years to release it if there is a second one, and all because not necessarily a lack of talent on the part of the artist (although in some cases that may be true) but because the artists are beholden to the pony-tailed, coke-addled marketing men - parasites who are suffocating the very deep pool of talent that Britain is highly capable of producing.

That's why Top of the Pops is being stopped. It is now irrelevant.

 

[Wozza]

Some of the old farts in this thread probably remember the FIRST Top of the Pops.

PS It went downhill when they introduced the crack ho.

 

[desprateseagull]

they didnt even have the nuts to do it live..

what i dont get is the charts never say how many singles get sold. so whos to say what REALLY sold the most, in any given week?

 

[Cian]

Well, the ones the recording industry get DO say whats been sold, as well as the physical/downloads split.

Cancelling the UK one has had a knock-on effect on its licenced clones and similar shows world wide, so it looks like it could be the end of the format soon. RTL has dropped its licence anyway, used to watch that instead of the UK one most of the time (far less wittering from imbecilic 12 year old presenters). But its still the loss of an institution.

 

[hitony]

Like alot of things in life, it was good in its hay day, time to move on, well done for lasting as long as it did though