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Top Of The Pops

Ron Manager

Guest
Just watched the last ever TOTP (Sky plussed it) and I have to say I almost shed a little tear at the end.

That show really was a part of my life, yes the average show was full of rubbish but the bright spots amongst the dross really where era defining. I feel almost deprived that I will never sit down and watch it with my kids in the future as I did with my parents. Yes I know my daughter's generation will probably just be downloading the latest videos onto their phones and couldn't give a monkeys about a chart run down every Thursday/Friday/Sunday but I still feel sad about that.

RIP Top Of The Pops.
 
Indeed, it became awful as they constantly changed the format to try and recover long lost viewing figures.

I'll always have fond memories of it from my childhood, despite the recent dross that has inhabited it.
 
I don't think it's ever been something that I would regularly watch. I liked it being there but I would never watch it myself. I don't think that it had the same monopoly on charting acts in my years that it had in previous years and the rise of music television has cost it dear after it admitted that live performance was not necessarily what it was trying to focus on. If people can see their favourite videos of their favourite acts, why do they have any need to watch the same thing.

Personally, I think they could have used the brand to attract the biggest names and made it something akin to a Jools Holland style programme for a younger audience. Alas, with people like Pete Waterman saying he would "never let any of his acts perform live" on it, this would probably be doomed too.
 
I tuned in last night for the first time in years, purely for reasons of nostalgia. Thought it was cack and even said to myself "good riddance" at the end. It had been almost totally irrelevant for at least the last half of it's existance and despite (far too) many stays of execution, they got it monumentally wrong time and time again and in the end it just had to be culled. Interesting to note though that the final straw came soon after they gave Andi Peters an executive producers roll
rock.gif


I also watched the TOTP documentary that was on later and Noddy Holder hit the nail on the head for me - he said that he felt the show peaked in the 1970s because at a time of relative depression in the country (3 day week, poor economy, strikes, power cuts, riots), everybody turned to pop music for some light relief. It makes sense that in the post-Thatcher society and now, with the relatively good standard of living we all have and the strong economy we're currently enjoying that exactly the opposite should happen and we all stopped tuning in 'en masse'. To be honest though, there is one far more logical explanation for TOTPs demise - call me a nostalgic fool if you like but the proof was there for all to see in the footage; Take That, Spice Girls, Oasis, Beyonce and Shakira are utter dogsh!t when compared to Slade, T-Rex, Bowie, The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Pop music has been moribund for 15 years or more now and it just keeps getting worse - THAT is why it's now totally unrepresented on mainstream terrestrial TV in this country.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I also watched the TOTP documentary that was on later and Noddy Holder hit the nail on the head for me - he said that he felt the show peaked in the 1970s because at a time of relative depression in the country (3 day week, poor economy, strikes, power cuts, riots), everybody turned to pop music for some light relief. It makes sense that in the post-Thatcher society and now, with the relatively good standard of living we all have and the strong economy we're currently enjoying that exactly the opposite should happen and we all stopped tuning in 'en masse'. To be honest though, there is one far more logical explanation for TOTPs demise - call me a nostalgic fool if you like but the proof was there for all to see in the footage; Take That, Spice Girls, Oasis, Beyonce and Shakira are utter dogsh!t when compared to Slade, T-Rex, Bowie, The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Pop music has been moribund for 15 years or more now and it just keeps getting worse - THAT is why it's now totally unrepresented on mainstream terrestrial TV in this country.

on a lighter note i remember my 1st stiffy as a kid watching Pans People in bikini's.........whooooo were going to jamaica

tounge.gif
 
Despite the fact that it probably isnt a very relevent show any more, i think it still served a purpose.

No doubt it will be replaced in the listings by yet more reality crap.

The demise can be linked to a number of things, a lot of people say its because of music television, but i think its more to do with the fact that the singles chart isnt relevent anymore.

Even say ten years ago, who was number one was a pretty big thing. The top act had to sell in excess of 200K regually to reach those dizzy heights.
These days you're lucky to see ten songs a year that sell over 200k copies.... as many artists simply release singles to plug albums... as thats where all the ££ is.

Top 10 songs of 2005

SINGLES

Tony Christie ft Peter Kay
(Is This The Way To) Amarillo 1,100,000
(UMTV)

2 Shayne Ward
That's My Goal 874,000
(SYCO Music)

3 Crazy Frog
Axel F 525,000
(Gusto)

4 James Blunt
You're Beautiful
(Atlantic)

5 McFly
All About You/ You've Got A Friend
(Island)

6 Akon
Lonely
(Universal)

7 Pussycat Dolls ft. Busta Rhymes
Don't Cha
(A&M)

8 Westlife
You Raise Me
(S)

9 Nizlopi
JCB Song
(FDM)

10 Madonna
Hung Up
(Warner Bros)
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (ramblers shrimp @ July 31 2006,13:19)]on a lighter note i remember my 1st stiffy as a kid watching Pans People in bikini's.........whooooo were going to jamaica

tounge.gif
The blood transferance must have affected your memory

It was Barbados  !!

(By Typically Tropical.   "This is captain Tobias Wilcox welcoming you aboard coconut Airways flight 372 to Bridgetown Barbados")
 
Sabrina - 'Boys Boys Boys'

Sometimes at night I can still see her, all crammed into that bikini top and denim shorts....
 
I do not buy the argument that all music around now is crap.
Yes, sales figures have changed (don't I know it!!), and therefore peoples buying interests but they had an opportunity to make that show more relevant and change it for the better. And they cocked up. Time and time again until it became quite a joke. Blaming it's demise on the development of 24 hour music TV is rubbish. This was a show that was available on terrestial TV and had a good (ish) reputation, and could have achieved so much more even in the last 5 years. But they ran for the quick dollar and got their fingers burned and for that they deserve it.
Bring on the CD UK cull aswell...
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Firestorm Posted on July 31 2006,14:22
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote (ramblers shrimp @ July 31 2006,13:19)
on a lighter note i remember my 1st stiffy as a kid watching Pans People in bikini's.........whooooo were going to jamaica



The blood transferance must have affected your memory

It was Barbados !!

(By Typically Tropical. "This is captain Tobias Wilcox welcoming you aboard coconut Airways flight 372 to Bridgetown Barbados")

in my defence...i wasn't really listening to the words
tounge.gif
biggrin.gif
 
Yes it's probably not relevant anymore, yes my mourning of it's demise says more about nostalgia for a long gone era and yes your average teenager almost certainly couldn't give a toss about Top Of The Pops and ultimately that's why it has been scrapped.

However to look back with rose tinted glasses and say that pop music is now crap compared to the 'glory years ' is also total b******s. Yes the times when The Beatles and The Stones and Bowie and Bolan were on the show were great occasions but they would have been joined on there by a great deal of dross on the same shows.

The charts have always been mainly rubbish which gets forgotten about very quickly but also has fantastic gems which will be remembered for years - that's as true now as it's ever been. However because we forget the dross we look back on years past and have an unrealistic (positive) memory of charts past - and by the same motion because the painful memory of James Blunt and the Crazy Frog are still fresh we have an equally unrealistic (negative) view of the present chart.

Once again I for one think it's a bad thing that there is no longer a weekly chart show on TV where you could have an indie band followed by an R&B act then a boy/girl teeny band then a bunch of grizzled old rockers then a hip hop artist. It's called diversity, you may not enjoy everything on there (in fact you never enjoyed everything on there) but at least you were hearing and seeing different types of acts and maybe broadening some musical horizons. Now kids fit into little boxes and only watch their alternative MTV channel, pop MTV channel, R&B MTV channel etc etc and therefore have a very narrow and very un-eclectic taste in music.
 
The pigeon-holing of kids' musical taste does really annoy me and I'm happy to admit that I used to pigeon hole myself. After one term at university I realised this and now bemoan the fact that MTV doesn't play music videos any more. At lesat when there was one or two channels, you just left it on.

Only thing I find to do a wide selection of music now is 6 music. Might not always like it but a lot of it you take as background music. I find that it exposes me to a lot more music and some of it I actually like more than I thought.
 
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