Remember several months ago when Top of the Pops was rumoured to be set for a comeback? Well…
“Everybody’s on Top of The Pops” sang The Rezillos in 1978, and indeed everybody watched the prime time TV show back in the day. Get to a ‘certain age’ (possibly 23) and any music from the past sounds the same. Oh, and don’t the policemen seem to be getting younger?
I’m not even sure what the phrase ‘Top of the Pops’ means to anyone now, though I fear that it is associated with the unsavoury goings-on backstage, rather than remembered as a
British institution, like Sunday lunch, cricket and illegal warmongering.
It’s still a puzzle to me that music is so under-represented on mainstream UK telly – the only outlet for teen and middle-aged angst being Later With Jools ‘Me Me Me’ Holland. With all the charm of a gig recorded inside a massive shed (which it is), hearing Jools boogie-woogie his way all over your favourite tune is the final insult for any music lover.
When I were a lad I’m sure we moaned about the lack of shows, but every Thursday evening the UK public would sit down in front of the box together as a family to watch the stars mime their way through their latest hits, kids cross-legged and agog at their idols, and parents muttering about how music was music in their day and look at the length of his hair. One can only imagine what might have happened at Broadcasting House when Johnny Rotten ran into Bing Crosby.
Hard core music fans also had the (Old Grey) Whistle Test – ‘muso’ in nature, the late-night show was determinedly live – no miming here!– and manned by ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris, a man so mired in the hippie world that Sid Vicious, according to legend, attacked him in a club. Or possibly with a club, the precise details lost in time.
There have been other shows over the years; Juke Box Jury had a random selection of celebrities voting for their favourite new release, while shorter-lived efforts included Tony Wilson’s So It Goes, Mark Radcliffe introducing The White Room, Snub TV’s weird and out-there videos and the parallel universe-surreal, Peter Cook-helmed Revolver. Given their pre-watershed timeslots you might imagine TFI Friday and The Tube would be more commercial, but legendary appearances from Napalm Death and Half Man Half Biscuit suggest not. The Word was more about out-shocking The Tube, its late-night nudity making headlines more than the music.
Nowadays, all we have is X Factor, no more about music than your uncle doing karaoke at Xmas.
No, we need TotP. And there have been rumours that it’s on the way back, as the popularity of streaming kickstarts a renewed interest in the charts. Unfortunately its rumoured hosts are Dermot O’Leary and talent vacuum Fearne Cotton, so perhaps it’s for the best – especially as another show is at the pilot stage. Hosted by 6music’s Marc Riley, All Shook Up features great performances from Wire and Jane Weaver among others. There are four episodes online for now – however, this may be as good as it gets for rock on the box.
* More at bbc.in/1SHzEAF.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
Psychocandy (live at Barrowlands)
(Demon)
One of those releases described as ‘seminal’, East Kilbride’s Reid brothers certainly had a massive effect on music in the early 1980s. Countless bands, whether acolytes of shoegaze, noise or fragile melodies, aped their feedback-riven guitars, echoing percussion, and of course, floppy-fringed, leather and shades look.
So it’s perhaps not a surprise that the band’s debut album garnered such acclaim. The odd thing is, the Mary Chain were always about the singles – two minutes of noise, three chords fashioned into a everlasting hook. Over a full album there was much filler, replicated here in last year’s anniversary hometown performance. ‘Never Understand’ and ‘You Trip Me Up’ still thrill, but ‘Cut Dead’ is basically Buddy Holly with cooler hair. However, with the vinyl version comes a 10” of the opening set – with ‘April Skies’, ’Reverence’ and ‘Upside Down’ showing why the band are still vital 30 years
HHHH
(This article originally appeared in the Haverhill Echo)