Top of the Pops 2

thomasross20

I never watched TOTP when it was on but always watch the old ones now!

HAL9000

holnrew said:

HAL9000 said:

What surprised me was how 'just about adequate' some of the performers were. I guess this was in the days before on-line lessons, YouTube, college courses in modern music, etc. 

Surely you made a mistake and meant to write "That was real music back then, not lie all this modern shite where you just need to turn up at an audition and get famous"

I realise what I wrote was a sweeping generalisation. I grew up with lots of the bands shown on TOTP2 and believe that the 60s, 70s, and 80s turned out some of the best pop songs and would agree with you that they mostly beat the modern stuff hands down. What I was trying to say was that some of the bands shown appeared to be less proficient than I remembered, and that I think with the advent of YouTube, easily available on-line tab, college courses on playing, say, guitar and drums, etc that we have come to expect performers to be more technically proficient than ever before. This was never intended as a criticism of music from the TOTP days, more an observation of how things have changed. I absolutely prefer originality and 'soul'/'feel'/whatever you want to call it, to technical ability that can sometimes be quite soulless. I recall reading an interview with Eric Clapton once where he pretty much admitted that when he started out, just about anyone withe three chords and a sense of rhythm could join a band and it was much easier to make a name for himself then than it would be now.

Hootsmon

I'm off tae bed early tonight, it's  00:20 or so....will see if the wife is up for "part two" tonight.

I am very tired though.........don't have the energy for a repeat of last night's foreplay

johnnyurq

Why it doesn't take long to say brace yourself hooters and asume the position.

equalsql

hootsmon said:

I'm off tae bed early tonight, it's  00:20 or so....will see if the wife is up for "part two" tonight.

I am very tired though.........don't have the energy for a repeat of last night's foreplay

I too have a hard time getting up any enthusiasm to play Monopoly after midnight

RobDavies

Love TOTP.   I even used to watch it right up to when it was taken off air - just to stay "current" with what's popular.   I've got a decent knowledge of pop music and most of it was from watching TOTP from the age of about six or seven.   Needless to say, my knowledge has dwindled significantly since it's cancellation.

There's a great '79 episode on iPlayer at the moment - The Ruts, Gary Numan, The Jam, Lene Lovich... and...er...Barry Humphries.   There was always a "novelty" record around in those days.

Greatest TOTP memory - watching The Stranglers doing "Five Minutes" when I was a kid, telling everyone about it at school the following day only for them all to describe it as rubbish.  I loved it, and because my Dad was cool, he bought me the single.

Gagaryn

HAL9000 said:

What surprised me was how 'just about adequate' some of the performers were. I guess this was in the days before on-line lessons, YouTube, college courses in modern music, etc.

Don't get Mr wrong, I enjoyed the programme immensely and am not trying to put anybody down, but it seems to me that nowadays you need to be more proficient, professional, and more media-savvy than ever before.

Yeah - it's a well known fact that all popular music was shite before the internet became ubiquitous. All that Beatles and Stones rubbish. Hmmm!

HAL9000

Gagaryn said:

HAL9000 said:

What surprised me was how 'just about adequate' some of the performers were. I guess this was in the days before on-line lessons, YouTube, college courses in modern music, etc.

Don't get Mr wrong, I enjoyed the programme immensely and am not trying to put anybody down, but it seems to me that nowadays you need to be more proficient, professional, and more media-savvy than ever before.

Yeah - it's a well known fact that all popular music was shite before the internet became ubiquitous. All that Beatles and Stones rubbish. Hmmm!

Not what I meant. I did not say all (or even any) popular music back then was rubbish. And I acknowledge that there were great bands like Beatles, Stones, and many more. It was just an observation that we live in different times, and things are different now. I think maybe I didn't make clear what I was trying to say, but it certainly wasn't meant to put anybody down and I'm sorry if it came over that way.

Hootsmon

johnnyurq said:

Why it doesn't take long to say brace yourself hooters and asume the position.

Phil_aka_Pip

RobDavies said:

Love TOTP.   I even used to watch it right up to when it was taken off air - just to stay "current" with what's popular.   I've got a decent knowledge of pop music and most of it was from watching TOTP from the age of about six or seven.   Needless to say, my knowledge has dwindled significantly since it's cancellation.

I have to say I was a regular watcher too. Not that I liked a lot of what was on it, but I felt that it kept me "current" with what's popular, as Rob said. I also feel that my knowledge has dwindled significantly since it's cancellation. 'Tis all academic now though: I have no electronics capable of receiving live TV broadcast, and no licence neither to operate it, so if they brought it back I still wouldn't see it.

Rocker

maltingsaudio said:

hootsmon said:

shit! it's twenty tae two...I'm of tae bed......Viagra's kickin' in

hootsmon said:

finished...havin' ciggy now

Never buying scottish viagra!

That's a NO then...

johnnyurq

RobDavies said:

Greatest TOTP memory - watching The Stranglers doing "Five Minutes" when I was a kid, telling everyone about it at school the following day only for them all to describe it as rubbish.  I loved it, and because my Dad was cool, he bought me the single.

Massive Stranglers fan here and I watched that too and other appearances too. Then with no repeats etc you had to yune in so as nkt to miss yiur faves and had to rndure the cack.

Me and most of my siblings watched it religiously every week until its demise, still watch Xmas ones too.

Re Savile and co.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29308337

mart

johnnyurq said:

During the long run of the 70's TOTP reruns uo until a wee while ago the only one airbrushed out was JS. Even when DLT was in court they didn't omit him IIRC,maybe that was the relative seriousness/shocking litany of JS' deeds.

I was hoping they would carry the reruns inot the 80's but no sign as yet. Maybe then DLT and others will get bumped too.

The BBC have now shed some light on who's banned, and who isn't:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29533353

johnnyurq

^^^^^

Spotted that and thought why can the whole lot of episodes and appearances, why not edot out the offending parties. Seems nuts.

DiscoStu

I watched a TOTP2 on Saturday night, from1979.
Amazing how many of the songs are still known now, and not just by those of us who were 'there man'. 
In comparison, go check out a TOTP from the 90s when acid house was on the go. Even a show from near the end of its run and there will only be a couple of songs that have endured.

johnnyurq

True and I think there are many rasons for that not least the amount of singles needed to be sold compared to late 80's onwards. The differences are just nuts volume wise.

Plus It was an event most of my age made a ritual of watching it.

I think it may also be less manufactured material compared to the 90's, not that it wasn't commercially driven even then and pluggers making sure their acts git on TOTP.

For me music was less disposable then and as a teenager an album or single was not cheap so purchases were well thought out in the main.