BBC1: Top of the Pops

Top of the pops has been going for many, many years and over them years the stage has been filled with many successful, great performers and some not so good!! The show was one of the first programmes, which featured bands/artistes performing live (or not so live!!) They also play the new released videos and quite regularly have exclusives. ~ ~ ~ What sort of music do they feature? ~ ~ ~ All sorts, they have featured performances from Brandy to Travis, from 702 to Ash. The idea of the show is to reach out to all ages and music tastes. Unfortunately as pop is very fashionable at the moment ... more

Okay, it’s not *so* bad that you want to turn over, but really, who can be arsed with TOTP anymore? It’s not that I find it DREADFUL, it’s just... there. Like rind on Edam, very fast rapping on a Busta Rhymes CD and a poorly head after 10 shots of gold tequila, you can always rely on it. Sort of. For over 30 years (it was launched in 1964 - thanks to stevethesleeve for correcting me!), Top Of The Pops, or ver Pops as I like to call it, has been something of an institution. Which is fairly apt, seeing as some of the acts and presenters should be in one, ha ha. The premise has ... more

Every generation has its own memories of 'Top Of The Pops'. For some there's Jimmy Saville introducing Gary Glitter in a retrospectively sinister way. Imprinted on the memory of others is the be-maned Bruno Brookes and his chunky yellow microphone, reeling off statistics about Five Star and Wham! with the enthusiasm of a tartrazined-up toddler. And then of course there was that moment of organisational genius where the lisping Chris Eubank was the guest presenter when Suggs's was on the show performing his track 'Cecilia'… However, the 1990's and early 2000's have seen TOTP rebranded time and ... more

TOTP has been teetering on the brink of the abyss for at least 20 odd years now and criticised by just about everyone who takes an interest in this show. Even back in the late 70s people moaned that it lacked any imagination because the bands they had on were always the same bands playing their "samey" music under a mimed-influence and trying to look sincere and/or cool but never both at the same time. I guess if you've seen some of the TOTP compilations programs lately you too will cringe as you see some of those old bands you used to love when you were younger. The fact is, regardless of era ... more

Hmm...I wonder why you never see any live performances on "TOTP"? Could it be that most of the acts can't actually sing? Then again, that's just my personal opinion. TOTP has been going for decades now, so they must be doing something right. Every friday night for half an hour you can watch a handful of chart toppers "perform" in the TOTP studio. Most of the acts are pop bands, commercial dance music, R&B etc, that are succesful chart entries. In its favour, I get the occasional surprise of seeing a decent indie, hip-hop or rock band and sometimes they even perform live! Hats off to the show ... more