The Story of 1977

If I could borrow your cheeky bits

I'd be grateful, cos we have a splendid Top Of The Pops.

MUSIC: TOP OF THE POPS THEME

If you wanted to know the state of the nation in 1977,

surely Britain's favourite pop show wasn't the obvious place to look.

Or was it?

It was the year when Jubilee fever caused Britain to break out in a rash of red, white and blue.

But not everyone in 1977 was celebrating.

MUSIC: "Something Better Change" by The Stranglers

There were forces afoot in the nation that wanted to shake things up.

It was bubbling under in '76 and in '77, it just exploded.

I was angry. I was angry about what was going on in the world

and I was angry about this overall blandness of music.

1977 would see a wide diversity of musical styles jostling for supremacy in the charts.

Anything that reeked of romance, fetch me the sick bag.

And things came to a head with a dirty battle royale for the Number One spot.

But there remained little doubt

as to the jewel in the nation's musical crown.

-BOTH:

-Top Of The Pops!

It was like, you'd made it if you were on Top Of The Pops.

The question was, have you been on Top Of The Pops?

If you said no, well, you're not going to go anywhere.

And by the end of '77, both the charts and Britain's favourite music show

would never look quite the same again.

# Change! #

1977 saw Britain a nation on its knees.

MUSIC: "Rock Bottom" by Lynsey De Paul and Mike Moran

# Where are we?

# Rock bottom

# Tragedies

# We've got 'em

# Remedy

# Why don't we rub it out and start it again?

# With sympathy. #

A land of hope and glory was now crippled by high inflation...

Long queues at the job centre...

..and revolting workers.

BOTH SING: # With sympathy

# Sympathy

# I get it, harmony

# You've said it

# Where are we?

# Where are we?

# Rock bottom, rub it out and start it again. #

The mood was one of change.

# Rock bottom

# Rub it out and start it again

# Rock, rock, rock bottom

# Rock, rock, rock bottom

# Rock, rock, rock bottom

# Rub it out and start it again

# Oooh-ooooh. #

This next number has a certain ring to it. It's Legs, Fists and Co,

doing the Ali Shuffle to Maxine Nightingale's Love Hit Me!

MUSIC: "Love Hit Me" by Maxine Nightingale

Yet life on Top Of The Pops remained one cheeky party.

# When I saw your face

# Love hit me

# And there was nowhere I could run

# My loneliness was over

# And my life had just begun. #

Most of the acts invited on Top Of The Pops seemed to be escapist pop

or novelty acts that belonged at the end of the pier.

While Britain seethed,

the Top Of The Pops audience took solace in Joy Sarney and her love song to a randy seaside wife-beater.

# Ooh-ee-ooh-ee-ooh-ee!

# Uh-uh

# Oh, no you don't

# Ooh-ee-ooh-ee-ooh-ee!

# Ah-ah

# Oh, no you don't

# Ooh-ee-ooh-ee-ooh-ee!

# That ain't the way to do it

# It's the way to do it

# That ain't the way to do it

# It's the way to do it

-# Oh, no, it ain't

-# Oh, yes, it is

# Oh, no, it ain't

# Yes, it is

-# No, it isn't

-# Yes, it is

-# No, it isn't

-# Yes, it is!

-# It isn't

-# Yes, it is!

# Ooh, what a pity!. #

Youngsters watching Top Of The Pops in '77, however,

remained utterly captivated.

# Back to the places

# And the people I once knew. #

The joy of it was that it was family viewing.

It was Thursday night, so it was payday,

you'd go to a supermarket and get loads of crisps as your treat.

Have a shandy if you were lucky!

Really traditional, kind of warm working-class.

My mum absolutely loved David Essex.

# Hey, you say you want to be my friend

# Stick with me

# Until the end. #

Part of the joy of watching Top Of The Pops then

was that it brought the generation gap into your living room.

# Daddy, daddy cool

# Yeah. #

And you would sit there, and your dad would huff.

While some young viewers enjoyed the show for provoking family squabbles,

others watched it for comfort.

My main aesthetic as to whether or not I liked an act

that I was watching on Top Of The Pops

was, if my mum and dad suddenly died in a car crash,

would these people, could these people look after me?

Would these people be good parents?

# Running away from danger Hiding from every stranger

# Angelo... #

According to those criteria, Brotherhood Of Man were top of the list.

# They found a love so strong

# They took their lives that night # And in the morning light... #

Either pair looked like they would be very, very good, loving parents,

so naturally I liked Brotherhood Of Man.

Here's something to smile about, the nation's brand-new Number One sound.

Top of the pile against the nation, and David Soul.

# Don't give up on us, baby... #

As the year began, pop royalty reigned supreme,

with its very own soul man.

# The future isn't just one night

# It's written in the moonlight. #

David Soul had a brilliant year. Two Number Ones, three hits.

Silver Lady is just fantastic. The strings are brilliant,

and it kind of makes...self-pity oddly aspirational.

# Here I am, a million miles from home

# The Indiana wind and rain cut through me

# I'm lost and alone Chilled to the bone

# Silver lady. #

There's a whole period in the history of pop music I simply cannot be critical about,

because I was lapping it all up like a man who's dying of thirst.

MUSIC: "Promises, Promises" by Rags

# Promises, promises Brought us together

# Promises, promises came from our hearts

# And find it funny that we'll know forever

# Promises, promises Tore us apart. #

In 1977, Top Of The Pops was still regularly attracting audiences

of more than 15 million.

# Find it funny that we'll know forever... #

British television still had only three channels,

and a tired nation was happy to slump in front of whatever it dished up.

But something had been lost.

MUSIC: "We'll Gather Lilacs" by Simon May

# We'll gather lilacs

# In the spring again

# And walk together down an English lane. #

Oh, dear. Top Of The Pops may have been only 13 years old,

but it felt middle-aged. It appealed to young kids and their parents,

but it was cutting out what had once been its core audience...

teenagers. And they were revolting.

It was kind of Year Zero. The other bands were all boring old farts.

That was the expression which came readily to the mouth.

Even some of the teen stars of the early Seventies were past their best.

MUSIC: "Soul Of My Suit" by T.Rex

He's in a very odd position in 1977, Marc Bolan.

In some ways, he's the ghost of pop past.

It's this weird thing of this guy that simultaneously appears to be

slightly washed-up and suddenly vibrant again.

# Well, you damaged the soul of my suit

# You pulled out my love by the roots

# But I'm not such a bad boy

# Oh, no. #

# Hey, today's the day I lay it on the line

# The way to make you stay and keep you company

# It's time to get my way

# Cos night-time is the right time

# And when I'm feeling fine I like my action guaranteed. #

There was supposed to have been a teenage revolution in the Fifties and Sixties.

If you look at Top Of The Pops, it looks like youth culture's lost.

Like youth culture never happened.

The Old Guard were clinging on,

trying not to look over their shoulders.

The whole nation felt stuck.

Gentleman Jim Callaghan remained Prime Minister in a minority government,

but faced industrial unrest on a daily basis.

# Promises, promises tore us apart. #

Keith Richards found himself in front of the beak on drugs charges...again.

Margaret Thatcher on the other hand

was aiming for the stars as the Great White Hope of the Conservative Party.

As was another future Tory leader.

They don't want to go to Callaghan's Promised Land,

which must surely rank as the most abhorrent and miserable land

that has ever been promised to the people of a nation state.

APPLAUSE

The problems facing Britain, though, were more immediate.

CHANTING

In a country that was creaking at the seams,

at least you could rely on Top Of the Pops.

A product made in Britain that was safe, reliable

and as comfy as an old cardigan.

Come on, you're not supposed to enjoy yourselves. Pay attention.

After all, it is Top Of The Pops.

MUSIC: "The Shuffle" by Van McCoy

By 1977, as Britain's premier music institution,

Top Of The Pops operated within rules known and respected

by the record companies and their artists.

And the stakes were high.

# Oooh... #

The biggest plug one could get,

as a promotion man, what we called pluggers in those days,

they call them PR men now, pluggers...was Top Of The Pops.

It was the greatest, the greatest... I would do one Top Of The Pops

and give away... If someone said "Eric, do you want 500 radio plays

"or Top Of The Pops?" Give me Top Of The Pops.

It... Literally, one appearance on Top Of The Pops,

automatically you made the chart.

And if you were in the chart, you'd go up the chart.

In 1977, the show went out on a Thursday.

But the planning began the Friday before.

The record people would come up, all the promotions guys,

with their new records and tell you what the sales were like.

Then we would get the charts.

These were arranged by an independent company, nothing to do with the BBC.

And they were all related to the sales of records the previous week.

There were various shops which were secret.

PHONE RINGS

Good morning, Top Of The Pops. Hi, Wyn, how are you? Good.

And from those figures, we would then compile the programme.

Good evening, welcome to Top Of The Pops!

MUSIC: "The Crunch" by The Rah Band

It was always a very tense moment, Monday or Tuesday in the week,

when the initial sales figures were released,

cos that was going to be the moment when you knew

whether you were likely to be on Top Of The Pops.

If you were lucky enough to be chosen, then a first appearance

on Top Of The Pops was always going to be a day to remember.

What used to happen with Polydor was, if you got Top Of The Pops,

they would put on a limo for you, to pick you up and drive you in.

So first thing, of course, I can remember...

I was living in a little flat in Fulham,

was the limo turning up to take you to Top Of The Pops.

All I remember was suddenly coming up to this iconic building,

the round one, and all the security,

and loads of young people outside the gate, screaming and everything.

They stopped when we drove past because they didn't know us from Adam,

and we didn't look very, you know, charming.

Television Centre in Shepherd's Bush was where dreams of pop stardom came true

but for newcomers, the building could feel like a labyrinth.

The place is vast! Endless, endless corridors.

I swear to God, I'm sure I saw people wandering around shell-shocked

who'd been in there since 1957 and had never found their way out.

It was hot and it was airless

and it took forever to find our dressing room.

Yep, that's the BBC we love! From 9.30 on the Wednesday morning, rehearsals would begin.

It was a long day for everyone.

-APPLAUSE

-And at 26 in the charts this week,

the one and only David Bowie and Heroes.

APPLAUSE FADES

MICROPHONE FEEDS BACK # We turn water... #

I'd like to start that again, there's feedback down here. Wooah!

Or notes to that effect.

MUSIC: "Feel The Need In Me" by The Detroit Emeralds

MUSIC STOPS

MUSIC RESUMES FROM BEGINNING

It was a lot of waiting, and then you would do

a run-through for the cameras,

and then you'd go and wait again all afternoon.

# Dinner's ready... #

Despite the tedium involved, there were unexpected pleasures to be had,

such as hearing fellow artists going through their paces.

# My baby's coming over

# Well, I know... #

My very, very favourite was hearing The Emotions singing live.

I mean, I get goose pimples right now.

They were just sensational.

For me, those were the best, best bits of Top Of The Pops,

those rehearsal times.

# Things ain't the way they used to be, baby boy

# I can't believe that You're only teasing. #

We had bets amongst us in the band,

who would try and pull one of the dancers.

We tried so many times as well. They just weren't having it.

They were hit on all the time.

MUSIC: "Peaches" by The Stranglers

In May, Top Of The Pops was to do something rather unexpected and brave.

Despite not being in the Top 40,

The Stranglers were invited to appear on the show for the first time.

Their single Peaches had been banned by the BBC

for its sexual content.

So they opted to play its double-A-side, Go Buddy Go.

Now, watch out for this lot coming in the charts next week.

They are so brave. The Stranglers!

MUSIC: "Go Buddy Go" by The Stranglers

# Boogie!

# Woogie!

# The boys and the girls are all dancing around... #

Go Buddy Go I wrote when I was 15.

And it was Jimi Hendrix meets the Beach Boys.

# The boys and the girls are all holding hands

# I said go, buddy, go

# Buddy go, buddy go

# Buddy go, go, go... #

The Stranglers, to my seven-year-old self,

looked like four fairly terrifying people.

Going back to my analogy,

would these people be suitable childminders if anything terrible happened to my parents?

These people did not look like suitable childminders.

Three of them looked like I would die of neglect,

and Dave Greenfield,

the keyboard player, just looked like he might just murder me.

The Stranglers were a breath of fresh air for Top Of The Pops,

or a blast of bad breath, depending on your taste.

Making their debut on Top Of The Pops,

here's The Jam, and their effervescent new 45, In The City.

MUSIC: "In The City" by The Jam

# In the city there's a thousand things I want to say to you... #

An 18-year-old Paul Weller epitomised the new guard

of pop stars - young, loud and with something to say.

# I wanna say

# I wanna tell you

# About the young ideas... #

Teenagers were back on Top Of The Pops.

# In the city, there's a thousand faces all shining bright

# And those golden faces are under 25... #

There's an episode where Kid Jensen helpfully explains

that what we've just seen is New Wave music,

because we don't necessarily know what we are watching

when we watch something that makes us feel unexpectedly excited.

# In the city

# In the city

# In the city there's a thousand things I want to say to you. #

Right at the forefront of a new phenomena known as New Wave,

there go The Jam and In The City.

Despite these rude intrusions,

the Top Of The Pops juggernaut still rumbled on, regardless.

In 1977, all bands appearing on the programme were required

to perform to a backing track.

The story of what they were actually performing to

speaks volumes about why Top Of The Pops and Britain weren't working in 1977.

Musicians' Union rules stipulated that all bands

were required to record a new backing track in a matter of hours,

to which they would sing live or mime on the show.

What happened next, though, is still the subject of much debate.

There were some bands on, like Wings or Queen or whoever,

they've spent months and months and months, and the irony,

if that's the right word for a Jewish East-End boy, of it was,

not only did you have to rerecord it, you had three hours!

You had a few bands said, "We can't do it, Eric, it's impossible.

"It takes four, five, six months to record it in a studio,

"we can't go and recreate that sound in a three-hour session!"

The sessions took place in various recording studios in London.

At least, that was the idea.

If you listen to those episodes now, you'll notice that even though

everything on there is meant to have been freshly recorded for the show,

they sound curiously like the recordings.

In the mid-seventies,

the job of enforcing the rules on rerecording backing tracks fell to Don Smith,

a Musicians' Union rep who would became a figure of dread.

My nickname was Doctor Death...

..but I didn't mind that,

because it meant I felt I was doing my job properly

if I was upsetting people who were trying to pull tricks.

What I used to do with my bands, I can admit to it now,

and Don, if you're still around, I apologise, but you deserved it,

you was a schmuck,

is that we used to just swap the tape over,

swap the tape for the original, and eight times out of ten he would say,

"You've done a fine job. You see, Eric, you see, it CAN be done in three hours."

"Of course it can, Don, these boys are pros.

"Of course they can do it in three hours." Little did he know.

What would happen is you'd take him out for lunch,

or to the pub, or your tour manager would,

and by the time he came back,

you had your backing track which you had apparently rerecorded,

which was in fact the original backing track, without the vocals, you see.

You'd fiddle about with the tapes and they'd come back in, and you'd say, "Yeah, just finished it."

There were other cases where the engineer would suddenly say,

"I've got to go to the toilet,"

and leave the studio with a tape under his arm,

and I would follow him down to the toilet and wait for him to come out.

Because there could have been another tape there,

that he was going to swap over.

All kinds of skulduggery used to go on.

The thought behind the rule

was to protect the livelihood of musicians.

In reality, many of those musicians were as keen as anyone to have an easy life.

On occasions, when they knew that the sessions weren't being policed by the Musicians' Union,

we used to get phone calls to say,

"No need to come, but you'll still get paid."

And, of course, that arrangement suited musicians fine,

because you got paid without having to go out the house.

It was all a sham, a complete and utter sham,

just to keep the union happy.

From 1977 onwards, I would say nobody ever got away with it.

But that would be me saying it.

You may have other people who say, "I did once." But I don't think so.

I think it was well policed, by myself and the BBC.

You keep telling yourself that, love.

Even the BBC seemed to be in on the ruse,

even if they chose to turn a blind eye.

In most cases, if we put our hands on our heart,

we knew that it was impossible in a three-hour session

to achieve this, um, magic tape.

OK, here we go.

MUSIC: "This Is A Modern World" by The Jam

# This is a modern world... #

With those magical tapes safely in hands of the Top Of The Pops production team,

the show could go on.

# What kind of fool do you think I am?

# You think I know nothing of the modern world

# This is a modern world

# This is the modern world. #

The main producer of the show in 1977 was Robin Nash,

an old-school gentleman with a bow tie and an easy smile.

However, woe betide you if you did anything to upset his precious schedule for the day.

# Wish I knew what to do

# It would be so nice seeing you... #

I had Olivia Newton John on the show, doing a song called Sam.

Sam, Sam, you know, lovely song.

# Sam, you know where I am... #

And then four o'clock, she comes out in her dressing gown,

hair in curlers for the dress run.

And Robin says to her, "Miss John!

"Are you wearing that on the show tonight - curlers and a dressing gown!

"Who are you, Hilda Baker?"

# Sam, you know where I am... #

She said, "No, Robin, I'm just not ready yet." "What do you mean, you're not ready?"

In tears, she was. He made her cry.

# Sam... #

If the Stranglers provided the spit,

then acts like Olivia Newton John provided the polish.

That's gorgeous. Olivia Newton John and Sam, and what a great couple they make.

MUSIC: "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps

But there was another musical form emerging to challenge

Top Of The Pops' middle-of-the-road orthodoxy.

Although punk would steal the headlines in '77,

it was disco that would rule the dancefloor.

The sound was a newcomer to the Top Of The Pops party.

# Burn, baby, burn... #

Up and down the country, youngsters packed into dancehalls

to show off their latest moves and routines.

MUSIC: "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer

# Ooh, it's so good, it's so good... #

And one record more than any other

would become an anthem to hedonistic abandon.

To many, Donna Summer's I Feel Love was a more groundbreaking record

than anything punk produced, and disco the true innovative musical style of '77.

Not that you'd guess by watching Top Of The Pops

try and do it justice when the song reached Number One in August.

# I feel love, I feel love, I feel love... #

The track is so brilliant, you actually forget what Legs and Co are doing.

It just sounds amazing.

They could just be pretending to be chimpanzees

and it still wouldn't ruin the song.

# Lo-o-o-o-o-ve... #

But there was a price to pay. From Donna Summer, disco was cool.

We Brits, however, somehow managed to take a subversive musical form

and take it straight to the end of the pier.

# Everybody, let your hair down

# Let your body go downtown

# Everybody, let your hair down... #

Let Your Body Go Downtown could only be made in Britain.

You'd be mad to think it was American.

It's clearly like you're in a too-brightly-lit discotheque

which throws everyone out at 11 o'clock.

And you might have a huge argument in the car park

with your boyfriend afterwards.

It's that...those are the kinds of images, but...

you know, it's a good chorus.

# Everybody, let your hair down

# Let your body go downtown... #

British disco proceeds along quite a stately sort of walking pace.

And something like Tina Charles just seems to amble along

a little bit in a kind of pleasant, quite charming way.

# Love bug, I've been bitten by the love bug

# Love bug... #

However revolutionary disco may be, this is a version of it

you can have in between the sketches on the Two Ronnies.

It's that sort of light entertainment-ification.

But perhaps British disco artists weren't entirely to blame.

A solo singer like Tina Charles would be backed by the show's waiting infantry...

..the Top Of The Pops orchestra.

Heard but rarely seen,

The Orchestra was only there to satisfy the same union rules

that forced bands to, ahem, re-record backing tracks.

They'd be there for the camera rehearsal,

and the sound rehearsal and this rehearsal, and then the show itself.

And by the time the show came on,

well, let's put it this way,

the BBC Club had been open for quite a few hours.

MUSIC: "Everybody's Talkin' 'Bout Love" by Silver Convention

# Everybody's talking 'bout love... #

I would say, judging by the general jollity of the musicians,

it probably was an enjoyable gig.

# ..'bout love

# But nobody seems to give it... #

You'd see a guy, perhaps a trombone player,

who wasn't playing anything at that particular point in time,

he'd be behind a trumpeter, who might be playing something,

and the trumpeter would be having his ears pulled,

and being poked with fingers,

in order to try and stop him playing.

# Isn't it strange? #

My abiding recollection was when you de-rigged at the end of the day,

having to clear copies of Penthouse, and move tins of beer,

and coil up cables that were covered in cold coffee and beer

and just the general mess, really.

# Can't afford to pass it by... #

By 1977, the Top Of The Pops Orchestra,

which had been going since 1966, was in its twilight years.

In the end, its number was up with the emergence of a sound

that didn't require their dulcet tones.

The Boomtown Rats, bit of social comment for you.

Have a listen to the lyrics.

MUSIC: "Looking After Number One" by Boomtown Rats

# The world owes me a living

# I've waited in this dole queue too long

# I've been standing in the rain for 15 minutes

# That's a quarter of an hour too long

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh

# I'll take all they can give me

# And then I'm gonna ask for more

# Cos the money's... #

It was bubbling under in '76 and in '77, it just exploded.

If you went around with spiky hair at that time,

and a leather jacket, or if anyone thought you were a punk or looked different,

you were taking your life in your hands walking down the street sometimes, you know.

So it was quite scary...scary times.

People just wanted to take us on.

And by '77, we were quite hardened to that.

We just didn't care.

People genuinely did think that this was a collapse of the moral order.

There were lots of other things politically happening

in the mid '70s that might lead you to believe

some sort of a collapse of order is about to happen.

It really does appear that Britain's teetering on the brink of...

There's people forming private armies and stuff like that,

I mean, genuinely.

You can see punk as a manifestation of this discontent.

I didn't touch you, get off...

The rest of Europe considered the UK the sick man of Europe at the time.

My parents lived in France,

the French take on it was that it was a threat to the monarchy.

I was angry. I was angry about what was going on in the world,

and I was angry about this overall blandness of music generally,

and the way it was presented.

So for us to get on Top Of The Pops and be angry

and be different was important.

MUSIC: "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" by The Adverts

In marked contrast to what had gone before,

the new wave of bands set out to shock.

In January, a man convicted of a double homicide was executed

at Utah State Prison by firing squad, at his own request.

His name was Gary Gilmore.

It's my life and it's my death.

In August, a song with a macabre vision about Gilmore

was climbing the charts.

# I'm lying in a hospital I'm pinned against the bed

# A stethoscope upon my heart A hand against my head

# They're peeling off the bandages I'm wincing in the light

# The nurse is looking anxious And she's quivering with fright

# I'm looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes

# I'm looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes... #

The lyrics may have told a chilling tale, but for punk band The Adverts,

their first appearance on Top Of The Pops

was more like a black comedy.

I went to sing, and they actually hadn't given me a microphone,

they'd given me one of those fake aluminium microphones,

so I'm standing there going, er,

there's no vocals on the foldback, I can't sing, there's no microphone,

and the floor manager there going, "Why isn't this guy singing?

"Why isn't he singing? Stop it. Why isn't he singing?"

# ..Gilmore's eyes

# Looking through Gary Gilmore's eyes

# Looking through... #

"Sir, sir, there's no microphone."

If the technical gremlins were a surprise,

so was the treatment of the famous Top Of The Pops audience.

The audience were much younger,

I don't know, they must have rounded them up from school or something,

and it must have been weird for them,

because they kept getting herded from one stage to another.

It's amazing that any of them looked natural at all.

They didn't!

All standing there in their cardigans,

frugging about, pretending they're enjoying it,

desperately trying to dance to Gary Gilmore's Eyes!

MUSIC: "Do What You Gotta Do" by T-Connection

The Top Of The Pops audience were always a good barometer

of the state of the nation.

In the '60s and early '70s, they were groovy.

Well, most of them.

By 1977, things had got a little more lethargic.

Yet there was still no shortage of young people

hoping to glimpse their favourite band.

And people went to extraordinary lengths to try and work out

who they'd be seeing.

If a band was having a release of a new single,

and I wanted to see that band, I would send off applications,

say, three months prior to its release,

on the hope that that band might be in the studio

when I actually got tickets to the show.

It was hit or, more often, miss.

And not only would the audience then feel peeved

about who was or wasn't on,

but the Top Of The Pops studio itself left something to be desired.

MUSIC: "Money Is A Girl's Best Friend" by Contempt

The studio itself seemed far bigger

when you watched Top Of The Pops at home.

When you were there as part of the audience, it was really small.

There were a number of stages,

but virtually the corner of each stage

would almost touch the other one.

You were a little bit disappointed really,

because you imagined it to be a vast open space of sets and cameras

and stages and it wasn't like that at all.

Breaking news, TV isn't like reality.

There's little doubt, though, that by 1977,

the audience appear to have entered the twilight zone.

The Top Of The Pops audiences don't look very happy to be there,

and they just shuffle around,

like they're trying to keep warm waiting for the bus.

MUSIC: "Slow Talking Boy" by Mud

You genuinely could look into the crowd and see people...

..looking like that at you,

or just talking to each other while you were performing.

For me, that's also part of the beauty of it,

cos you'll see people just totally disinterested,

people getting into it, people wanting to get into it.

MUSIC: "Daddy Cool" by Darts

If I pull this bit of string, two things will happen.

First, some balloons will fall down on Neil Innes,

who will then sing a number called Silver Jubilee.

Let's see if it works, shall we?

# Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth

# Silver jubilee

# Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth

# God save you and me... #

Even the Top Of The Pops audience roused itself in June,

when the nation put up the bunting as celebrations

for the Queen's Silver Jubilee revved up.

# Sailing in the yacht Britannia

# Nowhere in the world would ban ya

# Or your royal family... #

But Top Of The Pops would soon be confronted

by a Number One dilemma of royal proportions.

MUSIC: "God Save The Queen" by The Sex Pistols

In May, newly signed to Virgin Records,

the Sex Pistols released their second single.

# God save the Queen

# The fascist regime... #

We didn't actually sit down and say,

"Right, let's write an anti-Jubilee or anti-monarchy song."

I guess it was there in the back of our minds.

The song was written way back in '76, you know,

and it was just timing, really, everything fell into place.

With Jubilee week fast approaching,

the BBC wasn't shy of showing where its loyalties lay.

And that included banning the single.

Just saying the name God Save The Queen,

would in some way... It's like Macbeth or cancer,

you just don't say it.

That in itself is going to be enough to incense people.

We didn't go out deliberately to get banned.

We was like anybody else, we wanted our records played.

We was a band, we wanted people to hear it,

we wanted it to be on the radio,

I guess we wanted to be on Top Of The Pops,

so it was a bit of a downer when it was banned, to tell you the truth.

But it was great for us, obviously.

God Save The Queen started to skulk its way up the charts,

pitted against a mind-boggling line-up of diverse talents.

But sat at Number One was a rock'n'roll veteran

who was far easier on the ear for the music establishment.

MUSIC: "I Don't Want To Talk About It" by Rod Stewart

# I can tell by your eyes that you've probably been crying... #

Rod Stewart had once been seen as an oikish upstart,

just like the Sex Pistols.

But by 1977, he was virtually rock royalty.

That summer, he released the double A-side single,

The First Cut Is The Deepest,

coupled with I Don't Want To Talk About It.

# I don't wanna

# Talk about it... #

The Faces were like the people's band at one point,

and off he'd gone to America, and now he's shagging Britt Ekland.

He's clearly not of the people any more.

He's become this remote figure,

sequestered away in a Hollywood mansion with Britt Ekland,

singing, "I Don't Want to Talk About It."

MUSIC: "God Save The Queen" by The Sex Pistols

And there was something that Rod

might have been reluctant to discuss.

The rumours that his single

was actually being outsold by God Save the Queen.

# We love our Queen

# God saves

# God save the Queen... #

At the end of that Jubilee week, I think it was Number One

in most charts, except for the BBC charts, funnily enough.

I remember thinking, "This sounds weird.

"I haven't heard anything like this before."

There was this brilliant quote which was on BBC Wales Today,

the regional equivalent, and it's, you know, "Ooh,"

and he's a brilliant Welsh voice, and he goes,

"I'd let my daughter go and see Rod Stewart,

"but I'd never let her go and see this rubbish."

All attempts to stop it by this complete media blackout fail.

And the only thing to do is to actually just cheat.

Never in its history had a banned record reached Number One.

So, at 7.30 on Thursday the 9th June,

there was only ever likely to be one occupant of the top spot.

Right now, it's Number One time on Top Of The Pops, and here he is,

he's still there, Rod Stewart and The First Cut Is The Deepest.

MUSIC: "The First Cut Is The Deepest" by Rod Stewart

# I would have given you all of my heart

# But there's someone who's torn it apart

# And she's taken just all that I have

# But if you want I'll try to love again. #

I think it's basically accepted as fact

that the compilers of the charts fiddled the figures

to ensure that God Save The Queen didn't get to Number One.

Because there's plenty of reports from retailers at the time,

the week of the Jubilee, going,

"It's outselling I Don't Want to Talk About It by Rod Stewart hand over fist."

Not everyone, though, bought into this conspiracy theory.

Sour grapes, probably, sour grapes from people to say,

"That outsold and that should have done that,"

I think, from the Sex Pistols.

Let's tell the truth, Rod.

You were selling more records than the Pistols.

That's a fact.

I think there was a great deal of relief

in the Top Of The Pops studios when Rod Stewart's song made Number One

in that particular week, and the Pistols didn't.

A crisis on Top Of The Pops had been averted, much to the BBC's relief.

It would have been quite a difficult decision to make

had the Sex Pistols got to Number One.

We couldn't play out with the song,

that would have been an impossible thing to do,

because if the record's banned, Top Of The Pops was part of the BBC.

And that was the rule at the time.

Whoever actually sold the most records in Jubilee Week,

most of the country wasn't to be deterred

from having a right royal knees-up.

Easy, Grandma.

# There is no future

# And England's dreaming

# No future

# No future

# No future for me

# No future

# No future... #

If the summer of 1977 saw crowds of happy British flag-wavers

celebrating their Queen...

..it also saw outpourings of grief when the world lost The King.

Elvis Presley died in August, aged 42.

Within a few weeks, his song Waydown was Number One,

and Top Of The Pops paid tribute as only it knew how.

Well, ladies and gentlemen watching, only a couple of days ago,

the world was very shocked to hear of the death of Elvis Presley,

the man who was the innovator of so much great rock'n'roll music

of the past two decades.

MUSIC: "Waydown" by Elvis Presley

We were playing at the Vortex the night Elvis Presley died.

Shortly before we went on stage, Danny Baker hopped on stage

and announced that Elvis Presley had died,

and all the punks jeered.

Danny Baker's going, "No, no, Elvis, he was important!"

And all the punks are going, "Wheeurgh!"

MUSIC: "Life's An Elevator" by T.Rex

# Can't you dig the sound? #

But in September, even punks were shedding a tear

when Marc Bolan, the epitome of glam-era Top Of The Pops,

was killed when a car he was travelling in hit a tree.

He was 29.

It was hard to escape a feeling

that a change of the musical guard was taking place.

This week's highest new entry is at number seven.

It's the third single release from the Sex Pistols.

Their new one, it's called Pretty Vacant.

Punk, which had previously wedged its foot in the door,

now barged right in.

# There's no point in asking, you'll get no reply

# Oh, just remember I don't decide

# I got no reason, it's all too much

# You'll always find us

# Out to lunch

# Oh, we're so pretty Oh, so pretty

# We're vacant. #

I used to get hate mail

because people thought that I had somehow booked them on the show,

which is not true at all.

# Don't ask us to attend cos we're not all there. #

My two really distinct memories about seeing that video,

Steve Jones had a knotted hanky on his head

and Johnny Rotten's sleeves went over his hands.

That was what seemed strange about it to me.

# Cos we know what we feel. #

Is it really that shocking? Is this what you're so afraid of?

That was what was so powerful about Top Of The Pops.

Once Pretty Vacant was on Top Of The Pops,

I think it tapped into loads of kids all over the country

and they totally related to it.

They came screaming out of the suburbs all round the country

and were totally getting into the punk things.

Literally, things changed overnight.

Punk rock was something that they hoped would get over with

as quickly us possible, so Top Of The Pops could go back to normal.

# Belfast

# Belfast. #

But the beauty of Top Of The Tops

lay in its embrace of both the sublime and the ridiculous.

# Belfast

# Got to have a believin' Got to have a believin'. #

It came as no surprise that in '77, the troubles in Northern Ireland

finally became the subject of a chart hit in the UK.

What was surprising was who sang it.

# When the people be leavin' When the people be leavin'

# When the people be leavin'

# All the children cos the children believin'

# Belfast

# Belfast

# When the country rings the leaving bell you're lost

# Belfast

# Belfast. #

The people of Northern Ireland wouldn't have expected

the first top-ten UK hit which addressed the troubles

to be by Boney M.

There was nothing that Boney M wouldn't take

and render into bubblegum disco.

The really weird thing about Belfast is that nobody at the time

appears to have gone, "What's this song about? What's going on here?"

It got to number seven in the charts.

Along with Boney M, 1977 saw more black artists on the show

than perhaps any other year in its history.

# Exodus

# Well, all right

# Movement of the people

# Men and people will fight ya down

# When ya see Jah light

# Let me tell you if you're not wrong

# Then everything is all right

# So we gonna walk, all right

# Through de roads of creation. #

But on the streets, the National Front was also as active as it had ever been.

# Trod through great tribulation

# In this Exodus

# Movement of the people. #

Even the light entertainment department at the BBC

could appear stuck in a bygone age.

# A long time ago when Britain was great

# We was an independent state

# Then they made us go to the common market

# We don't know quite what he got yet

# All we know is we got no cash

# They say we is rich but that's all trash. #

By that time, Britain was a very multiracial place,

but you wouldn't necessarily see that in other programmes.

It wasn't really reflected in sit-coms, not in drama.

But it was reflected in Top Of The Pops.

# Yes, I do wanna hold you. #

Like disco, '50s-style rock'n'roll was a musical force in '77

that seemed to bring together black and white musicians harmoniously.

# When will you be mine? #

Showaddywaddy had been regulars on the show for several years,

reflecting a revival of Teddyboy culture across Britain

that saw dance halls bopping and jiving.

# I know our love will always be

# When, when you kiss, when you kiss me right. #

In the '70s, there is a massive Ted revival.

The battles on the streets are between Punks and Teds.

We've written Teds out of history.

In 1977, those darlings of the doo-wop, Darts,

would join the Top Of The Pops party.

# I saw a crazy chick running down the street

# I said ooh, pretty baby Why the great big heat?

# She said, wow, what a square Don't you dig this scene?

# Daddy Cool's playing his piano machine

# Daddy who...? #

Backstage, they'd find that life wasn't as multicultural as it was on screen.

The people who were doing make-up at the BBC didn't really, as far as I was concerned,

have a lot of experience making up black girls.

The thing is, you know, I was doing Top Of The Pops, so I'm going to make-up!

And I'd come out and I'd be absolutely devastated.

All this bright blue and it was just awful.

I'd get back to the dressing room and I'd just clear it all off.

# Daddy Cool, Daddy Cool

# Daddy Cool, Daddy Cool

# Daddy Cool, Daddy Cool

# Daddy Cool, Daddy Cool, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock... #

On stage, what Darts brought to Top Of The Pops

were '50s harmonies allied to the anarchic spirit of punk.

He does his "I'm Mr Cool, look at me singing this" stuff.

And I take over and I'm the wild, zany entertainer on stage thing.

And I sing my first verse, I jump off onto the top of the piano

and fall completely off the stage. And I don't miss a word.

And traumatised a load of little kids!

# Daddy Cool, Daddy Cool

# Daddy Cool, Daddy Cool

# Daddy Cool, Daddy Cool, Ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha. #

We're already at the stage where we play the Number One record

-and that is Baccara, Yes Sir, I Can Boogie. Can you?

-Yes.

-Oh, I'd like to watch!

Ooh, would this be allowed now?

# Ah, ah... #

I think a lot of people saw the DJs as buffoons

and they were probably right.

But you could take a kinder view

and say the DJs were the glue that held it together.

As '77 unfolded though, the old-school presenters

who'd long ruled the roost suddenly appeared mortal.

What can I say? Tea break... Get off! Quick! Quick! Come on.

In case you've forgotten the name of the programme. You should see what's on the front! You let the secret out!

You're up here to get a better view of Legs & Co.

-That was Kiki Dee, right?

-Right.

-What have we got now?

-Dunno.

-I'm asking you.

-Billy Ocean, right? Right!

-Right, right.

-Right, right!

If the Dooleys get elbowed off in favour of the Buzzcocks, who's to say Dave Lee Travis

isn't going to get elbowed off Radio 1 by a punk representative? Of course, it never happened.

But you can see where that fear comes from.

Take four.

With all the new music on the show, producer Robin Nash realised the presenters needed shaking up.

Enter...Peter Powell.

Woo! Hey! That's Modern World. Wild stuff!

Let's just think about those occupants of interplanetary craft -

The Carpenters, Richard and Karen, and they're at number ten.

Robin Nash had another trick up his sleeve.

He said, "I'm thinking about getting a pop star.

"But not just a pop star, you know, a big, big name pop star to present Top Of The Pops.

I said, "With Noel or Peter Powell, or someone?" "No, no. On their own."

And so Eric duly delivered a 24-carat pop star.

OK, that's number nine this week. Love Of My Life.

We have the fantastic Legs & Co dancing to Jonathan Richmond

and the Modern Lovers, number five this week with Egyptian Reggae.

He didn't do it for the money, of course not. He could buy the BBC!

But he did it because I put in his head, Don't be a schmuck, Elton. Don't be a schmuck.

When you've got a record out which is struggling, maybe, not selling,

we're going to need Top Of The Pops more than they need you.

It really is excellent news. This next record has come into the charts at number 27,

making its debut on Top Of The Pops.

So here's John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett.

Elton wasn't the only innovation to hit the show at the end of 1977.

# I wake up in the morning

# Tell me, baby, what do you see?

# I see my true love and she walks up and she kisses me, I say

# Cor, baby, that's really free... #

When we did Top Of The Pops in 1977, nearly all the acts did it

to a backing track that they'd pre-recorded and me and Willy,

we thought we were a live act and we insisted on doing it live.

We were one of the first few people to do it live, which is why it sounds nothing like the record!

In many ways, John Otway was the spirit of 1977 on Top Of The Pops.

# I tried talking to your mama

# Oh no, what's wrong with me?

# Every time I go near you, baby, you say

# Cor baby, that's really free... #

I think I was lucky with 1977 because I wasn't particularly talented,

I wasn't a great singer or guitarist, but I was wild on stage.

I used to throw myself round, rip my shirt open,

bang my head against the microphone, that sort of thing.

And that sort of thing wasn't really fashionable in 1976,

but '77, it became really cool and, um,

you know, thank God for '77.

'78, it became uncool again,

but I had my window and I went straight through it!

John Otway, when he went on Top Of The Pops, you know,

he was one of the few acts we would stand back and just go,

"Yeah. This is the way it should be."

"That's a nutter. I like him."

Look at me, baby. What do you see?

I bought a bottle of champagne and put it on the fridge

for the next time I was on Top Of The Pops and the next hit

and about five years later, somebody suggested

champagne didn't last that long.

# Why, why, why don't you?

# Why, why, why don't you...? #

By the end of 1977, Top Of The Pops had changed.

Always at heart a variety show, it had now become even more various,

and in the process, regained its mojo.

And once again the nation's teenagers were gripped.

# Because the usual crew know so far what to do... #

If you were going to buy a tie at the end of 1977,

it would have to be skinny and your trousers would have to be tighter.

Top Of The Pops would never be the same again...

or would it?

It would be nice...and tidy

if at the end of the year The Clash

were at the top of the charts with, you know, some song addressing

the ongoing social woes in Britain as we lurched towards 1978

and the Winter of Discontent.

Um...

But life isn't like that.

# Mull of Kintyre

# Oh, mist rolling in from the sea

# My desire

# Is always to be here

# Oh, Mull of Kintyre... #

When they first played it to me, I found it so boring. I hated it.

And I didn't like it at all, but again, it was Paul McCartney,

it was Mull of Kintyre,

it was coming up to Christmas. How can you not plug it?

It was Number One for... into January 1978.

It just went on for ever and ever and ever.

So I finished the year

and started the New Year with another hit.

I thought, "Eric, you're on a run again. Keep it going."

# Sweep through the heather

# Like deer in the glen

# Carry me back

# To the days I knew then

# Nights when we sang

# Like a heavenly choir

# Of the life and the times

# Of the Mull of Kintyre. #