The Story of 1978 Top of the Pops

I must warn you - you're about to see stars.

It was a must-see. People HAD to watch Top Of The Pops.

Every kid HAD to watch Top Of The Pops.

When you're on Top Of The Pops, you've arrived, that's it, you're there. You've made it.

Who's on Top Of The Pops, then, eh?

I wanted things that were kind of angry,

to counter the boring conformity that was around us.

Just the fact they were there - the outsiders coming onto the inside.

# Everybody's on Top Of The Pops. #

We wanted to be the biggest, best band in the world.

We couldn't wait to go on Top Of The Pops.

It was a horrible experience.

I absolutely hated it, because we were surrounded by a sea of shit.

1978 was this kind of collision of different cultures.

And suddenly they were shoehorning all these things that didn't fit.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# I could be the driver in an articulated lorry... #

In 1978, Britain was, quite frankly, a mess.

Remember the Winter of Discontent?

The collapsing Labour Government?

The whole country on strike?

Ah, the arse-end of the '70s.

Yes, we saw the rise of Thatcher.

Yes, we made a test-tube baby.

Oh, sorry.

But, more importantly, John Noakes left Blue Peter.

This one is called Move Your Body, which indeed he's going to do.

Despite such discontent,

you always got your fun-filled half-hour over at Top Of The Pops.

One big cheer for Top Of The Pops. Hip-hip...

ALL: Hooray!

-The highest new entry in the chart, Rod Stewart, Do You Think I'm Sexy?

-ALL: No!

But in 1978, pop veered off the middle of the road,

and as punk and disco went mainstream,

the kids finally got a look-in.

# I should be glad to be so inclined

# What a waste, what a waste But the world don't mind... #

# Ooo wah, ooo wah, cool cool kitty

# Tell us about the boy from New York City... #

"Oh, let's all watch Top Of The Pops,

"it's such a relief from all the bad news."

You just stopped. And you watched it.

And it didn't matter whether what was on it was good or not good,

You watched it,

because it was absolutely part of being a 1970s teenager.

# Cos a rose has to die every time you tell a lie... #

Even though you were sitting watching it

dripping with a kind of seething cynicism and hatred,

you still watched it.

You still had Demis Roussos and Boney M,

so there was a mixture of light entertainment

for the older members of the family,

and the young people could then slag off Demis Roussos.

# I went away without knowing

# Changes you put me through... #

They could have these fights that families should have

about who's on Top Of The Pops, and who they like and don't like.

# If I had words

# To make a day for you... #

I was always sitting there slagging it off the whole time.

It was a ritual that I had to go through.

"That's rubbish, that's rubbish, that's rubbish."

It was a love-hate thing.

# Shine... #

You sort of tapped your foot furiously through, thinking,

"Please finish, please move on.

"Give me the stuff that speaks to me and speak to my generation."

-This is Boney M.

-Terrific.

-And Rivers Of Babylon.

-Yeah!

# By the rivers of Babylon

# There we sat down... #

Top Of The Pops' comfort zone was pop for all the family.

So the ultimate chart act that year was Boney M.

# When we remembered Zion

# By the rivers of Babylon... #

They were ideal for Top Of The Pops - very accessible songs.

They were perfect for radio, perfect for Top Of The Pops,

in actual fact, perfect for the BBC.

# Carried us away in captivity

# Requiring from us a song... #

Very much a manufactured band. You couldn't name them necessarily.

-# Show me your motion

-Tra la la la la

-# Come on, show me your motion

-Tra la... #

We used to joke that somebody must have gone down

to the job centre in Shepherd's Bush and just employed them.

# She looks like a sugar in a plum

# Plum, plum! #

When you're on Top Of The Pops, you know you've arrived,

that's it, you're there. You've made it.

I can tell you Boney M sold

over four million copies of their records.

It was like nothing we expected. It was like... That was major.

# There lived a certain man in Russia long ago

# He was big and strong In his eyes a flaming glow... #

Every time Boney M released something,

it was like, "Yeah, Boney M has done it again.

"Top Of The Pops, here they come."

# Ra Ra Rasputin Russia's greatest love machine

# It was a shame how he carried on... #

Records that went big were the records that also appealed to a mass market,

that appealed to the slightly older people, the much older people,

the mums, the dads, the grandparents, that were acceptable.

In the '70s, light entertainment was king

and had the biggest pull of the family audience.

It seemed Saturday night wasn't complete without a dancing troupe

or a stuffed comedy puppet.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

At home, you can play the game as well. You're going to hear one of the famous DJs say something...

It was just one big, old party at the BBC,

with all the talent popping in and out of each other's shows.

APPLAUSE

It was in this world that veteran producer Robin Nash

had honed his production skills since the '60s.

Good evening and welcome once again to another session of Juke Box Jury.

Robin, when I knew him,

he was doing Juke Box Jury back in the old David Jacobs days.

And Basil Brush.

He was showbiz. He was BBC-trained into the art of light entertainment.

# Oh oh, Figaro He's got magic... #

With shows like the Generation Game and Basil Brush on his CV,

when it came to Top Of The Pops, Robin Nash was old-school BBC.

Top Of The Pops producers always seemed to me

to be part of another age.

People that involved in music that was light entertainment.

The producers were probably a generation older

and therefore would go for something that they thought

more appropriate, they thought more suitable.

# I wonder why I love you like I do

# Is it because I think you love me too? #

There were still these really old-school formula bands

like Showaddywaddy, Darts, Brotherhood of Man.

Bands that were really rooted in light entertainment and variety,

and almost music hall in some ways. They were still there.

And then a bit of Legs & Co.

# I can't stand the rain against my window... #

It just felt so end-of-the-pier, so Seaside Special,

so kind of Saturday night.

Robin Nash favoured wholesome family entertainment,

and, in spring '78, came an act from the north

that fitted the bill nicely.

# He painted Salford's smokey tops on cardboard boxes from the shops

# And parts of Ancoats where I used to play... #

Kids loved it. The mums and dads loved it.

And the grandparents loved it.

# Cos he painted kids who had nowt on their feet... #

Me mam were saying to me, "It's one of those songs.

"If the window cleaner hears it once

"and he's whistling in the next day, it's a hit."

# And he painted matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs

# He painted kids on the corner of the street

# That were sparking clogs... #

Arriving at the studio that had seemed so busy

and so many people shouting, "Lights, darling, more green, more red,"

pulling cables and all this stuff, that I was frightened.

I'm sitting there thinking, "It's all my fault, this.

"That's why he's shouting at him."

# Now, canvas and brushes were wearing thin

# When London started calling him... #

Looking across at one stage with Showaddywaddy there,

and it was all the laser beams and fancy lights and everything.

And then they'd flick over to David Essex,

and he had all the fancy stuff.

And then when they'd come over to us,

they'd put us on like a wooden box

with a dummy gas lamp at the side of us.

And I thought, "God, we're even looking cheap now."

Do you know what I mean?

And those clothes we went out and bought in Manchester

weren't that hot either.

# ..Is it true you're just an ordinary chap? #

After their first appearance,

you couldn't keep these two off of Top Of The Pops.

As they became regulars on the 8:15 commute from Manchester.

# And Lowry said that's just the way they'll stay... #

As we went on, I don't know whether it was out of pity or what,

but they just started to elaborate a bit more

on the backdrop and everything, and spend a few bob on us.

Everything got prettier.

-There might have been a few sparrows sat...

-On telegraph poles.

-Yeah.

Of course, though, sales of Lowry prints rocketed.

Absolutely rocketed.

Lovely piece of music.

In the '70s, Top Of The Pops was hit central.

It was THE most powerful pop show in the country.

I would say Top Of The Pops has been responsible

for so many breakthroughs of records.

I'm not sure whether they actually create artists,

but they certainly do break records.

-PHONE RINGS

-Good morning, Top Of The Pops.

Top Of The Pops was absolutely kind of paramount.

They monopolised the industry to a greater or lesser degree.

I mean, it was just sort of extraordinary, the power of it.

It was a national iconic show.

A quarter of the country watched it. And the three-quarters that didn't watch it

heard about it the following day from the quarter that did watch it.

# Nah pop, no style

# A strictly roots

# Nah pop, no style... #

It was 15, 16 million a week. That was big.

So if you got your record on there,

and a small percentage of those people bought your record,

you probably charted.

I mean, the promotion men do come and see me,

and it's their job, obviously, to make me aware of what is going on.

It was just astronomical power of one programme

to make and break people.

# Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now

# Cos you're not here... #

And so the all-powerful Top Of The Pops

trundled on down the middle of the road.

With its massive success, the show didn't hunger for change.

But Britain's teenagers definitely did.

From the Sex Pistols, their new one is called Pretty Vacant.

Having had a glimpse of one of their bands on Top Of The Pops in 1977,

the kids were hungry for more. Gradually, Top Of The Pops

began to allow the new young upstarts through their doors.

MUSIC: "Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones

A generation of new young bands were now in the charts

and arrived armed with guitar, bass and drums -

albeit not plugged in.

# Teenage dreams So hard to beat... #

You know, 1978 was this kind of collision of different cultures,

and quite clearly the powers that be at Top Of The Pops

were not massively comfortable with, you know, new wave.

# I wanna hold you Wanna hold you tight

# Get teenage kicks right through the night... #

Suddenly, they were shoehorning all these things that didn't fit,

so you did have The Undertones or The Buzzcocks

alongside Darts and Boney M.

# You spurn my natural emotions

# You make me feel I'm dirt and I'm hurt... #

You know, at 16, I wanted things that were kind of angry

and against the system,

and counter the boring conformity that was around us.

Anything that seemed to fit that bill I was a complete sucker for.

# Ever fallen in love with someone? Ever fallen in love?

# In love with someone Ever fallen in love?

# In love with someone

# You shouldn't've fallen in love with... #

The kind of bands I'd read about in the NME each week,

people like Blondie, the Buzzcocks The Boomtown Rats, Elvis Costello,

they were suddenly there.

# I've been on tenterhooks Ending in dirty looks

# Listening to the muzak... #

It actually felt like a little blow,

like you'd somehow beaten the system.

You got one of yours in there.

# Pump it up Until you can feel it

# Pump it up When you don't really need it... #

Punk had barely featured for the best part of two years,

but by 1978, it seemed everyone was on Top Of The Pops.

Here's a group now who are going to sing all about

the best pop show on television, Top Of The Pops from Rezillos.

-# Hold tight

-Now we're on our own

-# Cue light

-Now it's ready to roll

-# Tonight

-How I've waited for

# Aggravated for years... #

It sort of slags off Top Of The Pops,

but, at the same time, you're on it.

-# Hold on

-Do I look up-to-date? #

We were idealistic and enthusiastic about being on Top Of The Pops

but aware that we were criticising them at the same time.

# Everybody's on Top Of The Pops... #

It's very flattering always to be sent up and mimicked

and have the mickey taken out of you.

It shows how important you are in some strange way.

But not every true punk band

was desperate to mime on Top Of The Pops.

Some wanted to be heard on their own terms.

Politicians deal in, "Oh, in ten years, we'll build flats there."

It's just too long. Young people just feel they can't get into it.

So, what do you think young people are going to do in years to come?

Get old.

You either played the game or you didn't. I mean, The Clash didn't.

They were one band that took a stand and said, "No, we're not going to do it."

They said it was phoney and inauthentic to mime.

It was pretty much something you had to kind of buy into.

And if you were The Clash and you decided you were

not going to go that route, then obviously you were terribly credible,

but you had to shift your units some other way.

You couldn't play live,

so The Clash took a stand against the all-powerful Top Of The Pops.

Now bands were faced with a dilemma - to play or not to play.

# This and that They must be the same

# What is legal is just what is real

# What I'm given to understand... #

There was still an element of young groups coming on going,

"Wow, we're on Top Of The Pops," playing bouncy records,

and against that were the punks going, "Well, we don't really want to be here." Yes, you do.

# ..shot

# By both sides

# On the run to the outside of everything... #

I think, given the option of selling quarter of a million records

the day after you appear on Top Of The Pops

and not selling a quarter of a million records the day afterwards,

it was pretty clear to them that they did it

or they didn't sell any records!

You had to do Top Of The Pops to sell records.

You're never going to do anything at all ever in life unless you're in it.

I mean, the very fact of putting out a record,

then you're already joined in with some sort of establishment.

The chance to play on BBC One at 7:30pm on a Thursday night to the whole nation,

who wouldn't do that, clearly? Apart from The Clash.

# Nice 'n' sleazy, nice 'n' sleazy

# Does it, does it, does it every time... #

It became part of your life. It was a mechanism that was part of your life.

TV had such power then. There was no threat from anything else.

If Sham 69 hadn't have said, "Right, we want to go on Top Of The Pops

"to prove that you're not going to sweep us under the carpet,

"you're not going to destroy us..."

It's far better going on Top Of The Pops

and your little kids saying,

"Yeah, I want to watch him. Don't you switch it off."

# Angels with dirty faces

# Angels from nowhere places... #

There were punk bands happy to storm the Top Of The Pops stage.

Amongst them, a new voice of the kids in the streets.

I know think Jimmy ever felt he was compromising.

Jimmy was a showman, a commercial showman.

# We come from places you don't wanna go... #

Top Of The Pops came along and catapulted him

into that sort of stratosphere for a while.

# Angels from nowhere places

# Kids like me and you... #

'78, I'm on Top Of The Pops, and, of course, it's commercially acceptable,

and punk is a part of the way of life now.

All I was trying to do was get to the masses...

at last, it was actually getting to the people.

# Kids like me and you... #

If you go on Top Of The Pops, and there's kids from 10 to 15

that can't get in the gigs, they can see it.

# For once in my life I've got something to say

I wanna say it now For now is today... #

People say, "Oh, Jimmy, you went on Top Of The Pops and you ruined punk."

It's absolutely ridiculous to say that,

because by doing that, I was able to talk about the kid

that was the underdog, THE working-class kid.

# If the kids are united

# Then we'll never be divided

# If the kids are united

# Then we'll never be divided... #

They weren't being outrageous on the show,

but just the fact they were there -

the outside was coming onto the inside -

seemed so exciting in itself.

He came to the BBC with Sham 69,

and the whole building was trembling with nerves.

"What are they going to do?!"

# Come on! Come on!

# Hurry up, Harry, come on... #

They came in, as punks, "We're not going to make it easy for you."

But really, of course, they're all in show business

and loved having hit records.

# We're going down the pub

# We're going down the pub... #

Robin would actually just say, "You can cut that out for a start off.

"We're here to do a show, you're here to promote your record.

"And this is the way we do things."

Keep them over more to the left in the bottom of the frame?

He had a very definite idea of what the acts should be doing,

what they should look like in the context of the programme.

And I say "looks like", because I remember

once The Damned were on the programme,

and Captain Sensible was, during the dress rehearsal,

wearing a bridal gown. And he was told in no uncertain terms

to take the bridal gown off if they wanted to make the actual show.

They might have had all the attitude in the world outside,

but you walk into the Top Of The Pops studio and you go, "Wow, this is it."

The Skids were young punks whose appearance on Top Of The Pops

caused division within their ranks.

When we arrived to do Top Of The Pops on the day,

we knew we had arrived in a foreign country.

There was no doubt about it. We didn't fit in.

We didn't understand the way people were speaking to us.

It was the poshest place I've ever been.

Three...four.

We nearly split up, is the truth of the matter,

based on the arguments of going to do or not to do Top Of The Pops.

# ..How long now? #

Stuart Adamson, our guitar player, really felt incredibly strongly -

his favourite band was The Clash - that they were the leaders on this front.

But my two mates were with me that day, which were Steve Jones

and Paul Cook from The Sex Pistols, and they were saying, "Do it."

So they were the other people in my ear that day.

The stalwarts of punk won out

and helped force the band's decision to play.

# Cry to my daddy on the telephone

# How long now?

# Till the clouds are gone and you come home... #

By the time we got to do the performance,

that kind of malevolence was spilling out,

and it spilled into the performance.

# The saints are coming

# The saints are coming... #

We were pretty nasty-looking, as I remember, on the show.

# The saints are coming. #

We actually did believe that we had something to say

and it was worth saying and it was important to us, at least.

And suddenly being surrounded by such incredibly life-changing

musical acts as The Smurfs and Showaddywaddy

didn't do your conscience much good.

APPLAUSE

The Skids may have been divided about Top Of The Pops,

but the vital music press were firmly on the side of The Clash.

Top Of The Pops was seen - I was an NME reader -

it was seen as being the enemy, really.

And any band who got on there was basically infiltrating.

They say only the strong survive,

and from last year's big punk explosion

comes a band of Irish survivors, The Boomtown Rats, and She's So M-m-m-m-m-modern.

-# She's so

-20th century

-# She's so

-1970s. #

People like The Boomtown Rats were sneered upon hugely as being,

you know, "plastic punks", I think the phrase was then.

The music press always hated us. They hated us from day one.

In fact, famously there was a journalist who broke ranks

and did a long interview with us,

and when he went back to the NME office,

he was hissed as he went through the offices.

# Tick tock, tick tock Tick tock, tick tock ... #

The music press were so snooty and snobby that, you know,

it was a sell-out just by doing it.

# My mind beats time like clockwork

# Ay, ay, ay. #

We, from day one, had decided we wanted to be the biggest band, the best band in the world.

We wanted to make loads of money. So we had no qualms about that.

So we couldn't wait to go on Top Of The Pops.

In the wake of punk came new wave.

Bands were less interested in revolution

and more keen on making it.

# I've come across the desert to greet you with a smile

# My camel looks so tired... #

It was one of the ideals that we had.

We wanted to break America, we wanted to sell records,

and being Top Of The Pops,

it was just one of the pieces on the menu that you had to have.

# Take me I'm yours

# Because dreams are made of this. #

Squeeze were never compromised by doing Top Of The Pops

like some of the punk bands, you know, they sort of rebelled against doing it.

We always enjoyed doing it.

It was one of the only ways to get on telly.

Once Squeeze were on the show, they had to do as they were told.

It was a bit like coming back to school.

You had to play by the rules.

The director sort of barked at you if you didn't do the right thing.

Even though everybody kind of knew it was a mimed show,

it was the sort of thing my parents would have said,

"That was great watching you on Top Of The Pops,

"you guys can really play."

Ah, the old Top Of The Pops bugbear - miming.

# I love the sound of breaking glass... #

I think it was an open secret, the miming thing.

# I love the sound of its condition. #

Top Of The Pops was not a Jools Holland test of your musicality

and your cred and your ability to play a fantastic lick

or demonstrate your amazing voice.

It wasn't about that. It was about shifting units.

# And I'm down in a tube station at midnight

# Whoa-oh-oh-oh. #

Flaunting the Top Of The Pops rules

enabled bands to retain some integrity.

A lot of bands made it really clear that they were kind of taking

the piss out of the whole miming thing.

We never pretended we were doing it live,

so Bob would quite consciously not have the microphone in front of him

or be out of sync with the vocal, so kids knew what he was doing.

What you did get was one of the very few opportunities to see

the people you admired physically in the flesh, actually there,

and it sort of didn't matter whether they were miming or not.

Five, four, three...

Cue applause. APPLAUSE

Hi, good evening, it's Top Of The Pops,

and we're going to make you feel like dancing.

Here's Rose Royce and the chart rundown.

If you had a golden Top Of The Pops ticket,

you were oblivious to the office politics.

Forget the miming or the message in your music -

this was the only chance the kids got to be on telly.

At half past six, the audience arrives.

It's so popular that there's an 18-month waiting list for tickets.

The audience were just pleased to be there, whoever was on.

They got their ticket for Top Of The Pops,

and they were down there, they were on the floor,

they wanted to wave to somebody at home,

they wanted to get in the shot with you.

"I'm here, I've made it, I'm at Top Of The Pops."

# Everybody dance To the rhythm clap your hands. #

I don't know where the audiences came from.

They bussed them in? I don't know where they came from.

You had the illusion that there were an awful lot of kids in the studio

dancing, but in fact, it was the same 15 kids that were

pushed from band to band, so they would do a take with a band

and then say, "Right, kids, over!"

And they sort of pushed the kids over to the next band.

And the kids... "OK, dance."

If you watch them dancing,

you can tell a lot of them aren't music lovers,

they're just people that wanted to be on telly.

One big cheer for Top Of The Pops. Hip hip!

ALL: Hooray!

We'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Here's Donna Summer.

The show and its DJs were the real stars,

and bands had to take second billing.

They'd be queueing to get autographs from Peter Powell

and yet they had all these famous bands there,

and the bands would just sort of, you know, fade away into the bar.

Top Of The Pops made acts and presenters, if I'm honest,

household names quite quickly. The acts because of the music,

the presenters for no discernible talent

apart from being able to introduce the acts!

A sure sign of when spring is in the air is when love is in the air.

# Love is in the air In the rising of the sun

# Love is in the air... #

Of course, at home, it always looks much bigger than it is in the studio.

You have four of five stages in the round,

and they'd be moving round to these sort of galleyways and galleys

and stairs, and it made it look like a massive film set.

In actual fact, of course, it wasn't.

We would go into the dressing room,

which was always a very stark, minimalist room.

I wanted the glamour, but the glamour didn't seem to be there.

I was very disappointed that the glamour really wasn't there.

One of the most enthusiastic moments about being on Top Of The Pops

was meeting Legs & Co.

I'd gone through puberty dreaming about meeting them,

and when we got to Top Of The Pops,

I just raced down into the dressing rooms to try and find them.

But they weren't very interested in me,

they were interested in people like David Van Day and Showaddywaddy.

Alongside Legs & Co,

Top Of The Pops was still a bastion for our big female stars,

from Lulu...

# Ooh, baby, you can drive me crazy. #

..to Dusty Springfield.

# Love like yours don't come knock, knock, knocking. #

Even our Cilla had a hit this year.

# Silly boy, don't play with me Silly boy, cos you ain't free. #

But 1978 saw a new kind of woman taking to the stage.

This is Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex.

When you look back at the punk era, there were very few of us women,

but I think those of us that were there made an impact.

# And watched the world turn Day-glo, you know, you know

# The world turned Day-glo, you know. #

I almost feel that's one of the first times

that a movement that crossed over and became commercial,

women were allowed to be interesting and sexy,

rather than just pretty, pouting girlies.

I loved that Siouxsie crossed over and was on Top Of The Pops,

that was the most amazing thing, and I still can't believe she did it.

There she was, confident, self-contained, uncompromising.

Her whole look done.

# Harmful elements in the air Cymbals crashing everywhere... #

It was amazing to see her on Top Of The Pops,

because that was actually the music that you were listening to.

# Junk floats on polluted water

# An old custom to sell your daughter... #

Top Of The Pops' idea of getting down with the new bands

was to press all its special effects knobs.

You can see this is, "We don't quite know what to do with this,

"let's have some funny camera angles. Let's pixelate!"

# Oh-oh, oh oh oh oh Hong Kong garden... #

Top Of The Pops may not have known how to handle Siouxsie,

but she was a role model for its young female viewers.

Girls weren't doing things like that in those days.

Girls weren't putting themselves on the line.

Girls were pathetic and sort of unconfident.

And where did Siouxsie get that from, that she could stand up on stage

and just take command of the whole room?

# Tourists swarm to see your face... #

That was kind of thrilling for a 14-year-old girl.

Debbie Harry, another woman destined to thrill.

She was sexy but on her own terms.

# Picture this A day in December

# Picture this Freezing cold weather... #

I don't know what they would have made of it coming over from America,

straight from CBGB's into Top Of The Pops.

# If you could only, oh-oh

# Picture this A sky full of thunder

# Picture this My telephone number. #

Record companies were absolutely freaked out by strong women

in bands who knew what they wanted to do.

Behind the flowers, a little Bush.

Kate Bush knew exactly what she wanted.

# Out on the wiley, windy moors

# We'd roll and fall in green... #

Kate Bush was an extraordinary artist to appear.

She didn't have anything to do with punk or new wave or anything.

She was out on her own completely.

And when it came to our music, she was a perfectionist.

# Possess you, I hated you... #

They were just doing a little dummy run and just something not right.

# Bad dreams in the night... #

Next thing, she toddles all the way through,

past the trombone players and the sax player,

all the way to the piano, sits down. "It's done like this."

She said, "This is how it's done."

# Heathcliff, it's me Cathy, I've come home

# I'm so cold. #

APPLAUSE

This is the castle at Richmond.

Not, as you realise,

an ancient fortress topped with battlements - it's a ballroom,

and it's here that a curious phenomenon is manifesting itself.

For the young people who queue to get in six nights a week

have all caught a mysterious new disease -

disco fever.

# Out there dancing on the floor Darlin'

# And I feel like I need some more and I feel your body. #

If there'd been just disco and post punk,

or whatever you wanted to call it,

it would have been mad but great.

Because that was a great year for dance music, actually.

# Young and pretty New York City girl

# 25, 35, hello, baby New York City girl... #

Alongside the new woman and new wave bands,

the other pop force in 1978 was disco.

But we were a long way from the hedonism of Studio 54.

The closest the Top Of The Pops viewer got to New York City

came courtesy of Studio Three at Television Centre.

# When he dropped you off at East 83rd

-# Oh oh oh

-Oh oh oh

# You're a native New Yorker... #

Here comes the queen of the UK disco scene,

Tina Charles and I'll Go Where Your Music Takes Me.

But our home-grown disco was a little different,

a little more dance-around-your-handbags.

# I'll go where your music takes me

# Where your rhythm makes me... #

There was always Tina, but most disco hits came from Stateside

and so had to be represented by Top Of The Pops' very own dance troupe.

# Instant replay Got to have it now

# Instant replay... #

Well, we did end up with some pretty good tracks that year.

-We did, we did.

-Just trying to think of some of them.

# Got me dancin' all around... #

Bee Gees, Giorgio Moroder, we did.

Donna Summer, we did a lot of Donna Summer. We did a lot of Chic.

# Ah, freak out! Le freak, c'est Chic

# Freak out! #

Everybody kind of got on the dance bandwagon.

We did a lot of disco dance competitions, didn't we? Judging.

We'd go to do perhaps a cabaret or something, somewhere,

and they would have a disco dancing competition that we would judge,

and we did loads of those, didn't we? Everybody just wanted to dance.

Of course, one of the most amazing success stories of 1978

belongs to the Bee Gees and that film, Saturday Night Fever.

This iconic image from the film of John Travolta

strutting down the streets of Brooklyn made him a disco icon.

With Saturday Night Fever, disco changed enormously.

We had a complete change of the way people performed

and danced on stages and in discos.

For the first time, guys actually would get up

and do their moves and everything else, and John Travolta gave

real credibility to the fact that you could be very cool

and get up there and strut your stuff and what have you.

# I don't know why I'm surviving every lonely day

# When there's got to be no chance for me. #

Saturday Night Fever became so big.

It dominated the American chart, the top five in the American chart,

and spawned so many other hits from the back of it.

# If I can't have you I don't want nobody, baby #

# If I can't have you Ah ah ah. #

Yvonne Elliman made it to the studio,

but the Bee Gees just couldn't be arsed.

# Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother

# You're stayin' alive Stayin' alive

# Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'

# And we're stayin' alive Stayin' alive... #

You had the film clips of the Bee Gees on Top Of The Pops

as opposed to them being live in the studio.

# Ah, ah, ah, ah Stayin' alive... #

After disco and the Bee Gees, in 1978,

we all wanted to grow a quiff, wear leather and get back to the '50s.

Now, unless you were fast asleep or holidaying in Siberia last week,

you cannot have missed the shenanigans surrounding

the release of Mr Travolta's latest film, Grease.

CHANTING: We want Travolta! We want Travolta!

Before you could hang up your Tony Manero white suit,

Grease mania had taken hold,

and it became an even bigger phenomenon than disco in 1978.

The longest-running number one in 1978, nine weeks at number one,

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, You're The One That I Want.

# I got chills, they're multiplying

# And I'm losing control

# Cos the power you're supplying

# It's electrifying... #

Grease made a big impact that year.

You know, You're The One That I Want, Summer Nights - big, big hits.

# You're the one that I want

# You are the one that I want Ooh, ooh, ooh!

# The one that I want

# You are the one I want Ooh, ooh, ooh! #

-It was perfect for us.

-Yeah, we got some really good songs to do.

We did Grease Is The Word.

-Hopelessly Devoted To You.

-Hopelessly Devoted, yes.

-Summer Nights.

-Yes.

-Which we did with boys.

Grease was an even bigger box office hit than Saturday Night Fever,

but it's a problem when you can't have the talent.

Because the film was out on general release,

you didn't actually get John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

in the studio, so we got the numbers as routines.

# You're too shy... #

There had to be some sort of interpretive dance

around the concept, you know, and all you really wanted to see

was Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, probably.

# Feel your way

# I better shape up Cos you need a man... #

Unfortunately, this Danny and Sandy actually turned up.

Hilda Baker, Arthur Mullen, good grief, yeah. That was a tough one.

-# Are you sure?

-I'm sure down deep inside. #

And here's the chart rundown, with just slap of Grease.

Here it is, the number one sound on Top Of The Pops, John Travolta.

As we expected, it's up there again, Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta

and, oh, those Summer Nights.

# A-well, a-well, a-well-a... #

And before you could say, "A-well, a-well, a-well-a,"

another song from Grease was at number one, for forever.

# Tell me more, tell me more Did she put up a fight? #

We had finally beaten them, and this is what we wanted to do.

Bob Geldof taking a photo of John Travolta

and just ripping it in half,

which at the time seemed quite a subversive blow.

It's show business. You know?

You know you're going to get the press out of it,

you know you're going to get some PR out of it,

you know that all these years on, people are still talking about it.

We're still talking about him tearing up John Travolta,

so his reasons for doing it worked.

# Screaming and crying in the high-rise block

# It's a rat trap, Billy but you're already caught

# And you can make it if you want to

# Or you need it bad enough

# You're young and good-looking and you're acting kind of tough... #

At last, we actually got to see the new number one performed

in the studio when The Boomtown Rats finally toppled Grease's reign.

But there was no escape from Top Of The Pops' obsession

with a novelty song.

Take it away, Sir Terry!

# I thought I could hear the curious tone

# Of a cornet, clarinet and big trombone

# Fiddle, cello, big bass drum Bassoon, flute and euphonium

# Each one making the most of his chance

# All together in the floral dance... #

I remember introducing once Terry Wogan doing The Floral Dance,

which was a big hit at the time, and cheek by jowl with that

was a former Sex Pistol, Glen Matlock, and his band, The Rich Kids.

# Because you're rich kids You better beware... #

Terry Wogan felt a little bit sheepish, but apart from that,

that was typical of Top Of The Pops.

# All together in the floral dance. #

We allowed ourselves that little part of the British psyche

that said, "We don't mind buying the odd quirky thing."

And we've always bought quirky records.

# We're going to the Argentine

# And we'll really shake them up when we win the World Cup... #

There were so many novelty songs.

I mean, surely there were more than usual.

# Hear me, love me Touch me, I can feel you

# See me, feel me Hear me, love me... #

# Ca plane pour moi... #

There were even novelty punk hits.

# Ca plane pour moi Moi, moi, moi, moi

# Ca plane pour moi. #

Are you feeling a bit jilted? Yeah, and me. Here's Jilted John.

-# But I know he's a moron

-Gordon is a moron

-# Gordon is a moron

-Gordon is a moron. #

Just when you were starting to enjoy it, along came The Smurfs.

# This is the song with a nice refrain

# Yes, we will sing it once again... #

The Smurfs where unwatchable.

Unlistenable, as well.

# La la la la la La la la la la

# La la la la la La la la la la... #

-And the lyrics of the song...

-SHE SIGHS

# And now the second part

# La la la la la La la la la la. #

The Smurfs was another one where you just think, "Glamour? No."

Let's, you know, blue faces. I got the beard. Big feet.

I got the glasses.

# La la la la la La la la la la. #

We just did our bit.

-Yep. And Robin always said we did them so well.

-Yes.

Of course, there isn't time to include everyone who's had a bestselling record,

but some of them you will recognise during the next five minutes,

which are taken care of by a group who have themselves appeared on Top Of The Pops.

The Barron Knights.

MUSIC: "Twist And Shout"

-# Well, pass the turkey, George

-Turkey, George

-# Let's eat and drink

-Eat and drink... #

The Barron Knights had been experts at parodying famous songs since the 1960s.

And in a year of novelty,

Britain welcomed back this veteran parody group,

and they were big all over again.

First a bit of aggro. A Taste Of Aggro.

It is, of course, The Barron Knights.

# When you're working and boredom's lurking

# There must be something new to do... #

By accident, we became known as novelty,

because we wrote funny words to famous songs.

-# Where are you all coming from?

-We're from Dartmoor on the run. #

Cannily using the biggest songs of 1978,

once again, The Barron Knights were both parody and novelty.

# And he painted Grandad's bike and next door's cats and dogs

# He sprayed a couple on the corner

# Of the street that were having a snog. #

-It was changed quite a few times on the way.

-It lent itself to parody, didn't it?

-Yeah, yeah.

And they said, "We sometimes use your lyrics when we sing it live,"

which is lovely.

Well, we're waiting for the cheque, please.

# Ah, ah, ah, ah... #

-A little wider, please.

-# Ah, ah, ah, ah... #

Wider!

Yeah, that's... They changed the lyrics to

# There was a dentist in Birmingham Ah, ah, ah, ah

# Open wide, wider. #

I remember that very well. I liked them. They were funny.

# There's a dentist in Birmingham

# He fixed my crown... #

I've wanted to do this for years!

We actually sold over a million singles of Taste Of Aggro

and we never made number one. I used to see our sales.

I was there by 11 o'clock in the morning,

and it used to go 11,000, 21,000, 32,000, 50,000.

And I thought, "I can't believe how many records we're selling."

But we didn't make number one, all because of Boney M.

The most successful group in 1978 has to be Boney M.

As I said earlier, over 4 million copies of their record sold.

And here now, the current Christmas number one.

# Mary's boy child Jesus Christ

# Was born on Christmas Day... #

But as Christmas rolled around, Top Of The Pops reverted to type,

and Boney M had it all wrapped up.

Well, it was the Winter of Discontent.

It was like, "Whoa! Boney M has done it again! This time even greater!"

And it's like, that was it.

We became the people's favourite when it comes to Christmas.

# Hark, now hear the Angels sing

# A king was born today... #

The music I loved may have made it into the charts,

it may have made it onto Top Of The Pops,

but it did not make it onto the Christmas special.

Another great success, number one for Abba and Take A Chance.

Which was absolutely rigidly, Christmas Day, afternoon,

easy listening, don't scare the horses.

The Christmas Top Of The Pops was a very sanitised version of Top Of The Pops

from the whole year.

They were inclined to have bands like Abba and Boney M

and Showaddywaddy, rather than the more edgy bands.

I wonder what's on television at the moment?

Hi, Noel.

ALL: And Merry Christmas.

# And a happy New Year. #

Thank you very much!

It was properly cheesy, so no Buzzcocks, no Undertones.

We leave you with James Galway

and his version of John Denver's Annie's Song,

and I wish you a very, very happy Christmas indeed.

The old thing of, you are not going to please all the people all the time, that's for sure,

but Top Of The Pops certainly pleased most of the people most of the time,

otherwise a quarter of the country wouldn't have watched it.

You could criticise it till the cows come home, but you watched it,

and that is the weird thing about it. It had some kind of magic.

I think it's probably cos there wasn't an alternative.

# Little Judy's trying to watch Top Of The Pops

# But Mum and Dad are fighting Don't they ever stop? #

And as 1978 drew to a close,

Top Of The Pops had survived punk, disco and everything else.

Just about.

They allowed us in a controlled and limited sort of way,

I'd like to say we changed things, but I don't think we did.

Top Of The Pops remained exactly as it had ever been,

with these sort of oases of coolness despite itself.

And the music coming along,

which at first Top Of The Pops saw as being a threat to it,

probably was a shot in the arm for it.

# When we go out Then I wish I'd stayed at home...#

In order to give you that pleasure,

they had had to compromise massively.

But, hey, it was worth it. We appreciated it.

# I think you've got it in for me

# Is it all in my head? Is it in my head?

# How can you convince me when everything I see

# Just makes me feel you're putting me down?

# And if it's true this pathetic clown will keep hanging around

# That's if you don't mi-i-i-i-ind

# I don't mi-i-i-i-i-ind I don't mi-i-i-i-i-i-ind. #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd