The Story of 1980 Top of the Pops

Welcome to the sound of the '80s.

It's a new year and a new chart and as young as ever,

it's Top Of The Pops! Woo-hoo!

MUSIC: Atomic by Blondie

1980 - start of a brand-new decade,

with a whole new generation of British pop stars.

It had been all we'd been aiming for

and it was just absolutely incredible to be on it at all.

I had Leo Sayer's wig

and Phil Oakey had half of Diana Ross's wig.

That was a Thursday night - on the Saturday morning we sold

quarter of a million records

and I couldn't walk down the street any more.

It would be a year of change for Top Of The Pops,

which began 1980 still mired in its light entertainment past,

with a long-serving orchestra and outdated working practices.

He said, "Don't touch that, that someone else's job!"

But later in this year, the show would get a new producer...

Right and...cue track.

MUSIC: Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin

..and go through a radical makeover.

Absolutely wonderful, it's just like New Year's Eve.

Let's start off with Madness.

The whole place livened up a bit,

it was a bit of an injection of enthusiasm into the whole show.

-Mind if I butt in?

-You're Russ Abbot, aren't you?

-Yeah.

Complete with new showbiz guest presenters.

-Olivia Newton-John.

-Adam and The Ants.

-We're going to take you for a walk in the park.

-Come here, you.

-Careful, careful.

-How come you always look so brown?

It's rust, mate.

MUSIC: Food For Thought by UB40

But that was all to come.

The year started very differently...

ALL: What do we want? 20%.

..With a distinctly 1970s hangover.

And the government are determined to have a real go at the steelworkers.

Mrs Thatcher was in her second year of power,

but her goal of an '80s economic revolution

would be a long time coming.

We knew the inflation figures were going to be bad,

but at nearly 22%,

they were beyond even the most pessimistic forecasts.

And policies like selling off council houses

divided the country...

..but only stiffened her resolve.

The Lady's not for turning.

MUSIC: My Girl by Madness

Meanwhile, at Television Centre...

And now, to get things under way

for this first edition of Top Of The Pops of 1980,

it's Madness.

..Top Of The Pops still had the same production team,

the same look

and felt stuck in the mid-'70s.

# My girl's mad at me

# I didn't want to see the film tonight... #

You know, it didn't feel in any way we were moving into

the modern new future,

having "1980" in giant polystyrene letters behind us.

# Why can't she see... #

Nothing had changed, you know? It was exactly the same.

You know, those starburst lights and really static,

prosaic, rock 'n' roll lighting.

OK, stand by TK 37...

You know, the technology was very limited.

Stand by VT 6.

MUSIC: Escape (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

There was a real sort of struggling with

the identity of the show at that time.

It was kind of like a mixture of old and new

and for the first time ever,

they had this kind of like winding staircase

that some of the acts and presenters used to use.

Of course, you still had a tiny audience in there.

They're herding them around and you've still got

cameras zooming in and people diving out of the way...

MUSIC: Turn It On Again by Genesis

..with a crowd who are making no sort of natural reaction

to the bands in front of them.

# I have known you for so very long

# Feel like a friend

# Can't you do anything for me?

# Can I touch you for a while? #

Another thing that was quite emblematic of the old school

Top Of The Pops way of doing things -

it's the unfortunate cutaway shots that you would see

during The Vapors' performance of Turning Japanese.

MUSIC: Turning Japanese by The Vapors

I guess when I thought and dreamt about

if I was ever going to be on Top Of The Pops,

I didn't think I would be sharing the screen with sumo wrestlers.

That was never the plan.

# I got your picture

# Of me and you

# You wrote I love you... #

But what they did was, they put all these Japanese images up -

I guess it was something to do with the lyrics of the song.

# Turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese

# I really think so

# Turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese

# I really think so

# Turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese

# I really think so... #

We thought, well, that's a nice touch and then

these images just kept on coming, all through the song.

You know, when we went home and watched it the next night, you know?

Everyone crowds into the living room

and it seemed to be, we didn't really get much of a look-in.

Now this is The Vapors and Turning Japanese.

So the second time we do it...

You've got to remember,

I'm playing on a completely ridiculous drum kit,

made of plastic cymbals, pads on the drums

and in my naivete, I thought,

"I'm on TV, so I've got to play along

"exactly as it is on the record -

"otherwise someone's going to notice that we're miming."

And then I dropped a drumstick.

And I thought, "That's OK, I can quickly retrieve it

"from round the side and get back and no-one will notice."

Or at worst, they will realise that they will edit that bit out -

it's got to be easy to edit out.

# Turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese

# I really think so... #

The message came down from the gallery, we've got to go again.

So we did a second take, but what they've done is,

they've kept the first part -

which includes Howard's Stick-Gate incident

and then they do the edit afterwards,

to what was presumably the second take.

So they preserved his ignominious moment for posterity.

My moment of glory.

People sometimes can be,

"Oh, you were on Top Of The Pops, weren't you?"

And then you know the next question that's coming.

"Did you drop your drumstick when you were on Top Of The Pops?"

Yeah, yeah.

What a catchy tune - Turning Japanese,

I really think so. Yes, I do.

MUSIC: Love Enough For Two by Prima Donna

In April 1980,

the Top Of The Pops Orchestra kept the flag flying

for old school light entertainment,

with the British Eurovision entry by Prima Donna.

And it'd be a close-run thing

between them and a young, callow Irishman.

Italy, ten points.

L'irlande, douze points.

'That's really it now, that means that Ireland have done it.

As you can see, there's Johnny Logan,

and the United Kingdom with 106, in third place.

Johnny Logan, just disappeared under a mountain of Dutch flowers there.

MUSIC: What's Another Year by Johnny Logan

I went from winning the Eurovision to arriving in London,

to staying in a hotel in Shepherd's Bush,

to being taken to the BBC studios and I sang the thing live.

I sang What's Another Year live.

It was all kind of surreal.

# I've been waiting

# Such a long time

# Looking out for you

# But you're not here

# What's another year? #

Johnny Logan was a number one artist really,

in the tradition of Top Of The Pops from three or four years before -

he looked like a '70s star.

# Reaching out for you

# But you aren't near... #

I think he was really, really the housewife's favourite, because

he was the sort of boy

that mums would want their daughter to go out with.

There was a huge innocence.

It was genuine. That's probably the real...

The thing, it wasn't put on, it wasn't acted out.

I wasn't trying to be kitsch, that's the way I was.

# What's another year

# To someone who's getting used to being alone? #

So many decisions were made for me.

Somebody from the record company

was given the job of taking me to a shop

and getting me clothes to do Top Of The Pops -

and the clothes were awful.

I don't wear jackets draped on my shoulder.

That's just the way somebody saw me look, you know?

They wanted a vocal version of a guy called Bobby Crush,

who was a piano player.

He was a huge guy, back in the '70s.

MUSIC: Borsalino by Bobby Crush

The record company said,

"We've got somebody who's perfect for this market."

And you know, that's what they wanted.

But the bands that I was interested in...

I really liked The Stranglers, The Pistols...

I wanted to be doing the stuff that was happening at the time.

I wanted to suddenly leap from What's Another Year into...

You know, like, sort of the New Romantic period, or...

I was 24 years old.

In one of his final appearances on Top Of The Pops,

backstage, Johnny encountered a young band who thought

they were about to be the future of pop music.

We were thrown into a melting pot, with people who were,

ostensibly, nothing like that wanted to be or aspire to.

And so, we wanted to hate them.

You know, the likes of OMD...

I was going to twat the lead singer in the dressing room,

because he was a bit...

Shall we say, not as respectful as I thought he should have been.

# What's another year? #

But the truth is that on Top Of The Pops in 1980,

old-fashioned Johnny might have had that encounter

with any one of a vast range of musical tribes.

What's Another Year?

MUSIC: Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs

Synth futurists, OMD fought for the limelight with

head-bangers...

..Mods,

Rude Boys,

Teddy Boys

and this unique tribe of young soul rebels.

Come with me just a bit

and I will introduce you to some people from Birmingham,

by the name of Dexy's Midnight Runners.

MUSIC: Burn It Down by Dexy's Midnight Runners

Kevin's a friend of mine. I've got a lot of respect for Kevin.

He's a very passionate guy -

what you see and what you hear with them is real.

# I'll only ask you once more... #

They started out very much like a tribal or a gang mentality.

With him it was a whole philosophy, it was a lifestyle

and the music kind of embodied that.

# You only want to believe... #

It was my culture, you know? It was that feeling of belonging, you know?

Of being a part of something.

I realised that people would want to feel again.

That's what happened after punk for me.

I realised that people would want to feel, feel more...

And you know, be glamorous and look good.

It was everything. I was completely obsessed with it.

With Dexy's Midnight Runners, I mean, I remember seeing them in

The Music Machine -

which was just a little club in Camden Town - to see another band.

And they all came marching in and this was a night out for Dexy's.

They all had their bags, scarves and woollen hats

and they all stood in a line at the front of the concert.

MUSIC: Geno by Madness

The New York dockers thing...

How we got that was, Jim, who used to play the trombone,

he walked into the rehearsal room one day

and he had a woolly hat on, because it was winter.

He had a donkey jacket, his collar up

and he was playing the trombone and he looked fantastic.

It was a great look.

# Back in '68 in a sweaty club

# Oh, Geno... #

That image stuck in my mind - what you wore was everything.

It always took loads of work.

Massive attention to detail.

# Oh, Geno... #

Unlike their punk predecessors -

such as the Clash,

who turned their nose up at Top Of The Pops...

..these musical tribes wanted to be seen and to entertain

and came drilled and dressed for every show.

In 1980, Madness had a different look for every Top Of The Pops.

It was always an idea that we'd dress up

or do something theatrical when we appeared.

We had a very good connection with a costumiers in Camden,

called Berman and Nathan's, which was really serious.

It wasn't like some crummy old fancy dress shop.

I remember once, we got our hands on these authentic copies uniforms

and we heard that The Clash were rehearsing round the corner.

And we steamed into their dressing room

and there was just the sound of toilets flushing and doors slamming.

And they never spoke to us for five years.

We were doing Night Boat To Cairo

and we were all going to wear these pith helmets and khaki shorts

and I came out and no-one else had bothered.

MUSIC: Night Boat To Cairo by Madness

# It's just gone noon half past monsoon

# On the banks of the River Nile... #

Someone had put a fez on, but they were still wearing their suit

and a couple of tea towels.

# Oarsman grins a toothless smile

# Only just one more to this desolate shore

# Last boat along the River Nile. #

And I remember looking across to the other stage and there were

Dexy's Midnight Runners, having thrown their bags and scarves...

All looking like On The Waterfront cool

and I remember thinking,

"Yeah, hang on, this has gone a bit far, actually."

CHANTING: What do we want? 20%!

-That's right.

-20 %!

What these 1980 tribes had in common,

from young soul rebels to rude boys to synth futurists

was working class roots.

Talks have been going on, but there's no sign of any agreement.

The steel industry faces an unhappy Easter.

And in contrast to art school middle-class punks,

their upbringing gave them a different attitude

to Top Of The Pops...

Scargill was at the head of a march in Sheffield,

to protest against government spending cuts.

We're from working-class backgrounds

and at the time, you know, the political scene and everything -

there were some very depressed areas in the UK.

If we did get the opportunity

to go on a programme like Top Of The Pops,

we were all going to take it,

because it was our way out of, you know,

not having to go into like,

the steelworks or a job that your mum and dad have done.

And you know, that's your chance and you're going to grab it.

We were definitely a different generation.

You know, we didn't hate Top Of The Pops.

When it was offered to us, we were going to take it with both hands.

Ten, nine, eight...

And the 8th May, 1980 would prove to be

a historic show for fledgling synth pop...

Pick up 65...

..as old gent producer Robin Nash

gambled on two records outside the top 50...

Nine... Run both.

MUSIC: Red Frame White Light by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

..handing debuts to both The Human League and OMD.

We were in Brussels, just finishing a European tour.

We got a phone call...

We almost didn't make it,

because this was in the time when

there was no mobile phones, obviously.

Some guy came running out of the hotel as we were pulling out,

just waving frantically

and we thought, "OK, who's not paid the bill?"

So we just put our foot down and floored it.

And so we stopped it and he said,

"Oh, important phone call from your record label."

The song had leapt into the charts at the giddy heights of number 54.

We flew in. The problem was, our equipment was still on the ferry.

The next day, I nearly didn't make it, because

we'd been very kindly allowed to stay

on Richard Branson's private barge.

Turns out that actually, it was being refurbished

and on the day of my first ever Top Of The Pops, I was woken up

by a 12 inch industrial drillbit,

coming through the wall above my head.

I was almost lobotomised before I made it to the studio.

From Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,

this is going to be a smash. It's called Messages.

MUSIC: Messages by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

We get down there and because the song was only number 54,

the audience didn't know who we were and had never heard the song.

Nobody wanted to stand in front of us.

Whilst we were standing there, I could hear them going,

"Who are they?" "I don't know, have you heard of them?" "No, I haven't."

And then there was a couple who were just waving to their mother.

# It worries me this kind of thing

# Hope you hope to live alone

# And occupy your waking hours... #

We were mortified that we were having to do Top Of The Pops

with acoustic drums.

# I just wept I couldn't understand... #

We asked Malcolm if he'd just stand up, not sit down

and they'd given him a kit and we'd basically started taking things -

"No cymbals, no toms. Right, you've got that."

He says, "I'm not standing up to play that, I'm going to sit down."

So he looks really pissed off, if you look at the footage.

He hated it.

It was bad enough we played synthesisers,

because they were taking away the jobs of Top Of The Pops musicians.

And so when we asked if we could have the tape recorder,

they were like, "Ooh, I don't know, we'll have to talk about that."

We did get away with a tape recorder,

but the Musicians' Union had bright yellow stickers that said

"Keep Music Live",

which we used to have on the spools of the tape recorder.

They wouldn't let us keep them on!

-I wonder why!

-That was poking the snake.

MUSIC: Rock 'n' Roll by The Human League

A tape recorder that played percussion and backing tracks

was an essential accessory for any synth band.

And OMD's machine didn't just rile the MU.

Their tape recorder had history.

I thought that OMD just nicked our stuff.

We had been over to Manchester to play Tony Wilson's club.

One of the guys there helped settle the stuff up.

He was so interested in what we were doing, trying to get all the details.

And he rang us up a few months later

and asked for the sort of makes of the tape recorder and things

and that I think, was OMD's manager at the time.

So we felt a little bit like they'd borrowed quite a lot from us.

# Do you still recall in the jukebox hall

# When the music played? #

Noses were a bit out of joint when we discovered each other.

There was in no way an attempt by us to copy them.

If we were copying anyone, initially,

we were trying to be Kraftwerk, but realised quite early on

that we didn't have the technology to be able to emulate Kraftwerk.

I was massively competitive in every way,

to any band that could take any attention from us.

I would do them down or avoid them.

To claw your way into the charts was so hard,

I wasn't really going to give any quarter.

# Times are changing fast

# But we won't forget

# Though that age is past

# We'll be rockin' yet. #

The first time we went on Top Of The Pops,

it had been all we'd been aiming for

and although we were a bit sort of hip and standoffish,

we religiously watched Top Of The Pops

and it was just absolutely incredible to be on it at all.

And we knew we didn't deserve it - you weren't supposed to go on

unless you went in the top 40

and I think we were in at number 56.

I don't think we went up -

I think our appearance took it down, strangely.

We thought that if you did weird music, you should look weird.

I grew up in a macho world and to see Roxy Music with their make-up on,

high heels, I'd think, "Oh! I don't have to be macho,

"I can be my own thing and not be horribly masculine."

I think I still looked more like a woman in drag

than a man in drag.

I watched it the other day and I actually thought it looked quite good.

I thought I'd done my make-up quite well.

Really, probably the biggest defining difference was that

I had Leo Sayer's wig

and Phil Oakey had half of Diana Ross's wig.

Oh, he's going to hate me for that!

Stoking the fire again.

No, we love The Human League.

We do love The Human League, they're brilliant.

MUSIC: Underpass by John Foxx

While synth pop gave the show a taste of a future

that was just round the corner,

the upper reaches of the chart

were still full of one '70s style that refused to go away.

APPLAUSE

I tell you, this disco business is thirsty business.

This is liquid gold - or rather, this...

is Liquid Gold.

MUSIC: Dance Yourself Dizzy by Liquid Gold

Disco's never died.

Especially at that time, when we were quite young,

we were very much into the same sort of music.

# Tonight

# They're turning on the heat

# Tonight. #

If a disco tune came on anywhere, we'd be up there, dancing.

Yeah. Oh, I love disco.

-Never felt uncool about it, either...

-No, never bothered.

..because it's just brilliant. It makes people feel good.

You get up, you have a dance, you smile.

# Dance yourself dizzy

# When they boogaloo. #

In 1980, Top Of The Pops showcased huge disco hits

for the likes of Liquid Gold.

# ..an open door for you... #

but the year's biggest selling disco hit was in fact

written by a Top Of The Pops star from its '70s yesteryear...

MUSIC: In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry

..Ray Dorset, of Mungo Jerry.

I was a big Elvis fan.

He was going through this period of time where his star was changing

and Barry Murray, who was the producer of In The Summertime

was also a big Elvis fan.

And he said to me that he could get a song to Elvis.

And I got this idea of a '70s

kind of a disco style thing, you know?

MUSIC: Feels Like I'm In Love by Ray Dorset

You know? And I got this...

# My head is in a spin... #

Like, in an Elvis-y voice...

# My head is in a spin

# My feet don't touch the ground

# Because you're near to me

# My head goes round and round

# My knees are shakin' baby

# My heart it beats like a drum

# To the drum, boo-boo

# To the drum

# It feels like

# It feels like I'm in love. #

And that's how it went, right?

Before I had a chance to get it off to him,

Elvis passed away.

And I thought, oh... I couldn't believe it.

# My head is in a spin

# My feet don't touch the ground

# Because you're near to me

# My head goes round and round. #

I was played it on the guitar by Ray

and it was sounding more like a country and western song

than a pop song, which I was used to doing.

# It feels like... #

But when we went into the studio and the track was put down,

the rest is history.

MUSIC: Feels Like I'm In Love by Kelly Marie

# My heart beats like a drum. #

And I had a normal drum - du-du-dum, du-du-dum,

OK, went out on my demo.

But by this time, the Syndrum thing had come round, you see?

This is a drum kit, would you believe?

And you found that if you tweaked them,

instead of sounding like a drum or a normal snare, you get this

"doo-doo" sound.

-Tom-tom.

-DOO-DOO DOO-DOO

"Doo-doo", you know?

But for years... I mean,

I had people following me in the street, going "doo-doo"!

Before Top Of The Pops, we auditioned Tony and Pinky.

The boys were very flamboyant.

Because it was such an energetic song,

I just thought it would be nice if we had

a couple of nice boys either side.

But Kelly, Tony and Pinky were never meant to appear on Top Of The Pops.

The playlist is a selection of 40 records

judged suitable for maximum exposure on the air.

The decision at the end of the day is a crucial one -

for the artists and the record companies.

Candidate in at 4 - oh, equals at 47.

Radio One's playlist police made or broke records

and they never gave Kelly's single a chance.

And the record company had actually stopped pressing the single,

when Ray had a chance meeting in a northern club.

I gave the record to a DJ, because the DJ said,

"I really like this, can I keep it?"

And it started selling, you know? About three records a day.

And then it went up to about 20 a day

and then it went on and on and on.

It became a kind of gay dance anthem.

And then the record company were getting orders and they were looking

at the catalogue number saying, what is this record? You know?

They decided to start repressing it,

so the people made that record.

# My knees are shakin' baby

# My heart it beats like a drum. #

It stayed in the charts for 16 weeks.

It was nearly the highest selling single of 1980.

And I beat The Jam.

APPLAUSE

From the West Coast of the states, produced by Phil Spector,

a sound that's so big, it's going to go massive.

It's The Ramones on Baby I Love You.

MUSIC: Baby I Love You by The Ramones

# Have I ever told you... #

At the start of 1980,

many disco and other acts on the show were still obliged

to play with the veteran Top Of The Pops Orchestra.

But in spring,

the BBC sharpened their axe.

The BBC has announced details of the cuts that could be on the way soon,

so that the corporation can clear its overdraft.

1,500 jobs will go and five orchestras will disappear.

Now I think that losing five orchestras is a bit harsh,

but losing the Top Of The Pops Orchestra...

No, not harsh at all,

because they shouldn't have been there by this time.

Their union says it will fight

and talks of an all-out strike of BBC musicians.

In a microcosm of what was happening elsewhere in Britain,

the BBC was suddenly deep in a dispute.

There was a union ban on any music being performed at the BBC,

with the union mounting a noisy picket outside Broadcasting House...

..outside Parliament...

..and just outside Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham...

..while they were live on air.

BAND OUTSIDE PLAYS RULE BRITANNIA

I feel like if I had had an auntie like you, Jenny,

I feel I would have grown up a lot quicker.

-I do... Actually, I am an auntie.

-Oh, is that right?

I have two nephews and a niece and do have to say immediately,

you didn't really have to bring a band for me.

LAUGHTER

It would take nine weeks for the dispute to be settled,

resulting in no Top Of The Pops

throughout the whole of June and July.

But the strike was a crucial moment of change for the show,

with the orchestra leaving and a brand-new producer arriving -

Michael Hurll -

who, during the strike,

recorded a pilot for a new-look Top Of The Pops.

Hello and welcome from me

and to be or not to be, it's got to be BA Robertson.

The pilot was a testing ground for new ideas of dual presenters...

..and just sit on your father's neck

and then you'll be on Top Of The Pops.

Absolutely right.

..state-of-the-art on-screen graphics...

The face you see behind me - the voice you're just about to see...

..and a giant - for 1980 - video screen

that almost worked.

Right, are you set now for the bottom 10 of the top 30?

This is how we start - with heavy metal at its best,

it's Saxon, 747 Strangers In The Night.

But as no musicians were available

to play on the pilot during the strike,

a cast of technicians and hired extras

filled in the roles of Saxon...

MUSIC: 747 Strangers In The Night by Saxon

..Thin Lizzy...

MUSIC: Chinatown by Thin Lizzy

..and Leo Sayer.

MUSIC: More Than I Can Say by Leo Sayer

I personally was Leo Sayer that day.

Not exactly a spitting image -

certainly not the haircut at the time anyway, that's for sure.

Mainly, it was just to be standing there for lighting -

and of course my particular bit as Leo Sayer -

there wasn't a lot of movement involved.

I just had to stand there and go through the motions of the song.

I mean, just for my own interest, I suppose, really,

I attempted to lip-sync the song as much as I could.

Didn't know the lyrics, as you can see from the clip!

So I was fooling no-one.

Live music programmes, from Top Of The Pops to the Proms,

will be back on BBC radio and television next week.

The Musicians' Union strike,

that's kept live music off the air for nine weeks

has been ended by an overwhelming vote

from musicians working for the BBC.

Hello, we're back and you're welcome to Top Of The Pops.

Thank you for joining us this evening and when I say us,

-I say myself and one Elton John.

-Good evening, Peter.

-Hello, thank you for joining us on the show.

-It's quite a pleasure. What have we got on tonight?

Let me tell you what we've got on the show tonight. Starting off with...

MUSIC: Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin

ABBA, with a forthcoming album coming out soon.

When the show returned in August,

all of the changes tried out in the pilot were implemented.

Roxy Music are live on Top Of The Pops.

The show started with an extended menu,

as it spent more time building excitement...

and explaining the arrows on the new-look chart.

-If the arrows are going up, it means is going up, doesn't it?

-I think so.

-If the arrows are going down, that means it's going down.

-Definitely.

-Would you like to know what's in the chart?

-Yeah.

It's a band called The Gibson Brothers.

They are live and they are live right now, with Mariana.

And the studio audience, having long seemed lost and bewildered,

was now twice the size and seemingly happy.

MUSIC: Mariana by The Gibson Brothers

# Love of my life

# I will never leave you. #

Definitely things got more animated when Michael Hurll came in.

And the whole place livened up a bit,

it was a bit of an injection of enthusiasm into the whole show.

They'd obviously sent out the press-gang

and insisted that they got more kids in there.

The whole thing did feel bigger and more professional.

Big change, of course, with the look of the show was that

the audience wasn't just in front of the act that was playing.

So you didn't have camera-audience-band,

but the stages were made so that you could get people round the back

or the sides or even above, up the gantries, looking down.

So there was a feeling that the audience were part of the show.

It's much more inclusive that way.

MUSIC: Ace Of Spades by Motorhead

1980 was actually the first year

that I set foot in a Top Of The Pops studio

as a member of the audience.

# If you like to gamble

# I tell you I'm your man

# You win some, lose some

# It's all the same to me. #

In that studio, there were genuine music fans.

In particular, Motorhead -

you actually see fans,

for the very first time, of that band

in the Top Of The Pops studio.

# I don't share your greed

# The only card I need is

# The ace of spades

# The ace of spades. #

You've got people sort of head-banging

and really thrashing about.

That's a Michael Hurll thing,

because he didn't just want anybody in that Top Of The Pops studio.

If he could get fans in of the acts -

that was the way that he wanted to go.

And when the show's audience wasn't at its animated best,

then Michael Hurll did have his methods.

'One programme I presented...

'The audience were, shall we say, a little lacklustre.'

And this big shout came out of the tannoy system,

which was very unusual -

which was to cut, cut, cut, coming to the floor.

He came down to the floor and he was puce with anger.

And he said,

"Unless this audience gets its act together,

"I am going to clear the studio."

Everybody was petrified

and you'd never seen a more enthusiastic crowd

than the one that followed that announcement.

Strange man.

Very, very powerful man in that studio.

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

In truth, the man who was moving Top Of The Pops into the future

had a style that was close to Thatcher,

taking an old-fashioned authoritarian stance...

Right and...cue track.

MUSIC: Toccata by Sky

..and fiercely enforcing Top Of The Pops rules

on young '80s bands.

He was very much the executive guy,

he was pretty much the guy that was up in the box.

He was God.

Occasionally, you know, instructions came down from God

to move this or change that

or "Hang on, we need to reshoot that and move the lights".

OK, Steve.

It was just this disembodied voice,

-this instruction that came down from the gantry.

-Yeah, you heard...

And standby...

You did feel like you were being talked down to

by a headmaster at a public school.

Right, where's that boy gone?

And it did grate, you know? It grated a lot.

And when you're recording a programme as live

and you've got, you know, us and Dexy's Midnight Runners and UB40

and Adam and The Ants, all running around, causing chaos,

it obviously had to be a bit strict, to get the show done.

He didn't suffer fools -

if anybody played up in that studio,

he would be straight down from the gallery.

The pitter-patter of tiny feet as Michael Hurll's feet

came down the metal staircase,

because the director's thing was quite high up.

And we knew that we were in trouble

and you could just hear these feet coming down.

And I remember one time, he just said to us,

"You're an embarrassment to yourselves and the BBC."

And I thought he was going to say, "..and the Queen".

Our sax player first got us in trouble.

He did all the rehearsals with a real saxophone

and when it came to the shoot, somebody didn't notice and

by the time they panned round to Lee,

he was playing a plastic saxophone.

More often than not, it would include Lee doing something

that hadn't been rehearsed.

Like leaping into the audience.

One time, Lee came on with a T-shirt that said,

"I need the BBC..."

And the next one said,.. "..like a hole in the head."

As he peeled that one off,

I think that was when we were banned for the fourth time.

Because we were banned a lot from Top Of The Pops.

And it was a strange dichotomy,

that Michael Hurll wanted you to have fun, but at the same time,

wanted it to look like you were seriously playing

when everybody -

even people who didn't understand the recording process -

knew that you were miming.

MUSIC: Baggy Trousers by Madness

Michael started to get us in earlier and earlier,

but sometimes we'd disappear.

I remember one time, we'd inveigle ourselves into the BBC bar,

the subsidised BBC bar...

We were getting in the lift, having left the bar

and the doors opened and there were Hot Gossip

and it was like, come on, what are you talking about?

I think there were about six of them.

The lift held about ten people

and there were seven of us, but there was no way anyone in the band

was going to miss out a chance of being squished in a lift

with Hot Gossip.

Then the lift got stuck.

You know, and it was kind of like, is it our fault, is not our fault?

But then Michael Hurll went ballistic.

He would literally say, "You're not coming on the show,

"we're not recording you."

You know, three or four, five weeks later, we'd have another hit

and he would just have to ask us back.

MUSIC: The Earth Dies Screaming by UB40

Even with that conflict,

Michael Hurll's Top Of The Pops now saw hordes of young teens

up and dancing to the tunes of the day.

Including - in a somewhat surreal fashion -

UB40, singing The Earth Dies Screaming.

Released after the government decided to house

US nuclear weapons on British soil.

Two sites have been named as bases for cruise missiles.

The American Air Force standby base at Greenham Common

and Molesworth, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.

All we want to do is to protect our liberty and our freedom,

by having adequate capability.

Over 100 villages will be living with

a prime military target on their doorstep.

You know, we go up quickly and the others might linger a little longer.

This was a period of heightened tension in the Cold War,

after Arms Limitation talks collapsed at the end of the '70s.

If anyone dies while you are kept in your fallout room,

move the body to another room in the house.

Label the body with name and address.

And punk ska band, The Piranhas,

began to climb the charts with their own take on the subject -

the song, Tom Hark.

Does anybody know how long till World War Three?

I want to know, I've got to book my holiday.

They want me in the Army, but I just can't go.

I'm far too busy listening to the radio.

MUSIC: Tom Hark by The Piranhas

Tom Hark is this kind of bouncy, play-go-round sing-along tune

and yet it did have very apocalyptic lyrics,

which were about the Third World War.

Basically, me being terrified and saying,

"Look, I'm scared of this.

"I'm not being macho about this, I'm terrified."

The Piranhas had earned their indie band stripes

and crafted their quirky style

over three long years on the pub and college circuit.

And now, The Piranhas, in a slightly less teasing mood.

MUSIC: Space Invaders by The Piranhas

We did six John Peel sessions.

We quickly became kind of firmly entrenched as a John Peel band.

We were playing gigs all over the country.

Often times, we weren't earning a great deal of money.

We had a rusty old Transit van that fell apart.

It was the kind of dirt under the fingernails,

black-and-white grit of rock 'n' roll existence, if you like.

But in August, The Piranhas' Tom Hark entered the charts

and the band's rusty Transit van was headed for

that very first edition of Michael Hurll's revamped Top Of The Pops.

When we did Top Of The Pops,

it was like walking through into Munchkinland.

-Elton John.

-Good evening, Peter.

Elton John comes over and says,

"Welcome!"

We're going, "Wow."

Errol Brown and Hot Chocolate.

"Wow, Errol Brown from Hot Chocolate!"

Woo!

Roxy Music and Oh Yeah.

We were in the queue for make-up with Bryan Ferry.

He'd just come back from a holiday in the Caribbean

and he looked fantastic.

And we said, "Why do you need to go to make-up?"

And he said, "You know, just a little extra sparkle."

# The whole thing's daft

# I don't know why... #

And The Piranhas debut on the first revamped Top Of The Pops

saw their drummer discover his own brand of showbiz sparkle.

The Piranhas' drummer was called Dick Slexia.

Dick was a little bit younger than us, very fit, he had a fine torso,

which, on the day, he oiled up.

I've got no idea whose idea it was for Dick to play the drums

with fish instead of sticks.

Playing the drums with a pair of plastic fish...

Who am I to argue? I was wearing white gloves.

I think at that point,

we had given up on any hope of having any credibility left

after we'd done this.

John Peel stopped playing us after we were on Top Of The Pops,

which was a source of eternal regret.

So you're going to end it like that, are you, you teasers?

Those are The Piranhas. Good night and good riddance.

Without realising it, we'd, um...

sold out.

Not for a very high price, I must say.

APPLAUSE

-No, I can't whistle either.

-On that August night...

The summer hit from The Piranhas...

Peter Powell's double act with Elton was the first of many pairings...

They're going to take you for a walk in the park.

..as the new-look show brought a range of guest hosts

onto Top Of The Pops.

-Adam...

-Adam and The Ants.

And a thing called Dog Eat Dog.

And a thing called Dog Eat Dog.

-Anyway, I'm going to...

-I'll be Nino, you be you.

-Of course, OK.

Sheena Easton.

Not THE Sheena Easton?

-What about me?

-Who are you?

-It's Super Cooper!

-GIRLS SCREAM

I can see why the guest host thing might have worked on paper,

but often it's quite uncomfortable viewing.

My name is Tommy Vance and to help me on the programme tonight,

I've got the McVicar himself, Roger Daltrey -

who's looking a bit miserable.

With good reason, mate - with good reason.

Why?

I come all the way here to see The Clash and then I find they're not on.

Roger has to be the most unpredictable

Top Of The Pops co-host ever.

You just didn't know what he was going to say next.

Anyway, there's an awful lot I'd like to say about Legs and Co,

but I'm afraid they'll probably bleep me out if I do.

MUSIC: All Over The World by Electric Light Orchestra

-Really trying to align himself to punk.

-What about disco?

-I can see you bopping along to disco.

-Augh, can't stand it!

Really pitching himself against disco in a way that is kind of...

pretty distasteful... Borderline homophobic, I would say.

It's terrible.

Terrible shame, Rog, because here come The Village People.

-Maybe more than borderline.

-Can't Stop The Music.

Watch your backs.

MUSIC: Can't Stop The Music by The Village People

Live before your very eyes - only Little and Large!

CHEERING

-Oy, oy!

-Oy!

As well as celebrity hosts,

between the acts, the new-look show had sudden,

almost spontaneous interviews.

Now earlier, I said we had a few surprise guests on the programme tonight.

I wasn't expecting to have to do interviews

when I did Top Of The Pops.

'They would just suddenly thrust one of the Jacksons on me'

and say, um...

"Have a chat with him." And you just had to busk it.

-So we might do something together again.

-The Jackson Five?

The whole thing about Top Of The Pops

that you have to accept is that it was very bizarre.

Here's a band I think you maybe haven't heard of -

they're called Madness. Do you know Madness?

And Jermaine Jackson being asked if he knew anything about Madness...

No, but I hear that they're very exciting.

..it's got to be right up there,

in the most peculiar of those memories, yeah.

He's just got his pilot's licence today, he's chuffed to bits -

it Gary Numan and it's Wreckage, live!

MUSIC: This Wreckage by Gary Numan

# And what if God's dead

# We must have done something wrong... #

Gary Numan and I went back a bit,

because we'd done a thing for a Radio One programme,

where we'd both gone out in a helicopter and been

thrown into the English Channel.

So we kind of bonded quite well.

And so, when I heard that I was going to be interviewing him on Pops,

I thought, great, because he's a laugh, he's OK, he's a nice guy.

# Would like to frame your voice. #

One man who isn't out on tour at the moment

but is with us today is Gary Numan.

And he didn't have anything to say!

I keep hearing rumours about you and your career

and the fact that you're retiring.

Yeah, that's right.

He's there to announce his live retirement(!)

When Richard Skinner asks him why, he doesn't know.

Why are you withdrawing from live appearances?

I don't know.

He just looks like he needs a holiday.

Poor thing.

How are you filling your days nowadays?

-I'm flying.

-Flying?

Yeah, not like that. I'm learning to be a pilot.

Really? Bit of a dangerous hobby.

No, it's all right. I'm going to go to two engines -

-if one goes, I've got the other one.

-Oh, fine. That's good.

# This wreckage I call me

# Would like to frame your voice. #

Gary Numan's unfortunately titled This Wreckage

stalled at the lower end of the chart.

And the failure of the face of '79

pointed to a bigger problem.

MUSIC: The Winner Takes It All by ABBA

By autumn, the record business -

hit by recession and raging inflation -

saw a big drop in sales.

Decca sacked 1,200 staff...

..Virgin was forced to drop artists

and CBS's biggest act were struggling.

It's ABBA and the winner still takes it all.

-# The winner takes it all

-Takes it all

-# The loser has to fall

-Has to fall... #

In August, ABBA hit the number one spot with an all-time classic.

# Why should I complain? #

So far today, the ABBA single has sold 12,000-odd.

Probably a year ago, it would have been 25,000.

That's strikingly less than I would expect.

The charts were ripe for a takeover

by a whole new tribe of younger acts -

a tribe that would eclipse all others.

MUSIC: To Cut A Long Story Short by Spandau Ballet

The pop music scene and the fashion scene have been influenced

by a new youth cult -

the New Romantics, or the Blitz kids.

I don't feel I'm part of the normal run-of-the-mill rat race.

I don't want to be, put it like that.

The kind of tectonic plates were really shifting.

The younger generation, maybe kind of five years younger, coming in -

the '80s kids and the Blitz kids.

We were very aware of it, because we went out a lot,

we went to the clubs and it was happening there.

You know, you were aware that the ground was moving under your feet.

# Questions, questions

# Give me no answers... #

Where we were on Top Of The Pops was actually on that fault line.

After that, it was never going to be the same again.

# Look at this strange boy... #

Either adapt very quickly and start wearing kind of fencing shirts,

or find something else to do.

MUSIC: Dog Eat Dog by Adam and the Ants

And on the sleeve of Spandau Ballet,

one young man who'd failed as leader of a punk band

raided the dressing up box

and grabbed a golden chance to reinvent himself.

Adam Ant didn't have a band, a year previously.

There is a man with a deadline which, if he doesn't make it,

then it's kind of all over for him.

# You may not like

# Things we do

# Only idiots ignore the truth. #

I'd been waiting four years for the opportunity to be on television,

because Adam and The Ants had been around since '77.

And then someone dropped out of Top Of The Pops

and then we got a slot and we did Dog Eat Dog.

# It's dog eat dog eat dog eat dog eat dog eat dog eat dog

# Leapfrog the dog

# And brush me Daddy-o. #

One performance on Top Of The Pops,

I remember standing looking at Stray Cats over there

and Madness over there.

It was like tribal and they were ready to go

and you kind of knew what they could do

and it made me up my game.

As gung ho as Adam's performance was,

the studio audience for his debut kept their distance

from his unfamiliar Burundi beat.

I remember Dog Eat Dog in particular - they didn't come anywhere near us,

the crowd. They like, really stayed right away from it.

Never mind the studio audience -

the nation at home made up its mind after his debut.

MUSIC: Ant Music by Adam and The Ants

And soon, Adam had a huge fan base -

an army of young girls who bought into

pop's biggest teen sensation since the Bay City Rollers.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

-You've sent the place into total turmoil.

We've got hundreds and hundreds of young ladies,

all ringing up and melting our phones.

-Oh, dear.

-I want to speak to him!

When he returned to Top Of The Pops in December with Ant Music,

the failed punk was a star

and the re-fangled Top Of The Pops was his new home.

With Ant Music, there was a lot more of the audience there.

You had them right on the edge.

That was the Thursday night - on the Saturday morning,

we sold a quarter of a million records

and I couldn't walk down the street any more, it was just...

It was really the beginning of a whole different area in my life.

But in the same week that Ant Music debuted on Top Of The Pops,

tragedy struck.

MUSIC: Imagine by John Lennon

He emptied the Charter Arms .38 calibre gun

that he had with him

and um...

shot John Lennon.

John Lennon's death, on December 8th,

shocked the world.

He symbolised hope.

A new life, a new beginning.

He was a great, great, great man.

I happened to hear it on BBC World Service -

I'd gone to sleep with the radio on and I woke up at four

and they were announcing that

John Lennon had been shot.

And I leapt out of my bed and jumped into my car

and I drove into Radio One Newsbeat.

And I suddenly see in my phone book,

I've got Paul McCartney's home telephone number.

I thought about it, because it's kind of a nerve-racking

and responsible thing to do,

but I did phone the number

and somebody answered the phone.

I asked if they knew about John and they didn't.

And so I passed it on and said,

could Paul phone back to Newsbeat,

because obviously, we would value a comment,

but would appreciate that he may not be able to.

And today's headlines -

after the murder earlier this morning of the former Beatle,

John Lennon, police in New York have arrested...

Suddenly, one of the girls came through and said,

"Richard, Paul McCartney on the phone."

So went to the back office - the editor's office -

and shut the door

and had a long conversation with Paul, who wouldn't go on air.

He was so upset

and we talked about John

and we talked about plans -

that he tells me, in the phone call -

he and John had to get together and try and write music together again,

that would've been happening that December.

But the studio they wanted to use was booked out,

so they didn't work together and they were hoping

to meet up in the New Year.

So John Lennon shouldn't even have been in New York on 8th December.

MUSIC: Super Trooper by ABBA

In the week John Lennon was murdered,

Top Of The Pops broke with tradition

and broadcast a special message,

after the final credits.

We've all been shocked this week

by the news of John Lennon's death in New York.

And I think the best thing we can do is to remember him

as he was at his best, when he was performing.

He's been a great influence on music, right the way through the '60s,

was back again now and tonight, in Top Of The Pops,

as a tribute to him...

'I seem to remember we played the video for Imagine...'

MUSIC: Imagine by John Lennon

'..and everybody felt as upset as you can be.'

I mean, it was just a tragic event.

MUSIC: (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon

In fitting tribute to John,

two of his solo songs climbed the charts,

seemingly destined for the 1980 Christmas number one.

A week before Christmas,

Starting Over made it to the top of the charts.

But, given this was Top Of The Pops,

it wasn't that straightforward.

MUSIC: Another Brick In The Wall by Pink Floyd

# We don't need no education. #

Just as in 1979...

# We don't need no thought control. #

..a kids' choir had a say in the Christmas number one.

# No dark sarcasm in the classroom. #

One choir practice, I remember Sister Aquinas coming in, going...

WHISPERS

..to Miss Foley, who was our music teacher, a brilliant teacher.

WHISPERS

-And it was all...

-HEAVY BREATHING

..and they said, "Children, we'd like to tell you something.

"We've made it to number two."

We went, "What? Number two?

"Like on Top Of The Pops? What?"

And we all went mental.

So we all went - we got on this big chara

and it took us ages to get there,

because it was a big '80s school bus.

And I can smell it now actually, I can absolutely smell

getting on and everyone was sick on the way and you know?

Everybody ate their sandwiches before we got on the A6, you know?

It was just like a school trip.

On the way in, I remember seeing Terry Wogan

and I thought I was going to have a heart attack,

because he was this magical man off the television.

So we went into the studio, Top Of The Pops

and we all got lined up.

And at Christmas, all sorts of things happen in the British charts

and this is proof they're so versatile, I guess.

With a little lady in front who's only eight years of age,

St Winifred's School Choir.

MUSIC: There's No-One Quite Like Grandma by St Winifred's School Choir

And I remember the teenagers that had obviously got

this prized ticket to go on Top Of The Pops,

the golden Charlie And The Chocolate Factory ticket to be at this place

and they were so miffed.

# Grandma, we love you

# Grandma, we do. #

They were staring at us, really, really miffed,

because they had to watch these kids

singing this stupid song about their grandma.

# There's no-one quite like grandma. #

Their studio floor manager said, "Come on now, everyone."

It got a bit disgruntled!

He started kicking off a bit.

"Look, come on everyone", you know?

"Give this kids a chance, they're only little."

Then my music teacher, Terri Foley, stood up to go,

"You give these children a chance,

"they've come all the way down from Manchester!"

And they all sort of stood in line then and...

And just watched us and swayed, like that.

"Bit annoying. I'm really annoyed I'm looking at this rubbish."

Because it was rubbish.

# There's no-one quite like grandma

# She has helped us on our way. #

# Grandma, we love you... #

If you look at Top Of The Pops, you can see, for some reason

I've got my head to the side, like this.

And I think in my own little seven-year-old way,

I was trying to be cute.

MUSIC: Funkytown by Lipps Inc

On Christmas Day 1980, Britain gathered round the TV

for the festive edition of Top Of The Pops...

I daren't tip it over too much, it might fall off.

..to find out who had made it to the coveted number one.

Well, it kept John Lennon off the number one slot that Christmas,

which I'm deeply sorry for.

That little single

was the answer to every grandma's wishes for Christmas,

so every kid in the country went, "Pfft, sorted."

They didn't have to worry about

"Do I get them Yardley? Do I get them Bath salts?

"Do I get them slippers?"

No, get them the single.

They love me, I love them, everyone's happy.

But as the credits rolled on the final Top Of The Pops of 1980,

the Christmas number one was anything but the whole story.

# And we know you love us

# Too. #

MUSIC: Planet Earth by Duran Duran

Top Of The Pops and music were changing

and in a few months, the show would evolve again,

as the new faces of 1980 would open the door

for a legion of electronica and New Romantics...

..all poised for an even glossier,

multicoloured, carnival-like

thoroughly 1981 Top Of The Pops.

That New Year,

music was starting to turn our way.

It was new, it was fresh and they didn't look like

they'd got The Ladybirds backing singing with them.

They were real.

They looked like people that you'd sort of seen on the street

and thought, God, they look fantastic!

And then the music that went with it

and it was just fresh and refreshing

and it felt like ours.

# Can you hear me now?

# This is planet earth

# You're looking at planet earth

# Bop bop bop bop bop bop bop bop

# This is planet earth... #