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OK, this programme's so good I want to eat it. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
# Oooh | 0:00:05 | 0:00:07 | |
# Love you... # | 0:00:07 | 0:00:08 | |
1984, and Top Of The Pops is in its '80s pomp. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:14 | |
# Oooh and I love you... # | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
There's never been a more gay time in pop than 1984. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:20 | |
Hi-NRG, a new exultant sound from the gay club scene, | 0:00:21 | 0:00:25 | |
hit the charts. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:26 | |
They just said Searchin', Hazell Dean, I mean it was huge. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
# Absolute on power drive... # | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
Advances in technology led to the rise of the one-man band. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
I was always acutely aware | 0:00:40 | 0:00:41 | |
of the fact that I hadn't got a clue what I was doing. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
# Make a dream come true... # | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
I think I got addicted to the fear. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
And a new jazz age saw the show come over all horny. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:55 | |
I said that we were a bit like if Frank Sinatra was in The Clash. | 0:00:56 | 0:01:00 | |
Pop had never been so big, so bold and so brash... | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
She totally owned the stage. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
It's amazing to see somebody with such confidence. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:11 | |
You've got to have a good time, cos it all could end tomorrow. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:16 | |
We've got to go down swinging. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:18 | |
..even briefly becoming Top of the Euro-Pops. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
"Music from Germany?" | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
-"I don't know." -"Doesn't exist." | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
# Oooh, love you... # | 0:01:28 | 0:01:29 | |
It's the year of big hair - and big statements. | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
# Love you... # | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
I thought Nelson would be so happy in his cell | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
to know that Top Of The Pops had provided balloons. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
And the Class of '84 surprised us all | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
by setting aside their rivalries | 0:01:44 | 0:01:46 | |
and taking over the Christmas Top Of The Pops | 0:01:46 | 0:01:49 | |
like one big concerned, but happy, family. | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
This was a moment of celebration | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
that we'd kind of done this. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:56 | |
We'd pulled this off. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:57 | |
At the third stroke... | 0:02:05 | 0:02:06 | |
-..it will be 9:... -..59... | 0:02:06 | 0:02:08 | |
..and 20 seconds. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:10 | |
As the Speaking Clock changed sex in 1984 | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
after nearly 50 years as a woman, | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
it was clear that the old certainties were shifting. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
Industrial Britain was struggling to come to terms | 0:02:24 | 0:02:27 | |
with the Thatcherite revolution. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:28 | |
-You're working... -You get your 'un out and ours'll be out. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
Get moving. Move. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
Society was bitterly divided. | 0:02:35 | 0:02:36 | |
And the resulting clashes were ugly. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
# 1984 | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
# 1984... # | 0:02:43 | 0:02:47 | |
Top Of The Pops was also caught between the old and the new. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
It began the year by honouring its past... | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
..but also embracing a brave new world. | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
Well, hello, fans. Now, you might think what we've got here | 0:03:02 | 0:03:04 | |
is some kind of tribute to Mike Read | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
but, actually, what we're celebrating | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
is the 20th anniversary of Top Of The Pops. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
And I think we really look fab gear. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
Yeah, there is that. This is very 1984, though, this - | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
-Frankie Goes To Hollywood. -Take it away, boys. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
With the Top 30 newly expanded to the Top 40, | 0:03:19 | 0:03:22 | |
Top Of The Pops producer Michael Hurll | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
took a punt on a new entry at number 35 | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
by a band causing ripples with their debut single. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
# Whoa-ho... # | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
To be on it, that would have done me. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
That would have been the goal achieved, | 0:03:35 | 0:03:37 | |
that we got a single and it got into the charts | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
and we're on Top Of The Pops. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
# Relax, don't do it | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
# When you wanna go to it | 0:03:44 | 0:03:46 | |
# Relax, don't do it | 0:03:46 | 0:03:48 | |
# When you wanna come... # | 0:03:48 | 0:03:50 | |
And on an historic anniversary show, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:52 | |
you wanted to look your best. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:53 | |
# Relax... # | 0:03:53 | 0:03:55 | |
So we all legged it down to Moss Bros, didn't we, | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
-and all hired suits. -Yeah, Moss Bros in Covent Garden. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
Fitted up, looking like absolute lemons. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:05 | |
Dickie bow, the lot. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:07 | |
I remember, Holly came with no clothes. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
He wore a leather jacket that, sadly, was my leather jacket. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
And, looking back, why I possibly would want to buy a jacket | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
with about 40 zips in, | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
I do not know. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:21 | |
But it suited him better than it suited me. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
# Relax, don't do it... # | 0:04:25 | 0:04:26 | |
I remember watching it and thinking, | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
"They look great," you know? | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
They look so good and it works so well with the record. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
# Come | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
# Whoo! # | 0:04:39 | 0:04:40 | |
Relax's sound was the work of the man said to have invented the '80s - | 0:04:40 | 0:04:44 | |
producer Trevor Horn. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:46 | |
I was channelling them, you know? | 0:04:48 | 0:04:50 | |
They told me very early on, we want to be | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
like a cross between Kiss meets Donna Summer. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
-SYNTH -# Come... # | 0:04:55 | 0:04:57 | |
It took many hours of experimenting | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
before hitting on the sound he wanted for the record. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:03 | |
So I had this piano going, | 0:05:03 | 0:05:04 | |
"Gink, gink, gink, gink, gink, gink, gink, gink," | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
and then we got this device that locked the drum machine to it. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
PULSING BEAT FROM "RELAX" | 0:05:10 | 0:05:13 | |
Switching to the chorus pattern, which went sort of.... | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
# Dig dig, di-dig dig-dig | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
# Dig dig, di-dig dig dig-dig... # | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
..with a whole load of percussion. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
I heard that change, it was like, this - we've got something here. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
I remember hearing it and thinking that's a hit all day long. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:30 | |
Despite the song's orgasmic content | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
and the band's reputation for controversy - | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
or perhaps because of it - | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
when Relax finally crept into the charts, Michael Hurll was keen... | 0:05:40 | 0:05:44 | |
# Huh! # | 0:05:44 | 0:05:45 | |
..on one condition. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:46 | |
We got a pretty formal letter from Top Of The Pops | 0:05:49 | 0:05:51 | |
saying it was important that the Frankies behaved themselves. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:55 | |
So they couldn't have any chained-up women or anything like that. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
-Um... -HE CHUCKLES | 0:06:00 | 0:06:01 | |
I thought, "Great, that's so cool." | 0:06:03 | 0:06:06 | |
All they have to do now is turn and... | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
be like good boys, you know? | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
# But shoot it in the right direction | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
# Hey, hey, hey, yeah | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
# Make-Making it your intention | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
# Ooh, yeah Ooh, yeah | 0:06:19 | 0:06:20 | |
# Live those dreams | 0:06:20 | 0:06:22 | |
# Scheme those schemes | 0:06:22 | 0:06:24 | |
-# Gotta hit me -Hit me | 0:06:24 | 0:06:25 | |
-# Hit me -Hit me | 0:06:25 | 0:06:26 | |
# Hit me with those laser beams... # | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
Michael Hurll saw that the record was going to be huge. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
He didn't have a problem with the lyrics at the time. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
You used to have to submit lyrics | 0:06:36 | 0:06:37 | |
along with the records and everything else | 0:06:37 | 0:06:40 | |
for directors to use, etc, or whatever, | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
so they all had a copy of the lyrics, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:44 | |
so they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
CRESCENDO | 0:06:47 | 0:06:51 | |
# Come. # | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
CHEERING AND WHISTLING | 0:06:53 | 0:06:54 | |
I always remember the next morning, | 0:06:54 | 0:06:55 | |
Dave Robinson, who was running Island at the time, | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
phoned me up and said, "You're not going to believe it, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
"we've just sold 55,000 units. It's gone mad." | 0:07:00 | 0:07:04 | |
And I knew - I thought, I know it's going to go even madder, | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
I can feel it. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:08 | |
Top Of The Pops had played its part in propelling Relax up the charts, | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
but less than a week later, this happened... | 0:07:13 | 0:07:17 | |
We used to repeat the chart on a Wednesday morning. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
It was getting up to nine o'clock | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
and I was trying to squeeze everything in. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
Adrian John was the only one in the studio with me, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
but we just didn't have time to squeeze them all in. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
And I remember Adrian saying, | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
"Have you seen the sleeve of this?" | 0:07:32 | 0:07:33 | |
And I said, "Well, if I'm going to drop something, I'll drop this." | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
Things quickly snowballed. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
I was driving towards Radio 1, and ringing up ZTT and saying, | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
"Look, they banned it, they've actually banned it!" | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
We were in ZTT's offices when we found out it was banned, | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
and champagne corks were popped. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
All it did was put it into turbo-drive. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:01 | |
As Relax stormed up the charts, | 0:08:03 | 0:08:05 | |
the BBC ban left Top Of The Pops with a Frankie-shaped hole. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:09 | |
And at number one, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Relax. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
And that's it for this week. Hope you enjoyed the show. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
The Rhythm Pals are going to make their way back to Radio 1. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
FILLER MUSIC | 0:08:20 | 0:08:23 | |
It's all about who is number one. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
It's kind of like A Game Of Thrones, | 0:08:26 | 0:08:27 | |
and we want to see who's going to be crowned. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
And Frankie deserved to be crowned, | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
so it was an enormous let-down for everyone. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
BALLOON POPS, PEOPLE TALK | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
To have a number one on Top Of The Pops, | 0:08:37 | 0:08:39 | |
you can't really complain | 0:08:39 | 0:08:40 | |
that you're not going to get the chance to perform it. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
Because you know you're off and running now, we're off. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:45 | |
MUSIC INSIDE VENUE | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
DRUMS AND SYNTHS | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
-TV REPORTER: -'This is Heaven, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
'one of London's newest and smartest discos.' | 0:08:53 | 0:08:55 | |
The pumping beat of Relax | 0:08:58 | 0:09:00 | |
reflected a style of electronic dance music known as Hi-NRG | 0:09:00 | 0:09:03 | |
that had been popular in gay clubs, such as Heaven, for several years. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
Now, in 1984, | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
Hi-NRG entered the mainstream. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
# It's raining men | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
# Hallelujah, it's raining men | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
# Amen | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
# I'm gonna go out | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
# I'm gonna let myself get | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
# Absolutely soaking wet... # | 0:09:27 | 0:09:32 | |
People loved disco in the '70s, | 0:09:32 | 0:09:33 | |
it was a joyous, four-on-the-floor up-sound. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
Hi-NRG was the next logical evolution. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
# High energy | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
# Your love is lifting me | 0:09:43 | 0:09:45 | |
# Lifting me higher... # | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
It was disco but with an electronic beat. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:52 | |
It was disco for the '80s, not the '70s. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
Ian Levine had been the resident DJ at Heaven | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
since it opened in 1979. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
Now, five years on, he teamed up again with Evelyn Thomas, | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
an American singer he'd worked with in the '70s, | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
to capture the new club sound. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:13 | |
# It was only last week that we first met | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
# When I was walking down the street... # | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
I sat down with my co-producer and said, | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
"Right, we're going to write a song called High Energy | 0:10:22 | 0:10:24 | |
"as an anthem to the music which we're playing at Heaven." | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
So we wrote this song called High Energy, it took one hour to write, | 0:10:27 | 0:10:30 | |
took her one hour to sing it when she came in from America, | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
and I just knew there and then it was a hit. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
# Oh, yeah | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
# High energy | 0:10:37 | 0:10:39 | |
# Your love is lifting me | 0:10:41 | 0:10:43 | |
# Whoo whoo-oo-ooh | 0:10:43 | 0:10:45 | |
# High energy... # | 0:10:45 | 0:10:47 | |
To Top Of The Pops viewers, something might have sounded | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
oddly familiar about the song. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
# Lifting me high... # | 0:10:52 | 0:10:55 | |
-TREVOR HORN: -I think it was a track called High Energy | 0:10:55 | 0:10:57 | |
that nicked "dink-dink, der-dink-dink-ding, | 0:10:57 | 0:11:00 | |
"dink-dink, der-der-dink-dink dee-dee" - | 0:11:00 | 0:11:02 | |
the gated keyboard part that I did. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
KEYBOARD PART RESEMBLES "RELAX" | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
I must confess I'd heard Relax as a pre-release | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
and liked it so much it certainly influenced me | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
when I made High Energy. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:15 | |
But what you may never know, and no-one has realised, | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
is that the beat of High Energy is In The Navy. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
It's "We want you, we want you, | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
"we want you for a new recruit." | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
# Ba ba bam, ba-da ba bam | 0:11:25 | 0:11:26 | |
# Ba ba ba-dam, ba-da ba bam. # | 0:11:26 | 0:11:28 | |
# High energy | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
# Yeah, yeah | 0:11:31 | 0:11:32 | |
# Your love is lifting me | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
# Lifting me high... # | 0:11:35 | 0:11:39 | |
Hi-NRG tunes were usually sung by a female diva - | 0:11:39 | 0:11:43 | |
but we had our own queen of Hi-NRG. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:47 | |
# If I should lose you now... # | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
Hazell Dean first appeared on the BBC | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
in A Song For Europe in 1976. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
'I used to sing in bands. | 0:11:58 | 0:11:59 | |
'Ian Anthony Stevens, who wrote and produced Searchin', | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
'tracked me down,' | 0:12:03 | 0:12:04 | |
and he played the track. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
And, of course, when I heard that track, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
it was just so different from anything else that I'd heard. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
MUSIC: "Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man)" | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
Recorded in spring 1983, | 0:12:16 | 0:12:18 | |
Searchin' quickly became a huge club hit, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
reaching number one in the Hi-NRG charts. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:24 | |
That track took me into the gay clubs, | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
but I didn't know that there were gay charts, I had no idea. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:31 | |
In 1984, a hit in the gay charts | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
stood a good chance of mainstream success. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
And that spring, Searchin' went overground into the Top 40. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
OK, her first time on Top Of The Pops, the record's been out a year, | 0:12:44 | 0:12:47 | |
it's about time it's a hit - | 0:12:47 | 0:12:48 | |
and now it is, for Hazell Dean, it's called Searchin'. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
# Searchin' | 0:12:51 | 0:12:52 | |
# Looking for love | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
# All the time again | 0:12:55 | 0:12:57 | |
-# Searchin' -Searchin' | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
# Looking for love | 0:13:00 | 0:13:02 | |
# I've got to find me a man... # | 0:13:02 | 0:13:04 | |
Top Of The Pops couldn't resist the urge to replicate the atmosphere | 0:13:04 | 0:13:09 | |
of a sweaty gay night spot in Television Centre. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
Cue two cute male dancers and a bit of a light show. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
# Looking for love... # | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
There was a breakdown in the middle of the song. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
It was very sort of clubby, there were the little sim drums, you know, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:23 | |
"der-der-dut, der-der-dut dut-der-der," | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
and the hand claps. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:26 | |
DRUMS | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
The old strobe lighting would come on, | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
and I did my little dance - with the boys. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
It looked like a disco, I suppose. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:37 | |
# Searchin' | 0:13:37 | 0:13:38 | |
# Looking for love... # | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
Two weeks later, Hazell was back to continue her search. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
# I've gotta find a man... # | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
It was shot live, and so the camera kind of came off of me... | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
DRUMS, CHEERING | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
..it went on the boy and he was twirling his little thing round | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
and he gets it all round his head. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
There's nothing they can do about it, cos it's live. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
# I don't need a guy who's been lonely one night... # | 0:14:02 | 0:14:06 | |
The pulsating beat of Hi-NRG was one of the sounds of the year. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:10 | |
And, for now, clubbers at Heaven | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
continued to party like it was...1984. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
People wanted happy music in 1984. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:22 | |
I think Hi-NRG reflected this, | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
it gave people the chance to take off their shirts and dance | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
and just enjoy themselves | 0:14:27 | 0:14:28 | |
and dance till dawn, literally. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
I think it was the last hurrah | 0:14:32 | 0:14:36 | |
of an era where people felt | 0:14:36 | 0:14:38 | |
they could be, sexually, as free as they were at that particular time. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:43 | |
This new freedom could still be celebrated in gay culture | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
in a largely pre-AIDS Britain - | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
but not by gay pop stars, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:52 | |
few of whom were out. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:54 | |
-NEWS REPORT: -'Rock star Elton John | 0:14:55 | 0:14:56 | |
'was married in Australia this morning. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:58 | |
'His bride was a German recording studio engineer, Renate Blauel.' | 0:14:58 | 0:15:02 | |
There's never been a more gay time in pop than 1984, | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
although a lot of artists are being very ambiguous, very cagey, | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
about whether they're gay or not. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
Many of the biggest names in pop that year | 0:15:13 | 0:15:15 | |
would later come out as gay, | 0:15:15 | 0:15:17 | |
but in '84 they feared this might mean commercial suicide. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
There was huge pressure on artists | 0:15:23 | 0:15:26 | |
not to be open about their sexuality. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:28 | |
Let's call a spade a spade - | 0:15:28 | 0:15:29 | |
the record companies didn't want them to. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
Here making their Top Of The Pops debut are Bronski Beat - | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
performing live, Smalltown Boy. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:36 | |
KEYBOARD INTRO | 0:15:37 | 0:15:40 | |
But there was one band in the charts - | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
and on Top Of The Pops in May - | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
who were unapologetically out, proud and singing live. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:50 | |
# To your soul | 0:15:50 | 0:15:54 | |
# To your soul | 0:15:54 | 0:15:58 | |
# Cry... # | 0:15:58 | 0:16:05 | |
Smalltown Boy was probably the first overtly gay piece of propaganda | 0:16:07 | 0:16:14 | |
ever on Top Of The Pops, | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
and I think that makes it a piece of history. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
And it spoke to a generation of gay people | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
up and down the country. | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
# You leave in the morning with everything you own | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
# In a little black case... ; | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
Bronski Beat's frankness about their sexuality | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
was still the exception rather than the rule. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:39 | |
# And lonely face... # | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
Other artists were very, very wary of Jimmy - | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
and of each other, not just of Jimmy. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
There was always this fear that, somehow or other, | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
it might infect them and infect their careers. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
Bronski Beat themselves had no such qualms - | 0:16:55 | 0:16:59 | |
as the video for Smalltown Boy demonstrated. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:01 | |
# But the answers you seek will never be found | 0:17:01 | 0:17:05 | |
# At home... # | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
Bronski Beat came out as an in-your-face gay group - | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
like us or hate us, we're here and we're queer. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
That's what it was. Bronski Beat suffered no fools. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
# Run away, turn away Run away, turn away, run away... # | 0:17:16 | 0:17:22 | |
We sing about things | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
that emotionally sort of, like, move us emotionally, | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
stimulate us. Everybody's entitled to do that. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:29 | |
It just so happens that we're three gay men are doing that. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
# Contempt in your eyes when I turn to kiss his lips | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
# Broken I lie All my feelings denied | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
# Blood on your fist | 0:17:41 | 0:17:43 | |
# Can you tell me why? | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
# Can you tell me why...? # | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
Top Of The Pops made Bronski Beat a pop group, | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
and Top Of The Pops made them available and accessible | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
and sold them to a whole generation - | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
gay, straight, whatever. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
MUSIC: "Freedom" by Wham! | 0:18:04 | 0:18:07 | |
Top Of The Pops' selling power had previously established Duran Duran, | 0:18:07 | 0:18:11 | |
Culture Club, Spandau Ballet and Wham! | 0:18:11 | 0:18:13 | |
as the Big Four of British pop. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:15 | |
By 1984, they'd gone global and were in their pomp. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
# I don't want your freedom | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
# I don't need to play around... # | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
The Big Four, still vying for position with each other - | 0:18:26 | 0:18:30 | |
but of all the bands, it's Wham!'s year. | 0:18:30 | 0:18:33 | |
They have a different sound, not so much being the lads | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
jumping around in little shorts as much as they used to. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
George Michael was a big Motown fan and this is coming through here. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:43 | |
# Doo doo doo... | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
-# Wild boys -Wild boys... # | 0:18:47 | 0:18:48 | |
Duran Duran have become a stadium band. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:52 | |
# Wild boys always... # | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
And Spandau Ballet have lost their way. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
# I'm just an average boy... # | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
Songs they're recording now are not memorable. | 0:18:59 | 0:19:02 | |
# The shoo-be-doos you sing so well... # | 0:19:02 | 0:19:04 | |
Culture Club? Mmm... | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
They're losing their way a little too. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:09 | |
# It's a miracle | 0:19:09 | 0:19:12 | |
# It's a miracle... # | 0:19:12 | 0:19:13 | |
International success had taken its toll on the Big Four bands. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:16 | |
And advances in recording technology | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
now threatened bands themselves with obsolescence. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
# It's a miracle... # | 0:19:24 | 0:19:25 | |
I started off doing the one-man electronic band | 0:19:25 | 0:19:29 | |
because I couldn't find any musicians around | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
to work with at the time. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:33 | |
MUSIC: "New Song" by Howard Jones | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
I thought, well, I want to use the technology of the time | 0:19:37 | 0:19:41 | |
and I want to write songs that are quite philosophically based. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:45 | |
In a sense, New Song was like my manifesto. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
# Don't crack up | 0:19:50 | 0:19:51 | |
# Bend your brain | 0:19:52 | 0:19:54 | |
# See both sides | 0:19:54 | 0:19:56 | |
# Throw off your mental chains | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
# Ooh ooh ooh... # | 0:19:59 | 0:20:01 | |
For his Top Of The Pops debut the previous year, | 0:20:01 | 0:20:04 | |
one-man band Howard Jones brought along his friend Jed | 0:20:04 | 0:20:08 | |
to get his message across. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:10 | |
Jed was really fascinating to people, | 0:20:12 | 0:20:14 | |
but I was incredibly nervous, | 0:20:14 | 0:20:16 | |
and when I watch it back you don't really see that, | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
but underneath the surface, it was sheer terror going on. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:24 | |
# Don't crack up... # | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
And if you watch me, I'm, like, chewing gum, | 0:20:26 | 0:20:28 | |
and I didn't have any gum in my mouth - it was like a nervous tic | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
to try and calm myself down. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:33 | |
# Ooh, ooh, ooh... # | 0:20:33 | 0:20:35 | |
And then what happened was | 0:20:35 | 0:20:37 | |
I think I got addicted to the fear. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
At number 12, Howard Jones, Hide And Seek. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
CHEERING | 0:20:43 | 0:20:45 | |
In 1984, almost all acts on Top Of The Pops still mimed. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:50 | |
So Howard ramped up that fear factor | 0:20:50 | 0:20:52 | |
by playing and singing live. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:54 | |
I've always been looking for those challenges | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
that sort of push you a little bit further to take a risk, | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
so I was really, really up for doing that, | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
but I remember getting a bit lost in the dry ice a few times. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:09 | |
# Built her elaborate home With its ups and its downs | 0:21:09 | 0:21:13 | |
# Its rain and its sun | 0:21:15 | 0:21:17 | |
# She decided that her work, it was done | 0:21:17 | 0:21:20 | |
# Time to have fun... # | 0:21:20 | 0:21:22 | |
That was the most enjoyable Top Of The Pops for me | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
because of the sheer adrenaline going through me. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:29 | |
# Hope you find it | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
# Hope you find me in you... # | 0:21:34 | 0:21:41 | |
Howard Jones wasn't the only solo act out of their comfort zone | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
on Top Of The Pops in 1984. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
It was utterly terrifying. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
You know, I'm a guitar player | 0:21:51 | 0:21:52 | |
and I'd spent the last five years playing guitar | 0:21:52 | 0:21:55 | |
and I play guitar in the studio, | 0:21:55 | 0:21:56 | |
so obviously I'm going to go on television with a keyboard. | 0:21:56 | 0:22:01 | |
MUSIC: "Wouldn't It Be Good" | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
Exposed and alone on the Top Of The Pops stage, | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
with no mic and only a haircut for company, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
what you choose to wear can make a lasting impression. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
# I got it bad | 0:22:14 | 0:22:16 | |
# You don't know how bad I got it... # | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
Don't talk to me about that snood. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:20 | |
It kind of...took on a life of its own, | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
and it's literally been round my neck for my entire career. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
# The cold is biting | 0:22:29 | 0:22:31 | |
# Through each and... # | 0:22:31 | 0:22:32 | |
I could easily blame my stylist but the buck stops with me, really, | 0:22:32 | 0:22:35 | |
because I did stand in front of that mirror and go, | 0:22:35 | 0:22:37 | |
"Yeah, I'm going to go on national television looking like that. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
"That's... That's fine." | 0:22:40 | 0:22:42 | |
# Wouldn't it be good to be in your shoes | 0:22:42 | 0:22:46 | |
# Even if it was for just one day? | 0:22:46 | 0:22:51 | |
# Wouldn't it be good | 0:22:51 | 0:22:53 | |
# If we could wish ourselves away? # | 0:22:53 | 0:22:58 | |
Two weeks later, Nik was back - | 0:22:59 | 0:23:01 | |
and this time, the show had a trick up its sleeve. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:04 | |
# To be on your side... # | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
I think the second time I did it, the production people | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
kind of realised, actually, there was nothing going on here. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
There's no great moves or anything. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
# Without a care...? # | 0:23:16 | 0:23:18 | |
So they stuck the video of the song behind me | 0:23:18 | 0:23:21 | |
and kept cutting between them. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:23 | |
# You must be joking | 0:23:23 | 0:23:24 | |
# You don't know a thing about it | 0:23:24 | 0:23:27 | |
# You've got no problem... # | 0:23:27 | 0:23:28 | |
I can understand why they did that, yeah. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:32 | |
# The heat is stifling | 0:23:32 | 0:23:34 | |
# Burning me up from the inside... # | 0:23:34 | 0:23:37 | |
Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones were the perfect pop packages for 1984. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:42 | |
Big hair, fancy clothes | 0:23:42 | 0:23:43 | |
and a handful of catchy tunes. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:45 | |
But alongside Hi-NRG, | 0:23:49 | 0:23:51 | |
another underground club scene burst into the charts that year, | 0:23:51 | 0:23:54 | |
combining jazz-cool and old-fashioned authenticity. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
With the Wag Club, it was a reaction | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
against all the kind of, the rather soulless synth pop of the time, | 0:24:03 | 0:24:07 | |
and I just wanted to do a club where people could dance, | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
where they could listen to music. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:11 | |
It was like a hybrid of Latin, funk and jazz. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:13 | |
# Klacto vee sedstein | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
# I wait and wonder what it means | 0:24:15 | 0:24:19 | |
# Klacto vee sedstein... # | 0:24:19 | 0:24:21 | |
Early pioneers of this sound and look | 0:24:21 | 0:24:23 | |
were Chris Sullivan's band Blue Rondo A La Turk. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
And Top Of The Pops would inadvertently play a role | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
in this flourishing scene. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
# And bruises all my dreams | 0:24:31 | 0:24:32 | |
# Klacto vee sed... # | 0:24:32 | 0:24:34 | |
In a queer kind of way, | 0:24:34 | 0:24:35 | |
without Top Of The Pops there wouldn't have been a Wag Club, | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
because we were going to go on Top Of The Pops one day | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
and we were the most played record on Radio 1 - | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
we got there, "Yeah, boys, you're on," do mic and all that stuff, | 0:24:43 | 0:24:47 | |
dance routines, the splits, the backdrops, got all ready. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:51 | |
The day before, they said, "Sorry, you've lost out to Ken Dodd." | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
# Hold my hand if you're yellow, black or white... # | 0:24:54 | 0:24:58 | |
They were so apologetic. | 0:24:58 | 0:24:59 | |
They said, "If you stay where you are, you're on next week," | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
and we went down one place and that was it. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
# Hold my hand if you're yellow, black or white... # | 0:25:04 | 0:25:08 | |
If I'd have gone on Top Of The Pops, | 0:25:08 | 0:25:09 | |
undoubtedly we would have gone on to bigger success | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
and, undoubtedly, I wouldn't have started the Wag Club, | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
because I did that because I was skint! | 0:25:14 | 0:25:16 | |
But out of that same scene | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
emerged a singer who became one of the voices and the faces of 1984. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:26 | |
# Pride, when you can't back down... # | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
Sade first caught the eye as a backing vocalist | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
with jazz-funk group Pride. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:34 | |
# Pride, when you can't back down... # | 0:25:34 | 0:25:36 | |
I used to hang out with Sade. She lived in this squat | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
and she had all these records and we used to listen to records | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
and used to think, "Oh, we should try and write our own songs." | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
Just little jazzy, souly things. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
# Pushin' on, pushin' on... # | 0:25:47 | 0:25:49 | |
The rules for pop success in 1984 were the same, whatever your sound - | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
you needed a good image and a determination to succeed. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:57 | |
# Do you realise you're going nowhere...? # | 0:25:57 | 0:26:00 | |
We weren't accomplished songwriters or musicians. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:04 | |
I think if any of us had been 10% better, it would have been horrible. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:08 | |
She's making her debut with Your Love Is King - this is Sade. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:13 | |
When Sade and her new band | 0:26:17 | 0:26:18 | |
made their Top Of The Pops debut in March, | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
the Wag Club ethos of real instruments and understatement | 0:26:21 | 0:26:25 | |
sounded unlike much else in the charts at the time. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
# Your love is king | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
# Crown you in my heart | 0:26:37 | 0:26:39 | |
# Your love is king | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
# Never need to part | 0:26:42 | 0:26:44 | |
# Your kisses ring | 0:26:44 | 0:26:46 | |
# Round and round and round my head | 0:26:48 | 0:26:50 | |
# Touching the very part of me | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
# That's making my soul sing | 0:26:53 | 0:26:55 | |
# I'm crying out for more | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
# Your love is king... # | 0:26:58 | 0:27:03 | |
The first time we were on Top Of The Pops, | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
I just remember looking at the audience | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
and them being slightly confused as to how to dance to us. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:11 | |
You know, cos it was kind of slow | 0:27:11 | 0:27:13 | |
and it was, like, in 6/8 kind of time signature, | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
and they weren't quite sure. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
Even the Top Of The Pops team were put in a tizz by Sade. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:23 | |
The first time seeing our name on the countdown, | 0:27:24 | 0:27:27 | |
and it said, "Sade, Your Love Is King," and it said "Slade". | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
Sade, Your Love Is King, a chart entry at 37. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
Wow. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:36 | |
Obviously, I love Slade, but it was a bit, you know... | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
Did you like the way we deliberately misspelled "Sade" there? | 0:27:39 | 0:27:42 | |
OK, let's get back to the charts. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
MUSIC: "Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed" by Matt Bianco | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
# Get out of your lazy bed | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
# Get up... # | 0:27:51 | 0:27:52 | |
Suddenly, jazz was king. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
Step forward Matt Bianco, | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
a more poppy offshoot of Blue Rondo A La Turk. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:59 | |
# Get out of your lazy bed | 0:27:59 | 0:28:00 | |
# Get up | 0:28:00 | 0:28:01 | |
# Get up... # | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
# Mr Solitaire | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
# Don't need your love Don't want your love... # | 0:28:06 | 0:28:08 | |
And Animal Nightlife added an air of sophistication. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:12 | |
# Mr Solitaire | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
# Don't need your love Don't want your love... # | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
I mean, it was kind of crazy, really, | 0:28:17 | 0:28:18 | |
when you think about how much success came out of that scene. | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
We were reflecting what we saw when we went out clubbing | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
and the friends that we had, really, in the real life, in the real world. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:28 | |
You know, with Sade, it just went stratospheric. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
# No need to ask | 0:28:34 | 0:28:36 | |
# He's a smooth operator... # | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
By September, and their second single, | 0:28:39 | 0:28:41 | |
everyone knew who Sade was. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:44 | |
# Smooth operator... | 0:28:44 | 0:28:47 | |
Sade came at a time when a lot of people | 0:28:47 | 0:28:49 | |
were ready to embrace jazz music, | 0:28:49 | 0:28:51 | |
and she was the perfect person to introduce it. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:54 | |
# LA to Chicago, western male... # | 0:28:54 | 0:29:00 | |
I loved the fact that there was someone from our scene, | 0:29:00 | 0:29:03 | |
and it was a black woman being elevated. | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
And she did it all on her own terms. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
# Smooth operator... # | 0:29:09 | 0:29:12 | |
There was no-one who sounded like her | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
and I think that's why, you know, she hit the ball out of the park. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:17 | |
Despite its hip beginnings, | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
the tasteful sound of jazz pop | 0:29:21 | 0:29:23 | |
would quickly come to be associated with '80s consumerism - | 0:29:23 | 0:29:27 | |
the cocktail years. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:29 | |
There was a lot of places, like cocktail bars, | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
that people used to go out. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:34 | |
We got criticised - oh, it's cocktail lounge music, or whatever. | 0:29:34 | 0:29:36 | |
But, you know, I'm not really going to apologise for that, | 0:29:36 | 0:29:39 | |
for being sophisticated. | 0:29:39 | 0:29:40 | |
# A licence to love | 0:29:42 | 0:29:44 | |
# Insurance to hold | 0:29:44 | 0:29:48 | |
# Melts all your memories and change... # | 0:29:50 | 0:29:52 | |
What made Top Of The Pops performances like Sade's | 0:29:52 | 0:29:56 | |
look more dynamic in 1984 | 0:29:56 | 0:29:57 | |
was the show's increasing use of hand-held cameras for close-ups. | 0:29:57 | 0:30:02 | |
But, for the cameraman, | 0:30:03 | 0:30:04 | |
it was an operation that didn't always go smoothly. | 0:30:04 | 0:30:07 | |
# Smooth operator... # | 0:30:07 | 0:30:09 | |
Although these portable cameras | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
could get to all sorts of interesting places, | 0:30:11 | 0:30:14 | |
when they first came out, in those early days, | 0:30:14 | 0:30:16 | |
they tended to have very narrow-angle lenses on them. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:20 | |
And that means, when you move around with a narrow-angle lens, | 0:30:20 | 0:30:23 | |
every wobble, every shake really shows up. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:26 | |
You tend to see quite a lot of those kind of very close, | 0:30:30 | 0:30:34 | |
quite ugly shots, sometimes. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:36 | |
They're low-angle because someone's standing on the ground looking up. | 0:30:36 | 0:30:39 | |
It all becomes, then, about seeing the roof behind them. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:45 | |
And it's interesting, in the '80s, | 0:30:45 | 0:30:47 | |
you've got those big banks of lights starting to appear. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
The lights were burning, burning hot. | 0:30:53 | 0:30:56 | |
I mean, the heat that came out of those lights, | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
if you stood on one of those stages with all those lights above you, | 0:30:58 | 0:31:02 | |
your head was being grilled, basically. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:04 | |
# Are you ready? | 0:31:04 | 0:31:06 | |
Are you ready to dance? # | 0:31:06 | 0:31:08 | |
The use of portable cameras allowed viewers to get up close and personal | 0:31:08 | 0:31:12 | |
with performers on the show. | 0:31:12 | 0:31:13 | |
If a performer like Cyndi Lauper came along | 0:31:15 | 0:31:17 | |
and wanted to be able to carry off | 0:31:17 | 0:31:19 | |
a slightly more flamboyant performance, | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
we just had to go with it. | 0:31:21 | 0:31:23 | |
# And girls, they wanna have fun... # | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
During the first set of rehearsals, | 0:31:26 | 0:31:29 | |
Michael spotted that she was going to be a great performer. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:33 | |
And, as a result, he gave her not only one stage but two stages | 0:31:33 | 0:31:38 | |
and the gantry to work with. | 0:31:38 | 0:31:40 | |
# My father yells "Watcha gonna do with your life?" | 0:31:40 | 0:31:45 | |
# Oh, Daddy dear, you know you're still number one | 0:31:45 | 0:31:49 | |
# But girls, they wanna have fun | 0:31:49 | 0:31:52 | |
# Oh, girls, just wanna have | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
# That's all they really want... # | 0:31:55 | 0:31:59 | |
Cyndi Lauper really goes for it with her performance. | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
She runs up and down the scaffolding, | 0:32:02 | 0:32:05 | |
she's playing drums on the scaffolding. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:07 | |
She is kooky. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:10 | |
She's grabbing people in the audience | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
and making them dance with her. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:14 | |
She's giving it all she's got. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:16 | |
# Girls, they wanna have fun | 0:32:16 | 0:32:18 | |
# Oh, girls just wanna have | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
# That's all they really want... # | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
In June 1984, Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic | 0:32:24 | 0:32:28 | |
began a service between London and New York. | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
And if the Big Four were part of | 0:32:31 | 0:32:33 | |
the second British invasion of the States, | 0:32:33 | 0:32:35 | |
a new wave of US stars were coming the other way. | 0:32:35 | 0:32:39 | |
# Like a virgin... # | 0:32:39 | 0:32:40 | |
Including Madonna. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:42 | |
# Touched for the very first time | 0:32:42 | 0:32:47 | |
# Like a virgin | 0:32:47 | 0:32:50 | |
# When your heart beats... # | 0:32:50 | 0:32:52 | |
And her performance impressed the competition. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
I do remember Madonna on that show, | 0:32:58 | 0:32:59 | |
because there'd been a lot of talk about her | 0:32:59 | 0:33:01 | |
and I think it was quite a big thing that she was actually over. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
But she totally owned the stage. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
She was all over the stage. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:08 | |
She was skipping around it and all sorts. | 0:33:08 | 0:33:10 | |
It's amazing to see somebody with such confidence. | 0:33:10 | 0:33:12 | |
# And you're mine... # | 0:33:12 | 0:33:14 | |
What you need to look for, really, | 0:33:14 | 0:33:16 | |
is she's wearing those provocative | 0:33:16 | 0:33:18 | |
rosaries and crucifixes around her neck | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
while she's singing Like A Virgin. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:23 | |
So this was a glimpse of things to come. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:25 | |
# With your heartbeat | 0:33:27 | 0:33:29 | |
# Next to mine... # | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
For young girls watching Top Of The Pops, | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
Madonna and Cyndi Lauper offered themselves as brash new role models. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:38 | |
Unconventional, a bit shocking, but plainly having a good time. | 0:33:38 | 0:33:42 | |
Unlike Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, | 0:33:45 | 0:33:47 | |
who came under fire from the wives of striking miners. | 0:33:47 | 0:33:50 | |
-NEWS REPORT: -'One egg hit Mrs Thatcher squarely on the chest. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:55 | |
'More eggs, and also tomatoes, ice cream and butter, | 0:33:55 | 0:33:58 | |
'rained down on her entourage.' | 0:33:58 | 0:34:00 | |
# It's a lot, it's a lot It's a lot like life... # | 0:34:00 | 0:34:04 | |
As the year wore one, the miners' strike, which began that spring, | 0:34:05 | 0:34:08 | |
saw communities torn apart amidst increasingly violent confrontations. | 0:34:08 | 0:34:13 | |
I think it totally and utterly false to cast a slur on the police | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
for the superb way in which they have handled this dispute. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:27 | |
One television series caught the spirit of these troubled times, | 0:34:28 | 0:34:32 | |
mixing up comedy, pop, | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
and anarchy... | 0:34:35 | 0:34:36 | |
I'm not into violence, Rick. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:38 | |
But I'm really going to smash your face in! | 0:34:38 | 0:34:40 | |
..and a hippie. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:42 | |
Neil, how are you keeping that flowerpot up? | 0:34:42 | 0:34:44 | |
Culturally, I think it was quite a shock, The Young Ones. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:50 | |
I don't think anything like that had ever been seen before. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:53 | |
Not sure if anything like that's been seen since, actually. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:56 | |
What are we going to do? | 0:34:56 | 0:34:58 | |
Only pop music can save us now. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:00 | |
We had the bands in The Young Ones. | 0:35:09 | 0:35:11 | |
It didn't seem that big a leap, | 0:35:11 | 0:35:13 | |
one of the characters from The Young Ones on Top Of The Pops. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
Hello, shoes. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to stand on you again. | 0:35:19 | 0:35:23 | |
Oh, no. Where am I? | 0:35:24 | 0:35:26 | |
Oh, no, I must be on Top Of The Pops. Heavy! | 0:35:28 | 0:35:31 | |
What, what now? | 0:35:32 | 0:35:34 | |
# I looked in the sky | 0:35:34 | 0:35:35 | |
# Where an elephant's eye | 0:35:35 | 0:35:37 | |
# Was looking at me | 0:35:37 | 0:35:40 | |
# From a bubble-gum tree... # | 0:35:40 | 0:35:41 | |
'The singing was mimed but there was talking in it,' | 0:35:41 | 0:35:45 | |
so I was partially miming, and partially not miming. | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
# Was letting in water | 0:35:48 | 0:35:50 | |
# Letting in water... # | 0:35:50 | 0:35:52 | |
'We made sure, in the speaking bits,' | 0:35:52 | 0:35:55 | |
that we referenced a lot of other acts | 0:35:55 | 0:35:57 | |
who were in the charts at the time. | 0:35:57 | 0:35:59 | |
Listen to the lyrics, Paul Weller. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:00 | |
'Which was funny at the time.' | 0:36:02 | 0:36:04 | |
It doesn't seem so funny now. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:06 | |
I think it's fascinating when you get someone like Nigel Planer | 0:36:08 | 0:36:11 | |
coming into the studio because, of course, | 0:36:11 | 0:36:13 | |
they're going to be interested, if it's a comedy song, | 0:36:13 | 0:36:16 | |
in making sure that you're on them when the line's being spoken | 0:36:16 | 0:36:20 | |
and that you're going to get the comedy. | 0:36:20 | 0:36:22 | |
Oh, no, what's happening? | 0:36:22 | 0:36:24 | |
There was a tradition, Top Of The Pops shot, | 0:36:25 | 0:36:27 | |
the person singing and the camera comes round, | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
dollying round, round, round like that - | 0:36:30 | 0:36:31 | |
then they cut to another one. | 0:36:31 | 0:36:33 | |
I AM on Top Of The Pops. | 0:36:33 | 0:36:35 | |
'But, of course, in a narrative sketch, | 0:36:35 | 0:36:37 | |
'you've got to set something up and pay it off.' | 0:36:37 | 0:36:39 | |
..in the bath with my shoes on, cos it won't make any difference. | 0:36:39 | 0:36:43 | |
'And so, we wrote a different camera script for them, | 0:36:44 | 0:36:47 | |
'so it was a little bit challenging to say,' | 0:36:47 | 0:36:50 | |
"No, you must be on my face | 0:36:50 | 0:36:51 | |
"when I hit myself in the head with the microphone. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:55 | |
"Don't be around the back here." | 0:36:55 | 0:36:57 | |
Hang on, hang on. | 0:36:57 | 0:36:58 | |
'It was fun breaking the fourth wall' | 0:37:04 | 0:37:07 | |
and talking to the audience and making them laugh. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:09 | |
It kind of ruined Top Of The Pops. We hope. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
Back in the real world, | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
laughter was in short supply in the Cold War Britain of '84. | 0:37:19 | 0:37:23 | |
And, so, having courted controversy with sex on Relax, | 0:37:31 | 0:37:35 | |
Frankie Goes To Hollywood now turned their sights on war. | 0:37:35 | 0:37:39 | |
Frankies didn't have any obvious material for a second single. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:45 | |
They had Two Tribes, but their original version of Two Tribes | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
was quite random and quite sort of indie. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
I knew the second single, when you've had a massive single, | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
if you don't get the second single away, you're dead meat. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:58 | |
This bit's good. | 0:37:58 | 0:38:00 | |
'I remember walking into Studio Two at Sarm, and Trevor said,' | 0:38:01 | 0:38:04 | |
"Well, I've had a play around with a few bits. Have a listen to this, | 0:38:04 | 0:38:07 | |
and put it on to the bigs, put it on to number 11, as they say, | 0:38:07 | 0:38:10 | |
and, you know... | 0:38:10 | 0:38:12 | |
blew us away. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:14 | |
When Two Tribes crashed straight in at number one | 0:38:18 | 0:38:21 | |
and remained there for much of the summer, | 0:38:21 | 0:38:23 | |
Michael Hurll was finally able | 0:38:23 | 0:38:25 | |
to welcome Frankie back to Top Of The Pops with open arms. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:28 | |
# When two tribes go to war | 0:38:28 | 0:38:30 | |
# Money's all that you can score | 0:38:30 | 0:38:34 | |
# Working on the black gas | 0:38:34 | 0:38:36 | |
# Cowboy number one | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
# A born-again poor man's son... # | 0:38:38 | 0:38:41 | |
Now, at last, it's their time to get crowned. | 0:38:41 | 0:38:44 | |
Nine times in a row, and Michael Hurll gives them this platform, | 0:38:44 | 0:38:49 | |
because he owes it to them, frankly. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:51 | |
With Two Tribes looking indomitable at number one, | 0:38:52 | 0:38:55 | |
its nearest challenger became their own song, Relax, | 0:38:55 | 0:38:59 | |
which had risen up the charts again to reach number two. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
And Michael Hurll got more than he bargained for | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
when Frankie made their fifth live appearance on the show, | 0:39:11 | 0:39:14 | |
brandishing firearms. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:16 | |
# I'm working for the black gas... # | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
We'd done it a few times, | 0:39:21 | 0:39:22 | |
so we're a bit cheeky and a bit lairy now. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:24 | |
And it was a live show. | 0:39:24 | 0:39:26 | |
When we did the dress rehearsals, we were saying... | 0:39:26 | 0:39:29 | |
Don't pull the guns, cos they won't let us do it. | 0:39:29 | 0:39:32 | |
Don't pull the guns out. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:33 | |
# Follow me... # | 0:39:33 | 0:39:35 | |
But it was only when the thing was live that we pulled guns out. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:40 | |
We'd pulled out these replica guns. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:41 | |
# Follow me... # | 0:39:41 | 0:39:44 | |
And our manager was watching it in the gallery | 0:39:47 | 0:39:49 | |
with Michael Hurll, and he's gone... | 0:39:49 | 0:39:51 | |
"This is brilliant, because I didn't know they were gone do it." | 0:39:51 | 0:39:54 | |
He's in the clear. There's nothing he can do about it, | 0:39:54 | 0:39:56 | |
but he's just got a great bit of telly there, like. | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
These nutters have just pulled guns out. | 0:39:59 | 0:40:01 | |
The Frankie propaganda machine was now an unstoppable force, | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
and their secret weapon was the T-shirt. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:19 | |
I think it was actually Paul Rutherford's idea to go, | 0:40:20 | 0:40:23 | |
"Why can't we have some T-shirts made, | 0:40:23 | 0:40:25 | |
"like these Katharine Hamnett ones?" | 0:40:25 | 0:40:28 | |
The first one was the Pershing one, wasn't it? | 0:40:28 | 0:40:31 | |
REPORTER: 'And one young lady with a message.' | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
-THATCHER: -Now, one moment. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
AIR-RAID SIREN | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
But being the biggest band in Britain | 0:40:40 | 0:40:42 | |
brought intense tabloid scrutiny. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:44 | |
That was the performance where, | 0:40:48 | 0:40:50 | |
at the beginning, Holly is seen reading The Sun. | 0:40:50 | 0:40:52 | |
And The Sun were doorstepping his parents about his sexuality, | 0:40:52 | 0:40:57 | |
so he wasn't pleased. | 0:40:57 | 0:40:59 | |
To round it off, | 0:41:15 | 0:41:16 | |
Holly showed it wasn't only girls who wanted to have fun. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:20 | |
# Money's all that you can score... # | 0:41:20 | 0:41:23 | |
And now we have the hand-held cameras coming into their own, | 0:41:23 | 0:41:26 | |
and it's all a little bit wobbly but it's all a bit risque | 0:41:26 | 0:41:29 | |
and it's all a little bit fun. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:31 | |
# Working for the black gas... # | 0:41:31 | 0:41:33 | |
It was a nightmare for Michael Hurll. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:36 | |
I remember him being less than pleased. | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
But the end performance was | 0:41:38 | 0:41:40 | |
one of the classic Top Of The Pops performances. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
# Listen to the voice sing and follow me... # | 0:41:44 | 0:41:48 | |
Holly's inspired Pied Piper walkabout led Top Of The Pops | 0:41:48 | 0:41:52 | |
in a new direction... | 0:41:52 | 0:41:53 | |
# Follow me... # | 0:41:53 | 0:41:55 | |
..of mildly chaotic spontaneity. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:57 | |
You've got to have a good time because it could all end tomorrow. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:03 | |
We're in the middle of a nuclear holocaust, maybe. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:06 | |
We've got to go down swinging. | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
-REPORTER: -Russians are already modernising | 0:42:17 | 0:42:19 | |
their short-range nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe, | 0:42:19 | 0:42:22 | |
and the experts reckon they may speed this up | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
as soon as any new American missiles arrive. | 0:42:24 | 0:42:27 | |
The threat of nuclear war had intensified across Europe by 1984. | 0:42:28 | 0:42:33 | |
Nowhere was that felt more than in Berlin. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:36 | |
I think the feeling in Berlin at the time | 0:42:38 | 0:42:41 | |
was like dancing on the volcano. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:43 | |
But out of that volcano floated an idea for a song. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:49 | |
Carlo Karges, the guitar player, | 0:42:51 | 0:42:54 | |
showed me the lyrics. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:56 | |
99 Luftballons | 0:42:56 | 0:42:58 | |
# Hast du etwas Zeit fur mich | 0:42:58 | 0:43:01 | |
# Dann singe ich ein Lied fur dich | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 | |
# Von 99 Luftballons | 0:43:04 | 0:43:07 | |
# Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont... # | 0:43:07 | 0:43:11 | |
I read the lyrics and I was, like, | 0:43:11 | 0:43:13 | |
blown away in the same second | 0:43:13 | 0:43:15 | |
because it was so goose-bumping. | 0:43:15 | 0:43:18 | |
# 99 Luftballons... # | 0:43:18 | 0:43:20 | |
'And then Carlo played the riff.' | 0:43:20 | 0:43:23 | |
-SHE SINGS 99 LUFTBALLONS RIFF -And I was, | 0:43:23 | 0:43:25 | |
like, "You're kidding me! What's going on here?" | 0:43:25 | 0:43:27 | |
And then when we came to the rehearsal studio, I said, | 0:43:31 | 0:43:34 | |
"I have this great new melody and I have this great new part | 0:43:34 | 0:43:37 | |
"but I don't know how should we put this together?" | 0:43:37 | 0:43:40 | |
And then our drummer, Wolff, he said, "I just do | 0:43:40 | 0:43:42 | |
"ta-da-da-da ta-da-da-da. Wam!" | 0:43:42 | 0:43:44 | |
And I said, "Yeah, actually, that works." | 0:43:44 | 0:43:48 | |
Suddenly, it became number one in Germany. | 0:43:54 | 0:43:57 | |
It then took off across Europe, | 0:43:57 | 0:43:59 | |
as a result of it being number one in Germany, but not in the UK. | 0:43:59 | 0:44:02 | |
Traditionally, foreign-language singles | 0:44:02 | 0:44:05 | |
were very, very difficult to promote. | 0:44:05 | 0:44:07 | |
Back in 1983, Top Of The Pops included the song | 0:44:08 | 0:44:12 | |
in one of their odd forays into the European charts. | 0:44:12 | 0:44:15 | |
At number two, 99 Luftballons, whatever they may be. That's Nena. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:21 | |
# Fliegerstaffel hinterher | 0:44:21 | 0:44:23 | |
# Alarm zu geben, wenn es so war... # | 0:44:23 | 0:44:25 | |
As it was so successful in Europe, | 0:44:25 | 0:44:28 | |
we asked the publishers to come up with an English-language version. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
# 99 red balloons | 0:44:31 | 0:44:34 | |
# Floating in the summer sky | 0:44:34 | 0:44:36 | |
# Panic bells, it's red alert | 0:44:36 | 0:44:38 | |
# There's something here from somewhere else | 0:44:38 | 0:44:41 | |
# The war machine... # | 0:44:41 | 0:44:42 | |
And, as if by magic, | 0:44:42 | 0:44:44 | |
the English version rocketed up the charts to number one. | 0:44:44 | 0:44:47 | |
And that's when the controversy began. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
# 99 red balloons go by. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
We were three weeks number one and I think one of the newspapers | 0:44:52 | 0:44:56 | |
wrote, "Biggest attack on Britain since the V2." | 0:44:56 | 0:45:00 | |
And we had all this kind of press. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:02 | |
Which was related to my armpits. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
That also, yeah. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:07 | |
Ah, those armpits. | 0:45:10 | 0:45:11 | |
The great British public was fixated, it seemed, | 0:45:14 | 0:45:17 | |
on Nena's unshaven armpits - as glimpsed in the song's video. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:21 | |
We had a live gig... | 0:45:22 | 0:45:24 | |
-Where was it? -Royal Theatre, Drury Lane. -Yeah. | 0:45:24 | 0:45:27 | |
But, actually, there was, set up in the audience, | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
they had a big banner that says, | 0:45:30 | 0:45:32 | |
"Nena, we love your armpits." | 0:45:32 | 0:45:34 | |
-Yeah! -And we said, "Is it...?" -And I was like, "What's going on?" | 0:45:34 | 0:45:37 | |
-I was asking everybody, "What does it mean?" -What does it mean? | 0:45:37 | 0:45:40 | |
"What does it mean?" | 0:45:40 | 0:45:42 | |
This controversy wasn't lost on Michael Hurll, | 0:45:47 | 0:45:50 | |
but if he hoped Nena would flash her pits on Top Of The Pops | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
he was to be disappointed. | 0:45:53 | 0:45:55 | |
The band came in and, unfortunately for Michael Hurll | 0:45:57 | 0:46:00 | |
who was interested in a certain lady's armpits, | 0:46:00 | 0:46:03 | |
she was totally covered up. | 0:46:03 | 0:46:04 | |
Undeterred, for its third week at the top, | 0:46:06 | 0:46:09 | |
Michael Hurll chose to screen the original German language video, | 0:46:09 | 0:46:14 | |
hairy armpits and all. | 0:46:14 | 0:46:16 | |
Which is how Neunundneunzig Luftballons | 0:46:18 | 0:46:19 | |
became the first foreign-language song | 0:46:19 | 0:46:22 | |
to be played as a number one record on Top Of The Pops. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:25 | |
So, with the armpits, | 0:46:27 | 0:46:28 | |
we kind of brought the German version into English television. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:32 | |
-It was all meant to be. -It was meant to be. | 0:46:32 | 0:46:35 | |
OK, Steve. Thanks, mate. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:37 | |
Right, where's it gone? And cue track. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:40 | |
Songs like 99 Red Balloons, with a message, | 0:46:44 | 0:46:47 | |
were proving popular in 1984. | 0:46:47 | 0:46:49 | |
And Michael Hurll had no problem | 0:46:49 | 0:46:51 | |
with featuring them on Top Of The Pops. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:53 | |
# And take your pride | 0:46:53 | 0:46:56 | |
# Innocent people walking by | 0:46:56 | 0:46:58 | |
# No time to smile before they die | 0:46:58 | 0:47:00 | |
# Don't call that justice... # | 0:47:00 | 0:47:04 | |
Whether it's Bananarama protesting the political situation | 0:47:04 | 0:47:07 | |
in Northern Ireland... | 0:47:07 | 0:47:09 | |
# War, war is stupid | 0:47:09 | 0:47:11 | |
# And people are stupid... # | 0:47:11 | 0:47:12 | |
..or culture club stating the obvious. | 0:47:12 | 0:47:15 | |
# In some strange quarters | 0:47:15 | 0:47:17 | |
# War, war is stupid | 0:47:17 | 0:47:18 | |
# And people are stupid | 0:47:18 | 0:47:21 | |
# And I heard them banging on hearts and fingers | 0:47:21 | 0:47:25 | |
# War! # | 0:47:25 | 0:47:26 | |
But one song in 1984 combined a direct political plea | 0:47:28 | 0:47:32 | |
with a ludicrously catchy tune and rhythm. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:35 | |
# Free | 0:47:37 | 0:47:39 | |
# Nelson Mandela... # | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
Like everyone else, I'd never heard of Nelson Mandela, | 0:47:42 | 0:47:45 | |
so I went up to this concert and, you know, | 0:47:45 | 0:47:49 | |
it was celebrating his birthday. | 0:47:49 | 0:47:50 | |
They had a lot of leaflets about him and, obviously, I read up about him | 0:47:50 | 0:47:55 | |
and found out a lot more about him, | 0:47:55 | 0:47:57 | |
and that's where I got the idea to put these lyrics to this tune | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
that I'd already been working on. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:02 | |
Jerry had an idea for the chorus... | 0:48:03 | 0:48:06 | |
# Free Nelson Mandela... # | 0:48:06 | 0:48:10 | |
That's what he came in with. And so we started working on it from there. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:14 | |
# Free... # | 0:48:14 | 0:48:18 | |
It had a very simple melody. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:20 | |
I mean, if I can sing it then just about anybody can sing it. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
# 21 years in captivity | 0:48:23 | 0:48:26 | |
# Shoes too small to fit his feet | 0:48:26 | 0:48:30 | |
# Are you so blind that you cannot see? | 0:48:30 | 0:48:34 | |
# Are you so deaf that you cannot hear his plea? | 0:48:34 | 0:48:38 | |
# Free Nelson Mandela... # | 0:48:38 | 0:48:43 | |
For the recording session, | 0:48:44 | 0:48:46 | |
Jerry Dammers assembled a collective of like-minded musicians. | 0:48:46 | 0:48:49 | |
Elvis Costello was brought in, Dave Wakeling, | 0:48:52 | 0:48:56 | |
Lynval Golding from The Specials. | 0:48:56 | 0:48:58 | |
That idea of getting a lot of different people together | 0:48:58 | 0:49:02 | |
on one record, you know, | 0:49:02 | 0:49:03 | |
I don't think there'd been many examples, if any, of that. | 0:49:03 | 0:49:08 | |
# Free | 0:49:08 | 0:49:11 | |
# Nelson Mandela... # | 0:49:11 | 0:49:14 | |
In 1984, protesting against the injustices | 0:49:14 | 0:49:16 | |
of the South African apartheid system | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
was an increasingly popular cause in Britain. | 0:49:19 | 0:49:22 | |
CROWD CHANTS | 0:49:22 | 0:49:25 | |
But the BBC had to be seen to tread a careful line | 0:49:25 | 0:49:28 | |
when it came to overtly political sentiments. | 0:49:28 | 0:49:32 | |
The infectious groove of Free Nelson Mandela, however, | 0:49:32 | 0:49:35 | |
meant no radio station could resist it. | 0:49:35 | 0:49:39 | |
If more people had known who Nelson Mandela was | 0:49:39 | 0:49:43 | |
it might never have got played on BBC, | 0:49:43 | 0:49:45 | |
because I don't think people, at first, realised | 0:49:45 | 0:49:47 | |
what we were singing about. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:49 | |
So, it's like a sort of Trojan horse. | 0:49:49 | 0:49:51 | |
When the single charted, Top Of The Pops couldn't resist it either. | 0:49:56 | 0:50:00 | |
# Pleaded the causes of the ANC | 0:50:02 | 0:50:05 | |
# Only one man in a large army | 0:50:05 | 0:50:09 | |
# Are you so blind that you cannot see? | 0:50:09 | 0:50:12 | |
# Are you so deaf that you cannot hear his pleas? | 0:50:12 | 0:50:17 | |
# Free... # | 0:50:17 | 0:50:18 | |
When you go on Top Of The Pops, you give a big performance, you know, | 0:50:18 | 0:50:21 | |
you do the very best you can, | 0:50:21 | 0:50:23 | |
but it didn't mean that it was going to do really well. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:26 | |
But when we were on the second time, it was a bit more...triumphant. | 0:50:26 | 0:50:30 | |
# I'm begging you | 0:50:30 | 0:50:32 | |
# Free... # | 0:50:32 | 0:50:33 | |
I remember the balloons. I thought, "How wonderful, | 0:50:33 | 0:50:36 | |
"Nelson would be so happy in his cell | 0:50:36 | 0:50:39 | |
"to know that Top Of The Pops had provided balloons." | 0:50:39 | 0:50:43 | |
-# Free Nelson Mandela -Free him, free him... # | 0:50:44 | 0:50:49 | |
,The success of Free Nelson Mandela and the momentum it added to | 0:50:49 | 0:50:54 | |
the anti-apartheid movement, | 0:50:54 | 0:50:55 | |
was proof that if musicians pulled together | 0:50:55 | 0:50:58 | |
they could make a difference. | 0:50:58 | 0:50:59 | |
In terms of spreading far and wide | 0:51:03 | 0:51:06 | |
the notion of who Nelson Mandela was, | 0:51:06 | 0:51:08 | |
and reminding people that apartheid was still happening | 0:51:08 | 0:51:13 | |
and that people were still suffering, I think, yes, | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
very much, it made a difference in that respect. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:18 | |
It actually achieved more than The Specials, dare I say it. | 0:51:20 | 0:51:24 | |
And, I think, probably, Bob Geldof was aware of the record. | 0:51:24 | 0:51:28 | |
I'll have one of those, please. | 0:51:28 | 0:51:30 | |
So I think it had a bit of a knock-on effect, | 0:51:30 | 0:51:32 | |
that idea of people coming together on one record for a cause, you know? | 0:51:32 | 0:51:36 | |
I was just watching that Ethiopian thing, | 0:51:36 | 0:51:39 | |
I think this is gross after coming out after seeing that. | 0:51:39 | 0:51:42 | |
-Oh, yeah. -I'm serious. | 0:51:42 | 0:51:44 | |
-MICHAEL BUERK: -'Dawn, and as the sun breaks through | 0:51:45 | 0:51:48 | |
'the piercing chill of night on the plane outside Korem, | 0:51:48 | 0:51:51 | |
'it lights up a biblical famine, | 0:51:51 | 0:51:53 | |
'now, in the 20th century.' | 0:51:53 | 0:51:55 | |
No-one who saw Michael Buerk's report from Ethiopia in October 1984 | 0:51:55 | 0:52:01 | |
would ever forget it. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:03 | |
Here was a humanitarian cause | 0:52:05 | 0:52:07 | |
that would bring together the pop world on an unprecedented scale. | 0:52:07 | 0:52:11 | |
Bob wanted to do something | 0:52:12 | 0:52:14 | |
but didn't feel that he was in a position to do it, | 0:52:14 | 0:52:17 | |
and they asked if I would help out - we met up a couple of days later | 0:52:17 | 0:52:19 | |
and came up with the basic concept, | 0:52:19 | 0:52:21 | |
the idea of, you know, putting together a Christmas song. | 0:52:21 | 0:52:24 | |
# It's Christmastime | 0:52:25 | 0:52:29 | |
# There's no need to be afraid | 0:52:29 | 0:52:32 | |
# At Christmastime... # | 0:52:33 | 0:52:37 | |
I was told that Bob Geldof wants to speak to me, | 0:52:37 | 0:52:40 | |
and he filled me in, basically, on what he'd seen on TV, | 0:52:40 | 0:52:45 | |
And he asked me if I was up for doing it, | 0:52:45 | 0:52:47 | |
and we said, "We'll make time." | 0:52:47 | 0:52:49 | |
# There's a world outside your window... # | 0:52:49 | 0:52:51 | |
With no time for egos, | 0:52:51 | 0:52:53 | |
the class of '84 pulled out all the stops - | 0:52:53 | 0:52:57 | |
and one performance in particular stood out. | 0:52:57 | 0:53:00 | |
I'd been aware of U2, right, but I'd never really seen them. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:05 | |
And when he comes in with that line - | 0:53:05 | 0:53:08 | |
"Thank God..." - | 0:53:08 | 0:53:11 | |
the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:13 | |
# Well, tonight thank God it's them | 0:53:13 | 0:53:16 | |
# Instead of you... # | 0:53:16 | 0:53:19 | |
Bono, of course, just decided at that split second | 0:53:19 | 0:53:23 | |
to just move it up a gear and jump up the octave, | 0:53:23 | 0:53:26 | |
which was just magnificent and it kind of made the record. | 0:53:26 | 0:53:30 | |
# The greatest gift they'll get this year is life... # | 0:53:30 | 0:53:34 | |
A little over a week after being recorded, | 0:53:34 | 0:53:36 | |
the Band Aid single was mixed, pressed and in the shops. | 0:53:36 | 0:53:40 | |
But even before its release, | 0:53:40 | 0:53:42 | |
Top Of The Pops was playing its part in supporting the cause. | 0:53:42 | 0:53:46 | |
# Blessings of Babylon... # | 0:53:46 | 0:53:49 | |
Bob Geldof's got a cardboard box with him | 0:53:49 | 0:53:52 | |
and it's full of T-shirts and he just says, | 0:53:52 | 0:53:55 | |
"Look, we're trying to get everybody | 0:53:55 | 0:53:57 | |
"to wear these Feed The World T-shirts. You up for it?" | 0:53:57 | 0:54:01 | |
I said, "Yeah, no problem at all." | 0:54:01 | 0:54:04 | |
Well, it looked better than the snood, Nick. | 0:54:06 | 0:54:09 | |
Bob Geldof had little trouble persuading the acts to wear them. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:13 | |
But not everything went so smoothly. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:17 | |
Under Top Of The Pops rules, | 0:54:18 | 0:54:20 | |
no record could be played on the show until it had charted, | 0:54:20 | 0:54:23 | |
not even a charity one. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:25 | |
So, BBC One controller Michael Grade | 0:54:27 | 0:54:29 | |
shifted the Thursday schedule by five minutes | 0:54:29 | 0:54:32 | |
to create a spot before Top Of The Pops | 0:54:32 | 0:54:34 | |
to show the Band Aid video for the very first time. | 0:54:34 | 0:54:38 | |
And it was introduced by our very own superstar. | 0:54:38 | 0:54:41 | |
It would be wonderful if you could all buy copies of this record | 0:54:42 | 0:54:45 | |
over the next period through Christmas. | 0:54:45 | 0:54:48 | |
If you can't afford them, club together with somebody else | 0:54:48 | 0:54:50 | |
to buy a copy, you know that the money will go to the Ethiopians. | 0:54:50 | 0:54:54 | |
Thank you. | 0:54:54 | 0:54:57 | |
# The power of love... # | 0:54:57 | 0:54:59 | |
With the power of love, | 0:54:59 | 0:55:00 | |
Frankie Goes To Hollywood became | 0:55:00 | 0:55:02 | |
the first band since Gerry And The Pacemakers | 0:55:02 | 0:55:04 | |
to see their first three singles go to number one. | 0:55:04 | 0:55:08 | |
But it didn't make it to Christmas. | 0:55:08 | 0:55:10 | |
# Last Christmas I gave you my heart... # | 0:55:10 | 0:55:13 | |
And, Wham!'s Last Christmas would, for many, | 0:55:13 | 0:55:16 | |
have made the ultimate festive number one | 0:55:16 | 0:55:18 | |
rather than becoming the highest selling single in UK history | 0:55:18 | 0:55:22 | |
not to reach the top spot. | 0:55:22 | 0:55:24 | |
# I give it to someone special... # | 0:55:24 | 0:55:26 | |
Three cheers for Britain's bestselling record this week, | 0:55:26 | 0:55:30 | |
and also the fastest selling record ever. | 0:55:30 | 0:55:32 | |
It's Band Aid and Do They Know It's Christmas? Until next week. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:36 | |
# Feed the world... # | 0:55:36 | 0:55:39 | |
Do They Know It's Christmas swept everyone else aside. | 0:55:39 | 0:55:44 | |
# Feed the world... # | 0:55:44 | 0:55:48 | |
And Michael Hurll had ambitious plans for the Christmas show. | 0:55:48 | 0:55:52 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:55:55 | 0:55:56 | |
For the finale of a momentous year in pop, | 0:55:56 | 0:55:59 | |
he brought together the greatest gathering of British pop stars | 0:55:59 | 0:56:03 | |
ever seen on Top Of The Pops | 0:56:03 | 0:56:05 | |
for the Christmas number one. | 0:56:05 | 0:56:06 | |
# It's Christmastime | 0:56:09 | 0:56:13 | |
# There's no need to be afraid... # | 0:56:13 | 0:56:16 | |
I think they wanted to make a concerted effort | 0:56:16 | 0:56:19 | |
to get as many people on as possible. | 0:56:19 | 0:56:20 | |
And it was great, because it was a big show anyway | 0:56:20 | 0:56:23 | |
so he'd got a lot of the people there. | 0:56:23 | 0:56:25 | |
# Put your arms around the world... # | 0:56:25 | 0:56:28 | |
He had this weird thing of the camera pointing at people | 0:56:28 | 0:56:31 | |
that weren't actually singing the line. | 0:56:31 | 0:56:33 | |
# But say a prayer | 0:56:34 | 0:56:37 | |
# Pray for the other ones | 0:56:38 | 0:56:43 | |
# At Christmastime it's hard | 0:56:43 | 0:56:47 | |
# But when you're having fun... # | 0:56:47 | 0:56:50 | |
My favourite was Paul Weller being Bono. That was a nice moment. | 0:56:50 | 0:56:54 | |
# Well, tonight thank God it's them | 0:56:55 | 0:56:59 | |
# Instead of you... # | 0:56:59 | 0:57:03 | |
For a few minutes that Christmas Day, | 0:57:04 | 0:57:06 | |
a divided Britain forgot its troubles | 0:57:06 | 0:57:09 | |
and the class of '84 set aside their rivalries | 0:57:09 | 0:57:12 | |
and came together. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:13 | |
And Top Of The Pops showed its continued importance | 0:57:14 | 0:57:17 | |
as a unifying force in British culture. | 0:57:17 | 0:57:20 | |
There was a sense that we could relax a little bit | 0:57:22 | 0:57:25 | |
now the record had been made | 0:57:25 | 0:57:27 | |
and we knew that it was doing its job. | 0:57:27 | 0:57:29 | |
And, I suppose, that it was Christmas by this point | 0:57:29 | 0:57:33 | |
and we had a chance to think, you know, | 0:57:33 | 0:57:35 | |
we've managed to do something great with what we have to offer. | 0:57:35 | 0:57:39 | |
-# Here's to you -Raise a glass for everyone | 0:57:39 | 0:57:42 | |
-# Here's to them -Underneath that burning sun | 0:57:42 | 0:57:46 | |
# Do they know it's Christmastime at all? # | 0:57:46 | 0:57:52 | |
It was kind of fun, you know? | 0:57:52 | 0:57:54 | |
Everything up until that point had been really quite po-faced, | 0:57:54 | 0:57:57 | |
it was quite serious, you know, | 0:57:57 | 0:58:00 | |
and this was a moment of celebration that we had kind of done this, | 0:58:00 | 0:58:04 | |
we had pulled this off somehow. | 0:58:04 | 0:58:05 | |
# Feed the world... # | 0:58:08 | 0:58:11 | |
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure originally hoped | 0:58:11 | 0:58:14 | |
to raise £72,000 for Famine Relief with the Band Aid single. | 0:58:14 | 0:58:17 | |
With over three million copies eventually sold, | 0:58:17 | 0:58:20 | |
the final figure was £8 million. | 0:58:20 | 0:58:24 | |
And 1985 saw the Band Aid project grow into Live Aid, | 0:58:26 | 0:58:30 | |
the biggest televised concert the world had seen. | 0:58:30 | 0:58:34 | |
Also in 1985, Top Of The Pops saw its first non-white presenter. | 0:58:36 | 0:58:42 | |
..Dixie Peach. | 0:58:42 | 0:58:43 | |
Thanks, Mike. I've been laying in the sun in anticipation. | 0:58:43 | 0:58:46 | |
And producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman commandeered Hi-NRG | 0:58:48 | 0:58:52 | |
to claim their first number one, | 0:58:52 | 0:58:54 | |
offering the sound of things to come. | 0:58:54 | 0:58:56 | |
# You spin me right round, baby Right round | 0:58:56 | 0:58:59 | |
# Like a record, baby Right round, round, round | 0:58:59 | 0:59:03 | |
# You spin me right round, baby Right round | 0:59:03 | 0:59:07 | |
# Like a record, baby | 0:59:07 | 0:59:08 | |
# Right round | 0:59:08 | 0:59:10 | |
# You spin me right round, baby Right round... # | 0:59:10 | 0:59:13 | |
Right, we are off the air - you may have gathered that. | 0:59:13 | 0:59:16 | |
I hope you have enjoyed yourselves, goodnight. | 0:59:16 | 0:59:19 |