0:00:02 > 0:00:04Hi! It's Top Of The Pops! Have we got a show for you?
0:00:04 > 0:00:05Have we got a show for you?
0:00:05 > 0:00:07- And it is live!- And it's live!
0:00:07 > 0:00:10- And they are the Conway Brothers! - Which one's Ross?
0:00:10 > 0:00:131985, the year in which Top Of The Pops
0:00:13 > 0:00:15had never looked more professional...
0:00:15 > 0:00:16When you were watching it at home,
0:00:16 > 0:00:19it looked like this really sophisticated nightclub.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22..or felt more competitive.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25There wasn't that much camaraderie with other bands.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Like, whispering and talking and pointing.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31The show now reflected the state of Thatcher's Britain,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34with a new breed of ambitious pop star...
0:00:34 > 0:00:38We were so confident. We knew it was going to happen.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42..rubbing shoulders with passionate political activists.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Their job was to look like they were having a great time,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47and here I'm singing about, you know,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50war and death, strikes, nuclear weapons.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56..all soundtracked by the rise of sample-filled electronica...
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Now, why anybody would want the sound of two dogs having
0:01:00 > 0:01:02intercourse baffled me.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06..and topped off by a wind-tunnel of big-haired power ballads.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09You could see all the fillings in your mouth and whatever.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12I couldn't watch it half the time. I was like,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14"Oh, my... Oh, no. Oh, no."
0:01:14 > 0:01:18# Everybody wants to rule the world... #
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Imagine a vehicle that can drive you five miles for a penny,
0:01:26 > 0:01:30a vehicle that needs no petrol, just a battery,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33and that takes the press of a button to start,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35the squeeze of a lever to stop.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39The Sinclair C5.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42It's a new power in personal transport.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47January 1985 saw the birth of an '80s icon in a brave new
0:01:47 > 0:01:49tech world.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51And in a parallel universe,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Top Of The Pops also ventured into pastures new.
0:01:58 > 0:01:59Now, on One, the people
0:01:59 > 0:02:02and songs that are everyone's talking point in Top Of The Pops.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08The show was still run by Michael Hurll
0:02:08 > 0:02:11and regularly attracted ten million viewers,
0:02:11 > 0:02:15but the first episode of the year had an announcement to make.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18CHEERING
0:02:18 > 0:02:20There are one or two changes in format on this week's
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Top Of The Pops. Richard is now going to explain all.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Well, it looks like this, you see.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26We went out to find out what you wanted from Top Of The Pops,
0:02:26 > 0:02:30and the overwhelming request was more top hits, so from this week,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33we count down the top ten, starting with Foreigner at number ten.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36# ..this lonely life... #
0:02:36 > 0:02:40In days gone by, only seven or eight acts would feature on the show.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44This year, with short clips of videos from the top ten and beyond,
0:02:44 > 0:02:46there would be up to 19.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50# ..I want you to show me... #
0:02:50 > 0:02:54This would soon benefit one band in particular.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Dead Or Alive had struggled in '84.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Late in that year, they got new producers and a new lease of life.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04But their first single together proved a challenge.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06It was the most frustrating
0:03:06 > 0:03:10record in the history of Stock Aitken Waterman.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12It would go up one week, it would go back the week after,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14then it would go up and it would go down.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18After the whole of the rest of that year,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21it still hadn't really cracked the top 40.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25So Pete Waterman took it under his personal...his personal belt,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27to make sure that it was a hit.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31CBS said they wanted another mix.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Now, I have to tell you, at this point, we'd done about five mixes.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37We were running out of ideas.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41And the BBC had a sound-effects department,
0:03:41 > 0:03:43and you could buy these sound-effects records.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46And covered everything -
0:03:46 > 0:03:49every sound you could imagine was on these BBC archive sounds.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52You know, doors, bridges,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54bombs.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Police sirens, everything.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59So, I'm looking down this
0:03:59 > 0:04:03and I noticed there was on the list two dogs having intercourse.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Now, why anybody would want
0:04:06 > 0:04:11the sound of two dogs having intercourse baffled me.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14We got carried away with it, and we put it on the record.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18So, it went out just the week before Christmas.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21So, when we came back, the first week in January,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24every club was playing this TDF mix.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28I mean, it was like the depot was full of orders.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31DOGS HOWLING
0:04:34 > 0:04:36TDF, er, you know,
0:04:36 > 0:04:40was not tour de force. It actually stood for two dogs F-ing.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46# If I I get to know your name... #
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Through January '85,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52the TDF mix edged the song up the charts.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54And as fate would have it,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57in the last week of January, Top Of The Pops introduced their new
0:04:57 > 0:05:00slot featuring bands just breaking into the top 40.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03# Open up your lovin' arms I want some want some... #
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Then suddenly, 14 weeks in, it was number 40,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08and they decided to give us
0:05:08 > 0:05:11a break on Top Of The Pops as a sort of new entry.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16This song has taken two and a half months to make the chart.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19From Liverpool, it's Pete Burns and Dead Or Alive.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22You Spin Me Round Like A Record.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25# ..move in just a little bit closer... #
0:05:25 > 0:05:27So, when Michael Hurll called you and said, you know,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30"We're going to put this record on as a breaker,"
0:05:30 > 0:05:33we knew at that point that was the break we needed.
0:05:33 > 0:05:34# Watch out, here I come
0:05:34 > 0:05:38# You spin me right round, baby Right round
0:05:38 > 0:05:41# Like a record, baby Right round, round, round... #
0:05:41 > 0:05:44No matter how many mixes we'd done, the fact that Top Of The Pops
0:05:44 > 0:05:48was going to show the video, we knew it was all over.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51# Your love... #
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Because we knew that once people saw Pete with his eye patch with
0:05:54 > 0:05:58all the flags, we would be in the top 20 the next week.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59We knew.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03And that's the power that Top Of The Pops had.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05We've got a new number one for you on this week's Top Of The Pops,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07and it's a live Top Of The Pops, of course.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Dead Or Alive, another Merseyside band.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17You want that moment where your dad goes, "Well, I've seen it all now."
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Don't you, you know? "Oh, well, that's ridiculous."
0:06:20 > 0:06:23# You spin me right round, baby Right round... #
0:06:23 > 0:06:26I'm sure there were houses throughout the UK going,
0:06:26 > 0:06:27"What's that?"
0:06:27 > 0:06:30# You spin me right round, baby Right round
0:06:30 > 0:06:34# Like a record, baby Right round, round, round... #
0:06:34 > 0:06:38The dog howls on Dead Or Alive's infamous TDF mix were
0:06:38 > 0:06:40programmed with a keyboard sampler.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43# Hey... #
0:06:43 > 0:06:46This new tech was much-loved by big producer
0:06:46 > 0:06:48acts like Trevor Horn's The Art Of Noise,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52who performed tracks on Top Of The Pops with minimum vocals
0:06:52 > 0:06:53and sampled sounds.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Up till now, their favourite toy, the Fairlight Sampler,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05was, at 30 grand, the same price as a house.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08But in '85, at a quarter of the price,
0:07:08 > 0:07:10came the Emulator II.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13And it inspired a young bedroom producer at his mum's
0:07:13 > 0:07:14house in Leytonstone.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Around the start of '85, I was just at home
0:07:20 > 0:07:23and I was reading the paper and I saw that there was a
0:07:23 > 0:07:25programme on about Vietnam coming on, so I taped it.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31In World War II, the average age of the combat soldier was 26.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33In Vietnam, he was 19.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37And I found it very intriguing, the fact that the kids at the time that
0:07:37 > 0:07:40were going out to battle were only 19 years old,
0:07:40 > 0:07:44and yet in America you can't even have a drink till you're 21.
0:07:44 > 0:07:45So I taped the programme,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48and I was just mucking about with some rhythms
0:07:48 > 0:07:53and stuff like that, and I put some of the commentary into the Emulator.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57And one bit just said, "In Vietnam, he was 19."
0:07:57 > 0:07:58In Vietnam, he was 19.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01And I tapped it a few times, you know, on the keyboard,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04and it went, "Na-na-na-na-na-na," and I thought,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06"Wow! That's different."
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Na-na-na-na-19. 19. 19.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10Na-na-na-na.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14The Vietnam war has inspired an unusual pop record due to be
0:08:14 > 0:08:15released next week.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17All the indications are that it's going to be a big hit.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21In World War II, the average age of the combat soldier was 26.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24In Vietnam, he was 19.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27In-in-in-in in Vietnam, he was 19.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Alongside the single, Paul asked the producers of Vietnam Requiem
0:08:31 > 0:08:34to create a video from the documentary's powerful footage.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38In Vietnam, the combat soldier typically served a 12-month
0:08:38 > 0:08:42tour of duty, but was exposed to hostile fire almost every day.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44It was so powerful.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49You're talking about young boys being sent off to foreign wars,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51you know, and it really, really had a resonance.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53According to a veteran's administration study,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57half of the Vietnam combat veterans suffer from what psychiatrists
0:08:57 > 0:08:59call post-traumatic stress disorder.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Many vets complain of alienation, rage or guilt.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Some succumb to suicidal thoughts.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Eight to ten years after coming home,
0:09:08 > 0:09:12almost 800,000 men are still fighting the Vietnam War.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15I remember going into a Chrysalis and watching it,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19and I saw three women journalists actually come out crying.
0:09:19 > 0:09:20And that was...
0:09:20 > 0:09:23We thought, "Wow, what have we created here?"
0:09:23 > 0:09:25It went in at number four in the charts first weekend,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27which was incredible.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29A brand-new act to go in and number four, at that time,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31it just did not happen.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33In Vietnam, he was 19.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37In-in-in-in Vietnam, he was 19.
0:09:37 > 0:09:38Michael Hurll,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41who was the producer of Top Of The Pops at the time, basically
0:09:41 > 0:09:44kept on saying to me, you know, "Do you not think that you could
0:09:44 > 0:09:46"really do something on Top Of The Pops?"
0:09:50 > 0:09:52I think it would have been difficult for him to do that.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55How would he perform the song?
0:09:55 > 0:09:58He'd probably end up like Harold Faltermeyer did, with the most
0:09:58 > 0:10:01boring live performance than I think you'd ever see on Top Of The Pops.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Harold would not appear on Top Of The Pops again
0:10:07 > 0:10:09and stalled at number two.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13But Paul's cut-and-paste technique in music and video
0:10:13 > 0:10:16proved an irresistible chart-topping formula.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20He's a producer, he remixes records and he's number one.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Yes, for the second week running, Paul Hardcastle, 19.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31We got to number one and we were quite amazed by it all,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33but we obviously wanted to stay there.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Paul came up with several different mixes.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39And one of the reasons we did that was because
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Duran Duran were right behind us at number two.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49# Choice for you is a view to a kill. #
0:10:49 > 0:10:52I went back into the studio and I remixed the track
0:10:52 > 0:10:54and I changed some of the vocals around.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56N-n-n-n-n-n-nineteen.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00I added some new documentary which I had found,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02which took the war on slightly further
0:11:02 > 0:11:04and I called it the Destruction Mix.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06# Unlike Vietnam
0:11:06 > 0:11:09# World War Two saw America unite behind their fighting men
0:11:09 > 0:11:12# The two wars were just as different on the front lines
0:11:12 > 0:11:13# As they were back home.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16# N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nineteen. #
0:11:16 > 0:11:19So a different edit would go on to Top Of The Pops each week...
0:11:21 > 0:11:24..which then people went out and repurchased
0:11:24 > 0:11:28and we stopped the biggest band most probably in the world then, which were the Duranies,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32and also they had the biggest film in the world at the time with View To A Kill.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35And little old me stopped them being number one
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and it was quite a feat, really.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39I think Simon Le Bon wasn't too happy!
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Excuse me. Aren't you...
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Bon, Simon Le Bon.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Now Dire Straits have said that they won't be touring after the end of next year.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54It's simply too expensive.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56But they've got a great video, Money For Nothing. This is it.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01'85 proved a turning point for the industry
0:12:01 > 0:12:02and for Top Of The Pops.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Videos were now more than half of the show.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08MTV hadn't arrived in Europe yet,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13but in America exposure on the channel almost guaranteed success.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24By the mid-'80s what you were seeing
0:12:24 > 0:12:26was the record companies at their peak power.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28They knew how to market things.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32If you were launching a new washing powder you'd do a big expensive ad,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34put it in lots of slots and hopefully give it
0:12:34 > 0:12:37some sort of twist that got people talking about it.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41If you were launching a new band you'd make a big expensive video,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44get it on MTV and hopefully with some kind of innovative twist
0:12:44 > 0:12:46that got people talking about it.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50# Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it
0:12:51 > 0:12:53# You play the guitar on the MTV
0:12:53 > 0:12:57# That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
0:12:57 > 0:13:01# Money for nothing and your chicks for free. #
0:13:03 > 0:13:06And for three unknown musicians from Norway
0:13:06 > 0:13:08with a background in prog rock,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12video production would change their fortunes entirely.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Well, we were just three very ambitious guys
0:13:17 > 0:13:20who moved away from our native Norway
0:13:20 > 0:13:26without any other plan than to become pop stars.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31Coming to England, that was really the first time
0:13:31 > 0:13:33we sort of got bombarded with pop music.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36There wasn't really that much around in Norway.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39You know, you had, like, one hour a week on the radio
0:13:39 > 0:13:41where they played pop music.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48We took the ferry over the first time we came over
0:13:48 > 0:13:51and Human League was the first thing we heard in the cab.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Builders would have blaring radios playing,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03whistling along to pop songs that were current
0:14:03 > 0:14:06and it just felt really vibey and really different.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Then hearing things like Soft Cell, Depeche Mode,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15all that electronic stuff that was going on,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18was to us kind of like, whoa, this is kind of perfect for us.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23After a couple of years in the UK a-ha got a deal
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and started doing the rounds of kids' TV shows.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28But there was a problem.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Nobody bought their debut single.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Until Warner Brothers US, who had signed a-ha,
0:14:34 > 0:14:41proposed a hugely expensive hand-drawn video aimed at MTV.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Now, three guys who come from Norway.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46It's reputed that £100,000 was spent on their video. It's worth every penny.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50A smash in America, now a smash in Britain. Take On Me, a-ha.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58# We're talking away... #
0:14:58 > 0:15:02It was just kind of a sweet animated depiction of a relationship
0:15:02 > 0:15:05between this dreaming young girl,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09who was all of a sudden called into the magazine
0:15:09 > 0:15:11of her hero in the comic strip.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13# I'll be coming for your love OK
0:15:13 > 0:15:17# Take on me
0:15:17 > 0:15:19# Take on me
0:15:19 > 0:15:22# Take me on
0:15:22 > 0:15:25# Take on me
0:15:25 > 0:15:27# I'll be gone. #
0:15:27 > 0:15:31The way it sort of... Well, you just saw it develop, didn't you?
0:15:31 > 0:15:33You just saw it start as a sketch
0:15:33 > 0:15:35and then it turned into this full-blown video.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38# So, needless to say
0:15:38 > 0:15:40# I'm odds and ends... #
0:15:40 > 0:15:43I think it was something like 22,000 single drawings
0:15:43 > 0:15:44made for that particular video.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47# Slowly learning that life is OK
0:15:47 > 0:15:49# Say after me
0:15:49 > 0:15:53# It's no better to be safe than sorry... #
0:15:53 > 0:15:57You suddenly see this video and the cost and you just go,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59"What? This is ridiculous."
0:15:59 > 0:16:02# Take me on
0:16:02 > 0:16:05# Take on me... #
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The good thing is that we became very successful everywhere very fast.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13# In a day or two. #
0:16:13 > 0:16:17We could not compete with anything like that. We couldn't do it.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19I just looked at it and thought, you know what?
0:16:19 > 0:16:22If that's the way the record industry is going, God help it.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27I thought, that's a game-changer.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33They've made the video as important as the music.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39We actually sort of knew it was going to happen,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41if I can say that.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44We were so confident.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49It helped us but it also propelled us
0:16:49 > 0:16:52into this lighter end of the music press.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55The bad thing is you don't get to sculpt your career.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Everybody assumes they know everything about you
0:16:58 > 0:17:00based on that one song.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03# Take me on. #
0:17:03 > 0:17:06And when those cheekbones finally appeared in person
0:17:06 > 0:17:09on Top Of The Pops, their teen image was sealed.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15The fact that video led the way, it put our faces everywhere
0:17:15 > 0:17:17and we didn't really expect that,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20so we felt kind of pushed into the Smash Hits
0:17:20 > 0:17:22and we kind of just embraced it,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25but immediately thinking this is super uncomfortable.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27What's going to happen now?
0:17:27 > 0:17:31We just tried to hold on for dear life. It was like riding a wild horse.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33# Take me on. #
0:17:36 > 0:17:39I'm stuck there! I'm still stuck there!
0:17:49 > 0:17:531985 saw the biggest pop groups of recent years grow older
0:17:53 > 0:17:56and start to take themselves very seriously.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02Half of the Durans indulged their artistic side with Arcadia.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06# Wild kind of look to the day
0:18:06 > 0:18:10# Opening eyes impale neon flickers. #
0:18:10 > 0:18:14Spandau were in tax exile on a long world tour.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Wham! were in China.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19And Culture Club were falling apart.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23This left a sizeable gap in the market.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28You always have, every two or three years, a new generation of pop fans
0:18:28 > 0:18:31turning around where they don't necessarily want the same heroes
0:18:31 > 0:18:34and heroines as their big brother or sister, they want their own.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37The record labels sensed an opportunity.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41As did one band from Coventry, whose big boots matched their ambitions
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and who appeared to know exactly what they were doing.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Two years ago when I first heard of King,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51a picture came through the post of a dolphin and Doc Martens boots.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55- Are you going to live that down? - I think both those things simply were...
0:18:55 > 0:18:57We used the dolphin and the boots as a symbol
0:18:57 > 0:18:59of what King were about musically and spiritually.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04# That's what my heart yearns for now
0:19:04 > 0:19:06# Love and pride
0:19:07 > 0:19:11# That's what my heart yearns for now
0:19:11 > 0:19:15# Love and pride. #
0:19:15 > 0:19:18When we arrived to do that debut performance on Top Of The Pops
0:19:18 > 0:19:21I was wearing my yellow check suit.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24# Start your journey... #
0:19:25 > 0:19:29We all had this big spiky hair going off all over the place.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Almost like a Bay City Rollers kind of dress-up idea.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35# Take your hair dryer
0:19:35 > 0:19:38# Blow them all away... #
0:19:38 > 0:19:41I thought we could be that mixture
0:19:41 > 0:19:45of a credible rock band who could appeal to a teen pop audience.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Unfortunately for us, our record label looked at the check suits
0:19:49 > 0:19:51and Dr Martens boots and saw a novelty band.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55They could say, OK, hit-single band, great.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58Maybe one year, two years of life.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00# Love and pride... #
0:20:00 > 0:20:03'85, King were everywhere.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07I don't think there was one pop show that King did not appear on.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09# Pride. #
0:20:09 > 0:20:13Throughout '85 I think we were on Top Of The Pops seven times.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18In the year that we broke through with things like Smash Hits and
0:20:18 > 0:20:22videos and Top Of The Pops, you're going to be picked up by teenagers.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24In the end for us, unfortunately,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28that became the predominant audience that our record label
0:20:28 > 0:20:30wanted to direct their focus for us towards.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40Automatically now, the credible music audience, the gatekeepers,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44are looking at that and thinking, they are not a credible music band.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47# Love and pride
0:20:47 > 0:20:51# That's what my heart yearns for now
0:20:51 > 0:20:53# Love and pride. #
0:20:53 > 0:20:55King weren't really part of my world.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58They weren't part of the club scene. They didn't feel that cool.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02They were like this weird, almost Frankenstein's monster,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05with styled up bits of lots of other bands stuck together
0:21:05 > 0:21:08with a kind of Rod Stewart mullet and some DMs on top.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19Eventually we started bickering between ourselves as a unit
0:21:19 > 0:21:22and by the time we got to the Christmas Top Of The Pops
0:21:22 > 0:21:25we were pretty much over as a band anyway.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28But then we went on to do The Old Grey Whistle Test New Year's Eve.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30Och aye the noo, it's King!
0:21:34 > 0:21:37And we were playing that show and my manager and I
0:21:37 > 0:21:39had a serious conversation of saying,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41we've got one great moment here,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45why don't we go out and do our David Bowie Hammersmith moment?
0:21:45 > 0:21:47And we seriously talked about it, which was to walk out on stage
0:21:47 > 0:21:52and say, "Thanks everybody, it's been a great year, but King are never going to play together again."
0:21:52 > 0:21:54And I kind of wish we'd done that now.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05But in '85 it wasn't just the teenage Top Of The Pops market
0:22:05 > 0:22:08that record companies had their eye on.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11# I've got to take a little time
0:22:12 > 0:22:16# A little time to think things over... #
0:22:18 > 0:22:20I think the rise of the power ballad was very much
0:22:20 > 0:22:23the record companies reasserting their control.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26It was a way of appealing back to the mainstream
0:22:26 > 0:22:29who had been alienated by pop at the start of the '80s,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32by these weird girls dressed as boys and boys dressed as girls
0:22:32 > 0:22:35and men wearing tablecloths across one shoulder.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41# In my life
0:22:41 > 0:22:43# There's been heartache and pain. #
0:22:43 > 0:22:47You know, here you had a good, honest person
0:22:47 > 0:22:50singing into a wind machine with a tune you could recognise.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Power ballad has to be very big hair.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Very serious expression.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Soaring vocals. Strings.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03In a way it was kind of the housewife's revenge.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06# I wanna know what love is
0:23:06 > 0:23:09# Love that you feel inside
0:23:09 > 0:23:12# I want you to show me
0:23:12 > 0:23:15# I'm feeling so much love. #
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Lots of synth washers and pads and drama.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21# Who's gonna drive you home
0:23:21 > 0:23:23# Tonight? #
0:23:24 > 0:23:26It was big drum sounds.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30# We're heading for something
0:23:32 > 0:23:36# Somewhere I've never been... #
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Snare drums going on for nine seconds per hit.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42# Sometimes I am frightened but I'm ready to learn... #
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Lots of emotion and...
0:23:45 > 0:23:47..a little bit of cheese.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50# Of the power of love. #
0:23:51 > 0:23:55The Power Of Love was the biggest-selling record of '85
0:23:55 > 0:23:58in a year that record labels found multiple ways
0:23:58 > 0:24:00to target the mainstream.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03The interesting thing about '85 I think
0:24:03 > 0:24:07is the explosion of songs coming from movies.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12# Get into the groove... #
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Madonna had Into The Groove from Desperately Seeking Susan.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Harold Faltermeyer's Axel F was from Beverly Hills Cop.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Duran Duran's View To A Kill.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Tina Turner's We Don't Need Another Hero from Mad Max.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29You got a situation where a lot of the big corporations
0:24:29 > 0:24:31actually had a film on.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33The synergy of record companies
0:24:33 > 0:24:35and film companies, often being owned by the same people,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38and suddenly realising, we could maximise our exposure to this song
0:24:38 > 0:24:40if we have it on the soundtrack.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47In '85 power ballads found a natural home on movie soundtracks.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51And this tradition was arguably started by a ballad
0:24:51 > 0:24:54from a British star, first released in '84.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Holding Out For A Hero was written for the film Footloose.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03And it was in a very exciting part of the film
0:25:03 > 0:25:07so it had to be high energy, you know.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14They took me to a film studios to play the rushes of the part
0:25:14 > 0:25:18where Kevin Bacon was doing the chicken run in the film, you know.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23Where his foot gets stuck on the accelerator and he wins.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29The record was initially a flop,
0:25:29 > 0:25:32until it was championed by the same clubbing audience
0:25:32 > 0:25:34who adopted You Spin Me Round.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39And in '85 the song made a dramatic re-entry into the charts.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42And still at number two, a great lady
0:25:42 > 0:25:45who had no idea that the single had been released until it charted.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Holding Out For a Hero. Aren't we all? It's Bonnie Tyler.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56When I was asked to go on Top Of The Pops I'll never forget where I was
0:25:56 > 0:26:01because I was living in New York at the time in a suite in Le Parker Meridien.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03There was a swimming pool on the top floor
0:26:03 > 0:26:05and I get a phone call to say,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08"Come back to London to do Top Of The Pops."
0:26:08 > 0:26:10And I said, "Yeah!"
0:26:11 > 0:26:13# Where have all the good men gone
0:26:13 > 0:26:16# And where are all the gods?
0:26:17 > 0:26:20# Where's the street-wise Hercules
0:26:20 > 0:26:22# To fight the rising odds?
0:26:22 > 0:26:25# Isn't there a white knight... #
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I didn't even know it had been a big hit in the gay bars.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33A lot of the gay bars and clubs and things were playing it.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35# I dream of what I need... #
0:26:35 > 0:26:36It became huge.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38# I need a hero
0:26:38 > 0:26:41# I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night
0:26:41 > 0:26:45# He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
0:26:45 > 0:26:47# And he's gotta be fresh from the fight... #
0:26:47 > 0:26:50It's very majestic, you know.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53And with Jim Steinman, everything's in there but the kitchen sink.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55# I'm holding out for a hero till the morning light
0:26:55 > 0:26:58# He's gotta be sure and he's gotta be soon... #
0:26:58 > 0:27:00All those bongos, or whatever you call them.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03# Larger than life... #
0:27:04 > 0:27:06And the backing vocals...
0:27:06 > 0:27:09They build and they build and they build to...
0:27:09 > 0:27:11..a crescendo.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14# Ah, ah
0:27:14 > 0:27:17# Somewhere after midnight
0:27:17 > 0:27:19# In my wildest fantasy... #
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Oh, but the dreadful outfits of the '80s, oh, my God.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24My father used to warn me.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27He said, "You look like an American baseball player with them shoulder pads."
0:27:27 > 0:27:31# Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat... #
0:27:31 > 0:27:33In the '80s we all looked stupid like that.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37# It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet. #
0:27:37 > 0:27:42They always had these cameras underneath your chin.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49Looking up your nose. You could see all the fillings in your mouth!
0:27:49 > 0:27:53I couldn't watch it. Half the time I was like this. Oh, my God, no.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55# I need a hero
0:27:55 > 0:28:00# I'm holding out for a hero till the morning light... #
0:28:00 > 0:28:03I love the song, I love performing it live, as well.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06# And he's gotta be larger than life. #
0:28:08 > 0:28:10# I need a hero
0:28:10 > 0:28:14# I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night
0:28:14 > 0:28:18# He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
0:28:18 > 0:28:21# Gotta be fresh from the fight
0:28:21 > 0:28:24# I need a hero! #
0:28:24 > 0:28:27That's amazing!
0:28:30 > 0:28:32Talking of heroes,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36July '85 saw a charity concert on a different scale.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39To me it is not a pop concert. To me it's not a TV show.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43To me it's simply a means of keeping people alive.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45It got Royal approval,
0:28:45 > 0:28:50as the new pop elite joined forces with rock's older statesman.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53The feeling about the concert is so exciting. I think it's going to be marvellous.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56I think it'll be on my mind just how many people are watching while I'm singing.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59And the day was soundtracked by a power ballad
0:28:59 > 0:29:01cut to extraordinary news footage.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06# You can't go on
0:29:08 > 0:29:11# Thinking nothing's wrong
0:29:12 > 0:29:14# But bye
0:29:14 > 0:29:16# Who's gonna drive you home
0:29:18 > 0:29:20# Tonight? #
0:29:20 > 0:29:23The greatest show on earth, the Live Aid rock festival,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26has turned out to be the greatest fundraising event in history.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28# Who's gonna pick you up
0:29:29 > 0:29:32# When you fall? #
0:29:32 > 0:29:34It brought generations together,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37raised millions and revived rock music.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39# Who's gonna hang it up
0:29:39 > 0:29:42# When you call? #
0:29:42 > 0:29:46If you were a rock band on Live Aid here or in America
0:29:46 > 0:29:48it did wonders for your career.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51# Who's gonna pay attention
0:29:52 > 0:29:54# To your dreams? #
0:29:54 > 0:29:57The Cars, Drive, you know,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00that record sold millions on the back of it.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05We were going to be the first band on until quite late in the day
0:30:05 > 0:30:08when they managed to get the mighty Quo,
0:30:08 > 0:30:10which was the perfect starter.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18# Here we are and here we are And here we go
0:30:18 > 0:30:21# All aboard and we're hitting the road
0:30:21 > 0:30:23# Here we go
0:30:23 > 0:30:25# Rocking all over the world. #
0:30:27 > 0:30:29I remember seeing U2 on it
0:30:29 > 0:30:31and thinking, oh, my goodness, how fantastic is that?
0:30:40 > 0:30:43# I can't believe the news today
0:30:45 > 0:30:48# I can't close my eyes and make it go away
0:30:50 > 0:30:53# How long, how long must we sing this song?
0:30:53 > 0:30:55# How long
0:30:55 > 0:30:56# How long? #
0:30:56 > 0:31:00It really did wonders for a lot of bands, even the bands
0:31:00 > 0:31:03that had maybe slightly peaked - it rejuvenated them, I think.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10If you want to hold your peace, come on, hold it somewhere else.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Somebody has to do something about this. Come on.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16I don't want to hurt you.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21But famine in Africa wasn't the only issue on people's minds in '85.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24There were demonstrations against nuclear weapons
0:31:24 > 0:31:27and the miners' strike reached a tipping point.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38Billy Bragg's European tour.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40And in his manager's old Volvo estate
0:31:40 > 0:31:44young anti-pop star Billy Bragg toured the country
0:31:44 > 0:31:46on a one-man mission.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Rock 'n' roll is on the road again.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07The miners' strike had been going on since the spring of 1984.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11A lot of people were involved in supporting different pits.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Billy himself came and did a gig before us
0:32:14 > 0:32:16and raised us X amount of money.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19And in return I should like to have the pleasure
0:32:19 > 0:32:22of presenting him with this lamp.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31Early on in the miners' strike I went and did a gig up in the north-east
0:32:31 > 0:32:36in a mining town and the support act was a guy named Jock Purdon,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39who was a guy who might have been in his 70s.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42He was an ex-miner and he sat on stage,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45didn't have any instruments, sang a cappella with his hand over his ear.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50So I wanted to write a song that expressed clearly
0:32:50 > 0:32:52that I was part of that tradition now
0:32:52 > 0:32:55and Between The Wars was that song.
0:32:55 > 0:32:56# I paid the union
0:32:56 > 0:32:59# And as times got harder
0:32:59 > 0:33:01# I looked to the government
0:33:01 > 0:33:04# To help the working man
0:33:04 > 0:33:07# But they brought posterity
0:33:07 > 0:33:10# Down at the armoury
0:33:10 > 0:33:12# We're arming for peace, me boys
0:33:12 > 0:33:14# Between the wars. #
0:33:17 > 0:33:20I was trying to make a point, not just about the miners' strike,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24but also about the possibility of nuclear war because the idea
0:33:24 > 0:33:27of nuclear annihilation was very real to us at the time.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30I mean, the government were producing pamphlets
0:33:30 > 0:33:32to tell you to hide under your living-room table
0:33:32 > 0:33:35and keep your tail between your legs.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41And it's a chart entry at number 40 for The Alarm and Absolute Reality.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43And the thoughts of Chairman Billy
0:33:43 > 0:33:46surprisingly catapulted him into the charts.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Down at 38, Mick Jagger, Just Another Night.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51The great thing about Top Of The Pops is while most of it was kind of
0:33:51 > 0:33:54mainstream light entertainment, there was always room for outsiders.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57A new entry at 33, Billy Bragg and the Between The Wars EP.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02And Top Of The Pops, because it was so simple - it was just me and the
0:34:02 > 0:34:06guitar anyway - I wanted to play live and this caused no end of problems.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10It took me three listens before I really understood this song.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12This really is an evocative song.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16Live in the studio, would you welcome Billy Bragg and Between The Wars.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22I can remember Steve Wright asking what the song was about
0:34:22 > 0:34:25so I gave him a whole explanation about nuclear war
0:34:25 > 0:34:27and the strike and everything.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29# I was a miner
0:34:29 > 0:34:31# I was a docker
0:34:31 > 0:34:34# I was a railway man
0:34:34 > 0:34:37# Between the wars
0:34:37 > 0:34:39# I raised a family
0:34:39 > 0:34:42# In time of austerity
0:34:42 > 0:34:44# With sweat at the foundry
0:34:44 > 0:34:47# Between the wars. #
0:34:47 > 0:34:49The thing about the audience for Top Of The Pops
0:34:49 > 0:34:53was their job was to look like they were having a great time
0:34:53 > 0:34:58and here I am singing about war and death, strikes and nuclear weapons!
0:34:58 > 0:35:01# But they brought prosperity
0:35:01 > 0:35:03# Down at the armoury
0:35:03 > 0:35:06# We're arming for peace, me boys
0:35:06 > 0:35:08# Between the wars. #
0:35:10 > 0:35:13I remember the director going over to the audience
0:35:13 > 0:35:16at the tip of the stage where I was performing
0:35:16 > 0:35:19and giving them directions to kind of dance to the song.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21And then nodding and everything.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Him walking off and then I walked over to the tip of the stage
0:35:24 > 0:35:28and said, "Look, I'm really playing this live, I'm not miming.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32"So do what you've got to do but bear in mind I'm actually playing live,
0:35:32 > 0:35:36"so please don't do anything that distracts me."
0:35:36 > 0:35:40# Theirs is a land of Hope and Glory
0:35:40 > 0:35:43# Mine is the green field
0:35:43 > 0:35:45# And the factory floor
0:35:45 > 0:35:48# Theirs are the skies
0:35:48 > 0:35:50# All dark with bombers. #
0:35:50 > 0:35:53I felt I got a lot of support from that audience.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56They realised there was something different here.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00It wasn't just run of the mill, some bloke miming a song and it didn't really matter.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03They recognised I was actually performing.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09While Billy's song climbed the charts,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12the impoverished miners resorted to desperate measures
0:36:12 > 0:36:16and the strike came to a sad and bitter end.
0:36:17 > 0:36:22And we were told, you'll never stand a major industrial strike,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25let alone a coal strike.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30Mr President, it lasted a whole year,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33but we did just that and won.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37The strike might have been over
0:36:37 > 0:36:40but elsewhere political passions were still running high,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43with anger at American cruise missiles
0:36:43 > 0:36:46being stored at an airbase in Berkshire.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50And some of Top Of The Pops' most famous faces
0:36:50 > 0:36:53found themselves right in the middle of it.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59When we went up to Greenham Common,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02we went up to meet the ladies and it was a really early start.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06We were going to take some wood and food parcels up to the girls at Greenham Common.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10In the background you could see these bombers,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13these massive American B-52s I think they were,
0:37:13 > 0:37:14all covered in mist.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16It was very, very eerie.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22We went up to the fence and there was a soldier there
0:37:22 > 0:37:24and he looked at us and said,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27"I really like the Style Council, I didn't expect to see you guys here.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30"What are you doing supporting these women?"
0:37:31 > 0:37:34And I just sort of said to him about, you know,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37do you not really listen to the lyrics that the band have actually
0:37:37 > 0:37:41been singing about and what Paul has written about with these lyrics?
0:37:41 > 0:37:43And he clearly just didn't understand it.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46As we beg to differ and walk away
0:37:46 > 0:37:48he just sort of gobs at us through the fence.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52With their next single, the Style Council clearly
0:37:52 > 0:37:54nailed their political colours to the mast,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56taking aim at Thatcher's government
0:37:56 > 0:37:59and targets closer to home at Top Of The Pops.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07# You don't have to take this crap
0:38:07 > 0:38:10# You don't have to sit back and relax
0:38:10 > 0:38:13# You can actually try changing it... #
0:38:13 > 0:38:17I remember Paul saying you've got to put a strong message out
0:38:17 > 0:38:19that there is something better out there
0:38:19 > 0:38:22and the whole thing about you can't sit back and relax
0:38:22 > 0:38:25when Frankie Goes To Hollywood were telling everyone to relax.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29Paul was very aware of the other artists around us.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32He had a lot of opinions about the artists around us.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34Weller was sticking to his guns
0:38:34 > 0:38:38and if he wanted to blast pop aristocracy,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41as I think they were now calling themselves, he would do it.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43# Walls come tumbling down
0:38:43 > 0:38:45# Governments crack and systems fall
0:38:45 > 0:38:48# Cos unity is powerful
0:38:48 > 0:38:51# Lights go out Walls come tumbling down. #
0:38:51 > 0:38:53When we were at Top Of The Pops
0:38:53 > 0:38:56there wasn't that much camaraderie with other bands.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59A bit of meanness in the canteen like whispering and talking and pointing.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01Very, very schoolyard.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05For us at that time it meant we must be making a bit of a mark.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07# Are you going to realise
0:39:07 > 0:39:10# The class war's real and not mythologised?
0:39:10 > 0:39:12# And like Jericho
0:39:12 > 0:39:14# The walls come tumbling down... #
0:39:14 > 0:39:17I think it was a bit of a call to arms at that time
0:39:17 > 0:39:20and it firmly stamped what the whole band were thinking.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23We all had different issues and agendas
0:39:23 > 0:39:26but we were all broadly very, very left-wing.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29It was the record for me that really encapsulated what the band was about.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33# Are you going to be threatened by
0:39:33 > 0:39:35# The public enemy Number 10?
0:39:35 > 0:39:38# Those who play the power game
0:39:38 > 0:39:42# They take the profit you take the blame. #
0:39:42 > 0:39:46But when it came to the video, the band's decision to get real
0:39:46 > 0:39:48and take pop to the comrades in Poland
0:39:48 > 0:39:51took them on an enlightening journey.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55This is our video for our new single called Walls Come Tumbling Down.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02I knew, kind of, Poland was behind the Iron Curtain
0:40:02 > 0:40:04and that was when the alarm bells started to ring for me.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09But we went. It rained for four days.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12Mick managed to bump into somebody and they dropped their baby on a tram.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16I drank probably more vodka than I'd ever had in my life.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18We hardly ate.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21It was a very drab place, Warsaw, in 1985.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24The people were very, very downtrodden.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26You could see the evidence of alcoholism.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28It was just a grim place.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32We were recording it at this club called The Aquarium
0:40:32 > 0:40:34and they kind of shipped in some students
0:40:34 > 0:40:38that were allowed to come and watch us, probably all state approved.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42And there's this one guy in the video who is slightly better dressed than everybody else
0:40:42 > 0:40:44and he was hanging around and I think he was a spy.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57When the Eurythmics let the cameras into their studios in '85
0:40:57 > 0:41:00the power duo were at the top of their game.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05# The sound of your voice on the telephone
0:41:05 > 0:41:07# Make me feel distressed
0:41:07 > 0:41:09# Make me all alone
0:41:09 > 0:41:11# Why do I feel so incomplete?
0:41:11 > 0:41:15# When you're not here I'm just obsolete
0:41:15 > 0:41:17# I love you like a ball and chain
0:41:19 > 0:41:21# Make it all right now
0:41:21 > 0:41:24# Love you like a ball and chain
0:41:25 > 0:41:26# Feels too good
0:41:26 > 0:41:28# My bed is burning. #
0:41:28 > 0:41:32Annie and Dave had a smash album with four hit singles.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35And they, alongside other British power duos...
0:41:35 > 0:41:38# Shout, shout
0:41:38 > 0:41:40# Let it all out
0:41:40 > 0:41:44# These are the things I can do without
0:41:44 > 0:41:46# Come on. #
0:41:46 > 0:41:48..proved that by working as a tight self-contained unit
0:41:48 > 0:41:51in control of your sound and image...
0:41:51 > 0:41:55# You don't know how to ease my pain
0:41:55 > 0:41:58# You don't know... #
0:41:58 > 0:42:02..this new breed of duo, including Tears For Fears and Godley and Creme,
0:42:02 > 0:42:05could move from indie to mainstream international success
0:42:05 > 0:42:08without losing their cred.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12# It's the sound of my tears falling
0:42:12 > 0:42:15# Or is it rain? #
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Back at Television Centre,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21Top Of The Pops tried to find their own dynamic duos
0:42:21 > 0:42:24by continuing to pair presenters.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31And in '85 when Kid Jensen, one of the show's favourite faces, left the BBC,
0:42:31 > 0:42:35his long-term sidekick John Peel found a new friend.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42Hello. Welcome to a live Top Of The Pops.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44- I'm Aunty Janice. - And I'm Uncle John.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48And we're going to play some songs from the hit parade, aren't we, Janice?
0:42:48 > 0:42:52They're smashing, like the Style Council and Walls Come Tumbling Down.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54We were mates and both loved music,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57both from the same neck of the woods
0:42:57 > 0:43:00and we just hit it off straight away.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03And when David Jensen left Radio 1 to go to Capital
0:43:03 > 0:43:05Peely would only do Top Of The Pops with me.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09He said to Michael Hallam, "I'm not going to do it unless I can do it with Janice."
0:43:09 > 0:43:12And we used to have such a laugh.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Great pair of trousers. I'm really into men's trousers.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18The less said about that the better, if you ask me!
0:43:18 > 0:43:21We'd be chatting and then we'd think, shall we say that?
0:43:21 > 0:43:24And he would go, you can't say that because you might get into trouble but I can say that.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27And then I'd go, all right then, I'll do that.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30I'll have you know that I've had him on my bedroom wall.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32That seems to indicate a degree of agility
0:43:32 > 0:43:35I didn't believe you were capable of, Janice, I must say.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37We used to have great, great fun.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Giggling and being told off sometimes for some of the things we said -
0:43:40 > 0:43:45not by the producers but complaints from the public.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48# Wasn't it good? #
0:43:48 > 0:43:51There was Elaine Paige, Barbara Dickson and Jennifer Rush
0:43:51 > 0:43:55on the same show and we said, "Coming up tonight on the show..."
0:43:55 > 0:43:58Paige, Rush, Dickson.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00And Peely said....
0:44:00 > 0:44:03It sounds like a sordid incident in a cheap motel.
0:44:03 > 0:44:04And I said...
0:44:04 > 0:44:07- I wouldn't know about that. - That's not what I hear, Janice.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10These are the more recent number ones from 1985.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13It was a natural banter that we had.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17Let's have a look at the top 40 selling singles in the country
0:44:17 > 0:44:19this week, and guess where we start.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22And we did - we just laughed all of the time.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25At 38, Falling Angels Riding, David Essex.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28And another chart entry at 37. Loose Ends, Hanging On A String.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32But this one's going down to 36. This House, Big Sound Authority.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35At 35, Russ Abbot with Joy Division's Atmosphere.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39It was like that even when we went to Radio 1 to work
0:44:39 > 0:44:42because I was on before him and all we'd do was giggle.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45I remember him telling me once - and I can't remember whether this
0:44:45 > 0:44:47was at Top Of The Pops or in Radio 1 -
0:44:47 > 0:44:50but he said that he would like to actually get rid
0:44:50 > 0:44:52of everybody at Radio 1 apart from me.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54He said I could stay.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57And Bruno Brookes, but he would put him on reception!
0:44:57 > 0:44:59We are going to play you out, dearly beloved, with Amy Stewart.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02Can I just say happy birthday to Peely? Goodnight.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04- Bye!- Goodnight.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07This year also saw change in the presenter roster,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10with the arrival of the first black DJ on Top Of The Pops
0:45:10 > 0:45:12since the 1970s.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Bernie Michael cut his teeth at Radio Caroline,
0:45:16 > 0:45:20where he acquired the DJ name Dixie Peach.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24In '84, he was poached by Radio 1,
0:45:24 > 0:45:28but curiously not to play the soul music he'd spun on pirate radio.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Dixie Peach was a lovely human being, Dixie Peach was,
0:45:32 > 0:45:34and he really loved his soul.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37Absolutely loved soul music, but for some reason he seemed to be
0:45:37 > 0:45:39doing a rock show.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43When I was at Radio 1, I was one of the few black presenters
0:45:43 > 0:45:45on the station.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47The fact that I was actually doing a rock show...
0:45:48 > 0:45:52..I presume, made me more versatile.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58In the summer of '85, this slightly wary newcomer was invited
0:45:58 > 0:45:59to present Top Of The Pops.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03There were very few black faces around at the time.
0:46:05 > 0:46:11Anything you did would really stand out, as far as,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14"What's he saying? What's he doing?" You know, "What's happening there?"
0:46:14 > 0:46:16Thank you for being with us tonight on Top Of The Pops.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Next week, it's presented by Britain's answer to
0:46:18 > 0:46:22Crockett and Tubbs - that's Gary Davies and Dixie Peach.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24The first show was terrifying.
0:46:24 > 0:46:31I got to the studios and I was amazed by the people at the gates,
0:46:31 > 0:46:35as you're going into the building, screaming, and I got recognised,
0:46:35 > 0:46:37which was really strange.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40I think that was the very first time anyone shouted at me.
0:46:41 > 0:46:42"Dixie!"
0:46:44 > 0:46:49Went into the studios, everything was incredibly quick.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51You were doing this, you were doing that, blah, blah, blah,
0:46:51 > 0:46:53you've got so much time.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55"Are you ready? Here we go."
0:46:55 > 0:46:58CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:46:58 > 0:47:00Welcome to Britain's best-loved serial, Top Of The Soaps.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03You've seen him on Radio 1, for the first ever time on television,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06a natural life-size effigy of Dixie Peach.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09Thanks, Mike. I've been laying in the sun in anticipation
0:47:09 > 0:47:12for this big event, but tonight I'm going to kick off with
0:47:12 > 0:47:14Scritti Politti.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21I'm still stunned the whole time I'm doing it.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24Well, a bit of down, down to a bit of up, up.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29I probably had a bit of paper down there and I would have had
0:47:29 > 0:47:31what bands are coming up next on it.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33Here are the top 40 breakers.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40I bent down before we had actually finished doing the piece,
0:47:40 > 0:47:44so that just goes to show that my timing and everything,
0:47:44 > 0:47:48I needed to get that together. It took me a little while.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50Madonna, great stuff by Madonna there.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54Now to the sound at number 30, it's Feargal Sharkey with Loving You.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01The links were mainly a natural thing.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04We would get to the studio, we would have no idea who
0:48:04 > 0:48:06was performing that particular show,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09we had no idea what we were doing.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14Hello, operator? Can you connect me to Flash Gordon, please?
0:48:14 > 0:48:16Oh, hi, it's Flash speaking here.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Well, you had to rush. So, you'd finish...
0:48:19 > 0:48:22"And here's the Smiths with How Soon Is Now?"
0:48:22 > 0:48:23The Smiths, How Soon Is Now?
0:48:27 > 0:48:31And as soon as they started, you'd have to leg it across the studio
0:48:31 > 0:48:35and climb up these steps and get onto the gantry,
0:48:35 > 0:48:38and then somebody would rearrange the crowd.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41We were never told what to say, ever.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43It was entirely up to you.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45"When we do the first link, let's do this."
0:48:45 > 0:48:47And I thought, "OK, all right."
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Hey, how you doing? Welcome to Top Of The Pops, we've got
0:48:52 > 0:48:55a knockout show lined up for you, and here is the only man who at
0:48:55 > 0:48:57Radio 1 has got a better suntan than me.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01It's funny looking back on it now, thinking, "Hmm!"
0:49:03 > 0:49:04Maybe not!
0:49:04 > 0:49:07It's Radio 1!
0:49:07 > 0:49:10Me having a tan was always a running gag on Radio 1,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13so I guess when Dixie and I presented the show
0:49:13 > 0:49:17for the first time, it was just something we did in all innocence.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22I think it was a bit of a thing that I thought could break the ice,
0:49:22 > 0:49:23you know, at the time.
0:49:23 > 0:49:24Not the way I'd do it now.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31If it was hard making it as a black DJ, for Loose Ends, making it
0:49:31 > 0:49:36as a black British soul act, after three years, six singles
0:49:36 > 0:49:38and no hits, was nigh on impossible.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44We were talking of a time, by the way, when nobody believed
0:49:44 > 0:49:46that British black acts could have hits.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52It wasn't, "Oh, fantastic, somebody is at last making some great
0:49:52 > 0:49:54"British black records."
0:49:54 > 0:49:55No, the opposite.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57"How dare you! This is the American market."
0:49:57 > 0:49:59# I'm living the
0:49:59 > 0:50:00# Single, single, single
0:50:03 > 0:50:05# Life. #
0:50:05 > 0:50:08In the face of that prejudice, but inspired by the new electro soul
0:50:08 > 0:50:12of American hit-makers like Cameo, Loose Ends went in search
0:50:12 > 0:50:14of a stateside sound.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20So we went to America, and the first thing... I'm a bass player,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23and the first thing the guy does is, like, "Well, we're not going to
0:50:23 > 0:50:24"put no bass on this record.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27"We're going to put Moog bass, keyboard bass."
0:50:29 > 0:50:32And they were fooling around with 808 drum machines.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34MUSIC: Hanging' On A String by Loose Ends
0:50:34 > 0:50:38We added it and instantly it was like the song just sort of stood up.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Boom, ba-dum, boom, boom, di, di, di, di, ding.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46Boom, ba-dum, boom, boom, di, di, di, di, ding, boom.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50You know, it had this little bell thing, dingy, dingy, ding.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56The single went top 20 and Loose Ends finally got
0:50:56 > 0:50:59the long-awaited summons from TV centre.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03Cars were sent at seven o'clock in the morning,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06it was almost like going to Buckingham Palace!
0:51:06 > 0:51:10The guy came outside my house and stood up with his hat
0:51:10 > 0:51:14in his... On his chest!
0:51:14 > 0:51:16So he's standing there, so I looked out the window
0:51:16 > 0:51:18and all the kids from the flats are looking,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21"Who's this geezer standing outside?"
0:51:21 > 0:51:25So we get to Top Of The Pops, the guy opens the door and we get out.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28You are getting very nervous when you're in a BBC dressing room,
0:51:28 > 0:51:30cos everyone around is so prim and proper.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Everyone is like that...
0:51:32 > 0:51:35You know, the ladies come in with the clipboard
0:51:35 > 0:51:38and the pencil in the ear and the walkie-talkies.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40CHEERING
0:51:42 > 0:51:47It's a very strange experience because people are cheering,
0:51:47 > 0:51:51and the song's just starting up and it's quiet, it's not loud,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54it's very quiet. And these people are going, "Hey!"
0:51:55 > 0:51:56# I've waited, oh, so long. #
0:51:56 > 0:51:58CROWD CHEERS
0:51:59 > 0:52:03When I saw it back, I just thought, "Wow, it didn't feel like that."
0:52:03 > 0:52:06They made it look so different.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08The people seeing it, they don't get that,
0:52:08 > 0:52:09they just get the performance.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12# It's all a mystery to me
0:52:13 > 0:52:16# Baby, I feel it, too. #
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Friends were looking at it and going, "Gosh, Carl, can't believe
0:52:21 > 0:52:24"it was you. That's not you, is it? Is that you?!"
0:52:24 > 0:52:25# Maybe I've just changed
0:52:27 > 0:52:29# Or could I be wrong for you?
0:52:32 > 0:52:34# You, you
0:52:35 > 0:52:38# You got me hangin' on a string now. #
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Pop music was very white at the time,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46but what you're starting to see is groups like Loose Ends,
0:52:46 > 0:52:51which were the start of there being proper British soul music.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54# You never told me you were waiting, contemplating. #
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Still heavily influenced by America, but it was mixed with that
0:52:57 > 0:53:01very English jazz funk feel, as well.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05# You never told me you were waiting, contemplating
0:53:05 > 0:53:07# With my heart. #
0:53:09 > 0:53:12But in spite of their new-found success, Loose Ends
0:53:12 > 0:53:15knew there was a danger of them losing their valuable home crowd
0:53:15 > 0:53:17that had grown them in the first place.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21# I waited like a fool. #
0:53:21 > 0:53:25Once you were now making mainstream music,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27you could lose your core audience.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31It was almost a prerequisite of success...
0:53:32 > 0:53:35..for British soul music.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38# I'm not your plaything. #
0:53:38 > 0:53:41We had these people that worked with us that showed us,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44"The day you do Top Of The Pops, let's go round to Harleston...
0:53:46 > 0:53:49"..like a little reggae club in Harleston, and let's do a PA
0:53:49 > 0:53:51"for these people, because they don't know you're coming
0:53:51 > 0:53:53"and you just now was on TV.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56"So if you turn up, this is going to be like, "Wow."
0:53:56 > 0:54:02# You never told me you were waiting, contemplating. #
0:54:02 > 0:54:06Leading up to Christmas, competition for the coveted number one slot
0:54:06 > 0:54:11was festively fierce and a perfect recap of the year.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13Well, hey, how you doing? Welcome to Top Of The Pops.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16Do you realise? Only ten days to go to stuff your Christmas turkey,
0:54:16 > 0:54:18ten days to go to buy all your Christmas records.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21Tonight some of the records you've already bought.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24Among the contenders, there was a song from a movie.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27# Say you, say me... #
0:54:27 > 0:54:31Even if we don't all remember White Knights with Baryshnikov...
0:54:32 > 0:54:34..and...
0:54:34 > 0:54:37- ..Helen Mirren. - # That's the way it should be. #
0:54:37 > 0:54:41# Will you ever learn to love? #
0:54:41 > 0:54:45The Style Council's Dee C Lee had a soul power ballad in the top three.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50# Good love will always come from me. #
0:54:52 > 0:54:54In the wake of Live Aid, there was an update of last year's
0:54:54 > 0:54:56number one.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58# It's Christmas time
0:55:00 > 0:55:03# There's no need to be afraid. #
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Wham! re-released the biggest number two of all time.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10# Last Christmas I gave you my heart
0:55:10 > 0:55:14# But the very next day you gave it away
0:55:14 > 0:55:15# You gave it away. #
0:55:15 > 0:55:17# We're walking in the air... #
0:55:17 > 0:55:20And a young Aled Jones soared into the charts.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25# We're dancing in the midnight sky. #
0:55:25 > 0:55:28Through the dry ice, it looked like no-one else had a snowball's
0:55:28 > 0:55:32chance in hell of getting to number one.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34But never underestimate the hit machine who'd been waiting
0:55:34 > 0:55:36in the wings for a whole year.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40Right now on Top Of The Pops, a very big hit,
0:55:40 > 0:55:42the biggest climber on the chart this week, up 28 places
0:55:42 > 0:55:46to number ten. Merry Christmas Everyone, here's Shakin' Stevens!
0:55:49 > 0:55:52At that particular time of the '80s, I mean,
0:55:52 > 0:55:55everybody and their dad was putting out Christmas tracks.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57# Snow is falling
0:55:57 > 0:55:58# All around me
0:55:59 > 0:56:01# Children playing... #
0:56:01 > 0:56:04In '84, Merry Christmas Everyone was sent down for the writer
0:56:04 > 0:56:07Bob Heatlie, and I first heard it and I thought,
0:56:07 > 0:56:09"Wow, this is a number-one record."
0:56:09 > 0:56:12# Merry Christmas, everyone
0:56:14 > 0:56:15# Time for parties... #
0:56:15 > 0:56:20And we held it back till '85, because there's no way you can
0:56:20 > 0:56:23compete with Band Aid, with a charity record.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27# Time for presents and exchanging kisses
0:56:28 > 0:56:29# Time for singing... #
0:56:29 > 0:56:34The video, I think, was in Sweden, I believe, in Lapland.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38# We're gonna have a party tonight
0:56:38 > 0:56:42# I'm gonna find that girl underneath the mistletoe... #
0:56:42 > 0:56:45I didn't know what to wear. I had these jumpers, I don't know
0:56:45 > 0:56:49where they came from, and I thought, "I'll put this on."
0:56:49 > 0:56:53# All the old songs love to give... #
0:56:53 > 0:56:56I still get a bit of poke about my jumpers.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58# Every day was Christmas
0:56:58 > 0:57:02# What a nice way to spend the year... #
0:57:02 > 0:57:06Shaky! I mean, a real British institution.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08Everybody loved Shaky.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13I think people like Shakin' Stevens, they do what they say
0:57:13 > 0:57:16on the tin, you know, they're not kind of asking you to listen
0:57:16 > 0:57:19to their prog album, they just do what they do and people
0:57:19 > 0:57:20are very comforted by that.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25I don't think there was anybody around like me
0:57:25 > 0:57:28at that particular time, you know, dancing, throwing myself around
0:57:28 > 0:57:29like I did.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33# Underneath the mistletoe, we'll kiss by candlelight. #
0:57:33 > 0:57:35I guess I just suited Top Of The Pops.
0:57:35 > 0:57:38# Merry Christmas, everyone
0:57:40 > 0:57:43# Merry Christmas, everyone. #
0:57:45 > 0:57:47He smashed it, didn't he? He went straight in and beat everybody
0:57:47 > 0:57:50and Wham! and Band Aid, they couldn't get a look in.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52It was Shaky's year, wasn't it?
0:57:59 > 0:58:03But hiding in those Christmas charts was the shape of things to come
0:58:03 > 0:58:04for '86...
0:58:06 > 0:58:10..with the soon-to-be number-one debut of the inspirational, poetic
0:58:10 > 0:58:12and very English Pet Shop Boys.
0:58:12 > 0:58:13# West End girls. #
0:58:13 > 0:58:17MUSIC: Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi
0:58:17 > 0:58:20Not that in '86 anybody could stop the imperial tide
0:58:20 > 0:58:21of big-haired metal...
0:58:24 > 0:58:28..big-haired punks with the biggest recording advance in history...
0:58:29 > 0:58:30..and big-haired soap stars.
0:58:32 > 0:58:33As the song rightly says...
0:58:33 > 0:58:37# Whoa, we're halfway there
0:58:37 > 0:58:41# Whoa, livin' on a prayer
0:58:41 > 0:58:45# Take my hand, we'll make it, I swear
0:58:45 > 0:58:48# Whoa, livin' on a prayer
0:58:53 > 0:58:55# Tommy's got his got six-string in hock
0:58:56 > 0:59:00# Now he's holding in what he used to make it talk
0:59:00 > 0:59:01# So tough
0:59:03 > 0:59:05# Ooh, it's tough. #