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+--- Thread: Top of the Pops on BBC Four (/showthread.php?tid=103)
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - James2001 - 04-03-2022
PD post_id=71675 time= user_id=1887 Wrote:Love the revelation that they had already prerecorded an interview with the Radio 1 Chart Show for their number 1 announcement....
Reminds me of Peter Kay's X Factor parody where Cat Deeley kept referring to the Winners Song as the "debut number 1", clearly taking the mick out of the idea that these songs topping the charts was a foregone conclusion ?
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - XIII - 04-03-2022
One thing I've learnt over the years is that music execs are not the most original people when it coming up with the next big thing.
The article about Girl Thing and Last One Standing makes a very good point about how the video made the group seem unlikeable, if you look at other videos of say Steps and S Club 7, you can see how first impressions are absolutely crucial especially in the target demo,
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - James2001 - 04-03-2022
Funnily enough I have the video for Last One Standing on one of my videos I used to use for taping songs I liked off the music channels.
Admittedly I never bought the single though, maybe it would have got to number 7 if I did
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - BillyH - 05-03-2022
Steve Williams post_id=71672 time= user_id=1326 Wrote:Of course in a bit we'll see Let Loose which was a bit similar to Take That in that Smash Hits put them on the cover in 1993, billing them as "Britain's Best New Band", only for Crazy For You to crawl to number 44 and Smash Hits spent the rest of the year apologising for their terrible prediction, but of course a year later it was re-released and was a massive hit.
The original 1993 release is notable for it's bizarre spoken-word intro, which was dropped for the poppier '94 remix that became the hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfbJ09ZTjbk
For comparison, the 1994 remix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UNMpN86rY4
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - James2001 - 05-03-2022
One thing that gave away Michael Hurll produced those first 2 July 92 editions, even though the format mostly didn't change, was the fact we got lengthy clips of the breakers rather than the brief ones we got under Appel.
Of course the next 3 editions he changed even more. Then Stan Appel changed it all back when he returned.
Interesting that Let Loose got posted above, as on the raw studio tape of the Malcolm McLaren edition we get 2 different takes of them performing the song in San Francisco at the start of the tape (after we hear Malcolm doing about 6 takes of the top 10).
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - James2001 - 05-03-2022
Also with Tony Dortie saying he wasn't going to sign up for his episodes to be repeated until Mark Cooper and Mark Franklin convinced him- I imagine we wouldn't have got the year zero era at all if that had happened. Seeing as he presented half the episodes in that era, plus added to Adrian Rose-Woolfe's editions, we'd have been losing over 2/3rds (probably close to 3/4) of episodes from October 91-September 92, and it probably wouldn't have been worth repeating the remaining episodes at all, there'd have been so few of them. Thank god he was convinced to sign!
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - Brekkie - 06-03-2022
I assume some kind of repeat fees pay a part in convincing these ex-hosts to release the episodes.
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - Yellow - 06-03-2022
Was surprised to see a claim on tonight's 'Top of the Pops: Kylie' that her last number 10 hit was in September 1994... until the end credits rolled with a 1998 copyright! Bit remiss of the BBC to miss the following 17...
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - James2001 - 09-03-2022
Tony's posted a twitter thread with a bit of background about how he was approached for the Story of 1991:
https://twitter.com/TonyDortie/status/1501552326519058438
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - Benriggers - 09-03-2022
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015nx8
Story of 1992 - 19th March - 8.45pm, BBC2 with Big Hits following afterwards.
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - mumu03 - 12-03-2022
James2001 post_id=72640 time= user_id=956 Wrote:Tony's posted a twitter thread with a bit of background about how he was approached for the Story of 1991:
He's now made one detailing his bullying experiences at the time - no names are named outright, however one is very much implied:
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - James2001 - 12-03-2022
It's quite obvious who the executive producer he's talking about is, it can't be anyone else even without Tony naming him. Considering how much we've praised him over the years for producing a decent era of the show, the disrespect he apparently gave to Mark and Tony is shocking, they didn't deserve that whatever anyone thinks of how their presenting skills were.
I think it's fair to say these repeats have given a bit of a re-evaluation to the "year zero" era. There are some things that don't work very well, such as the live singing rule on some songs- especially dance records with samples, though Jimmy Nail'sspoken word lines have been quite dire too, and some questionable music choices, especially with the exclusives, but it's clearly not as bad as it's been maligned to be throughout the years. Even most of the presenters are decent. Steve Anderson and Elayne Smith were like rabbits in the headlights (though I guess could have improved with time, not that we'll ever know), but most of the rest have done very well, even Adrian Rose/Woolfe is a competent presenter, despite his arrogant refusal to let his episodes be shown. Certainly the worst year zero presenter we've had is not one of the regulars, but Bob Geldof who was horribly rude and disrespectful.
Tony's also made clear that his fee for doing the "story of"s has been donated to teenage cancer, which shows he's an all round decent guy. Very good to see how he's embracing these repeats considering how he's claimed to be treated and didn't talk about the show for over a quarter of a century. I think he can see we're giving him retrospective appreciation for the job he did on the show. As Tony's said, the era's been pretty much whitewashed out of any post-1994 restrospective of the show until now, which is a shame.
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - mumu03 - 12-03-2022
It's not been a complete reappraisal as such, but off-piste playlist choices aside I do get the feeling that the 'Year Zero' era so far has been a bit more positively received by some than it was at the time. One of the main takeaways I know have managed to get from some of these editions is that I'd probably take Mark Franklin over Nicky Campbell as a host of anything. And at least a few of the most basic format problems - lack of top 40 rundown, top 10 at the beginning of the show - will be rectified in mere weeks time.
It can be said that the changes after Appel's retirement were essentially made to save the show from an even earlier cancellation or timeslot move, and those also quite neatly happened to coincide with a period in pop which some look back on more fondly. However at the same time, that shouldn't have ever excused what looks like a rewrite of a programme's history on the BBC's part, as well as disrespectful treatment from certain executive producers towards talent which was clearly still young and improving.
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - VMPhil - 12-03-2022
Not that I’m surprised about it for a BBC producer of his era, but some not very nice stories about Michael Hurll appearing on Mark and Tony’s Twitter feeds now.
Top of the Pops on BBC Four - James2001 - 12-03-2022
VMPhil post_id=73131 time= user_id=1043 Wrote:Not that I’m surprised about it for a BBC producer of his era, but some not very nice stories about Michael Hurll appearing on Mark and Tony’s Twitter feeds now.
Sounds completely out of order how he was lording things around and threatening to sack Mark considering he was only filling in for a month.
Got a good laugh out of the Kurt Cobain story though!