Top of the Pops on BBC Four

[InsideUlster]

It's not such a big deal really seeing how many 'banned' editions have sneaked out of the BBC Archive over the past few years

What do you mean exactly? Pity I can't have access to it but do you mean the Yewtreed episodes are junked?!

[sdaonline]

I don't either, no they are not but you see various forum posts which I won't go into here offering a low res preview direct from the BBC archive server

I've seen those upscaled clips, look quite off and odd like the Remini photographs seem to!

[HEW2343]

Found this on digital spy.

"Here are the final ratings for every Top Of The Pops episode from 1991 that made it into BBC Four's Top 15 pre Year Zero:
* 28 day figure didn't feature in BBC Four's Top 15

10/1 - 546,746
24/1 - 307,866*
31/1 - 308,743
7/2 - 325,994
14/3 - 447,941
21/3 - 430,341
11/4 - 371,865
18/4 - 398,821
2/5 - 382,783
16/5 - 406,421
23/5 - 241,715
6/6 - 294,040
13/6 - 238,274
20/6 - 336,368
27/6 - 261,003
4/7 - 262,913
11/7 - 324,544
25/7 - 287,677
1/8 - 312,390
8/8 - 292,268
15/8 - 277,894
22/8 - 431,292
29/8 - 340,386
6/9 - 440,522
12/9 - 413,851
19/9 - 390,001
26/9 - 336,972

Ratings Information: BARB"

[James2001]

One of the things I've noticed is since the revamp and they've started using clips from the top 10 in the countdown, how many songs don't seem to have videos- there was two on both of tonight's editions! So they have to use clips from the TOTP performances instead.

Most of them did end up have videos made later on, but still seems strange at this point in time to have not even had videos ready at the time of the chart run.

Still at the point where on both of tonight's editons with both Cladia Simon and Steve Anderson, the new presenters weren't properly introduced until a third of the way into the episode, so we hear them giving several voiceovers wondering who this person is before we actually see them and are given their name- Adrian Rose is the same on the following edition. So that's all the presenters so far apart from Franklin and Dortie who have had this treatment (though Mark did give the opening announcement on the first year zero edition before he was identified)- will have to see if Femi Oke gets the same...

Tony seems to have got annoyed that the TOTPFacts twitter account mixed up him and Steve Anderson. Can understand why, particularly as the two of them never presented an episode together.

Voiceover back on the top 10 as of tonight.

[James2001]

Tony has now said outright (rather than cryptically as he usually does) that the BBC did have to ask his permission to show his episodes:

https://twitter.com/TonyDortie/status/14...3717083274

Seeing as several pre-1991 presenters have said they weren't asked and couldn't stop them being shown even if they wanted to, it does suggest the was something different about the contracts of the year zero presenters when it comes to repeats.

The 94-97 guest presenter era is going to be a nightmare to get clearances for if the permission is needed there also. Not least when several (Gary Olsen, Stephen Gately, Dale Winton, Malcolm McLaren etc.) are no longer with us.

[Colm]

The lack of videos for songs like 'Get Ready for This' et al may stem from their release on independent labels, who didn't necessarily have the budget to finance promo videos for all their releases - as we've seen in recent shows, not until the single had already peaked in the charts.

Or, perhaps, this was a consequence of a sudden and unforeseen shift in the music scene: the club/rave experience driving the success of dance tracks rather than radio airplay (of which they were at a bit of a disadvantaged at the time); which, in turn, took a while for record labels, majors and indies, to catch up with, or to redress the balance.

Mind you, 2 Unlimited were on PWL International, and, Kylie Minogue aside (or to a lesser extent), the SAW era was well on the wane by now.

Worth also bearing in mind, singles sales were still falling in the midst of a recession, which could've been a catalyst for the Year Zero change...

[Steve Williams]

Yes, clearly the "real music" crusade is going well, five of the top ten on the second show were faceless dance acts. At least they got their money's worth from the font licencing by getting to use the square root symbol on the Anticapella track in the Breakers.

Seeing as several pre-1991 presenters have said they weren't asked and couldn't stop them being shown even if they wanted to, it does suggest the was something different about the contracts of the year zero presenters when it comes to repeats.

Presumably, the Radio 1 DJs were all full-time Beeb employees and so their Radio 1 contracts covered them, while the new presenters were freelancers contracted exclusively for Pops. Would have thought there'd be fewer problems with the guest hosts as they were, clearly, guests like the artists and so presumably there wouldn't be a formal contract, just a fee.

[James2001]

Though Andy Crane was unaware BBC4 were showing his episodes until people told him on Twitter on the day his first episode was shown and he wasn't a Radio 1 DJ... though I guess he did work for the BBC in terms of being the main CBBC presenter, maybe that covered the BBC not needing his permission.

Not that he had any issues with them being shown regardless anyway, he regularly bought the repeats up on both Twitter and on his GHR show.

Tony also tweeted a picture of his son watching tonight's repeat, must have some way to get BBC4 in the US:

https://twitter.com/TonyDortie/status/14...9093650441

Also noticed HTW made a tweet making an assumption about why Adrian Rose/Woolfe has blocked his episodes and was told to delete it because it was incorrect and upset someone... though I don't know what it actually said as it was deleted before I saw it (I imagine it would be best not to have repeated what it said even if I had seen it). Maybe does suggest it's best to stop speculating on the issue.

They cut out a lot of Michael Jackson smashing up the car on the Black or White premiere too... though the video is still stupidly long, even with that but cut out, especially as the end bit goes on for longer than the song itself.

There is a version of the video where they superimposed racist graffiti on the windows he smashed, so I could understand if TOTP had cut it for that reason, though this isn't that version of the video, as that version has the graffiti on the windows he throws the steering wheel and bin into as well, which isn't there on the version TOTP are using.

[TIGHazard]

Though Andy Crane was unaware BBC4 were showing his episodes until people told him on Twitter on the day his first episode was shown and he wasn't a Radio 1 DJ... though I guess he did work for the BBC in terms of being the main CBBC presenter, maybe that covered the BBC not needing his permission.

Not that he had any issues with them being shown regardless anyway, he regularly bought the repeats up on both Twitter and on his GHR show.

Tony also tweeted a picture of his son watching tonight's repeat, must have some way to get BBC4 in the US:

https://twitter.com/TonyDortie/status/14...9093650441

Also noticed HTW made a tweet making an assumption about why Adrian Rose/Woolfe has blocked his episodes and was told to delete it because it was incorrect and upset someone... though I don't know what it actually said as it was deleted before I saw it (I imagine it would be best not to have repeated what it said even if I had seen it). Maybe does suggest it's best to stop speculating on the issue.

They cut out a lot of Michael Jackson smashing up the car on the Black or White premiere too... though the video is still stupidly long, even with that but cut out, especially as the end bit goes on for longer than the song itself.

There is a version of the video where they superimposed racist graffiti on the windows he smashed, so I could understand if TOTP had cut it for that reason, though this isn't that version of the video, as that version has the graffiti on the windows he throws the steering wheel and bin into as well, which isn't there on the version TOTP are using.

The racist graffiti version was released after complaints that the smashing the car up scene was too violent, to explain why he is doing it.

[commseng]

That Michael Jackson video was just painful. Obviously to get the exclusive first showing, they must have had to agree to show it in full. It had a pointless opening, and self regarding overlong closing section. He had become too big for anyone to tell him that it wasn't a good idea.
Yes there were some clever visual effects on it, but I imagine when the tape landed on the desk of the producer in Elstree there was a groan at the length of it, and the fact much of it wasn't the song.
I'm with the critic Jarvis Cocker at this point!

[VMPhil]

I was laughing out loud at some of the bits at the end of that video. I’m sure it was meant to be some sort of grand political statement, but it just came across as the exact kind of excess that you can get away with being the world’s biggest popstar in 1991.

Has anyone ever liked music videos where the intro and outro is as long as the song itself?!

[Omnipresent]

I would hazard a guess that there was a lot of inconsistency in how the BBC negotiated contracts with presenters at the time, with differences between individual programme makers / departments and a lot of informal arrangements.

Over the years organisations have made their "terms of trade" much more centralised and consistent, partly due to various legal and compliance requirements such as money laundering legislation and the Bribery Act.

No doubt things changed a lot at the BBC, particularly since when John Birt introduced Producer Choice and the split into BBC Broadcast, BBC Production and BBC Resources.

[James2001]

I was laughing out loud at some of the bits at the end of that video.

It's bizarre as hell isn't it? It's just him dancing, screaming, pulling his crotch and smashing up a car while things explode. Self indulgent is putting it mildly.

Music channels usually don't show the end bit, presumably because of how ridiculously long winded it is, and completely irrelevent to anything that came before it. I have seen it on occasion though.

[mumu03]

That Michael Jackson video was just painful. Obviously to get the exclusive first showing, they must have had to agree to show it in full. It had a pointless opening, and self regarding overlong closing section. He had become too big for anyone to tell him that it wasn't a good idea.
Yes there were some clever visual effects on it, but I imagine when the tape landed on the desk of the producer in Elstree there was a groan at the length of it, and the fact much of it wasn't the song.
I'm with the critic Jarvis Cocker at this point!

Despite receiving complaints about this practise the first time around, they go and run the entire video again for the follow-up's exclusive airing, although at least we'll be spared that case in the repeats as it happened on an Adrian Rose edition (6/2/1992).

Incidentally, the only Jacko track I don't particularly mind from this era is the much more understated/'Billie Jean'-esque 'Who Is It'; fortunately enough, that one doesn't seem to have been given the 'exclusive' treatment by TOTP.

At least they got their money's worth from the font licencing by getting to use the square root symbol on the Anticapella track in the Breakers.

That breaker clip is the only ever time I've actually seen any of the video for '2√231' in its original quality - all of the versions I've previously seen look as if they've been recorded by pointing a camera at a screen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNLGfgNtiFY

[Ade Jacobs]

Not sure what happened with Claudia Simon. She did BFT Children's BBC Summer Holiday Mornings in 1990 and made a decent stab at it. But hosting TOTP she looked like she had trouble hearing herself speak hence the shouting plus she did a lot of jiggling about too.

Have you noticed that none of the Year Zero presenters know what to do once they have presented a link? They just seem to stand there like statues until the camera moves away.