I’ll admit to you now that I am probably not the most patriotic of guys roaming our sceptic isles. The rather limp colour scheme on our nations’ flags is enough to put me off willingly waving them – who in their right mind thought that red, white and blue would go together at all well? – and my general distrust of blinkered jingoism means that I would happily chant for the opposing team at our next international football match (threat of physical violence permitting, it’s usually quite a deterrent. Anyway...)
But on hearing that Top Of The Pops was soon to be axed, my heart sank on behalf of Britain. Like the local post office being shut down or a red telephone box being ripped out of the ground due to its mobile-induced redundancy, the thought of TOTP no longer being a distinct reference point for British culture deflates a lot of the pride that I might have somehow had left in it. Yes, a lot of the time it was crap, but a lot of the time that was the point – if the people liked it enough then The Tweets could co-exist with Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Mr Blobby could appear alongside Bis and Fat Les could parade around like prize twunts in the same half hour that Eels smash their instruments into oblivion. As a reasonably accurate cross-section of the country’s taste there was little that could beat it and for many – myself included – it’s been the only reliable source of televised musical performances that there’s ever been.
Of course, the buck’s already being passed in a number of directions for the Beeb’s decision to kill off the show. The most recent place of blame has been Myspace, which seems a bit like a TV chef accusing the free samples in supermarkets for putting them out of business; hearing a few tracks over the web hardly substitutes for a band’s live performance on a national television programme. 24-hour interactive digital music television channels have also had the finger pointed at them – again, the videos are hardly a replacement for the live aspect (I suspect that Stone Roses fans, for instance, remember their TOTP appearance more fondly than the promos) but such an argument neglects to acknowledge the buzz of religious fervour that huddling around the TV at teatime brought many viewers.
But my theory is this: Art Brut endorsements aside, Top Of The Pops just wasn’t fashionable at the moment the axe fell. It was, after all, a show that relied heavily on the peaks and troughs of its cool factor, and recent viewing figures may have just reflected a long-fermenting case of the latter. The tacky trance theme tune, soul-hollowed presenters and Andi Peters might not have helped rescue it from its demise, but the show is really ever only going to be as good as the chart it is representing. People talk in revered tones about the importance and vibrancy of the programme in the late Seventies and early Eighties when post-punk was infusing with pure pop and producing artists that could not only be thrilling but sell records too (meaning appearances on the Pops by The Human League, Orange Juice, Teardrop Explodes, Adam Ant etc etc). And, although we are living through one of the greatest years for music that there’s ever been (why else would we still be here on this site?), the freaks, geeks, icons and visionaries aren’t shifting enough units on the download to get high in the charts – thus, TOTP has had to reflect swathes of drab acoustic preening, tiresome boypunk pop and the sort of muzak so wallpaper-esque that it could put you off your dinner, let alone your faith in a general public at the hands of the music industry.
DiScuss:So did Auntie need to take a few more risks and slowly make the progress to shuffle the programme out of its un-hip Sunday slot? Or had all the risks been taken and failed? Should they have showcased something for the kids to really get excited about, or were the kids just not interested? Has binning an institution that seemed potentially immortal done the BBC any favours? And is there any reason to care?
will it be missed?
i don't think TOTP will be missed that much. A highlight back in the day was watching the Christmas Day special but I haven't done that for years because most chart music is shit these days, but maybe I'm getting old.
There are a lot more music programmes on the box these days and in terms of live performances and interviews they piss all over TOTP. Jools, Popworld, CD:UK (is this still on? ) and even all those live clone shows on Channel 4 (T4 live mobile album tranmission on a beach etc etc)
I blame Andi Peters. That guy is the anti-Christ.
rubbish show
basically.
A lot of people have access to 24-hour music television and streaming music videos on t'interweb. So that's the novelty factor gone.
The show was filled by a parade of vacuous non-enitities and djs hidden behind their decks whilst dancers flung themselves about in a wisp of nothing. Which was all dull, dull, dull.
It was so broad that they might have a few acts you enjoyed/didn't mind but you could also guarantee that there would be something you didn't like.
The age profile of people who buy singles has been dropping for years - so the singles chart the show is built around became increasingly insignificant.
Sassy, modern culture-vultures won't put up with toss like Cilla Black, as our foolish parents did - We'll turn off or turn over instead.
We all know that radio1 djs and kids tv presenters don't give a toss about music and they can't even be arsed to pretend that they've heard of any of the musicians apart from the big-hitters.
I think the blame for the demise of TOTP
must be laid at the feat of marketing executives
Singles are marketed to nauseating levels causing the phenomenon of 'Straight in at number 1' as opposed to 'chart climbers'
the success of singles is pretty much directly related to the marketing budget heaped on them resulting in a stagnant, smelly pool of dross swarming with insects and other pond-life
*sigh*
the irony is that because of the reduction of single sales the charts are probably more diverse than ever but I believe the decision to switch from showing top 40 performers to showing top 20 performers killed off the potential of that diversity to appeal to a broader audience
This...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcOabajz8I8&search=gnarls%20barkley%20crazy
...is a reason to mourn TOTP. When the band/artist is any good and puts any sort of emotion or effort into their perfomance it can be the best TV show in the world.
Paul "Gambo" Gambicinni said that in the olden tymes when bands released a new single every 4 months and had a new LP out once or twice a year Top Of The Pops was a huge promotional tool but now the big bands (and whether you like them or not U2, Oasis etc are big bands) only release records every 3 or 4 years and so the show is filled up with DJs with scantily clad ladies gyrating in front of them.
It'll be back
Like Dr Who before it, the show has become jaded but after a breif haitus the BEEB will realise what a bankable comodity the brand 'TOTP' was and reinstate it in one form or another.
B&S
I shant forgent the classic first appearance of Belle & Sebastian on TOTP, miming to 'Legal Man' with a dancing monkey. High spirited stuff ok! Even funnier when apparently during a break in filming the band went for a wander round BBC studios and found themselves on the set of Eastenders. Ace
When they changed the rules and couldn't settle on a decent presenter
it sort of went wrong - its resurgence in the mid 90s was encouraging but this may have had something to do with the initial efects of britpop or it might have been that Rik Blaxall (the producer I think)was a bit mnore forward thinking than Chris Cowey who was of the 'Cowell' cut as it were.
I think it was good that its been axed, though as a childhood rites of passage it was essential,if slightly flawed.
you couldnt beat...
...when Mr Peel used to present the odd show - he clearly didnt like the majority of acts but praised them in his own dead-pan way
I don't get the chance...
...to see TOTP very often (living in the USA) & when I do it's months later on copies sent by friends over there. So when this was first announced I sort of went with the flow of what U.K. people were saying on forums and accepted their judgment - which was basically the show's gone too far downhill to be redeemable, the presenters are awful and most of the bands are shite, so say farewell.
But I just got another homemade DVD in the post from someone kind (thank you!) and was watching and while the presenters genuinely ARE shite, some of the performances I saw really impressed me - particularly those by bands I've heard on the radio, not liked much, and never had the chance to see live.
I think that aspect of it, coupled with the fact that just from a marketing perspective there is no excuse for the BBC permitting the "brand name" to lapse, dictates a change of heart on my part. So yes I do mourn TOTP. Very stupid move on the part of the Beeb.
Well...
Can’t say I’m overly fussed with TOTP leaving the box. In fact this can only be a good thing as some of the shocking acts which used to appear nearly made me throw my telly out the window. Could never afford to do such a rock roll thing like that but still, it did put me in a bad mood. Mind you watching Girls Aloud with the sound off was always pleasing on the eye – thus becoming Girls a Mute!
Now the White Room which used to be on C4 hosted by Mark Radcliff was pretty cool. Apart from when everyone saw Babylon Zoo for the first time after loving the Levis add for so long. Ohhh the let down !!
I don't give a damn
As long as Art Brut are on the last one. Hopefully playing Good Weekend.
i'll miss it
I think it had a lot of charm and value. It wasnt fast-moving, flashy or pretentious.
soppy eedjits
Missing TOTP, or mourning its passing, is like missing Swap Shop, or MacMillan. The concept of pop music that TOTP relied on, seduced us with, no longer has any cultural meaning. Your 'pop music' options now are: children's entertainment, a range of commodified pre-packed identities for the teen market, cop-off disco music for divorcees, and retro-intro-spection for the maudlin grown-ups. None of those fit with what we might miss about TOTP. Let it go. MTV (and its descendents) haven't 'replaced' it, they've outflanked it. 'Music video' is, after all, a hilarious oxymoron, and the doing-being a 'live' band routine has become horribly hackneyed (consider the curse of the Jools Holland show). If its on the TV, if it looks good, its probably a pointless waste of your time. Take music back from the media - get up, go out, make it up - ffs.
I concur
It was shit. Jooz is shitter. MTV is a bubble of shit.
Listen to the radio instead-you can sit and watch it if you like.