Interesting list of the top 100 musical performances on the Beeb, as chosen by Guardian music. I’m sure there will be some alternative opinions on here, so fill yer boots!
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/oct/06/the-100-greatest-bbc-music-performances-ranked
Uncle Mick says
Otway & Barrett, anyone?
fitterstoke says
Classic…
Ainsley says
No surprise on the No.1, I think. Also no surprise for me how many of the older ones I’d seen (lots) and how few of the later ones I hadn’t (also lots).
This one for me
Bingo Little says
Love that At The Drive-In performance, Dubstep Warz (what a moment that was), Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Bjork doing Yoga on Later.
As ever with lists, you can argue about what should be where, and it’s probably entirely impossible to understand the impact of (say) Bowie doing Starman unless you were both there at the time and young enough to be properly moved by it.
I think there are a few obvious Later performances they missed: I’d have had McAlmont & Butler doing “Yes” on that list in a heartbeat. That would possibly even be my personal number 1 on any such list. Big love also for Bon Iver doing “Skinny Love” and Elliott Smith doing “Waltz #2”.
Before my time, but isn’t there a great Bolan performance of Hot Love on TOTP? That might be worth a shout too.
noisecandy says
Agree about McAlmont and Butler. Superb.
Milkybarnick says
I put that Yes performance in the comments on the article when I read it. It’s superb. Also reckon Radiohead doing The Bends beats Paranoid Android.
Bingo Little says
Since others are posting videos, I think this one really needs to be added here:
I will always remember the first time I watched this, wondering how it might feel to look as daringly beautiful as David McAlmont (The androgyny! The suit! The undercut! Those earrings!) and to have a voice like that coming out of you.
Plus – plus! – Bernard Butler’s big stompy kicks to get the whole thing started.
MC Escher says
Fantastic. The caption is wrong though, it says ’95. Ha, no, no, it was only a couple of years ago…
Arthur Cowslip says
Just planting my standard comment here whenever anyone mentions Yes. I hate that song! A warbling mess of a thing, and it’s popularity has always baffled me to such an extent that I suspect the whole rest of the world is playing an elaborate joke on me! Anyway, thanks for listening. 🙂
Arthur Cowslip says
(What a mean spirited comment)
seanioio says
What a mean spirited comment….. 🙂
I have to agree with you on this one @Arthur Cowslip. So many people really really love this song & for some reason it does nothing for me. It’s not that I dislike it as such, but I just can’t quite grasp what others are hearing that I’m not. On paper it should be amazing, I love his voice, there is the theatre of the performance, Butlers exquisite guitar work, but yet nothing to hook me in!
This is one of my brothers all time favourite songs & for the main we are closely aligned in the music we like. He has never been able to convince me that this is deserving of it’s place in the upper echelons of his music likes.
Just shows why we love music so much eh? I’m sure people would be left cold by some of the songs which move me most
Gary says
I’m with you both on Yes. I remember many years ago, must have been about ’92/’93, a friend was talking about classic rock and “nothing good since the 70s” and I lent him the Stone Roses debut, with exclamations of disbelief that he’d actually never heard something that was so unquestionably drop-dead stunningly brilliant. I remember his bafflement when he gave it back to me. Not that he hated it, but that he just didn’t have a clue why someone whose opinion on music he generally esteemed (that’d be me) would bother recommending something so average, so could-have-been-a-thousand-other-bands. He didn’t hear anything remotely special in it at all, the cloth-eared, know-nothing fool, and even found the temerity to question my taste.
When it comes to Yes, I suppose I feel like he must have felt.
fitterstoke says
…which brings me back to my reaction to Talk Talk…
makem.ken says
I appreciated the Stone Roses back in the day. But as life and time moves on I tend to think ho…hum. Whereas there is something absolutely magnificent about that performance that transcends it’s era. Loved it when I first saw it and still do. One of Mrs Kens favourites also.
Freddy Steady says
Ah @fitterstoke
It’s weird innit. It’s absolutely one of my favourite top ten albums ever of all time ever , and yet …I’m supposed to love the last two albums more reverentially but they’re boring!!
retropath2 says
This is conspicuous by its absence:
fitterstoke says
and also…
Beezer says
Zal Cleminson. Oh yes.
Here’s ‘Midnight Moses’ (not BBC or live) which is my favourite. I’ve recently learned to play it on my lefty Tele. It’s one of the few I can get through end to end without dropping a clanger.
fitterstoke says
…and this – worth the price of entry just for Chris and Zal’s wee dance in the middle…
myoldman says
Love this
myoldman says
And this
fortuneight says
I joined an OGWT group on Facebook thinking it may provide some interesting chat. Instead someone posts this clip – roughly once every two weeks, and then a dozen people (in a voice I assume to be Rick from “Young Ones” ) point out it isn’t Thin Lizzy. And then the group resumes slagging off Jools Holland and the BBC for not bringing this show back forthwith.
There are a few bits of TV where I can recall exactly where I was when I saw it and the effect it had. This is one of them. I was in the TV room of a student nurses home in Cardiff (settle down, it was pretty innocent I’m sorry to say), having taken advantage of being in there on my own to put OGWT on. It didn’t go down well with the residents that joined me but I resolved to buy a copy the next day, from the Virgin Megastore opposite the castle.
Archie Valparaiso says
If we extend the meaning of “on the Beeb” beyond live studio performances on BBC shows to include ones recorded anywhere and first seen in the UK on the BBC, then surely there are two that stand head and shoulders above the rest. The first is Queen at Live Aid, but the other – and surely the most influential in terms of the yooj “WTF did I just watch?” impact it had, was the OGWT screening of this:
Bingo Little says
Agree, agree, agree.
I saw the Rosalita clip for the first time circa 1995 and it still had enormous power and resonance. It’s a genuine “this must surely be the greatest rock star of all time, and if it isn’t I would like to see them” moment. He was quite good.
Queen at Live Aid still seems to loom large in the broader public consciousness nearly 40 years on. Culturally, it’s on another level to pretty much any other live music clip I can think of.
Moose the Mooche says
If we’re going to include OBs, it was the BBC who filmed Public Enemy at Brixton Academy in 1987, which supplied the live excerpts for the second album including the Countdown to Armageddon introduction.
Sewer Robot says
Nothing from Cheggers Plays Pop?!!!
fitterstoke says
if we’re going there – there’s always Peter Hammill on Playaway…
Gatz says
The Fabs didn’t make the list so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Brown a sauce didn’t
Rigid Digit says
Faces – Stay With Me
(Sounds On Saturday, 1971. Live from the Paris Theatre)
Rigid Digit says
White Stripes – Hotel Yorba
One of those BBC moments where I was transfixed on the telly
noisecandy says
Surprised this didn’t make the cut.
Moose the Mooche says
Look at those girls giving it rice on Pebble Mill at One.
fitterstoke says
Another Pebble Mill performance…
Black Type says
“Baby BABEH”… immortal.
Gary says
No mention of Adam & The Ants doing Dog Eat Dog on TOTP? That was a massive subject of conversation the next day at my school. Overnight it turned non-fans into fans, but also fans into non-fans. Can’t think of another clip that’s managed that.
Dave Ross says
That was my other choice. School playgrounds changed overnight
Moose the Mooche says
Yep, a heyooge moment.
Dave Ross says
I think Do You Really Want To Hurt Me from TOTP deserves a mention in a top 100.
Hawkfall says
That would be my vote as well. Instant stardom.
It’s a bit dull and worthy that list isn’t it? Not much fun. You don’t expect that from The Guardian.
*glances sideways to camera*
seanioio says
Possibly posted this previously, but in 1995 I was 12 & very excited about Oasis & Bowie being on the weeks Jools Holland. As always I was poised with a blank VCR & ready to record what was surely going to be an amazing episode.
Little did I know that the person who was going to steal the show was non other than Roddy Frame. It was my introduction to all things Frame/Aztec Camera & it still sounds amazing 27 years later… (that can’t be right can it?!?)
The next day at school my mates were waxing lyrical about Oasis, but my world had changed, it all sounded a bit childish now. This performance put me on the path to discovering Postcard records & ultimately on to Dylan, Cohen etc.
Thank you Roddy, I am very very grateful. It might not be in this list, but it is by far my favourite!
Bamber says
We’ll @seanio Wonderful as that is, I think it’s not even his best Later performance. This is one of his best guitar solos ever at the end. Praise indeed. Nothing like the album version. I love how he radiates that he knows how good he is without showing off…
seanioio says
Oooh that is good, thankyou. But first love & everything means On The Avenue will never be bettered in my eyes
Diddley Farquar says
Somethings can startle and impress years after.
Jaygee says
Another WTF moment from OGWT
Jaygee says
And a star is born on TOTP
Blue Boy says
Oh yes, absolutely. Next day at school all we too cool music snobs, high on our prog and our Zepp, we’re suddenly major TOTP pop fans.
Jaygee says
Originally shown on OGWT, this rather than the version included
on the Guardian List is the definitive Freebird.
Any other AWers there, too?
Jaygee says
Shakey’s second best ever TV appearance
Uncle Mick says
For those with a more mainstream music appreciation this is quite jaw dropping. My mates wife..”but he`s just drinking a can of beer..”
Jaygee says
There’s nothing easy about drinking a can of beer.
I’ve been drinking can after can of the stuff several
Nights a week for many, many years and still haven’t
quite perfected the art
Lodestone of Wrongness says
First time I saw this was on OGWT – that doesn’t seem to be anywhere so this TOTP version will have to do. Astounding!
Ardnort says
I find this one hugely memorable and powerful.
Rigid Digit says
Something other than Clem Burke’s twirling drumsticks else may grab your attention
Blondie – I’m Always Touched By Your Presence Dear
Gatz says
Obligatory Richard Thompson mention. This would have been my nomination, especially for the love in Thompson’s gaze after Swarb switches up a couple of gears from the 5 minute mark.
Mike_H says
Blue Boy says
The number one choice was pretty predictable but the one I remember knocking me for six and sending me straight to the local record shop the next morning was Sparks’ first appearance on TOTP with This Town Aint Big Enough for the Both of Us ( no. 57 with a bullet according to the Guardian). I’d never heard or seen anything like it, and I’m not sure I have since.
But, also, this…..
Black Celebration says
It’s a great clip but you have to wonder what Eno did to piss off the TOTP cameramen.
Hawkfall says
Sparks did it twice though. I’m too young to remember This Town.. but when Beat the Clock was on TOTP five years later I remember everyone at school the next day saying “Did you see the band with Hitler on the keyboards last night?”
Black Type says
Old Adolf had loosened up a bit by then.
Blue Boy says
And oh to be young again and seeing Emmylou Harris for the first time…
Black Celebration says
This should count, probably. Motörhead on the Young Ones. According to something I read a while ago, Lars out of Metallica watched this when was a teenager and decided on the spot to devote all his energy into heavy metal.
fitterstoke says
Very metal…
Hawkfall says
I think he’d decided before then though. This was from the first episode of the second series, which came out in 1984. Lars was a big NWOBHM fan and I think the first Metallica album came out in 1983.
Black Celebration says
Right – I agree with you and I don’t remember where I heard this. Could apply to the Slipknot feller though – perhaps I misremembered. Thin article from the Afterword’s spiritual leader, Fraser Lewry seems to confirm this.
https://www.loudersound.com/features/motorhead-and-the-song-that-helped-changed-the-face-of-british-television
Hawkfall says
Nice article from Fraser. I had no idea they showed The Young Ones in the US.
Motorhead were past their best by then mind. It’s easy to forget how big they were. I think they had 3 Top 10 singles in 1980. They were on Tiswas and everything.
Black Celebration says
Slight correction- “This article” not “Thin article”.
fitterstoke says
Past their best? Past their best? Bollocks to that, my friend…
(Edith: Sorry – meant to say ‘I’m not sure I completely agree with that thesis’)
Hawkfall says
Never the same after Wendy O’Williams came along, that’s what I’m saying.
fitterstoke says
I must have blinked and missed her in that video…seriously, nothing Motörhead did in the years after THAT e.p. has any worth for you?
Hawkfall says
Of course! I like stuff like Shine and Killed By Death, among others. I said past their best, that’s all. You’re twisting my words!
fitterstoke says
Moi? 🙃
Sitheref2409 says
The Quay Sessions doesn’t get enough credit. It’s not groundbreaking by any means, but it’s a solid session of good live music.
fentonsteve says
The Quay Sessions are indeed fantastic. 20 mins is a great way to dip a toe into the hits of any particular artist.
The Altered Images Christmas party set gets a regular festive spin. More singers should hand out mince pies to the audience during the guitar solo.
I play the Field Music session a lot. When people say FM are one of those “I don’t see what all the fuss is about” acts, I counter with “you should see them live” and play them the Quay session. The penny usually drops.
fitterstoke says
I know we’re talking TV here – but another Field Music BBC session which knocks it out the park is the Radio 3 Late Junction performance:
fentonsteve says
That’s Field Music and Warm Digits. I have a couple of their albums on the old vinly – they’re on the same label as FM. Some of it sounds like early (good) Simple Minds and features guest vocalists like the fragrant Sarah Cracknell, Emma Pollock from (another of my faves) The Delgados, Paul Smith from Maxïmo Park, Rozi from This Is The Kit, and FM themselves.
fitterstoke says
Good session, tho’…
fentonsteve says
Yeah, I have it on a 10″.
Chrisf says
One thing that struck me reading both the original Guardian list and all the ones folks have added in the thread, was how many come from Later.
Jools Holland / Later often get a lot of criticism on here (and other places) but surely the fact it has produced so many classic music moments is something we should be eternally thankful for.
Nick L says
A fair few good performances on Later yeah…the ones that smug irritant Holland keeps the piano lid well and truly locked for.
Sewer Robot says
The world famous AW commitment to balance there in those two posts. That, the orchestra and all the beautifully filmed nature documentaries make your licence fee an absolute bargain..
fentonsteve says
Later… is something to record and watch with a finger poised over the Fast Forward button. There are some real gems amongst the interviews, the quick words with famous people in the audience, and the boogie-woogie.
I still average one “wow – I’m buying that!” moment each series. The Andy Kershaw podcast has a much higher trigger rate.
Arthur Cowslip says
“Later… is something to record and watch with a finger poised over the Fast Forward button.”…. Yes! I totally agree, you’ve nailed it.
Milkybarnick says
One I had forgotten that was posted on the comments is this. This is just a fabulous singer at the top of her game.
MC Escher says
Man, that is just great. Cheers for that.
Bingo Little says
That would be an easy top 10 pick for me.
An absolutely unbelievable singer just enjoying singing the absolute fuck out of a great pop song. Literally nothing else going on on that stage, because there doesn’t need to be.
Mike_H says
.
Diddley Farquar says
This made an impact, Yoko knitting blindfolded, their cropped hair. How they look is half of what makes these things stand out, maybe more. John and Yoko, bound to get a reaction. The song is sensationally good too.
noisecandy says
This is brilliant. Thankfully someone at the BBC had the good sense not to wipe over it.
Moose the Mooche says
Headphones because he’s singing live and doesn’t want to go out of tune. I can’t remember anyone else doing that on TotP, though bizarrely Lydon did it when PiL were on Whistle Test.
duco01 says
Judee Sill doing “The Kiss” on the OGWT.
That’s the one.
A perfect version of an exceptional song.
“Love, rising from the mists
Promise me this, and only this…
bobhumphrey01 says
How did this get missed?
Gary says
Good question. And while we’re on the subject of open questions in a slightly rhetorical vein, what time does Blogger Takeover start? I’m already writing mine now.
hubert rawlinson says
Stunned that this didn’t make it on the list.
Timbar says
This is one of my favourite songs. A great live performance, with a small string section, no other backing…and he nails it. (Someone posted a load of OGWT outtakes on YouTube a while ago, but sadly they’ve all gone)
Mike_H says
I noticed on that clip and the SAHB “Next” clip that both the string quartets were all-male and most of the players are not young. These days, if a string quartet is in a music clip they are invariably all-female and all young. Funny, that…
Arthur Cowslip says
This is a big one for me. Hendrix doing a tribute to Cream on the Lulu Show. I don’t think this is on the Guardian list, unless I missed it. (I had to double check it was definitely bbc).
Moose the Mooche says
It’s on the list, which you probably lost interest in half-way down – I know I did.
I don’t know why the BBC were so outraged by this.
Mike_H says
Disruption of the schedule as the show overran. It was supposed to be Jimi playing the show out before the 6 o’clock news. Caused the news to start late, which was absolutely unheard-of.
That was pretty much the last time they allowed a live-to-air pop/rock performance on a variety show such as Lulu’s. Also, “What if he’d done a swear?”.
Pessoa says
This was the subject of much excitement in the classroom next day . He gives it all he’s got.
Moose the Mooche says
The biggest Friday morning TotP reaction I can remember from school is the non-appearance of Relax when it went to number one.
retropath2 says
I wonder how similar it was to when Serge Trousers got to number one, with Jane Gainsberg, for Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus. Bet you didn’t get an instrumental doppelgänger instead, like us oldies did.
Moose the Mooche says
We got a picture of Frankie Goes to Hollywood flashed up on the screen. Not much of a substitute for a terrific dance record that we now knew was rude.
chilli ray virus says
Another “Later” clip. We didnt get the show in Aus – but the clips made it to youtube of course. I was v impressed with this …
chilli ray virus says
… and my most memorable OGWT clip. The moment I decided I actually quite liked “punk”.
fortuneight says
Sammy Hagar and Ronnie Montrose – the latter a huge influence on so many guitarists
fitterstoke says
@fortuneight :
Ronnie Montrose has completely bypassed me (or vice versa).
What’s a good album to start?
AND can you list a few of the guitarists on whom he’s been a huge influence?
Day’s not wasted if you learn summat…