Madness kick things off with Nightboat for Cairo. The band are equally split between fez, pith helmet or Arab headdress in costume choice – apart from someone who’s a sailor. Lots of nutty dancing. Repeat of Barbara Dickson singing January February. Dull dull dull. Which Dexys up next emphatically are not. Four-man horn section, De Niro caps and Kevin Rowland doing a 1000-year stare as if he can actually see the Wigan Casino in the far distance if he concentrates hard enough. Glossy new wave next from The Pretenders with Talk of the Town – in a cunning video that makes it almost appear that they are in the studio. Only the access to a better quality of video editing software gives it away. Or did they have to hand-colour each frame of the tape in those days. Behind the Kid this week is a new neon effect logo for the eighties. Legs and co work out to Leon Heywoods Don’t Push It – a slice of disco funk. One of those tracks I have absolutely no emory of hearing on 275 285 at the time, or at any time since. UB40 are back with Food for Thought – they have two left-hand guitarists which must be a first surely? Is the other one the other Campbell brother. Next is The Selecter with Missing Words – that’s three corking tracks in a row and as a midlander that’s a very strong representation from the region with Priest, Dexys, UB40 and now Coventry’s second finest on the show in some form or other. It’s a good song and a great performance. Mods are back with The Lambrettas. Some very sharp colour-coded suits – they were the Menswear of the mod movement – but the effect is spoiled by a horn section who look like they’ve wandered in from a 10cc performance from 1975. next up is 1980 Eurovision entry from Primadonna. The look is a lame retread in jumpsuits of the couples vibe of Brotherhood of Man, even down to having one with a tache, will the song is instantly forgettable. Only on TOTP can you jump from this to The Jam, who are still number one with Going Underground. Somewhere in all that I tivo’d right though BA Robertson. Why the long face BA?
TOTP – fez or pith helmet Mr smash?
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Such variety back then. I wish they’d bring TOTP back so I know what’s going on in the charts. I need to know hate again.
Pre-internet, the big question was:
“I’m a prima donna!”
Or
“Ivory Madonna”
Prima Donna not only featured Macca’s cousin n Queen Mum voice artist Kate Robbins but “the bird who di the high kick” from future Eurovision losers Bardo. Early confused feelings for a pre teen DFB there
That’ll be Sally-Ann Triplett who Smash Hits called “Thunderthighs”. I remember Neil Tennant maintaining that Bardo were no one hit wonder. “I foresee great things for Sally-Ann and Steven…”
“Tivo’d through BA Robertson”. With a claymore, one hopes.
Gah! What’s with all the B.A. Robertson hate? I had his four big hits – Bang Bang, Knocked It Off, Kool In The Kaftan (with gatefold coved that folded out to give a peace sign) and To Be Or Not To Be. Contenders for the BRILLIANT LYRICS thread all of ’em:
“I’m into Scott McKenzie. In San Francisco that is where he can be found.
I don’t mean to offend thee, but San Francisco has its faults
Maybe it is truly underground”
I went off him when he went to America and became B.A. Baracus.
(The last laugh was on him – he only went cos they told him the show would be called The B.A. Team)…
He missed a trick not naming his albums “First” “2.1/2.2” (a double, second disc not as good as the first) and “Third” (barely good enough).
That would have been hilarious!
Whatever you make of his ‘quirky’ pop – and he can write a catchy tune, his performances on TOTP are the very definition of Trying Too Hard.
It’s almost impossible for me to imagine a world in which BA Robertson would have seemed (a) worth signing (to your label) and (b) worth adding to your record collection.
I failed at the time, and even more so now, to find him anything other than arch, unfunny, musically uninteresting and irritating.
I’m with Annabella:
My musical tastes have changed greatly since 1980, but my view of BA Robertson hasn’t. The pop world’s answer to Christian (eternal pantomime feature of 1970s Glasgow), I always thought.
The only new thing I learned from this TOTP appearance is how much he looked like Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke.
Nightboat to Cairo is one of those songs where the vocalist takes a deep breath and does all the lyrics in one go. No chorus, no middle eight.
The lyric is worth sharing in full. Shades of Spike Milligan I think.
It’s just gone noon
Half past monsoon
On the banks of the river Nile
Here comes the boat
Only half-afloat
Oarsman grins a toothless smile
Only just one more
To this desolate shore
Last boat along the river Nile
Doesn’t seem to care
No more wind in his hair
As he reaches his last half mile
The oar snaps in his hand
Before he reaches dry land
But the sound doesn’t deafen his smile
Just pokes at wet sand
With an oar in his hand
Floats off down the river Nile
Floats off down the river Nile
I’ve still got a UK Gold promo VHS copy of this episode from when they were showing TOTP repeats back in the early 90’s. I doubt its worth much in the way of cash but one to keep.
A good episode. BA Robertson songs aren’t too bad to listen to but he’s damn annoying to watch. But Madness, Pretenders, Dexys, Selecter, Jam and early UB40 works for me.
Blimey Simon, I’ve still got VHS copies of TOTP’s recorded back in 1980.
Does anyone watch this with their offspring? What do they make of it? My imaginary children think it’s superb and much better than the runny dog shit they’re being spoon fed today.
And then they carry me down to the pub in a sedan chair.
My mate’s teenage nephews like the music of Madness but are completely nonplussed or disinterested by their often brilliant promo videos. I suppose they must look completely amateur and archaic to a 21st century kid brought up with (insert reactionary old crap here)
Baggy Trousers makes my kids laugh – but I haven’t shown them Nightboat to Cairo yet. Sledgehammer, Take on Me and Reet Petite videos are also crowd-pleasers.
My son is interested to hear the back-stories I tell him (more interesting than the music), eg about the prevalent racism and sexism of the time, and how that shows in the programme (the popularity of ska as a reaction to racism, the continuing presence of Legs & Co).
After reading Mole’s OP I’m watching this BBC4 TOTP 1980 episode tonight. Thoughts?
It really was a transitional period regarding how females were perceived. On the the one hand you’ve got healthy female role models like Chrissie Hynde and Pauline Black but then it cuts to Legs & Co gyrating in minuscule dresses. They were far, far more raunchy then I remember.
In conclusion.
We bang on about the ‘pornification’ of pop, but our generation (and before) are total hypocrites.
You’re absolutely right, it was utterly appalling. I had to watch it again just to be clear on how appalled I was.
It was a funny old show all right. That Euro song was really, really bad.
I agree with what you say – there was terrible perviness yet Legs and Co were relatively tame in comparison to other mainstream dancing girl acts like Hot Gossip on Kenny Everett and Hills Angels on the Benny Hill show. On one occasion (it was to Typically Tropical, Going to Barbados), Pans People did a striptease which was the talk of the playground the next day.
I recall a Kate Bush interview around the time of Hounds of Love where she was clearly frustrated by Michael Aspel’s line of questioning. She wanted to talk about the songs and all he wanted to do was talk about her being a “pin up”.
That Euro song was utterly terrible. On every conceivable level.
‘the the’ weren’t on that episode btw . Bit previous.
The The weren’t on TotP until 1989. And then only the once I think, doing Beaten Generation amidst the balloons and whooping.
TOTP was a double edged sword for Madness. The silliness was a huge part of the appeal and sold them a lot of records, but when the music matured it became a millstone. As good as the early stuff was, some of the songwriting later was quite wonderful but sadly never got the same attention.