11 Comments

  1. I’d have to put the Jam’s “Going Underground” in there on two counts: Paul Weller wearing a Heinz apron backwards on one performance, and on the Christmas TOTP, with Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler miming convincingly as always while Weller just, well, didn’t appear to be so keen on miming to that song for the umpteenth time…..

  2. Two clips spring to mind….
    THE WILDHEARTS – “Caffeine Bomb” (1994)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blXqYlb0TFc

    I was already a dedicated fan of the Wildhearts by this point; I’d seen all the original members in their previous bands, seen the new outfit mop the stage with the Manic Street Preachers at Leeds Warehouse in early ’92, bought the Mondo Akimbo A Go Go EP and the Earth Vs The Wildhearts album on their first weeks of release. But this was the dawning of a new era – a fast-and-frantic non album single (included on later pressings), a new drummer, and a TOTP appearance that threatened to push the levels of WhatTheFuckIsThat beyond any previous recorded point.

    TWISTED SISTER – “I Am (I’m Me)” (1983)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieexfvSoaYA

    This is what made me a fan of New York’s biggest and ugliest glam metal band. After seeing this appearance, my dad turned to me and uttered the immortal words, “If you ever come home looking like that, you’re out of the house”. Enough said.

  3. I Want More by Can. It was ’76 when the presenters were regularly found wearing silly costumes and trying to be funnier and more interesting than the acts. Can had scraped the top 30 and come on looking completely incongruous and the audience clearly don’t know what to make of the song at all. There’s something completely out of place about the whole thing which makes it so wonderful.

    https://youtu.be/ZCYNrklb3kc

    • Agree. Johnny Marr certainly took notice. It is like the future dropped in and never left.

  4. um, what about manic street preachers, faster? if i remeber that brewed up a sh*tstorm

  5. Sparks, ‘This town ain’t big enough for the both of us. Allegedly on seeing it, John Lennon said ” f**k me!, Hitlers on the telly !”

  6. You seem to have inadvertently overlooked The Stranglers: Go Buddy Go, No More Heroes, Walk On By, Nice ‘n’ Sleazy (I could go on) all pretty darned memorable.

    • You’re not wrong, Tim! That’s the fun of these pieces – everyone has their own personal top 10! Thanks for commenting! James (editor)

  7. Maggie May with Rod booting footballs about, the Faces swapping instruments mid song and generally sending the who TOTP procedure up should be at the top of any list. And where’s Schools Out (Alice Cooper)? The only really worthy inclusion here is Starman. But then any listing that includes the Spice Girls can’t really be up to much can it?

    • That’s the thing about music tastes and entertainment in general. Everybody has their own opinions. Your favourites don’t mean more or less than mine. Feel free to write your own top 10 list and submit to a website if you don’t like mine.

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