THE SITE IS DEDICATED TO THE RECENTLY AXED BBC SHOW WHICH RAN FOR 42 YEARS..THIS SITE WILL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THOSE YEARS THROUGH THE 60S TO THE 2000'S
LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS REGARDING THIS SITE
TOTP
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On 1st January 1964 at 6.35pm, a voice on BBC1 announced. ‘Its Number One It’s Top Of The Pops’, cueing in a live music show from a converted church in Manchester. 42 years later and over 2000 shows later, after surviving the different era’s of styles, tastes, music the BBC decide to move axe the show after a slump in rating’s, (this however, was after they moved the show a few months earlier to BB2 on a graveyard slot on a Sunday evening). So on July 30th 2006 we saw the last ever TOTP grace our screens. Jimmy Savile the ‘Pops’ first ever presenter, finished the show with him turning the power off in the studio as we said goodbye to a Great British institution.
That’s when I decided to do this site. I want to keep TOTP memory alive before we force the BBC to put our show back on air!
1960’s
When it all started, this new Fab, Groovy show was a window through which the nation watched ‘happenings’ happen. Week after week, Top Of The Pops brought the looks and sounds of the Swinging Sixties straight to the living room.
By January 1966 the show had become big and moved to London. It had a record 20million viewers every week, people tuned into the show now too see there favourite bands perform live, and with Swinging London was at the front line of fashion and style. The audiences were encouraged to dress up, dance and would win a prize. ’You had to wear something really hip to be on TOTP’ Lulu.
The Go-Jo’s and later the famous Pans People were created during the Sixties also, when bands couldn’t make the show girl dancers would dance to the songs that were in the charts that week, sometimes they became bigger than the artists they were dancing too. They had there own sexy style, and dancers, changing to what song they were performing too.
The Era brought bands like Dusty Springfield, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, and of course The Beatles. However with Bands like The Beatles being so big it was difficult for them to appear on the show due to ‘Beatlemainia’ and touring. So that’s when the music video was created. It all started after the Rolling Stones were touring in Austrialia and had a new single out in the UK so they asked if TOTP could play a video of the band performing to the song. It was basically a primitive pop video. So when a band couldn’t perform the TOTP crew would go out and shoot special films themselves, the best example is Roy Orbison singing Pretty Woman in Kensington Gardens with pretty girls walking around him. Most of these videos were very simple but it began in what would one day lead to bands making music videos, using them to help sell there single.
The Sixties brought Top Of The Pops at a time when Britain was at the centre of the world, with swinging London, big bands, and new unique styles and fashion.
1970’s
If the 60’s were a Golden Era of TOTP then the 70’s were an age when the show glittered. Now in colour, the show’s audience was at its height, Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Queen, Abba, Rod Stewart, Elton John were all icons of the era. The decade held Glam Rock, Rock, Pop, Two-Tone, and ended the decade with Punk.
The show became more and more outrageous, dressing up became the norm, each band tried to outdo each other with increasingly wild and outrageous costumes and make-up
The BBC just couldn’t axe the show, it pulled in such huge numbers around 20million each week, the show was now essential family viewing. It went out on a Thursday night, and everyone talked about it the next day. Kids would watch it for the rundown from 20 to 1, picking out there favourites; dads would be saying it wasn’t like that in their day, and mums would love it when Cliff was on!
MORE COMING VERY SOON!!!
TOP OF THE POPS IN THE 80’S 90’S AND ITS FINAL YEARS..
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