Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast

Chart Music
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The podcast that takes one random episode of Top Of The Pops - the greatest TV Pop show ever - and breaks it down to its very last compound. Created by Sarah Bee, Neil Kulkarni, Taylor Parkes, Simon Price and David Stubbs (who all wrote for Melody Maker) and hosted by Al Needham (who didn't), it's an unflinching gaze into the open wound of pop culture and a celebration of Thursday evenings past. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Chart Music #78- February 16th 1978: Paint Along With Nancy Spungen

    2D AGO

    Chart Music #78- February 16th 1978: Paint Along With Nancy Spungen

    The latest episode of the podcast which asks; Emu versus Bernie Clifton’s ostrich – who wins in a fight? This episode is practically a scientific experiment, Pop-Crazed Youngsters; Al’s been wondering what the optimum age is to reap the full benefit of our Thursday Evening Fizzy Pop treat, and wonders if – like what people say about World Cups – it’s the ones nearest to our 10th birthdays.  Consequently, because he’s a selfish bastard, this episode is a few months away from his own seventh-life crisis, which rather taints the experiment as it’s in 1978. one of the greatest years for Pop ever; that glorious period where the fallout of Punk is still drifting down, the music biz has no idea what The Kids actually want, and the door has been kicked open for the most glorious mutations to shamble about the charts. Kid Jensen – waiting to find out if he’ll be elected the Pontiff of Radio One next week – is at the controls, after spending a day being locked out of his own dressing room, and he guides us through a classic episode. Tom Robinson – denied the opportunity to lay some Gay on the youth – opts for some Kink-shaming. Kate Bush makes her debut, as she picks through the moors with the crushing weight of the TOTP Orchestra on her back. Darts refrain from diving into ornate fountains and wringing their socks out on the youth. Legs & Co finally get full ramp access. The Sexy Lions of Disco prowl the wasteland of Hollywood. Elkie Brooks and Billy Joel give us a taste of the Berni Inn, before we get one last suck of The Sweet. Howard Devoto puts the s***s up the kiddies, Abba roar back, and we get to see the cameras being put away as Little Rabbit A**e has sex with a head on legs. Simon Price and David Stubbs join Al Needham for a glorious romp through the murk of ‘78, veering off on such tangents as who has the nicest bum in Europe, local pornography stashes, Simon Bates’ perm, an extract from Steve Priest’s autobiography, the Bradford Gay Liberation Front, and Keith Moon’s spend-up at a Hammersmith grot shop. DON’T GO CHANGING, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS!      Video Playlist | Facebook | Twitter | Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    5h 46m
  2. #78 (Pt 4): 16.2.78 – Paint Along With Nancy Spungeon

    3D AGO

    #78 (Pt 4): 16.2.78 – Paint Along With Nancy Spungeon

    Simon Price, David Stubbs and Al Needham finish off a classic episode of TOTP by strutting through New York with a paint pot in hand, being delighted to learn that Sweep is a Punk Rocker now, contemplating the Agnetharse, and being repulsed at the thought of Rod Stewart doing it with a head on legs. BRING YOUR MOTHER TOO, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS!  Video Playlist | Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 31m
  3. #78 (Pt 3): 16.2.78 – Paint Along With Nancy Spungeon

    4D AGO

    #78 (Pt 3): 16.2.78 – Paint Along With Nancy Spungeon

    David Stubbs, Simon Price and Al Needham plunge the critical fist even deeper into this episode of TOTP, and the big names keep coming. Darts begin their biggest year by not doing The W**k! Legs & Co are finally granted full ramp access to one of the greatest tunes ever! Billy Joel gets a sweat on! The Sweet are back! And Elkie Brooks And All Her Looks show poor Kate how to ignore the snot-nosed urchins and put a single over to the nation! Video Playlist | Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 20m
  4. #78 (Pt 2): 16.2.78 – Paint Along With Nancy Spungeon

    5D AGO

    #78 (Pt 2): 16.2.78 – Paint Along With Nancy Spungeon

    Simon Price, David Stubbs and Al Needham begin their odyssey through this episode of The Pops, and what a opening! We get a blast of a tune none of us have heard before, followed by Tom Robinson not being allowed to self-admit his Gayness upon the nation, and then we get the British television debut of Kate Bush, trying to beguile the surly youth of Albion as the TOTP Orchestra demonstrate they’re more than a red-hot Reggae band... Video Playlist | Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 34m
  5. #78 (Pt 1): 16.2.78 – Paint Along With Nancy Spungeon

    6D AGO

    #78 (Pt 1): 16.2.78 – Paint Along With Nancy Spungeon

    The return of the podcast that gets it’s hand right down the back of the settee of an episode of Top Of The Pops. Al Needham has a theory that, like World Cups, the TOTPs nearest to your tenth birthday are the sweetest, which is an excuse for him, David Stubbs and Simon Price to burrow into early ‘78. But before that, a leaf through that week’s NME, a look at what else was on telly, Any Other Business, and an argument about Emu… Video Playlist | Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 34m
  6. Chart Music #77: December 27th 1971: Six Tins Of Bachelors Peas

    JAN 24

    Chart Music #77: December 27th 1971: Six Tins Of Bachelors Peas

    The latest episode of the podcast which asks; Tango or Telstar? Yes, it’s that time of the year, Pop-Crazed Youngsters – we decide to do a Christmas episode, and then Christmas happens and gets in the way of everything, the bastard. Luckily, this episode – from Boxing Day – comes from a time when they did the festivities properly and didn’t hang it out like we do, so there’s very little in the way of tinsel and fake snow and turkey carcasses (and yes, it is Boxing Day, they did things differently then, don’t @ us). It’s from 1971, the Year Zero of the post-Beatle world, where a void suddenly opens and is immediately filled with an array of Sixties sorts who never got a look-in before and are making their grab for the big brass ring of Pop stardom.  Tony Blackburn – the host of the Daily Mirror Hot Pants Ball himself – is at the controls in his belted-off cardie, and it’s safe to say that 1971 is his most Blackburny year ever. We take you through it, from the highs of debating the merits of w**k mags with Lord Longford and having his own board game to the lows of having his photo ripped up by Bristol Prog bands and being stalked by the Heavy Music Brigade. Musicwise, it’s a fascinating trawl through the post-Mopfab landscape. Marc Bolan assumes his dominance in front of a floor manager who looks well Bullet Baxter. The Tams look like John Inman if he supported FC Barcelona. Benny Hill airs the Xmas #1 again. Slade take one massive stomp for a band, one giant leap for Glamkind. Pans People get out of quarantine and flounce about for Liverpool Jesus. The Stones ensure that every wedding do of the next 15 years will feature Dads dancing to one of the most brutal songs ever. Eight Ace and the Paedophile Information Exchange Horns celebrate their one hit for the last time on telly. We get to witness Diana Ross’s Armchair Thriller. And John Peel stares at the camera with a mandolin in his hands.  Taylor Parkes and David Stubbs join Al Needham for a complete evisceration of the Sounds of ‘71, veering off on such tangents as the dangers of having a Raleigh Chopper in Leeds that was Flamboyant Green, a detailed breakdown of Tony Blackburn’s weekly shopping list, Britain’s Grooviest Granny, Rod Stewart’s Whole Lotta Rosie moment, and John, Paul, George or Ringo: who’s getting it first, lads? DO IT WHILE YOU’RE STILL YOUNG, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS!      Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    5h 33m
  7. #77 (Pt 4): 27.12.71 – Six Tins Of Batchelors Peas

    JAN 23

    #77 (Pt 4): 27.12.71 – Six Tins Of Batchelors Peas

    David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes and Al Needham reach the end of their journey through 1971 with the unsavoury sight of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, before Diana Ross goes all Tales Of The Unexpected on us. The New Seekers – the shoulders that Guys and Dolls would stand upon – pitch up with their sanitised Hippy nonsense, and we finish with a kickabout with a garage football and John Peel on mandolin... Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 35m
  8. #77 (Pt 3): 27.12.71 – Six Tins Of Batchelors Peas

    JAN 22

    #77 (Pt 3): 27.12.71 – Six Tins Of Batchelors Peas

    Taylor Parkes, David Stubbs and Al Needham continue to gorge upon the selection box of 1971, and the big hitters have arrived. Slade – midway through their gestation into Tramps Of The Future – pitch up with their first #1. George Harrison celebrates his first and only year as the most successful solo Beatle – is emoted to by the People of Pan, who are still in quarantine after being stuck in Kenya. And Mick and the Kens make a rare appearance before nipping back to France to remind us who the Daddies are now...   Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 19m
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4.6
out of 5
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About

The podcast that takes one random episode of Top Of The Pops - the greatest TV Pop show ever - and breaks it down to its very last compound. Created by Sarah Bee, Neil Kulkarni, Taylor Parkes, Simon Price and David Stubbs (who all wrote for Melody Maker) and hosted by Al Needham (who didn't), it's an unflinching gaze into the open wound of pop culture and a celebration of Thursday evenings past. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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