Monday 13 August 2012

13th August

1981: Soft Cell pop by with their huge hit to be, and through this blog we can maybe watch the development of Marc Almond as frontman. He takes his time to get into the bending and air punching, but once he's comfortably into the track you can't keep him still at all. Slightly convolutedly, number one Shakin' Stevens' performance with a tunic'd Legs & Co was repeated on the Christmas show unedited, meaning it looks slightly odd in this context and they don't get rid of Simon Bates in the background. Luckily, that means we get to see him clapping like an angry loon while bearing a face that resembles that of a man suffering bad constipation. The girls' proper outlet this week was Startrax Club Disco. Lots of upskirt shot potential here, and if not accidental then Lulu - and it is her, she did go a little stereotypically big haired at that time - is on course to provide it through her chair and Pierrot hat routine to Tragedy. Something tells me Gill's dancing partner from about 2:00 isn't quite as randomly chosen as her actions suggest.

1992: The Hi-NRG years of Take That seems to have been airbrushed out of their history, and watching Gary try to keep up with the rest of the group it's no wonder. No sign of that promised exclusive Annie Lennox online, oddly.

2004: If you're going to show yourself off, you may as well go the whole hog. Hence LL Cool J being driven into the back of the studio, in clear contravention of the Highway Code and various safety regulations. It's a wonder nobody tried to make a citizen's arrest. That's also very close to the road without visible guarding during a TV recording. It's a H&S nightmare. Of course the shirt comes off.

1 comment:

Steve Williams said...

The looming Simon Bates is one of my favourite ever Pops moments, they should have done that with every song on the programme. And of course he's also constantly in the background of Startrax as some kind of record-less DJ. What this show really needed was more Simon Bates.