1980: Only the second week of the DJ plus music star experiment and already it's hit a roadblock. That is, they booked "the McVicar himself" Roger Daltrey, and he was in a right mood. Not just because of his claimed reason that he only came to see the Clash - injoke? Surely their famous refusal to go on Pops was common industry knowledge, and it's not like he wouldn't have been briefed on who had turned up - he just seems to be like that anyway for the whole show. Most notoriously there's his intro to The Village People, where he perhaps gives the answer Tommy Vance wasn't expecting to his question and then lets all diplomacy fly out of the window. As for the music, Ultravox replaced John Foxx with "a very, very clever man from Scotland", his pencil tache and his undone tie, while Billy Currie practices his jiving from the waist in one jacknifing movement. Mike Berry is hearty, a debuting Grace Jones haughty, suited, fag going. If you thought Roger was hesitant then, and I don't know given that why Tommy looks to him for help at the end, that's noting compared to the aside glances and speech rhythm three point terms as he welcomes Sue Wilkinson. Mind you, given the song you can understand his anticipatory nerves. His Legs & Co intro... well, you can probably guess how well that goes. It's ELO, and they're standing around a world in costumes from around the world. That's right, it's Don't Bring Me Down.
1986: Lots of heroic air punching among It Bites members. Phil Fearon camp drills his backing singers well, though surely they'd stand out less in a bigger production.
1998: Nobody except Jayne Middlemiss here has ever called Sash! "weird" or "spooky", especially as he's right there. Tina Cousins has a very rigid mike technique. Solid Harmonie comfortably filled the own brand All Saints role nobody yet knew we needed.
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Never mind the air punching by It Bites, I'm more concerned about the guitarist's non-stop pelvic thrusting. He's worked out a dance move and he's sticking with it. I bloody loved that song when I was seven, I remember Adrian John playing it a lot and it was the soundtrack to our summer holiday in West Wales.
That Daltrey episode is bizarre, especially as all the links go on for hours. I like Roger's reference to "a full song" as if to complain about how bitty this show was getting. I like in gthe opening Tommy suggesting Legs and Co are dancing to all of ELO's music. Every single record they've made.
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