Wednesday 29 August 2012

29th August

1968: No idea who The Alan Bown Set were, but this grainy footage of their number 27 smash and all its psychedelic lighting exists, so here it is.

1985: Mai Tai adopt the three-girl soul template of the 80s, that of three women, one in a leather jacket and short skirt, gyrating endlessly around the same points. Once Janice has plugged the Live Aid book Dan Hartman - "good bloke", apparently - and his own workmanlike band have promoted the two backing singers to level with the frontman on stage. Potentially dangerous. Speaking of which, surely Thompson Twins have far more room than that to move about in. Alannah Currie was busy inventing Bart Simpson.

1991: As Mark Wahlberg's career progresses Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch seems more and more like a fever dream than a man shouting in a bucket hat he surely can't see out of. He then takes his jacket off to reveal himself shirtless off camera. You'd have thought the screams might have alerted the director. Can't work out if Mark Goodier is taking the piss afterwards. The Farm's bassist takes advantage of playback to dart all over the place as Peter Hooton holds that mike aloft and rigid. Tin Machine's gimmick, other than Bowie's presence, turned out to be instruments with tiny bodies and little or no headstocks. Worth a go. Unlike, say, Arnee And The Terminaters. Steve Wright and Richard Easter's fault. And pop culture's, I suppose.

1997: UB40 erect a massive monogrammed wall at the back. None shall pass, unlike with Symposium, though the traffic is going the other way in that case. The concluding stage invasion includes one man, who you'll see at 3:27, who gets up on stage with no great enthusiasm, almost out of civic duty. As if inhabited by the spirit of Dortie, Jayne ploughs gamely through her script as if nothing was going on behind her.

2003: Not so much flying the flag as wrapping it round a stationary object, a Doherty-less The Libertines rouse rabbles with little in the way of conviction, if that isn't a contradiction. Girls Aloud could have done with buying or renting a couple of armchairs along with the sofa.

2 comments:

Steve Williams said...

A while back The Observer reprinted an article Peel wrote about filming that 1985 episode and he said that in the bar after the show he had a very long and intense discussion with Dan Hartman about the use and value of toll roads.

Colm said...

I was in the audience for the 2003 show; five of the six performances from that episode were filmed that week - the pre-record by Good Charlotte was recorded at the other TOTP episode recording I attended five months previously.

The Libertines' performance required two takes, the second of which made the final show, I was behind two of their roadies/PR team in the audience who thankfully shielded me from detection from the camera.

Girls Aloud also had two takes, as well as coming back into the studio to stand behind Sarah Cawood when her link out of their performance needed a retake. One of them (no name will be given) I think swore at having to do this; but one of them (name will be given - Sarah Harding) gave me a nice smile when all was done and dusted and they passed me and those I was at the recording with.

I remember one of my friends being surprised Cheryl was at the recording as this was around of the time of the community service for *that* now-forgotten misdemeanour.