1970: The groovy young things get down, to some extent, to Deep Purple. Ritchie Blackmore is giving the playback plenty. Ian Paice, less so. Have to stick in the end credits here, both for the dancing and the typography.
1981: "Hey hey hey!" Jimmy starts his peculiar form of dancing only to find Linx are orchestrating something entirely different, with notable success. The drummer, at a guess, is on loan. Even The Hollies are unwisely working an open shirted look as, with no shame whatsoever, they gamely plugged a disco medley of their own hits. Alvin Stardust returned to the show after six years without the gloves but with a guitar. Very odd things going on around Imagination, from the singer playing musical statues to a Legs & Co quorum - we have to assume it's them given we never see their faces properly - getting in the way to no discernible effect. Legs & Co had their own slot, treating Ottawan to a flapper dance surrounded by cowboys in shiny suits and Adidas leisurewear.
1987: This was the week of awry miming, whether that be the bouts of air bass of Level 42 or Wax's Andrew Gold forgetting how long the sax solo is. The audience, inevitably, react the same way to that as they do to W.A.S.P., apart from a couple of people jumping up and down getting in the camera's way. Simon Bates finds it hilarious.
1992: Nothing like making an initial impression. And East 17 are nothing like... oh, you know. Having strung up their washing, presumably for the urban feel, they leave Terry and his sun hat on keyboards and Tony Mortimer briefly dancing, such as it is. Space suit hoodies were never a big seller.
1999: The tour makes it to Nottingham but the star performer of the week doesn't, which somewhat gives the pre-recording game away. Despite her best efforts at facilitation, we never do see up Shania Twain's skirt.
2004: Duran Duran return "like a comfy moccasin", whatever that means, though it had "only" been nine years since some form of the band appeared. Simon was pretty much alone in keeping a dignified haircut, and he could still get cheers for standing on a pallet. The retro feel continued as The Pirates' guest rapper Naila Boss dressed like Neneh Cherry.
1 comment:
From the very brief moment you can see some of their faces, the Imagination dancers aren't Legs and Co. None of them had a Susan Anne Sulley haircut at the time, sadly.
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