17th November

1977: Not often you see a really good noogieing on television. Thus are The Boomtown Rats' credentials settled, to go along with the wooden rulers handed out to the audience so they have something other than just fists to punch in the air. Also handing out things for the audience to wave, the rather more refined Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band. Newly liberated from her nominative band, Noosha Fox's country schoolteacher style turn collides awkwardly with her band taking the French references of the song rather too much to heart. Legs & Co deal with dangerously wobbling stalagmites in what you'd think would be a Stone Age set to match the title of Electric Light Orchestra's hit but the idea doesn't seem to have gone as far as the background or costumes.

1983: We're drawing towards the end of Jimmy's time as a regular host, specials aside he only did one more, so one suspects his Madness intro may not have been what Michael Hurll was quite expecting. Lee Thompson's approach isn't what anybody expected, even for this band - if you watch at the start you'll see him use his top hat (!) to waft away stray dry ice. As Woody comes forward for some keen air guitaring, you see that black sign Chas Smash holds up at the end, just about the only one of their many placards the director gets a good shot of? The 'HELLO BREN' at the bottom was a message to his imprisoned brother and earned the band a BBC studio ban lasting about six months. Something else that came out of that show through The Assembly, as while Vince was perfecting his wine waiter look Chas approached Feargal Sharkey with the idea to record his Listen To Your Father, which they did and became a later hit.

1994: Hosted by Michelle Gayle keen to show off her pointy new bra, the first two songs were M-People between decomissioned observation towers taken from the Berlin Wall and Suede, Brett looking mightily pissed off at the start. Blur were often guilty of putting Graham's guitar playing on a pedestal. Surely that brass section are laying it on a bit thick. The real highlight, Michelle doing what she can to sound enthusiastic, was the return to the studio of Kate Bush. Actually it wasn't quite as long as suggested since she'd appeared, it was March 1986, but for someone who didn't play live and didn't get out much it was still quite something. In return Kate camouflaged herself as another backing singer.

2000: Krakatoa 1 Vesuvius 1, but nobody wins when Tom Jones and Heather Small do some light disco grooving. Massively hyped but heavily underperforming, Girl Thing were already heading down the dumper but briefly stopped off to dance in front of an audience who are all over the place with the hands in the air bits.