Chart Music

David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes and Al Needham are planning a journey into the dark heart of late 1977 – a treacherous odyssey through a land strewn with gargantuan chart acts, shape-shifting monstrosities who can change from The Old Sailor to Him Out Of The Floaters in the blink of an eye, fertility symbols hewn from clay and feral youths who prey on unsuspecting Labradors. Dare you join them?  Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; has Al ever been tossed off by a robot? Yes, Pop-Crazed Youngsters; after putting it off for ages, it’s finally time for another rare excursion into The Most Rubbish Century We’ve Ever Lived Through. It’s 2003, and your panel is currently 1) Doing a Sex in the Daily Mirror, 2) Baiting David Blaine with a Whopper, and 3) getting their head together in Lancaster by burying their face into a load of dogs. Top Of The Pops, on the other hand, is faring less well; we are in the Poochie Era of TOTP. Pulling down the kind of ratings that would have ill-befitted a repeat of Top Cat on a Tuesday afternoon in 1978, being absolutely kicked to buggery every Friday night by Gail Platt and Vera Duckworth, being stalked by CD:UK and Popworld, and being threatened with permanent exile to BBC3, it’s a grim, grim time for our fave weekly Pop treat.  But in this episode we finally get stuck into the tenure of Chris Cowey as Boss Of The Pops – an era which brought

Simon Price and Sarah Bee join Al Needham to finish off this episode of The Pops from the Poochie Era. Benny Benassi pitches up with some Oven Ready Women, The Coral are suddenly a big deal, Beyoncé reduces everything we’ve just seen into dust with one mighty shake of her arse, and D-Side flounce off. TUCK IN, Pop-Crazed Youngsters…Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sarah Bee, Simon Price and Al Needham gasp in horror as this episode of Top Of The Pops is derailed by a massive plug for Fame Academy, and look on as poor D-Side get ambushed by a leathery headmaster. Thankfully, Super Furry Animals bring up the rear in a tribute to the Slag Brothers…Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Simon Price and Sarah Bee join Al Needham for their first tentative steps through the Poochie Era of TOTP. It’s an opportunity to put Chris Cowie’s tenure as Boss Of The Pops under the microscope – and fair play to him, the show by now is an absolute Swiss watch of precision and design. Fearne Cotton and Liz Bonnin are on hand to say things off the autocue, so what could go wrong? A very slight Wayne Wonder and a screaming potato, that’s what…     Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sarah Bee, Simon Price and Al Needham prepare for a rare excursion into an episode of The Pops from this rubbish century, pausing along the way to discuss their time at BANG! Magazine, hosting a club night at a venue run by Sex Nazis, leafing through that week’s NME, moaning about looking like a perverted Happy Eater Man in the Daily Mirror, and the usual Pop-Crazed blather…  Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; is the tie clip the least Rock accessory?Remember the last Xmas episode? When 1983 revealed itself to be not as catshit as we thought it was? Well, in this episode your hosts – who at the time this episode went out were staring out of the window at the glorious panorama of Barry, writing plays about Jesus getting The Chair and electing to have a Tefal Man haircut, respectively - have a tentative sniff of a regular episode from that year, and what unfolded knocked us bandy. No word of a lie, Pop-Crazed Youngsters; this is possibly, pound-for-pound, the best episode of The Pops we’ve encountered so far. If you’ve come here for the coat-downs, you’re going to be massively disappointed. Musicwise, Phwoorrrr. Simon Bates and Peter Powell are joined by the actual Kids From Fame, who have taken time out from smashing up dressing rooms and screaming at each other to stand there in the TOTP studio for some severe cross-platform brand synergisation. Dexys mak

Neil Kulkarni, Simon Price and Al Needham bring a nigh-perfect episode of Top Of The Pops to a close, as FR David spoils everything, Nick Heyward nervously looks out into the audience to see if anyone’s having sex at him, David Bowie brings a nuclear holocaust to Australia again, and Stuart Adamson goes; ‘SHAAAH!’ a lot. Be prepared for a full discussion of Ian Astbury getting his Wolfchild out in a Birmingham car park…Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Simon Price and Neil Kulkarni  join Al Needham as banger after banger after banger rains down from the skies. JoBoxers get blocked out by Zoo. Michael Jackson stops people from hitting each other. Tracie Young performs with Rod, Jane and Freddie. And JESUS CHRIST IT’S DEE SNYDER!Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Neil Kulkarni and Simon Price gleefully begin to rip into this episode of The Pops with Al Needham, pausing to gaze upon the wonder of Peter Powell’s hessian Bananarama Vest and gasp at how much money Dave Lee Travis used to earn for spending an hour in a club, before bowing to the majesty of Dexys… Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jesus and Buzz – Simon Price and Neil Kulkarni, respectively – help Al Needham lay the table for an absolute slap-up feast of Pop as we get ready to watch a glorious episode of The Pops from 1983, stopping along the way to leaf through that week’s NME and talk about wrong haircuts, juvenile delinquency in Barry, and the Action Man Massacre of 1983…Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; The Monkees as the cast of Monkey - who's going to be Pigsy?Jabbed up and preparing to throw itself back into the world (to the extent that they might go to that gig in Cheryl Baker's back garden, depending on what the toilet facilities are like), Team ATVland reunite for a massive trawl through an episode of The Pops from the long, mediocre, pointy-headstocked, porn-frizzed, success-coated Summer of '86. The World Cup hangover is still in full effect - so much so that the menfolk of Top Of The Pops appear to be too busy frothing at the mouth over Diego Maradona to attend and have left Janice ‘All Night’ Long to mind the shop.And what an episode it is! Sure, like every episode in this era, it’s strewn with cat shit – but what interesting, marbled, and bizarrely-shaped cat shit it is. The Housemartins demonstrate that they’re not actually made of Plasticine. Gary Numan plays a gig at Stringfellows with Serving Suggestion. Saucy Soaraway Sam has a go at being a Vixt

Team ATVLand reach the denouement of this episode of Top Of The Pops, cheer to the rafters when an actual brilliant single from this year pops up, feels let down at the final hurrah of Wham!, and then conclude that Max Headroom was a bit of a let-down, apart from when he gets spanked with a fly swatter.Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Neil Kulkarni and Taylor Parkes join Al Needham for a proper evisceration of a mid-’86 TOTP, only to talk about what a ball-ache making covermounted videos for British grot mags was in the Nineties, how horribly grim girls comics of the Seventies were, and examine the aftermath of the Bucks Fizz coach crash…Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Team ATVLand finally get stuck into the meat of this episode, and shake their heads at the wrongness of cocktail sticks in headstocks, argue over the Housemartins, talk about being recognised in Finland, and conclude that 1986 was the least sexy non-plague year in history.Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Taylor Parkes, Neil Kulkarni and Al Needham lay the table for an episode of Top Of The Pops that is practically a tombstone for the Proper Eighties: Boy George is on the cover of the tabloids for falling victim to the Ready Salted of Junkiedom, Wham! have ripped down the goalposts of their career at Wembley Stadium, and the grim march out of the Eighties starts here – but not before we have a flick through that week’s Melody Maker, and talk about air fryers. Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

#58: 23.10.1980 – Top Of The GearThe latest episode of the podcast which asks: has anyone ever done that to someone else’s nostrils? Really?Neither willing to go out and pissed off with staying in, your favourite podcast about old episodes of Top Of The Pops elects to bury its head once more into the comforting bosom of the Eighventies, so come and join us, Pop-Crazed Youngsters – it’s a many-teated beast.This particular episode of The Pops sees our Thursday-evening treat still enclagged with the amorphous goo off the chrysalis it emerged from after the Musicians Union strike of the summer. They’ve had celebrity guests, a news section, two interviews with The Old Sailor and a wedding announcement from Dollar, but this week they’ve gone too far: they’ve done a tie-in with the 1980 Motor Show and filled the studio with cars that no-one can actually see and none of the audience gives the slightest fleck of a toss about. And oh dear; the combination of the smell of new car and the sight o

Taylor Parkes, David Stubbs and Al Needham bring an appalling episode of Top Of The Pops to a close, as Travis has a final lunge at the Motor Show models, Barbra Streisand shows us her slides of all the Hollywood crumpet she’s dipped her bread in on, and Legs & Co invent dogging.Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes and Al Needham look on in horror as DLT goes full-on PLP (as in Pepe Le Pew) on Elkie Brooks, while Kelly Marie feels safe with her two chaperones. More car nonsense. And Christopher Lilliput.Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Taylor Parkes, David Stubbs and Al Needham commence an intensive evisceration of this episode of Top Of The Pops, but oh dear – Dave Lee Travis has decided to fill the studio with boxy cars and bored women in Talbot t-shirts...Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.