History Series / TopOfThePops

Long-running music programme from Creator/TheBBC that ran from New Year's Day 1964 to July 2006. Still turns up on special occasions, such as every Christmas Day and several UsefulNotes/ComicRelief nights.

Was presented by disc jockeys from BBC Radio 1 for many years (including legendary indie rock DJ Creator/JohnPeel) but most viewers associate the show with Creator/JimmySavile, who presented the first episode, co-hosted the last, and appeared regularly as a host for 20 years.

* {{Fanservice}}: Resident dance troupes Pan's People and follow-ups Legs and Co; arguably most of the female presenters in the late 1990s: Creator/zoeBall,Jayne Middlemiss, Gail Porter, Lisa Snowdon...

* {{Fanservice}}: Resident dance troupes Pan's People and follow-ups Legs and Co; arguably most of the female presenters in the late 1990s: Jayne Middlemiss, Gail Porter, Lisa Snowdon...

For a large part of its history, the artists performing on the show were required to lip synch their performance. Some (like Music/Jethro Tull, Music/BelleAndSebastian, Music/{{Blur}}, Music/{{Oasis}}, Music/TheCure, Music/{{Nirvana}} and Music/{{Marillion}}) had fun with this, intentionally miming their vocals and instruments poorly. Music/TheSmiths, in fact, gained their first major breakthrough with their anarchic miming of their first UK Top 40 single "This Charming Man" on the show. Before the "lip sync-only" rule was removed, there were a handful of performers (namely Music/NewOrder, Music/DavidBowie, Music/JohnLennon and Music/BillyBragg) who performed one of their songs ("Blue Monday", "Starman", "Instant Karma" and "Between the Wars", respectively) live on the program. These performances were always a made into a big deal. Music/SuziQuatro's band really went to town on this: during a performance of "Devilgate Drive", the keyboards player left the piano and got up and danced, whilst the piano appeared to play itself. The drummer soon joined in, whilst the thunderous drum-playing continued with no obvious musician at the drum kit to provide this. Suzi herself took both hands away from her bass guitar to emphasise the point she was miming. Meanwhile three hundred clearly bored and embarrassed kids just sat there, listlessly clapping out the beat ''and still getting it wrong''.

For a large part of its history, the artists performing on the show were required to lip synch their performance. Some (like Music/BelleAndSebastian, Music/{{Blur}}, Music/{{Oasis}}, Music/TheCure, Music/{{Nirvana}} and Music/{{Marillion}}) had fun with this, intentionally miming their vocals and instruments poorly. Music/TheSmiths, in fact, gained their first major breakthrough with their anarchic miming of their first UK Top 40 single "This Charming Man" on the show. Before the "lip sync-only" rule was removed, there were a handful of performers (namely Music/NewOrder, Music/DavidBowie, Music/JohnLennon and Music/BillyBragg) who performed one of their songs ("Blue Monday", "Starman", "Instant Karma" and "Between the Wars", respectively) live on the program. These performances were always a made into a big deal. Music/SuziQuatro's band really went to town on this: during a performance of "Devilgate Drive", the keyboards player left the piano and got up and danced, whilst the piano appeared to play itself. The drummer soon joined in, whilst the thunderous drum-playing continued with no obvious musician at the drum kit to provide this. Suzi herself took both hands away from her bass guitar to emphasise the point she was miming. Meanwhile three hundred clearly bored and embarrassed kids just sat there, listlessly clapping out the beat ''and still getting it wrong''.

Sadly, the entire original show is now trapped in the shadow of the discovery that Savile abused his position at the BBC and with various charities to become the British Isles' most prolific sex offender (although according to Operation Yewtree, the investigation into celebrity sex offences, he probably wasn't the ''only'' [=ToTP=] presenter to abuse his position this way; colleague Dave Lee Travis was tried on similar allegations, and was convicted on an indecent assault charge, although it was not directly connected to [=ToTP=]). The stories of his assaults broke to the public after his 2011 death, [[KarmaHoudini so he was never brought to judgment for his crimes]]. Not surprisingly, [[BannedEpisode his episodes are no longer seen in reruns]], and any footage used for news/archival purposes is heavily blurred to edit out audience members out of fears that ''anyone'' in the audience was a potential victim.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: There is a suspicion that in the old days of Lord Reith as Director-General, the Creator/{{BBC}} felt compelled to meet its mission statement of seeking to educate the viewing British public, whether the British public wanted to be educated or not. Thus, in TheSeventies, British youth avidly and impatiently waiting for its weekly fix of exciting live bands on ''TopOfThePops'' at seven-thirty on a Thursday evening had first got to sit through the worthy, earnest, and often rather dull science and technology magazine show ''Series/TomorrowsWorld'', which began at seven. It was the TV equivalent of "you can't have your pudding until you've eaten up all your greens".

* DeadpanSnarker: Creator/JohnPeel, who was brought on to bring his indie rock cred to the show in the 1980s, and spent much of his time as a presenter snarking about pop hits: ''"That's one of the very best things since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow - Keith Harris and Orville."''

* NothingButHits: Unintentional deconstruction, in a way. The show's remit was, as mentioned, to focus on current singles chart hits, as opposed to ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' which focused on more "serious" rock music and the like, perhaps catering to slightly more niche interests. So in a very literal sense, the show was about "nothing but hits". But because of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_the_Pops#Appearance_rules the rules governing what they had to show]], this meant ''whatever'' was trending in the charts, as mentioned above.
** Ironically, the music people associate most with the 70s (apart from disco), appeared on the ''Test'', while most of the hits TOTP showed back then have been almost forgotten.

* TakeThat: The TOTP crew insisted that Music/{{Nirvana}} play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the show, and Music/KurtCobain wasn't too fond of the focus on "Teen Spirit" already, so his CreatorBacklash mixed with an imitation of Music/{{Morrissey}} and made one of these moments to the crew of TOTP.

** Canada also had their own equivalent, Creator/{{City}}'s ''Electric Circus''.

* ''Top of the Pops (Year) - The Big Hits.'' (Hour long ClipShow of the big, and not so big hits of a particular year. Usually buried away on BBC4 at stupid o'clock on a Friday night.)

** TOTP2's Steve Wright had his moments as well. Then Mark Radcliffe took over, the snark level went up, and even the text box (During the songs on TOTP2 little box would appear with facts about the songs or artists) got in on the act as well:

* ''Top of the Pops 2'' (originally a mix of the main programme, new music and archive show performances, {{Re Tool}}ed as mainly archive with the arrival of Steve Wright and later Mark Radcliffe. Usually shortened to TOTP2)

---> Text Box (While Club Tropicana by Wham is playing)"...Andrew Ridgeley decided a change of look was needed - God's know why..."

* ''Top of the Pops 2'' (originally a mix of the main programme, new music and archive show performances, {{Re Tool}}ed as mainly archive with the arrival of Steve Wright)

** Many towards the "lip sync" rule: Suzi Quatro's performance was just only ''one'' of them.

* DeadpanSnarker: Creator/JohnPeel, who was brought on to bring a hipness factor to the show in the 1980s, and spent much of his time on the show snarking about pop hits in monotone: ''"That's one of the very best things since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow - Keith Harris and Orville."''

Was presented by disc jockeys from BBC Radio 1 for many years (including Creator/JohnPeel, the legendary DJ who helped popularize PsychedelicRock, PunkRock, AlternativeRock and Indie Rock on his various radio shows) but most viewers associate the show with Creator/JimmySavile, who presented the first episode, co-hosted the last, and appeared regularly as a host for 20 years.

* DeadpanSnarker: [[TheLastDJ John Peel]]: ''"That's one of the very best things since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow - Keith Harris and Orville."''

Was presented by disc jockeys from BBC Radio 1 for many years (including Creator/John Peel, the legendary DJ who helped popularize PsychedelicRock, PunkRock, AlternativeRock and Indie Rock on his various radio shows) but most viewers associate the show with Creator/JimmySavile, who presented the first episode, co-hosted the last, and appeared regularly as a host for 20 years.

Was presented by disc jockeys from BBC Radio 1 for many years (including [[TheLastDJ John Peel]], the legendary DJ who helped popularize PsychedelicRock, PunkRock, AlternativeRock and Indie Rock on his various radio shows) but most viewers associate the show with Creator/JimmySavile, who presented the first episode, co-hosted the last, and appeared regularly as a host for 20 years.

** They did try to make an American version on Creator/{{CBS}}' late-night schedule in the late 80s, and it even featured performances from the UK version; it didn't last long because, as mentioned in the main description, bringing ''TOTP'' to the home of ''Bandstand'' was like selling snow to Eskimos. Producer Lou Pearlman attempted to bring the show back around 2006, but he got hit with lawsuits, and combined with the cancellaton of the UK version it didn't come to pass. However, Creator/VH1 and BBC America occasionally aired the show.

* OneLiner: John Peel. ''"And if that doesn't get to Number One, I'm gonna come and break wind in your kitchen."''

For a large part of its history, the artists performing on the show were required to lip synch their performance. Some (like Music/BelleAndSebastian, Music/{{Blur}}, Music/{{Oasis}}, Music/TheCure, Music/{{Nirvana}} and Music/{{Marillion}}) had fun with this, intentionally miming their vocals and instruments poorly. Music/TheSmiths, in fact, gained their first major breakthrough with their anarchic miming of their first UK Top 40 single "This Charming Man" on the show. Before the "lip sync-only" rule was removed, there were a handful of performers (namely Music/NewOrder, Music/DavidBowie and Music/JohnLennon) who performed one of their songs ("Blue Monday", "Starman" and "Instant Karma", respectively) live on the program. These performances were always a made into a big deal. Music/SuziQuatro's band really went to town on this: during a performance of "Devilgate Drive", the keyboards player left the piano and got up and danced, whilst the piano appeared to play itself. The drummer soon joined in, whilst the thunderous drum-playing continued with no obvious musician at the drum kit to provide this. Suzi herself took both hands away from her bass guitar to emphasise the point she was miming. Meanwhile three hundred clearly bored and embarrassed kids just sat there, listlessly clapping out the beat ''and still getting it wrong''.

* TakeThat: The TOTP crew insisted that Music/{{Nirvana}} play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the show, and Kurt Cobain wasn't too fond of the focus on "Teen Spirit" already, so his CreatorBacklash mixed with an imitation of Morrissey and made one of these moments to the crew of TOTP.

Not to mention various adaptations in other countries around the world (although an American adaptation flopped, perhaps because trying to sell this to the home of ''AmericanBandstand'' and Creator/{{MTV}} was the televisual equivalent of trying to sell snow to Eskimos or coal to Newcastle).

** They did try to make an American version on Creator/{{CBS}}' late-night schedule in the late 80s, and it even featured performances from the UK version; it didn't last long because, as mentioned in the main description, bringing ''TOTP'' to the home of ''Bandstand'' was like selling snow to Eskimos. Producer Lou Pearlman attempted to bring the show back around 2006, but he got hit with lawsuits, and combined with the cancellaton of the UK version it didn't come to pass. However, VH1 and BBC America occasionally aired the show.

Not to mention various adaptations in other countries around the world (although an American adaptation flopped, perhaps because trying to sell this to the home of ''AmericanBandstand'' and {{MTV}} was the televisual equivalent of trying to sell snow to Eskimos or coal to Newcastle).

Long-running music programme from Creator/TheBBC that ran from New Year's Day 1964 to July 2006. Still turns up on special occasions, such as every Christmas Day and the past two UsefulNotes/ComicRelief nights.

For a large part of its history, the artists performing on the show were required to lip synch their performance. Some (like Music/BelleAndSebastian, Music/{{Blur}}, Music/{{Oasis}}, Music/TheCure, Music/{{Nirvana}} and Music/{{Marillion}}) had fun with this, intentionally miming their vocals and instruments poorly. Music/TheSmiths, in fact, gained their first major breakthrough with their anarchic miming of their first UK Top 40 single "This Charming Man" on the show. Before the "lip sync-only" rule was removed, there were a handful of performers (namely Music/NewOrder, Music/DavidBowie and Music/JohnLennon) who performed one of their songs ("Blue Monday", "Starman" and "Instant Karma", respectively) live on the program. These performances were always a made into a big deal. SuziQuatro's band really went to town on this: during a performance of "Devilgate Drive", the keyboards player left the piano and got up and danced, whilst the piano appeared to play itself. The drummer soon joined in, whilst the thunderous drum-playing continued with no obvious musician at the drum kit to provide this. Suzi herself took both hands away from her bass guitar to emphasise the point she was miming. Meanwhile three hundred clearly bored and embarrassed kids just sat there, listlessly clapping out the beat ''and still getting it wrong''.

Sadly, the entire original show is now trapped in the shadow of the discovery that Savile abused his position at the BBC and with various charities to become the British Isles' most prolific sex offender (although according to Operation Yewtree, the investigation into celebrity sex offences, he probably wasn't the ''only'' [=ToTP=] presenter to abuse his position this way; colleague Dave Lee Travis was tried on similar allegations, and was convicted on an indecent assault charge, although it was not directly connected to [=ToTP=]). The stories of his assaults broke to the public after his 2011 death, [[KarmaHoudini so he was never brought to judgment for his crimes]]. Not surprisingly, [[BannedEpisode his episodes are no longer seen in reruns]], and any footage used for news purposes is heavily blurred to edit out audience members to protect the identities of the victims.

** Ironically, the music people associate most with the 70s (apart form disco), appeared on the ''Test'', while most of the hits TOTP showed back then have been almost forgotten.

* TakeThat: The TOTP crew insisted that Music/{{Nirvana}} play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the show, and Kurt wasn't too fond of the focus on "Teen Spirit" already, so his CreatorBacklash mixed with an imitation of Morrissey and made a TakeThat moment to the crew of TOTP.

* TransAtlanticEquivalent: ''Series/AmericanBandstand'' (in fairness, this started in the 1950s); they did try to make an American version on Creator/{{CBS}}' late-night schedule in the late 80s (and even featured performances from the UK version; it didn't last long. Producer Lou Pearlman attempted to bring the show back around 2006, but he got hit with lawsuits, and combined with the cancellaton of the UK version it didn't come to pass. However, VH1 and BBC America occasionally aired the show, and Canada also had their own equivalent, Creator/{{City}}'s ''Electric Circus''.

* DeadpanSnarker: John Peel. ''"That's one of the very best things since Napoleon's retreat from Moscow - Keith Harris and Orville."''

* ''Top of the Pops Saturday''