bbc4 Top of the Pops 1977

[ohdobuckup]

Crikey, just watched this, and apart from the shock of seeing Gary Glitter on it (singing a truly awful song), can't believe I was 19 when this aired.

Did not see the full show so may have missed something I would have liked at the time, but I just thought how naff it all was and how terrible the music was,and then I remembered how grim I thought it was then too.... some things just don't seem to improve with age or hindsight!

I have great memories of TOTP showing really exciting bands, but was 1977 (and 1976 shown last year) really stuffed with such bland awfulness..no wonder punk erupted then, I can really see why!

Anyone else see it and have their memories stirred for good or bad?

Wanders off muttering to climb in attic to find me old vinyls...

There's the odd good song amongst the dross. Thank goodness for being able to record it and fast forward through most of it!

Looking forward to seeing Blondie when it gets a bit further on, and have enjoyed the couple of times Sailor cropped up - love their stuff from back then.

I love it & I remember lots of the songs from the first time round when I was 7. I thought Gary Glitter's song was dreadful & so creepy as he was making all this sleazy panting & you realise what actually turns him on!
I love David Soul's "Don't Give up on us Baby". Gorgeous song,

"I thought Gary Glitter's song was dreadful & so creepy as he was making all this sleazy panting & you realise what actually turns him on!"

Bloody hell - just seen this on IPlayer - see what you mean!

I started a thread in "chat" on this about a month ago. But no-one wanted to talk to me.

I'd just seen The Jam performing "In the City" with the most amazing passion and energy. And they had Thin Lizzy on recently too.

And I've been struck by how much more romantic many of the lyrics were, and how much less aggressive.

oh I want to talk to you about this! I always watch TOTP and TOTP2 on iplayer and was just thinking the other day what a wrong decision it was to get rid of TOTP. There are still decent songs - but now there's nowhere to see them on normal tv. I don't want to watch MTV or any other dreadful thing but I would love a half hour chart show once a week.

LOVE Thin Lizzy. And also loved seeing the Sailor songs again. I wonder if they'll show one of the first songs I really remember - Single Bed by Fox. Loved that song and the singer had a 70s meets 30s vibe. A lot like Florence Welch now actually.

I think music was much more powerful then as it was a real shared experience, we all listened to the same stuff. Now, with the internet, young people listen to such a wide range of stuff there is very little common ground and it doesn't have the same impact in society IYSWIM

I missed Sailor.

I did catch "Angelo" and - after fighting the almost irresistible urge to sing about the chip shop in Walthamstow - was quite shocked to realise that the song was about a dual suicide (how come that passed me by?) and that they were singing so casually about it.

And I thought Single Bed was a bit earlier; I checked and it was 1976. But specially for margoandjerry courtesy of YouTube.

Chip shop in walthamstow! Edith, we must be the same vintage.

LOVE that Fox video. Florence's stylist must have seen it at some point...

I can remember all the words

Can I add "There's a dentist in Birmingham - he fixed my crown" as the comedy version of "By the rivers of Babylon"

MargoandJerry

Maybe that ought to be a Mumsnet campaign, bring back Top of the Pops.

I've been really missing it too, my kids are now old enough for me to realise what they're missing by us not having that shared music experience.

They showed Single Bed last year in the 1976 repeats. It was too early for me to remember at the time, but after watching it last year I had the "Single Bed" song in my head for a whole week! I loved Sailor's "Girl's Girl's Girl's" in the 1976 shows.

77 does seem a grim year for pop and oh at gary glitter,the song was awful probably why nobody remembers it.Talking of chip shops,Theres a guy works down our chip shop thinks he's Elvis keeps popping into my head and I sing along then burst out laughing cos I think it's so funny,anybody know who actually sang it,would be grateful.

Did Kirsty McCall sing the chip shop Elvis song?

Yes definitely Kirsty. RIP.

cheers guys,I'll be able to sleep tonight now for you