The Rise and Fall of Top of the Pops
What’s more, for much of its run, if you missed it, that was that. No chance to watch it again.
Top Of The Pops was the gateway into the glitz and glamour of the music industry, where bands and solo artists from across the world would bang out a few minutes of their latest hit to a gyrating studio audience. It possessed multi-generational appeal, partly because we only had a handful of channels and there was naff all else on, and partly because it was the only opportunity to actually see the mysterious musicians that were filling the radio airwaves.
And, boy, did you get a broad spectrum of performances. This era began before the proliferation of radio stations, and certainly long before the rabbit-hole that is music streaming, so if you tuned in to Radio 1 or switched on Top Of The Pops, you got to listen to all the genres, whether you liked it or not. Everyone was exposed to everything. If you switched on Top Of The Tops to catch the latest from David Cassidy you’d also be sitting through, at some point in the show, The Rolling Stones and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
For decades, Top Of The Pops drew a massive audience and introduced the UK to countless new acts, eyebrow-raising performances and its fair share of controversy. Its strengths would become its weaknesses, but to understand why it ultimately failed we need to go right back to the beginning.
The first Top Of The Pops episode aired on 1st January 1964, featuring Dusty Springfield, the Rolling Stones, the Hollies, the Dave Clark Five, the Swinging Blue Jeans, and ended with that week’s number one, The Beatles. The format was lifted from a Radio Luxembourg show hosted by Jimmy Savile, called Teen and Twenty Disc Club.
Savile fronted this first 25-minute Top Of The Pop’s episode too, and would rotate presenting duties with Alan Freeman, David Jacobs and Pete Murray over the next few years.
Because the chart changed every week, the show went out every week, presenting many considerable organisational challenges. In the 60s, the charts were published on a Tuesday morning, leaving very little time before the show aired live on Thursday evening. For the first couple of years the acts would mime to the single that had been released, but in 1966 this was banned following pressure from the Musician’s Union. Live performances, though, didn’t always match the commercially released material, so a specially recorded backing track was allowed, and even an in-studio orchestra was made available.
1967 was the year Radio 1 was born, meaning a new generation of DJs such as Simon Dee and Kenny Everett were available to be wheeled out for Top Of The Pops duties.
The show was vibrant, essential, and entertaining, tapping into a new dynamic previously unexploited – the teenager. In late 1969 the show was first broadcast in colour and, as it moved into the 1970s, it would regularly attract an audience in the region of 15 million people.
Not all acts could make it to the studio to perform live, usually due to touring commitments or the fact they were from another ...
To read the full article, you’ll need to have a physical copy of the magazine which you can sign up for here for 6 issues delivered to your door from just £16!
https://store.promobile.online/products/pro-mobile-magazine-6-issue-1-year-subscription
Top Of The Pops was the gateway into the glitz and glamour of the music industry, where bands and solo artists from across the world would bang out a few minutes of their latest hit to a gyrating studio audience. It possessed multi-generational appeal, partly because we only had a handful of channels and there was naff all else on, and partly because it was the only opportunity to actually see the mysterious musicians that were filling the radio airwaves.
And, boy, did you get a broad spectrum of performances. This era began before the proliferation of radio stations, and certainly long before the rabbit-hole that is music streaming, so if you tuned in to Radio 1 or switched on Top Of The Pops, you got to listen to all the genres, whether you liked it or not. Everyone was exposed to everything. If you switched on Top Of The Tops to catch the latest from David Cassidy you’d also be sitting through, at some point in the show, The Rolling Stones and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
For decades, Top Of The Pops drew a massive audience and introduced the UK to countless new acts, eyebrow-raising performances and its fair share of controversy. Its strengths would become its weaknesses, but to understand why it ultimately failed we need to go right back to the beginning.
The first Top Of The Pops episode aired on 1st January 1964, featuring Dusty Springfield, the Rolling Stones, the Hollies, the Dave Clark Five, the Swinging Blue Jeans, and ended with that week’s number one, The Beatles. The format was lifted from a Radio Luxembourg show hosted by Jimmy Savile, called Teen and Twenty Disc Club.
Savile fronted this first 25-minute Top Of The Pop’s episode too, and would rotate presenting duties with Alan Freeman, David Jacobs and Pete Murray over the next few years.
Because the chart changed every week, the show went out every week, presenting many considerable organisational challenges. In the 60s, the charts were published on a Tuesday morning, leaving very little time before the show aired live on Thursday evening. For the first couple of years the acts would mime to the single that had been released, but in 1966 this was banned following pressure from the Musician’s Union. Live performances, though, didn’t always match the commercially released material, so a specially recorded backing track was allowed, and even an in-studio orchestra was made available.
1967 was the year Radio 1 was born, meaning a new generation of DJs such as Simon Dee and Kenny Everett were available to be wheeled out for Top Of The Pops duties.
The show was vibrant, essential, and entertaining, tapping into a new dynamic previously unexploited – the teenager. In late 1969 the show was first broadcast in colour and, as it moved into the 1970s, it would regularly attract an audience in the region of 15 million people.
Not all acts could make it to the studio to perform live, usually due to touring commitments or the fact they were from another ...
To read the full article, you’ll need to have a physical copy of the magazine which you can sign up for here for 6 issues delivered to your door from just £16!
https://store.promobile.online/products/pro-mobile-magazine-6-issue-1-year-subscription
