Top of the Pops BBC4
- Thread starter idratherjack
- Start date
Yes it is an odd credit considering the single version was remixed by Two Cowboys of Everybody Gonfi Gon "fame"
Gosh that first episode was dull after M People. My favourite part was the girl on the left chewing gum looking bored out of her brain during Suede.
Did we really miss Donna Summer and Real McCoy studio performances just because they couldn't cut out Gary Glitter at the end of the 10th November episode?
Did we really miss Donna Summer and Real McCoy studio performances just because they couldn't cut out Gary Glitter at the end of the 10th November episode?
I've never understood why he couldn't perform in the studio and just have Ali & Robin on screens in the background, like the KLF did with Tammy Wynette.
And So is Love, is my favourite Kate Bush song. I loved it from the first listen, find it so haunting and you really feel the emotion in her voice. Glad we got a Top Of The Pops performance for it, she looked so effortless cool and stylish as well. And speaking of which, the music video for Put Yourself In My Place, wow. Perhaps Kylie's all time finest music video, not to mention her finest ever ballad. Every inch an goddess and superstar.
That's what he ends up doing on the Christmas edition
It's a bit rubbish though because they sing so much of the song
Kate Bush served a touch of class with And So Is Love, not a song I knew at the time but it was a mesmerising performance.
Shame Kylie didn't do a studio performance of Put Yourself In My Place (was she off filming the godawful Biodome?) but as the video is so good I can forgive her. Definitely my all time favourite Kylie ballad.
Sunshine After The Rain is a banger! Takes me right back to my student clubbing days.
Shame Kylie didn't do a studio performance of Put Yourself In My Place (was she off filming the godawful Biodome?) but as the video is so good I can forgive her. Definitely my all time favourite Kylie ballad.
Sunshine After The Rain is a banger! Takes me right back to my student clubbing days.
Michael Aspel? It’s on YouTube but there’s a clip of an old 70s interview she did with him and the audience appear to laugh, which Aspel even points out, making it worse by implying they’re specifically laughing at her. Plus Victoria Wood and Lenny Henry are on there with her and you can see her discomfort (even though Lenny had worked with her on The Red Shoes). Victoria appeared to dismiss Kate’s 1979 tour coathanger microphone when Kate brought it up.
Her chat show of choice was Wogan (four appearances 1985 to 1991, with no interview requirement) but that had ended by then so she was forced to resort to an ITV chat show where she had to be interviewed, performing a song which wouldn’t be available for over four months. This must have sowed the seeds for her disillusionment with TV promotion. The TOTP performance was probably one final try to prove her point.
Last edited:
You said the bad experience was 18 months earlier though?
From everything I have read, Kate hated going on shows where she was in an environment she couldn't control. As I recall, the tipping point was when she did ITV kids show Razzmatazz, around the time of 'Sat In Your Lap', and was being asked dull question after dull question, and being expected to explain herself. After that, she decided to turn down interviews and would only do shows she wanted to do, rather than going for the blanket publicity approach EMI expected of her (thereby creating more tension between Kate and her label).
I would guess Kate did more promotion for 'Running Up That Hill' in 1985 because she knew the stakes were high after The Dreaming and most of its singles failing to capture the public's imagination … but after that, it was generally back to doing what she wanted. I suspect EMI winkled her out of her shell to do TOTP in 1994 in a bid to reconnect the public with her. She got the prime spot before the Top Ten/Number One, and it was a classy performance (loving the red lights pulsing in time with the guitar on the track) – but by 1994, artists who had obviously taken their cue from her (Tori Amos, Björk) were cutting through in a big way and perhaps appeared newer, shinier and more accessible to the record buying public?
That is very ironic if Victoria Wood, of all people, dismissed Kate's remote mic – the last few times I saw her perform, that's what she used!
I was referring to the Michael Aspel show in June 1993, which was nearly 18 months before the Top of the Pops appearance.
Yes, so why was that a bad experience, as well as the one in the 70s?
The clip is on YouTube and does it include the question 'Did you enjoy being a male fantasy?' … Kate dealt with it diplomatically (Victoria Wood also comes to her rescue and punctures the bubble), but you have to wonder who thought that would be a good question to include in an interview?!? I'm sure that was enough to put Kate off ever being interviewed on mainstream television again …
Urgh, why would anyone think that was an appropriate question to ask any woman?! I don't know how you're supposed to respond to that.
Pretty sure Debbie Harry was often asked it too, in fact a Blondie ultimate music guide issue I got last year with archived music press interviews definitely asks her that....only it might have been more graphic (as in, do you mind the thought of boys/guys whacking off to you)....
The 1994 repeats finish on BBC4 on Friday 30 June with the Christmas edition. As expected, 15 & 22 December 1994 are skipped due to GG.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl6b/2023/06/30
https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl6b/2023/06/30