Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; Emu versus Bernie Clifton’s ostrich – who wins in a fight? This episode is practically a scientific experiment, Pop-Crazed Youngsters; Al’s been wondering what the optimum age is to reap the full benefit of our Thursday Evening Fizzy Pop treat, and wonders if – like what people say about World Cups – it’s the ones nearest to our 10th birthdays.&nb...

Simon Price ,  David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  finish off a classic episode of TOTP by strutting through New York with a paint pot in hand, being delighted to learn that Sweep is a Punk Rocker now, contemplating the Agnetharse, and being repulsed at the thought of Rod Stewart doing it with a head on legs. BRING YOUR MOTHER TOO, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS!  Video Playlist  |...

David Stubbs ,  Simon Price  and  Al Needham  plunge the critical fist even deeper into this episode of TOTP, and the big names keep coming. Darts begin their biggest year by  not  doing The Wank! Legs & Co are finally granted full ramp access to one of the greatest tunes ever! Billy Joel gets a sweat on! The Sweet are  back!  And Elkie Brooks And All He...

Simon Price ,  David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  begin their odyssey through this episode of The Pops, and what a opening! We get a blast of a tune none of us have heard before, followed by Tom Robinson not being allowed to self-admit his Gayness upon the nation, and then we get the British television debut of Kate Bush, trying to beguile the surly youth of Albion as the TOTP Orch...

The return of the podcast that gets it’s hand right down the back of the settee of an episode of Top Of The Pops.  Al Needham  has a theory that, like World Cups, the TOTPs nearest to your tenth birthday are the sweetest, which is an excuse for him,  David Stubbs  and  Simon Price  to burrow into early ‘78. But before that, a leaf through that week’s NME, a look at wh...

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; Tango or Telstar? Yes, it’s that time of the year, Pop-Crazed Youngsters – we decide to do a Christmas episode, and then Christmas happens and gets in the way of everything, the bastard. Luckily, this episode – from Boxing Day – comes from a time when they did the festivities properly and didn’t hang it out like we do, so there’s very little in the way...

David Stubbs ,  Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  reach the end of their journey through 1971 with the unsavoury sight of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, before Diana Ross goes all Tales Of The Unexpected on us. The New Seekers – the shoulders that Guys and Dolls would stand upon – pitch up with their sanitised Hippy nonsense, and we finish with a kickabout with a garage football and J...

Taylor Parkes ,  David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  continue to gorge upon the selection box of 1971, and the big hitters have arrived. Slade – midway through their gestation into Tramps Of The Future – pitch up with their first #1. George Harrison celebrates his first and only year as the most successful solo Beatle – is emoted to by the People of Pan, who are still in quarantine...

David Stubbs ,  Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  commence their expedition into a TOTP end-of-year review with a comprehensive breakdown of Tony Blackburn’s 1971 – from the highs of compering the Daily Mirror Hot Pants Ball and having his own board game to the lows of having his image desecrated by Bristolian Prog bands and the nightmare of being stalked by the Heavy Music Briga...

Taylor Parkes ,  David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  prepare to set about a rare Sixventies episode of The Pops – a gloriously fecund time where the death of the Mopfabs creates a massive void. Who’s gonna fill it? We’ll find out in this end-of-year special. But first, it’s a leaf through the music papers of the day and a frank discussion on the rights and wrongs of having it off af...

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; do we  really  need a Chart Music Heritage Chart? Never have we needed Simon Bates at the top of the show warning of explicit content as much as we do for this episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, for it pains us to say that this one is absolutely  sopping  with the musk of Percy Filth. We’re combing through the grot-encrusted underbelly...

David Stubbs ,  Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  – still far too young, still far too clever –   finish off this outstanding episode of The Pops, and are delighted to learn that at this point even Michael Hurll has had enough of Zoo, as he’s pushed them to the side to make way for some Moroccan tumblers. The Fun Boy 3 attempt to land the summer hit of the year, The Firm put...

Taylor Parkes ,  David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  continue their odyssey through this massively enjoyable TOTP, and we finally get to see the Chocolate Guitar incident. Sheena Easton becomes Gertie Numan, then Haysi Fantayzee perform some ACTUAL BUMHOLE LOVE while kids are watching, before Wavelength cash in on the Falklands and throw a wet tea towel over the chip pan of Fizzy Po...

David Stubbs ,  Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  gleefully ram their fists into a TOTP from the late summer of ‘82. John Peel oversees the well-supervised fun, unaware that a year from now Noel Edmonds is going to try to get him decapitated on live TV, and he introduces us to some Cannibal-Eating Sensuality. Then Yazoo – who look like the right-on young couple next door who woul...

Taylor Parkes ,  David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  prepare to tuck into a gloriously succulent episode of Top Of The Pops from the Silver Age - but first, they have a leisurely trawl of that week’s NME, express disgust at the inability of AI to create graphic erotic fiction about aliens on crisp packets, and pull apart  Private Spy –  quite possibly the grimmest artifact...

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; The Osmonds – who’s the Sex King? We’re BACK, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and to commemorate this we’ve only gone and picked out one of the maddest episodes of Top Of The Pops ever. It’s the late Summer of 1974, Robin Nash has just bedded in, and he’s got big plans for our Thursday evening fizzy Pop treat. Sadly, one of them – a massive splurge on David Cas...

Sarah Bee ,  Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  conclude their investigation into this episode of Top Of The Pops, and are left shaking their heads at the success of the Bay City Rollers. The Osmonds take their final stand against the Tartan Gimmicks, the grown-ups enter the room for a properly decent No.1, and then it gets all Sunday Night At The London Palladium. RUN IN THE SUN...

Sarah Bee ,  Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  continue their odyssey through one of the strangest TOTP episodes ever, with a right bunch of Egg n’ Chippers, a chance to see if you’re marriage material for Donny Osmond, a necessary blast of Dadisfaction, a foreshadowing of an advert 14 years from now, and the most Different Times incident we’ve ever come across...  Video Pla...

Sarah Bee ,  Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  begin their quest through the dungeons of Castle Osmond. It’s August, it’s 1974, and the BBC have given an entire week over to Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Donny, Marie  and  Little Jimmy for six nights of Mormonised Borscht Belt Wisecracks, karate demonstrations and Barbershop Raga, live from the BBC Television Theatre. And tonight...

We’re BACK, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and we’ve foolishly decided to tuck into one of the strangest episodes of Top Of The Pops  ever . But first,  Sarah Bee ,  Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  have a massive catch-up, which means tangents, a big flick through that week’s NME, and alarming news about the most Plastic item of clothing ever... Video Playlist  |  S...

We’re doing the London Podcast festival on September the 7th at Kings Place, Kings Cross! But Al never got round to mentioning it on Chart Music! So – as a taster for those who have never experienced the thrill of people doing a podcast, but in front of other people – here’s the audio of our first ever gig, as  Sarah Bee ,  David Stubbs  and  Taylor Parkes  join ...

Our mate Neil Kulkarni died in January. This episode is dedicated to him. Subscribe  |  Facebook  |  Twitter |  The Chart Music Wiki  |  Patreon Simon’s Quietus piece on Neil    |    Sofia’s Gofundme page Special thanks to Lily Wilde for cover art. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; do we  really  have to hug?  And  rub-a-dub? The Chart Music time sofa descends upon March of 1993, Pop-Crazed Youngsters – the Forgotten Nineties, if you will. A time where the only options available to The Kids were having their heads filled with rubbish by trampy Americans, or being exploited by Ian Beales in Hypercolor t-shirts...

Simon Price ,  Sarah Bee  and  Al Needham  hit the final stretch of this episode of TOTP with the chance to hear 20 seconds of a Xmas Number One, Bryan Ferry going through the motions, some Americans who want to weld you into a chair and Dead Madonna, then Diana Ross gets all excited at the sight of an oiled-up saxman, and we continue our ongoing mission to praise the Belgians....

Sarah Bee ,  Simon Price  and  Al Needham  end up having a  massively  deep dive on Suede, before being whipped over to Hawaii to watch the Lower-Case Canadian sit on a box for a bit. Oh, and Runrig! Video Playlist  |  Subscribe  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  The Chart Music Wiki  |  Patreon Get your tickets for Chart Mu...