Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast

Taylor Parkes ,  Neil Kulkarni  and  Al Needham  ramp up their excitement at this astonishing episode of The Pops as the hits keep on coming. We get the twin piano attack of Hilda Woodward and Roberta Flack, followed by the Wolverhampton Tramps of the Future. Benny Hill returns for one last slap of the bald head of chart success, Chicory Tip nick a hit record off poor Giogio Mo...

Taylor Parkes ,  Neil Kulkarni  and  Al Needham  begin their submergence into Top Of The Pops ’72, and discuss the less-than-immaculate interplay between Tony Blackburn and his foul nemesis Edmonds. Mike Leander (and his singer, who we’re not supposed to talk about these days, but do) drops his magnum opus. Donny Osmond does some Weenybopper edging and bats his eyelids like a r...

Neil Kulkarni, Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  frenziedly lay out the most spanglfierous buffet of Pop ever witnessed on Chart Music, as we go all the way back to late 1972 and the dawning of the Golden Age of our weekly Thursday Night Pop Treat. As they assemble a pyramid of Watneys Party Four and fill a paddling pool with Angel Delight, they learn that people were moaning about To...

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; if David picked potatoes on Jack Heap’s playing field for one hour, how many Fumanchews would he able to cram into his gaping maw?  Once again, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, Team Chart Music has returned to the safety of the late Seventies, and your panel is a) having their crayons thrown out of the window after an incident that could have been ripped fr...

Taylor Parkes ,  David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  finish off this episode of The Pops in fine style. David Bowie watches his mate cheat on his missus up against a wall. Showaddywaddy nick some girl’s silver top hat with ‘VOTE FONZIE’ on it. Abba eschew all that Pop-A-Matic rammel and deliver another whopper of a #1. And Smokie are represented by a black void. PLUS Dave Bartram’s...

David Stubbs  and  Taylor Parkes  join  Al Needham  for further larks and japery in a classic slice of Jubilee-era Pops. The Barron Knights advance the theory that Irish people are stupid and homosexuals are amusing. Freddie Mercury pretends to be a bottle of Irish liqueur and encourages middle-class kids to rummage through their Dad’s golf bag. Legs and Co play Sexy Lady...

Taylor Parkes ,  David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  get stuck into this episode of The Pops, but not even they can match the bundle of frizzy energy that  is  Peter Powell, who makes his debut and hits the ground running. He likes EVERYTHING! Meanwhile, the Great ELO-Faust Wars of Barrack-in-Elmet are re-examined, Paul Weller puts his girlfriend’s address on his guitar, a...

David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes  and  Al Needham  are planning a journey into the dark heart of late 1977 – a treacherous odyssey through a land strewn with gargantuan chart acts, shape-shifting monstrosities who can change from The Old Sailor to Him Out Of The Floaters in the blink of an eye, fertility symbols hewn from clay and feral youths who prey on unsuspecting Labradors. Dare you...

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; has Al ever been tossed off by a robot?  Yes, Pop-Crazed Youngsters; after putting it off for ages, it’s finally time for another rare excursion into The Most Rubbish Century We’ve Ever Lived Through. It’s 2003, and your panel is currently 1) Doing a Sex in the Daily Mirror, 2) Baiting David Blaine with a Whopper, and 3) getting their head togethe...

Simon Price  and  Sarah Bee  join  Al Needham  to finish off this episode of The Pops from the Poochie Era. Benny Benassi pitches up with some Oven Ready Women, The Coral are suddenly a big deal, Beyoncé reduces everything we’ve just seen into dust with one mighty shake of her arse, and D-Side flounce off. TUCK IN, Pop-Crazed Youngsters… Video Playlist  |  Subscr...

Sarah Bee ,  Simon Price  and  Al Needham  gasp in horror as this episode of Top Of The Pops is derailed by a massive plug for Fame Academy, and look on as poor D-Side get ambushed by a leathery headmaster. Thankfully, Super Furry Animals bring up the rear in a tribute to the Slag Brothers… Video Playlist  |  Subscribe  |  Facebook  |  Twitter &nbs...

Simon Price  and  Sarah Bee  join  Al Needham  for their first tentative steps through the Poochie Era of TOTP. It’s an opportunity to put Chris Cowie’s tenure as Boss Of The Pops under the microscope – and fair play to him, the show by now is an absolute Swiss watch of precision and design. Fearne Cotton and Liz Bonnin are on hand to say things off the autocue, so what co...

Sarah Bee ,  Simon Price  and  Al Needham  prepare for a rare excursion into an episode of The Pops from this rubbish century, pausing along the way to discuss their time at BANG! Magazine, hosting a club night at a venue run by Sex Nazis, leafing through that week’s NME, moaning about looking like a perverted Happy Eater Man in the Daily Mirror, and the usual Pop-Crazed blathe...

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; is the tie clip the least Rock accessory? Remember the last Xmas episode? When 1983 revealed itself to be not as catshit as we thought it was? Well, in this episode your hosts – who at the time this episode went out were staring out of the window at the glorious panorama of Barry, writing plays about Jesus getting The Chair and electing to have a Tefal...

Neil Kulkarni ,  Simon Price  and  Al Needham  bring a nigh-perfect episode of Top Of The Pops to a close, as FR David spoils everything, Nick Heyward nervously looks out into the audience to see if anyone’s having sex at him, David Bowie brings a nuclear holocaust to Australia again, and Stuart Adamson goes; ‘SHAAAH!’ a lot. Be prepared for a full discussion of Ian Astbury get...

Simon Price  and  Neil Kulkarni   join  Al Needham  as banger after banger after banger rains down from the skies. JoBoxers get blocked out by Zoo. Michael Jackson stops people from hitting each other. Tracie Young performs with Rod, Jane and Freddie. And JESUS CHRIST IT’S DEE SNYDER! Video Playlist  |  Subscribe  |  Facebook  |  Twitter...

Neil Kulkarni  and  Simon Price  gleefully begin to rip into this episode of The Pops with  Al Needham , pausing to gaze upon the wonder of Peter Powell’s hessian Bananarama Vest and gasp at how much money Dave Lee Travis used to earn for spending an hour in a club, before bowing to the majesty of Dexys…  Video Playlist  |  Subscribe  |  Facebook  ...

Jesus and Buzz –  Simon Price  and  Neil Kulkarni , respectively – help  Al Needham  lay the table for an absolute slap-up feast of Pop as we get ready to watch a glorious episode of The Pops from 1983, stopping along the way to leaf through that week’s NME and talk about wrong haircuts, juvenile delinquency in Barry, and the Action Man Massacre of 1983… Video Playlist&nbs...

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; The Monkees as the cast of Monkey - who's going to be Pigsy? Jabbed up and preparing to throw itself back into the world (to the extent that they might go to that gig in Cheryl Baker's back garden, depending on what the toilet facilities are like), Team ATVland reunite for a massive trawl through an episode of The Pops from the long, mediocre, pointy-h...

Team ATVLand  reach the denouement of this episode of Top Of The Pops, cheer to the rafters when an actual brilliant single from this year pops up, feels let down at the final hurrah of Wham!, and then conclude that Max Headroom was a bit of a let-down, apart from when he gets spanked with a fly swatter. Video Playlist  |  Subscribe  |  Facebook  |  Twitter &nbsp...

Neil Kulkarni  and  Taylor Parkes  join  Al Needham  for a proper evisceration of a mid-’86 TOTP, only to talk about what a ball-ache making covermounted videos for British grot mags was in the Nineties, how horribly grim girls comics of the Seventies were, and examine the aftermath of the Bucks Fizz coach crash… Video Playlist  |  Subscribe  |  Faceboo...

Team ATVLand  finally get stuck into the meat of this episode, and shake their heads at the wrongness of cocktail sticks in headstocks, argue over the Housemartins, talk about being recognised in Finland, and conclude that 1986 was the least sexy non-plague year in history. Video Playlist  |  Subscribe  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  The Chart Music Wiki &...

Taylor Parkes, Neil Kulkarni  and  Al Needham  lay the table for an episode of Top Of The Pops that is practically a tombstone for the Proper Eighties: Boy George is on the cover of the tabloids for falling victim to the Ready Salted of Junkiedom, Wham! have ripped down the goalposts of their career at Wembley Stadium, and the grim march out of the Eighties starts here – but not bef...

#58: 23.10.1980 – Top Of The Gear The latest episode of the podcast which asks: has anyone ever done  that  to someone else’s nostrils?  Really? Neither willing to go out and pissed off with staying in, your favourite podcast about old episodes of Top Of The Pops elects to bury its head once more into the comforting bosom of the Eighventies, so come and join us, Pop-Crazed Youngster...

Taylor Parkes, David Stubbs  and  Al Needham  bring an appalling episode of Top Of The Pops to a close, as Travis has a final lunge at the Motor Show models, Barbra Streisand shows us her slides of all the Hollywood crumpet she’s dipped her bread in on, and Legs & Co invent dogging. Video Playlist  |  Subscribe  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  | ...