MetaFilter posts tagged with topofthepops

Do you wanna dance?

fearfulsymmetry — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:06:14 -0800

Back in the days before music videos, and if the band could not make it to the Top Of The Pops studio, then out would come dance group Pan's People. Admittedly a lot of their performances were well into 'one for the dads' territory... but some of their interpretations of the songs were really rather imaginative if not downright bizarre. (Alright, the last one is from spin-off Legs And Co.) Clips from a documentary on the history of the group

The Manual (How To Have a Number One - The Easy Way)

yeti — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:19:43 -0800

The Manual (How To Have a Number One - The Easy Way). Both light-hearted and thorough, the Timelords, aka the KLF, wrote this tongue-in-cheek manual in 1988 following their own novelty pop No. 1 "Doctorin' the Tardis". "If you are already a musician stop playing your instrument. Even better, sell the junk. It will become clearer later on but just take our word for it for the time being." Oh and apparently have lots of tea on hand.

A lip-synching ship

ktoad — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:26:37 -0800

'Top of the Pops' is set to end on 30th July, 2006 after 42 years on television in the UK. The show has been loved by some and criticized by others for having bands mime their own tunes on the air, but was a mainstay up until a recent ratings slide. Over four decades TOTP saw its fair share of odd incidents and even inspired a few tunes. Presumably this bodes ill for the proposed second US version of the iconic program.