This is the end....
So they aired the last ever Top of the Pops tonight.
What a dreadful way to pay tribute to what was at one time a fabulous bit of telly! All those old clowns like DLT, creepy Jimmy Saville looking like the mother from Psycho, Janice Long looking like yer mad aunty who hasn't aged too well, and Mike Read looking as pious and pompous as ever. They almost ruined my memories of it, they were so awful.
I remember when I moved to the UK from Canada at the age of 9, I couldn't believe that there was a whole half hour every week dedicated to pop music! I was soooooooooo excited! Music has always played a major role in my life, but in Canada we had to rely on Ed Sulivan having the odd band on if they were big enough news. That's how I managed to fall in love with Ringo Starr at the age of 3.
There were a lot of things I hated about moving here initally, but that 30 minutes of pop music every week made the bullying, the shit weather, the lack of central heating anywhere seem bearable.
It was must-see TV at it's best, every Friday morning we'd all discuss how slaggy Pan's People were, how fit our favourite popstars looked, and plotted ways to get to London to be in the studio audience.
It saw me though most of my teenage crushes, from Marc Bolan to the Bay City Rollers, Gary Glitter to David Essex, and about a gazillion others in between. Even when I went through my 'serious' music phase at 15 there were chances to see Queen and Thin Lizzy and 10cc.
When I was 19 and ironing trousers for Dexys Midnight Runners I finally had my dream come true, I got to be in the audience! The band were toying with the idea of making me wear a donkey jacket and wooly hat and miming playing the trumpet or something so that I could appear onstage, but I held my ground. It may have taken me 10 years but I got to dance in front of the stage while my favourite band were number one. It was bliss!
I've heard all the arguments about how MTV and the likes finished it off, but if you ask me, it was when they started moving it around the schedules that really did for it.
Whatever the reasons, I am kinda sad its gone...the kids today don't know what they're missing.
What a dreadful way to pay tribute to what was at one time a fabulous bit of telly! All those old clowns like DLT, creepy Jimmy Saville looking like the mother from Psycho, Janice Long looking like yer mad aunty who hasn't aged too well, and Mike Read looking as pious and pompous as ever. They almost ruined my memories of it, they were so awful.
I remember when I moved to the UK from Canada at the age of 9, I couldn't believe that there was a whole half hour every week dedicated to pop music! I was soooooooooo excited! Music has always played a major role in my life, but in Canada we had to rely on Ed Sulivan having the odd band on if they were big enough news. That's how I managed to fall in love with Ringo Starr at the age of 3.
There were a lot of things I hated about moving here initally, but that 30 minutes of pop music every week made the bullying, the shit weather, the lack of central heating anywhere seem bearable.
It was must-see TV at it's best, every Friday morning we'd all discuss how slaggy Pan's People were, how fit our favourite popstars looked, and plotted ways to get to London to be in the studio audience.
It saw me though most of my teenage crushes, from Marc Bolan to the Bay City Rollers, Gary Glitter to David Essex, and about a gazillion others in between. Even when I went through my 'serious' music phase at 15 there were chances to see Queen and Thin Lizzy and 10cc.
When I was 19 and ironing trousers for Dexys Midnight Runners I finally had my dream come true, I got to be in the audience! The band were toying with the idea of making me wear a donkey jacket and wooly hat and miming playing the trumpet or something so that I could appear onstage, but I held my ground. It may have taken me 10 years but I got to dance in front of the stage while my favourite band were number one. It was bliss!
I've heard all the arguments about how MTV and the likes finished it off, but if you ask me, it was when they started moving it around the schedules that really did for it.
Whatever the reasons, I am kinda sad its gone...the kids today don't know what they're missing.
posted by JoJo Smith at Sunday, July 30, 2006
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