Top of the Pops

If you were a teen in the UK during the 80s then Top of the Pops or TOTP was compulsory viewing on a Thursday night. Presenters such as Jimmy (Jim’ll Fix It) Saville, Mike Read and Dave Lee Travis would take us through our top selling singles of the week.....of course we’d all heard the charts on the Radio One show on a Sunday night, but we never knew who would be on TOTPs.

I first saw Wham on TOTP before they’d had a hit single……the following week they were in the charts!

The first number one chart hit of May 1981 was Stars on 45 by Starsound followed by Adam and the Ants with Stand and Deliver the next week. I can still remember the first time I saw Adam and the Ants perform Stand and Deliver on TOTP – I must admit I preferred the video – I did like that video !!

The first number one hit in May of 1982 was I Won’t Let You Down by PhD, I was trying to think who sang that a while ago and now I know! I really didn’t remember it being that early on in the 80s though.

Entering May in 1983 and we have Spandau Ballet’s only UK number one single – True, I was absolutely ecstatic when True hit number one, but not nearly as happy as those Islington boys who celebrated by partying on a boat on the Thames.

The first number one of May 1984 was by Spandau’s rivals Duran Duran and was called The Reflex. I didn’t mind Duran Duran although I would never have admitted it back in the 80s you were a Spandau fan or a Duranie and I knew which one I was and it wasn’t a Duranie!!

The first number one in May 1985 was Paul Hardcastle with his anti-Vietnam song 19.

I always recorded the top 40 off of the radio every week onto my cassette tape so that I could play it while doing my homework – highly illegal I know, but the tapes no longer exist. Do you still have any cassette tapes? I found some really cool gift ideas to remind Gen Xers of cassette tapes including these two here –

Headphone Cord Wrap

Cassette Tape iPod Speaker

Well I have to leave the hits there for now as it’s time to get back to the 21st century – it’s a little different to Buck Roger’s vision isn’t it LOL