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 Cassidy’s farewell tour – has been shagged up by a BBC technician’s strike. But this week, the BBC has ...
Dec 14, 2024•6 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 184
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 HAVING FUN, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS! Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook &nb...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 1Ep. 183
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 Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Bluesky | Twitter | T...
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 182
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 they’ve taken over our Thursday Evening Fizzy Pop Treat... Video Playlist | Subscribe &...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 181
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 | Subscribe | Facebook | Bluesky | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki &...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 1Ep. 180
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 Al Needham in a heroic attempt to squish a typical episode into 90 minutes. Fortunately, the ...
Aug 18, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 179
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....
Jun 20, 2024•4 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 178
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 who can’t play real music and want you to take loads of drugs. Your panel – ligging thei...
Jan 07, 2024•6 hr 53 min•Season 1Ep. 177
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. REACH FOR THE SKIES, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS! Video Playlist | Subscribe | Fa...
Jan 06, 2024•1 hr 59 min•Season 1Ep. 176
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 Music at Birmingham Town Hall on Jan 13th HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...
Jan 05, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 175
Simon Price , Sarah Bee and Al Needham begin their slog through an early-Nineties episode of The Pops with an examination of the changes Stanley Appell wrought upon our fave Thursday Evening Pop Treat. Then we’re immediately assailed by the sight of someone grabbing one of Right Said Fred’s arse as they do a bit for Comic Relief, followed by SuperMuso and Some Rap. STICK IT OUT, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS! Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebo...
Jan 04, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Season 1Ep. 174
#73 (Pt 1): 4.3.93 – Frank Bald Sarah Bee , Simon Price and Al Needham gird their loins for a plunge into a TOTP from the early Nineties, but before all that there’s a comprehensive leaf through that week’s NME. a heartrending discussion about the misery of gym knickers and hair loss, and a massive plug for our live show in Birmingham… Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | ...
Jan 03, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Season 1Ep. 173
The latest episode of the podcast which asks; so how do you set fire to a trophy? Like a man in a cage, we find ourselves trapped in the mid-Eighties, imprisoned in a lurid enclosure of neon and rolled sleeves and appalling Number Ones, with Gary Davies – fresh from a birthday party in a garage in Cumbria and looking well Bisto – in the Mr McKay role. Oh, it’s a grim time to be young, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, when the only thing the youth can look forward to is a Giro, a ch...
Aug 25, 2023•6 hr 41 min•Season 1Ep. 172
Simon Price , Rock Expert David Stubbs and Al Needham hit the final stretch of this episode of TOTP, and pick through the ‘delights’ of the Top Ten. It’s a meaty fist in the air for Billy Idol, King of the Quincy Punks, before being subjected to a cult indoctrination video. We savour Midge Ure’s Sympathy Number One, and then it’s on to the dancefloor for some well-supervised fun with Five Star, before your Mam finds out who’s got Meee shell in the club… ...
Aug 24, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 171
Simon Price , Rock Expert David Stubbs and Al Needham plunge ever-onwards into a post-Live Aid episode of The Pops, and it turns out that 1985 is SKILL – well, it is when Cameo are slinking about on TOTP stage. Then we’re reminded of the dark times when John Parr pitches up to do a film advert. But then! It’s a double-barrelled blast of Our Bands, as the Smiths are forced to do a video, and Lol Tolhurst stinks out a wardrobe. And them some bloke starts going about thinkin...
Aug 23, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Season 1Ep. 170
Simon Price , Rock Expert David Stubbs and Al Needham set about this episode of TOTP with the usual gleeful abandon, asking themselves; what did Paul Jordan actually do to get nobbed off from Radio 1 in less than a year? And why does Gary Davies look like he’s been thrown into a tub of Bisto? Colonel Abrams gets us housetrained, Iron Maiden have a good widdle in California, and we’re subjected to a break-in… Video Playlist | Subscribe ...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Season 1Ep. 169
Simon Price , Rock Expert David Stubbs and Al Needham prepare for a punishing slog through a post-Live Aid episode of The Pops – but first, a good hard shill of their new books, which are out NOW/SOON. We leaf through that week’s NME, discuss a Norwegian newspaper article from the year 2000, and, y’know, go on a bit about pop music. TUCK IN, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS! Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | ...
Aug 21, 2023•2 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 168
The latest episode of the podcast which asks; Whoops Scotties, Tasty Tarts Foster Grants or Allied For Carpets For You? Oh yes – it’s back to the Eighventies we go, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, to a year where everyone was loaded into a cannon and fired into the dress-up box, or so we’re led to believe. One look at Peter Powell – who has turned up looking like he’s booked a week’s holiday on a canalboat through Hoseasons – will remind you it wasn’t quite like that. It’s a boom time for TOTP, is early ...
Jun 25, 2023•7 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 167
Neil Kulkarni , Taylor Parkes and Al Needham finally stumble upon the real 1981 – Strange The Clock, and the New Street Station Dolls – while Al deals with an industrial dispute over Toyah by locking Neil and Taylor out and getting some robots in. And we finally get to grips with the most malign influence upon the charts of 1981 – the Syd Little of America… Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Ch...
Jun 24, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 166
Neil Kulkarni , Taylor Parkes and Al Needham plough on through this episode from the tail-end of the Eighventies, stopping for a deep, deep, deep dive on the post-Moon Who. Legs & Co say farewell to Pauline by sitting about under a giant Scotch egg, the Paint Pot comes back for an encore, and Bucks Fizz make their debut and do that thing with the Velcro… Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The C...
Jun 23, 2023•2 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 165
Neil Kulkarni , Taylor Parkes and Al Needham commence their odyssey into the March 19th 1981 episode, and are horrified to discover that the Top Of The Pops Orchestra are still knocking about, and The Kids – who are supposed to be dressed up as nouveaux dandies – are wearing visors and doing the Blockbusters hand-jive. After a visit from Comrade Shaky – the Everlasting Gobstopper of Chart Music – it’s a frigid blast of Dad-Synth. Oh dear… Video Playlist |...
Jun 22, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 164
Neil Kulkarni , Taylor Parkes and Al Needham prepare the stage for a late-Eighventies episode of The Pops – but first, it’s a flick through that week’s NME, Rod Hull and Emu pay tribute to Rolls-Royce, Neil speaks of his brush with the local Masonic Lodge (and fails to win the Tombola), Al shares not one but two embarrassing stories about teenage lust gone awry, and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT… Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | ...
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 163
The latest episode of the podcast which asks; has Rock Expert David Stubbs come from The Sky? After all the lovely Pop trifle we’ve had in recent episodes, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, it’s time for some necessary roughage, as we take a tentative walk down Nineteen Eighty Six Street once more. And yes, it’s still one of the most rammel years for 20th Century Pop, but somehow we managed to find one which doesn’t have the whiff of the dog's arse about it. It’s only four months into ’86, but our Fa...
Apr 18, 2023•6 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 162
Neil Kulkarni , Sarah Bee and Al Needham finally claw their way up the final furlong on an episode of TOTP that’s been better than any episode set in 1986 has a right to be. Neil issues a come-and-get-me statement to Janet Jackson, It’s Immaterial look knackered and bemused on the big new set, George Michael delivers the weirdest Number One of the entire decade, and then the real ’86 presents itself as Whitney Houston fills the Harlem Apollo with a concentrate...
Apr 17, 2023•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 161
Sarah Bee , Neil Kulkarni and Al Needham plunge deeper into the 17.4.86 episode as we hit the Breakers section. Suzanne Vega slaps it about with assorted extras from Bonfire Of The Vanities , and then we get hit with REAL KIDS ISSUES as Grange Hill become child conscripts in the War On Drugs… Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...
Apr 16, 2023•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 160
Neil Kulkarni , Sarah Bee and Al Needham get stuck into the hellscape of 1986, and discover that it’s not that rammel, actually. We gaze upon the even-toed ungulate splendour of Gary Davies – a man who divides his time between going out on the pull with Brian Tilsley, bringing peace upon the houses of Fine Young Cannibals and Matt Bianco, and making the sex workers of Amsterdam plunge through windows to get at him, only to discover that he’s got a horrible jacket on. Big ...
Apr 15, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 159
Sarah Bee and Neil Kulkarni join Al Needham and prepare for some serious loin-girding as they prepare to tackle an episode of The Pops from the unappealing middle bit of the Aydeez – a neon wasteland where the Dinosaurs of Pop are running rampant in their Success Coats with sleeves a-rolled. But first, a flick through that week’s NME, and a vital BPT update… Video Playlist | Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter ...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 158
The latest episode of the podcast which asks; have any of Team Chart Music done a streak? It’s late January, but the inflatable Jimmy Savile-as-Santa is still hanging off the roof of the Chart Music house and the wreath that looks like DLT still hangs on the door as we prepare to tuck into another end-of-year splurge of Pop, as our favourite Thursday evening pop treat gets shunted to a Friday teatime and another Selection Box of the hits of the year gets ripped into. ‘Tis the arse-end of 1...
Jan 28, 2023•6 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 157
David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes and Al Needham conclude their excavation of the last TOTP of 1974. After Ray Stevens lets us all down by refusing to lob it out, Suzy Quatro drops the last ever Glam Bomb and then – YESSSS! Carl Douglas gives another demonstration of Chinese-lettered-pyjama funk with the most perfect Number One EVER. Terry Jacks reminds us that he’s clinging on to life. And then the winners of 1974 – along with West Germany and Harold Wilson, twice – pitch up to remi...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 156
Taylor Parkes and David Stubbs go deeper on the last TOTP of 1974 with Al Needham , and recoil at Dave Lee Travis looking none more Gnasher-like as he salivates over Stephanie De Sykes and then we’re hit with Another Chance To See the debut performance of Sparks, the Great Lost Gary Glitter Number One, Another Chance To See Sylvia telling some very young Osmonds fans about how she slagged it about in Spain this summer, and some very unfair jokes at the expense of Brian Ma...
Jan 26, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 155
