Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast - podcast cover

Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast

Chart Musicwww.chart-music.co.uk
The podcast that takes one random episode of Top Of The Pops - the greatest TV Pop show ever - and breaks it down to its very last compound. Created by Sarah Bee, Neil Kulkarni, Taylor Parkes, Simon Price and David Stubbs (who all wrote for Melody Maker) and hosted by Al Needham (who didn't), it's an unflinching gaze into the open wound of pop culture and a celebration of Thursday evenings past.

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Episodes

Chart Music #46 (Part 4): 17th December 1987 – Mission Accomplished, Agent King Cole

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: why didn’t they let Simon Bates do Top Of The Pops USA? We're out of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, so it's time to grasp the fly-encrusted and whiffy end of the Eighties Stick. It's a Thursday evening one week before Xmas in 1987, and your panel are a) in a Soho pub, chucking their musical-journalistic weight about, b) trapped in a bingo hall in Nottingham being handled like a piece of meat by randy octogenarians, and c) spr...

Dec 19, 20191 hr 2 minSeason 1Ep. 46

Chart Music #46 (Part 3): 17th December 1987 – Mission Accomplished, Agent King Cole

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: why didn’t they let Simon Bates do Top Of The Pops USA? We're out of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, so it's time to grasp the fly-encrusted and whiffy end of the Eighties Stick. It's a Thursday evening one week before Xmas in 1987, and your panel are a) in a Soho pub, chucking their musical-journalistic weight about, b) trapped in a bingo hall in Nottingham being handled like a piece of meat by randy octogenarians, and c) spr...

Dec 18, 20191 hr 14 minSeason 1Ep. 46

Chart Music #46 (Part 2): 17th December 1987 – Mission Accomplished, Agent King Cole

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: why didn’t they let Simon Bates do Top Of The Pops USA? We're out of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, so it's time to grasp the fly-encrusted and whiffy end of the Eighties Stick. It's a Thursday evening one week before Xmas in 1987, and your panel are a) in a Soho pub, chucking their musical-journalistic weight about, b) trapped in a bingo hall in Nottingham being handled like a piece of meat by randy octogenarians, and c) spr...

Dec 17, 20191 hr 1 minSeason 1Ep. 46

Chart Music #46 (Part 1): 17th December 1987 – Mission Accomplished, Agent King Cole

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: why didn’t they let Simon Bates do Top Of The Pops USA? We're out of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, so it's time to grasp the fly-encrusted and whiffy end of the Eighties Stick. It's a Thursday evening one week before Xmas in 1987, and your panel are a) in a Soho pub, chucking their musical-journalistic weight about, b) trapped in a bingo hall in Nottingham being handled like a piece of meat by randy octogenarians, and c) spr...

Dec 16, 20191 hr 19 minSeason 1Ep. 46

Chart Music #45: August 2nd 1979 - Treat Dad To Joan Collins For Xmas

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: who would win in a stage-show spaceship fight between Earth Wind and Fire, ELO and Funkadelic? It's the final furlong of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and Our Simon has dragged us back to the dawn of the Eighventies and pulled out a ridiculously bountiful episode with so much to talk about, making this our BIGGEST EPISODE EVER. It's the middle of the Summer Holiday Of Our Extreme Content, your panel have spent their downtime cryi...

Nov 08, 20191 hr 26 minSeason 1Ep. 45

Chart Music #45 (Part 4): August 2nd 1979 - Treat Dad To Joan Collins For Xmas

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: who would win in a stage-show spaceship fight between Earth Wind and Fire, ELO and Funkadelic? It's the final furlong of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and Our Simon has dragged us back to the dawn of the Eighventies and pulled out a ridiculously bountiful episode with so much to talk about, making this our BIGGEST EPISODE EVER. It's the middle of the Summer Holiday Of Our Extreme Content, your panel have spent their downtime cryi...

Nov 08, 20191 hr 16 minSeason 1Ep. 45

Chart Music #45 (Part 3): August 2nd 1979 - Treat Dad To Joan Collins For Xmas

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: who would win in a stage-show spaceship fight between Earth Wind and Fire, ELO and Funkadelic? It's the final furlong of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and Our Simon has dragged us back to the dawn of the Eighventies and pulled out a ridiculously bountiful episode with so much to talk about, making this our BIGGEST EPISODE EVER. It's the middle of the Summer Holiday Of Our Extreme Content, your panel have spent their downtime cryi...

Nov 08, 20191 hr 15 minSeason 1Ep. 45

Chart Music #45 (Part 2): August 2nd 1979 - Treat Dad To Joan Collins For Xmas

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: who would win in a stage-show spaceship fight between Earth Wind and Fire, ELO and Funkadelic? It's the final furlong of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and Our Simon has dragged us back to the dawn of the Eighventies and pulled out a ridiculously bountiful episode with so much to talk about, making this our BIGGEST EPISODE EVER. It's the middle of the Summer Holiday Of Our Extreme Content, your panel have spent their downtime cryi...

Nov 08, 20191 hr 21 minSeason 1Ep. 45

Chart Music #45 (Part 1): August 2nd 1979 - Treat Dad To Joan Collins For Xmas

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: who would win in a stage-show spaceship fight between Earth Wind and Fire, ELO and Funkadelic? It's the final furlong of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and Our Simon has dragged us back to the dawn of the Eighventies and pulled out a ridiculously bountiful episode with so much to talk about, making this our BIGGEST EPISODE EVER. It's the middle of the Summer Holiday Of Our Extreme Content, your panel have spent their downtime cryi...

Nov 08, 20191 hrSeason 1Ep. 45

#44: November 8th 1984 - Yo! Bum Rush The Quo

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: is Simon Bates negging or cock-blocking? Into the penultimate stretch of the Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and Our Sarah has taken us all the way back to the time when her keen Pop sensibilities were hauling itself upright from the ooze. And she. Has. Chosen.  Well. We're weeks away from Band Aid and the Eighties are already starting to ming of unwashed cock, but this episode - presented LIVE IN THE STUDIO by Geoffrey and Pigwan...

Oct 10, 20194 hr 5 min

#43: March 6th 1969 - Ah-Ha-Ha-Ha!

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: Why didn't NASA do something for the old 'uns? It's the mid-point of our Critics Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and this time Our Taylor has taken us back -  way  back - to the spring of 1969, when two-thirds of Team ATVland weren't even thought of and the third was imprisoned in a cage made out of pallets, with all nails sticking out.  Musicwise, well: we are 301 days from the end of this decade - the greatest decade in hi...

Sep 06, 20193 hr 34 min

#42: August 27th 1981 - Non-Stop Erotic Kattomeat

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: What's more important, the Taint or the Love? Part Two of our Critics' Choice series, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and Our Neil has dragged us back to the idyllic summer of 1981, where the panel were a) replaying the 1970 World Cup with Subbuteo, b) wearing burgundy and c) playing The Omen in our bedroom respectively. And good Lord, what an episode he's picked!  Musicwise, it's a ridiculous mix of soaring highs and plunging lows, where the new era of ...

Aug 08, 20194 hr

#41: August 26th 1976 - From Acker Bilk To Chlamydia In Two Minutes

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: can you remember a wazz you had 43 years ago? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, is the beginning of a five-part mini-series where members of Team Chart Music run a finger along our TOTP collection and select one of their favourites - and Our David has kicked it off by pulling out an absolute plum from the very end of the Drought. Your panel were killing time during the summer holidays sitting in hot cars, playing Shove Matchbox, or trying to be th...

Jul 09, 20194 hr 1 min

#40: 4th April 1991 - You've Got To Earn Your Na Na Na Na

The 40th episode of the podcast which asks: so how do you get your pills out of a Kinder Surprise egg while wearing long opera gloves? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, takes us nearly ten years away from the glory of the last one and plunges us deep into the turquoise shell-suited heart of the Neighnties - and oh dear, our beloved programme is right up Arsehole Street. The ratings are dropping like a Shed Seven release in its second week, newer and savvier shows are undercutting it, and the ...

Jun 06, 20193 hr 19 min

#39 - May 21st 1981: Grill Equals Fanny

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: did Phil Oakey ever have it out with the Undertones for coating him down on My Perfect Cousin? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, is the longest EVER, but don't blame us - because there is so much going on in this episode of The Pops, and we take a concentrated blast of 1981 full in the face. No lie, it's wave after wave of late-Eighventies pop brilliance, broken up by assorted bits of rubbish, and Dave Lee Travis in an elongated hat. We've coated ...

Apr 23, 20194 hr 45 min

#38: April 29th 1971 - Everybody's Got The Clap

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: Rod Stewart - a grower or a shower? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, involves one of the grimmer aspects of Top Of The Pops, as it comes in the wake of one of the regular audience members comitting suicide, the subsequent tabloid coverage when it was revealed that she'd left a diary behind, and the fallout from it - which continued right the way up to this decade. And it's something we can't not talk about. Musicwise, it's a glorious mish-mash of...

Mar 20, 20193 hr 30 min

#37: August 11th 2000 - ITV Digital And Chill

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: how did we manage to go on about 7 Days for 20 minutes without once adding the word 'Jankers' to it? Jesus in a jumpsuit, Pop-Crazed Youngsters - it's a Top Of Pops from THIS ACTUAL CENTURY, and your three contributors, who are by now frantially sucking at the bone-dry and chapped teats of traditional media, are still upset that there are no Massive Glam Robots on, and it's not available in pill form. Be warned: this episode contains a lengthy and un...

Feb 22, 20194 hr 29 min

#36: October 11th 1979 - Welcome, Welcome, Welcome Home To Chart Music

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; how would Mike Read get on in the WWF? and how long would it take before someone took his guitar off him and stoved his head in with it? It's been too long, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, but we're back from our spell of R&R at Pontins Camber Sands and are going armpit-deep into the cavity of one of the landmark episodes of Top Of The Pops - the one with the biggest TV audience ever. ITV are on strike, and the only other thing on the telly is carriage drivin...

Jan 24, 20193 hr 54 min

#35: December 25th 1976 - The World's Most Erotic Quality Street Tin

A special-ish episode of the podcast which asks: why do we always leave the Xmas episodes to the last minute? Another MASSIVE examination of Pop-telly nirvarna sees us tucking in to the annual Xmas day selection box - this time from the year of Nineteen and Seventy-Six. And lucky us: we've been invited to the head table of Radio One, dominated by the bearded gorgons of The Happy Sound themselves - DLT and Noel Edmonds - as they give the nation an opportunity to watch them pretend to like each ot...

Dec 24, 20183 hr 57 min

#34: December 18th 1980 - You Can Hear Them Shagging In Japanese

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; who is more important - a dead Beatle, or your Nana? It's cold and dark, pop-crazed youngsters, so it's time once again to binge upon one of our favourite eras of Top Of The Pops. Your hosts are simultaneously deciding which 50 badges to wear for the school Xmas disco, still in hiding from the fake accusation that they had a good cry about someone dying, and going about their business unaware that Santa is going to let them down big style in a week's...

Dec 18, 20183 hr 52 min

#33: February 8th 1996 - It's Tarp Of The Parps!

The latest episode of the podcast which asks; if God were one of us, who would he hate more out of M People and the Lighthouse Family? The longest episode of Chart Music EVER sees us pitched into the second half of the Nineties for the first time - and oh dear, our favourite Pop show is beginning to enter its slow decline and being pissed about with big style. The guest presenters are still in effect - but luckily for us, this week's frontperson is Julian Cope, who has brought a giant It's A Kno...

Nov 23, 20184 hr 3 min

#32 - October 28th 1982 - Come To The Sabbat, Simon's There

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: why didn't Top Of The Pops do a Bonfire Night special instead, the traitorous, British-way-of-life-hating bastards? Yeah yeah, we know: another early Eighties one. But if you thought we were going to wait another year before we got stuck into this particular episode, you don't know Chart Music. The Pops is entombed in its rah-rah-rah flags-and-balloons Zoo-wanker phase and has pulled out all the stops (i.e., gone through the BBC props cupboard) decid...

Oct 29, 20183 hr 15 min

#31 - August 11th 1983 - For No Bums Will Ever Tempt Me From She

The latest edition of the podcast which asks: that thing with the earlobes - the entire country didn't just imagine it, did they? It's the summer of '83, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and your avuncular host is battling a series of crises: not only is he still recovering from a de-bagging on the school field and sulking over the re-election of the foul hag Thatcherax, he's fending off rumours about his sexuality before he's even had the chance to do anything with the bastard. Luckily, all that's about ...

Sep 25, 20183 hr 20 min

#30: November 23rd 1989 - Hulk Get Jheri Curl!

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: if Bummerdog was a band, what would they sound like? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, is one of the absolute landmark moments of the long and storied history of The Pops - the week where all the rubbish of the Laties is finally driven into the sea by streetwise lairy youths with a malevolent shuffle and a drug-induced attitude. And as well as Big Fun, the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays are on too. Those of you who remember this episode as a full-o...

Aug 31, 20183 hr 26 min

#29: January 22nd 1976 - Here's A Song About A Naughty Lady

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: if Midge Ure had become lead singer of the Sex Pistols, would we all still be wearing flares? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, was foraged from the very dustbin of History, being one from early 1976 which missed out on the BBC4 treatment. And, as we very quickly discover, huge chunks of it should have stayed there. Diddy Fucking David Hamilton wears a nasty Christmas-present jumper. Barbara Dickson warms up for her season on the Two Ronnies. Smok...

Aug 15, 20183 hr

#28: August 31st 1995 - Find A Girl, Settle Down, Kill Salman Rushdie

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: is there such a thing as a trendy wank? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, drags us back to the dark Civil War of the mid-90s, when brother fought against brother over whether Roll With It was slightly less rubbish than Country House, and Oasis-loving loving wives imposed a 'nookie strike' upon their Blur-supporting husbands. Yes, it's the aftermath of the Battle of Britpop, and we fly over the rubble, dropping crates of analysis and sniping at ass...

Jul 13, 20183 hr 40 min

#27 - May 6th 1982: We Form Like Voltron, And KGA Is The Head

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: has there ever been a Good Bates? The year is 1982, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, and the world is waiting for England. Actually, no - what the world is waiting for is for Tomorrow's World to piss off, because this episode of The Pops is a bit special. No less than three football teams have been hitting the BBC bar all afternoon and rubbing a manky-jumpered shoulder with the Pop Elite and partake in an unforgettable half-hour-and-a-bit of flag-waving, scarf...

Jun 18, 20183 hr 37 min

#26: August 9th 1984 - John Peel's Yummy Finger

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: that scrap between Reagan and Chernenko - whose coat would you be holding? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, sees us refraining from fretting about Armageddon for a bit and getting blasted full in the face by non-stop Rah-Rah-Rah American Olympic nonsense instead, revelling in the thrill of being able to watch BBC1 at four in the morning and indulging in golf ball-assisted masturbation while pretending to be Daley Thompson. But if the IOC think th...

May 31, 20182 hr 53 min

#25: June 22nd 1973 - Peppa Pig Versus The IRA Pub Bombers

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: Top Of The Pops? On a Friday ? Arseholes to that! This episode of The Pops has been hand-picked by the Pop-Crazed Youngsters on our Patreon account, and they did us proud with this one: a episode from the Most Seventies Year Ever hosted by none other than Kenny Everett. He only did six of these, and there's only one left in the BBC archives, but the one we're pulling apart is one that has been yanked from someone else's private collection. So how doe...

May 21, 20182 hr 20 min

#24: July 31st 1986 - Toneh Adleh Aht Ter Spandaah Balleh

The latest episode of the podcast which asks: no, really - how do you soil a bra? This episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, sees us getting our hands down the back of the sofa on another random episode of Top Of The Pops - but as it's 1986 - a year we haven't done yet - we're half-expecting to touch a maggot-infested rat, or an open pot of hair gel with all mould on it. We needn't have worried, though, this particular episode has real-life Indie bands that you only see in the music papers in it, and ...

May 03, 20182 hr 33 min
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