Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast

Advertise on podcast: Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast

Rating
5
from
25 reviews
This podcast has
213 episodes
Language
Publisher
Explicit
Yes
Date created
2017/04/10
Latest episode
2026/01/24
Average duration
111 min.
Release period
30 days

Description

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unlock Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast podcast Email contact info,
Listeners & Audience details

Email contact information

Direct podcast contact details

Listeners

Audience numbers & engagement insights

Audience details

Podcast Insights

Social media

Check Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast social media presence


Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast podcast


Chart Music #77: December 27th 1971: Six Tins Of Bachelors Peas
2026/01/24
The latest episode of the podcast which asks; Tango or Telstar? Yes, it’s that time of the year, Pop-Crazed Youngsters – we decide to do a Christmas episode, and then Christmas happens and gets in the way of everything, the bastard. Luckily, this episode – from Boxing Day – comes from a time when they did the festivities properly and didn’t hang it out like we do, so there’s very little in the way of tinsel and fake snow and turkey carcasses (and yes, it is Boxing Day, they did things differently then, don’t @ us). It’s from 1971, the Year Zero of the post-Beatle world, where a void suddenly opens and is immediately filled with an array of Sixties sorts who never got a look-in before and are making their grab for the big brass ring of Pop stardom.  Tony Blackburn – the host of the Daily Mirror Hot Pants Ball himself – is at the controls in his belted-off cardie, and it’s safe to say that 1971 is his most Blackburny year ever. We take you through it, from the highs of debating the merits of wank mags with Lord Longford and having his own board game to the lows of having his photo ripped up by Bristol Prog bands and being stalked by the Heavy Music Brigade. Musicwise, it’s a fascinating trawl through the post-Mopfab landscape. Marc Bolan assumes his dominance in front of a floor manager who looks well Bullet Baxter. The Tams look like John Inman if he supported FC Barcelona. Benny Hill airs the Xmas #1 again. Slade take one massive stomp for a band, one giant leap for Glamkind. Pans People get out of quarantine and flounce about for Liverpool Jesus. The Stones ensure that every wedding do of the next 15 years will feature Dads dancing to one of the most brutal songs ever. Eight Ace and the Paedophile Information Exchange Horns celebrate their one hit for the last time on telly. We get to witness Diana Ross’s Armchair Thriller. And John Peel stares at the camera with a mandolin in his hands.  Taylor Parkes and David Stubbs join Al Needham for a complete evisceration of the Sounds of ‘71, veering off on such tangents as the dangers of having a Raleigh Chopper in Leeds that was Flamboyant Green, a detailed breakdown of Tony Blackburn’s weekly shopping list, Britain’s Grooviest Granny, Rod Stewart’s Whole Lotta Rosie moment, and John, Paul, George or Ringo: who’s getting it first, lads? DO IT WHILE YOU’RE STILL YOUNG, POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS!      Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
#77 (Pt 4): 27.12.71 – Six Tins Of Batchelors Peas
2026/01/23
David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes and Al Needham reach the end of their journey through 1971 with the unsavoury sight of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, before Diana Ross goes all Tales Of The Unexpected on us. The New Seekers – the shoulders that Guys and Dolls would stand upon – pitch up with their sanitised Hippy nonsense, and we finish with a kickabout with a garage football and John Peel on mandolin... Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
#77 (Pt 3): 27.12.71 – Six Tins Of Batchelors Peas
2026/01/22
Taylor Parkes, David Stubbs and Al Needham continue to gorge upon the selection box of 1971, and the big hitters have arrived. Slade – midway through their gestation into Tramps Of The Future – pitch up with their first #1. George Harrison celebrates his first and only year as the most successful solo Beatle – is emoted to by the People of Pan, who are still in quarantine after being stuck in Kenya. And Mick and the Kens make a rare appearance before nipping back to France to remind us who the Daddies are now...   Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
#77 (Pt 2): 27.12.71 – Six Tins Of Batchelors Peas
2026/01/21
David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes and Al Needham commence their expedition into a TOTP end-of-year review with a comprehensive breakdown of Tony Blackburn’s 1971 – from the highs of compering the Daily Mirror Hot Pants Ball and having his own board game to the lows of having his image desecrated by Bristolian Prog bands and the nightmare of being stalked by the Heavy Music Brigade. Marc Bolan celebrates being the new King of Pop, The Tams have come dressed as John Inman if he supported Barcelona, and Benny Hill cops a meat pie in the heart... Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
#77 (Pt 1): 27.12.71 – Six Tins Of Batchelors Peas
2026/01/20
Taylor Parkes, David Stubbs and Al Needham prepare to set about a rare Sixventies episode of The Pops – a gloriously fecund time where the death of the Mopfabs creates a massive void. Who’s gonna fill it? We’ll find out in this end-of-year special. But first, it’s a leaf through the music papers of the day and a frank discussion on the rights and wrongs of having it off after a Sunday dinner...        Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
Chart Music #76: August 12th 1982 – Humpty Dumpty Is Big Eggy
2025/07/31
The latest episode of the podcast which asks; do we really need a Chart Music Heritage Chart? Never have we needed Simon Bates at the top of the show warning of explicit content as much as we do for this episode, Pop-Crazed Youngsters, for it pains us to say that this one is absolutely sopping with the musk of Percy Filth. We’re combing through the grot-encrusted underbelly of the last days of the Eighventies here, and this episode is an uncompromising stare at it. You might want to finish your tea before you start on it. We’re in the Summer of 1982, and this instalment of our Favourite Thursday Evening Fizzy Pop Treat, and everything – even the rubbish bits – sparkles and wobbles like deeleyboppers in the breeze. Even John Peel gets into the spirit by putting on a bin liner, managing not to punch any City Farm wankers, and keeping the barbs to a minimum, unaware that Noel Edmonds is about to attempt to decapitate him over a year from now. Musicwise, it’s a textbook example of Silver Age Top Of The Pops, the programme that everyone moans about, but everyone watches. David Essex gifts us a slab of flesh-eating sensuality and some blokes arsing about in a posh bar. Yazoo continue their upward trajectory. We get some Red Hot Dutch Gay Filth lobbed at us, and then – YESSSS! – two chocolate guitars. Sheena Easton deigns to make an appearance, and then SIMULATED BUMSEX. Zoo get absolutely ignored because even Michael Hurll’s had enough of ‘em by now, the Fun Boy Three Puppet Show rolls into town, George Cole gets lionised, and you already know what the Number One is, so put that buffet plate down and pile onto the dancefloor, and DEAL WITH IT. David Stubbs and Taylor Parkes join Al Needham, the Dancing Fool for a glorious rampage through the summer of ‘82, veering off into tangents such as getting someone else’s calendar foisted upon you, the horrific tawdriness of Private Spy, the joys of old mens’ urine-soaked trousers, trying to get The Old Uns to buy records about being bummed by the police while a prostitute cheers them on, David Essex Apostrophe Showcase, and a doomed attempt to make some aliens have sex. FILTH! FILTH! FILTH! Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Get your tickets for Chart Music at the London Podcast Festival HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
#76 (Pt 4): 12.8.82 – Humpty Dumpty Is Big Eggy
2025/07/30
David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes and Al Needham – still far too young, still far too clever – finish off this outstanding episode of The Pops, and are delighted to learn that at this point even Michael Hurll has had enough of Zoo, as he’s pushed them to the side to make way for some Moroccan tumblers. The Fun Boy 3 attempt to land the summer hit of the year, The Firm put themselves onto a nice little earner, and the Number One single of the week could not be more perfect.  AINCHER GOT THE KETTLE ON YET, Pop-Crazed Youngsters? Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Get your tickets for Chart Music at the London Podcast Festival HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
#76 (Pt 3): 12.8.82 – Humpty Dumpty Is Big Eggy
2025/07/29
Taylor Parkes, David Stubbs and Al Needham continue their odyssey through this massively enjoyable TOTP, and we finally get to see the Chocolate Guitar incident. Sheena Easton becomes Gertie Numan, then Haysi Fantayzee perform some ACTUAL BUMHOLE LOVE while kids are watching, before Wavelength cash in on the Falklands and throw a wet tea towel over the chip pan of Fizzy Pop Excitement. OK? YEAH! SHOWDOWN!  Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Get your tickets for Chart Music at the London Podcast Festival HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
#76 (Pt 2): 12.8.82 – Humpty Dumpty Is Big Eggy
2025/07/28
David Stubbs, Taylor Parkes and Al Needham gleefully ram their fists into a TOTP from the late summer of ‘82. John Peel oversees the well-supervised fun, unaware that a year from now Noel Edmonds is going to try to get him decapitated on live TV, and he introduces us to some Cannibal-Eating Sensuality. Then Yazoo – who look like the right-on young couple next door who would always be up for lending you a cup of Sosmix – continue their astonishing rise. And the Boys Town Gang take a night off from their urban perambulations to go their thing in a Dutch TV studio... Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Get your tickets for Chart Music at the London Podcast Festival HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
#76 (Pt 1): 12.8.82 – Humpty Dumpty Is Big Eggy
2025/07/27
Taylor Parkes, David Stubbs and Al Needham prepare to tuck into a gloriously succulent episode of Top Of The Pops from the Silver Age - but first, they have a leisurely trawl of that week’s NME, express disgust at the inability of AI to create graphic erotic fiction about aliens on crisp packets, and pull apart Private Spy – quite possibly the grimmest artifact of the Eighventies...   Video Playlist| Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Get your tickets for Chart Music at the London Podcast Festival HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
Chart Music #75: August 15th 1974 – Could YOU Be Donny’s Bride?
2024/12/14
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 taken full ownership of the First Family of Utah and have given over a six-day block of early evening real estate to Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken and Donny. Consequently, this episode is a complete twisting of our Pop-Crazed melons. Out goes the studio in Television Centre, and in comes the BBC Television theatre, the natural domain of Crackerjack, That’s Life! and the Basil Brush Show. Out goes the usual melange of sullen youths chatting about lads and shoes and what they bought at Chelsea Girl last Saturday, and in comes 3,000 girls with their pants all of a piss at the sight of an Osmond. Yes, there is a presenter – Noel Edmonds, wearing possibly the most Different Times shirt ever – but he’s only there to stop the endless SCREAMING that might was well not be there.  Musicwise, well: Obviously the Osmonds get to plug their next single, but it’s a mixed bag of f*g-end Glam, Black American sophistication, future advert jingles, and Brit-rubbish. The Glitter Band  show off their Cyberman bukkake hairdos. Marie Osmond continues her reign as the World’s Oldest 14 Year-Old. Cozy Powell and his band of Egg and Chippers thud away. Pans People airlift a vital supply of Dadisfaction. Steve Harley and his pickup band look at each other in amused disbelief. The dark secret of Sara Leone is revealed. OH MY GOD IT’S THE BAY CITY ROLLERS. Sylvia pops up for a bit of Spanish Schlager – Schangria, if you will. The Osmonds get a massive plug for their next single, and the grown-ups enter the room with this week’s Number One. Sarah Bee and Taylor Parkes join Al Needham for a good scream – at everything – in this episode, veering off on such tangents as Sovereign Citizens, the Osmonds’ Barbershop Raga, Mike Read’s Shakin’ Jackanory, a horrifying tale from the Wank Factory involving a tin of anchovies and the Eastenders Omnibus, Tam Paton’s Star Bar obsession, and the most Plastic item of clothing ever. Swearing a-plenty. BE CALM. Video Playlist| Subscribe | Facebook | Twitter| Bluesky  The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
Chart Music #75 (Pt 4): 15.8.74 – Could YOU Be Donny’s Bride?
2024/12/13
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 | Bluesky | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
Chart Music #75 (Pt 3): 15.8.74 – Could YOU Be Donny’s Bride?
2024/12/12
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 | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
Chart Music #75 (Pt 2): 15.8.74 – Could YOU Be Donny’s Bride?
2024/12/11
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 | Facebook | Bluesky | Twitter | The Chart Music Wiki | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more
Chart Music #75 (Pt 1): 15.8.74 – Could YOU Be Donny’s Bride?
2024/12/10
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 | Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
more

Podcast reviews

Read Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast podcast reviews


5 out of 5
25 reviews
RyanLabato 2020/05/20
Spot On
I’m listening to the gents destroy Garbage, stapling how much I feel a part of their love/hate mentality. Passionate to praise passion, and passionat...
more
popcrazed 2019/12/03
Absolutely fantastic
Very evocative tales of a bygone age
KenAidien 2018/08/04
Deconstructing a British Institution.
For anyone born in the U.K. during the 1960/70s this podcast is a dream come true. Each show focuses on one episode of BBC’s weekly music tv show and ...
more
Flags & Balloons 2018/01/06
My favourite podcast
Brilliant podcast series hosted by the exuberant Al Needham. Smart, witty pop writers (Simon Price, Taylor Parkes, Neil Kulkarni and more) talk sense ...
more
Bong14 2018/01/04
Essential.
An absolute must listen for the generally pop obsessed and in particular anyone who grew up in the UK in the seventies and eighties. A regular dissect...
more
jareddriskill 2018/01/04
Yes, I’m a pop crazed youngster
This show takes an episode and they review the hell out of it. I’ve discovered some retro uk only chart acts through this show.
check all reviews on apple podcasts

Podcast sponsorship advertising

Start advertising on Chart Music: the Top Of The Pops Podcast & sponsor relevant audience podcasts


What do you want to promote?

Ad Format

Campaign Budget

Business Details