Passions: Top Of The Pops is an excellent documentary of music evolution

What are your favourite Top Of The Pops moments?

It brought the up-and-comers and established bands alike together on stage.

Spanning several decades, the BBC’s Top Of The Pops (TOTP) kept the nation plugged into the music scene with its weekly shows.

While its legacy was truly stained after revelations of multiple horror crimes connected to show staff, including those committed by Jimmy Savile (one of its presenters), the programme’s legendary music performances still live on with the likes of Youtube holding an extensive archive of TOTP’s best and weirdest moments.

A photo of musician Freda Payne on Top of the Pops (pic: Ron Howard/Redferns)

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One of my favourites has to be the 1972 intastella rock-and-roll performance of Starman by David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars. The live shot is a good sum-up of Bowie’s pioneering spirit, innate skill for transcending the boundaries of music and revolutionary fashion sense. The interactions between guitarist Mick Ronson and Bowie on stage are fun to watch and the performance showcases the band’s studio excellence.

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Another has to be Kate Bush’s debut on the show. At barely 20, the English musician, who has now sold millions of albums worldwide, graced the stage with her performance of Wuthering Heights in 1978. Watching the recording now, which she apparently described as “a bloody awful performance” at the time, and knowing what success she went on to have is perhaps what adds to it.

As for the weird, or rather provocative, spectacles on stage, TOTP doesn’t disappoint. From Rod Stewart playing football on stage midway through his gig to Robbie Williams singing with his jeans down round his ankles (I think they were meant to come all the way off but got stuck), to Blur’s energetic performance of Country House where bassist Alex James is wearing an Oasis t-shirt while smugly smiling at the camera – a nod to the hit chart frenemy relationship between the two bands at the time.

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Also Nirvana giving the middle finger to TOTP rules that musicians had to lip sync to prerecorded songs with frontman Kurt Cobain changing the lyrics and putting on a strange voice – for example "Load up on guns, bring your friends" became "Load up on drugs, kill your friends.”

Cobain later supposedly said he was trying to sound like former Smiths frontman Morrissey. The take is a contrast to their furiously energetic debut TV performance playing the same song with such raw energy on the 90s Channel 4 show The Word.

Looking back on the show with hindsight also spotlights the musical gems who were ahead of the curve for their time, such as Gary Numan’s performance with the band Tubeway Army of Are Friends Electric in 1979. At this point, punk rock was still raging, new wave was on the horizon, but Numan brings to the stage a kind of poptronica and new electronic sounds that the crowd seem unsure how to take at first, but by they end become totally entranced.

Delving back into the recorded videos naturally evokes a wave of nostalgia, and a reminder of the inimitable excitement as a child seeing some of the bands you first heard come alive on stage. And, is it fair to say some of the dancing is pretty entertaining to watch now? I think people danced differently when there were no smartphones. There’s more a sense that they are really feeling it; a ‘dance like nobody’s watching you’ vibe. I think the visually arresting debut performance of Roxy Music’s Virginia Plain on the show with Andy Mackay and his jaunty oboe playing illustrates this point well.

Even if you’re not that fussed about the bands (which would be strange), rewatching TOTP’s footage also gives an interesting lesson on the evolution of music which I think also explains its grip to this day.

The programme demonstrates the quantum leaps music made between the ‘60s and the 2000s. From rock to punk to new wave with some Britfunk in the mix, TOTP is an excellent documentary of one of music’s most interesting evolutionary periods.

While on this topic, footage of The Old Grey Whistle Test (TOGWT) is equally indulgeable. While TOTP showcased UK chart hits, TOGWT was more album-focused. The former got me into my love for music in many ways, while watching footage of the latter in later years expanded it.