Should The BBC Bring Back Top Of The Pops? – The Ting Tings Think So

Top Of The Pops was an iconic music show that was broadcast weekly for 42 years between 1964 and 2006 before being cancelled.

It was one of the few music shows around that played chart music and broke new bands. So is there a case for it to be brought back?

One band thinks so, with The Ting Tings telling Absolute Radio (via NME) that they were big fans of the show and want it brought back, just so they can appear on it. Jules De Martino said:

“Bring back TOTP and let us be the first band to play on it.”

While it may have been a decent show in its heyday, recent years saw the quality of the programme and the viewing figures fall quite dramatically. That’s because the sheer amount of cable channels and the Internet give viewers more choice than ever before, so we hardly need to sit in on a Thursday night waiting for the BBC to deliver half an hour of music to us.

The format was messed with numerous times, and miming gave way to live performances before miming again took over. But the world has moved on and I really don’t see the need for Top Of The Pops any more, apart from as a way for artists such as The Ting Tings to massage their egos by being able to tell their grand kids in years to come that they made it on to the show.

There’s a reason that Top Of The Pops died while Later With Jools Holland survived: the singles charts mean nothing these days. I’d much rather watch Jools Holland and find some new music than be fed the same tired old pop and rock bands on TOTP every week.

So, as much as I love The Ting Tings, I have to disagree on this occasion. Please don’t bring back Top Of The Pops, it’s had its day and that day (all 42 years worth of them) has now come to an end. I’ll stick to MTV, YouTube, and Internet radio for my musical jollies.

[Photo Source: timcowlishaw at Flickr]