Waiting for the new wave

For the past few months, the BBC have been showing, in sequence, old Top of the Pops shows from 1976, one a week for the week they would have been shown 35 years ago. How wonderful you might think.

All that old glamour, the pop, the rock and the crap dancing. In truth, the British music scene by the the end of 1976 and in the early part of 1977 was tired, lumpen and mostly brown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixNJC6uZHVA

I say brown because brown was the colour of the 1970s, brown suits, brown stacked shoes and brown afros. Lots of afros. Not that in itself is a bad thing, but act after act of light reggae or ska backed by the drunken BBC orchestra, or Tina Charles doing Seaside Special disco-light, and the bussed in crowd shuffling around trying to like they are enjoying it as another crap singer-songwriter apologies for being so horrid, and afterwards, Tony Blackburn says how great it is to see that song in the charts at was one of my old records of the week.

Yeah, thanks Tone! Occasionally, Thin Lizzy or Status quo would appear and shake things up, but as they finish, Legs and Co dances onto stage, dressed in chiffon, and everyone's Dad adjusts their trousers.

Even worse than all that, is the glamour era bands. Sorry, let me go back and put glamour in quotation marks.

"Glamour". "Glam Rock.

Because nothing says glamour like a group of five brickies from Brum in eyeliner not having a clue what to do! And here is Gary Glitter in a gold lame suit, singing a three minute double-entendre, which in light of recent events, is very creepy indeed.

What makes this all so odd, is that in grubby clubs in Soho and Ladbrooke Grove and up in Manchester and wherever freaks gather, a new wave is building. It was called punk, but it would change into new wave, then no wave, then post-punk, but a new generation with nothing to say, but they were going to say it anyway, and say it loud, with guitars. And have fun doing it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1_JJiaAwqk

In a few weeks, The Stranglers will become the first 'punk' bands to appear on TOTP, and the audience will stare like rabbits caught in a car's headlights and a real rock and roll band mime and loon around. Things would never be the same again, as a generation of teens and kids could feel the excitement through the TV and their parents would say 'they can't even sing'.

But that was the point really.