Top Of The Pops was a musical trailblazer, bringing bands into British living rooms like never before – and The Rolling Stones were the very first act to appear.
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, was a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. And this year, it celebrates its 50th anniversary of playing a major role in the British music scene.
Bill Wyman was there at the beginning, as The Rolling Stones made history by being the first act to appear.
Now, a new book – Top Of The Pops 50th Anniversary – has been published, and Bill took the opportunity to pen the insert to the book, recalling the impact of Top Of The Pops from the beginning. The book is available to buy from Amazon.
The insert – penned by Bill – reads:
For over 40 years, between 1964 and 2006, the BBC’s Top Of The Pops was the television pop programme. For every act, from the Beatles to Beyoncé, it set the seal that you had arrived! During the programme’s 1970s peak, an estimated 15 million viewers were tuning in to see who was in the charts that week – 25% of the entire population of the UK. This book tells and incredible story…
‘It’s Number One… it’s Top Of The Pops’. It’s not just the story of a long-running television programme. The story of Top Of The Pops is the story of British popular music. It is a shadow history of British rock & roll, and beyond. It is the story of ‘Auntie’ BBC getting down with the kids. It is the story of how a six-week show turned into a pan-global phenomenon and how for 40 years, Top Of The Pops was a British institution.
‘We were the very first act on the show and it changed our lives … this book captures the magic that made Top Of The Pops’