A Thanet author and music historian has released a follow up to last year’s book delving into the BBC’s Top of the Pops show.
Peter Checksfield, who lives in Birchington with partner Heather Carter, has released a bumper 650-page examining The Punk and Romantic Years: 1976-1986.
The A4 book, following on from Top of the Pops: The Lost Years Rediscovered 1964-1975, recaptures the years from the dawn of Punk to the tale-end of the New Romantics, via disco, New Wave, Reggae, Heavy Metal, Synth-Pop, Gothic Rock and more.
The book includes:
- Complete episode listings to all 567 episodes from 1976 to 1986.
- Nearly 2000 black and white screen-shots of TOTP performances.
- 1200 mini-bios on every act seen, heard or danced to.
- Details of all lost and cancelled episodes.
- Exclusive memories, anecdotes, memorabilia and photos from artists who performed on the show.
In the introduction, Peter says: “A few days into 1976 I turned 13. By the end of 1986 I was nearly 24. Re-watching these TOTP episodes brought back so many memories of those pivotal years in my life:
“I became a teenager to the sound track of Showaddywaddy, had my first, all too fleeting romance to Jilted John; left school and started my first job to The Members and The Korgis; had my first legal pint to Chas ‘n’ Dave, celebrated my 21st to Shakatak and relocated from London to the Kent coast and started a new job to Wang Chung and Amazulu.
In retrospect, this was the last golden era of the classic pop and rock single – before an over-proliferation of dance music, hip hop, generic ‘boy’ bands and soundalike ‘divas’ meant that having a memorable melody and a catchy hook were no longer essential requirements of having a hit record (rant over).”
The book is available now from Amazon price £21.95 but currently there is an offer
Find it at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B4HNGMWV
