Tuesday 25 January 2022

Revisiting The Tube

With massive thanks to Khayem at Dubhed for bringing all this to my attention.

[09-Feb-21 EDIT: sadly the YouTuber that digitised the whole of The Tube has since taken it all down, presumably because The Man™ got on his case. I've updated the videos here with clips from other sources, where I've been able to.]

A YouTuber by the name of Lol-Z has digitised every episode of seminal 80s music show The Tube. And oh, what a rabbit hole it is - a time tunnel back to the music of the day, the comedy, and just how we used to live. It is utterly brilliant. I cannot imagine being short of something to watch for weeks, months probably.

I've written before about how The Jam gave their last ever live TV performance on the very first episode of The Tube, so I won't revisit that. But there are plenty of other highlights, uncovered already from just this evening's cursory scan through. How about the first televised sight of The Smiths, from series 2 episode 2, first broadcast on 4th November 1983, as part of an interview with Geoff Travis:

Or for later in the same series, playing live on episode 21 broadcast 16th March 1984, a programme in which they shared the bill with Howard Jones, Escape Club and Madness, no less. Here they are with Hand In Glove, Still Ill and a frankly exceptional Barbarism Begins At Home:

And if The Smiths are dead to you now, how about REM's first live UK TV performance, from series 2 episode 4 broadcast 18th November 1983, in which they rattle through Radio Free Europe, So. Central Rain and Talk About The Passion. Jools introduces them as being from Atlanta - between songs, Michael says, "We're not from Atlanta, we're from Athens." As if anyone watching in the UK in 1983 knew there was an Athens in Georgia...

Or how about The Style Council, a week later, demonstrating how far Paul had moved on from that Jam swansong the previous series? Performing My Ever Changing Moods, Headstart For Happiness and closing the show with a cover of Chairmen of the Board's Hanging On To A Memory, this was a very clear statement of intent that the audience seem ever so slightly confused by:

And here they are again, eleven months later on series 3 episode 3 broadcast 19th October 1984, showing just how much further they'd gone, with Shout To The Top, A Man Of Great Promise, Strength Of Your Nature and a cover of Defunkt's Razor's Edge:

And especially for Rol, here's the late Meatloaf from the tail end of series 3, in an episode broadcast 8th February 1985. Hard to imagine Meat shared the bill with Amazulu and The Durutti Column at any other point in his career:

Strikes me watching some of this back how TFI Friday that followed in the 90s wasn't actually as groundbreaking as many remember it - they were just updating The Tube, weren't they?

Another thing that strikes me is the sudden recollection that teen me had a little bit of a thing for how Paula Yates looked in the first half of the 80s. So shallow. I was not her type though...

Anyway, you can and really should go and peruse the whole Tube catalogue on Lol-Z's YouTube channel. IMDB can help with episode broadcast dates, should you need them. But hurry - as Khayem said this morning, this lot might not be around for very long. Now excuse me, I may be gone for some time...

16 comments:

  1. By pure coincidence, a couple of nights ago we went to look something up on youtube and came across some of these episodes - but hadn't realised that the whole lot have been uploaded, so thanks to you and Khayem for the heads up. It's fascinating to look through the episode guide on Lol-Z's channel and be reminded - even the ones where there was nothing of interest to me musically at the time are still interesting for their "of the time" value. Loads I want to revisit too which I loved at the time and wonder if I will still!

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    1. Yes, prepare to lose many hours. Such a pity the IMDB episode guide only lists the acts for the first few episodes of series one, would save a lot of time.

      I am particularly enjoying some of Muriel Gray's surreal links between segments.

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    2. - It was Lol-Z's episode guide I found, on a link from his youtube channel that he's compiled himself in case you haven't seen it - it's all the series:
      https://sites.google.com/view/thetubeepisodeguide/home

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    3. Or herself, or themselves! Just realised how sexist I was there in assuming Lol-Z's gender!

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    4. I hadn't found that! Brilliant, thank you so much!

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  2. Oh my - This was from the time in my 20s when I had just started work and was sharing a flat with two others. It takes me back to when we got home from work on a Friday - A fantastic start to the weekend ahead of going out. Jools was new to all this and Paula was the girl we wanted to look like. Some really memorable performances that I must try to find although each show had something. I remember that interview Paula had with a flirty Michael Hutchence when she told him she had to go home to feed her baby - So sad now to think of it. French and Saunders also were part of it filling breaks with what would become their trademark style.

    I'm trying not to feel that sadness you get from nostalgia, just appreciate the good memories, but tough. However I look at it, life now is nothing like as exciting as it was back in those days - How could it be. Thanks for the heads up.

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    1. Nostalgia and sadness, so often hand in hand. As you say, just have to try to appreciate the memories.

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  3. A great archive, but hard work. Haven't yet managed a whole one without the fast forward button.
    Glad it's preserved for posterity, but like Top Of The Pops there's more chaff than wheat.
    The Tube sat in that middle ground of "too old for Top Of The Pops, too young for Old Grey Whistle Test".
    It delivered, but watching back, you get the feeling it was sometimes trying to cover too many bases.

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    1. I know what you mean, but I have to remind myself I'm watching with 21st Century eyes, and would have been bowled over in the early to mid 80s. There certainly are a lot of bases being, well, if not covered, then at least attempted.

      I marvel at the slow pace of the titles sequence, especially in series 1 and 2. Today's audience would not wait around so long, demanding instant gratification instead.

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  4. So struck by how good that untitled Style Council track is that I just did a little research - and found someone has listed it as 'Razor's Edge'. Looks as if it's only appeared on that one performance...(?)

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    1. Good sleuthing, C. I searched and searched for as many of the lyrics as I could decipher but came up with nothing.

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    2. Ooh I love a challenge, so a little more research shows that it's a cover of a song by Defunkt from 1981... The original is great too.

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  5. Thanks! I can't take any credit for this discovery, as I found the channel after reading another of the music blogs that I regularly visit (which I didn't name check in my own post...darn!)

    I agree with all of the comments, I found it difficult to sit through an entire show when broadcast and when my parents finally (finally!) relented and got a VHS player in the mid-80s, I'd invariably tape The Tube, fast fwd the uninteresting bits, then record over it the following week.

    Jools, Paula & Muriel had, shall we say, a 'loose' presenting style but infinitely preferable to some that followed, including that kid Felix. The comedy and other performance art was also variable, but introduced me to some great performers.

    I'm making slow progress at the moment, but looking forward to many performances, even some I'm not generally a fan of. Terence Trent D'Arby, R.E.M., The Proclaimers, Talk Talk, Madonna, not to mention Chaka Khan...!

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    1. Terence Trent D'Arby caught my eye too, and was very good - how was he not much bigger, for much longer?

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    2. I nearly mentioned Chaka Khan in my comment above - When reminiscing about The Tube it was her performance that came to mind first. Unsurprisingly.

      Loved Terence Trent D'Arby on the show too and as Martin says, how was he not bigger for longer.

      Thanks for bringing the archive to our attention.

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