Top of the Pops (UK) Season 13, Episode 42, 14th October 1976

Presenter: David Hamilton
Playlist: (18) Tavares - Don’t Take Away The Music (video) (4) Sherbet - Howzat (13) Simon May - Summer Of My Life (23) Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music (danced to by Ruby Flipper) (46) Liverpool Express - Hold Tight (42) David Essex - Coming Home (21) J.A.L.N. Band - Disco Music (I Like It) (1) Pussycat - Mississippi (video) (and credits)

[@stephenjohnson9560]

Just 13 then, just turned 60 now, where has the time gone.

[@robertmarsh3588]

It's like some awful dream! I was 12 then, fast approaching 59. Argh....

[@marcse7en]

I was 14, and I've just turned 61 👎😭

[@wombatlittle1]

I was 13 too. Gee I feel like an old lady now at 59

[@Redpill1962]

What great tunes we had back then

[@nickjh1968]

Terrifying isn’t it…live each day as if it’s your last, one day it will be!

[@giorgosfylaktou2610]

UNFORGETTABLE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND YEARS.

[@westfield90]

Happiest days of my childhood. Thank you mom and dad for creating the happiest memories. I pray in my next life you are my parents again

[@sevenwatson5854]

You will see them again and they will always be your parents. 😀❤

[@westfield90]

@@sevenwatson5854 thank you

[@simonhousam1989]

What a wonderful thing to say ❤️

[@ricko3k]

My fave year. 15 and a beautiful girlfriend.

[@patricksmith4424]

Yes, in this age of dissing parents, especially fathers its great to hear someone say they had a wonderful upbringing.

[@MiLLwallpaul231258]

18 back then and how good was the music…. How I wish I could go back th those halcyon days 😊

[@melaniebrignell]

THE BEST DECADE EVER EVER!!!!!! Funk.....Soul....Disco...Rock....New Wave.....Mod.... Northern Soul...& Punk!💪👍No Era has EVER had this amount of Diversity 🇬🇧 I am proud to of had my BEST years growing up to these sounds of the 70's .Also reggae Ska Two Tone Big impression's on my life 👍

[@seltaeb9691]

60s first then 70s. We had the Beatles who without, the music the bands wouldn't have happened. One man made it by chance & persistence, Mr Brian Epstein, take a bow Brian.

[@FromaTwistedMind]

Well said.

[@Daisy-tl2lh]

I was twenty-one and must have watched this at the time ... RIP our old world!

[@ollier67]

100% about R.I.P old world here in Oz to

[@timbodude2009]

When Mississippi came out I remember buying that record for my Dad's birthday may he rest in peace. KZbin triggers so many memories you just forget over time.

[@lekuns5246]

Rolling back the years.....to my first year at school. Seriously hot summer, Cracking pavements, queuing at the standpipe and buying jubilees from the shop to quench our thirst. 1976 will always be legend 🎉🎉

[@Caskchap]

Jubilees? Don’t you mean Jubblys?

[@redlightspellsdanger7177]

Hope you made lots of good memories 😊

[@Lord.two.a.penny.]

@@Caskchap It was "TIP TOPS" for me. Sheer chemical poisoning delight.

[@AlexAlexon3897]

@@Lord.two.a.penny.: Oh, remember those! And Rise & Shine powdered fruit juice.

[@fluorosco]

Jubblys were plastic Cup with lolly stock thrown in to pure cordial , ay least in bolton in the seventies or am I mixes up with summat else ?

[@paulsbuildingandpropetyyma544]

I met my first love in June 1976 she was 16 and I was 18 ..The love came and went ..But 47+ years later the music still brings happy memories of one of the best years of my life ..

[@raymondbonington9355]

Not even glimpsed her over the years .

[@adrianrosenlund-hudson8789]

Mississippi was a favourite of my dad's. Hearing it takes me back to when I was little, dad stationed in Germany. Golden age

[@chrisdavies6958]

Wow! Just 14 years old 😳😊now 61 fantastic memories,hot summer too 🙌such carefree times 😌🎼

[@patricksmith4424]

What's happened to music? Back then there were real songs, verse, chorus, singable, with fantastic musicianship and performances to match. Every song on here is a classic.

[@Daisy-tl2lh]

then the joy of gangsta rap arrived!

[@nektekket852]

There are still great bands around, you're just not looking for them. Music is music, you just miss being young. I'm 65, and I'm still having a blast.....

[@Benya-d9j]

​@@nektekket852So which great bands are you listening to? Why not tell us?

[@eileenmoore1269]

Totally agree

[@barryirwin60]

Watching this now 1st October 2023 and loving it

[@vincentdavis3453]

1976 was a great time for Guy Fawkes Nights, Street Xmas lighting, and late-night Christmas shopping. Those were the days, carefree never again.

[@JupiterThunder]

No t3rr0rism, no culture wars, no illegal immigrant invasion, rent was cheap, jobs plentiful, city centres were nice places, we had a life and a future, and I and all my school friends had a mother and a father, who were married - to each other.

[@BruceDanton-xw6eg]

​@@JupiterThunderI know what you mean there of course too.

[@nektekket852]

Come on now, I was there, and I mostly remember it being crap, this is why punk happened, grow up kids, rear view vision is generally tinted with too much nostalgia, what you miss is being young. I'm off to a festival in November, what are you old people doing?

[@traceydaizy]

​@nektekket852 it's so annoying when people talk about how perfect everything was a long time ago 😒

[@traceydaizy]

​@@JupiterThundersexism, casual racism, domestic abuse was acceptable and we weren't warned about child molestation. Seriously, take your rose coloured spex off...

[@hondac7028]

I was only five in 76 but remember all these songs howzat alway stuck in my mind great song. 👍

[@SuperForest78]

Same

[@AlexAlexon3897]

Howzat is slower and more menacing than I remembered - and what a guitar solo!

[@JupiterThunder]

Solo reminds me of Pink Floyd

[@TheLeylander]

I was just 10 years of age , when music was music happy days 😁

[@hanslesolo]

Amazing how different everybody sounded from each other back then

[@steveshovlar994]

Tavares a great band. Loads of hits. This is a great performance and played still today.

[@mjones4083]

Agree now looking back . Didn't really appreciate them enough then.

[@lyndaodell3619]

21 that year 68 now remember it like yesterday. First holiday away with my boyfriend we both burnt badly in Cornwall so hot.Soul music and Tamla. Was my passion still love it.

[@ChristineDuffy-m8q]

I still love Mississippi to this day❤

[@francessmith]

I remember this episode in 1976 I was 15 still at school

[@michaelmcdonald2348]

i was 6 and in infant school, loved mississippi then and still do

[@rogerkelly8039]

Pussycat! Mississippi. Still one of my favourite songs of all time!

[@ocean686]

happy days... youth, beer and a hot summer!

[@geoffhummerstone]

Yup!

[@flyingphobiahelp]

Remember holidaying in Cornwall and buying a round for a quid!!

[@michaelrochester48]

Always love seeing Abba near the top of the charts

[@Jane-yq6yq]

Best band

[@hilaryjuliecoxon5434]

Love Tavares,great voices!

[@fisherpeter695]

Saw Tavares at the Liverpool Echo Arena in March 2009 and though I was in my 20s when this was a hit, most of the huge audience were probably not born when this classic stuff was in the discos. Which says it all about so- called pop today, that younger fans seem to shun.

[@barrysolly2637]

Two weeks before our wedding (Thurs 28th) still together. We remember Pussycat were still number one (having been played continually on the radio all summer) this particular performance on the 28th was with them singing it live. Wonderful Memories.

[@davidrix804]

Fantastic✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️smart,fantastic voices,so different from today, 70s 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@eileenmoore1269]

The 70s was a great decade for music. Mississippi is one of the best songs ever.

[@RobertKetteringham]

The best years we're From the 1960 to the 1980 best years of my life 😂😢😂😅😮😢🎉

[@maureencampbell7301]

Me too

[@codzy3532]

yep im 60 loved my childhood glad i was born in 63 loved 70 80 90s after 2010 everything went downhill

[@paulburns-dt9eq]

Just watched the wonderful edition of totp on the 14.10.76 presented by Diddy David Hamilton...loved that mee.eee.sissipee by that wonderful pussycat 'doll' singer...only roughly the 10th time i ve ever heard that Great tune...soo much even my late great dad (who had very little for pop music since 1967) was fond of that record .. i was only 9 then. Now knocking on 4 almost 60!

[@thoskel1]

Remember those days well.We spent to much time listening to BBC Rado one and two ,Radio Luxembourg,Radio Caroline etc

[@philipbonner6486]

Great to David Essex always a regular on top of pops

[@craiggerrard5117]

That record should have been a much bigger hit. He made some very interesting and unusual music in the 1970s.

[@dyanehowland7084]

David Essex is absolutely stunning

[@melgrant7404]

Love his uneven front teeth

[@toddblanks]

@@melgrant7404 And his bell like hair extensions😉

[@kaydee5352]

As always😊❤

[@toddblanks]

I have always thought he looked a little bit like motorcycle racer barry sheene. Perhaps barry had some gypsies blood as well.

[@mjp8648]

Starred in the film Silver Dream Racer in 1980.@@toddblanks

[@philnewton-england7795]

Sherbet:Howzat. Jeeeez I forgot all about this superb song. ❤️👍🏼👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@tyroon81]

Yeah. Good to hear that. Wierd how you still know all the words!😂

[@thedangler1754]

Great music and great times as a teenager!

[@ste123456754]

The best times ever loved it

[@toddblanks]

You lucky so in so. Wish i could have been there, before me, so missed out. I should of been born in 58.

[@jamesskeoch6562]

I had just turned 20, music went downhill rapidly after this,it was no longer music I could listen to.

[@stevecampbell6294]

Tavares...great group

[@toddblanks]

Always put them in the same league as the real thing and sweet sensation.

[@redlightspellsdanger7177]

@@toddblanksoff to see the Real Thing in Manchester this Thursday 6th July!

[@toddblanks]

@@redlightspellsdanger7177 Very nice. I saw them in 2014. Great, enjoy.

[@harryseddon776]

Play that funky music. Great song

[@paulgorrell8824]

Mississippi - Pussy Cat. Such as forgotton and beautiful Song. On compilation of no 1's in 76 was ommited on recent music Channel (only one that was !!). This song has a special significance to me

[@Neptuneman07]

One of the best I've heard from the Netherlands. And I love Golden Earring and Shocking Blue.

[@barrysolly2637]

Special significance for me as well.

[@alanhammatt6790]

Remember playing these when I was a DJ great days when I met my mrs❤

[@Neptuneman07]

I love the one hit wonders and the Soul/Disco jams in this episode.

[@garythompson9942]

Super music and a loverly hot summer

[@susanduke9835]

I was 19 at the time loved soul/funk, my little sis dragging me to the disco. Great music, so original back then.

[@Rebecca-se3fu]

Thank you for posting. Great memories. I'm also 60, feeling 16 😂

[@jamesseed2066]

Happy days, I'd just started my final year at Ribblesdale secondary modern school, Clitheroe, Lancashire, England.😊🎶

[@redlightspellsdanger7177]

I was Clitheroe on FA cup day at Ribble Cycles testing an electric bike and praying United would win the cup!!

[@rachelmills7577]

When music was worth listening to, and they didn't need explicit lyrics or videos,,,

[@robhavock9434]

I remember 1976 almost like a dream, I remember standing at the entrance gate to Roath Park Cardiff, the two pillars that stood and seeing the people and the water sunshine just one aspect of 76 were the endless sun caused the ground to form cracks like in a desert with dead yellow grass.

[@shantihealer]

Tavares and Simon May bring back the mood of that time. I was only 19, in further education, still with first gf - great memories. How I'd love to see filmed highlights of my actual day on Thursday October 14th 1976.

[@redlightspellsdanger7177]

Did you keep a diary!?

[@shantihealer]

@@redlightspellsdanger7177 Yep, a few diary entries for 1976 but nothing for that particular Thursday.

[@adam8892]

God bless you lol. Made me feel young again,

[@IainLucey1972]

Shame the bbc didn't keep all these gems...😢... EINSFESTIVAL... keeping the memories alive ❤️

[@stephenbrown3835]

Great Music ,weather , birds & bevvy ! 🍀💚🍀

[@diannewebb8434]

David Essex is so dam handsome just gorgous

[@zoyablake9538]

Yes!

[@halloweenjack2562]

Excellent! Some really good tunes and memories,... and of course one or two not so good of my fifteenth year on Earth! Thanks for posting!

[@raymondbonington9355]

Hold tight by Liverpool express sound so much like pilot .

[@jeniferallan6693]

The beautiful David Essex 😊

[@lorainemcguire5795]

18 year's old in 76 life was wonderful so was the weather that summer ❤

[@LemonJello17]

David was one of my favorites! Stardust is a great Rock movie, I saw it at the theatre many times… Rock on David, thanks for some great inspiration!

[@lesliedymond9484]

Love this video back when I was a teenage years. Thanks for the video sir

[@deirdredoyle637]

I remember being 6, and I thought the singer in Tavares wearing the glasses was very easy on the eye - I’m now 54 and still think the same 😂I’ve always loved Mississippi, as did my mum - it’s played quite often on the juke box at our local! Beautiful memories ❤

[@RobertWeingher]

1976 was the best year for pop music and also a fantastic year for rock music, Boston band released their debut album that is one of the best debut selling albums in history, i believe it's the second best debut selling album, 1976 is my favorite year in music history, thanks for sharing.

[@hanajinks1044]

Pistols played their first gig..

[@kingbolo4579]

@@hanajinks1044 First British punk single New Rose.

[@The70s80scollection]

Wow what a classic chart. I was 14 when all these (in the chart rundown) charted and quite a few of them are iconic classic hits that defined the 1970s...all in one chart....

[@soundadapter]

Thank you for sharing I wish you a nice Sunday evening friendly regards Frank

[@jaxsonariel2151]

You probably dont care but if you're bored like me atm then you can stream all of the latest movies and series on instaflixxer. Have been watching with my girlfriend lately :)

[@rileyeaston1207]

@Jaxson Ariel yup, have been using instaflixxer for months myself =)

[@joshuaowen6822]

@Jaxson Ariel Yup, have been watching on InstaFlixxer for months myself :D

[@jerichojayce7904]

@Jaxson Ariel Yea, been using instaflixxer for years myself :)

[@adrinathegreat3095]

Worth watching just for Diddy david Hamilton 😅

[@a0b0]

when this was originally broadcast i was 13 and off school sick, in the summer of 1976 i fell very very ill and i was in hospital for 6 weeks. had to learn how to walk again. in october 1976 i was walking around with the help of a walking stick. music was what kept me going as i got my very first radio whilst i was in hospital.

[@erepsekahs]

Top of the Pops Queen

[@roberthallam6741]

What a great comb-over!

[@ChristineDuffy-m8q]

Love this

[@davidrobinson2294]

3 days previously my Dad had passed away, I was 15 such a shit time, like the first tune it took away my music 😢

[@eddiefraser6507]

Great song

[@trawlerboyjay]

I was 12 then. Now 60 and still miss that time and this music trumps any of nowadays crap

[@hanajinks1044]

I only clicked on cos of Sherbet...very surprised they sold records outside of Australia...

[@jfk9996]

I've not seen seen Sherbert perform this live, it was very impressive.

[@lindabrown7903]

Really good 👍 👌

[@purtlemoirrey1161]

😂🤣 they’re miming

[@annies9689]

TOTP was never live.

[@duncanpriestley964]

This would've been re-recorded specially for TOTP so it's a unique version but they did mime to it.

[@seltaeb9691]

​​@@annies9689 sometimes some songs were live, even with the BBC Orch., but live meant the singer, the instruments never were, the drums always had a circular pads on the skins which sometimes slipped a bit, they did hit cymbals so were they false too.

[@hobbayne]

Simon May went on to write the theme tune to Eastenders 10 years after this.

[@Nickster_P]

Sherbet - Howzat. Not a clue what the track was about until the chorus, that i hadn't heard in more than 45 years, then the words / melody hit me as if I'd heard them only the other day.....

[@andeenev]

Thank the lord Punk came along!!!

[@toddblanks]

Only lasted 3 years. Good though. Siouxsie and the banshees and the damned forever.

[@redlightspellsdanger7177]

And quickly vanished!

[@lndnflms484]

Glad you said it. That was a truly awful episode of TOTPs. Amazing how many old people were in the charts in 1976 - barely anyone under the age of 25. I was 12 years old at the time and would religiously watch the show, but the music was like valium. At the time, you took what pleasures you could find - I remember sort of liking the Sherbert song Howsat simply because everything else was so awful.

[@amandabotterill1000]

Best music times were 8 but the seventies top of the pops have most amazing tracks on almost every show whitch is unlike times after think its fact reminds me of bieng a kid n yet ut still played .

[@bryemycaz]

Simon May not very well known but music written by him is heard every week on BBC TV multiple times.

[@lebosisings]

Oh yeah, Eastenders theme music?

[@Thecarman1994]

Gosh ! I've just discovered what drove me to drink.

[@eamonnorourke3982]

Remember when we first heard play that funky music , my mum went mad , she thought they were saying something else 😅😅

[@AlexAlexon3897]

😂

[@stevenoneill7166]

I believe that, when this episode was originally broadcast, ABBA's "Dancing Queen" had just been toppled after 6 weeks at the top. Strangely enough, because Pussycat's "Mississippi" was a country & western song, I thought they were American & got a surprise when I heard they were from The Netherlands. I was only an 8-year-old kid at the time though

[@TonyWeaving]

I thought that they were American too

[@youejtube7692]

Niall Horan and David Essex have the same cheeky chappy vibe - sweet.

[@helenandsophie100]

I didn’t realise back then that Sherbert were Australian but I loved the song! All these years later I now live in Oz and have seen Daryl Braithwaite live a few times. He’s still sings that song 🎶😊

[@pandaeyes42]

THE VOICE OF YOUTH? THEY'RE WEARING FLARED TROUSERS!!!

[@dianelawes3531]

Was 18 living in Reading, top rank every Saturday night wonderful

[@martinwedge7732]

Loved Ruby Flipper and especially Floyd x

[@luketaylor9881]

Tavares song is the only one of these played nowadays

[@maSHEALY]

Howgate the hot summer of 76 happy days

[@philipbonner6486]

David Hamilton is on Boom Radio every weekday from 12miday to 2pm.

[@raymondbonington9355]

And still good .

[@philipbonner6486]

The guitar player from Sherbert is having a great time.

[@dondee5439]

At the 25:05 mark, so bizarre having a Dutch band siging in American country style a song called MISSISSIPPI.

[@wolfgangkiesteiner6560]

Traumhaft - all of them on music cassette 🍾🎶

[@lukehallinan9966]

I feel 15 again😉

[@adrinathegreat3095]

Many of the youngsters seem to think disco came out with Saturday night fever, they don't realise this movie was made to capitalised, cash in on the disco music craze that had swept across the world, it was at its peak when Saturday night fever came out.. The Bee Gee's often credited with creating disco music hadn't actually made a record that was " disco" until they made the soundtrack for the movie, it was for them a complete about turn of style

[@toomuchinformation]

Plenty of other groups also jumped on the Disco bandwagon inc ELO and the Beach Boys.

[@deletebilderberg]

Simon May wrote the Eastenders' theme tune!

[@garydunn3037]

I bought this single, by Aussie Band "Sherbet" and went on to buy the album by the same name "Howzat" and their later album which I think was called "Cold Play" or I may be wrong, its such a long time ago. But, Daryl Braithwaite certainly had a distinctive vocal style. By the way I'm from the UK, and "Loved" this Aussie Band. I have since had a clear out of old lp's and can not find their first two albums on cd.

[@poitor492]

🤔photoplay maybe😏

[@garydunn3037]

@@poitor492 You are right, their 2nd album was called "Photoplay"

[@poitor492]

@@garydunn3037 sorry photoplay was merely the follow up to the ‘howzat’ album it was actually their 6 th LP release🤙🏻

[@hanajinks1044]

I'm surprised Brits know of Sherbet...

[@garydunn3037]

@@hanajinks1044 Yeah, Howzat was a big hit in 1976. And I bought their first 2 albums because of it.

[@MichaelHoare-bh5pg]

'Diddy'David Hamilton presents this episode of Top of the Pops.

[@gaskellr44]

Sherbert was great too.

[@magirusdeutzjupiter2234]

I was Just 15 years old, a VERY hot Summer in the UK that year, best days of my life, young, care free, long hair, and plenty of sweet memories with my school gf.

[@garytaylor6382]

Summer of 76 magic i was 15 school was so hot they let us start early and go home at 1 pm ,cycled down the beach nearly everyday 😊