Musical Chairs

#37 Did you catch The Tube? What a journey!

I was at my brother's recently and someone sent him a clip of New Model Army appearing on The Tube in January 1984. We both stopped what we were doing and stood glued to his laptop - it was the most gripping television I'd seen in months.

I'm hoping a few of you will be nodding in recognition at this point, but for those who don't know The Tube, it was a highly influential UK music show that ran from 1982 to 1987. I was 16 when it started, 21 when it finished.

Generally co-hosted by ex-Squeeze member and modern-day national treasure Jools Holland and the ill-fated Paula Yates, it was broadcast on Channel 4 on Friday early evenings for 90 minutes and featured four or five emerging and established bands performing in the Tyne Tees TV studio in Newcastle. So far, so formulaic.

But when it came to The Tube, normal rules did not apply. In an era where miming was all the rage and studio audiences generally looked like they'd been recruited from the Bucks Fizz fan club, here was raucous, uncensored live music and a wildly over-exuberant crowd that had effectively been invited to a private viewing of their favourite band.

Back to New Model Army - loud, leather-clad, menacing and anti-establishment: "We've got a new single out, this isn't it". The crowd responded in kind - Mohicans, home-made jackets, chicken dancing, bodies tumbling on and off each other's shoulders, all round general mayhem.

Whilst much of the audience were weekly regulars, the bands were given an allocation to distribute to fans - I know this because I was the lucky recipient of the equivalent of a
Willy Wonka golden ticket from The Mission in January 1987. As regular followers of the band, about thirty of us were given passes for The Tube performance, so I truly recognise the unbridled joy from fans in the studio - that night and many others; it really was electric, aided in no small part to spending much of the afternoon in the pub next door.

Alongside the two bands mentioned above, many performances from the show are captured on YouTube - not a camera phone in sight. My personal favourites are the Cocteau Twins (1983), The Cult (1984), The Cramps (1986) and The Smiths (1987). Beyond that, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Terence Trent D'Arby and Madonna (via a performance from Manchester's Hacienda) arguably all got their big breaks on the programme.

On The Tube anything could happen - and it regularly did; Holland dropped the F word (a genuine rarity in the mid-80s), Yates, to use her own words, famously interviewed future lover Michael Hutchence's 'crotch' and comedian Rik Mayall vomited live on air. All great fodder for the tabloids but The Tube's enduring legacy will always be its iconic performances. At a time when the thrill of live music was an emerging wonderland waiting to be explored, The Tube was a looking glass moment for a generation of wide-eyed teens.