An article in today’s paper lists some mistakes on Top of the Pops. I only remember the one involving The Who but the one that made we laugh was this one;
Dexys Midnight Runners, 1982
One of the biggest c****ps in TOTP history quickly became BBC legend but wasn’t quite as simple as it first seemed.
In 1982, Dexys Midnight Runners, of Come on Eileen fame, were on the show to perform their cover of the Van Morrison song Jackie Wilson Said, a tribute to Wilson, the pioneering American soul singer. But as the camera pointing at Dexys frontman Kevin Rowland zoomed out, the giant screen behind him revealed the grinning, gap-toothed visage of Jocky Wilson, who was then a very famous darts champion from Kirkcaldy – and definitely not a man known for rhythm or blues.
“Bloody Top of the Pops. How could they mix up one of the great soul singers with a Scottish darts player?” the Radio 1 DJ Mike Read said the next morning, as fingers pointed to some clueless junior producer.
The cockup narrative persisted for years, even after Rowland revealed in an interview in 2002 that the whole thing had been a surreal gag. “For a laugh, we told the producer to put a picture of Jocky Wilson up behind us,” he recalled. “He said, ‘But Kevin, people will think we made a mistake.’ I told him only an idiot would think that.”
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