Oh come ON, the weather, this is the UK. We're notorious for our shit summers. And more to the point this is north west England. The entire British Empire only existed because the weather in Manchester was uniformly grey, wet, and miserable. Sort […] [Original post on social.chatty.monster]

Urgent breaking news from the BBC as they breathlessly tell us that a man is going to visit his dad.

We are at the theatre. #somethingrotten

There's no need to wonder any more about what happened to the dawn chorus. The noisy little feathered bastards are all alive and well and sitting outside my bedroom window, loudly singing their hearts out and making damn sure that a weekend lie-in is not actually permitted.

Well that was, let's be honest, mostly pretty dire. A few gems among the dust though. I think there are only a couple of episodes next week, neither of which are from the 21st century. So it all might be OK. See you then? #TOTP

Voodoo Ray. Madchester is coming. Buckle up. #TOTP

KEYTAR KLAXON Soul II Soul hitting every win tonight. #TOTP

Yes! Another banger of a tune. Thank you 1989 for saving the evening. #TOTP

Nicky, there's no way Chaka Khan is going to go out with you, no matter how seductively you smile when you say her name. #TOTP

Tune! Song of the night for me. #TOTP

Great Bond theme song (have there been any really terrible ones?) #TOTP

Yeah it's easy to knock Sonia but (a) watch this performance, she's genuinely made up to be there on the #TOTP stage and (b) she's still going strong, still doing this stuff. More power to her.

"Where did your heart go? Did you put it on a train?" George, are you proud of those lyrics? Are you? #TOTP

None of us went "awwww", Janice. #TOTP

Sam Fox doing pop rock is actually considerably better than Sam Fox doing poppy pop. #TOTP

Right, time for some tune-worthy pops. I hope. #TOTP

Do love me a bit of Americana. #TOTP

Britney's sitting down. Is there going to be a key change, or does she still have an ouchy knee? #TOTP

It's an impressive speaker stack behind the SFA but I but none of 'em are actually switched on. #TOTP

Oh an actual proper tune. Yay for the Super Furries! #TOTP

Whenever someone says "why doesn't the BBC bring back Top of the Pops" we can point to these two episodes as exactly why it needed to stop. #TOTP

Finally. A band that got the "you won't feel the benefit" message. At least they've taken off their big coats. #TOTP

Somebody save us from ageing rock stars going through their acoustic period. #TOTP

And this, kids, is why you should always fully extinguish your cigarette before throwing it in the bin. #TOTP

Oh is it still this song? Dozed off for a bit there. #TOTP

It's Friday, it's 7 o'clock, and it's time for CRACKERJACK! No wait, that's not right. It's time for Top of the Pops. Even better. (Is it, though? We'll see ...) #TOTP

I do enjoy getting these themed compilation boxsets from small, independent record labels. Of course it's great to have a physical product that nobody can ever take away from you (in this case each box contains 4 individually packaged CDs plus a […] [Original post on social.chatty.monster]

Oh no, now #whatsapp have introduced usernames as an alternative to phone number identification. And so that's a dilemma: do I choose a username and if so what? I have such a diverse set of Whatsapp groups (some family, some friends, a couple work-related) that I genuinely can't think of a good […]

⚡ Thunderstorms are antimatter factories - and it happens above your head hundreds of times a day. During a storm, intense electric fields inside clouds accelerate electrons to nearly light speed. When they slam into air molecules, they release bursts of gamma radiation called Terrestrial […]

Ha, love this. Once upon a time there was a band called Black Sabbath who changed the world of music. But before THAT, there was the band who Black Sabbath stole all their songs from. Is this true? Judge for yourself! #jazzsabbath #blacksabbath #heavymetal […]

We had a leaflet through the door from the postman to tell us that the service is going to start being shit. Which is quite a surprise as it got shit several years back. To be honest if they keep to their promise to deliver letters every second day […] [Original post on social.chatty.monster]

Nature is healing ❤️🐮 BBC News - Cows on the West Coast Mainline cause major delays to trains https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgl35y20n2ro

I suppose this is true, strictly speaking, but only in the same way that using a computer or a mobile phone could end up with you introduced to the same set of friends. "Most excitingly, you can download apps for [Software Defined Radios] that do everything, most especially the kind of thing […]

I can very faintly hear the chimes of an ice cream van as it drives around the neighbourhood, and I swear it's playing the Eastenders theme tune.

I am in a hotel, and the owners must not have being paying attention to all their classes at hotel school. Not only are there ample charging sockets by the bed (both sides) but there is a proper big light in the middle of the ceiling.

Is it safe to unmute the word "goose" yet? Has Fedi found a new toy to play with?

As Powell said: "Bye everybody" You've all been magnificent as always. Let's all meet up in the year 2000 (i.e. next week) and we can do it again. #TOTP

Tune! (and another opportunity for me to plug the book "Listening to the Music the Machines Make" by Richard Evans) If you have even a passing interest in how synth-pop took over the world in the early 80s (and why are you watching #TOTP if not) have a read of that book […]

CHARLES AND DAVID #totp

GERTCHA! #TOTP

BTW sending all my love to Bonnie Tyler who's still very ill in hospital. Hope she recovers soon. #TOTP

Nice little song Bonnie but here's a tip: give Jim Steinman a call. Seriously, do it. You won't regret it. #TOTP

I think the oboeists t-shirt said "Wood Norton Studios". Would that be the same Wood Norton where the BBC used to have their R&D department? Now I'm going to have to go off and do some WIkipedia-ing again, aren't I. #TOTP

Fuck off with your "I hope it's hot where you are" Powell. You're just taking the piss, even if it is from nearly half a century ago. #TOTP

Iffy lyrics klaxon. #TOTP

Phil Lynott's behind bars in this video. Maybe tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak ... #TOTP

I was hoping Thin Lizzy would be doing the Legs & Co dance. In flouncey dresses. #TOTP

I mean this is quite an impressive client list. How on earth did he go from fronting a band singing this dross, to producing all of these? "produced albums for artists including Rush, Kevin Ayers, Tina Turner, Howard Jones, Saga, the Fixx, Bob Geldof, Thompson Twins, Stevie Nicks, Chris de […]

Hope the subtitlers got bonuses this week. #TOTP