Kim Wilde on Top of the Pops
From lipsynch to live vox in 20 performances
The legendary weekly television show Top of the Pops may have gone from TV screens in the UK, it is still fondly remembered by generations of viewers. It featured all the stars of the past five decades, and more than a few one hit wonders too.
I remember watching the programme as a child, particularly when I spent about 8 months of my 8 year old life in a very dreary boarding school. The only highlight was being able to watch TOTP before being packed off to bed. Whenever a particularly ‘noisy’ or ‘hairy’ looking band came on, the old dear who ran the place would slap her hand over my eyes so I couldn’t see!! That seems like a very long time ago now, I never dreamed that I’d ever appear on it myself. (Kim Wilde Fan Club News, volume two, number three, May 1983)
Kim appeared on the show no less than 20 times. Here’s a listing of all of her studio performances!
February 26, 1981
Kids in America
Kim Wilde shot to fame in February 1981 when her debut single ‘Kids in America’ was released. Four weeks after its release, Kim appeared in Top of the Pops, and the experience was a pleasant one for her:
They all said I’d be bored by spending a day down at ‘Top of the pops’ waiting to work for just a few minutes. I didn’t think it was boring. It was great — better than working in a coal mine. (The Wilde side of Kim, Melody Maker (UK), April 11, 1981)
Kim appeared on stage with the band that was put together for promotional purposes, consisting of her brother Ricky, guitarist James Stevenson and drummer Calvin Hayes. The appearance helped in getting the single up to number 2 in the UK charts.
May 7, 1981
Chequered Love
A little over two months later, Kim returned to Top of the Pops to perform her second single, which had just entered the charts and would end up on number 4.
Kim looked back on this performance eight years later:
When was the last time you laughed till you cried?
It was the other night, and I went out with a couple of guys who used to be in my very first band, and one of them I hadn’t seen in a very long time and he showed me a video of me doing ‘Chequered love’ on Top of the Pops in about 1982 or something, that was a very funny experience. (Star Test, Channel 4 (UK), January 12, 1989)
July 30, 1981
Water On Glass
There was no music video for ‘Water On Glass’, but for many, this performance serves as a good replacement.
November 26, 1981
Cambodia
Kim’s fourth single led to her fourth appearance on the show. Singing this beautiful mid-tempo song without her band this time, some weird dance moves were performed behind her by three dancers. An early form of breakdancing?
December 25, 1981
Kids in America
Reunited with her band, Kim reprised her debut hit ‘Kids in America’ for the Christmas edition of Top of the Pops, which traditionally showed the viewers the biggest and best hits of the past year.
April 22, 1982
View From A Bridge
With a different band, Kim appeared on Top of the Pops once again to perform her latest hit single, ‘View from a bridge’. It was almost becoming a habit, but in fact, this was to be her last performance on the show for over a year, because the subsequent single ‘Child Come Away’ wasn’t as successful…
August 4, 1983
Love Blonde
…and so, Kim only returned to the show in August 1983, a full 16 months after her last performance. Perhaps that’s why:
When I did Top of the Pops last week, I was more nervous than ever before. (The star they forgot to ask, Sunday Mail (UK), August 21, 1983)
Kim appeared in the leather dress that was featured in the official music video and on the single’s sleeve; an attractive package that played on her image as ‘the pretty girl who could sing but not write any songs’.
In the end I got so sick of being labelled a sex symbol that I decided to beat them at their own game. I took my chequebook and went shopping for all the clothes I’d ever wanted to wear — minis, stilettos, tight trousers, the lot. I also bought a tight leather dress with cut-away sides which left absolutely nothing to the imagination, and wore it on Top Of The Pops — that soon shut up my critics. (Kim Wilde says: ‘Be proud to be a woman!’, 1984)
August 18, 1983
Love Blonde
And then, she was invited back only two weeks later! She appeared solo with an entirely different look.
‘That was a horrible little skirt really. And the bloody camera went right up it!’ (Wilde about the girl, Record Mirror (UK), September 29, 1984)
October 11, 1984
The Second Time
KIm would look back on her image during the promotion of ‘The Second Time’ in horror. The fabricated sci-fi/Barbarella image dreamed up by XL Design wasn’t entirely her thing. However, this performance does stand out as very colourful and the very definition of what the Eighties were all about.
May 16, 1985
Rage To Love
While in 1981, Kim didn’t think it was boring to be on Top of the Pops, her comment in 1985 was slightly different:
It can be very tedious, but I still enjoy doing TV. I’ve taped every show I’ve been on and catalogues them for the future. But the real thrill of T.O.T.P. is when you hear you’ve been chosen for that week’s show. There’s no other feeling in the world like it.
And so Kim will have been pleased to return to the show seven months after her last appearance, performing ‘Rage to love’ in stage clothing she’d also used during her European tour. The sci-fi image was gone, Kim was back to basics.
October 30, 1986
You Keep Me Hangin’ On
17 months passed until Kim reappeared on Top of the Pops — her longest absence yet. At the time of this performance, the single ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ had just made the charts in the UK, and there was no way of knowing the amount of success that was to follow.
November 13, 1986
You Keep Me Hangin’ On
Kim flew over from France to perform ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’ for the second time, while the single was at number 2 in the charts. This performance didn’t help it get to the top of the charts, unfortunately!
April 23, 1987
Another Step (Closer To You)
Kim’s next hit single was ‘Another Step (Closer To You)’, a duet with Junior Giscombe. They performed the song together in various TV programmes, including this edition of Top of the Pops.
July 21, 1988
You Came
Kim was performing live all over Europe with Michael Jackson when ‘You Came’ was released, but she still found time to appear on Top of the Pops in July. She was writing a diary for a pop magazine as well, in which she described the day:
Doing Top of the Pops was nice because I met The Communards down there, I really like them, I knew their drummer June really well, from the days when she used to be in a band called the The Modettes. It was nice seeing her again too. She told me she was going to have a baby. The producers asked me on the spot to present Glenn Medeiros with a birthday cake because he was 18 years old. It was a bit embarrassing but he turned out to be very sweet and I was really impressed with his voice because he sang live although I don’t like the song. (Wilde and Wacko!, No. 1 (UK), July 30, 1988)
October 13, 1988
Never Trust A Stranger
Performing another hit single from the album ‘Close’, Kim appeared in the studio with her band, singing ‘Never Trust A Stranger’. Her brother Ricky showed up beside her for the last time in Top of the Pops.
December 22, 1988
Four Letter Word
Performing this ballad solo on stage, this was probably Kim’s least ‘wild’ performance on Top of the Pops. It was the fourth single from the album ‘Close’, and yet another chart hit.
March 23, 1989
Love In The Natural Way
During the Easter edition of Top of the Pops in March 1989, Kim performed the fifth and final single from her album ‘Close’. She looked quite casual, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. In fact, it was her last public appearance before she went into the studio to record her next album, ‘Love Moves’ (and the usual radio silence that came along with it)…
December 28, 1989
You Keep Me Hangin’ On
The last edition of Top of the Pops in 1989 reprised the biggest hits fro mthe Eighties, and Kim, who was the only solo female from the UK to have a number 1 hit in the USA, had to appear in this show, although she wasn’t in the public eye at that time, busy recording a new album. She appeared on the show as bouncy as ever!
May 7, 1992
Love Is Holy
After all the lipsynched performances during the Eighties, Kim sung live during her first appearance on Top of the Pops in the Nineties. It was a busy day: on the same day, she appeared on Pebble Mill and the SOS Awards, performing the same song.
July 8, 1993
If I Can’t Have You
Kim appeared on Top of the Pops for the last time in July 1993, singing live again. ‘If I Can’t Have You’ was her last UK Top 40 hit; four years later she would retreat from the music business, only to return in the early Noughties. She would appear on the Dutch and German versions of Top of the Pops, but that’s a story for another day…
