Top of the Pops 1975

Thinking of what I posted yesterday, why had So Long had a spot on Top Of The Pops and it did not chart at all were as I Do I Do and Ring Ring had charted at 38 and 32. So why did those two songs not get a chance to be on the show too? Even as new entry?

"Ring Ring" was released in late June 1974. Between mid June and early August of that year, Top of the Pops wasn’t being produced because of internal strikes at the BBC. When it finally did come back, "Ring Ring" was going down the charts and so the group wouldn’t have been invited to promote it. Instead they appeared on ITV’s "Tommy Cooper Hour".

As for "I Do…", it’s possible ABBA never enquired as to whether they could appear on the show, or were never invited by the BBC - especially as by this point they’d had a string of ‘flops’ and were unlikely to move out of their one-hit-wonder status. Even if there was a music video, TOTP wouldn’t show these for songs that were outside the Top 30.

I would imagine that ABBA were more or less guaranteed to have a showing on TOTP after 'Waterloo' on the basis of having a UK Number 1 single earlier in the year. The BBC strike has already been mentioned, so as it was not possible for 'Ring Ring', the next opportunity was 'So Long' in December 1974.

Despite its featuring on the show, it did not chart - probably because of very little radio play to back up the TOTP appearance.

On that basis, it is possible that the BBC did not 'take a chance' (no pun intended) on 'I Do, I Do...' - they probably re-considered their position once 'SOS' hit the top 30, although I can't recall that song's chart position when it got its first 'TOTP' exposure....