The Top of The Poppers Sing and Play the Hits of David Bowie

The legendary ‘Top Of The Pops’ compilation albums of the 1970s cranked out cover versions of the hits of the day at a phenomenal rate. They sold in droves, giving the hard-up a way to listen to approximations of the last six weeks’ worth of pop smashes. Week-in, week-out, the team of overworked session players would deconstruct everything from Slade to Chicory Tip. They even tackled Kraftwerk’s ‘Autobahn’. Here, compiled by Electronic Sound, is a collection of the David Bowie cover versions.

Encoded into these cover versions, which veer between artless, gauche knock-offs and heartfelt, earnest attempts to capture and to pay homage to Bowie, is the essence of a troubled and agitated British decade. Top Of The Pops albums and their crass artwork are as evocative of the 1970s as archive news footage of marauding football hooligans with tartan scarves tied around their wrists, three-day weeks and power cuts. Somewhere in the chasm between Bowie’s life and music and the existence of these cheapskate copies is the story of Britain’s post-Empire, post-war hangover; a sonic diary of a nation on its knees when only a few short years before it was the proud exporter of The Beatles and Union Jack clothing.