Year:1980
Date:11/5/1980
Show no:239
Summary:THIS SHOW HOSTED BY BOB GELDOF FROM THE BOOMTOWN RATS, MOLLY HOSTED HUMDRUM, CHERRY RIPE INTERVIEWED ROCKY BURNETTE OF 'TIRED OF TOEIN' THE LINE' FAME FROM LONDON RE HIS FATHER (WHO WAS A 'ROCKER' FROM THE 1950'S AND DID PERFORM IN AUSTRALIA), UPBRINGING, MUSIC STYLE, TREND IN AMERICA (ROCK N' ROLL) AND COMING TO AUSTRALIA. LOCAL ARTISTS:
JIMMY AND THE BOYS 'PRODUCTS OF YOUR MIND (LIVE)
COLD CHISEL 'CHEAP WINE' (CLIP)
SPORTS 'PERHAPS' (LIVE)
KIM HART 'LOVE AT FIRST NIGHT' (LIVE)
LITTLE RIVER BAND 'RED SHOES' (LIVE)
OVERSEAS TALENT:
BOOMTOWN RATS 'SOMEONE'S LOOKING AT YOU' (LIVE)
THE VETERANS 'AIN'T NO AGE FOR ROCK AND ROLL'
PAUL MCCARTNEY 'COMING UP'
DON MCLEAN 'CRYING' (DEDICATION TO ROY ORBISON OF THE 1980'S)
DAVE EDMUNDS 'SINGING THE BLUES'
HUMDRUM ITEMS:
(OVERSEAS)
GARY NUMAN 'WE ARE GLASS'
PETE TOWNSHEND (FROM THE WHO) 'ROUGH BOYS'
(LOCAL)
STARS 'THE MIGHTY ROCK'
OVERSEAS CHARTBUSTERS:
BILLY PRESTON & SYREETA 'WITH YOU I'M BORN AGAIN'
ISAAC HAYES 'DON'T LET GO'
J. GEILS BAND 'COME BACK'
ROCKY BURNETTE 'TIRED OF TOEIN' THE LINE'
NATIONAL TOP TEN:
DARRYL COTTON 'SAME OLD GIRL' (10)
MICHAEL JACKSON 'ROCK WITH YOU' (9)
QUEEN 'CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE' (8)
THE MOTELS 'TOTAL CONTROL' (7)
ROCKY BURNETTE 'TIRED OF TOEIN' THE LINE' (6)
JANIS IAN 'FLY TO HIGH' (5)
THE B52'S 'ROCK LOBSTER' (4)
PINK FLOYD 'ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL' (3)
PLAYER 1 'SPACE INVADERS' (3)
THE PRETENDERS 'BRASS IN POCKET' (2)
SPLIT ENZ 'I GOT YOU' (1)

BOOMTOWN RATS Banana Republic (Polydor)

Year:1980
Date:23/11/1980
Show no:267
Summary:GUEST PRESENTER IS ROSS WILSON,LEAD SINGER FROM MONDO ROCK.
LIVE STUDIO ITEMS:
TINA TURNER 'ARE YOU BREAKING MY HEART'
JO DOLCE 'SHUDDAP YOUR FACE'
SHERBS 'I HAVE THE SKILL'
KIM HART 'IT'S EASY'
LOCAL ARTISTS VIDEO CLIPS:MONDON ROCK 'STATE OF THE HEART'
OVERSEAS ARTISTS VIDEO CLIPS:
FISCHER Z 'SO LONG'
EARTH WIND & FIRE 'LET ME TALK'
MADNESS 'BAGGY TROUSERS'
ROD STEWART 'PASSION'
ABBA 'ON AND ON AND ON'
CHARTBUSTERS:
SUZIE QUATO 'ROCK HARD'
JOHN LENNON 'STARTING OVER'
QUEEN 'ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST'
TOP TEN ITEMS:
AC/DC 'YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG'
LEO SAYER 'MORE THAN I CAN SAY'
POINTER SISTERS 'HE'S SO SHY'
KATE BUSH 'BABOOSHKA'
POLICE 'DON'T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME'
DONNA SUMMER 'THE WANDERER'
JO DOLCE 'SHUDDAP YOUR FACE'
CLIFF RICHARD 'DREAMIN'
STEVIE WONDER 'MASTER BLASTER'
BARBARA STREISAND 'WOMAN IN LOVE'
DAVID BOWIE 'JEAN GENIE'

MONDO ROCK The Fugitive Kind (Shock)
MONDO ROCK No Time (Columbia)

Year:1981
Date:25/10/1981
Show no:307
Summary:THIS WEEKS SHOW RECORDED IN SYDNEY HOSTED BY SHARON O'NEIL.
LIVE STUDIO ITEMS:
THE RADIATORS 'UP FOR GRABS'
MARCIA HINES 'WHAT A B I T C H IS LOVE'
SHERBS 'FREE THE SAILOR'
SHARON O'NEIL BAND 'MAYBE'
ICEHOUSE 'LOVE IN MOTION'
LOCAL ARTISTS:
BILY THORPE 'JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT'
OVERSEAS ARTISTS:
POLICE 'EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC'
MEATLOAF 'I'M GONNA LOVE HER'
DEVO 'BEAUTIFUL WORLD'
OLVIIA NEWTON-JOHN 'PHYSICAL'
TOP TEN ITEMS:
SWANEE 'IF I WERE A CARPENTER'
KIM WILDE 'CHEQUERED LOVE'
SHAKIN' STEVENS 'YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY'
JONA LEWIE 'LOUISE'
THE ROLLING STONES 'START ME UP'
PHD 'I WON'T LET YOU DOWN'
ADAM & THE ANTS 'PRINCE CHARMING'
ELO 'HOLD ON TIGHT'
LIONEL RITCHIE & DIANA ROSS 'ENDLESS LOVE'
BILLY FIELD 'YOU WEREN'T IN LOVE WITH ME'
OVERSEAS CHARTBUSTERS:
PAT BENATAR 'FIRE & ICE'
CHRISTOPHER CROSS 'ARTHUR'S THEME'
HUMDRUM ITEMS:
INXS 'STAY YOUNG'
CHURCH 'TEAR IT ALL AWAY'
MEATLOAF 'I'M GONNA LOVE HER'

SHARON O'NEILL Waiting For You (CBS)

Year:1982
Date:29/08/1982
Show no:343
Summary:GUEST PRESENTER IS ANNALISSE MORROW.
LIVE STUDIO ITEMS:
NUMBERS 'DREAMS OF YESTERDAY'
SWANEE 'LADY WHATS YOUR NAME'
TURNAROUND 'SHES A DREAMER'
ZOO 'KEEP IT UP'
LOCAL ARTISTS VIDEO CLIPS:
INXS 'ONE THING'
LITTLE RIVER BAND 'DOWN ON THE BORDER'
ICEHOUSE 'GREAT SOUTHERN LAND'
SPLIT ENZ 'NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME'
OVERSEAS ARTISTS VIDEO CLIPS:
ROCKY SHARPE & REPLAYS 'SHOUT SHOUT'
KID CREOLE & THE COCONUTS 'I'M A WONDERFUL THING BABY'
ROXY MUSIC 'AVALON'
CHRIS ATKINS 'HOW CAN I LIVE WITHOUT HER'
BANANARAMA 'SHY BOY'
CAPTAIN SENSIBLE 'HAPPY TALK'
HUMDRUM ITEMS:
FLEETWOOD MAC 'GYPSY'
REO SPEEDWAGON 'KEEPING THE FIRES BURNING'
HAIRCUT 100 'FAVOURITE SHIRTS','FANTASTIC DAY','LOVE
PLUS ONE'
MADNESS 'HOUSE OF FUN'
IRON MAIDEN 'NUMBER OF THE BEAST'
TOP TEN ITEMS:
JOHN COUGAR, LATER KNOWN AS JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP AND
JOHN MELLENCAMP 'HURTS SO GOOD'
CHEAP TRICK 'IF YOU WANT MY LOVE'
ABC 'POISON ARROW'
YAZOO 'ONLY YOU'
MEMBERS 'RADIO'
MADNESS 'HOUSE OF FUN'
FLOCK OF SEAGULLS 'I RAN'
ADAM ANT 'GOOD TWO SHOES'
RAY PARKER JR 'THE OTHER WOMAN'
STEVE MILLER BAND 'ABRACADABRA'

THE NUMBERS Modern Song (BMG)
THE NUMBERS Jericho (BMG)

Year: 1983
Date: 02/10/1983
Show no: 390
Summary: POPULAR MUSIC SERIES FEATURING LOCAL AND OVERSEAS ARTISTS. THE SHOW IS HOSTED BY MARC HUNTER AND FEATURES THE DIVINYLS AND A COMMENT ON HAIR FASHION BY INTREPID REPORTERS TIM AND DEBBIE. MOLLY (IN HAT) PRESENTS MUSIC NEWS IN HUMDRUM AND TOP TEN ITEMS ARE SHOWN. MOLLY HAS COPY OF AMERICA'S CUP IN GLASS CASE IN STUDIO TO CELEBRATE AUSTRALIA'S WIN & INTERVIEWS KIM WILDE IN LONDON.
LOCAL ARTISTS:
DRAGON 'RAIN'
LITTLE HEROES 'WATCH THE WORLD'
GLEN SHORROCK 'WE'RE COMING TO GET YA'
ALAN CASWELL 'THE AUSTRALIA'S CUP'
TWO MAN BAND 'WE'RE GONNA GRAB THAT CUP'
MEN AT WORK 'DOWN UNDER'
DIVINYLS 'CASUAL ENCOUNTER'
OVERSEAS ARTISTS:
STRAY CATS 'SHE'S SEXY AND 17'
CURE 'THE WALK'
KIM WILDE 'LOVE BLONDE'
SPANDAU BALLET 'GOLD'
NEW EDITION 'POPCORN LOVE'
EURYTHMICS 'WHO'S THAT GIRL'
TIM SCOTT 'SWEAR'
CULTURE CLUB 'I'LL TUMBLE FOR YA'
TOP TEN ITEMS:
BILLY JOEL 'TELL HER ABOUT IT'
IRENE CARA 'FLASHDANCE'
CULTURE CLUB 'KARMA CHAMELEON'
MEN WITHOUT HATS 'SAFETY DANCE'
ELTON JOHN 'I GUESS THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE BLUES'
TACO 'PUTTIN ON THE RITZ'
FREEEZ 'IOU'
DRAGON 'RAIN'
PAT WILSON 'BOP GIRL'
AUSTEN TAYSHUS 'AUSTRALIANA'

Quite a lot of rare Aussie stuff in there that I'm interested in, by the likes of Marcia Hines, The Little Heroes, The Numbers, Kim Hart, Marc Hunter, Sherbs... and even a non-hit by Tina Turner. Another good week.

It's a shame that the Saturday morning preview has been scrapped this week, just so they could re-air a segment of the Primitive Calculators' guest programming from 2014, just because one of them died recently.:face_with_rolling_eyes:

Yes, I feared that would happen. There are so many other timeslots that could accomodate it, there is no need for it to eat into, or in this case completely swallow, retro hour.

What is ridiculous is that rage goes retro finishes up at 5 am when rage goes till 7 am on Sunday morning, they could have easily of replayed the Primitive Calculators repeat from 6 to 7 am on Sunday morning if they really had to.

But then again, rage goes retro Saturday morning slots are usually videos of the artists hosting on Saturday night episodes of Countdown so I doubt much rare material would have been played.

I hope next Saturday night isn't filled with an hour long Motorhead special.

Band members always seem to drop off in January, arghhhhhhh ...

Even though I have the Annalise Morrow and Marc Hunter episodes already on Timer Code, I am glad I am getting 3 episodes I don't have and the 2 I do have are GEMS, which means I get the Kim Wilde interview without timer code.

For those who haven't seen the Annalise Morrow episode from 1982, get ready for one of the worst hosting jobs on Countdown but when of the best 1982 episodes as far as content. Annalise Morrow is a mess when hosting this episode, I think a Valium was needed. I do however love the way Annalise Morrow goes on about Bananarama's Shy Boy and how much she loves it :heart_eyes:

The 1980 episode with Ross Wilson looks like the best one, looking forward to seeing that episode. 2 episodes with Kim Hart is DELUXE!!!

I agree it is ridiculous that retro finishes at 5am, when it could go until 7. But they've been doing this the last couple of years. I suspect it's due to them feeling a need to rigidly adhere to the ABC ME weeknight repeats, as 5-6 am Sunday morning is repeated Tuesday night, and 6-7am Sunday is repeated Wednesday night. Still, Countdown is not an M rating, and Rock Arena usually doesn't contain M-rated material, so there shouldn't be a problem repeating these shows during those slots.

Ughhhh, the new generation probably want new music videos if it is on ABC ME, they generally look like they cater to the youth of today who know nothing about music.


If it went to 7 like it once did we could have 5 hrs of Countdown and some Rock Arena thrown in! ... I am longing to see Suzanne Dowling at some point

Least there are no 1986 and 1987 COuntdown's this weekend, pheeeeeew.

The only 1986 performance I need in good quality is I'm Talking's Holy Word, an episode they never play from 1986

While I agree with you on the youth comment, I really think it's due to rage being locked in to a rigid format since the ABC ME/ABC3 repeats have been a thing, from 2014 or thereabouts. i.e. they need to be mindful not to show anything too risque, even though it starts at 9:30pm on the repeats. So it's easier for them to stick to their set schedule, rather than check whether Countdown, Rock Arena, and similar retro shows comply with the current PG ratings. But Countdown never had anything too controversial, surely.

"Countdown never had anything too controversial, surely."

Indeed - in fact they were so careful they sometimes edited clips to remove content they thought was controversial or not suitable for the timeslot. For Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry" clip, for example, they edited out the scene in the middle where Aimee was 'attacked' by her control-freak 'boyfriend'. And I suspect they did this editing unilaterally and never sought the permission of the copyright owner to tamper with their work.

I have the Annalise Morrow and Sharon O'Neill on timecode and as Jason said her hosting is shocking to be blunt about it, yet at the same time you're feeling for her. The Numbers kick off the show with their studio performance. I specifically asked it from a member here on the forum as it is a great episode in content and 1982 Countdowns are my fave.

An awesome line up although I'd love to see a Rock Arena and an episode from '85/'86. Hopefully next week. The segment with Tim & Debby on hair styles in 1983 has me intrigued!

Okay have seen the episode and it looks like she was on a downer of some sort. Perhaps a drink or a Xanax to calm her down going by what she said in a recent interview

"Things like being the host of Countdown weren't a highlight; I was terrified. Terrified, terrified, terrified"

Apparently her brother was to co-host but chickened out!

She did seem more coherent at the end with Molly and Swanee

Maybe one or two from '75-'79 next week hopefully.

On one of the 1980 or 1981 episodes last night Molly mentioned Gary Numan was hosting in a couple of weeks. Looked for it in the archives and no luck. I know a few episodes from 1980 were wiped so hoping that's not the case with the Numan hosted episode.

T W, all of the existing episodes of Countdown from 1975 to 1979 have already been re-aired on Rage, except for an episode from 1978 (Live from the Adelaide Plaza Theatre) which apparently isn't up to broadcast quality.

Gary, I'm not 100% sure, but I think for some reason Gary Numan didn't end up hosting that particular 1980 episode, I think Bob Geldof may have filled in as host instead. I may be completely wrong though.

The re-airing of all existing 70s episodes may have affected contributions on this website, the facebook and yahoo groups and also Troy's website.

I have definitely seen a drop off from the fans of the 70s Countdowns.

I think they could repeat a couple of 70's episodes each year. A lot of fans haven't been watching from the beginning and so missed many of them. A handful of Flashez segments each year would also make the 70's fans happy

Jason - thanks thought that may be the case and he didn't end up hosting.

There were 5 or 6 70s Countdown episodes that were repeated in September 2016, as a tribute to Michael Shrimpton (one of Countdown's co-creators).

Most of the 70s episodes have been repeated multiple times. While I haven't seen a lot of these, since I wasn't religiously recording retro month until 2002 at the earliest, I think it's best to first get through the episodes that have never been repeated.

The ABC could, as others have suggested, air Countdown episodes during the week on ABC ME, which is off air between midnight and 6am most week nights. But they don't seem to be interested in doing this.

10 Countdowns in two weeks is a great start to Retro season... but it's also now half-over already. Really hoping for 1 or 2 Rock Arenas next week and the week after. I only requested 2 (un-repeated) shows so they can fit them in, surely!

There are other ways though - still hundreds of Flashez segments and shows like Hit Scene to cater to the 70's fans. I personally like some variety. 70's & 80's and even a dash of 60's. I think I will be requesting some Flashez clips for 2019. We got a bunch of them over a few years and nothing since.

I am more than pleased with non stop 80s episodes of Countdown in a row. It's perfection ...

I am glad rage are not repeating episodes that have been played over and over again not only from the 70s but also the 80s.

I could be wrong, but I thought rage aired all of the whole Flashez episodes they have (which was only about half a dozen), but there remain a stack of segments/inserts from other shows that the ABC still has, which have not yet been re-aired.

As far as complete shows think there may be a couple that haven't been aired. But yeah I'm mostly talking about the hundreds of inserts that survive. From about 2008 to 2011 or so they aired about 20 of them.

How many music videos were censored or banned from being shown on Countdown during the show's run?

There were a few, although generally it was not often needed as clips were somewhat tamer back then compared to now. Or if a clip did have a "racy/controversial" version, often there was also a G-rated version which Countdown would show instead. So it was only in the grey zone where there was only one clip version but Countdown found elements of it unsuitable for family viewing, but they still wanted to play the song, that they'd get out the scissors.

Apart from "Voices Carry", Countdown also edited the end of David Bowie's "China Girl" to remove the beach sex scene. They edited out the nude scenes in Malcom McLaren's "Madame Butterfly". Others might come to me in due course.

As far as banning clips there were plenty. Countdown never showed the homosexual orgy version of FGTH "Relax" or the soft porn of Vanity 6 "Nasty Girl". Rock Arena, being in an M timeslot, was never shy.

I noticed on one of this week's episodes that they showed an excerpt from 'Girls On Film'. Not sure if they ever played the full clip but it would have been heavily edited if they did.

I know the one for the Mel Brooks clip 'The Hitler Rap' was edited due to some 'adult' gyrations of the dancers in it. Strange they would do that though as in that year - 1984 - the ABC used to show the Kenny Everett Video Show every weeknight at 6.30 with the Hot Gossip dancers doing all sorts of things they wouldn't get away with showing these days.

Another clip I know that was edited was the Johnny Cougar clip for his 1979 single 'Miami'. A whole verse has been cut out due to it being a bit too racy (he sings about stripping off the clothes of ladies).

I'm sure there are others that were edited for various reasons - good seeing the complete versions on YouTube now, etc.

I remember Devo's Beautiful World video being later censored. The moment in the video where the lady has animated fire on her was removed in later screenings on Countdown. Trio's Da Da Da was censored as well, there's a moment in the video where a waitress gets a knife in the back was removed.

The start of the 'Thriller' video when Michael transforms into the werewolf was also censored on its debut airing on the program.

Not a censored song, but a censored title, Eurythmics' 'Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty Four)' was captioned as just 'Crime (Nineteen Eighty Four)' on its first airing on the show [I'm not aware of whether it was on subsequent airings, if they were shown; just going by an episode that aired on rage a few years ago].

The lines/scenes about the bong in 'Australiana' were also censored.