Top Gear of the Pops was a one-off special of Top Gear, broadcast in the evening on 16 March 2007. It was shown as part of the Comic Relief 2007 appeal, mixing the usual elements of Top Gear with Top of the Pops, the music chart show that was cancelled in 2006. The standard Top Gear opening sequence had its car footage replaced with vintage clips of Top of the Pops, and, while The Cool Wall was mentioned at the beginning, it was not included in the broadcast.
Performances
Lethal Bizzle
Presenter Jeremy Clarkson cut Lethal Bizzle's song short by unplugging him mid-performance. Clarkson also dubbed Lethal Bizzle "Jizzy Tissue", and blamed his genre of rap music as being responsible for the demise of TOTP.
Travis
Apart from McFly, Travis managed to deliver a regular and incident-free performance. They performed three times during filming to make sure everything was perfect.
Supergrass
Supergrass performed with comedian Adrian Edmondson on guitar. Supergrass were made to put up with bizarre "special effects" administered by the Top Gear presenters: live birds in front of and on the stage, excessive dry ice artificial fog, and finally strong winds from a wind machine, which blew Edmondson off the stage. This led to a number of complaints by viewers who were concerned about the birds' welfare.[1] Coincidentally, drummer Danny Goffey's father, Chris Goffey, used to present Top Gear, a fact pointed out during the show.
McFly
During the show, boy band McFly had to write and perform a song which contained the three specific words: "sofa", "Hyundai" and "administration". The song could not include the words 'love', 'baby' or 'heart'. The band then performed the song towards the end of the show, using a basic 12 bar blues pattern. Their song "Sofa Hyundai Administration" was about their challenge and the Top Gear team.
News
Jeremy argued that more cars should have a place where you can plug an iPod in, and later said that the iPod headphone wire always gets tangled
Richard discussed Phil Spector's trial - in particular the fact he is accused of murdering someone called Clarkson.
James said he couldn't understand a statement made about Coldplay
Richard discussed festivals
Jeremy talked about his dislike for Basement Jaxx
The presenters took a look at Snow Patrol's new video.
James mentioned the re-forming of Genesis and The Police. Jeremy argued with an audience member, saying that liking Phil Collins did not make her a Genesis fan.
Richard started a list of songs that can't be played on Hospital Radio which include The Verve's "The Drugs Don't Work" and Cutting Crew's "(I Just) Died in Your Arms"
Jeremy compared different drummers, although this was not shown in the actual programme.
Chart
James begins counting down the (previous) weeks chart. Jeremy interrupts saying that only the artists care about how many records they sell. He then goes on to make his own power board chart based on how short a song is.
3. Kelis featuring Cee-Lo - Lil Star (3.14)
2. Mika - Grace Kelly - (3.08)
1. Cascada - Miracle - (2.46)
The Top Gear band
The "Top Gear band" consisted of the three presenters (none of whom are professional musicians, although May has a degree in music, and is a pianist and flautist) accompanied by former The Darkness front man Justin Hawkins. They performed Billy Ocean's Red Light Spells Danger.
Justin Hawkins – vocals
James May – keyboards
Richard Hammond – bass guitar
Jeremy Clarkson – drums
In addition there were: a backing guitarist; keyboard player; and three backing vocalists.