I just watched TotP2, which is being hosted by Geoff of Marian and Geoff. Apparently he's been given free rein to select stuff from the archives to broadcast, which sounds like a lot of fun. Anyway, it was heavily seventies-based. I'm not sure what to make of the seventies exactly; on the one hand, it looks as if it was very easy to be cool. There is a theory which states that the seventies caught the overflow of would-be popstars who couldn't make it in the sixties because they weren't pretty enough, and I believe this Austin Powers stereotype of hideously-toothed Englishmen derives principally from our cultural output at that time. There's also the clothes of course. Anything which looked stupid - that was cool. You could go into a charity shop, buy mismatching clothing, spray it all mauve - you'd be cool! I mean, that'd be great if you could do that now wouldn't it? You could play the three chord trick dressed in tartan cardigans and women would swoon over you! Madness. On the other hand of course, you'd have to look at the other people doing the same thing and looking stupid. It might get wearisome. Also, one of the videos was of Legs and Co. dancing to Mike Oldfield's Portsmouth. For anyone not familiar with these people, I can only say that ignorance is bliss - investigate no further if you value aesthetics. The absolute best bit was the final track, This town ain't big enough for both of us by Sparks, which I put on the Flat Mix. For those of you who have never seen Ron Mael on the telly, I shall attempt a description, no so much for your edification, but for the joy of the attempt. First picture an archetypal silent-movie villain, the dude who ties women to railway tracks and then sneaks off cackling. For a helpful reminder see Strong Bad in this cartoon. Okay, instead of a Strong Bad-sized moustache, imagine it as altogether more Hitler inspired. This man is behind a keyboard, wearing a white shirt and a severe seventies tie. The song starts. Throughout the performance he sits bolt upright, glaring into the middle distance. Occasionally he deliberatively shifts position, as if he were posing for the cameras, but his eyes move suspiciously, as if he were trying to spot an assassin in the upper tier of the auditorium. He looks insane. He looks as though only he knows that the audience will all die soon in an incident involving a perfectly reasonable keyboard-player.