Serge Gainsbourg Moi Non Plus' topped the charts in 1969, the establishment across the world were hugely offended. Unsurprisingly, the BBC were so angry that they refused to play it at all, denying Gainsbourg and Birkin a chance to perform on TOTP.
In 1980, heavy metal band Iron Maiden played live on the show when they refused to mime to their single "Running Free".
A Day in the Life (1967)
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and is regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time. However, the BBC announced that it would not broadcast the song due to the line “I'd love to turn you on”, which, according to the corporation, advocated drug use.
The Kinks – Lola
Written by singer Ray Davies, Lola is about a relationship between a man and a “woman” who turns out to be a transvestite. But it wasn't this gender confusion that worried the BBC. The song was banned for including the words “coca-cola” which was against their policy on product placement.
The very first Top of the Pops, broadcast on a Wednesday evening at 6.36 pm, was introduced by DJ Jimmy Savile. The opening band was The Rolling Stones, who had just made number 13 in the chart with 'I Wanna Be Your Man'.
On 5 November 1981, a week after Legs & Co.'s final on-screen appearance, Zoo, the final featured dance troupe to appear on Top of the Pops, made their debut. They were choreographed by Colby, and consisted of a rotating pool of 12 male and 12 female performers.
18 There have been 13 different Top of the Pops logos and opening sequences over the show's 42 year history. 17 The record for the most number of appearances on Top of the Pops is held by Cliff Richard who has appeared almost 160 times.
Monster Mash - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett
With lyrics like "it was a graveyard smash", the BBC failed to see the funny side and banned the song for being "too morbid". Though it made No. 1 on the Billboard charts in the year it was written, the offending novelty hit didn't chart in the UK until 1973, when it went to No. 3.
Blondie 'Atomic' - This was one of 67 songs to be banned by the BBC during the Gulf War, because of the bombing connotations. Cher's Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) was also banned. Gang of Four 'I Love A Man In Uniform' - The post-punk band found their single banned when the British army entered the Falklands.
The Beatles song 'A Day In The Life', taken from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, was once dramatically banned by the BBC following its release in 1967 in controversial circumstances.
'A Day In The Life'
This dramatic closer to Sgt. Pepper was also banned by the BBC. The peculiar song has multiple sections, opening with Lennon's famous satirical lyrics inspired by contemporary news articles.
Legendary musician Paul McCartney sat down with 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi for an in-depth chat about his new album, Egypt Station, and he revealed something rather contradictory: he is unable to read or write music, and neither could any of his Beatles bandmates.
It may seem far-fetched in today's more cynical times, but Maiden refusing to mime truly felt like an important moment in British rock history. Running Free ended up spending five weeks on the charts, entering the Top 40 at number 46 and peaking at 34 in week three on March 8, 1980.
In 1991, however, the producers relaxed their rules on miming, allowing artists the option of singing live over a backing track instead. Yes, there had been live performances before – New Order were the first to go fully live when they sang Blue Monday in 1983 – but they were few and far between.
Faith No More on Top Of The Pops in 1990: when Mike Patton refused to mime | Louder.
Beach Boys – God Only Knows
In the United States of the 1960s, invoking the name of God in a pop song was regarded as blasphemy, leading to some radio stations banning the Beach Boys classic.
This is Bobby “Boris” Pickett's 1962 novelty song, 'Monster Mash', which is played worldwide every year around Halloween. Written in less than an hour, it became Pickett's most famous track and etched him into the history books.
The BBC soon afterwards banned it from its radio and television broadcasts, deeming its lyrics obscene, specifically the repeated: “Relax, don't do it/When you want to suck, do it/Relax, don't do it/ When you want to come.” The band were intentionally scandalous, too.
Mark Franklin presents the pop chart programme, first broadcast on 20 August 1992 and featuring KWS, Extreme, Felix, Paul Weller, Michael Jackson, Thunder, Kylie Minogue and Snap!
Archibald appeared twice in the same episode of Top of the Pops in 1982, firstly singing "We Have a Dream" with the Scotland World Cup squad starring B. A. Robertson and then alongside his Tottenham Hotspur teammates and Chas & Dave singing "Tottenham, Tottenham".
It started in 1964 and ended in 2006 because not enough people were watching it any more. It was hosted by many presenters over the years, most notably by Sir Jimmy Savile, who opened the very first show on New Year's Day 1964 on BBC1. TOTP2 (Top of the Pops 2) is a variant of the show.