Top of the Pops: Dancing to CCR’s ‘Green River’
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Pan’s People dancing to “Green River” on Top of the Pops
From the late ’60s into the mid ’70s, when artists weren’t available to appear on the popular British music TV series Top of the Pops, the program often used the Go-Go dance team known as Pan’s People to, well, dance to a hit song.
Such was the case when Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River” was climbing the British charts during the group’s remarkable run of success with three big albums in 1969.
How could one band be so prolific in such a short period of time? Of the three albums’ 26 songs, no less than 22 were written by John Fogerty. These LPs also include such CCR classics as “Lodi” and “Born on the Bayou,” plus their legendary covers of “The Midnight Special,” “Cotton Fields” and “The Night Time is the Right Time.”
Check out this Classic Video of the Pan’s People troupe shaking it during a TOTP rehearsal from January 1, 1970. Did it help the song climb the U.K. charts? Well, while “Green River” reached #2 in the U.S. on Sept. 20, 1969, it peaked at only #19 in the U.K.
So, which performance of “Green River” would you have tuned to on Top of the Pops, CCR or Pan’s People?
Pan’s People were formed in 1966 and made their TOTP debut two years later. Their final performance on the venerable music series was in 1976.
Related: 50 years later, Fogerty performed the song with his kids during the Covid-19 pandemic
4 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationwow an awesome sight foreshore ride on
always nice to see pretty women dancing.
We had the same dancing thing on Shindig and Hullabaloo ! More fun than just looking at rock dudes.
If you want to see some “sheer dancing”, check out Quincy Jones’ “Ai No Corrida” on Top of the Pops, featuring Legs & Co.
The song was the original title of a Japanese movie (In the Realm of the Senses). “50 Shades of Grey” is a wanna-be compared to “Senses”.