Song · The Timelords
“Doctorin' the Tardis” by The Timelords
“Doctorin' the Tardis” by The Timelords appears on 4 radio countdowns from 4 stations in 1988. Its best result is #19 on the Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1988. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #24 alternative song of 1988 and #177 of the '80s.
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The Timelords were Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty in disguise, "Time Boy" and "Lord Rock", the pair better known as the KLF, and "Doctorin' the Tardis" was their 1988 smash-and-grab raid on the pop charts. Drummond produced it, and the recipe is barely a recipe at all: the Doctor Who theme bolted onto Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll", with chunks of the Sweet's "Block Buster!" thrown in for good measure.
Critics turned their noses up. The public didn't care: it went to number one in the UK and New Zealand and into the top 10 in Australia, Finland, Ireland and Norway. Drummond and Cauty then cheekily turned the whole caper into a guide for would-be chart-toppers, The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way).
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 64 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1988 | 107 |
| 1988 | 34 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1988 | 91 |
| 1988 | 19 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1988 | 106 |
| 1988 | 72 | WLIR / WDRE Long Island, NY | WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1988 | 100 |
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