DESCRIPTION:
A segment from the long running Australian music TV series Countdown, which aired on the ABC from 1974-1987.

This particular segment aired during the Countdown episode which originally aired on July 12, 1987, on the ABC.

This clip features the guest hosts of that episode, Australian singer and then 'Neighbours' star Kylie Minogue and then 2SM radio host Mike Hammond.

This clip features Kylie and Mike leading into American singer Janet Jackson's song 'The Pleasure Principle'. The segment begins with Countdown announcer Gavin Wood announcing the UK Top 5 for that week, which featured A-Ha, Terence Trent D'Arby, The Firm, Bruce Willis, and The Pet Shop Boys.

Vaxfacts: This episode was the second last episode of Countdown to air on Australian television. For 12 years, Countdown had been the main Top 40 television show in Australia, setting the trend for Top 40 music in Australia. Indeed, it became somewhat of a canary in a coalmine for international charts, as many international acts got their first worldwide number 1 singles in Australia due to Countdown's coverage. But after 12 years, ratings began to decline. With the prevalence, and affordability, of music videos, Countdown began focusing more on music clips over live in-studio performances, and beginning in February 1987, the format was revised to be more heavily reliant on music videos. It was re-branded 'Countdown Pirate Television' (CDPTV), the intro of which can be viewed at the following link:
http://youtu.be/m-AN-VAxsXk

The re-imaging wasn't very successful, and lost many regular long time viewers, such that they attempted to return to the original format by at least May 1987, as evident from the slightly different version of the Countdown intro featured at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8asyO7KrZZY

It wasn't enough to save the show- Countdown's final live episode aired the next week, on Sunday July 19th, 1987, with the final episode hosted from the Sydney Entertainment Centre beginning at its usual time of 6:00PM. Following that broadcast, at 7:30PM that night, the final Countdown Music and Video Awards was broadcast from the Sydney Entertainment Centre, the last ever first-run Countdown broadcast.