This post is dedicated in its entirety to Pete Garner who passed away recently. Known to many as the original bass player with The Stone Roses, I got to know Pete in the mid 90s when I worked with him at Our Price the record retailer. He was the sweetest, soundest, funniest person you could ever hope to meet. I learned so much about life from him. RIP Pete.

In my review of the previous show, I spent some time discussing the rise of Chris Evans as he was about to start his two year stint on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show. In order to promote their new boy, the BBC have got him in to host TOTP straight off the bat. Evans wasn’t the only debut happening around this time. Three days before this show broadcast, Channel 4 aired the first episode of one of the best sit coms ever in Father Ted. A week later, the channel was at it again but this time with a show from across the pond with the ratings sensation Friends. It’s a sobering realisation that two of the stars from those shows are no longer with us. Father Ted himself Dermot Morgan would pass away less than three years on from here whilst Matthew Perry who played Chandler Bing in Friends sadly died just a week or so ago. Back in 1995 though, I’m guessing that Chris Evans would be full to the brim of brio as he brings his presenting style to TOTP. Let’s see how he did…

He starts off in a fairly uncontroversial manner with a lame set up about the studio lights not working before a short intro for opening act MN8. After just missing out on the top spot with debut single “I’ve Got A Little Something For You”, this lot of R&B wannabes were hot news. They consolidated on that success with follow up “If You Only Let Me In” which was a No 6 hit. Quite different in style from its predecessor, it had a much more pure pop boyband vibe that would become ubiquitous as the decade progressed and the throng of such acts became ever larger. I mean, it’s actually one of the better examples of that sound; well constructed with plenty of hooks though it also seems to have been written with one eye on accommodating the obligatory dance moves for the three guys in the band playing second fiddle to the singer. Still, it was probably a sensible choice at that point in their career; a catchy tune to maintain their chart presence and guarantee airplay. For the moment, MN8 were playing the game well.

https://youtu.be/xGokWi0I7N0?si=SElGVW7FmU_fzOBD

Whilst MN8 were in the ascendancy, another boyband were desperately trying to stay afloat in some choppy teenage audience waters. Let Loose were trying to do exactly the opposite of what their band name suggested; they didn’t want to be let loose in a sea of faded boybands but rather wanted to be tied steadfastly to the chart dock. This single – “Best Of Me” – did indeed act as a decent life belt giving them a Top 10 hit though I can’t work out why as it’s as dull as dishwasher. The verses sound like a Bread song (they would record an actual Bread song in “Make It With You” the following year) whilst the chorus goes a bit “See The Day” by Dee C. Lee complete with added string section. And why on earth is there a double necked guitar on show here? Let Loose? More like obtuse.

If MN8 were playing the R&B pop stars game well, then here’s Bobby Brown to show them that “Two Can Play That Game”. In the segue into this one, Chris Evans starts reverting to type and his ‘lads mags’ persona by banging on about a naked Pamela Anderson and Liz Hurley bouncing up and down on a space hopper. What? Bobby Brown, of course, had a few image problems of his own with a list of charges against him including drink driving, defaulting on child care payments and battery of his wife Whitney Houston. If his personal life was chaotic and full of misdemeanours, in 1995 his career was at a high point. “Two Can Play That Game” gave him his biggest ever UK hit when it peaked at No 3.

Evans completely lays bare his ‘lad culture’ credentials once more by referring to an upcoming performance by Oasis as being his “personal heroes”. Before that though we have yet another appearance for our Eurovision entry Love City Groove. I make this their third time on the show with the song contest still two weeks away. What with plugging the BBC’s coverage of Eurovision and the showcasing of Radio 1’s Breakfast Show host, TOTP was in danger of becoming just a promotional tool for the corporation’s output rather than a platform for the most popular music of the day.

As for “Love City Groove”, it still stands up and out I think in the long history of UK Eurovision acts. It didn’t completely convince the watching panels on the night of the contest finishing 10th out of 23 countries receiving 76 points, almost half the amount the winners Secret Garden from Norway did with their song “Nocturne”. That victory seemed to give credence to the idea that Eurovision was ready for a different musical genre to take centre stage over the more traditional acts witnessed down the years. Sadly for the UK, that genre was haunting, violin led and almost instrumental rather than sing -a-long rap. Bugger!

It’s time for “the best song around” now as endorsed by Chris Evans in his intro for Oasis. On reflection, it wasn’t even the best song on the CD single – that honour goes to “Acquiesce” in my opinion. However, “Some Might Say” was certainly better than most residents of the Top 40 and, as expected, gave the band their first of eight No 1 singles. At the time, I was in agreement with Evans and loved this though I’m not sure it stands up as well through the perspective of 28 years distance. Back then though, I didn’t care that, just as “Cigarettes And Alcohol” had done, it had more than a whiff of a T-Rex riff about it. Nor did I care that the lyrics weren’t the best (rhyming ‘fishes’ with ‘dirty dishes’ indeed!). I didn’t even mind Liam’s pronunciation of ‘Shine’ as “Sh-i-iiine”. To me it sounded…well…powerful I guess. Powerful and hopeful that something different might be about to happen.

This was pretty much the last public appearance of drummer Tony McCarroll with the band. The next time they appeared on TOTP, his replacement Alan White was on the drummer’s stool. McCarroll being buried alive by the rest of the band in the “Live Forever” video probably should have given us all a big clue as to his impending fate.

Creation boss Alan McGee had wanted to release the track as a double A-side with the aforementioned “Acquiesce” but Noel Gallagher stood firm saying the latter was the B-side. Legend has it that the conversation went something like this:

McGee: “Acquiesce” is too good. Knock something average out for the B-side.

Noel: Sorry Alan but I don’t write shit songs.

As for the performance here, Liam seems to have perfected his motionless, thousand yard stare act by this point while the rest of the band (Noel excepted) look like they can’t quite comprehend how they got here from where they started. By the way, Liam’s Manchester City coat would not have been seen as bandwagon jumping. At the time City were not the winning machine they are today; that would have been their rivals United.

The third boyband on tonight now and the second trying to follow up a No 2 hit single. Like MN8 before them, Boyzone had gone as close as possible to a chart topper without actually getting one with previous single “Love Me For A Reason” but, despite that success, a lot must have been riding on their next release in terms of their potential longevity. A bunch of pretty Irish boys getting a Christmas hit with a cover of a well known sloppy ballad was one thing but repeating the trick with a composition of their own? Well, that was another matter.

As it turned out, “Key To My Life” was also the key to the band’s consolidation. A very encouraging chart peak of No 3 would surely have given the group confidence that they could compete with Take That (especially when, a few weeks later, the departure of Robbie Williams would cause the future of the band to be put in doubt). A saccharine drenched ballad, it seems to me that “Key To My Life” is a largely forgotten Boyzone single despite its strategic importance to their career.

Watching this performance back, I’m struck by how washed out the group look with all those grey colours and pastel shades on display in their outfits. Their stylist should have been given the keys to a better wardrobe.

It’s another studio appearance by Tina Arena performing her hit “Chains” now. Her song was universally seen as being about being trapped in a relationship that was no longer working though Tina herself attributes its meaning to her trying to escape from her past as a child star when she was dubbed ‘Tiny Tina” aged 8 on a talent show. Fast forward over 40 years and a modern day restriction that Tina struggled with was the whole issue of ‘selfies’. In 2019 she made the decision not to allow people to take ‘selfies’ as she felt trapped by them and instead would rather have a good old chat with the person. That revelation somehow put me in mind of that famous Boy George quote who, when at the height of his fame, was asked about the act of sex. “I’d rather have a nice cup of tea” he replied though I’m pretty sure he had his fingers crossed when he said it.

It’s that band again whose name I remember but whose music I don’t. Chris Evans does his best to create some buzz around them by bigging them up in his intro but even the man of the moment’s endorsement didn’t cut through with me. I refer to The Wildhearts who we last saw on the show doing their minor hit “Geordie In Wonderland”. They’re back with the lead single from their second album “P.H.U.Q” called “I Wanna Go Where The People Go”.

Listening to it now, it’s not bad though even if I’d cottoned on to it back in 1995, I’m not sure I’d have been bowled over by its sound. I’m sure they had and still have a hardcore fanbase but for me, they blur into one a bit with all those other early 90s UK blues rock revival bands like The Dogs D’Amour and The Quireboys though that’s not surprising as main Wildheart Ginger used to be a member of the latter.

It’s the fourth and final week at No 1 for Take That with “Back For Good”. It’s often said (including by me) that the mark of a good song is how often it’s covered by other artists and especially if it’s done in a completely different style and it still works. Well, here are just a few varied takes on “Back For Good”. Firstly, a slinky, muscular version courtesy of McAlmont & Butler from 2002 for the War Child charity album in association with the NME:

Here it’s turned into an indie classic by The Wedding Present on their “How The West Was Won” album:

How about a lo-fi anthem from Swedish band The Concretes on covers compilation album “Guilt By Association”:

And finally a punk rendering courtesy of Robbie Williams himself; a live version included as an extra track on his “Angels” single:

The “wash it off” ad lib line has its origins in an adopted reaction from Take That fans when the song was performed live. When Gary Barlow would sing “Got your lipstick mark still in my cup”, the crowd would apparently sing back to him “Ooh wash it off!”. So now you know.

Punk covers of your own songs were all the rage back then. Here’s Duran Duran on The Word from 1995 doing “Hungry Like The Wolf”:

The play out track is back after disappearing for a while and tonight’s is a goodie from Weezer. This power pop, pop-punk, geek rock (call it what you will) anthem named after rock ‘n’ roll legend “Buddy Holly” would make it all the way to No 12. If the song wasn’t memorable enough, you can’t forget the video once seen, especially if , like me, you grew up in the 70s. Back then, the US sitcom Happy Days was huge with its main character Fonzie assuming almost legendary status with his cool persona and catch phrases “Ayyyy” and “Sit On It”. I remember they’re being some TV awards show on when Happy Days was at its peak and it somehow losing out to Blue Peter in one category. Even the wide eyed innocent child that I was thought that was a fix.

Anyway, the idea to incorporate footage from Happy Days with Weezer performing “Buddy Holly” in Arnold’s Drive-In was inspired. Director Spike Jonze did an incredible job. The actor who played drive-in owner Al did a cameo to introduce the band and a lookalike did the Fonzie dance scene but apparently the rest was all done without computer graphics and instead used clever editing. It looked amazing in 1995 and still looks great today I think.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	MN8	If You Let Me In	No
2	Let Loose	Best Of Me	Definitely not
3	Bobby Brown	Two Can Play That Game	Nope
4	Love City Groove	Love City Groove	I did not
5	Oasis	Some Might Say	YES!
6	Boyzone	Key To My Life	Never happening
7	Tina Arena	Chains	Negative
8	The Wildhearts	I Wanna Go Where The People Go	Nah
9	Take That	Back For Good	No but my wife did
10	Weezer	Buddy Holly	Liked it, didn’t buy it

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001rrzv/top-of-the-pops-27041995