If last week’s TOTP was all about the mainstream, this time the focus seems to be on repeat appearances. 60% of the songs in this show we have already seen/heard before, some as recently as the previous week. Some of this is down to those pesky ‘exclusive’ performances for singles that weren’t actually available to buy in the shops yet. Once released, they would then debut in the charts thus earning themselves another TOTP airing. Maybe that was fine back in the day but it doesn’t help this blogger 28 years later who has to find something else to write about a song that he’s only just reviewed!
One thing that is new is the host. Comedian Harry Hill is still very much a name in 2024 and part of the country’s psyche and comedy fabric but how well known was he back in 1996? Well, he’d won the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Festival in 1992 but that’s not always a guarantee of a long career. He did have a Radio 4 show called Harry Hill’s Fruit Corner that ran for four series but in terms of being on TV, he was hardly omnipresent. A six episode conversion of his radio show to BBC2 ran from October to December in 1994 and he also appeared on the rebooted Friday Night Live (retitled Saturday Night Live) show in 1996 but as part of an ensemble of comedians. He didn’t get his own show until the following year so I’m guessing that, at the time of this TOTP, he was on his way up but had yet to fully arrive.
His first job is to introduce opening act Skunk Anansie with “All I Want” which is one of those ‘repeat’ performances I mentioned. Harry’s voice sounds a bit croaky after a toot on his bugle to start the show and it seems to be catching as Skin’s live vocal sounds a bit rough as well. She does get it together for most of the song though her yelping in the chorus does sound slightly demonic at times. At one point, she jumps into the studio audience but it all falls a bit flat as clearly a spot of crowd surfing would have breached BBC health and safety rules so she just jumps up and down instead next to a bloke in a cap who it seems now thinks that he is Skin’s best friend. I said the first time I reviewed this that it sounds like the band had just rewritten “Weak” but I’m actually quite liking getting reacquainted with “All I Want”.
I have to say that the 1996 version of Harry Hill doesn’t look any younger than he does today. Perhaps it might be more polite to say he doesn’t look any older than he did 18 years ago. Anyway, I like his segue into the next act which is “But now, I am Donna Lewis and here is the news…”. Excellent word play there that even Huey himself would have approved of (in fact, he’d have probably appreciated the publicity back in 1996).
As for Donna, “I Love You Always Forever” is up to No 9 on its way to a high of No 5 for two weeks before a protracted climb down the charts. As the 25 years anniversary of her hit approached, plans to celebrate it were put on hold when Donna was diagnosed with breast cancer and took time out for treatment and surgery. Having come out the other side, Donna’s most recent album “Rooms With A View” includes songs that tell the tale of her experience and she is now an ambassador for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer charity. Sadly, the aforementioned Huey Lewis has also had his own health issues in later life announcing in 2018 that he has hearing loss as a result of Ménière’s disease.
It’s a hat-trick of songs that have been on before as The Bluetones are in the studio for the second consecutive week to perform “Marblehead Johnson”. My research tells me that there is a Britpop tribute band called Marblehead – the original and ultimate Britpop experience who are named after the Bluetones tune. Playing a repertoire of songs by the likes of Pulp, Blur, Oasis, Supergrass and, of course, The Bluetones, they have been the support act for Space, Icicle Works and indeed Bluetones singer Mark Morriss. Is it just me or does that sound ever so slightly like a case of overkill? Imagine this scenario. You’re going to see Morriss live who was keeping his career going by playing solo gigs and who no doubt will have performed some Bluetones songs as part of the set but before you get to him, you’ve already watched a band called Marblehead play some Britpop songs presumably including some by The Bluetones. I’ve used the word ‘Bluetones’ seven times alone in this paragraph which suggests a certain level of excess don’t you think?
Time now for the obligatory dance tune on the show and this week it’s from B.B.E. This lot were from France and were exponents of the short-lived dream trance boom that rose to prominence in the mid 90s off the back of its poster boy Robert Miles and his massive hit “Children”. I say short lived but it might be still a going concern for all I know but I’m guessing it isn’t. “7 Days And One Week” was their biggest hit of five but to me, and I’ve said this before, it just sounds like speeded up Jean Michel Jarre. I know I don’t know my Goa from my Balearics so I’m probably missing all sorts of nuances but my limited dance knowledge leaves me with only primitive ways of expressing my thoughts about it. Maybe that’s OK though as Wikipedia informs me that dance trance is considered to be the first and most primitive derivative of the progressive house movement. Presumably dance trance isn’t a thing anymore then. Oh well.
After the obligatory dance tune comes the obligatory satellite performance and this one, by coincidence, is from Barcelona. Why by coincidence? Well, in a recent post, I wrote about how I’d been to Barcelona back in early September 1996 and had really enjoyed it despite a case of Montezuma’s revenge making my flight back home uncomfortable. In his intro to Metallica, Harry Hill tells us how he went to Barcelona once but was chased around his room by a gibbon. It shouldn’t be a funny line but somehow it is mainly because the word ‘gibbon’ is inherently an amusing word – just the sound of it. Hill’s genius is that he knows this and so what should just be a completely random and nonsensical statement is loaded with humour. He follows that up by juxtaposing an old sit com phrase (“Mr Humphreys? Are you free?” – “I’m free!”) with the most unlikely and unconnected subject – in this case a hard rock band – to subvert their image and generate a laugh. Well, I thought it was funny anyway, even 28 years later and accepting the accusations of an outdated depiction of a gay man.
Enough of Harry though, what about the music? Well, Metallica aren’t exactly my first choice to ask Alexa to play but I actually quite enjoyed listening to “Hero Of The Day”. It was much more melodic than I was expecting but in a grandstanding, epic sort of way. So that’s two Metallica songs I could ask Alexa to play talking into account “Enter Sandman” as well.
The ‘flashback’ feature rewinds 10 years where we find The Communards at No 1 in the corresponding week in 1986 with “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. It was the best selling single of that year in the UK and spent four weeks at No 1.
As such, I spent a lot of time reviewing it in my 1980s blog so I don’t propose to go through it all again. If you want to read what I said about it, here’s a link to my first post to include it below:
I’ve said it many times before (possibly every time she’s featured in these reviews) but Dina Carroll had a peculiar pop star career. An early spark with Quartz and that Carol King cover followed by a slow burner of a solo career that suddenly burst into flames with her massive hits “Don’t Be A Stranger” and “The Perfect Year” before burning out over the next three years as ill health and record label problems delayed her releasing any new material. In 1996, the flame was relit in dramatic fashion as comeback single “Escaping” went to No 3. Only Tom Hanks rubbing two sticks together in Castaway is a bigger firestarter shock. And then, just as quickly as the fire was ablaze, a big bucket of water was thrown over it and it was out again never to be resuscitated. She remains one of pop’s biggest enigmas.
From 1996 to 1997, Ocean Colour Scene were riding their own personal crest of a wave. Seven hit singles (of which six went Top 10) and two platinum selling albums were achieved during those two years – the tide was definitely in for the Brummie lads who formed in 1989 from the flotsam and jetsam of two earlier bands The Boys and Fanatics breaking up. “The Circle” was the fourth and final hit to be taken from their “Moseley Shoals” album and would peak at No 6.
The single included a live cover version of “Day Tripper” by The Beatles as one of the extra tracks on the second CD single which was especially notable for it featuring Liam and Noel Gallagher who joined the band on stage at the time of recording. Could this have helped the single’s sales by convincing Oasis fans to purchase it for that extra track? I guess you could make the argument that Oasis fans might have bought it anyway given that Ocean Colour Scene were very much seen as part of the whole Britpop explosion anyway. The fact that Liam and Noel had been having numerous bust-ups at the time prompting Oasis split rumours maybe added to the clamour for anything that could be purchased that featured them.
I saw Ocean Colour Scene back in August this year and they played “Daytripper” as part of their set. I had either forgotten or didn’t know about it being on “The Circle” single and just thought “oh, they’re doing a Beatles cover” but a quick check of the setlist.fm website shows that they’ve been playing it live for years.
Wait…what?! There was a reunion of The Power Station?! When did this happen? Well, 1996 obviously but my point is that this must have totally passed me by back then despite my working in a record shop at the time as I have zero recall of any of it. Perhaps a more pertinent question would be “why did this happen?”. Over a decade since the band’s first album, why stage a comeback then? Apparently, it was a reconvening of the original line up of Robert Palmer, Tony Thompson, John Taylor and Andy Taylor although John had to withdraw from the project due to personal issues before any material was actually recorded and he was replaced by Chic’s Bernard Edwards.
Back in 1985, The Power Station had been a side project during a break in Duran Duran’s schedule that turned into a full blown band complete with a hit album and singles both sides of the pond. There was even a cameo for the band in an episode of Miami Vice but Palmer left before a tour of America that saw him replaced by Michael Des Barres who was the guy on vocals when The Power Station played Live Aid.
Despite Palmer’s departure leaving a sour taste in the mouth and led to accusations of unprofessionalism, it didn’t stop him returning for this second coming that produced a sophomore album called “Living In Fear” and this single “She Can Rock It”. However, the band’s second era was not successful with the album stiffing and the single peaking at No 63 in the UK. Perhaps it was always doomed without the support of Duran mania which was still in full flow back in 1985. Or maybe the album just wasn’t very good? I can only judge “She Can Rock It” as I’ve never heard the album but that track seems to be a very retro rock sound (even back then) with stolen guitar riffs and dumb ass lyrics like “What good’s a rock without a roll, it’s a sorry lookin’ donut if it doesn’t have a hole”. It’s all a bit sad really as I love Robert Palmer’s voice but this doesn’t do anything for his legacy which brings me to a second reason why the whole project is a bit sad although really the correct word is ‘melancholic’…the number of people attached to The Power Station who are no longer with us. Palmer and Tony Thompson died within weeks of each other in 2003 whilst Bernard Edwards left us in April of 1996 before this TOTP appearance. Talking of TOTP appearances, I wonder when Andy Taylor was last on the show before this?
P.S. Just as with Ocean Colour Scene, The Power Station story featured a Beatles cover as “Taxman” was the final track on “Living In Fear”.
Harry Hill is back with us to introduce the Top 10 countdown or as he calls it, “Who’s got the biggest feet?”. I do love Harry. The Fugees are still No 1 with “Ready Or Not” and this week we get a live performance of the track from Detroit. I have to say, it sounds a bit all over the place and, for me, doesn’t translate well to the stage. They’ll be back later in 1996 with their cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry”.
| Order of appearance | Artist | Title | Did I buy it? |
| 1 | Skunk Anansie | All I Want | It’s a no from me |
| 2 | Donna Lewis | I Love You Always Forever | Didn’t happen |
| 3 | The Bluetones | Marblehead Johnson | No |
| 4 | B.B.E. | 7 Days And One Week | Never |
| 5 | Metallica | Hero Of The Day | Nah |
| 6 | The Communards | Don’t Leave Me This Way | Don’t think I did |
| 7 | Dina Carroll | Escaping | Negative |
| 8 | Ocean Colour Scene | The Circle | Nope |
| 9 | The Power Station | She Can Rock It | I did not |
| 10 | Fugees | Ready Or Not | No but my wife had the album |
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/m0024hp8/top-of-the-pops-27091996?seriesId=unsliced
TOTP Rewind - the 90s 