The World Cup of 1998 is reaching its climax with the final played two days after this TOTP aired. England have long since been eliminated so it’s a shoot out between hosts France and holders Brazil. History shows that it was the French who triumphed 3-0 in a game overshadowed by the Ronaldo (R9 not R7) intrigue that the BBC labelled ‘the great World Cup final mystery’. Seventy-two minutes before kick-off, Ronaldo was not on the official team sheet submitted to FIFA. Amidst chaotic scenes, half an hour later Brazil’s star striker was back in the line up and the conspiracy theories started. Stories about R9 not being fit but coming under pressure from sponsors to play was the predominant one. The accepted truth though was that R9 had suffered a convulsive fit in the night and spent three hours in hospital before deciding he was fit to play after all. His presence made little difference to the result but he would find redemption four years later scoring both goals in the 2002 final as Brazil beat Germany. I wonder if there are any such redemption arc stories on tonight’s show.

Our host is Zoe Ball and this was the last regular TOTP episode that she ever presented (she reappeared in 2001 for some special anniversary edition). I’m not sure if it was her decision or executive producer Chris Cowey’s for her to leave the roster of presenters but she wasn’t short of work still having her job on Saturday morning kids show Live & Kicking and her breakfast show gig on Radio 1. Maybe it was all getting a bit much for her especially given her reputation at the time as a ‘ladette’. Burning the candle at both ends perhaps? Anyway, her redemption arc is pretty much complete with her being so much a part of the BBC establishment that in 2024 she was named as the second highest earning presenter behind Gary Lineker.

We start with another run out for “C’est La Vie” by B*Witched. Yes, despite having already been at No 1 for two weeks and the appearances that involved, they were back on the show because they’d gone up the charts from No 4 to No 3. Now, I think it’s time that I discuss what some may think the undiscussable – that dreadful fashion faux pas that is the double denim look. Not since Shakin’ Stevens had we seen such quantities of denim adjacent to each other on TOTP. Yes, I know it’s not on display in this performance but it is undoubtedly part of the mental image ingrained in the minds of those of us who lived through the time of B*Witched. Had they already been tipped off by this point what a naff look it was? Maybe but their redemption story has come full circle with the girls back together touring and recording once more and the fans attending their concerts these days are still wearing those double denim outfits as are the band themselves. According to press interviews, everyone is very pleased about it. As for Shaky, he is surely beyond redemption.

In the long list of soap stars turned pop stars, I’m guessing that the name Matthew Marsden doesn’t spring immediately to mind. However, for an 18 month period in the late 90s, this guy was a big deal. Arriving on Coronation Street as mechanic Chris Collins in March 1997, so big was his impact that he won the National Television Award for Most Popular Newcomer that year. After having an affair with Sally Webster, Collins did a midnight flit and was never seen again. In real life, Marsden had embarked on a career as a pop star having signed to Columbia Records for £500,000. His debut single was “The Heart’s Lone Desire” and, in all honesty and knowing some of the garbage other soap actors have released (I’m looking at you Stefan Dennis!), it wasn’t completely dreadful. A decent pop track that wasn’t just about ultra catchy hooks, it would debut and peak at No 13. I’m not sure why Matthew chooses to sit down for the duration of the performance though, delivering the song as if he’s telling his mates a story down the pub whilst looking extremely chuffed with himself at the same time.

Marsden’s pop career would only last one more minor hit – a cover version of Hall & Oates’ “She’s Gone” performed as a duet with Destiny’s Child no less (more of whom later) and an album that did precisely nothing. In the face of that brutal reality, the soap star turned pop star became an acting star with roles in movies such as Black Hawk Down, Resident Evil: Extinction and Atlas Shrugged. So redemption for an aborted pop career then? Hmm. Well, the thing is that Marsden has a hankering for American right wing politics and is an anti-vaccine advocate which, in my book, are not the component parts for a happy ending.

Next an act with a track that was first a hit ten years earlier. Having returned to charts at the back end of 1997 with “Jungle Brother”, the…erm…Jungle Brothers were back again with “I’ll House You ‘98”. Despite making No 22 when originally released, it was never featured on a TOTP show back then. Consequently, I didn’t review it in the 80s version of this blog but I do make mention of it when commenting on Royal House’s “Can You Party” which was the blueprint for “I’ll House You”.

TOTP 27 OCT 1988

That track had been remixed by the legendary Todd Terry who offered the Jungle Brothers the chance to combine their hip-hop sound with house music. The result was a track with a legacy that is up there with Run-D.M.C.’s “Walk This Way”. Group member Baby-Bam has described what the trio attempted to do as to “Hip-hopitise” the original House track which sounds like some process for turning humans into rabbits but you get what he means. “I’ll House You ‘98” would peak at No 26, four places lower than the original.

Karen Ramirez is back in the studio to perform her hit “Looking For Love” and after wearing a conventional all black outfit of trousers and singlet on her previous appearance, she’s turned up this week in an old gold coloured suit and tie combination! Quite extraordinary! If Colonel Mustard had been a pop star! Of course, she wasn’t the first pop star to don a gold suit. ABC’s Martin Fry favoured a gold lame version in his band’s early days and he did famously sing about “The Look Of Love”. As for a redemption arc for Karen, there doesn’t seem to be much of one. After her 15 minutes of fame she disappeared save for releasing one download only album in 2006 and nothing since. No comeback hit. No rerelease of “Looking For Love” nor use of it on a hit film soundtrack. Maybe her withdrawal from the music industry was her redemption arc though. Maybe she didn’t like what she found during her time within it and went looking for…something else. Like somewhere to dispose of that mustard suit. Apparently, Martin Fry tried to flush his original one down a toilet in a Tokyo hotel.

A group with an average age of 16 next – that’s according to Zoe Ball and, having checked, she’s right. It’s hard to reconcile but two of the members of Destiny’s Child were 16 and two were 17 years old at the time of this performance. “With Me” was the follow up to their debut hit “No, No, No” and, although I didn’t remember the song, its sound was pretty much what I was expecting before I watched this episode back. I haven’t got a lot else to say other than it’s interesting to note that when Zoe name checks the band in her outro, Beyoncé’s is the last name to come from her lips as opposed to the first. I’m probably reading far too much into that retrospectively but it did jump out at me. “Say My Name” indeed. In terms of a redemption arc, two of the members here – LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson – would be forced out of the band in early 2000 leading to them bringing lawsuits against their manager (and father of Beyoncé) Matthew Knowles as well as their two former band mates for breach of partnership. Things got heated with disparaging remarks were traded in public between the parties. However, in return for dropping the section of the lawsuit aimed at Beyoncé and Kelly Rowlands, a settlement was made with Luckett and Roberson for the pair to receive royalties for their recordings when part of the group. So they got what they were owed with the redeeming factor being that they could then pay those bills, bills, bills (sorry).

After debut album “Attack Of The Grey Lantern” had topped the charts in 1997, expectations for Mansun’s follow up were sky high. Perhaps rather inevitably, the sophomore collection “Six” didn’t quite meet them. Not that it was a failure unless you count going Top 10 as such but its run of just four weeks on the charts compared to the nearly eight months of its predecessor speaks volumes. The record shop chain I was working for at the time – Our Price – were caught up in the pre-release buzz about “Six” as I’m pretty sure the buying department decreed to the stores that we were not allowed to sell out* of it in its first week of release. Not allowed, mind. I can’t remember what the consequence would have been had a store done so but it really didn’t matter as the massive sales didn’t materialise and there was never any chance of a sell out. Also not selling out were Mansun themselves as they steadfastly refused to record “Attack Of The Grey Lantern Vol 2” but rather went for a more experimental sound with lots of guitar effects using distortion pedals called things like ‘Big Muff’ and ‘Rat fuzz’. Hmm. Jon Garrett of online magazine PopMatters described the album as:

“The sound of a band collectively snubbing its fan base and smashing expectation to spectacular effect”

Garrett, Jon (28 October 2002). “Mansun: Six”. PopMatters.

*Our Price employed a similar tactic for the second album by Ash called “Nu-Clear Sounds” which again failed to live up to the sales projections based on No 1 debut album “1977”. I think they might have dropped the edict after that.

The lead single was “Legacy” which was actually the lead track on “Eight EP” which saw the band continue with their idiosyncrasy of releasing singles as EPs. It’s instantly identifiable as Mansun, retaining their distinctive sound but it does become rather repetitive to my ears as the track progresses. That said, it would achieve the band’s highest ever chart position when it peaked at No 7. I’d loved “Attack Of The Grey Lantern” but my interest in the band waned at this point and there would be no redemption arc between me and them up to their demise in 2003.

OK, let’s be clear. Despite what our failing memories (my failing memory anyway) tells us, Eagle-Eye Cherry was not a ‘one hit wonder’. He had a further two hits in the UK after “Save Tonight” but I couldn’t have named either of them without checking. Could you? Apparently, he still gets people shouting “Save Tonight” at him in public as if it’s his name – you’d think people would remember Eagle-Eye wouldn’t you?! This got me thinking that there should be another sub category for this type of artist. The criteria would be that although your biggest hit wasn’t your only one, it’s your defining one, the only one that anyone but the super-fans remembers, the only one that continues to get radio play to this day, the one that’s your royalties pension. It could be called something like ‘big hit wonder’. Who else might be categorised like this? Kajagoogoo and “Too Shy”? The Boo Radleys and “Wake Up Boo!”? There must be loads more…

A bit of chart history next. By debuting at the very top, Billie became the youngest artist to achieve a No 1 record since Helen Shapiro in 1961. Of course, we now know her as Billie Piper, accomplished and award winning actress synonymous with shows such as Doctor Who, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and I Hate Suzie. Back in 1998 though, she was fresh-faced, 15 year old Billie (she would change to Billie Piper by the time her second album arrived in the new millennium), a fresh-out-of-the-box, immediate pop star. How did she get to such an exalted position at such a young age though? Well, if she looked familiar to pop fans back then, it was probably because she’d been the face chosen to star in a TV commercial to promote Smash Hits magazine so there was already a connection established between her and pop music before she’d even released anything. The next logical step was to rectify that and she did so with “Because We Want To”, a shout-a-long anthem for the Millennials generation. This catchy pop tune allied with Billie’s winning, toothsome smile and some hot-stepping, slick dance moves proved irresistible to the record buying public. The end of the 90s would belong to Billie with another No 1 in follow up single “Girlfriend” plus two more Top 3 hits and a platinum selling album.

Come the new millennium, I, for one, was surprised that she managed to turn up another chart topper with “Day And Night”, the lead single from sophomore album “Walk Of Life”. It was almost up there with Kylie’s triumphant comeback with “Spinning Around” that same year. Unlike Ms Minogue though, Piper’s music career did not sustain. The album sold much less than her debut and the relative failure of its title track single would signify the end of her time as a pop star. Fast forward to 2005 and she would have all the time in the universe as Rose Tyler, the first companion of a reactivated Dr Who taking the role presumably because she wanted to.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	B*Witched	C’est La Vie	I did not
2	Matthew Marsden	The Heart’s Lone Desire	Didn’t happen
3	Jungle Brothers	I’ll House You’98	Nope
4	Karen Ramirez	Looking For Love	Nah
5	Destiny’s Child	With Me	Negative
6	Mansun	Legacy	No
7	Eagle-Eye Cherry	Save Tonight	No but my wife and the album
8	Billie	Because We Want To	No – because I didn’t want to

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/m002k7yx/top-of-the-pops-10071998?seriesId=unsliced