It’s a case of someone old someone new in this episode of TOTP with some artists that have been around for literally decades in some cases mingling with acts making their debut on the show. Our host is Jamie Theakston (again!) and we start with a group who were definitely in the ‘old’ bracket. If this had been 1983, an appearance by Culture Club on the show would have been a big deal as they were one of the biggest pop bands in the world. Fifteen years later though, did the pop kids of 1998 know who they were and, if they did, were they bothered in the slightest that they were back? I say ‘back’ but “I Just Wanna Be Loved”, whilst a new song, didn’t immediately herald an album of never before heard material. Rather, it was a solitary new track to promote a Best Of album called “Greatest Moments”, a collection designed to cash in on a reunion tour. The tour was a success and did, a year later, lead to that album of new material with the release of 1999’s “Don’t Mind If I Do”. However, it seemed it was a case of audiences loving the hits live but not being arsed about hearing any new recordings and it floundered peaking at a lowly No 64 in the UK chart.

I’ve got to say that compared to some of the hits from their glory days*, “I Just Wanna Be Loved” does not compare. Some limp lovers rock sir? I’ll pass thanks as should have the band as this was somnambulistic rubbish. How did it get to No 4 then I hear you ask? A good promotion campaign backed with the tour and that Greatest Hits album I’m guessing.

*Apart from “Karma Chameleon” which is and will always be absolute garbage.

And what was the deal with George’s (and Mikey’s) headgear? I think @TOTPFacts sums it up nicely:

#TOTP pic.twitter.com/7S0b09s5Si

— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) November 28, 2025

Having said all of that, I have a confession to make. I saw Culture Club on that 1998 tour. Me, my wife and some friends went though, in my defence, I was more interested in the two other artists on the bill, The Human League and ABC. I have to say that I got a bit pissed up before we went to the concert and so I can’t remember much about it other than Culture Club played the dog shit “Karma Chameleon” as the last song of the set with Boy George saying that it wouldn’t be a Culture Club gig without them playing that track which I guess is true. Various machinations in the band’s story followed including a period where Mikey Craig and Jon Moss recruited a new singer to replace George who was busy with other projects (it all came to nothing) and a BBC documentary about a planned 2014 tour that didn’t happen. Ultimately though, they got themselves together and have toured and had a Las Vegas residency as recently as 2023.

Next, we get some more of this backstage shenanigans nonsense that debuted last week. If the idea behind it was to demonstrate that the show remains a pull for some of the biggest names in pop/rock music, I’m not sure that Theakston saying that he’s there with Kele le Roc really makes that point. The whole thing is completely undermined anyway by using it as a segue to a performance by a band who aren’t actually there as we get a repeat showing of The Beautiful South doing “Perfect 10” from four weeks back. Yes, four weeks back in which time the single has fallen down the charts consistently from its debut peak position of No 2, albeit whilst remaining inside the Top 10 until it finally dropped out of it this week thereby creating a rather odd looking on screen caption reading ‘The Beautiful South – Perfect 10 – 11’. My first observation is why reshow it now and my second is ‘10 – 11’ – I don’t think it’s going to rival the current ‘six-seven’ slang meme.

From a band who’d been around for nearly a decade to someone making his TOTP debut. I knew the name Lyndon David Hall from working in a record shop and knew what type of music he made but I never actually heard any of it until now. I wasn’t expecting much especially from a song called “Sexy Cinderella” but I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, it’s all very bump ‘n’ grind which isn’t really my thing (I could do without the lyrics about getting freaky with blindfolds if I’m honest) but the guy could sing and, I don’t know, it just feels like a proper song with a degree of musicality to it unlike something like that which Dru Hill served up the other week. For a while, Hall was one of the brightest new lights in UK R’n’B winning a MOBO in 1998 and being the first UK artist to be voted ‘Best Male Artist’ by readers of Blues & Soul magazine in 1999. However, after releasing three albums and appearing in the hit film Love Actually, Hall was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and died in 2006 aged just 31 following complications resulting from the stem cell transplant he received in 2005. He had been in remission at the time of his death.

Theakston’s pinching my lines! In his intro to the next artist he says “Next up, looking more like Blondie than…erm…Blondie, it’s The Cardigans”. I made that connection in my review of the 16 October show when I said of the band’s performance of “My Favourite Game”:

“Persson looks effortlessly cool up there on stage in this performance with her peroxide blond hair backlit by the studio lights making her look more like Debbie Harry than Debbie Harry did in the late 90s”

OK, I’m not claiming that I was unique in coming to that conclusion – it’s hardly a startling revelation that nobody else could possibly have made. In fact, it’s a blindingly obvious comparison but even so. It’s more evidence to add to my increasingly large file named ‘Jamie Theakston’s a bit of a prick’. I may have more to add later.

Seemingly not content with this fake backstage set up, we were now getting more and more personal video messages from artists introducing their own promos. Last week we had Michael Stipe with a segue into REM’s latest release and now here was Bono to lead us into U2’s single “The Sweetest Thing”. Released to promote their greatest hits compilation “The Best Of 1980 – 1990”, it did what it said on the tin in that it is a sweet song with a sweet story behind it. Written by Bono for his wife Ali to apologise for being in the recording studio and forgetting her birthday, it was originally released as a B-side to the 1987 single “Where The Streets Have No Name”. However, it was polished up and re-recorded for inclusion on that aforementioned Best Of album.

The song is simple yet tuneful but is turned into something else by the attendant video which saw Bono on a carriage ride across the Georgian mile in Dublin. In an attempt to apologise to his wife, he enlists various performers to join him along the journey including Boyzone*, the boxer Steve Collins, members of the Riverdance cast, some Chippendales, and the Artane Boys marching band who not only had links to U2 (drummer Larry Mullen Jr was once a member) but to the wider rock world via the appearance of some of their number on the artwork for INXS’s 1992 album “Welcome To Wherever You Are”. All of this undoubtedly adds to the charm of the video but for me, it works mainly because Bono doesn’t attempt to mine along instead remaining facing the camera with his mouth closed throughout. With his hat and wraparound glasses he reminds me slightly of Elvis Costello here. “The Sweetest Thing” debuted at No 3 on a chart that made history with the entire Top 5 made up of brand new singles for the first time ever.

*Apparently Boyzone recorded their own version of “The Sweetest Thing” but the record company suits didn’t think it sounded like a Boyzone track and any plans for a potential release were permanently scrapped. Searches of the internet have not revealed any trace of their version of the song which is probably for the best.

After Lyndon David Hall earlier, we now get another UK R’n’B artist, also from London who also won a MOBO award (two actually), who was also making their TOTP debut and who I was also not expecting much from but whose song I surprisingly thought was not bad. Kele Le Roc (real name Kelly Biggs) whom I’m beginning to think of as a female version of Lyndon David Hall so closely did their career trajectories run in parallel, would have two Top 10 hits to her name by the end of the 90s starting with this one – “Little Bit Of Lovin’” featuring a vocal that reminds me of Randy Crawford. In 2001, she would team up with Basement Jaxx on the No 6 hit “Romeo” and would go on to work with such dance luminaries as Shy FX and T Power. She would trump all of the above though in 2020 when she collaborated on a version of Baby D’s “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” with Gok Wan – no really!

Back to 1998 though and “Little Bit Of Lovin’” was co-written by Robbie Nevil who had that hit “C’est La Vie” back in 1987. He couldn’t have had anything to do with coming up with Kelly’s stage name could he? “C’est La Vie”? Kele Le Roc? Please yourselves!

From a group who’d been around for 20 odd years (U2) to a TOTP debut (Kele Le Roc) to…how would you describe Alanis Morissette at this point in her career? An established artist? Yeah, let’s go with that. Certainly, the monster success of her “Jagged Little Pill” album had positioned her squarely in that category. However, with that level of profile comes expectation and the task of following her breakthrough third studio album was daunting to say the least. In the end, topping sales of 33 million worldwide proved unachievable and “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie” sold a quarter of the copies of its predecessor. Still, 8 million units shifted is hardly too shabby.

Lead single “Thank U” was a strong introduction to the album. A multi-faceted track based around an hypnotic drum loop sample from Sly And The Family Stone, it was also very suitable for daytime radio play – Morissette was canny enough not to veer too far away from the sound that had made her a superstar. Then there were its lyrics which added an extra layer of depth. Telling the tale of her inner epiphany of self knowledge following a trip to India, they were more personal in nature than many a mainstream hit would normally feature. However, what really caused a splash weren’t its sonic properties but the visual ones that went with the video. Featuring a totally nude Alanis wondering around various public locations in Downtown Los Angeles, it was an arresting promo to say the least. Thankfully there was no chance of Morissette being actually arrested herself on public indecency charges as it was filmed in a closed set. It would become her highest charting single in the UK when it peaked at No 5 as, despite “Jagged Little Pill” containing five hits, none of them got higher than No 7. It’s the video that we see here in another example of the relaxing of executive producer Chris Cowey’s no video policy albeit that we get a personal message from Alanis introducing it (another Cowey innovation).

And so we arrive at an artist whose first hit was in 1965! Yes, it’s Cher who, rather surprisingly, would have the UK’s biggest selling single of 1998 with “Believe”. Our host’s intro does, as I suspected, provide me with some more evidence for my ‘Jamie Theakston’s a bit of a prick’ file when he says of Cher “She’s no spring chicken but she’s still a top bird”. As this will be No 1 for seven weeks, I think I’ll just finish this post with some of its chart facts:

• No 1 in 23 countries
• As of 2017, “Believe” had sold 1,830,000 copies in the UK making it the biggest selling single by a female artist in UK chart history
• As of 2025, it was certified 5 times platinum by the BPI
• In the US, “Believe” was ranked the number one song of 1999 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Dance Club Play charts

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Culture Club	I Just Wanna Be Loved	Negative
2	The Beautiful South	Perfect 10	Its a no
3	Lyndon David Hall	Sexy Cinderella	I did not
4	The Cardigans	My Favourite Game	Good tune but no
5	U2	The Sweetest Thing	Nope
6	Kele Le Roc	Little Bit Of Lovin’	Nah
7	Alanis Morissette	Thank U	No
8	Cher	Believe	I did not

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/m002ms9b/top-of-the-pops-30101998