80stastic

TOTP 01 MAY 1998

We’ve reached a TOTP milestone – no, nothing to do with my blog (though my 400th post for the 90s shows happened recently). This was all about executive producer Chris Cowey who has taken the decision to change the show’s theme tune and titles. Graphics wise, gone are the flaming torsos and gold medal style logo to be replaced by a more back to basics flurry of primary colours, stripes, circles and lines that morphed into a 60s themed, almost pop art styled motif with bold font. The theme tune was even more retro bring a drum ‘n’ bass-ified take on “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin, an instrumental version of which by CCS was used on the show from 1970 to 1977. The new opening music was the work of Bad Man Bad (aka Ben Chapman) and I’m guessing was meant to be an obvious homage to the show’s past but with a current vibe to ensure it remained contemporary and relevant. Cowey had taken nearly a year to bring in these changes, taking his time and experimenting with not having a theme tune at all (Vince Clarke’s “Red Hot Pop” had been phased out during 1997/98 having been in place since 1995). I think I prefer the changes as opposed to nothing at all which had led to a lack of show identity.

The first presenter in this new era was Jamie Theakston and the first artist was All Saints who, having spent months (literally) in the charts with their second single and first No 1 “Never Ever”, are back with…a cover version?! Yes, just three singles into their career and they’ve already hit the cover version button by recording “Under The Bridge” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Now, as we have seen many, many times over the course of these TOTP repeats, the recording of a cover version can be a break-in-case-of-emergency strategy to save a dwindling pop career but this can’t have been the case with All Saints as they were riding the crest of a commercial wave. So what gives? Were some of the other tracks on their eponymous debut album not considered strong enough to maintain their momentum? That particular theory might have held more sway if the single after this one – “Bootie Call” – had bombed but it didn’t. In fact, it was a third, consecutive No 1 for the group. As such, I am at a loss as to why they went with a cover version so early on in their career but they were so sold on the idea that they doubled down on it by releasing two covers when they made the single a double A-side with the other track being their take on Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade”. Gitchie, gitchie ya-ya, da-da!

Whilst I quite like the staging of this performance with the group positioned on a gantry above the studio audience, I wasn’t that keen on their rendition of “Under The Bridge”. They changed the intonation of both the verse and chorus thereby affecting the melody which made it quite jarring to my ears. Yes, they at least attempted to do something different with it and yes, a change of phrasing can prove a winning tweak (see Paul Young’s take on “Every Time You Go Away” by Hall & Oates) but it just didn’t work for me. Maybe I was too familiar with the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ original. All Saints do a good job of selling it though (even if I wasn’t buying) with a nice little shimmy movement worked out for the distinctive guitar opening which was actually sampled from the original. They’ve also gone heavy again on the cargo pants with all four members sporting them. Their fashion influence has even spread to our host Theakston who’s wearing a camouflage design example of them.

The next song would spend two whole months inside the Top 10 peaking at No 4 and thereby providing another example that disproves my memory that all hits around this time were in and out of the charts within a fortnight. Admitting to liking “Dance The Night Away” by The Mavericks was never going to win you any credibility points but some people must have had a real thing for this rock/pop/country/Latin influenced tune though I can honestly say I was not one of them (my Dad has a fondness for it however). I could never really hear the appeal of what, for me, was a very sleight composition – even the guy who wrote it, lead singer Raul Malo, admits that it came together as a “happy accident” and that it just about wrote itself. So why was it such a big success? Well, my guess is that it was a crossover hit at just the right time. Whilst the UK had been a receptacle for country hits before from the old guard of the like of Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and Don Williams, when it came to the 90s and the emergence of ‘new country’, we hadn’t exactly welcomed the movement with open arms. Its biggest exponent Garth Brooks was a superstar in the States but he’d had solid but not widespread success over here. Fast forward five years and we were ready to embrace country music again so long as it had a pop flavour to it. 1998 saw both LeAnne Rimes and especially Shania Twain hit huge numbers sales wise and so the door was open for a track like “Dance The Night Away” to walk through and into our charts. I’m guessing it got a lot of play in Radio 2 back then when it wasn’t the catch-all station for the middle-aged as it is now. It was one of those record that people who wouldn’t be seen anyway near a record shop except with a present list at Christmas would venture into their local emporium to buy. Parent album “Trampoline” also sold well making the UK Top 10 but they would not sustain their commercial appeal. They are still together and touring with Raul Malo on vocals. I wonder if they ever get fed up of having to play their biggest hit though?

Now, as follow ups to a No 1 single go, Usher only making No 24 with “Nice & Slow” after previous hit “You Make Me Wanna…” topped the chart isn’t the worse example of how to consolidate on that success*. However, it can’t have been what the R&B superstar would have been expecting or hoping for. After all, the song gave him another Billboard chart topper across the pond.

*Bee Gees followed up No 1 “You Win Again” with “E.S.P.” which peaked at No 51 whilst Nena’s next single after “99 Red Balloons” was “Just A Dream” which struggled to a high of No 70.

However, its inability to achieve the same level of success as its predecessor certainly wasn’t anything to do with a lack of confidence on Usher’s part to sell the song. Look at him in this performance – he has the studio audience of young girls literally trying to paw him. The man in the hat is actively encouraging the near fever pitch crowd though – what is that finger movement near his crotch area when he sings “I got plans to put my hands in places…”? Well, I think we all know what it is but before the watershed BBC? He follows this up by making thrusting motions with his groin after he’s thrown the hat off Michael Jackson style. In case the audience can’t contain themselves, in what must be a first in TOTP history, Usher has a bodyguard stood at the side of the stage. Surely this must have been for effect? Another Chris Cowey innovation maybe? Or was he an actual bodyguard primed for action? What was going on?!

Was there a more intriguing artist in the 90s than Tori Amos? Now don’t all come at me at once with your own, much more deserving (in your opinion) nominations for such a question – I had to start the paragraph with something to introduce her and, in any case, she is intriguing I think, both musically and culturally. Sure, there were the inevitable Kate Bush comparisons early in her career but to dismiss her as some sort of tribute act was pure folly. Sonically, her compositions could make your senses tingle or alternatively make you think “what on earth is this?” so genre-fluid is her work. At once eerie and haunting but also aggressive and deeply emotional with lyrics that address subjects such as sexual assault, religion and gender politics. This track – “Spark” – dealt with her own experience of suffering a miscarriage. It’s hardly ‘I love you, you love me’ stuff.

In her personal life, Tori is a spokesperson for Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) and has a deep connection with Native American culture due to her ancestors on her Mother’s side being of Cherokee descent. Some of the artists she is reported to have influenced include Alanis Morissette, Olivia Rodrigo and Olly Alexander of Years & Years. Her songs have appeared in multiple TV series including Dawson’s Creek, Yellowjackets, Charmed and Beavis and Butt–Head. She’s undoubtedly a complex and multi-layered character which, as I say, makes her an intriguing artist. As a performer, she’s visually arresting too. Look at this TOTP appearance in which she employs both keyboards and a piano. I also admire the way she looks like she’s come to the studio straight from having a shower with wet hair. It’s an unconventional approach. Having said all of this, “Spark” would prove to be her final Top 40 hit of her career so did her idiosyncratic ways prove ultimately to be to impenetrable for mainstream success? I think probably it was just a case of shifting tastes and anyway, Tori retains a loyal and sizeable fan base to this day.

Is this a case of the sublime to the ridiculous? I think it might be. Having created an unusual piece of pop history for themselves with their first single “5,6,7,8” which, at the time, became the biggest selling single never to make the Top 10, Steps were back to prove that they were never destined to be a one-hit wonder and a novelty one at that. Now, if I said some of the Kate Bush comparisons with Tori Amos were inevitable (and unjustified) then the parallels being drawn between “Last Thing On My Mind” and ABBA were inescapable and totally justified. The back story of this track is that it was originally recorded and released by Bananarama in 1992 as Keren and Sara began the second phase of their career as a duo with Mike Stock and Pete Waterman as producers. It was the latter whose idea for working with the Nanas on the album “Please Yourself” was encapsulated by the phrase ‘ABBA-Banana’. In the end, only the singles released from it stuck to the plan of which “Last Thing On My Mind” was the second. It turned out that the world wasn’t ready to accept this hybrid in the early 90s and the single bombed.

Waterman must have ruefully filed the idea in a drawer marked ‘Do not open until 1998’ as it was recycled for his latest project Steps. Spending a fortnight at No 6 not only justified Waterman’s faith but also ensured that Steps would carry on (and on and on) beyond one hit. It’s as sugary as golden syrup and as substantial as a politician’s promise but at least they didn’t just do a remake of their line dancing debut. Watching this performance, it strikes me that Ian ‘H’ Watkins and Lee Latchford-Evans, though I’m sure that they’re lovely people, are also two of the luckiest pop stars going based on their contribution to this which consists of some tightly rehearsed but limited dance moves. Maybe they’ll come into their own the bigger the hits become.

Out of the way! Here come Catatonia and they’re mad with “Road Rage”! Yes, confirming their status as one of the hottest bands of 1998, Cerys and co follow up “Mulder And Scully” with an absolute banger. Some songs are defined by a singular detail – that ringing guitar chord in “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult comes immediately to mind – and so it is with this one but said detail in this case is Cerys’ ability to roll her Rs in the chorus which became the USP of the track. Despite its rather gruesome inspiration being the real life event of the murder of Lee Harvey by his girlfriend Tracie Andrews in 1996 (Andrews falsely claimed to the police Harvey was killed by a man during a road rage confrontation), the track has a glorious, singalong chorus that helped it peak at No 5 in the charts. That position, following the No 3 hit that was its predecessor, meant Catatonia were finally big news after a few early releases that failed to land.

However, was it the band that were building their profile or Cerys Matthews who was generating the headlines? It seemed to me to be the latter and that they were following in the footsteps of Blondie, No Doubt and Sleeper. Press coverage of Cerys reportedly storming out of the Ivor Novello Awards after “Road Rage” was beaten to the Best Contemporary Song gong by Tin Tin Out only fuelled the perception. In her defence, at least her band wrote their song whilst Tin Tin Out’s was a cover of a track by The Sundays. Maybe her rage was justified?

Nearly two years on from their breakthrough hit “Tattva”, Kula Shaker were still experiencing huge commercial success but this single – “Sound Of Drums” – would mark the beginning of the end of their time as chart stars. Whilst it’s true that it went straight in at No 3, it would be their last ever visit to the Top 10. So what went wrong? Well, a lot of factors contributed to their decline I think not least the bad press lead singer Crispian Mills had generated with some decidedly dodgy comments he made to the NME about the symbolism behind the swastika for which he later apologised. In today’s world, he’d have probably been cancelled immediately but back in the late 90s, the slump was more gradual. The press also applied that well worn convention of building up our heroes only to knock them down which played a part in their downfall with Mills’ acting dynasty background that once marked him out as unusual now saw him as part of some elite to be criticised. Then there’s the band’s own inertia when it came to releasing new material. Between “Govinda” in November 1996 and “Mystical Machine Gun” in the March of 1999, the only Kula Shaker tracks made available in the shops were the singles “Hush” and “Sound Of Drums” and one of those was a cover version! The latter was officially the lead single from their second album “Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts” but said album didn’t arrive until ten months later. All these gaps between releases meant that the band’s momentum inevitably waned and their place amongst the rock/pop A-list was destabilised.

What about the music though? Well, despite having a title that sounded like an Audie Murphy Western, it was talked up in the music press as being an attempt to sonically resemble The Doors though I’m not sure I can hear it. They were still definitely playing that mystical, psychedelic rock card in their image though. Check out the trippy backdrop in this performance and The Beatles referencing helter skelter prop. I have to say that having liked their debut album “K” enormously, they were starting to lose me at this point but then maybe I was just paying too much attention to the dissenting voices.

We finally have a new No 1 but be careful what you wish for as replacing Run-D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins are Boyzone. Now despite this being a chart topper, I have zero recall of it. An actual No 1 that I can’t remember at all despite working in record shop at the time! It doesn’t say much for the song in question which is “All That I Need”. A ‘mature’ ballad is no doubt how the band would have described it whereas I would have gone with a dreary non-entity of nothingness. For the record, the thing that Ronan Keating was struggling with that meant the band didn’t perform in the studio was that his mother had recently passed away. The interview with three of the other four band members means we get less than a minute of the promo but it maybe demonstrates as well that executive producer Chris Cowey really couldn’t stand featuring videos on the show but don’t panic as they are in the studio the following week despite having dropped down the charts from No 1 to No 4. Also, why was Stephen Gately the only one to speak during the interview? What was the point of the other two being there?

It’s taken me the whole post but I’ve finally realised what the new opening title graphics remind me of and it features one of the greatest drum fills of all time…

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it ?
1	All Saints	Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade	Nope
2	The Mavericks	Dance The Night Away	Nah
3	Usher	Nice & Slow	Negative
4	Tori Amos	Spark	Intriguing as she was, it’s a no
5	Steps	Last Thing On My Mind	Never
6	Catatonia	Road Rage	Great track but no
7	Kula Shaker	Sound Of Drums	No
8	Boyzone	All That I Need	Whatever I needed, it wasn’t this

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/m002hqxv/top-of-the-pops-01051998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 24 APR 1998

Posted on September 2 by 80stastic

Ah – and I thought last week’s show was the nadir. Looking at this week’s running order, I am genuinely not inspired to even bother writing this post. If it wasn’t for the completist in me, I might well have given up at this point but nine years of writing the blog which is into its sixteenth TOTP year does cut deep and I can’t quite let it go just yet. I might have to get through this one in double quick time though and with the briefest of commentaries in places.

Jayne Middlemiss is once again our host and we begin with a hit that was on the show as recently as last week but is given some more exposure due to it holding firm in the Top 10 at No 6. Although we just get a repeat of last week’s performance of “Found A Cure” by Ultra Naté, there was also a video made went to promote the single which was directed by one Charles Stone III. Who? Well, he was the director for many a music promo by the likes of Living Colour, A Tribe Called Quest and Neneh Cherry before moving on to feature films like Paid In Full. Still no clue? Well, he was also responsible for this notorious advert which in turn was responsible for men everywhere believing they were suddenly the funniest person alive by dint of saying just one word…

The first comment under the video on YouTube for this is possibly the saddest thing I’ve read in a while:

“This ad made me really excited to have friends when I got older. Sadly that never happened. I drink a lot of beer though.”

@YesOkayButWhy; 2021

As for Ultra Naté, after finding a cure, she seemingly pursued a career in pharmacy – her next single was called “New Kind Of Medicine” and in 2006 she released the song “Love’s The Only Drug”.

Savage Garden are back on the show with “Truly Madly Deeply” – again. What was the deal with this one? It spent five consecutive weeks in the Top 10 being completely ignored by TOTP Executive Producer Chris Cowey but has now been on the show in three out of the last four episodes courtesy of it spending three weeks at No 5. I’m wondering if it was to do with a desire by Cowey to make the show almost completely studio performance based. As with Ultra Naté earlier, the song’s video is never shown but instead we get the same in studio appearance recycled three times. Were the Australian duo ignored initially because they weren’t available to appear in person and Cowey refused to show the video instead? According to the excellent @TOTPFacts, after the early May ‘98 shows, not one video was shown until the end of June when they would appear occasionally.

The word ‘mighty’ has been used a fair few times in the world of entertainment. There’s The Mighty Wah, one of the many pseudonyms of one of my heroes Pete Wylie. How about “The Mighty Quinn”, a 1968 No 1 single for Manfred Mann? Then there’s Wolverhampton indie rockers The Mighty Lemon Drops and, from the world of comedy, The Mighty Boosh. However, I’d completely forgotten about this lot. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were a ska-punk band from Boston (geddit?) whose only UK chart entry was “The Impression That I Get”. It was an unusual title for an unusual hit. A raucous rampage of ska beat, parping brass and the rip-your-throat-to-shreds vocals of lead singer Dicky Barrett. With this being a live performance, I had to check if the recorded version of the song sounded the same and they pretty much do with Barrett sounding like he’s swallowed a razor blade even on record. Barrett is a supporter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the outspoken anti-vaxxer who is somehow the current United States secretary of Health and Human Services in the Trump government. Something tells me that Barrett might not be the best judge of character. His song though sounds pretty good and he sells it to the studio audience even though some of them, I get the impression (ahem), maybe don’t know who him and his band are or how to dance to the sound they are making. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones only called it a day in 2022 with Barrett’s views on COVID-19 vaccines given as the reason for this.

From a hit I’d forgotten about to one I do remember (everyone remembers this one surely?!) but it had slipped my memory quite how big a hit it was – anybody else forget that “Feel It” by The Tamperer featuring Maya was a No 1? It was for just a solitary week but a chart topper is a chart topper. So who were they? They were a bunch of Italian record producers who sampled the old Jacksons hit “Can You Feel It” to create a monster dance anthem with a model-looking woman out front to sell it. So basically another Black Box then.

Anyway, although the Jacksons sample completely dominated the track, what was even more distinctive about it were the lyrics which included the infamous line “What’s she gonna look like with a chimney on her?”. Like many people, I was left scratching my head on first hearing and saying to myself “Did she just sing about having a chimney on her? Surely not”. On second hearing, after the lyrics were confirmed, my fingers were still scraping my skull but this time my question to myself was “What on earth does she mean?”. Well, I didn’t know this back then as a fledgling internet wasn’t widely accessible to all but it turns out the lyrics were nicked from little known track “Wanna Drop A House (On That Bitch)” by Urban Discharge and suddenly the whole mystery is cleared up.

So successful was “Feel It” that The Tamperer featuring Maya would repeat the formula to create two further hits by sampling Madonna and ABBA but that’s all for a future post. For now, let’s marvel at the sight of two consecutive artists on the show having prominent brass sections and in the knowledge that back in 1998, pissed up clubbers would have been winding their way home in the early hours chanting “What’s she gonna look like with a chimney on her?”.

It’s not getting any better (for me at least). This next hit, and this is going to make me sound like a right reactionary old fart, is literally just a lot of shouting. No, correction – a lot of shouting over the theme tune to 80s TV show Knight Rider. This is Busta Rhymes with “Turn It Up (Remix) / Fire It Up”. The third single from his “When Disaster Strikes…” album, it’s apparently radically different from the album version which sampled Al Green’s “Love And Happiness” but I’m not tempted to find out how different. It would spend two weeks at No 2 in the UK chart in its remixed format so I was clearly out of sync (yet again) with the record buying public. I stand by my original assessment though – this was just shouting as this performance evidences. Ah yes, this performance. It’s introduced by Mr Rhymes himself on the now established show prop “the big telly owa there” as Jayne Middlemiss describes it and guess what? He and his mate (no I don’t know who he is) just barks some words at the screen, banging on about No 1. Erm…Busta? You’re not No 1 fella. And what was the idea with the Knight Rider sample? It was a terrible theme tune and a terrible show with a terrible actor as the lead. Ah, I’m done with this. NEXT!

What. On. Earth? Having swiped left on Busta Rhymes, I’ve ended up with what is technically known, I believe, as ‘some right weird shit’. OK, that’s not right. Technically speaking, 187 Lockdown were a speed garage artist but I reserve the right to my original, personal qualification. I dislike pretty much everything about this – the track, the staging… everything. I get they’ve tried to add an Eastern vibe to their sound but it’s just that usual, sub-genre defining, sped-up, skittering backbeat with an culturally appropriated melody and some random spoken word samples dropped into it. As for the performance, quite what is the guy dressed in black meant to be doing? There some half hearted “Kung-Fu” styled movements, some facial grimacing, what looks like some Marcel Marceau trapped-in-a-box miming and…is that a praying mantis yoga stance? Then there’s the two female dancers who start the performance in full kimonos but end it stripped down to bras and knickers. It’s all a bit ‘lads mag’ and also a possible case of cultural stereotyping.

After the popularity of speed garage faltered, 187 Lockdown was shut down while its prime movers Danny Harrison and Julian Jonah continued to release music under the alias of M Factor and remix for artists as mainstream as Robbie Williams and Atomic Kitten. However, there was a renewed interest in the 2010s in their 187 Lockdown material thanks to the popularity of BBC TV series People Just Do Nothing and its characters that made up Kurupt FM. I can’t say I’ve ever watched it but one show I did watch religiously as a kid was Kung Fu starring David Carradine. Now, if 187 Lockdown had remixed that TV theme and had Master Po and ‘grasshopper’ performing on stage…now that I would have been there for.

Now, when I saw this on the running order, I wrongly assumed it was just another entry on the list of dance tracks that was essentially this TOTP and that, of course, I would hate it. However, “Sounds Of Wickedness” by Tzant is rather good. A track comprising some breathless rapping and some breakneck breakbeats with a funky bass line courtesy of Reuben Wilson’s “Orange Peel” (though it sounds like Dee-Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart” to me), it fair pelts along giving the listener quite the head rush. Apparently, Tzant were the same people behind the PF Project who brought us the Trainspotting themed hit “Choose Life” in 1997 and the rapper is the same guy from all those awful cover versions by Clock. “Sounds Of Wickedness” was nothing like either of those though. In fact, it reminded me of another early 90s hit by Definition of Sound…

Maybe Tzant’s track is a bit more hard-hitting but you get my drift. They would have one more minor hit under that moniker but would score another Top 20 entry in 1999 under the name of Mirrorball and go onto mix the first volume of the “Euphoria” dance compilation albums that were huge sellers at the end of the 90s and early 2000s.

It’s the final week of six at No 1 for Run-D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins with “It’s Like That” so I suppose I should finally comment on the video we’ve been watching for all these shows. There’s not much to it really though – an unconvincing male vs female breakdance-off set in a disused building interspersed with the odd shot of the Run-D.M.C. lads doing their trademark arms folded pose and some of Jason Nevins in yellow tinted glasses which are his trademark apparently. It’s not a patch on their iconic promo with Aerosmith for “Walk This Way” but then they were always going to miss a showman like Steven Tyler.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Ultra Naté	Found A Cure	No
2	Savage Garden	Truly Madly Deeply	I did not
3	The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	The Impression That I Get	Nah
4	The Tamperer featuring Maya	Feel It	I wasn’t feeling this one – no
5	Busta Rhymes	Turn It Up (Remix) / Fire It Up	Big NO
6	187 Lockdown	Kung-Fu	Negative
7	Tzant	Sounds Of Wickedness	‘Fraid not
8	Run-D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins	It’s Like That	And no

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/m002hf79/top-of-the-pops-24041998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 17 APR 1998

Posted on August 28 by 80stastic

Dearie me! This doesn’t look like the strongest TOTP line up I have to say. In fact it looks completely uninspiring to be frank. As such, my motivation is not at the levels it should be. The 1998 repeats have always been a bit of a slog so far to be honest and running orders like this are not helping. Well, I guess I’ve got to just get through it. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more…

Our host is Jo Whiley who would hail someone farting “The Birdie Song” as a musical genius if it kept her on TV. Thankfully the acts tonight aren’t quite that bad. We start with Billie Myers who was only just on last week (of course she was in the Chris Cowey era) performing her hit “Kiss The Rain”. I mentioned last time how she was sort of ‘the other’ Billie of 1998 next to Billie Piper and it got me thinking about how many famous Billies there were/had been. Here’s what I came up with:

Billie Eilish
Billie Holiday
Billie Jo Spears
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Whitelaw
Billie Jean King
Billie from Here Come the Double Deckers!

OK, the last ones a bit of a cheat but the first four are all singers so if you add Billie Piper and Billie Myers to that list that’s six which seems a fair few music artists especially when you consider I haven’t included those whose name is spelt Billy. As for Billie Myers, where does she rank in that list for you?

Sticking with the name game theme, the next artist has quite the moniker. Ultra Naté whose real name is…erm…Ultra Naté – no really, that’s her actual name – Ultra Naté Wyche – is back with a follow up to her massive hit single “Free”. It’s taken almost a year for it to be released but to be fair to her record label AM:PM, “Free” was such a monster spending three and a half months inside the Top 40 that I guess they had to let the momentum of that single finally run out of steam so as not to deflect sales from any new material. Plus, AM:PM released a “Free (The Mixes)” single in the January just to make sure they completely squeezed any remaining sales potential out of the track. With all that saturation, it probably made sense to wait a while before releasing a follow-up and, resisting the temptation to rinse and repeat, it wasn’t just a carbon copy of its predecessor. Sure, it’s still a dance track but, as we have discovered in this long, long journey through 90s music, dance music could be many different things and come in many different colours. Whilst not as immediate as “Free” nor as big a hit, “Found A Cure” still found a market spending two consecutive weeks at No 6.

Next in this unappealing running order is/are Mase (or is it Ma$e?) featuring Total with a rap track called “What You Want”. I can’t say I know much about Mase nor his music but even I, unaccustomed as I am to the rap genre, can tell that the start of this performance is hackneyed and lazy. Did he really just run on stage and shout “Everybody throw your hands in the air and wave ‘em like you just don’t care”?! This is followed up by encouraging the studio audience to chant “Oh yeah” and then, focussing on “all the ladies”, gets them to “scream!”. Really?! There’s then a lot of rapping about Mase’s girl and his money and…shopping? I’m not really sure though he mentions enchiladas and giving her carats until she feels a rabbit. Is that a reference to buying a fur stole? I’m so confused and so as Mase ultimately as he couldn’t decide between a career as a rapper or dedicating his life to God as he retired from the music industry to become a pastor before returning in 2004 with an album called “Welcome Back”. It’s an unusual though not unique choice of career paths (didn’t MC Hammer also become an ordained minister?). It reminded me of my mate Robin who once took a carers advice exercise the result of which was that his optimum careers were either being a social worker or a comedian.

What are the chances?! Two acts on the same show with the name Ultra?! That’s where the similarities end though. I must have deliberately obliterated this lot from my memory banks as there is nothing familiar about them at all apart from them appearing to be a prototype version of Busted. No, wait – Busted playing the music of S Club 7. Their hit “Say You Do” is so annoyingly catchy that it’s…well…annoying. The usual route of support slots on tours by major artists (Boyzone and Louise in this case) helped establish a fan base (they were huge in South East Asia and Italy apparently) but that old music industry banana skin of record company restructuring saw the A&R team who signed them leave and they were released from their contract. Three of the four members continued as Rider who released a football record for the 2002 World Cup featuring Terry ‘El Tel’ Venables but it failed to chart. Conversely, they might have been better off keeping their original band name or at least adapting it to ‘The Ultras’. If you know, you know.

Right, who are these two? K–Ci & JoJo? Sounds like a TV show on the Disney Channel in the 90s. Apparently, they were half of the US R&B group Jodeci who were on a hiatus meaning that the group members could pursue other projects. K-Ci & JoJo were brothers Cedric and Joel Hailey who took the ball and ran with it all the way to No 1 in America with this single “All My Life”. For three weeks it reigned atop the Billboard Hot 100 but over here it had to make do with one week at No 8. It did, however, spend ten weeks inside the Top 40 descending gradually but consistently in an unusual chart journey. Clearly, there were some live vocals going on in this performance but they did seem to lack a bit of control – there was definitely some very elongated ‘ooh ooh-ing’ going on which I have to say caused my dog to howl uncontrollably when I watched this TOTP episode (no really – he did!).

The ‘all my life’ chorus sounded familiar but I couldn’t place what it reminded me of for ages until it finally clicked. Now, they’re nothing like each other in every other respect but the phrasing and intonation on those three words are almost exactly the same.

After some very unstimulating turns so far, we finally get to a song that inspires a tiny bit of excitement (for me anyway). If Ultra were an early version of Busted, then could a case be made that Ben Folds Five were the blueprint for Keane? I know, I know. Putting music into neatly labelled boxes probably isn’t the smartest nor fairest practice (and I’ve no doubt been guilty of it many, many times during the course of this blog). What I will say is that the “Battle Of Who Could Care Less” hitmakers were at the very least out of the ordinary with their acidic, piano driven, power pop tunes.

However, they risked alienating their fan base with this, their biggest hit “Brick” which was a much more subdued and earnest sound telling the story, as it did, of the abortion that Folds and his high school girlfriend went through. There is a beautiful intensity to the track though which can’t be denied. What wasn’t especially beautiful though was its title and it got me thinking of other songs that have titles that don’t seem to match their sound and I came up with this which is surely the ultimate example of the phenomenon…

The rebirth, rejuvenation and resurrection of Robbie Williams is complete! After looking down and out as the end of 1997 came into sight, he was now back at the very top as his debut album “Life Thru A Lens” has finally made it to the top of the charts six months after it was initially released. To celebrate the achievement, he’s been invited onto the show to perform a track from it. “Killing Me” was the one chosen for the appearance. It’s a brave choice in a way what with the dark song title but presumably Robbie wanted something that he believed would show people his depth as an artist. Certainly, “Killing Me” is a world away from his cover of George Michael’s “Freedom” which seemed a lazy and uninspired decision to launch his solo career with. I guess he could have gone with the more uptempo title track but on reflection, I think he made the right choice.

Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins remain at No 1 for a fifth straight week with “It’s Like That”.

Despite all its sales and all its plaudits, is there any better way of demonstrating the legacy of this track than it being used to soundtrack an Australian McDonalds advert in 2025?!

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Billie Myers	Kiss The Rain	No
2	Ultra Naté	Found A Cure	Nope
3	Mase featuring Total	What You Want	Never happening
4	Ultra	Say You Do	Of course not
5	K-Ci & JoJo	All My Life	Nah
6	Ben Folds Five	Brick	Liked it, didn’t buy it
7	Robbie Williams	Killing Me	Not available to purchase as a single
8	Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins	It’s Like That	And no

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/m002hf77/top-of-the-pops-17041998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 10 APR 1998

Posted on August 25 by 80stastic

Back in 1998, this TOTP was broadcast two days before my wife’s 30th birthday and as such, we were in our way to New York (baby!) to celebrate. Joined by our friends Robin and Susan, we would be in the Big Apple for a long weekend and so would not have seen this TOTP. So, as I haven’t dipped into my personal life in these posts for a while, I’ll try and interweave some of what happened in New York with my comments about the songs in this particular show. Self indulgent? Possibly but it’s my blog so…OK, before we even got to New York, two huge news stories broke. Firstly, The Good Friday Agreement was signed between the UK and Irish governments that would bring an end to most of the violence of The Troubles. Secondly, George Michael was arrested in a park in Beverly Hills for being caught in “a lewd act” by an undercover police officer operating a sting operation. This would lead to George coming out about his sexuality soon afterwards. I can remember following both stories on the TV screens at Manchester Airport as we waited to board our plane and again when we had a stopover in Dublin to do US customs. Hours later when we arrived in New York’s JFK Airport, they were still dominating the headlines.

Making headlines of his own at this time was the rejuvenated Robbie Williams who is back on the show to promote his single “Let Me Entertain You”. I say back on the show but I think this is just a re-showing of the performance from the other week. In fact, I think hardly any of the artists on the show tonight are actually in the studio with the presenter who is Jayne Middlemiss this week. More of that later.

As such though, I’m going to talk about the video for this one and not what we got to see on TOTP. You know the one, where Robbie does his best Kiss impression? Or is it his best impression of The Prodigy’s Keith Flint doing his best impression of Kiss? In fact, there’s a load of sending up of rock stars (and their cliches) in the video. There’s Robbie pretending to take a bite out of a dove Ozzy Osbourne style, Robbie flying above the stage on wires and a harness like Jon Bon Jovi in the “Livin’ On A Prayer” promo and, of course, the aforementioned Kiss make up. It’s a memorable watch and whoever made the decision to have it all in black and white take a bow – I think it might have been too much in full on Technicolor.

So back in New York, I’d started the holiday by going down with a heavy cold. Brilliant! I could feel myself getting progressively more and more ill as we travelled in the taxi from the airport to Manhattan. I perhaps became germ-infected in the enclosed space of the long flight over. Fortunately our friend Robin had a bottle of Jack Daniels with him and I dosed myself up on that using the only mixer we had available to us at the time – dandelion and burdock. ‘Jack Dandy’ was the name we gave to our newly created concoction I believe. Fortified by Mr JD and Mr DB, we ventured out into New York…

Back in Blighty in the TOTP studio, we find Savage Garden but, once again, as with the Robbie Williams performance, it seems to be just another re-showing of their previous appearance judging by the abrupt cut away from Jayne Middlemiss’s intro. They’d only just been on the week before with their hit “Truly Madly Deeply” but maybe Executive Producer Chris Cowey was making up for lost time on their behalf as they’d been a constant in the Top 10 for weeks but this was only their second appearance on the show.

The band took their name from a phrase in the Anne Rice series of gothic novels The Vampire Chronicles – the character Lestat says that “Beauty was a savage garden” when describing the world as primitive, dangerous and lawless. I didn’t see any savage gardens in New York but we did make a pilgrimage to the garden of peace that is Strawberry Fields in Central Park which was opened in 1985 to commemorate the life of John Lennon five years after his murder. There’s a picture of me somewhere trying to look all sombre and respectful at the Imagine mosaic. Despite the size of their hit, perhaps unsurprisingly there is no memorial to the band Savage Garden. However, the Mark Mills novel Savage Garden is set in a memorial garden in Florence, Italy and in Auckland, New Zealand there is an actual memorial dedicated to the country’s first Labour prime minister Michael Joseph Savage.

Sometimes I think I’m misremembering how the charts worked around this time. In my head, it was all singles in and out of the charts within a fortnight due to heavy week one discounting by the record companies. Clearly there was some of that going on but we’re also encountering plenty of hits that seemed to sell consistently week after week thus maintaining healthy chart positions for prolonged periods. Just this episode we had the example of Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply” and then the very next song on is another long term chart resident. “How Do I Live” may not have hit any higher than No 7 but it would spend 30 weeks inside the Top 40. THIRTY! That’s about seven and a half months! The first 18 of those saw it never leave the Top 20! This song didn’t just have legs – it was a centipede of a hit!

Strangely, its longevity wasn’t the biggest story behind the track though. Back in the 50s and 60s, the simultaneous release of the same song by different artists, if not commonplace, certainly wasn’t a rarity. By the late 90s, it never seemed to happen. However, in 1998 came the chart battle between 15 year old LeAnn Rimes and established country artist Trisha Yearwood who both recorded and released (on the same day) their own versions of “How Do I Live”. How did this come about? It was all to do with the film Con Air starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich. This dumb but fun action thriller is one of those films that I always have to watch if I stumble upon it whilst channel surfing (see also Bridesmaids). The film’s production company Touchstone Pictures wanted a big ballad to end the movie with and Diane Warren’s “How Do I Live” was given the job. Touchstone wanted LeAnn Rimes to record it which she duly did but they weren’t sure about her version deciding it lacked maturity and was too pop sounding. As such, they turned to Yearwood who was twice LeAnn’s age and she provided what Touchstone were looking for and it was her version that featured in Con Air. Now I’ve listened to both takes on the song back to back and there’s not a great deal of difference to my ears. Yes, Trisha’s voice has slightly more depth to it and there’s more instrumentation in the backing including a more prevalent sax sound but to delineate one version as pop and the other as country seems to be splitting hairs to me.

Despite not making the Con Air cut, Rimes’s version was released anyway and would prove to be the ultimate winner spending five weeks at No 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (Yearwood peaked at No 23) and was the fifth best selling song in America in 1998. In the UK, astoundingly given it never got higher than No 7, LeAnn’s version was the sixth best selling song of the year (every song above it had been a chart topper). Trisha’s version never even made our Top 40. In fairness though, Trisha did win a Grammy with her version for Best Female Country Vocal Performance so maybe I was wrong about that pop/country differentiation. Just to make us all feel old. I can confirm that LeAnn will be 43 on the 28th of this month.

As huge a hit as “How Do I Live” was in America, I don’t recall hearing it whilst we were in New York but then we weren’t exactly going out of our way to listen for it. No, we were far too busy having a good time doing all the things you’re meant to when in the Big Apple like a helicopter ride over Manhattan, a dash up the Empire State Building (where a young American child spent the whole time shouting at his parents “I’m freaking! I’m freaking!”) and taking in Grand Central Station. One afternoon, me and my friend Robin got it into our heads that we would go looking for the legendary music venue CBGB which my wife and our friend Susan didn’t fancy doing so our group split up. Being two clueless Brits abroad, Robin and I couldn’t find CBGB. However, we did come across a film crew and a huge audience of people on a sidewalk (sidewalk – maybe we weren’t that clueless after all!) and wondering what was going on we walked over to the amassed throng…just in time to be on the live outside broadcast of the 1000th edition of The Ricky Lake Show! Yes, somewhere out there exists the footage of me and Robin (probably with our faces obscured) at the back of that audience. When we met up with my wife and Susan, they said they had a tale to tell us that we wouldn’t believe. We said we’d had an interesting experience as well but let them go first. They’d been walking past Trump Tower and Donald Trump had walked out! We then told them our story and we all agreed that ours…well…trumped theirs. I’m not sure it still does though.

Enough of that though, back in the TOTP studio we find Sash! performing “La Primavera” again. Actually, we don’t because it’s yet another re-showing of their previous performance and they’re not actually there for a second time. What was going on this week? As this one was also featured in the last post, I’ve little to say about it so, in keeping with this week’s post, I’ve looked for a connection with New York. All I can find is that Sash! the dance act have an Instagram account with the handle SashNY which is not to be confused with S A S H | N Y who are a clothing brand in Brooklyn who sell and rent couture gowns. Gowns with sashes presumably.

Seriously though, what was going on with the studio set up this week. As far as I can tell, so far we’ve had three repeats of previous studio performances and a promo video. None of the artists featured so far seem to have been in the studio at the same time as presenter Jayne Middlemiss nor a studio audience. Now, just a head shot of Jayne appears against a white back drop to introduce the next artist who is Billie Myers. Then there’s a white out fade from Jayne to Billie who is in the studio with an audience! So was Jayne not there? Was her performance recorded separately or was Middlemiss just running late and had to do her links solo and in silo as it were?

Anyway, who was this Billie Myers? On the face of it she seemed to be yet another of those 90s female artists who had one big hit and then not much else at all. I’m thinking Donna Lewis, Paula Cole, Meredith Brooks…and Billie Myers whose big hit was “Kiss The Rain”. However, I always assumed that Billie was an American but she’s actually from Coventry but her song was just about as far from that city’s legendary 2-Tone sound as you could get. A huge, sweeping soft rock ballad with an arresting chorus even if the lyrics don’t make much sense (how does one kiss the rain exactly?), it was a hit both here and in the US. Everything after that was a case of diminishing returns though. Follow up “Tell Me” was a minor hit and her album “Growing Pains” sold modestly. She’s released just the two albums since and has been active in The Mindfull Initiative supporting young people with mental health issues. In many ways, she is the forgotten ‘Billie’ of 1998 as the second half of the year would see the rise of 15 year old Billie Piper (what was it with 1998 and 15 year old female singers?!) who would have two No 1 singles. Both were actually nominated for a BRIT award for Best British Female Solo artist in 1999 though neither won (it went to Des’ree if you’re interested).

For a New York connection, Billie Myers was a featured artist at NYC Pride in 2006. We didn’t see the NYC Pride March whilst we were there though we did attend the Easter Parade which was rather undermined by some disgruntled native New Yorker pushing through the crowds yelling “Europeans – get back to where you came from!”. Oh dear.

OK so Jayne Middlemiss is now within a studio audience for her next link but, yet again, the performance she introduces is another recycled one from the other week. It’s all very confusing. Said performance is from Tin Tin Out featuring Shelley Nelson and their cover of “Here’s Where The Story Ends” by The Sundays. On the Sunday that we were in New York, after we’d done the aforementioned helicopter ride, we spent what seems like hours traipsing up and down the blocks of Manhattan looking for somewhere to eat some lunch. Now you wouldn’t think this would have been such a hard task in New York what with its diners and restaurants and you’d be right but then you haven’t tried to do so with our friend Robin who had some very exacting demands about where he might be OK eating. After multiple suggestions were turned down for various reasons by Robin and with our feet aching and our bellies rumbling, we eventually found a lovely place with a menu to suit all our tastes. We were just about to go in when Robin cocked an ear and stopped us in our tracks stating “We can’t go in there, they’re playing jazz!”. Aaaggghhh!

As for Tin Tin Out, what links them with Duran Duran? As well as remixing tracks for the Brummie New Romantics turned pop megastars, Tin Tin was the name used at various points in his career by the wonderful Stephen Duffy who was their singer in an early incarnation of the band. You all knew that though right?

Next, a seismic event if you were a heavy rock fan back in 1998 – it’s the return of Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, four years on from their original reunion which gave the world “No Quarter”, their live acoustic album of new material and reworking of selected Led Zeppelin tracks. As I never got the boat travelling to Led Zep island, this happening didn’t really register with me though I do recognise the cover art of their second album (and reason for their return) “Walking Into Clarksdale”. However, I have zero recall of its lead single “Most High” which I was expecting to dislike but actually found quite engaging. Despite the size of the Led Zeppelin fanbase though, it wasn’t a huge hit peaking at No 26 though famously, the band were not known for single releases. Jayne Middlemiss makes a jibe about giving your Mam and Dad a shout to come and watch the performance which does seem rather ageist and condescending and also undermines the decision to have Robert and Jimmy on the show which is meant to be representative of the most happening chart sounds around (yes, I know that past line sounds wanky). Plus, they were responsible for the TOTP theme tune back in the day courtesy of CCS’s version of “Whole Lotta Love” so you’d think that there would have been a bit more respect shown.

The cover of the second Led Zeppelin album “Physical Graffiti” shows two four story buildings which were based on a photo of two actual five story buildings located at 96 and 98 St. Mark’s Place in NYC. Now, I certainly didn’t make any pilgrimage to witness that location like I did with Strawberry Fields but not far from there is the wonderful bar McSorley’s Old Ale House which we did visit. A real spit and sawdust place where the only drinks available were McSorley’s light ale or McSorley’s dark ale. Marvellous!

It’s a fourth of six weeks at the top for “It’s Like That” by Run–D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins. This really was becoming quite the phenomenon. I’m still not completely sure why it was so popular. It’s a hard-hitting, ultra-pounding, dance floor-filling track for sure but I’m still kind of surprised that it crossed over into daytime radio play and the mainstream pop charts in such a big way. Was it a lack of competition that enabled its long run at No 1? Celine Dion was right there pretty much all the time waiting in the shadows and I would maybe have expected her to pip them to the top spot at least once in the that six week run. After all, she’d already dropped from the peak once and then retuned there later in her chart run. Of course, Run-D.M.C. couldn’t be more New York – or rather more Queens. A visit to the Hollis neighbourhood of that borough was never going to be on our to do list though I’m afraid.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Robbie Williams	Let Me Entertain You	No but I had a promo copy of the album
2	Savage Garden	Truly Madly Deeply	Didn’t happen
3	LeAnn Rimes	How Do I Live?	Without this record? Quite easily.
4	Sash!	La Primavera	Nope
5	Billie Myers	Kiss The Rain	Negative
6	Tin Tin Out featuring Shelley Nelson	Here’s Where The Story Ends	Nah
7	Jimmy Page & Robert Plant	Most High	No
8	Run-D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins	It’s Like That	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/m002h46h/top-of-the-pops-10041998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 03 APR 1998

Posted on August 22 by 80stastic

On this day in pop music history, we lost Rob Pilatus. If that name doesn’t mean anything to you then how about Milli Vanilli? Yes, Rob was one part of the infamous duo who were completely discredited after it was discovered that they hadn’t sung on any of their hit records and subsequently returned their Grammy Award. Despite a few attempts at a comeback, there was no way back for Milli Vanilli and Rob spent time both in prison and drug rehabilitation centres before he was ultimately found dead in a German hotel room from an alcohol and prescription drug overdose on the eve of yet another attempted comeback. It’s a tragic tale certainly but I wonder if any of the artists on this TOTP were accused of not singing or playing on any of their records?

Our host is Zoe Ball – is it fair to make an accusation of ‘cheating’ against her in that her career had a leg up due to the show business connections of her national treasure status father Johnny and that she is, in fact, a nepo baby? Some people might think that, I couldn’t possibly comment. Anyway, we start with a new act from Australia by the name of Savage Garden. I say new but they weren’t really although I think this is their first time on TOTP. They’d already had a hit in the UK the previous year when “I Want You” debuted at No 11 but it didn’t get picked up for a slot on the show and tumbled down and out of the charts within three weeks. The follow up “To The Moon And Back” missed the Top 50 altogether (though it would make the Top 3 when rereleased) but they’re finally on the show with their third single “Truly Madly Deeply”. However, despite that song entering the charts at No 4 and spending the next five weeks inside the Top 10, this was the first time it had featured on the show. So ‘new’ they weren’t and yet again I put this to the show’s executive producer…“Chris Cowey, explain yourself!”.

Anyway, as well as sharing its title with the rather wonderful 1991 film starring Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson (which is never on TV or streaming platforms by the way), “Truly Madly Deeply” is one of those soppy love songs that ultimately gets under your skin becoming an itch you can’t scratch, a track you desperately don’t want to like but can’t stop humming – well, that’s how it made me feel. Enough people clearly did like it as it would spend another five weeks knocking about the Top 10 making a total residency of just under three months. It was a phenomenally consistent seller evidenced by three consecutive weeks at a No 5 and its No 10 position in the UK year-end chart for 1998. The track would spearhead a period of mega-success for the duo of Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones with two triple platinum selling albums in the UK within three years whilst they were an even bigger deal in America where they achieved two No 1 singles and their debut eponymous album sold seven million copies. However, by 2001 they were gone with vocalist Hayes pursuing a solo career. My abiding memory of the duo though came from the year before. In 2000, I’d left my job working in record shops and relocated from Manchester to York to become a civil servant. One of my new colleagues had tickets to see Savage Garden play but he could no longer go and was looking to get rid of the tickets – he couldn’t give them away. Nobody seemed to even be slightly interested in the band let alone love them truly, madly and deeply.

Did they play/sing on their records? Yes although as a duo, they also employed some session musicians to perform the bass, percussion and drums parts on tracks.

A proper music legend now but the fact that he is only on the show because of a jeans advert belies his legacy somewhat. Zoe Ball’s intro claiming that without this man there’s no ska and no Madness (nor jeans commercial) tries to do justice to his name but I’m not sure it’s entirely convincing. We are talking about Prince Buster who helped shape the history of Jamaican music in its various forms with his influence on reggae, ska and the rocksteady genres. Said influence extended to these shores with the late 70s ska revival movement spearheaded by the 2-Tone label direct beneficiaries. Madness called their first single “The Prince” after him and named themselves after his song “Madness” which was its b-side. Their second single was another cover of one of his songs – “One Step Beyond” – so Zoe was right about that I guess but she could also have mentioned The Specials and The Beat who both recorded versions of Prince Buster songs or borrowed parts of them to shape their own ‘original’ tunes. One of those tunes was “Whine And Grine” which The Beat incorporated into their anti-Thatcher anthem “Stand Down Margaret”. Eighteen years later “Whine And Grine” was back having been used to soundtrack the latest Levi’s ad campaign and it would give Prince Buster only his second ever UK Top 40 hit when it peaked at No 21.

It’s a great track and Prince Buster (real name Cecil Bustamente Campbell) looks effortlessly cool in this performance. Looking at the age of the studio audience, you can only wonder if they knew they were in the presence of a music legend and hope that they didn’t go away saying they’d seen the man who did the song from that Levi’s advert. Prince Buster died from heart problems in 2016.

Did he play/sing on his records? Are you kidding?! A true original.

Zoe Ball’s on the…well…ball again by stating that Janet Jackson has been a regular on the show. In the 90s alone, she racked up 20 UK chart hits – that’s two a year every year. It’s not a bad record. What was a bad record though (to my ears) was “I Get Lonely” which was the third single from “The Velvet Rope” album. On this one, Janet tipped the balance between R&B and pop which had characterised a lot of her hits well in favour of the former and as a pop kid at heart, it was never going to get me longing for its company.

As she couldn’t be in the studio in person, she’s sent a video message introducing her video which seems to be distracting us to the lack of any tune in the song by showcasing Janet’s cleavage. Indeed, it was nominated for the ‘Sexiest Music Video of the Year’ at the VH1 Video Music Awards. It’s all a bit obvious, showy and in your face (literally). By the way, that’s the group Blackstreet up there with Janet who were on the “TNT Remix” produced for the single release and when she rips open her top to reveal a lacy bra and that bosom again, they possibly experienced a Westlife/Mariah Carey moment from the “Against All Odds” video.

Did she sing/play on her records? Yes she did although there were those bizarre rumours that said Janet was really brother Michael in drag in which case she didn’t if you believe them.

If it’s Sash! (and it is) then their single must be at No 2 in the charts no? Erm…no actually. Yes, all their previous three dance hits had all gone to one place off the summit but “La Primavera” (the lead single from their second album) was at No 3 and would get no higher. Shock horror! Fear not though as they would be back at No 2 with their next hit “Mysterious Times” and would collect one more as the new millennium dawned to give them the record of being the act with the most No 2s without ever getting to No 1 in chart history. No sniggering at the back!

So what did “La Primavera” sound like? Well, the apple didn’t stray too far from the tree I think it’s fair to say although was it a bit less frantic than its predecessors? More like the dream trance that Robert Miles was peddling? Oh, I don’t know do I? Nor do I know why the dancers they’ve got in to promote the track look like they’re doing aqua aerobics without the water nor who the Betty Boo lookalike out front was. Life’s too short people.

Did they sing/play on their records? Clearly they didn’t sing on the records as they got a series of guest vocalists in.

As I approach the end of blogging about TOTP (I’m stopping after the 1999 repeats have finished), I’m increasingly encountering the scenario of it being the last time that I have to comment on a particular artist. Such is the case here as I believe this is the final chart hit for Louise in the 90s. The thing about the ex-Eternal member’s solo career it strikes me is that it was consistent without ever being spectacular. She has amassed twelve chart hits (eight between 1995 and 1998) of which six went Top 5 but how many of them were songs that really made a mark on the general public’s consciousness? Obviously her fan base (which is pretty loyal) could name them all but how many could your average punter reel off? I could only come up with “Naked” with certainty and I’ve reviewed most of them. “All That Matters” is a a case in point. A perfectly pleasant, radio friendly pop number if a little derivative of something I can’t quite put my finger on but it doesn’t linger in the memory for long. Still, that loyal fan base of hers sent her latest album “Confessions” into the Top 10 this year and that’s surely all that matters.

Did she sing on her records? Yes, which actually worked against her in her Eternal days when trying to break America where a white woman in the line up was seen as problematic for procuring airplay on R&B radio stations.

At this point in 1998, Ian Brown was awaiting trial for allegedly using threatening behaviour towards an air hostess on a British Airways flight in February. I seem to remember seeing lots of graffiti around Manchester where I was living at the time proclaiming Brown’s innocence. In the end, he went down for four months though actually served just two in jail due to parole.

For the moment though, he was free to perform his latest single “Corpses In Their Mouths” in the TOTP studio. Now that song’s title was pinched from a quote in Belgian situationist Raoul Vaneigem’s 1967 book The Revolution Of Everyday Life. However, that’s not where I know it from. My introduction to it came courtesy of the marvellous Pete Wylie track “The Story Of The Blues Part Two (Talkin’ Blues)”.

As for Brown’s track, it was the follow up to “My Star” which I remembered but this one? Nothing. I’m not surprised as it’s a pretty flat tune with Brown’s deadpan vocals not helping to up the ante. And what was with that miserable harmonica playing? It’s an all round grim performance but then he did have other things on his mind I guess.

Did he sing on his records? Depends what your definition of ‘singing’ is.

A quick word now on the staging of this particular show but not the performances of the artists but the positioning of Zoe Ball. Chris Cowey was obviously in an arty mood this week as he has our Zoe making use of unorthodox parts of the studio. Right from the start, she appears to walk on from off stage to do her intro which is echoey signifying she’s coming from behind the scenes. Then, when introducing Sasha!, she’s contorted herself to fit into the middle of what could be a giant polo but I’m guessing is the letter ‘O’ from the TOTP logo? Finally, she’s sprawled out on top of a piano and shot from above with the camera angle rotating madly as she introduces 911. Was Cowey trying out some new ideas or was he just trying to distract us from the very average quality of the music on the show (Prince Buster excepted)?

So 911. This trio had built themselves quite the career from small beginnings. “All I Want Is You” was their sixth consecutive Top 10 hit but like Louise earlier, could you actually name many of them? I’m going “Bodyshakin’” and didn’t they do a Dr. Hook cover at some point? The rest? I’ve probably written about them but retained any sense of what they were called or how they went I haven’t. Zoe tells us that this is a live performance from the group – is it? Well, lead singer Lee Brennan could be doing a live vocal but the other two up there with him? Well, they’re live in the respect that they’re living and breathing but that’s about their only contribution aside from some “oohing” in the background. The track itself is, again like Louise and her song earlier, a mid-tempo pop song that does a job but is pretty insubstantial. A bit like 911 really.

Did they sing on their records? As noted before, I could believe that Lee did but his two band mates? I’d need to see actual footage from the recording studio and a sworn declaration from the engineer that it was them.

As Zoe Ball says in her intro (before she attempts some embarrassing…well, how would you describe it? Jive talk? Street slang? Urban speak?), “It’s Like That” by Run–D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins is the first single of 1998 to last more than two weeks at No 1. In total it would clock up six weeks on the throne and become the third biggest selling single of the year in the UK. Somehow, despite the fact that I must have sold loads of it whilst working in the Our Price in Stockport, I’d forgotten quite how big a hit this was. Damn getting old and my failing memory. “It’s like that”? It may have been but I can’t quite remember it.

Did they rap on their records? You bet!

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Savage Garden	Truly Madly Deeply	I did not
2	Prince Buster	Whine And Grine	Liked it, didn’t buy it
3	Janet Jackson	I Get Lonely	No
4	Sash!	La Primavera	Nope
5	Louise	All That Matters	Negative
6	Ian Brown	Corpses In Their Mouths	Nah
7	911	All I Want Is You	Never happening
8	Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins	It’s Like That	And no

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/m002h46f/top-of-the-pops-03041998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 27 MAR 1998

Posted on August 19 by 80stastic

Despite attempts during the ‘year zero’ revamp to fiddle with the format, TOTP was pretty much always* centred around hit songs and the Top 40 singles chart. During those early 90s years, the show dipped its toes into albums with an album chart slot but it never really worked and like everything and everyone associated with that period, was ultimately rejected.

*I stopped watching around 2000 after I left my job in record shops that I’d had for 10 years so maybe they revisited the album idea after that? I’ve no interest in finding out.

However, just to freshen things up a bit, I’m going to dip my own toes into the corresponding album chart for this show’s post and beyond to see what was happening back in 1998. Here’s hoping I don’t regret this…

OK, so Jamie Theakston is our host and we begin with…Celine Dion? Again?! Yes, she was only on the show (justifiably) two weeks ago when, for the second non-consecutive time, she was No 1 with “My Heart Will Go On” but she’s back as, having slipped to No 3 the following week, she’s actually gone back up the charts to No 2. OK so, whilst her single was yo-yo-ing around the very top of the charts, her album “Let’s Talk About Love” was also shifting units-a-plenty by being this week’s best selling title. I suppose that’s not too much of a surprise given that “My Heart Will Go On” was included on it* though clearly its sales had been boosted by the success of both the Titanic film and single. After spending four of its first five weeks on the chart at No 1 at the end of 1997, this was the first time it had been back to the top spot in three months.

*Was it always on it or was it added to it after its global success?

What perhaps is more surprising is that the Titanic soundtrack album’s chart stats up to this point read as follows:

29 – 5 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 2 – 2

For an album of nearly entirely orchestral pieces (Celine’s single was on there as well), this was phenomenal. Indeed, Wikipedia tells me that it is the highest selling primarily orchestral soundtrack ever! I probably shouldn’t be taken aback at the sales of the Titanic soundtrack given…

a) the record busting-success of the film

b) the fact that presumably I must have sold a few copies over the counter myself seeing as I was working for Our Price at the time

…and yet I am. The only other similar title I can think of that was a consistent seller during my time working in record shops is The Mission OST. Maybe this post’s albums angle might be enlightening.

Here’s an unconventional hit. – “This Is Hardcore” by Pulp. The title track from their sixth studio album, it was quite obviously about porn. Or was it? Jarvis Cocker has explained that it was actually about the entertainment industry and how people get burned out and used up in the same way that he perceived those making porn films did. Yeah, maybe though he also admitted to watching a lot of porn in hotels on tour and the song’s lyrics, while not explicitly graphic, were certainly risqué – “you make me hard”, “teenage wet dream”, me on top of you” and “what men in stained raincoats pay for” were just some of Cocker’s chosen words. I wonder if the BBC censors has anything to say about them?

If the lyrics were an unlikely component of a hit single then so was its sound. Online comments have compared it to a Bond theme due to its cinematic strings though it puts me more in mind of a 60s film noir soundtrack. Ultimately, the track is imbued with a sense of the seedier side of life. On the one hand, Jarvis is the perfect person to deliver such a song but on the other, it reeks of that tedious trap that artists fall into after a period of initial success of writing about that success as a follow up. Which brings me onto “This Is Hardcore” the album. On a purely commercial level, it was almost disastrous when compared to the achievements of its predecessor. Whilst it did debut at No 1, it spent just two weeks inside the Top 10. In contrast, “Different Class” spent six months there and has sold 1.3 million copies in the UK. The sales of “This Is Hardcore” are a tenth of that. What I remember most about it though is the final track “The Day After The Revolution” which has the longest fade out of all time and clocks in at a shade under 15 minutes in length.

I wonder how many people in this episode’s studio audience realised that they were in the presence of a future superstar. Yes, it’s our first viewing of Beyoncé Knowles before she was a solo artist and was so famous she no longer needed a surname. Now, when I think of Destiny’s Child, my mind turns to all those hits around the very end of the 90s and start of the new millennium like “Bills, Bills, Bills”, “Say My Name”, “Independent Women”, “Survivor” and “Bootylicious”. It certainly didn’t go to March 1998 and a song called “No, No, No”. I have not even the most fleeting recall of this song. It seems a fairly average R&B track to me with a very repetitive and basic chorus and nothing like a track that would mark the group out for the success they would go on to experience. What do I know though? It was a No 3 hit in the US and No 5 over here. Now, if it wasn’t completely obvious from the interjections by Wyclef Jean of Fugees fame that you can hear, this was the REMIX version that he produced. Yes, Wyclef – we got it the first time you said it! How different it is from the original version I know not and care less but both versions are on their eponymous debut album if you wish to investigate.

Said album wouldn’t make a huge impression on the UK charts peaking at No 45 but by 2001, the “Survivor” album would spend four weeks at No 1 and sixteen inside the Top 10. Then came the Beyoncé solo career and the dropping of her surname. Now, of course, there was a song about another Knowles which referred to him just by his first name. This is Cockerel Chorus and their tribute to 1970s Spurs left back Cyril Knowles…

We’re getting ever closer to the end of M People in these TOTP repeats. “Angel Street” was the final single lifted from their final studio album “Fresco”. All that’s left now is a Best Of album and the two new tracks that were released as singles from it. To date, there has been no new M People album since 1997 and no new single since 1999 though they have toured sporadically. That remaining touring element to their story belied the idea that they’d ‘split up’ and promoted the theory that they were, in fact, on an elongated hiatus with no stories of the band falling out but rather coming to a natural break in activities. Incidentally, M People was originally conceived by Mike Pickering as a fluid collective arrangement rather than a traditional group with floating singers (though once Heather Small and her powerhouse vocals was discovered, that plan was dropped) so maybe an official break up was never on the cards? That said, was the writing on the wall that an extended break was on the cards? Small had recently given birth to her first child and the Deconstruction label which had been the band’s home since the beginning had closed necessitating them to release “Fresco” on their own record label. The album had sold well, debuting at No 2 and spending twenty weeks inside the Top 20. And yet, it couldn’t match the success of predecessor “Bizarre Fruit” achieving roughly half of its sales. The three singles taken from it weren’t the massive hits that those of “Bizarre Fruit” or Mercury Prize winning “Elegant Slumming” had been with middle release “Fantasy Island” peaking at a worrying No 33. “Angel Street” looked to have reversed that trend by peaking at No 8 but one week inside the Top 10 wasn’t the stuff of mega-hits. In truth, it wasn’t one of their strongest songs being almost as if generated by AI as a typical M People track (had AI existed back then).

I was intrigued to read though that the sax player here is one Snake Davis, an unofficial band member, who has played with just about every one you can think of. His website says he has recorded more than 400 tracks with over 60 artists and toured with the likes of Lisa Stansfield and Eurythmics. I mention him for three reasons. One is that he played a gig recently at the theatre where I work which was a sell out of dedicated fans. The second is that, if you watch him here, he doesn’t play his sax at all and just stands there trying to blend in with what is happening on stage. What was that all about? I’m guessing that they must have edited him out as the performance looks pre-recorded and seems to finish before the song should do. Finally, how tall did he look here? Snake certainly didn’t need a ladder with him. Yeah, you’re right – I shoehorned that last one in and it’s not even that funny is it?

Right, who’s this? The All Seeing I? Didn’t they have a hit with Tony Christie? Something about a panther? I’m sure they did but before that came this one – “Beat Goes On” which samples a Buddy Rich take on the Sonny & Cher hit from 1967. As Jamie Theakston alludes to in his intro, this lot were an electronic outfit from Sheffield and seemed very tied to their home city working with the likes of the aforementioned Tony Christie, Jarvis Cocker, Phil Oakey and Babybird. Again, I thought I couldn’t remember this one but the track was immediately familiar as soon as it started.

I liked the staging on display in this performance with the vocal parts being undertaken by a monitor on a plinth showing a close up of an eyeball and a big pair of Rocky Horror Picture Show style red lips. In the early 90s when I was first working for Our Price, the VHS of that film was released to retail and to promote it, we had lots of in store posters of the infamous, disembodied smackers that open the movie. I took one home and put it in the wall of our small flat in Manchester. It was an odd move on my behalf but it seemed to make perfect sense at the time. Anyway, back to The All Seeing I and this performance is reminding me of two other songs from the early 80s. The first is “Da Da Da” by Trio. I’m not sure why – maybe it’s the fact both featured a creepy looking drummer. The second song is “Kissing With Confidence” by Will Powers for the obvious tie in with the lips motif. The lyrics to this one included the line “Do you have spinach on your teeth?”. In the case of The All Seeing I lips, there’s no spinach but there’s definitely some stray lipstick marks. Less a case of ‘the beat goes on’ and more of ‘the lippie goes on…and on…’

What’s that? What about an album story? Well, they did have one which had one of the worst titles in pop music history – “Pickled Eggs And Sherbet” – which failed to do any serious business at the shops peaking at No 45 on the album chart. And that’s where that particular story ends. Talking of which…

Now, I always get confused about this one as it is all rather confusing. The name of this hit is “Here’s Where The Story Ends” and it’s by Tin Tin Out (who, confusingly, are nothing to do with Hergé’s comic book character) but the story behind this one needs telling from the beginning. The duo of Darren Stokes and Lindsay Edwards were known as remixers working with the likes of Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Olive and TLC. However, they also released records in their own right and had accrued a small collection of minor hits to this point. However, this one, which would become their second biggest hit ever, wasn’t actually their song but was originally recorded by dream pop outfit The Sundays though it was never released as a single due to the collapse of the band’s then record label. However, it was at No 36 in John Peel’s Festive Fifty for 1990. Still with me? Good.

Tin Tin Out got hold of it, gave it a dance vibe and recruited one S. Nelson to sing it. It wasn’t Shara Nelson of Massive Attack fame though. No, this was Shelley Nelson (not to be confused with one time Bucks Fizz member Shelley Preston). The masses liked this version so much that it went Top 10, something The Sundays never achieved with any single they ever released. To rub salt in the wound, the Tin Tin Out version won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song in 1999! How does that work?! Well, it worked so well that they repeated the formula of working with a female vocalist and covering someone else’s song later that very year when they teamed up with Spice Girl Emma Bunton on a version of 1988 hit “What I Am” by Eddie Brickell & The New Bohemians. The song placed at No 2 being pipped to the top spot by Geri Halliwell’s “Lift Me Up” in what was termed ‘The Battle of the Spice Girls’ (actually I may have made that up).

There’s a lot to unpack there (though not an album worth talking about) so I’m just going to finish off by saying that I add to my own confusion by mixing up “Here’s Where The Story Ends” with this late 80s dance hit by Electribe 101…

And just like that, the downward trajectory of the career of Robbie Williams was reversed and the rest is history. Yes, we all know that it was “Angels” that saved him from the dumper but in a way, it was what he did immediately afterwards that was just as important. Had he failed to consolidate on that success, thus making “Angels” be regarded as a one-off fluke, might things have panned out differently?

“Let Me Entertain You” was an almost perfect choice for a follow up. Bounding out of the traps, it said “I’m here and you’re all coming with me” and off we all jolly well popped. Infamously, it had been scheduled for release as the third single from the “Life Thru A Lens” album but Robbie supposedly got cold feet about releasing a song which such a bold and confrontational title and so “South Of The Border” replaced it ushering in claims that Williams was all washed up. Emboldened by the success of “Angels” though, the ex-Take That man felt comfortable enough to promote “Let Me Entertain You” and instead of being a pleading offer, it was now a cast-iron guarantee. For me, it is a great pop song, probably one of his best ever tunes with its sliding guitar riffs and explosive chorus backed with jangly keyboards and brass play out. It took Robbie to the next level and put him clearly ahead of his ex-band mates’ solo careers. In short, this was the moment he won.

Despite the renewal of his pop star worth, Robbie doesn’t seem reassured in this performance though. He’s very over exuberant, jumping up and down constantly and draping himself around his bass player David Bowie/Mick Ronson/Starman style for support. His sharp, buzz cut that he modelled for the promotion of “Angels” has been replaced by a backward step to the peroxide blonde/tracksuit look that he adopted in his darkest moments immediately post-Take That at Glastonbury ‘95. It wasn’t a good sign. Twenty-seven years later though and he’s completely come to terms with that period of his life as he prepares to release the thirteenth studio album of his career titled “Britpop” with a picture of him from Glastonbury as the album cover. Thirteen! Many of us doubters could never have imagined such a career of longevity back in 1996/97. Theakston lets Robbie know just before the start of his performance that his debut album had gone double platinum. A look at the its chart stats reveal the evidence of what we all knew anyway. Released it the October of ‘97, it debuted at No 11 before sliding out of the Top 40 within three weeks. It then spent over a month absolutely nowhere before the “Angels” effect kicked in. Look at these numbers:

63 – 32 – 21 – 18 – 12 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 4 – 4 – 3 – 1 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 3

It would spend a total of 44 weeks inside the Top 10 and has been certified a further six times platinum since Jamie Theakston’s announcement in this show to total 2.4 million copies sold in the UK alone.

Run–D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins remain at the top with “It’s Like That”. Despite the fact that rap and hip-hop were well established music genres by this point and hits with rapping in them were not uncommon events, the size of this hit was unexpected I would argue. After all, despite their reputation and profile as hip-hop legends, Run-D.M.C. weren’t renowned for massive hit singles in the UK. Indeed, they’d only visited our Top 40 three times before this – the marvellous collaboration with Aerosmith on “Walk This Way” in 1986 (No 8), follow up “It’s Tricky” in 1987 (No 16) and “Run’s House” in 1988 (No 37). They would have only one more UK hit after “It’s Like That” – a remix of the aforementioned “It’s Tricky” in 2003 which peaked at No 20. The story isn’t very different when it comes to albums. By far their highest charting album was 1988’s “Tougher Than Leather” which made No 13. In a move Dick Dastardly would have baulked at, their Best Of album “Together Forever: Greatest Hits 83-91” was rereleased with the Jason Nevins remix of “It’s Like That” added to it and renamed “Greatest Hits 83-98”. It peaked at No 31.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Celine Dion	My Heart Will Go On	Never
2	Pulp	This Is Hardcore	I did not
3	Destiny’s Child	No, No, No	Erm…No
4	M People	Angel Street	No thanks
5	The All Seeing I	Beat Goes On	Nah
6	Tin Tin Out	Here’s Where The Story Ends	Nope
7	Robbie Williams	Let Me Entertain You	No but I had a promo copy of the album
8	Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins	It’s Like That	And no

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/m002gv59/top-of-the-pops-27031998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 20 MAR 1998

Posted on August 17 by 80stastic

And just like that we appear to have reached a ‘jumping the shark’ moment in the history of TOTP. I ranted a bit in the last post about the Cast of Casualty having a hit record and their continuation of the soul-destroying trend for actors becoming pop stars off the back of their TV series characters performing a song in the show. That was bad enough but just seven days later we have the unedifying spectacle of the resurrection of another TV show inspired hit machine that made little sense back in the mid 70s and even less in the late 90s. We’ll get to that presently but some admin first in that we should acknowledge the fact that Jo Whiley is tonight’s presenter and I may have words to say about her later as well.

We begin though with the Spice Girls who have entered the charts at No 2 with their latest single “Stop”. Normally, a No 2 hit wouldn’t be anything to be sniffed at but in this case, well…it was seen as quite the seismic disappointment seeing as it halted the run of every one of the group’s singles having gone to the top of the charts. Despite Jo Whiley saying in her link that she didn’t think it meant the end of ‘girl power’, the Battle of Britpop aside, I don’t think there’d been as much discussion of a song not getting to No 1 since “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” halted Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s run of chart toppers in the mid 80s. I discussed the potential reasons for “Stop”…well…stopping their imperial run in the last post so I’m not going over all that again but suffice to say that in a way Jo Whiley was right – a No 2 instead of a No 1 single wasn’t the end of ‘girl power’ but the departure of Geri Halliwell a couple of months later possibly was.

We’re at the ‘jumping the shark’ moment already. Now don’t get me wrong. I like The Wombles as much as the next person of my generation who grew up with them in that final, five minute children’s TV slot before the boring old news came on. Everyone child of the 70s knew the names Great Uncle Bulgaria, Tobermory, Madame Cholet, Wellington, Bungo, Tomsk and, of course, Orinoco. I think a very young me had a poster of Wellington on my bedroom wall. That stop-motion animation and the playful voice of Bernard Cribbins was magical stuff. However, the idea to turn them into a pop group…I’m not sure I was ever on board with that even as a small child. Back in the 70s though they were huge. The brainchild of Mike Batt who wrote not just their hits but the TV show theme tune as well, according to Wikipedia they were the most successful music act of 1974 in the UK with more weeks on the singles chart than any other artist. Is that true? My God. It probably is though. In 1977 – the year of punk – David Soul was the UK’s best selling artist so…

Those 1974 hits included “Remember You’re A Womble” (No 3), “Banana Rock” (don’t recall that one but it made No 9), “Minuetto Allegretto” (No 16) and, of course, “Wombling Merry Christmas” (No 2). Back then, there were no Gorillaz-style computer graphics nor holograms to depict The Wombles but people in cumbersome, furry costumes which did actually look like their television counterparts but had no moving mouth parts which kind of undermined the whole idea of them performing.

Back to the late 90s though and why were The Wombles suddenly back on TOTP? Well, they are back in the charts with a rerelease of “Remember You’re A Womble” which would peak at No 13. Again though I ask why? Why did we need to be reminded of this – how to be diplomatic about this? – song that was of its time? Apparently it was part of campaign to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the show first appearing on our TV screens. A good enough reason you might say? No and I’ll tell you for why. Firstly, The Wombles were back on our TV screens anyway as a new series of episodes were made after Canadian company Cinar Films acquired the rights from original production company FilmFair. These were shown in the UK by ITV. Secondly, the songs were awful and we really didn’t need them back in our lives and indeed our ears.

At the song’s end, Jo Whiley ponders whether it could be The Verve underneath those Wombles costumes. A facetious remark obviously but it got me thinking about who did occupy those furry suits? Back in the mid-70s, some of the names of those who were in the band as it were included Mike Batt (obviously), session guitarist Chris Spedding who produced the first Sex Pistols demos and had his own hit called “Motor Bikin’”, legendary session drummer Clem Cattini who worked with everyone including pioneering producer Joe Meek and was one of The Tornadoes on mega hit “Telstar” and Robin Le Mesurier (son of the beloved Dad’s Army actor). As for the 90s version, the internet is not giving up much. Apparently whoever were in those costumes didn’t want to remember they’d been a Womble!

Some proper music now with the return of James who have reached that point in their career where a Best Of album is not only due but justifiable and credible. Taking the singles from their four albums on Fontana/Mercury (not including jam sessions album “Wah Wah”), plus two new songs and an track from early EP “James II”, it would go to No 1 and three times platinum. I was one of those who bought it and a good choice it was too but playing the whole album in one session, I had to admit to myself that some of the tracks did tend to merge into each other. I know – that’s fighting talk to some people but I can only call it as I hear it. Maybe that’s just an inevitable consequence of their sound being so distinctive and idiosyncratic.

Anyway, as was the established practice by this point, a new song was released to promote the Best Of which was “Destiny Callling”. Now, you know what I said about their songs merging into each other? Well, band member Saul Davies described the writing process for “Destiny Calling” as “whacking on a capo and playing “She’s A Star” at twice the speed”. Look, I’m not trying to find fault here, I’m just reporting the details. For what it’s worth, I liked it – a fairly obvious dig at the mechanics of the music industry, it was a perfect appetiser for the retrospective of their work…OK, of their chart successful work. What’s great about James though is that they’ve never rested on their laurels. Within 18 months they’d released their eighth studio album and have gone onto produce another ten in the following 25 years. I like Tim Booth’s Ian Curtis type wig out as the performance reaches its climax. Thankfully, nobody in the studio audience shouted at him to “Sit Down!”. Ahem.

I have no idea who this is or what her hit sounded like so I’m going in with no preconceived notions…

*three minutes later *

…well, what did I expect from a song called “Uh La La La”? This is lowest common denominator Eurodance rubbish that wasn’t even original. Alexia (for that is her who were talking about) clearly ripped off 1995 hit “I Luv U Baby” by The Original for the final line of the chorus (not the words which are clearly not unique but the intonation of the delivery). And what about that title? Clearly pinched from Kool And The Gang’s “Let’s Go Dancin’ (Ooh La,La, La)” but with the ‘Ooh’ adapted to ‘Uh’ to try and disguise the theft even though she’s clearly singing “Ooh”. Was this an attempt to become 1998’s version of Whigfield? I say 1998 but the single had been a hit all around Europe in 1997 but via lots of different record labels so the swines at Sony music ordered a unifying re-edit, remix and rerelease on Almighty Records to launch Alexia in the UK and so we had to suffer like the rest of the continent. A couple more minor hits later and Alexia was gone from our charts forever though she’s still recording music to this day amassing 19 (!) album releases to date including a Christmas album in 2022.

At the end of Alexia’s performance, Jo Whiley makes a remark that “Uh La La La” is about Alexia’s inner feelings but that “it could so easily be about the sex appeal of a Teletubby”. In a recent post, I commented on Jo’s intro for The Lilys who were the latest act to record a song for a Levi’s ad campaign following in the footsteps of Stiltskin, Babylon Zoo and Freakpower. When mentioning those names, she noticeably grimaced and I remarked this was a bit rich coming from a woman who would argue in favour of the musical significance of The Teletubbies if it kept her on TV. Ha! I wasn’t so far away with my assessment!

We’ve arrived at the final hit of the 90s for Kylie Minogue and although not one of her most well known tracks it might well be one of the most underrated. “Breathe” was the third and final single released in the UK from her “Impossible Princess” album. I think I’ve discussed the problematic gestation ofthat album before but briefly, it took two years to record due to changes of musical direction, various different collaborations and a quest for pure perfection from everyone involved in it. As such, its release was postponed multiple times and then its title was deemed dubious after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in August 1997. It was finally made available in the UK in late March of 1998 having been renamed to simply “Kylie Minogue” (the third eponymous album of her career) meaning that all three singles from it were released before the parent album which was unusual to say the least.

“Breathe” is actually very engaging – slinky but not without substance and almost hypnotic with its lyrics about internal contemplation. It could be a prototype for “Pure Shores” by All Saints which is a compliment by the way. It probably deserved better than its chart high of No 14. The 90s had started with a No 1 for Kylie with “Tears On My Pillow” but by the decade’s end, her sound, exemplified by the likes of “Breathe”, was almost unrecognisable from that. Whilst her creativity was in the ascendancy, her commerciality was on the wane but she would get the latter back in spades come the new millennium with “Spinning Around” and those hot pants. Sadly, I won’t be reviewing those TOTP repeats as I’m stopping at the end of 1999 so fare thee well Kylie and thanks for all the content.

Bryan Adams is up next with another track from his “Unplugged” album. Unlike the first single taken from it though, “I’m Ready” was not a new song but nearly two decades old which Adams first recorded in 1983 for his album “Cuts Like A Knife”. Back then it was an out and out rock song but in 1998 it metamorphosed into an acoustic ballad complete with a low whistle played by Irish folk legend Davy Spillane which seems like an attempt to jump on the bandwagon of the Celtic flute sound to be found on “My Heart Will Go On”. I definitely prefer the rockier version of “I’m Ready” though it’s hardly one of his best efforts. Still, compared to The Wombles, this was high art indeed. By the end of the decade, Adams would have released another studio album, a second Greatest Hits collection, teamed up with a Spice Girl and even had a dance hit (courtesy of a remix by Chicane) that had gone down a storm in Ibiza!

By March 1998, “White On Blonde”, the fourth Texas album, had been out for over a year and delivered the band four Top 10 singles. So how do you convince your fanbase to buy a fifth? Easy. Team up with a couple of rappers and re-record the first of those four hits and release it as a double A-side with another track from the album. That sounds overly cynical but that is what happened – the release details at least. I may be being presumptuous about the intentions behind them. However, with follow up album “The Hush” still 14 months away from being available in the shops, it was a way of both maintaining the band’s profile and keeping them in the charts.

The rappers concerned were Method Man and RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan so big names (not quite sure how they knew Sharleen and the gang though) and the track they collaborated on was “Say What You Want” which they retitled “Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)”. It was performed at that year’s BRIT Awards and presumably audience reaction was positive enough for a proper release to be considered (maybe that was the real reason behind it being made commercially available). As this version wasn’t on the album, the track on its own wasn’t going to squeeze any more sales out of it so it was doubled up with “Insane” which was on the album. So, starting with “Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)” and I have to say I didn’t get it. I’ve read comments online saying how it “just worked” but I couldn’t/still can’t hear it. The rap bits don’t blend with the pop song – they just sound really incongruous next to each other. Then there’s that layer of strings introduced to the chorus that wasn’t in the original which sounds discordant or even out of tune. Am I missing something?

As for “Insane”, I’m not convinced that it’s quite strong enough to have been a single but it’s a moody number that has something going for it. The smouldering brass parts remind me of Portishead (or is it Groove Armada?) and Sharleen’s vocals are as on point as ever but it’s maybe just a bit too downbeat? I think it probably makes more sense in the context of the album.

We have a new No 1 and it’s from Run D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins. The track “It’s Like That” had actually been the rap trio’s debut single all the way back in 1983 but had largely been overlooked in favour of its B-side “Sucker M.C.’s”. Fast forward 14 years and, with Run D.M.C’s legacy as one of the most influential hip-hop artists ever assured, the track was revisited by producer and remixer Jason Nevins and became a massive international hit, going to No 1 in multiple countries. I seem to remember that it had been available in other territories way before an official release was secured in the UK meaning that imports of the single made their way into record shops over here first. I think we may have had a few copies in the Our Price in Stockport where I worked. Its phenomenal (and maybe unexpected) success would lead it to spend six weeks at No 1 and become the third best selling single of 1998 in the UK. As well be seeing plenty more of this one, I’ll leave it there for now.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Spice Girls	Stop	Nah
2	The Wombles	Remember You’re A Womble	What do you think?!
3	James	Destiny Calling	No but I had the Best Of album
4	Alexia	Uh La La La	Definitely not
5	Kylie Minogue	Breathe	Negative
6	Bryan Adams	I’m Ready	Nope
7	Texas / Wu-Tang Clan	Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day) / Insane	No but I had a promo copy of the album
8	Run D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins	It’s Like That	And no

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/m002gv57/top-of-the-pops-20031998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 13 MAR 1998

Posted on August 13 by 80stastic

We’re in mid March 1998 and on the same day this TOTP was broadcast, there was a lunar eclipse which was visible over much of Western Europe. There may well have been a load of stars on this show but were any of them bathed in moonlight? Let’s find out…

Our host is Jayne Middlemiss who has no obvious lunar connections other than when she spent the Summer of 2005 mooning after ex-footballer Lee Sharpe after appearing with him on Celebrity Love Island. Anyway, we’re under way with Natalie Imbruglia who has the unenviable task of coming up with a follow up to her massive debut hit single “Torn”. It’s a familiar quandary faced by many before her and since. Do you play it safe and stick to the winning formula with something so similar to its predecessor that you get accused of being a one trick pony or…do you take a chance and change direction hoping your newly found fan base will go with you?

In the case of Natalie, I would argue she came up with a hybrid of the two strategies – “Big Mistake” is nothing like “Torn” but it did ape the sound of another successful artist of the time Alanis Morissette. By its nature a much harder sound than the ultimate example of a radio friendly song that was its predecessor, it couldn’t hope to emulate its popularity and sales. And it didn’t – whilst it matched the chart high of “Torn” when it debuted at No 2, its commercial longevity just wasn’t there. Look at this stat – “Torn” was the 8th best selling song of 1997 in the UK. “Big Mistake” was the 91st in 1998. Still, she did co-write it which was probably brought a much needed dash of credibility after the discovery that “Torn” was actually a cover. It would take seven years before Natalie would fashion another hit that could even resemble the reach of “Torn” – 2005’s “Shiver” from No 1 album “Counting Down The Days” was the most played song of that year in the UK.

Moon moment: Natalie recorded a song called “Stuck On the Moon” for 2007’s Best Of album “Glorious”.

By 1998, the fortunes of Simple Minds were on a definite downwards trend. Though the decade had started well enough with the platinum selling, No 2 album “Real Life”, there followed a hiatus of four years punctuated only by the release of Best Of album “Glittering Prize 81/92” and which saw the band officially become a duo of Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill. 1995 album “Good News From The Next World”, whilst by no means a commercial disaster, would sell a third of the amount of copies of its predecessor. It was also their last release on Virgin Records who dropped the band having been their label since 1981.

Picked up by Chrysalis, work began on eleventh studio album “Néapolis”. Such a change ignited a need within Kerr and Burchill to reinvent themselves and they did this by…erm…getting the old band back together! Well, sort of. They recruited original bassist Derek Forbes and drummer Brian McGee on a rehearsal only basis (though Forbes would eventually rejoin the line up on a permanent basis) and sought out a sound that moved away from their stadium rock and that was more aligned with their early electronic material. The result was underwhelming. Lead single “Glitterball” is Simple Minds by numbers, meandering along with no direction, a track in search of a tune, or a glitter ball in search of a disco if you prefer (which I do). The album pretty much tanked and Chrysalis refused to release it in the US citing the ultimate insult – a lack of interest. Having lost faith in the album, the label also lost faith in their charges and the band were dropped by Chrysalis in 1999 after just one album. I don’t think we’ll be seeing them again in these 90s TOTP repeats. It’s a sorry way to bow out but fret not – Jim and Charlie are still together, still touring and receding new music with the last studio album arriving in 2022.

Moon moment: Does the title “Glitterball” count? How about “‘C’ Moon Cry Like A Baby” from their “Sparkle In The Rain” album then?

Another act attempting to follow up on their debut hit are Five but unlike Natalie Imbruglia, they haven’t deviated too much from the original plan. Having gone Top 10 (just) with their first single “Slam Dunk (Da Funk)”, the lads double downed on the formula by releasing another slice of uptempo, hip-hop pop (I think I just made that up) in “When The Lights Go Out”. Like a rocket launch, the band’s trajectory was straight up as this track eclipsed their debut effort by landing on the charts at No 4 and get this, even made the Top 10 in the US. Who knew? Not me for sure. So successful was “When The Lights Go Out” that, in some territories, it was considered to actually be the band’s first single. I have to say though that it sounded a weaker effort to my ears than the punchy “Slam Dunk (Da Funk)”. Five’s third single would be the distinctly poppy “Got The Feelin’” which again passed me by. However, fourth single “Everybody Get Up” was an absolute banger. I’m getting ahead of myself though. For the time being, Five were doing just fine without my approval.

Moon moment: Lunar eclipse? When the lights go out? Come on! This shizzle writes itself!

Some bump ‘n’ grind R&B now from someone that Jayne Middlemiss describes in her intro as a “real man”. Hmm. She’s talking about Ginuwine who is onto his fourth consecutive hit with a track called “Holler”. Not surprisingly, this guy did nothing for me but then I’m pretty sure he wasn’t meant to with lyrics like this…

“You make me wanna holler Ginuwine like the leather tickling my fancy tryna get my kitty wetter…And when you’re through puffin’ you can butter up my muffin“

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Timothy Mosley / Elgin B. Lumpkin / Lushone Nikcole Feliet Siplin
Holler lyrics © Wb Music C

Pure filth! All that horrible male posturing was presumably to over compensate for the fact that his real name is Elgin Baylor Lumpkin meaning that Ginuwine was not genuine about his real name.

Moon moment: His song “Gin And Wine” does mention the moon and the tide but then again, he also mentions something about his baby being his bitch or something so, you know, Wordsworth he isn’t.

So it seems that the British public had learned nothing from the 1995/96 Robson & Jerome fiasco when two actors became the biggest pop stars in the land with some ropey old cover versions just because they’d been on the TV in a series whose characters were required to sing a song for a plot line. In their wake came John Alford and Steven Houghton from London’s Burning and in 1998 came a whole troupe of people in the form of the Cast From Casualty with a cover of the old Love Affair hit “Everlasting Love”.

Now, I’ve never been an ardent watcher of Casualty so looking at this lot on stage, I couldn’t really tell you who were the actors and who were the jobbing session musicians (though one was Steve Ellis from Love Affair as Jayne Middlemiss helpfully informs us) so I had to google it. The woman doing the singing is Rebecca Wheatley who played receptionist Amy and I think one of the backing singers is Julia Watson who was Barbara ‘Baz’ Wilder. Her character was one of the principal protagonists of the two part episode ‘Everlasting Love’ which revolved around her impending marriage to regular character Charlie Fairhead. I’m guessing that there was some emergency/ accident/incident that delayed the wedding somehow? I can’t even be bothered to find out to be honest. Anyway, one look at that episode title should reveal why this particular track was chosen for covering but it should also be noted that it was the Children In Need record. Having said that, charity or not, this was hopeless stuff. Was this TV actor to pop star business a purely British phenomenon? I don’t recall the cast of Dallas for example releasing records – or maybe they did and no, I’m really not going to look that up.

Moon moment: Apparently there was an episode in 2005 entitled ‘Paper Moon’. That’ll have to do.

OK- I’m calling it early but this next tune is the best of this show’s crop in my humble opinion. We hadn’t seen Shed Seven at all in 1997 as they spent the year recording their third album “Let It Ride” which was released in the June of 1998. Bizarrely though, the lead single for the album – “Chasing Rainbows” – had come a good 18 months ahead of the album. So long was the gap that it made it seem like second single – “She Left Me On Friday” – was actually the first from it. Perhaps not as classy sounding as its predecessor, it still did what it was meant to do which was make some noise in announcing the re-emergence of the band courtesy of a shouty but memorable chorus. The wah-wah guitar middle eight sounds slightly incongruous but not so much as to cause any lasting damage to the song’s merits. There was some debate amongst the TOTP online community about Shed Seven being better than Oasis. I’m not sure about that but it’s interesting to note how Rick Witter doesn’t over pronounce the word ‘shine’ in the lyrics as Liam Gallagher undoubtedly would have.

Moon moment: The word ‘moon’ is used twice in the lyrics to “Going For Gold” which is another song in which Witter doesn’t pronounce ‘shine’ as ‘she-iiiiiine’.

Yet again I am undone in my musical knowledge as I have got nothing on Lionrock so have had to rely on the internet again for this one. Apparently, they were record producer Justin Robertson, MC Buzz B and recording engineer Roger Lyons whilst their biggest hit “Rude Boy Rock” heavily sampled “Nimrod” by The Skatelites.

So, the guy with the megaphone in this performance got me wondering. What other examples of megaphone usage are there in the rock/pop world? I couldn’t really think of any. I had a vague image of Bill Drummond of The KLF using one in a performance but I could be making that up. So, once again, I had to resort to the World Wide Web for some help (where has my own creativity gone?!). It gave me the following examples:

“Orange Crush” by REM
“Mr Brightside” by The Killers
“Crackerman” by Stone Tempe Pilots
“Winchester Cathedral” by New Vaudeville Band
1930s crooner Rudy Vallée

Any more?

Moon moment: Erm…there’s a quite famous picture of the moon rising over a prominent rock formation in Japan called Shishi-Iwa which is shaped like a lion’s head and literally means Lion Rock. Tenuous link but it’s all I’ve got.

After waiting patiently at No 2 for a fortnight, Celine Dion is back on the top of the charts with “My Heart Will Go On”. Presumably sales were buoyed by the success of the Titanic film but clearly there was also something about the song that connected with the public. Was it the Celtic flute motif that permeated the film as well? Or perhaps the gigantic key change at the song’s climax? Was it the purity of Celine’s vocals (she did it in one take apparently)? Whatever it was, the song has become indelibly embedded into popular culture and for many is the standard against which all power ballads should be measured. And yes, as ever, I still hate it.

Moon moment: Celine recorded a song called “Water From The Moon” but there are two better connections. Firstly, in the film, the depiction of the night sky in terms of the position of the moon and stars was inaccurate. Director James Cameron acknowledged the error and corrected it for the 3D rerelease of the movie. Secondly, there is a documentary featuring Cameron and astronaut Buzz Aldrin which deals with their perspectives on exploration in the deep ocean and space using footage of the Titanic and rare NASA footage from Apollo 11.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Natalie Imbruglia	Big Mistake	I did not
2	Simple Minds	Glitterball	Nah
3	Five	When The Lights Go Out	Nope
4	Ginuwine	Holler	Negative
5	Cast From Casualty	Everlasting Love	Are you kidding?
6	Shed Seven	She Left Me On Friday	No but I had it on a Best Of album I think
7	Lionrock	Rude Boy Rock	No
8	Celine Dion	My Heart Will Go On	Of course 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/m002gk6n/top-of-the-pops-13031998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 06 MAR 1998

Posted on August 9 by 80stastic

We’ve entered March in these 1998 TOTP repeats and on the day this show was broadcast, Liam Gallagher was charged with assault after allegedly breaking a fan’s nose in Brisbane, Australia. He followed this up by getting himself banned from Cathay-Pacific airline for allegedly abusing passengers and staff on the flight home to the UK. Oh dear. He wasn’t the only pop star in this year to get themselves in bother as Mark Morrison, Mark E. Smith and Ian Brown all fell foul of the law. I wonder if any of the acts on this show have some misdemeanours in their pasts…

Our host is Jamie Theakston who certainly does have some proverbial skeletons in his closet, namely his visit to a Mayfair brothel in 2002 which was leaked in the press despite Theakston’s attempt to prevent publication of the story via an injunction. Back in 1998 though he was the squeaky clean host of kids Saturday morning TV show Live & Kicking as well as being part of the roster of presenters for TOTP and his first job on tonight’s show is to do the outro for the opening act who are Cornershop. Wait…what?! But they were the final act we saw in the last TOTP as they were at No 1! Yes, but this meant nothing in the era of the show’s executive producer Chris Cowey where chart positions and downward movement within the Top 40 were insignificant. For example, “Brimful Of Asha” was down from No 1 to No 3 this week but as a hit that was still selling lots of copies, it warranted a slot in the running order. Maybe Cowey was right – in a world of first week of release discounted prices, was this how TOTP countered that practice manipulating the charts? After all, otherwise you had the prospect of a big hit only being featured once on the show* because of it peaking high and then constantly dropping as the full price point kicked in. Even so, this particular segue across two shows and seven days does jar.

*We’ll come back to this at the end of the show

Anyway, as I indicated in my last post, I bought “Brimful Of Asha” and actually enjoyed both versions of the track on the single so much so that I caught them live at Manchester Academy. However, it wasn’t the best gig I ever attended. They didn’t say a word to the audience all night which always irks me. A live gig should be just that – a live experience not just recreating the sound of the records however accurate that might be. Cornershop would have a couple more minor Top 40 hits but are still a together having last released an album in 2020.

Controversial moment: There was that time in 1992 when they burnt posters of Morrissey outside the offices of EMI to protest about his perceived overtly racist behaviour having draped a Union Jack flag around him during a set at the Madstock festival in Finsbury Park.

Finley Quaye was still riding high at this point in his career. His debut album “Maverick A Strike” had gone gold in just three weeks and he’d recently won the Best British Male award at the 1998 BRITS. He was also a regular on TOTP with “Your Love Gets Sweeter” his fourth consecutive Top 40 hit. It’s another reggae-tinged, soulful, melodic number but there’s something in its tune that reminds me of this…

Just me then. Anyway, where did it all go wrong for Finley? From what I have read, there seems to have been a certain element of self-destruction surrounding Quayle’s erratic behaviour and unreliability. He also had a reputation for uncooperativeness and not playing the music industry’s games. You can perhaps see an example of this in his appearance here with a less than energetic performance and his decision to turn up in attire as if it was dress down Friday. I’ve never heard any of his material since “Maverick A Strike” so I can’t comment on its quality but maybe it was just a case of musical tastes moving on? Certainly his private life was problematic involving assault charges, unpaid debts and being declared bankrupt in 2012. Attempts at a comeback were undermined by Quaye not turning up for gigs and, in one desperate case, being physically manhandled off stage by the venue owner for a shambolic performance. All of this led to a lack of trust in him within whatever was left of his dwindling fanbase. Whether he’ll be able to overcome his demons and return to a successful music career, who knows?

Controversial moment: Despite all the issues detailed above, perhaps Finley’s most stand out incident was when Prince Harry (himself no stranger to controversy) admitted in an interview in 2023 with Stephen Colbert (another controversial figure!) that if he could only listen to one song for the rest of his life then he would choose “Your Love Gets Sweeter”.

Like “Brimful Of Asha”, here was another song that had already peaked at No 1 and dropped down from the top spot but which was still an incredibly strong seller and so is featured on the show again. “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion was in its second week at No 2 and it would rise back to the chart summit the following week. It is, however, a chart curiosity that despite being the second best selling single in the UK for 1998, it spent only two weeks at No 1. That shouldn’t diminish its sales reputation though. Look at these chart positions:

1 – 2 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 – 4

Not too shabby and definite evidence that even in the fast moving chart currents of 1998, certain singles could swim against the tide or at least tread water. Of course, “My Heart Will Go On” had an enormous advantage of most of its chart competitors in that it was from a massive, massive film – Titanic was the highest grossing film of all time, a record it held for twelve years – and that can’t be ignored in the final totting up but it remains an iconic song and yes, I hate it.

Controversial moment: Celine? Surely not though there is a comical claim by an American priest that her stereotype-free children’s clothing line was promoting satanism!

WHO?! Hinda Hicks anyone? Success wise she was the solo artist equivalent of N-Tyce who were on last week’s show. Four middling sized Top 40 singles (of which “If You Want Me” was the first) and an album that peaked at No 20. Her music was an R&B infused pop/soul sound (yawn – wasn’t it always?) and in Hinda’s defence she did get three MOBO Award nominations (plus two BRIT Awards ones). So why don’t I remember her given that I had the added advantage of working in a record shop at the time? Maybe the market for that genre was over flooded? Possibly. She did also suffer from record company machinations when Island Records and Universal Records merged causing the promotion for her second album to be non existent and that was that for her career as a chart artist. Her Wikipedia page doesn’t list any further activity by Hinda post 2008. However, her name resurfaced in 2011…

Controversial moment: Not really controversial but her name was appropriated by Lilly Allen in the tweet ‘Toni Braxton Hinda Hicks’ which was a reference to the phrase ‘Braxton Hicks’ which is a nickname for false labour pains during pregnancy.

It strikes me that it would be easy to dismiss this next artist as yet another forgotten hitmaker of the 90s whose hits were synth-heavy but gravitas-lite songs and she was just the pop puppet fronting them. However, having done some background reading on her, there’s more than meets the eye to Robyn. Firstly, she writes her own stuff so that preconceived notion of mine of her being all image and no substance is immediately dispelled. Secondly, the reaction to her songs has created quite the fan base, especially amongst the LGBTQ+ community. In an interview with vice.com, she posited the theory that this is because she is a Swedish woman and that feminist debate is very mainstream there and has been for years so there is an easier connection between the gay community and her because of her upbringing.

Robyn’s career could have gone a very different way. She declined to sign with Jive Records who then turned their attention to another young female artist called Britney Spears who Jive called “An American Robyn” and who, as it panned out, would prove to be much more easier to control than Robyn would have been. Despite not having the same levels of fame as Britney, Robyn’s influence on pop music has been widely acknowledged by the likes of Lorde, Charli XCX, Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen and Andy McCluskey (the writing force behind Atomic Kitten). Her work is seen as contributing to the ideological school of thought that is ‘poptimism’ which argues that pop music is as worthy of professional critique and interest as rock music. Blimey! Having said all of this, “Show Me Love” didn’t hold my interest for long, pleasant enough a pop tune as it is though. Plus, did she not think when she wrote it that a track called “Show Me Love” by an artist called Robyn might cause confusion with the dance anthem of the same name by Robin S?

Controversial moment: Her 1999 album “My Truth” included songs about abortion. Her US label RCA asked her to re-record or edit out these tracks deeming them too controversial for American markets. Robyn refused and the album was not released in the US.

I’m pretty sure that I dismissed this next song as being almost a novelty hit at the time. Have I changed my tune since? Maybe. We have arrived at the moment in the career of Space when those scouse scamps were never bigger. “The Ballad Of Tom Jones” would be their highest charting single ever when it peaked at No 4. Essentially a duet between Tommy Scott and Cerys Matthews of Catatonia, it tells the story of two warring partners in a chaotic relationship who are saved from inflicting physical damage to each other by stumbling across the songs of Tom Jones on the radio as their row reached boiling point. So why didn’t I think much of it at the time? I think it was that the chorus was underwhelming and the lines about knickers and not coming from Wales grated. Also, the counterpoint repeating of ‘Tom Jones, Tom Jones’ didn’t work for me. And yet…it is creepily endearing. A curiosity sure but with some musicality to it that perhaps I’d previously ignored. Whilst Space were at their pinnacle, Cerys and her band were only just beginning their run of hits having recently pierced the Top 3 with “Mulder And Scully”. They would have a further seven Top 40 hits including two Top 10 entries. Both Space and Cerys would end up contributing to tracks on an album by the actual Tom Jones in 1999 when he released his covers project “Reloaded”.

P.S. Unlike with the aforementioned Dexys performance of 16 years prior, there were no shenanigans with the picture on the backdrop screen here which features Sir Tom himself. How I would have loved it to have been Howard.

Controversial moment: Nothing much for Space but in 2020 Cerys played a song that included a racial slur in its lyrics on her radio show which BBC Radio 6 Music had to apologise for. She also engaged in a relationship with EastEnders actor Marc Bannerman whilst taking part in I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here in 2011 making the front pages of the tabloids as Bannerman had a partner back home.

From Space to Spice next as we reach a line in the sand moment in the Spice Girls story by encountering both their first hit not to go to No 1 and their last single release whilst Geri Halliwell was still officially a member of the group (the first time around anyway). For the record, “Stop” was their seventh single out of eleven in total and one of only two not to top the charts. Is there any reasonable theory that explains this? Yes, parent album “Spiceworld” had been out for four months by this point so maybe punters didn’t feel the need to own the single and the album? Maybe but then how do you explain the fourth single lifted from it – “Viva Forever”- going to No 1 after “Stop”? Perhaps it was just a slow decline in their popularity 21 months into a career that had constantly been in our faces? Or was it the strength of the song that kept it off the top spot which was…

*checks the online chart archives*

…”It’s Like That” by Run-D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins. Possibly. It was the UK’s third best selling single of 1998. Or maybe “Stop” was just a weak track? It’s a jolly enough, upbeat, Motown-aping song but certainly not as strong as something like “Say You’ll Be There” or as explosive and attention demanding as “Wannabe”. I guess we’ll never know the true reason. What we do know is that Geri would be gone within three months of this performance and things would never quite be the same again in Spiceworld.

Controversial moment: Are you kidding? Far too many to list here.

There a new No 1 and it signalled the comeback of Madonna. Hang on, had she actually been away? Not really though she had been busy becoming a mother and filming the Evita film meaning she hadn’t released a studio album of new material since 1994’s “Bedtime Stories”. Although singles wise, she’d maintained a presence in our charts throughout that period, “Frozen” was her first single release in a year since “Another Suitcase In Another Hall” from the aforementioned Evita soundtrack. The lead track from her “Ray Of Light” album, it would debut at No 1 giving Madge a UK chart topper for the first time since “Vogue” in 1990. Despite this feat, this solitary week at the top was the only time it featured on TOTP. Now, as discussed earlier, a song dropping down the charts wasn’t a barrier to repeat appearances under executive producer Chris Cowey (even from No 1 – I give you Cornershop) so what happened here? Something to do with broadcasting restrictions imposed by Madonna herself?

Anyway, critical reaction to both the single and album were overwhelmingly positive and seen as a real return to form. Me personally? I wasn’t that enamoured – it just didn’t grab me and I wasn’t swayed by the whole Eastern mysticism angle nor the slightly odd video with Madonna as a shape-shifting witch figure prowling across a desert. However, I did quite like the rest of the album which my wife bought especially the title track. A collaboration with legendary producer William Orbit, it incorporated electronica, trip-hop and new age styles. Nearly 30 years in and it has become a touchstone album for creativity with it being credited as a huge influence for the likes of FKA Twigs, Addison Rae and Erika de Casier (I’ve no idea!) making “Ray Of Light” 2025’s hottest album according to some headlines. Ex-Little Mix member Jade Thirwell has even recorded her own version of “Frozen” whilst Madonna herself is revisiting the album with a remix version entitled “Veronica Electronica”.

Controversial moment: I’d be here all day listing them but how about this for a “Frozen” specific one? In 2005, a Belgian judge ruled that the track plagiarised the song “Ma Vie Fout Le Camp” by Fabrice Prevost and for eight years it could not be played nor sold in Belgium.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Cornershop	Brimful Of Asha	YES!
2	Finley Quaye	Your Love Gets Sweeter	No but my wife had his album
3	Celine Dion	My Heart Will Go On	Never
4	Hinda Hicks	If You Want Me	Nope
5	Robyn	Show Me Love	Nah
6	Space / Cerys Matthews	The Ballad Of Tom Jones	No
7	Spice Girls	Stop	I did not
8	Madonna	Frozen	See 2 above

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/m002gk6l/top-of-the-pops-06031998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 27 FEB 1998

Posted on August 6 by 80stastic

It’s late February 1998 and Sir Elton John has just become…well…Sir Elton John after he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music and for raising money for AIDS charities. Apparently, when the Lord Chamberlain announced Elton, he called him “Sir John Elton”. He surely wasn’t having a little joke at Elton’s expense? Not in the presence of Her Majesty? What about etiquette and decorum and all those sort of things? Im being facetious of course. It would have been brilliant if it had been deliberate but I’m beyond doubt that it was a genuine mistake and not a constructed gag along lines of Dexys performing “Jackie Wilson Said” on TOTP beneath a huge backdrop of the Scottish darts player Jocky Wilson*

*In a recent Dexys at the BBC programme, Kevin Rowland admitted that was a deliberate prank on the band’s behalf and not the mistake of some musically miseducated BBC employee.

Still, what’s in a name anyway? Let’s see if any of this show’s acts have interesting nomenclature related stories…

Opening the show are a trio who are all about their name to the point that their debut single is named after them. Cleopatra had debuted on the charts with “Cleopatra’s Theme” two weeks prior to this appearance at No 3 but had descended to No 13 by the time they were awarded another go on the show prompting the obvious question of ‘why?’ Blame Chris Cowey again for his policy of showcasing songs they were going down the charts, and in this case, opening the show! It just didn’t seem right to me. I guess it must have been getting lots of airplay maybe but even so. After naming their first hit after themselves, conversely, Cleo Higgins would reject it totally in 2012 to take part in The Voice UK via the show’s blind audition process. She would end up getting through to the semi-finals before getting knocked out. Oh and one more thing about names, the opening lines of the first verse of “Cleopatra’s Theme” are:

“Get a pen and paper, write down our name”

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: David Paich / Kenny Hayes / Zainham Higgins / Yonah Lynvest / Cleopatra Lynvest / William Scaggs / Timothy Scrafton
Cleopatra’s Theme lyrics © Boz Scaggs Music, Hudmar Publ Co Inc, Hudmar Publishing Co Inc

That might have been good advice for the Lord Chamberlain!

Apparently Ocean Colour Scene struck upon their name by choosing random words they liked the sound of after looking through books in a library. Well, it’s as good a way as any I suppose. For their single “It’s A Beautiful Thing”, they were joined by legendary soul P. P. Arnold (real name Patricia Ann Cole – her stage name was suggested by photographer Gered Mankowitz) just as they had been for their single before last “Travellers Tune” but she was given a proper credit on this one seeing as her vocals are very much to the forefront. The fourth and final single taken from their album “Marchin’ Already”, it’s a mood heavy piece that full of depth and substance but in my final reckoning, it does seem to go on rather and there’s a fair bit of over-emoting from Simon Fowler and P. P. Maybe that’s the problem – the double vocalist model is overkill?

For the record, “It’s A Beautiful Thing” was the first single release in seven not to make the Top 10 for the band. They have not returned there since. Not that that means too much anymore. They’re just the facts (ma’am).

Oh blimey! We haven’t reached this lot already have we? Another Level – an R&B boy band – were never going to appeal to me but they did seem remarkably dull in spite of my in-built prejudices. Put together by Nick Raphael and Christian Tattersfield for their record label Northwestside Records, the groups name was a rather telegraphed reference to the ambition of the label and the desire to elevate the band’s music to new heights (yawn). The idea behind their signing was to plug into the urban music movement that was getting loads of traction in the UK. A label tie-in with Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records meant the emerging rap superstar would guest on Another Level’s debut single “Be Alone No More” presumably giving them the credibility that other urban artist hopefuls would have coveted.

As I said, they were never going to pique my interest and maybe my ears were pre-programmed to not hear any quality in their music but my god their song was boring. One paced and devoid of any attention grabbing hooks, its popularity bemused me. And yet they were really successful. Their next single went to No 1 and their eponymous debut album achieved platinum level sales in the UK. Another level indeed. Somehow though, defeat was grabbed from the jaws of victory as they were gone within two years having haemorrhaged half the band line up amid solo career ambitions.

Dane Bowers would somehow eke out a career that kept him on the fringes of the celebrity world via reality TV shows like The Big Reunion, Totally Boyband, Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Come Dine With Me. Well, it’s a living (sort of) I suppose. Music-wise, his biggest accomplishment post-Another Level was being the loser in the chart battle of August 2000 (‘The Battle of the Posh Girls’) when his involvement with True Steppers and Victoria Beckham’s record “Out Of Your Mind” couldn’t prevent Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bextor claiming the No 1 with “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”. Should have taken it to another level bruv.

Oh no! If I was concerned because we’d reached the time of Another Level, I’m in full blown panic that the era of the next artist is upon us. There’s a lot to talk about here and, sticking with this post’s nomenclature theme, we start with said artist’s name. Presenter Jayne Middlemiss takes a stab at explaining its origins to us in her intro by saying “Her father was a Native Indian hence the funny name – Shania Twain”. OK, so first off, that sounds a fairly un-PC statement Jayne. Interestingly, the show’s subtitles say “Native American” and not “Native Indian”. Secondly, it’s not strictly true. The name she was given at birth was Eilleen Regina Edwards – the Twain surname comes from her stepfather who adopted her and her two sisters. As for the Shania bit, at the request of her record company, she chose a name that supposedly she took from a biracial wardrobe mistress whose mother was Native American whilst her father was white because it had such a hopeful ring to it. It’s been rumoured that Shania is actually an Ojibwa word meaning ‘on my way’ though this has been disputed by one of her biographers.

Anyway, enough of that. Despite having been a recording artist for five years, none of her previously released material has made any impact on us in the UK until “You’re Still The One” took her into the Top 10. A country pop ballad written as an ‘up yours’ to those doubting the authenticity and validity of her marriage* to her producer ‘Mutt’ Lange (who also co-wrote it with her), it was a huge crossover moment not just for Shania but for country music itself. Previous attempts to blend the two worlds of country and pop by the likes of Garth Brooks had never really taken off in the UK (though he’d enjoyed tremendous success in America) but Shania would change all of that with her third album “Come On Over” from which “You’re Still The One” was taken. Bluntly put, it was a monster with teeth. Selling enough copies in the UK to go twelve times platinum, it also topped our album chart for eleven weeks and was our best selling album of 1999. Note the year of that last fact – 1999 not 1998. Yes, the breakout success of “You’re Still The One” looked like being an outlier for a while and I, for one, dismissed Twain’s bankability. The album sold steadily but not spectacularly for the whole of 1998, spending 13 weeks inside the Top 40 between No 36 and No 15. Two more singles were released from it that were both decent sized but not huge hits. Then, some 14 months after its release, came “That Don’t Impress Me Much” with its line about Brad Pitt and the UK record buying public went crazy for it. Ten consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 reignited sales of its parent album and when “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” followed it into the Top 3, Shania’s superstar status was assured. I hate those songs with their horrible, clunky hooks but that’s for future posts.

*Shania and Lange would divorce in 2010 after he had an affair with her best friend. Six months after their divorce was finalised, Shania married the former husband of said best friend. Make of that what you will.

As for “You’re Still The One”, it’s a passable, inoffensive ballad which gave no glimpse of the musical horrors to come. I even learned its chords as it was one of the songs we had to play as part of a guitar class I joined around 2009. Some 15 years later and I’m working as a theatre usher. One of the shows I worked was a Shania Twain tribute act. Oh..My…God. It was the longest night of my life! Literally – she played well over her allotted time, mainly because she wouldn’t stop talking to the audience and getting them up on stage with her. Ah yes, the audience. I’ve never seen so many cowboy hats in a confined space in my life. Then there were the superfans who’d spent thousands on following their idol. One man had been to Las Vegas for a meet and greet with the real thing and then did it again three moths later. And he spent a small fortune buying one of Shania’s guitars that had her name emblazoned on it. That still wasn’t enough for him though and so he was following the Shania tribute around the country on her tour going to as many gigs as he could. Look, I get the appeal of tribute acts. It’s your chance to see a favourite artist that doesn’t tour anymore or band who have long since split up. Or it might just be that you can’t afford to see the real thing – look at the Oasis reunion ticket prices. Despite all this though, the audience for the Shania tribute was more like a cult. I was begging for the next song to be the last but they kept on coming. She was still on stage 45 minutes after the show was advertised to have finished. Now that, that didn’t impress me much. At all.

Now we have the next chapter in the strange and short story of N–Tyce. Strange and short? Well, yes. Undeniably short in that they were only around for about a year, four singles and one album. And strange ? Yes, in that, despite being around in a time when all female bands were in the ascendancy with the likes of Spice Girls, All Saints and Eternal all being mega successful, N-Tyce never had a bigger hit than No 12 and their one and only album flopped meaning they’ve become almost forgotten. Said No 12 hit was “We Come To Party” and the follow up was this – “Telefunkin” – which peaked at No 16. It seems to be extolling the delights of phoning an x-rated chat line even quoting a number – 0589 – which, according to AI, could be a postal code for Oslo, a specific product code for Anchor Freccia 6 yarn or the Armenian Full Stop Unicode character. Hmm. Guess they just made it up then. As for their band name, they kind of got undermined by Justin Timberlake featuring American boy band NSYNC who were around at the same time.

Next an exercise in cold, hard, cynical musical exploitation. I’ve no idea who Rest Assured were and I have no desire to find out but their only hit – “Treat Infamy” – was all about that string part in The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony” which is recycled here to create a very different type of track. Starting off with some rapid bpm it reaches a crescendo before there’s a breakdown halfway through and those familiar strings emerge into the mix. Jayne Middlemiss attempted to explain the history behind the strings part in her intro but to clarify, The Verve recreated (not sampled) the strings from an orchestral version of “The Last Time” by the Rolling Stones performed by their producer Andrew Loog Oldham’s orchestra on a 1965 LP. As the song’s publisher’s proved source of origin for The Verve track, a writing credit had to given to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and it also meant that the band didn’t own that part of their best known song meaning that it could be sampled by any old Tom, Dick or Harry like Rest Assured.

Now that’s out of the way, back to “Treat Infamy” and after the jolt of the mid-track breakdown came the shock and horror of one of the people on stage bursting into song. Well, speaking is a more accurate description. Speaking in time maybe? I certainly wouldn’t call it rapping. And what does he say? Nothing of any consequence. Something about his life being incomplete, a knowing reference to the Rolling Stones and then a weak play on words that he possibly stole from Carry On Cleo…patra comin’ atcha!

By the late 90s, the idea of soap opera actors becoming pop stars was nothing new. Indeed, it was almost expected. In 1998 though, we at least had someone try it from a soap that had yet to dip its toe in the warm waters of the charts. Chester-based show Hollyoaks was still relatively new by soap standards having only been around for two and a half years and I have to admit to having watched it on and off in that time. One of its original characters was Jambo played by Will Mellor. A mixture of Jack-the-lad and unconventional romantic, he’s gone down well with the show’s fledgling audience and, bolstered by that reaction, Mellor made the decision to quit Hollyoaks and make a bid for pop stardom. Inevitably, he (or his label) chose a cover version with which to launch him settling on Leo Sayer’s 1977 No 1 “When I Need You”. It was both a sensible and uninspiring choice.

Perhaps surprisingly, Mellor crashed into the charts at No 5 earning himself this TOTP appearance in the process. He gives it the whole pained, tortured artist turn with a vocal that’s maybe just the wrong side of nasally but he didn’t look totally out of place on the BBC’s flagship pop music show. Now, Will seems like a decent sort from what I’ve seen of him but back in 1998 he was definitely on my personal black list. Why? Because the weekend following the release of his single, he decided that, as a Stockport lad, he’d have a stroll into the town’s shopping centre Merseyway…where I worked at the Our Price store. And yes, he decided to pop in for a browse of the racks. Dressed every inch like the pop star he thought himself to be including shades on indoors, he proceeded to cause quite the stir as Stockport’s teenage female population realised who he was. I’m pretty damned sure this was all deliberate on Will’s part and frankly, I could have done without it on a busy Saturday afternoon. Didn’t he have proper promotional duties to perform? On reflection though, Will was only 21 at the time and who wouldn’t have been tempted to stroll out in your local town as a newly anointed pop star if you had the chance. His music career lasted just one more minor hit single before he returned to acting in hit series Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps and more recently as sub-postmaster Lee Castleton in Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

Celine Dion has been toppled after just one week at the head of the charts and her vanquisher was one of the most unlikely of all the decades No 1 artists. Cornershop were formed in Leicester in 1991 by Tjinder Singh and drew inspiration for their sound from Singh’s experience as a British-born Sikh, fusing Punjabi music with British indie rock. After two albums and a clutch of singles and EPs were released to critical acclaim but lame sales, third album “When I Was Born For The 7th Time” appeared headed by lead single “Brimful Of Asha”. Despite achieving their highest chart position yet of No 60 and topping John Peel’s Festive 50 chart when initially released in 1997, this was hardly the limousine life of global pop stars stuff. Enter Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim whose Big Beat remix of the track made it an instant dance floor classic with its increased bpm and mix of samples (including one from The Monkees I’ve learned subsequently).

So what was “Brimful Of Asha” all about? We all know the answer to this one by now don’t we? OK, for those arriving late and cramming in at the back, the title refers to Asha Bhosle, the legendary playback singer of Indian film culture who would pre-record the vocals for song and dance numbers for the actors to lip sync to. She has recorded over 12,000 songs making her the most recorded artist in music history as acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records. Her title of ‘Sadi Rani’ (Punjabi for ‘Our Queen’) is also referenced in the lyrics alongside other playback singers, some record labels and the name of a T-Rex compilation album which presumably all had some significance for Tjinder Singh.

So, the other question that looms large is why were the band not performing the Norman Cook remix version of the track on this TOTP? After all, that’s the version that was being played in the clubs and on the radio that made it a hit second time around? Was it that they didn’t know what to do with themselves in the studio with a speeded up bpm? Whatever the reason, it seems odd to pass up the opportunity to promote the song on what was still a sizeable platform despite all the show’s then difficulties. Oh, and the band’s name? That came from the perceived stereotype of South Asians owning corner shops which puts me in mind of the classic Goodness Gracious Me sketch where they brilliantly subverted the ‘going for a curry’ stereotype…

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Cleopatra	Cleopatra’s Theme	Nah
2	Ocean Colour Scene / P.P. Arnold	It’s A Beautiful Thing	Nope
3	Another Level	Be Alone No More	Never
4	Shania Twain	You’re Still The One	Double Never
5	N-Tyce	Telefunkin	Negative
6	Rest Assured	Treat Infamy	Not my thing at all
7	Will Mellor	When I Need You	As if
8	Cornershop	Brimful Of Asha	YES!

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/m002g807/top-of-the-pops-27021998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP Rewind – the 90s

My memories of 90s chart music

Author: 80stastic

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