It’s the end of May and, in international terms, there a lot going on. Civil unrest and riots in Indonesia, nuclear weapon testing being conducted by India and in America, there’s a tornadoes outbreak hitting places such as South Dakota and New York. However, in the UK, there were only two stories making the headlines and they pretty much broke at the same time sending the tabloids into a frenzy – Geri Halliwell announced that she was leaving the Spice Girls and national team manager Glenn Hoddle left Paul Gascoigne out of the England World Cup squad. All leave must have been cancelled within the offices of the nation’s newspapers as they scrambled to get the lowdown and inside story on these two huge events. And they were huge events despite my attempt to add some perspective to proceedings at the top of the post. The Spice Girls were a global phenomenon so losing perhaps their most prominent member was massive. Rumours had been circulating after Halliwell failed to appear with her band mates on an appearance on the National Lottery Show on the Wednesday before this TOTP was broadcast and then, four days later, a short statement was read out by her solicitor outside the offices of the group’s representatives Lee & Thompson in central London confirming that Geri had left the Spice Girls because of “differences between us” and with a cryptic P.S. added saying she’d “be back” which she was almost a year later with her debut solo single “Look At Me”. The remaining Spice Girls vowed to carry on which they did and, on the surface, with their success unaffected as their next three singles topped the charts. However, it was a fragile holding position and come the end of the decade, the group seems to be splintering with solo careers pursued and a hiatus called in December 2000…

Then there was Gazza. Despite coming towards the end of his career, he was still seen as the national team’s talisman and few would have seen his omission coming. The preliminary squad comprised 30 players of which eight needed to be discarded but when two declared themselves unfit and reduced the number to six, Gazza not making the cut seemed even more unlikely. Manager Hoddle wanted to go a different way though and two days after this TOTP aired, Gazza was given the bad news. It didn’t go down well and Gascoigne reportedly started to destroy Hoddle’s office with lamps broken and tables smashed. Was Glenn right all along though? It had been eight years since Italia ‘90 and Gaza’s tears and two years since his Indian Summer at Euro ‘96 and that goal versus Scotland. He was now plying his trade with Middlesbrough in the old first division and although they had won promotion to the Premier League, Gazza had made just seven appearances for them by this point. Internationally, England’s bright new hope was 18 year old Michael Owen and at 31, Gazza had to prove to his manager he was fit. In the end he didn’t and never played for England again. I bet he would have scored that penalty in the shootout against Argentina that David Batty missed though.

Inspiring Gazza-level of fury in me is Chris Cowey and his insistence on featuring the same songs on TOTP week after week. In this show, only three of the eight songs on view have not been on before. This is getting tedious. Our host is Zoe Ball who seems to have some insider knowledge on the whole Geri Halliwell story and is auditioning to be her replacement in her Union Jack design top. We start with The Corrs who have gone back up the charts with “Dreams” from No 10 to No 8 having fallen from its debut at No 6 which is more than enough justification for Cowey to have them on the running order again. To be fair, three consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 does rather indicate a strong, consistent seller so maybe Cowey gets away with this one. Despite being the focal point, Andrea Corr is actually the youngest of the group. I guess it’s a bit like The Osmonds where Donny was the poster boy. What? What about Little Jimmy Osmond? Oh…just forget I wrote that last bit!

Gazza/Ginger Spice connection: In 1999, Andrea Corr dated Robbie Williams briefly whilst in 2000, Geri Halliwell was in a romantic relationship with him which goes to show celebrities inhabit just as small a world as the rest of us.

Less justifiable for a place on the show for a second consecutive week is the rise of one place from No 13 to No 12 for “Kung Fu Fighting” by Bus Stop featuring Carl Douglas. Really? A rise of a solitary position but that still doesn’t crack the Top 10? My perception is that this wouldn’t have happened back in the day though no doubt there would be examples to disprove my theory if I could be bothered to trawl back through the archives (which I can’t). Watching this back, the little bow all those on stage do before the performance starts – it’s actually called Bao Quan Li with an open left palm against a clenched right fist – reminds me of when I saw Morrissey at the Hull Ice Arena a few years back when, as I recall, Moz and his band came on in kimonos and bowed at each other before starting. Bao Quan Lah signifies respect, humility and gratitude so that would make sense as a way to instil a team ethic before kicking off a show. It’s also very theatrical so perfect for Morrissey. Apparently, when Geri Halliwell was in a relationship with Russel Brand back in 2013, the comedian’s cat was called Morrissey and the animal took an instant dislike to Geri’s dog and began attacking it when they first met. Miaow!

Gazza/Ginger Spice connection: There’s no connection between Geri and Kung-Fu that I can find. Now if it had been Mel C and Kung-Fu…all those high kicks she used to do would have gone down a treat in this performance. As for Gazza, he once commandeered a bus (not sure if it was stationary at a stop) when he was stuck in a taxi in traffic and then rode it to a media awards ceremony he wasn’t invited to whilst conducting a sing sing with the passengers which sounds typical of Gazza.

Beverley Knight is one of those artists who seems to have been around for ages and whom you know something about (British R&B trailblazer with huge voice) and yet, how many of her songs could you actually name? I don’t think I could come up with one and certainly not this one – “Made It Back”. This was actually her second Top 40 hit and featured US rapper Redman though heaven only knows what his contribution to the track is as there previous little evidence of him in this performance. Maybe he was more heavily involved in a remix or extra track on the CD single? As for the song, it’s all a bit repetitive and seems more like a vocal exercise to demonstrate the power of Beverley’s voice than a song. Just my opinion of course. “Made It Back” was rereleased a year later as “Made It Back ‘99” where it peaked at No 19, two places higher than the original.

Gazza/Ginger Spice connection: Beverley is a huge Wolverhampton Wanderers fan and in 2003, Paul Gascoigne trained with Wolves in an attempt to regain enough fitness to be able to resume his top flight football career. After three games for their reserve team, no contract was forthcoming and Gazza had to accept the inevitable.

There have been loads of female singers who go by a single name. Cher, Adele, Madonna, Shakira, Enya, Beyoncé…How long though would it take before you got to Robyn in that list? If I hadn’t been doing this blog, I’m not sure I would have ever come up with her name to be honest. I don’t remember any of her three 90s hits and by the time of her 2007 No 1 “With Every Heartbeat”, I’d long since stopped following the charts. For what it’s worth, my take on this one – “Do You Really Want Me (Show Respect)” – has an almost nursery rhyme style chorus that is actually quite grating which I can’t really get past. In fact, it’s like a primary school playground taunt or something Horrible Henry might have said to his nemesis Moody Margaret – “ner ner ne ner nerr!”. It’s not for me. However, having read up on Robyn, there seems to be much more to her than my churlish comments would suggest and she has become quite the influence on modern day artists such as Charli XCX, Lorde and Ariana Grande as well as being the inspiration for the term ‘sad banger’ (which is an actual thing apparently) after the release of her song “Dancing On My Own”.

Gazza/Ginger Spice connection: None, not even one I can tenuously manufacture.

What the…? What is this?! Who were N.Y.C.C. and why were they in the charts with an horrific Beastie Boys cover?! Well, they were a German hip hop act who blatantly sought to cash in on the success of 1998’s uber chart topper “It’s Like That” by pinching its backbeat and laying it over “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)” which introduced us to the Beastie Boys back in 1987. Renaming it “Fight For Your Right (To Party)”, these berks somehow managed to take it to No 14 in the UK chart. Now potentially I suppose, there may have been punters who bought it who were too young to remember the original and so got off on its lyrics about teenage revolt (even though they were an ironic attack on such values) but even so. How could anyone have fallen for this horse shit?! It’s no shock, given that the sound of their hit has ripped off “It’s Like That”, that the staging of this performance lends from the Run-D.M.C. promo video with the two break dancers twirling about on a black and white surface the design of which makes it all look like the worst game ever of Twister but in monochrome.

Thankfully, this whole dirty episode seems to have been removed from our collective memory banks. I certainly didn’t remember N.Y.C.C. and they don’t have much of an online presence. If you google NYCC the top result is North Yorkshire County Council followed by New York Comic Con which is apt as N.Y.C.C. the group were absurdly comical. As for the real thing, the Beastie Boys would be back in our charts within a couple of weeks for the first time in four years with their biggest ever hit “Intergalactic” which made No 5.

Gazza/Ginger Spice connection: Well, there is this…

Ah damn! It’s The Mavericks again and, once more, it’s just a repeat of the same performance as every time so far. What else is there to say about “Dance The Night Away”? Well, it’s up to No 4 which would be its highest chart position after five weeks inside the Top 10 and it would spend a further three there before a slow descent of the Top 40 that would take just over two months before they exited for good. A quick search online for content inspiration sadly shows that lead singer Raul Malo is currently undergoing hernia surgery to address complications from previous cancer surgery treatment and, as such, the band are having to withdraw from touring commitments. Let’s hope all goes well for Raul in his recovery.

Gazza/Ginger Spice connection: There’s an obvious one and a tenuous one (of course there is!). Firstly, Gazza? Maverick? Come on – he was the very definition of a footballing maverick bringing back memories of those great 70s free spirits like Rodney Marsh, Stan Bowles, Tony Currie and Alan Hudson. The tenuous connection involves Raul Malo whose name is very nearly identical to someone who loomed large in one of the weirdest chapters in Gazza’s personal story…

You really don’t get many people called Lutricia do you? Apart from Lutricia McNeal who is back on the show with her single “Stranded”, I can only find one other ‘celebrity’ with that first name who is one Lutricia Norris who is an actor and producer who has been in the ITV show Bad Girls and The Importance Of Being Earnest alongside Rupert Everett and Colin Firth. She’s also worked on the music video for “Dancing Is Healing” by Rudimental apparently. As insignificant the above information is in relation to this blog, it’s still more interesting and relevant than “Stranded”.

Gazza/Ginger Spice connection: This one’s a hoot. In 2008, Geri Halliwell was stuck in a lift at the Lakeside shopping centre in Essex delaying her book signing appearance by an hour while firefighters worked to free her. Yes, she was literally stranded.

It’s taken six weeks but “Feel It” by The Tamperer featuring Maya has made it to No 1. Now admittedly it’s not the epic four months journey to the top that Celine Dion experienced with “Think Twice” in 1994/95 nor the nine weeks that it took All Saints to scale the heights with “Never Ever” but it was still not the norm in 1998. It sort of feels like it got there by default though what with no big, week one releases gatecrashing the charts (there were no new entries into the Top 10) and with last week’s No 1 by All Saints having already been at the top twice in non consecutive weeks. Unfair? Possibly but it only just made the Top 20 of the year’s biggest sellers. They would have two further big hits over the next six months so let’s not worry about them too much.

Gazza/Ginger Spice connection: “Feel It”, of course, borrowed heavily from “ Can You Feel It” by The Jackson 5 and there was a bloke in Lindisfarne with whom Gazza had a hit with his version of “Fog On The Tyne” called Ray Jackson. Too tenuous? OK, how about this? There was an American comedy series on Hulu called Pen15 which featured its two main characters dressing up as the Spice Girls in one episode and one of the characters was called Maya. No, you’re right. I’m not feeling it either.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it ?
1	The Corrs	Dreams	N
2	Bus Stop featuring Carl Douglas	Kung Fu Fighting	Not likely
3	Beverley Knight	Made It Back	Not for me
4	Robyn	Do You Really Want Me (Show Respect)	Nope
5	N.Y.C.C.	Fight For Your Right (To Party)	Lord no!
6	The Mavericks	Dance The Night Away	Negative
7	Lutricia McNeal	Stranded	Nah
8	The Tamperer featuring Maya	Feel It	I didn’t

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/m002j9qn/top-of-the-pops-29051998?seriesId=unsliced