Curtis Stigers

TOTP 01 JUN 1995

Posted on November 22, 2023 by 80stastic

It’s June 1995 and I’ll be 27 years old in five days time. Where does the time go? Well, I’ve been writing this blog for the last 8 years for a start! Seriously though, time and the passing of it can really bend your head if you think about it for too long. Do you reckon these BBC4 TOTP repeats have a similar effect on the acts who actually appeared on the show? Being reminded of your glory days that have now faded and of a time when you were young and beautiful as opposed to the person ravaged by middle age that they are now?

Take opening act Reef for example. I wonder if lead singer Gary Stringer still has all that hair?

*googles Gary Stringer*

Yes he does! It has gone grey though and he’s grown a huge beard but still. Not a bad effort. I tried convincing myself a few years back that I didn’t look much different from when I was in my 20s. It was complete tosh of course and I was clearly lying to myself.

Anyway, Reef. This lot were pretty big for a while in the mid 90s, somehow benefitting from the rise of Britpop even though they weren’t your archetypal Britpop band. Nothing of the sort really. I think it may have had something to do with them doing a jingle for TFI Friday. Remember “It’s your letters” based around their biggest hit “Place Your Hands”? Somehow Britpop, lad culture and Chris Evans all seemed to mesh with each other, in my mind anyway. I’m getting ahead of myself though. That’s all a year or so away. Back in 1995, “Naked” was the band’s second Top 40 hit from their debut album “Replenish”. It’s not bad either. Hardly revolutionary and highly derivative but a pretty good blues rock work out. I’m sure that descending guitar riff is nicked off something else but I can’t put my finger on what. Somebody else who was having trouble putting his fingers somewhere was Reef’s bass player – what was the deal with those loose strings flapping all over the place. Tighten your tuning heads man! One last thing about this performance – was the stage invasion by members of the studio audience pre-arranged or impulsive do you think? Can’t make my mind up.

Next a man who I was convinced only had two hits (both back in 1992) but here he is again three years later with another one. Curtis Stigers is said man and helpfully he has joined in with my ‘time’ intro by releasing a single called “This Time” from an album called “Time Was”. Nicely timed Curtis. And talking of the passing of time, in those intervening three years since his last hit, he’s lost his flowing locks that he had when he was in the charts with “You’re All That Matters To Me” and “I Wonder Why”. In fact, if you take Reef’s Gary Stringer with all his hair and stood him next to Curtis, it would be like a ‘before and after’ picture. As for the song itself, it’s a radio friendly little ditty but it doesn’t live long in the memory as was illustrated by its No 28 chart peak.

https://youtu.be/2dO_mDKnWlM?si=-eNSO_-8IAMYbhYq

Another song with the word ‘time’ in the title now. Baby D scored a No 1 in late 1994 with “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” but it took them six months to come up with a follow up and when they did it was just yet another dance version of a classic pop song. “(Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving” was basically a straight cover version of The Korgis’ 1980 Top 5 hit but with a skittering jungle dance beat added to it. As if that wasn’t enough to differentiate it from the original, they messed around with the song title by adding a line from the lyrics and putting the original title in brackets. What was all that about? I couldn’t get onboard with this at all. It just seemed lazy and pointless to me. As ever, the record buying public disagreed with me and sent it to No 3. Ah, what did they know eh?

Next a band that I always find hard to write about; not because I don’t like them – it would be easy to crank out a few derogatory words accusing an act of being the shittiest of the shitty – but because I don’t actually have any feelings about them one way or the other. I think my state of mind concerning Therapy? is partly due to the fact that they mostly passed me by at the time. I mean, I knew of them – I worked in a record shop for heaven’s sake – it’s just that my knowledge of them pretty much ended with what their album covers looked like. Somehow I never really heard how they sounded. Or maybe I did hear them but it made no impression on me and so I didn’t retain them in my head? Either way, needless to say, I don’t remember this hit “Stories” at all. Listening to it now, it’s more of their brand of driving rock but this one has a sax thrown in for good measure. Singer Andy Cairns is a supporter of my beloved Chelsea and I’ve heard him interviewed on the Chelsea fancast that I listen to and he seems like a lovely guy but somehow his music just hasn’t cut through to me. Sorry Andy.

Two huge songs of this era coming up now starting with “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead. What a tune this is!*

*Makes that awful T-shaped hand signal*

For me, this could be their best ever song though to be honest my knowledge of their material past “OK Computer” is nearly nonexistent so if you’re a Radiohead super fan reading this and snorting in derision at my suggestion then obviously you have more material to pick from than me. The third single to be released from “The Bends”, it’s a slowly building banger dripping with aura and imagery and Thom Yorke’s vocal that almost sounds like it was recorded under duress, it’s almost unignorable (if that’s a word). Maybe ‘striking’ would be a better one. I think it was probably this track that convinced me that I must own a copy of “The Bends”.

Others weren’t quite as convinced albeit the most famous example was a fictional character in a movie. Alicia Silverstone played Cher in Clueless who describes “Fake Plastic Trees” which features in the film as “crybaby music”. Asked if he was bothered about that line, Yorke said in an interview in Vox magazine that the character of Cher wasn’t the type of person he’d want to like Radiohead anyway as she was a two dimensional Beverly Hills kid and he was all about 3D people. Fair comment I think and it put me in mind of another music artist who felt the need to publicly distance himself from someone famous. In 2006, former Prime Minister and renowned dead pig f****r David Cameron appeared on Desert Island Discs and chose as one of his songs “This Charming Man” by The Smiths. When Johnny Marr became aware of this, he issued a statement that said Cameron was banned from liking The Smiths and rightly so. Also on Cameron’s list of songs? Yep, “Fake Plastic Trees”. Cameron also famously declared that one of his favourite songs ever was “Eton Rifles” by The Jam. In response, Paul Weller said “Which bit didn’t you get?”. David Cameron ladies and gentlemen…a complete bellend of the highest order.

That second huge song now and it’s another appearance by Pulp to perform “Common People”. This was a genuinely a career pivoting time for the band. After being together for sixteen years (most of them in obscurity) the stars were now aligning and fame and fortune beckoned. Not only had “Common People” crashed into the charts at No 2 (NO 2!) but this month they would also headline the aforementioned Reef’s hometown of Glastonbury after the Stone Roses pulled out following John Squires suffering a broken collarbone in a mountain biking accident. Success was now definitely coming at Pulp and fast.

Apparently the band learned of that chart position whilst appearing at a Radio 1 Roadshow in Birmingham. As the chart rundown was announced, the various acts at the event were paraded on the back of an articulated lorry as their chart position was called. By the end, there was only Pulp left to learn their fate and, by now, Jarvis Cocker was pissed. Taking to the stage, he slipped and fell leaving bass player Steve Mackey to observe the irony of finally getting to where you wanted to be after years of trying only to end up on your arse in the rain in Birmingham at the moment of triumph. Just perfect.

What’s this? A rugby song?! Yes, we’d only just suffered the trauma of two football songs in the chart thanks to FA Cup finalists Everton and Manchester United and now we had another sporting related hit. The 1995 Rugby Union World Cup was only the third time the competition had taken place since its inaugural event in 1987 but already we were starting to get used to it being commemorated / promoted by the medium of song. More specifically two songs in particular. The 1991 World Cup had brought us “World In Union” by Dame Kiri te Kanawa based on Holst’s “Jupiter” or “I Vow To Thee My Country” as it is more commonly known. That year also saw the England Rugby Squad release a version of the African-American spiritual song and subsequent Christian hymn “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” which had been sung by rugby crowds as early as the 60s though it was adopted as an anthem by the England team supporters around 1988. The song has been recorded on multiple occasions for the Rugby World Cup by the likes of Russel Watson, UB40 and Blake.

In 1995, it was the turn of the unlikely pairing of “Searching” hitmakers China Black and South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mamboza. Quite how this pairing came about I’m not sure but I guess it was advantageous to both artists. China Black had failed to build on the success of “Searching” and so “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” provided them with another vehicle to the charts. Ladysmith Black Mamboza were prolific album makers but had never had a UK Top 40 single to this point. Their famous collaboration with Paul Simon on “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes” from the celebrated “Graceland” album inexplicably peaked at No 77 though they would team up with B*Witched in 1999 for No 13 hit “I Shall Be There”. Ladysmith Black Mamboza were one of those artists that would get a regular airing when Our Price did their specialist music mornings where the shop would only play music from a particular genre that wasn’t rock/pop. Easy Listening morning meant you were guaranteed to hear The Carpenters Greatest Hits whilst Ladysmith Black Mamboza would get a spin on the store stereo when it was the turn of World Music.

This version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is not impressive I have to say. The addition of that ubiquitous, nasty dance beat pretty much ruins it for me. It was nice though to see some of England’s Rugby stars of yesteryear in the video like Rob Andrew, Will Carling, Rory Underwood and Jeremy Guscott. China Black would never return to the UK Top 40 singles chart whilst Ladysmith Black Mamboza would achieve a No 2 placing in our album chart for 1998’s Best Of collection.

I said earlier about there being two huge songs of this era being on the show tonight in “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Common People” but how could I have forgotten about this one?! They’re not everyone’s cup of tea but I loved Black Grape. Rising from the ashes of Happy Mondays and the Ruthless Rap Assassins, I remember there being a huge buzz about this second coming of Madchester. OK, it wasn’t really quite like that but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to indulge in some Manchester related hyperbole. “Reverend Black Grape” was their debut single and calling card and what a fabulous shake up of the charts it was. Sample heavy and funky, big beats-tastic, this was Shaun Ryder back to his twisted genius best after the demise of the Happy Mondays and the nadir of their 1992 album “Yes Please!”. Ably aided by Kermit, it would crash straight into the Top 10 at No 9. What? Bez? Oh yeah, he was there as well doing his usual Bez schtick. The “Talking bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit” lyric is obviously edited out for this TOTP performance but like “Yes” by McAlmont & Butler, “Reverend Black Grape” would become one of my go to songs I would play on my way to work if I really didn’t fancy it that day.

The band’s debut album “It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah” would top the charts for two weeks and achieve platinum sales. Packed with great tunes like “Tramazi Parti”, “Shake Your Money” and “Kelly’s Heroes”, it became an essential purchase for me. Sadly, their success would fail off dramatically. Second album “Stupid Stupid Stupid” would underperform commercially and attract criticism in the US for its golliwog and google eyes cover art. It was one of those albums that the buying department at Our Price Head Office had invested heavily in but which failed to sell. We had massive overstocks of it. The band would dissolve in 1998 after Shaun fired the rest of its members. They reformed to release a third album in 2017 called “Pop Voodoo” which I quite liked but which received mixed reviews.

It’s a third week at the top for Robson & Jerome with their double A-side “Unchained Melody” / “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover”. My amazement at what happened here has not diluted in the 28 years since. What was going on? Why did these two actors appeal so much? It wasn’t just a one off either. They had three No 1 singles and two No 1 albums over a period of 18 months despite the fact that all they ever did was cover versions. I bet Simon Cowell who convinced the pair to record material couldn’t believe his luck. Ladies and gentlemen…Simon Cowell the David Cameron of the music world.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Reef	Naked	No
2	Curtis Stigers	This Time	Nah
3	Baby D	(Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving	I did not
4	Therapy?	Stories	Nope
5	Radiohead	Fake Plastic Trees	No but I bought the album The Bends
6	Pulp	Common People	No but I had the album Different Class
7	China Black with Ladysmith Black Mamboza	Swing Low, Sweet Chariot	Negative
8	Black Grape	Reverend Black Grape	No but I had the album It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah
9	Robson & Jerome	Unchained Melody” / “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover	As if

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/m001sfvr/top-of-the-pops-01061995

TOTP 23 APR 1992

Posted on February 15, 2022 by 80stastic

The curse of Adrian Rose has struck again meaning we have missed the 16 April show. As such we arrive in the week that the race for the last ever First Division title was decided before the juggernaut of the Premier League arrived the following season. The day before this TOTP aired. Manchester United had suffered an unexpected 1-0 loss at relegation threatened West Ham. This set up a scenario whereby title rivals Leeds could become champions at the weekend if they won and United lost again. Both teams were due to play on the Sunday with Leeds playing first away at Sheffield United and Man Utd facing the daunting task of a trip to their old enemy Liverpool.

As it turned out, at the same time that Leeds were playing their game, I was also involved in a match of high stakes when I played for an Our Price team against a team of record company reps on some playing field somewhere in the Greater Manchester area. I have very little recall of the game (certainly not the result) though I do remember thinking I could be watching Sunday morning TV rather than doing this shit for absolutely nobody’s benefit. As we left the field after somebody had decided enough was enough (there was no ref to call full time), Leeds were securing a 3-2 win courtesy of a ludicrous own goal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtT3mDAECNU

Later that day I watched ITV’s coverage of Man Utd 0-2 loss at Liverpool which made Leeds the champions. They had a TV crew at Leeds striker Lee Chapman’s house who had some of his team mates with him including the talismanic Eric Cantona and dour Yorkshire man David Batty. As the final whistle sounded at Anfield, a live link to Chapman’s living room enabled an immediate reaction from the Leeds players. Asked how he felt at winning the title by the interviewer, Batty replied “well, it’s a bonus”. Now that’s what I call an exclusive scoop!

TOTP start the show this week with their own exclusive scoop – the return of EMF! Hmm. The underwhelmed David Batty or a new EMF single – which was the bigger scoop? I think we’ll call that one a draw. Don’t get me wrong, I loved “Unbelievable” it’s just that everything that came after that was all a bit samey but not quite as good. Some 18 months on from their moment of magnificence, were we all still on tenterhooks awaiting new material from the band.? Whether we were or not, new material was what we got and not just one song but four in the form of the “Unexplained EP”. I say four new songs but one of them was a cover of Iggy And The Stooges’ “Search And Destroy” but let’s not be pedantic.

The song performed here is “Getting Through” and it didn’t tinker with the EMF formula too much, basically being yet another rehash of everything they had gone before. The result wasn’t terrible just a bit…meh. Lead singer James still has his terrible trademark headgear on and nothing seems to have moved forward at all.

In September they released their second album “Stigma” (which included “Getting Through”) to a lukewarm reaction when it peaked at No 19 and spent just two weeks on the chart before dropping as fast as David Batty’s excitement levels.

The “Unexplained” EP peaked at No 18.

Not this fella again! I think this is the third time for Curtis Stigers and his second hit “You’re All That Matters To Me”. This performance is a carbon copy of the one he did the other week even down to the white shirt and waistcoat combo he’s wearing and has forced the members of his backing band to as well. He’s even in in the same spot in the running order just after the Top 10 countdown. He has changed his backing singers and has got them a bit more coordinated in their dance moves although it’s pretty much your basic nerd shuffle. Enough of this. Next!

Well, this is as far removed from Curtis Stigers as it gets. Here’s Iron Maiden! You have to hand it to these lads, they had a loyal fan base and knew how to utilise them. Since 1988, the chart peaks of their seven singles released in that period were:

3-5-6-6-3-1-2

The final number in that sequence relates to this track “Be Quick Or Be Dead”, the lead single from their ninth studio album “Fear Of The Dark”. Never mind EMF sticking to a formula, this lot had been churning out variations on the same theme for years. I know that opinion is heresy to their fans but, like I say, it’s just an opinion.

The CD single came with a hidden extra track called “Bayswater Ain’t A Bad Place To Be” which is basically Bruce Dickinson ripping the piss out of the band’s manager Rod Smallwood in an accent that sounds a bit like Bill Oddie. I managed about two and a half minutes of the eight minutes and eight seconds of it. Can you do any better?

They’ve moved the Breakers to a more sensible position in the show as opposed to just before the No 1 so here they are starting with Marc Almond and “The Days Of Pearly Spencer”. I had no idea initially that this wasn’t an Almond original but it is of course a cover version of a David McWilliams tune. Who? Well, he was a Belfast singer songwriter who scored a No 1 hit with his “Harlem Lady” single in France but remained largely unknown in the UK. “The Days Of Pearly Spencer” was on the B-side of “Harlem Lady” and gained a lot of attention due to a massive advertising campaign launched by his manager Phil Solomon but it failed in the UK as Radio 1 refused to play it due to Solomon’s close ties to pirate radio station Radio Caroline. Supposedly written about a homeless man in Ballymena, County Antrim, its heavily stylised chorus came about from recording McWilliams’ vocals using a telephone line from a phone box near the studio.

Marc’s version was taken from his “Tenement Symphony” album and was quirky enough to prick the curiosity of the record buying public who made it a huge No 4 hit. Considering the majority of his solo singles were minor hits at best and often chart flops (with the obviously huge exception of “Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart”) this was both a big deal and very surprising. Unfortunately the single’s success didn’t translate to the album which peaked at a low lowly No 39.

https://youtu.be/4NlGAVdkqKA

If Leeds United were having a stellar season in 1991/92 finishing as First Division champions, then Kylie Minogue was having a distinctly mid table time of it. Her album “Lets Get To It” had seriously underperformed with two of the four singles from it not making the UK Top 10, the first time this had ever happened to her.

The second of those singles was “Finer Feelings” which at the time the critics were talking up as indicating a more mature direction that she would surely be following once her much predicted uncoupling from Stock, Aitken and Waterman was complete. Maybe the press was just reacting to the fact that the lyrics referred to ‘sex’ and ‘sexual healing’. Like “Word Is Out” before it, “Finer Feelings” is very much a forgotten Kylie single although it was also a line in the sand as a demarcation between her eras. Her next studio album would be on dance label Deconstruction and would usher in a whole new phase of her career.

After I’ve moaned on about the Breakers section bring a waste of time recently with it featuring singles that would amount to very little chart wise and which would not be seen on TOTP again, it seems to have been repurposed to highlight those that have been on the show as recently as the previous week and are now moving up the charts. Two of this week’s Breakers fall into that category. Kylie was the first and now comes Michael Ball who was on the show just seven days before.

After a brief but very successful time in the charts during 1989 when “Love Changes Everything” was a No 2 hit, you could have been forgiven for thinking that was it for The Ballster as a pop star. However, never underestimate the influence of the Eurovision Sing Contest. Well, at least not in the early 90s.

After the failure of Samantha Janus the previous year, the BBC took the decision of who would represent the UK out of the public’s hands and pre chose Ball. They did though allow us to choose which song he would sing out of a choice of eight. Yes, that meant that A Song For Europe show this year featured a lot of Michael Ball! “One Step Out Of Time” was the track given the honour of representing the country and what a fluffy, little lightweight thing it was. I never felt like it really suited Ball’s voice but maybe that’s because all I’d ever heard him sing before that was “Love Changes Everything”. However, it very nearly did the business on the big night coming in second to Ireland (obviously).

The sliding sections video has a feel of Duran Duran’s “Rio” to it though Michael was hardly the Simon Le Bon type. An album was released off the back of the single’s success which included “Love Changes Everything” despite it having been released as a single a whole three years prior. And if you thought Michael Ball was bad, the following year’s entry was Sonia!

The second mention in this section for the Deconstruction label comes courtesy of K–Klass. These arch mixers had a massive hit in their own right at the back end of 1991 with “Rhythm Is A Mystery” so they thought they’d have a go at doing it all over again with follow up single “So Right”. I don’t remember this track so couldn’t tell you how this went at all but I’m guessing it sounds exactly the same as the first hit.

*listens to 30 seconds of the track*

Yep. I was right. Next!

Rivalling Leeds United in the annus mirabilis stakes in 1992 were Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine. They even named their No 1 album (No 1!) after the year -“1992 – The Love Album”. How did this happen? A fervently indie act with a defiantly anti-mainstream sound and subversive image as chart topping pop stars? Well, being signed to major label Chrysalis Records who picked up the band after the demise of Rough Trade probably helped but was it just that? Was there also a desire for something reactionary in an era of the conventional and the ordinary that CUSM were in the right place at the right time to take advantage of? Was it to do with their infamous Philip Schofield felling appearance at the Smash Hits Awards show a few months earlier? Or was it just a case of a talented duo with some great songs naturally rising to the top?

Whatever the reason, “Only Living Boy In New Cross” would become the band’s first and only Top 10 hit. A clear play on words of the Simon & Garfunkel song “The Only Living Boy In New York”, its performance here is reminiscent of some of those ‘party atmosphere’ shows of the mid 80s with balloons galore and a stage full of audience members. Didn’t The Smiths do something similar in terms of having a crowd up there with them? I’m pretty sure Wheatus did years later whilst performing “Teenage Dirtbag” on the show.

Inevitably with all peaks, their commercial zenith couldn’t last and it didn’t. Their descent came about just as they’d reached their high point. Headlining that year’s Glastonbury Festival was confirmation of their elevated status and yet it went sour after Fruitbat, infamous rugby tackler of Philip Schofield, insulted the legendary Michael Eavis after being annoyed that their set was cut short due to some bands who were on before them overrunning. It led to a lifetime ban from the festival.

“Only Living Boy In New Cross” peaked at No 7.

https://youtu.be/kUqaoBALGFM

I hate it when the show has an ‘exclusive’ showing of a Michael Jackson video because there’s so much to read about them online whilst doing research for the blog. Anyway, here’s the next one for the third single from his “Dangerous” album “In The Closet”. If the internet had been around in 1992 like it is today then this song title would have been the ultimate click bait. Michael Jackson? In The Closet? Is he coming out of said closet? However the song didn’t reveal anything about Jacko’s sexual orientation but instead dealt with the story of a clandestine relationship. The lyrics were pretty suggestive though with lines like ‘Cause if it’s aching you have to rub it’ and ‘touch me there, make the move’ but then it was co-written with Teddy Riley who also penned such salacious tunes as “Rump Shaker” and “No Diggity”.

I have to say that although I knew there was a Michael Jackson song called “In The Closet”, I couldn’t remember at all how it went. Listening to it now I forgive myself as it’s entirely forgettable. Also suffering from amnesia was Jackson himself who forgot to put any tune into the track – it’s as if it was created purely just to construct a dance routine for the video. Ah yes , the ‘exclusive’ video – that’s crap as well. It’s just Jacko and Naomi Campbell cavorting about on a sepia tinted set. Compared to the mini epics that were his last two videos for “Black And White” and “Remember The Time”, it’s a huge let down.

“In The Closet” only made No 8 on the UK Top 40 and the next two singles did even worse before the trend was reversed with a perfectly timed Xmas release of saccharine ballad “Heal The World” – basically a rewrite of “We Are The World” – just missing the top spot when it peaked at No 2.

We have a new No 1 after eight weeks of Shakespear’s Sister sitting on the throne. Actually, Right Said Fred were No 1 the week before but we missed that show due to the Adrian Rose conundrum but they’re still there this week with “Deeply Dippy”. Now in an interview on the songfacts.com website, the Fairbrass brothers told the story that they nearly toured with Faith No More. Apparently both sides liked what the other did and there was a definite motivation to make it happen but management got cold feet. They were also rumoured to be offered a support slot with Michael Jackson but the band were put off by all the rules, regulations and restrictions surrounding Jackson and being in his presence. Both stories got me thinking about unlikely touring partners or support acts. Surely the most infamous one is Jimi Hendrix supporting The Monkees but there must be other outlandish examples surely?

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	EMF	Unexplained EP	Nope
2	Curtis Stigers	You’re All That Matters To Me	Nah
3	Iron Maiden	Be Quick Or Be Dead	Certainly not
4	Marc Almond	The Days Of Pearly Spencer	Liked it, didn’t buy it
5	Kylie Minogue	Finer Feelings	No but I think my wife had it on a Greatest Hits album
6	Michael Ball	One Step Out Of Time	Did I bollocks!
7	K-Klass	So Right	So wrong – no
8	Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine	Only Living Boy In New Cross	Don’t think I did
9	Michael Jackson	In The Closet	In the bin more like – no
10	Right Said Fred	Deeply Dippy	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/m001499y/top-of-the-pops-23041992

TOTP 09 APR 1992

Posted on February 12, 2022 by 80stastic

As Arcadia almost* once sang, “It’s Election Day” in 1992 and the polls are predicting either a hung parliament or a Labour win. That proved to be as accurate as Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Brexit promises for UK prosperity as the Conservative party triumphed albeit with a reduced majority. ‘It’s The Sun Wot Won It’ screamed The Sun’s front page two days later. Thirty years on and the right wing press is no less influential.

*They actually sang “it’s re-election day”

OK well, after that sombre opening let’s get to the music on tonight’s show which is presented by Tony Dortie and Femi Oke. The latter made her debut on the show the other week but I think she only made a handful of appearances all told. Shame, she seemed like a safe pair of hands. As you’d expect, there’s going to be an overwhelming majority of election references in the links and Tony is first in line getting in the words ‘party’, ‘polls’ and ‘vote’ as he introduces the opening act Praga Khan featuring Jade 4 U. Who?! Yeah, I’m lost on this one too. As Tony mentions in his intro, this lot were Belgian techno heads – I bet leave campaigner Jacob hated them – and this single “Injected With A Poison” was their biggest hit. As you know, I was no raver back in the day so this made little impression on me and listening to it now as a 53 year old it sounds like one big horrible noise to my middle aged ears. Apparently this was a remix of their earlier single “Free Your Body/ Injected With A Poison” and according to online popular culture publication Freaky Trigger, featured “an underwater electric whisk” and “one of those duck calling kazoo things”. Yeah, I don’t know about you but neither of those things would be high on my list of essentials in a tune.

Main man Maurice Engelen was also the guy behind recent hit makers Digital Orgasm (or just ‘Digital’ as the controversy avoiding TOTP referred to them). I think that’s him shouting “We don’t need that anymore” and “Are you listening to me?” and looking like he’s been lost in Glastonbury for a decade. He also recorded material under the name Lords Of Acid whose canon of work included tracks called “Rough Sex” and “I Must Increase My Bust”. The latter must surely have been inspired by that 1980 Sunblest bread advert featuring light entertainment star Marti Caine who says “I wonder if it’ll do anything for my bust” as she ponders her chest whilst cramming a slice of bread in her mouth.

“Injected With A Poison” peaked at No 16.

After the Top 10 rundown which, for all those chart curiosity enthusiasts out there, includes two acts whose name both begin with Mr. B…, Femi gets in a name check of the leaders of all three main political parties before introducing the man who ‘gets her vote’ Curtis Stigers who is in the studio to perform his latest hit “You’re All That Matters To Me”. There seems to be a rule for the male members of his backing band that they have to have a mop of long hair or be wearing a waistcoat to be allowed on the stage. Or both. In fact, you have to follow the Stigers style or you’re out.

One time when Curtis himself would have wanted to be out occurred years later when he appeared on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast. One of their features was some sort of super fan quiz where they got an infatuated member of the public on the show with their idol and asked them questions about them. If they got them right they won a holiday or something. Anyway, a Curtis devotee was on and was asked by host Johnny Vaughan what Stigers’ date of birth was. She got it wrong and so missed out on the competition prize. Curtis thought this was very harsh and called Johnny, as I recall, ”you cruel bastard” or something like that. As a punishment they locked Curtis in a cupboard and promptly forgot all about him. After the show had finished and his PR people turned up asking where he was, they suddenly remembered and had to let him out. When appearing on live daytime TV Curtis, do not swear. That’s all that matters.

Another bangin’ tune next as Altern 8 are here with their second Top 10 hit “Evapor 8”. This performance is mental. Obviously there’s the Altern 8 guys in their hazmat suits and masks for a start. In these pandemic weary days where we’re all used to the notion of mask wearing, back in 1992 this seemed really sinister (well it did to me anyway) and helped create a whiff of danger about the duo. On top of that though, there’s three sports wear clad ‘casuals’ who look like they’re off their tits throwing some shapes, legendary singer P. P. Arnold centre stage wearing a pair of marigolds and a massive dancing robot on stilts!

Given that Tony and Femi were throwing General Election references around like confetti, how did they miss this open goal?

Altern-8's Chris Peat was an independent candidate for the Stafford constituency (then Bill Cash's seat) in the 1992 General Election. He received 158 votes, just beating the Natural Law Party. #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) February 4, 2022

Chris represented the Hardcore Altern8-ive party. I’m guessing their manifesto would have included something about removing government legislation that made raves illegal.

“Evapor 8” by Alter 8 peaked at No 6. Boo! Where’s the symmetry in that!

After the Monster Raving Looniness of Altern 8, we were back to the safe seat of Vanessa Williams next with her ballad “Save The Best For Last”. Has there ever been such a contrast of styles in consecutive performances on the show? From raving robots and face masks to a seated, dinner suited orchestra backing a singer in a sequinned dress. I’m guessing Vanessa didn’t return to America with the opinion that our pop stars were quaint.

From raving mad techno to sophisticated balladry and finally onto tongue in cheek silliness as Right Said Fred are in the studio to perform their future No 1 “Deeply Dippy”. Whilst not an orchestra like Vanessa’s, the Freds do have their own brass packing backing section up there with them and it’s their contribution that really makes this song I think.

Richard Fairbrass camps it up as you would expect dressed in an unbuttoned, garishly coloured frilly shirt and he curiously changes the song’s last line from “I’m takin’ a hot tahiti” to “I’m goin’ to hitchhike to Walthamstow”. Not sure what that was about. An in joke presumably.

Given their current anti vaxxer stance, we can expect their new single, a cover of Praga Khan’s “Free Your Body / Injected With A Poison” any day now.

https://youtu.be/TNnOSmTtPmQ

As announced by the lady herself at the end of the previous TOTP, Cher is tonight’s ‘Exclusive’ performance. Crikey! After Chris De Burgh last week and now Cher, this slot really is down with the kids ain’t it?!

“Could’ve Been You” was the fourth single released from her “Love Hurts” album and like “Save Up All Your Tears” and the title track, this was also a cover version. Bob Halligan’s original came out a year before and sank without trace but was deemed perfect fodder for Cher’s brand of soft rock. It’s a right old plodder if truth be known but Cher can sell anything given an enormous wig and a leather bra and so it dutifully made No 31 over here, no doubt aided by this TOTP performance and her slot on Aspel And Company two days later. Let’s hope she’d learned the song’s words by then as she’s clearly reading them off that monitor at her feet.

Hang about! There’s another ‘Exclusive’ performance straight after Cher’s?! How come Genesis have also got this slot and more importantly who the f**k is Daryl as name checked by Femi in her intro?! When I think of Genesis, I’m thinking Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks. At a push I’d include Peter Gabriel although I really don’t know that much about the band’s early career. I’m never thinking of some bloke called Daryl! Who was this geezer? Well if you’re a Genesis super fan then you should have got yourself on The Big Breakfast because you’ll know that Daryl is Daryl Stuermer who’s association with the band goes as far back as 1978. He was their touring lead guitarist and bass player from ‘78 to ‘92 and then again in 2007 for the Turn It In Again Tour and most recently last year for The Last Domino? Tour. He’s on stage with the lads here to perform the band’s latest single “Hold On My Heart”.

This was the third single taken from their “We Can’t Dance” album and was the obligatory ballad after the first two were more rock fare. Honestly, it could be any of the slow songs from their previous album “Invisible Touch” like “In Too Deep” or “Throwing It All Away” or indeed a Phil Collins solo effort like “One More Night” or… well anything from 50% of his back catalogue as he only has two types of song – love lorn ballad or mid temp pop.

You’ll remember that Genesis secured an ‘Exclusive’ slot on the show for the first single off the album called “No Son Of Mine” which went on for about six and a half minutes! Thankfully this performance is restricted to just over four but I really think that six months in to this new format that the producers haven’t got a clue how to make TOTP seem more relevant to the younger element of their audience. Genesis, Cher and Chris De Burgh?! Nadine Dorries looks on top of her interview game by comparison.

“Hold On My Heart” peaked at No 16.

There’s no Breakers this week so there’s only eight acts in the show in total tonight. Not sure why that maybe. It can’t be anything to do with the election as the show is still the same running time and hadn’t been cut short to make way for coverage of the event. I can only assume it’s because of the two ‘exclusive’ performances in the same show from Cher and Genesis taking up the time that would usually be allotted to the Breakers.

As such we’re onto the No 1 already and it’s an eighth and final week at the top for Shakespear’s Sister. I know it’s only half the time that Bryan Adams was at the top and we’ve missed at least one week due to the Adrian Rose issue but it hasn’t felt anywhere near as onerous an experience as the era of the Groover from Vancouver.

Though they would never be as big again, Marcella and Siobahn didn’t disappear immediately after “Stay” had finally departed the charts. A follow up single called “I Don’t Care” would return them to the Top 10 and their album “Hormonally Yours” went double platinum in the UK. However, the relationship between the two was volatile and after being hospitalised for depression, Fahey decided to end their partnership by announcing it in absentia via her publisher at the 1993 Ivor Novello Awards ceremony, an event that Detroit was present at. However there was a happy ending as the two reunited in 2019 having resolved their differences to tour and record new material.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Praga Khan featuring Jade 4 U	Injected with a poison	Hell no
2	Curtis Stigers	You’re All That Matters To Me	Not for me thanks
3	Altern 8	Evapor 8	I wasn’t a raver -no
4	Vanessa Williams	Save The Best For Last	Nope
5	Right Said Fred	Deeply Dippy	Nah
6	Cher	Could’ve Been You	No
7	Genesis	Hold On My Heart	Never happening
8	Shakespear’s Sister	Stay	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/m00142cn/top-of-the-pops-09041992

TOTP 02 APR 1992

Posted on February 10, 2022 by 80stastic

We’re approaching Grand National weekend in 1992 and like many up and down the land, I’m on the look out for a horse to back. I’d discovered the art of having a flutter in my student days but that was betting on something I had an interest in; football. Horse racing I knew nothing about. My father in law knew about the gee gees but he didn’t go in for the Grand National as he perceived it to be a lottery and not worthy of his time so I was in my own. True, I had won £50 quid on Aldaniti back in 1981 but that was through a raffle ticket via my local non league football club and not therefore from taking money from the bookies. However, the General Election was taking place the following week and so, like many punters, I took my inspiration from that and went for a horse called Party Politics. He came in first by two and a half lengths at 14-1. I was delighted as money was fairly tight at the time so my win was timely.

If you thought that the impending Grand National might be a theme for this week’s TOTP then you’d be wrong. No mention of any nags but there were two guest presenters whose comedy characters sent up those out of touch Radio 1 DJs who should have been sent to the knackers yard years before. I can only be talking about Smashie and Nicey as played by Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield respectively. I initially thought this must be a tie in with Comic Relief but my research tells me that there was no such event in 1992 as it was a fallow year falling in the two year gap between official events. There was however a mini Comic Relief TV show on BBC1 on 17th April looking at some of the work done with the money raised the previous year and there was a Comic Relief single but more of that later.

No, as far as I can tell, Smashie and Nicey were there purely to plug the second series of Harry Enfield’s Television Programme that started on BBC2 later that evening. Were Smashie and Nicey funny? I don’t find them humorous today but I can’t recall how I felt about them back then though I much preferred Enfield’s earlier character Loadsamoney and his impoverished counterpart Buggerallmoney. Their sketches always seemed to feature them playing “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive and shouting “Let’s Rock!” and they try this schtick to introduce the opening act but it’s wide of the mark for me. Nicey says that the opening act are “quite literally, probably the Queen Mum’s favourite heavy metal band” and this royal theme peppers nearly all of their links throughout the show. Not sure why that was. Were the Royal Family especially in the news at that time or we’re they always referred to as part of Smashie and Nicey’s sketches?

Anyway, the whole thing falls flat as the opening act are LA heavy metal merchants W.A.S.P. who don’t seem a good foil for all this knockabout fun. Far too earnest about their art. I say art but their ‘music’ is quite literally, probably the worst thing I have heard since…well Def Leppard last week. Just a horrible noise. This track, “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)”, was the lead single from their album “The Crimson Idol” which the band described as a concept album. Said concept revolved around a kid called Jonathan who is rejected by his parents who are in mourning for their favourite son Michael who has been killed by a drunk driver. Jonathan goes off the rails, buys a crimson coloured guitar and becomes a rock star after being signed by a record label president called…yep, Chainsaw Charlie. Jonathan becomes a huge star but his parents still hate him so he commits suicide on stage by hanging himself using his own guitar strings. FFS! What a load of bollocks! Who was taken in by this crap?! Well, the punters that sent this single to No 17 in the UK Top 40 at a guess. Just unfathomable.

Next we have another one of those live satellite link ups, this time with Roxette in Sweden. As Smashie and Nicey launch into a decidedly unfunny preamble routine it appears that Per and Marie can’t hear the pair’s ramblings at all. Either there were some technical difficulties or maybe it wasn’t live at all and just a pre-recorded performance? They launch into this acoustic version of their latest single “Church Of Your Heart” before Smashie and Nicey have finished their intro which adds to the sense that this wasn’t live at all.

This was the fifth and final single from their “Joyride” album and it’s not much more than an inoffensive little ditty really whose title seems to be a mash up of two Culture Club singles – “Church Of The Poison Mind” and “Time (Clock Of The Heart)”. Per taking lead vocal over Marie is the only thing to stop it from hardly being there at all. He goes all Bob Dylan before the song’s coda when he brings out his harmonica which he then chucks over his shoulder when he’s finished playing it. That’s no way to treat a musical instrument! He’s the Kurt Zouma of harmonicas!

“Church Of Your Heart” peaked at No 21.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-01WdHVLns

Onto that aforementioned Comic Relief single now. I have to say that I never really got the appeal of Mr. Bean. I’d loved Rowan Atkinson in all his Blackadder guises but this character? Not for me. Maybe I’m just not much of a fan of physical comedy – I’d never liked those Charlie Chaplin shows that seemed to be on every morning during the Summer holidays when I was a young kid. However, I was in the minority as the New Year’s Day episode of the Mr Bean series had attracted an audience of 28.7 million so it seemed a smart move to get the character to front the 1992 Comic Relief record. To tie in with the forthcoming General Election, the song chosen was Alice Cooper’s “Elected” though it was retitled “(I Want To Be) Elected”. Joining Atkinson on the record were Smear Campaign aka Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson and rock band Skin (then known as Taste).

I thought this was awful. Bean’s lines in it in the form of manifesto pledges were as funny as Liz Truss being the Foreign Secretary and anyway, I thought the USP of Mr Bean was that he didn’t speak. Even the army of Bean fans didn’t get on board with this and its chart placing of No 9 was one of the lowest of all the Comic Relief singles. The previous year, the odious “The Stonk” by Hale & Pace had been a No 1. Surely the obvious move for the charity would have been to ask Right Said Fred to do it. That invitation duly came 12 months later as the Freds did “Stick It Out” but by then their success was on the wane and the single peaked at No 4 (albeit five places higher than Mr Bean). By 2017, both “Stick It Out” and “(I Want To Be) Elected” ranked as only the 19th and 21st best performing Comic Relief singles respectively. The phrase missed opportunities comes to mind.

I had totally forgotten that Kym Sims had another hit other than the one she is remembered for. Just to make it easier to recall the rest of her back catalogue she made her next single “Take My Advice” sound exactly the same as “Too Blind To See It”. I mean she wasn’t the first artist to stick to a formula when it came to consolidating on initial success but mix it up a bit eh?

Unlike Kim, the TOTP producers did decide to mix it up by interspersing the rather dull video that accompanied the single with shots of Smashie and Nicey throwing some shapes back in the studio. Oh God. Guys, it’s so deeply unfunny. Who thought this was a good idea? Well, those TOTP producers I guess. Both they and Kym Sims should have taken my advice on all of these issues but they were too blind to see it.

Hang on! Soul II Soul were in the studio performing their single “Joy” literally last week! Why are they back on seven days later? Yes, they were a chart climber but it wasn’t like they were a 30 seconds cameo in the Breakers section. No, they were given a full studio slot. What happened to the rule saying the only act allowed on the show in consecutive weeks was the No 1 artist?

I have other questions. Why is Jazzie B using a conductor’s baton to lead the proceedings behind singer Richie Stephens and has he nicked Vince Clarke’s synth from Erasure’s appearance last week?

“Joy” peaked at No 4.

There’s another four Breakers this week and as is the emerging trend with this feature, we would not see 75% of them on the show again. First up is Prince & The New Power Generation with “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night”. This was the fourth single from his “Diamonds And Pearls” album and was identified by many a critic as the stand out track from it. The video shown here isn’t the one that was originally shot which didn’t feature Prince at all and only showed images of a poverty stricken African-American family. It was considered too political for MTV and so a second film was made to include footage of Prince and his band performing the song.

“Money Don’t Matter 2 Night” peaked at No 19.

Salt ‘N’ Pepa had enjoyed a pretty good 1991. Two singles that went Top 5 plus a Top 20 hit to boot and a top selling Greatest Hits album. 1992 looked to be going the same way with “Expression” released to promote a remix album called “Rapped In Remixes: The Greatest Hits”. Yet the single failed to break the Top 20 and the remix album did nothing. This was the second time the track had been in the UK Top 40 as it originally made No 40 when released as the lead single from their third album “Blacks’ Magic”.

1993 would be a better year with another Top 10 hit courtesy of their collaboration with En Vogue on “Whatta Man” and Top 20 entries “Shoop” and “None Of Your Business” all from their five times platinum in the US album “Very Necessary”. Somehow the album failed to take off in the UK struggling to a peak of No 36.

In a recent post while reviewing a TOTP that featured The Pasadenas performing “I’m Doing Fine Now“, I suggested that the end of the road for the band was coming up fast. Well surely this brief appearance for their cover of Bread’s “Make It With You” was their final destination. Taken from their covers album “Yours Sincerely” it did nowhere near the business that its predecessor did peaking at No 20.

This one passed me by at the time but listening to it now, it sounds like quite a nasty take on the original. Something very plastic sounding about it. Might be the parping brass section or the ever so 90s backing track. At least they tried to make it sound different I guess. If this is to be the last time we see The Pasadenas, I can’t say I’ll miss them.

The final Breaker sees Curtis Stigers doing a Kym Sims as he follows up his huge breakthrough hit single “I Wonder Why” with a song that sounds very, very similar. I don’t know his eponymous debut album apart from the singles so I’ve no idea if there was a better option for the follow up but I can imagine his label saying “We’re just going to play it safe Curtis man. We don’t want anything coming from out of leftfield so which song sounds the closest to your first one? Fine. “You’re All That Matters To Me” it is.”

So similar were the tracks they they nearly even replicated each other’s chart positions with “You’re All That Matters To Me” peaking just one place below its predecessor at No 6.

This week’s ‘exclusive’ performance comes from Chris De Burgh. In what universe was this man worthy of the term ‘exclusive’?! In a parallel 1992 where all dance music is banned and radio stations are only allowed to play soporific cruddy balladry?! I mean, how could the TOTP producers consider Chris De Burgh to be still relevant to the pop charts at this time?! I’m sure some negotiations took place between De Burgh’s record label A&M and the BBC over this slot which presumably was to help sell his new album “Power Of Ten” from which this track “Separate Tables” was taken because how else do you explain it?!

De Burgh’s musical reputation had never recovered since the huge turd that was “Lady In Red” in 1986. Some of his early stuff is actually OK (no it is, really) but everything since that heinous crime against music had been dreadful. This single was never going to improve his standing. If his musical reputation was in tatters, his personal reputation would take a similar nosedive a couple of years after this when the press revealed details of his affair with his family’s 19 year old nanny whilst his wife recovered from a broken neck injury. That’s real shitty behaviour right there.

The curious thing about this performance is that the staging is completely off. Where are the table props? Look at the song title guys! Instead there’s some sort of elaborate chaise longue littering the back of the stage and four Doric columns. Talk about missing an open goal!

“Separate Tables” peaked at No 30. Let’s never talk of this again. Agreed?

It’s a seventh week of eight fur Shakespear’s Sister and “Stay”. It’s probably about time that the issue of that band name was addressed. Here’s @TOTPFacts:

Shakespear’s Sister were named after the Smiths song of (nearly) the same name.
The misspelling was accidental initially, but Fahey decided to keep it because, "It makes it my thing as opposed to the song by The Smiths". #TOTP https://t.co/rV4CxMQJfN
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) February 4, 2022

… That or Tennessee WIlliams's 1944 play The Glass Menagerie, in which the central character is nicknamed "Shakespeare" by his co-workers, and reference is made to his sister – a fragile loner. #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) February 4, 2022

Right at the very end of the show we get a weird personal message from Cher letting us know she’ll be in next week’s TOTP. Weird it may have been but that five seconds to camera piece was more of an ‘exclusive’ than the whole of Chris De Burgh’s performance.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	W.A.S.P.	Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)	A huge no
2	Roxette	Church Of Your Heart	Nah
3	Mr. Bean and Smear Campaign	(I Want To Be) Elected	Not even for charity
4	Kym Sims	Take My Advice	Nope
5	Soul II Soul	Joy	No but I snaffled a promo cassette single of it for my wife
6	Prince & The New Power Generation	Money Don’t Matter 2 Night	No
7	Salt ‘N’ Pepa	Expression	Negative
8	The Pasadenas	Make It With You	Never happening
9	Curtis Stigers	You’re All That Matters To Me	I did not
10	Chris De Burgh	Separate Tables	I’d have rather eaten my own arm
11	Shakespear’s Sister	Stay	It’s another 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/m00142cl/top-of-the-pops-02041992

TOTP 23 JAN 1992

Posted on January 17, 2022 by 80stastic

We’ve missed another show that’s been pricked by the thorn of Adrian’s Rose and so find ourselves deep into January 1992. There’s only 8 acts on tonight presumably because the Breakers section has gone missing but they are all newbies that haven’t been reviewed previously. Tonight’s presenters are Mark Franklin and Steve Anderson and there’s a slight tweak to the format immediately in that the opening camera shot is on those two and not the opening act supplemented by a voice over intro. Not sure why that may be but it’s certainly a return to a more traditional opening. It does give us more time to gaze in wonder at the peak of sartorial design that were Mark Franklin’s shirts. He’s got one of those ones with the wide vertical block down one side of his midriff. He had a similar one recently that was in red and white but this one is in black and cream. Maybe he had a sponsorship deal with whoever made them. Steve Anderson on the other hand has come dressed as…well, I have no idea what or who he has come dressed as but it looks terrible.

Anyways, on with the show and the first act tonight are 2 Unlimited with their second consecutive hit “Twilight Zone”. Their debut hit at the back end of ’91 was of course “Get Ready For This” which was predominantly just a keyboard riff with some added ‘yeahs’ and ‘y’all ready for this’ shout outs courtesy of Ray Slijngaard – I think there may be other mixes out there which featured him rapping also. My point though is that his female band mate Anita Doth was very much in the background when they performed on TOTP (despite her wearing some very revealing outfits). This time though she is front and centre as there are some actual lyrics to be sung – I’m guessing singing wasn’t really Ray’s thing. Mind you, judging by Anita’s live vocal here, I’m not too sure it was her’s either. It’s not the strongest demonstration of the art of singing it has to be said. Ray’s obviously insisted though that the inclusion of some ‘yeahs’ is obligatory so that he has something else to do other than leap around behind a keyboard.

There’s also a hell of a lot less of them than their were for “Get Ready For This” when there were at least 8 people on stage. This time it’s just 4. Who were all these other people. Obviously there’s Ray and Anita but the rest of them? Hired dancers? Their mates on a jolly? If it was the latter, it raises the very topical question of whether TOTP appearances were a party or a work event. Ahem.

“Twilight Zone” matched the success of “Get Ready For This” by peaking at No 2. They would reach the chart pinnacle the following year though with “No Limits”.

After a quick rundown of the Top 10 we’re into another studio performance from an act we’ll be seeing a lot of in the weeks to come. For now though, this was the first airing on the show for Shakespears Sister with “Stay”. Not exactly a new band as they’d first come to public attention way back in 1989 with their Top 10 hit “You’re History” but subsequent singles had failed to make the Top 40. We could have all been forgiven for thinking that was that for Siobhan Fahey and Marcella Detroit especially when the first taste of their new material, a single called “Goodbye Cruel World”, peaked at No 59 in the Autumn of 1991. We were all wrong. Monumentally wrong. They had an ace up their sleeve which was the track “Stay” written by Siobhan’s then partner Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. It would top the the UK Singles Chart for 8 consecutive weeks and was the 4th biggest selling single of 1992.

As that stretch at the top will entail me having to dig up something to write about it for weeks to come, I’m going to keep my powder dry for a while but you can’t mention this song without reference to this infamous sketch and I’m not about to break that rule…

No sign of Franklin or Anderson in the next link (maybe the producers had second thoughts about their outfits) as we go straight into a third studio performance on the bounce. This one is definitely a new artist and he goes by the name of Curtis Stigers. I like the way the young girl in the audience rushes to the front of the age but then retreats as she realises she’s wondered into a spotlight. Maybe she was being shouted at by some unseen member of the studio floor staff. Back to Curtis though and this guy seemed to come out of nowhere but he’d been kicking around the jazz clubs of New York with his sax for years before he was plucked from obscurity by Arista Records to become a mainstream pop star. And mainstream he certainly was. No jazz noodling on display in this, his debut hit “I Wonder Why”. This was a prime cut of middle of the road balladry that was as much at home on Radio 2 as it was Radio 1 back in the day. Its lowest common denominator inoffensiveness did the trick though sending him rocketing up the charts to a resting place of No 5.

He managed another Top 10 hit in the follow up “You’re All That Matters to Me” whilst his debut eponymous album also achieved that feat. It couldn’t last though and he would only have two more minor chart hits over here before returning to his roots and embarking upon a career of recording jazz albums for the Concorde Jazz label. He did manage to get a song on the all conquering The Bodyguard soundtrack album the royalties of which should have set him up for life but he did a cover instead of one of his own songs (Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding”). Doh!

I seem to recall at the time that a lot was made of the length of his locks in a point and stare type of way but like the poodle haired Michael Bolton before him, he has since shorn them all off and looks much the better for it. He’s quite a prominent figure on social media these days and comes across as a pretty decent sort of chap which is… erm..all that matters to me.

https://youtu.be/GCIJnKwBxnE

Oh Lord! It’s that Genesis video now. You know the one I mean. When the “We Can’t Dance” album was released in late ’91, it seemed like there was an inevitability that the fourth track on it, “I Can’t Dance”, would end up being released as a single. Maybe it was just that it was (almost) the title track but I seem to recall that it stood out when we had to play the album in the Our Price store I was working in (‘had’ to being the operative word). I guess it was the most radio friendly song on there? It was catchy with a goofy hook and mercifully shorter than the previous single, the 6:41 in length “No Son Of Mine” (the album version was that long anyway and didn’t TOTP allow them to perform it in full?).

Supposedly it was written as a joke in a lighthearted moment in the studio (did Genesis have light hearted studio moments?) to satirise guys who look good but can’t string two sentences together using the motif of jeans advert models. Really though, it’s all about the video. I mean hats off to the the band for sending themselves up but once you’ve seen the ‘I Can’t Dance dance’ with those stiff moves and a walking motion leading with the same arm and leg, no amount of brain bleach is going to remove it. If The Monkees TV show hadn’t been cancelled in 1968 and they’d carried on making it into the 90s, it would have looked like this. And we haven’t even mentioned the send up of Michael Jackson’s “Black And White” video by Phil Collins at the end yet! What the hell was that?! I really don’t think that the overly long set up of the joke that was Phil doing a tap dance routine was worth it.

“I Can’t Dance” peaked at No 7 in both the UK and US charts.

Now as Mark Franklin confirms in his intro, Kylie Minogue had been having hits for 4 years by this point since bursting onto the UK charts with “I Should Be So Lucky” off the back of her Neighbours profile and of those 15 hits since, 5 of them had peaked at No 2. How…erm…unlucky was that? Well, her luck wasn’t to change with “Give Me Just A Little More Time” as that would miss the top spot by one place as well. This single was the third to be released from her now almost forgotten “Let’s Get To It” album and was a cover version of the old Chairmen Of The Board 1970 hit and was, as far as I can tell, only the third cover version she had released up to that point after “The Loco-Motion” and “Tears On My Pillow”.

Now there didn’t seem to be much love on Twitter for Kylie’s vocals here after this TOTP was reshown on BBC4 the other week but I have to say that I thought 2 Unlimited’s Anita’s were worse and in any case, you could forgive her a few duff notes just for that rolling ‘R’ sound she does halfway through (if indeed that was her).

https://youtu.be/g9EyObt8ujg

“Give Me Just A Little More Time” should not be confused (as if it could be) with the 1984 Whitesnake single which has the same words in its chorus but which has a slightly different title in “Give Me More Time”. I recall listening to Mike Read on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show play this and make a comment afterwards that the song title sounded like it could be something shouted by an under fire company chairman facing demands for payment by creditors and screaming in his defence ‘Give Me More Time’. Was that Read trying to make an uncharacteristically clever pun on Chairmen Of The Board? Clever? Mike Read? Surely not.

From Kylie to Public Enemy?! That’s some leap but here are Flavor Flav, Chuck D and co in the TOTP studio with “Shut ‘Em Down”. Now there’s something rather unsettling about this performance and it’s nothing to do with it being Public Enemy who thrived on unsettling people. No, it’s the staging of it as it’s recorded as one long, continual single camera shot with no cuts whatsoever. Who’s idea was that do you suppose? The band’s? A TOTP producer trying to be creative? Judging by the way that Chuck D looks at the camera, it seems like it was suspended and sliding around the front of the stage, a bit like the spidercams that they use to cover the football on Sky Sports that are suspended from four wires – one in each corner of the ground – and which can pan 360 degrees while remaining level. Well, those Sky cameras are a bit more state-of-the-art I’m sure but you get my drift.

Anyway, “Shut ‘Em Down” was a track from the band’s fourth album “Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black” and, according to Chuck D, was “about major corporations like Nike taking profits from the black community, but not giving anything back, never opening businesses in black areas. And it’s saying that the best way to boycott a business is to start your own.”

Almost 6 months to the day after this performance, Flavor Flav walked into he Our Price shop in Manchester that I was working in as Public Enemy were in town playing a Stop Sellafield concert alongside Kraftwerk and U2 for Greenpeace to protest the nuclear factory. He looked exactly the same as he does on this TOTP and didn’t have a clue where he was or what he was doing.

“Shut ‘Em Down” peaked at No 21.

https://youtu.be/vrgd8I1L8BY

Ooh a bit of TOTP history next! As Mark Franklin says it was the first time that the show had linked up live by satellite with an artist in America for a real time performance. OK, so a few things to say about this. Firstly, the artist. Was Mariah Carey a massive deal in early 1992? She was in the US I grant you where every single she’d ever released to that point had topped the charts over there. That was five and counting as it stood. Over here though, she’d just had the one Top 10 hit. Couldn’t they have got someone who was a bigger name over here for this?

Secondly, I know this was her current single but “Can’t Let Go” hasn’t really stood the test of time as one of her best known songs has it? It sounds like an Eternal B-side. It holds the ignominy of being the song that halted her run of US No 1s when it peaked at No 2. I mean a No 2 is not to be sniffed at (erm…if you know what I mean) but it’s not what it’s remembered for (see also “Welcome To ThePleasuredome” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood”).

Thirdly, it’s a pretty dull performance. Where are all the bells and whistles? It’s just Mariah and some uniformly dressed backing singers, some drapes, some candles and a backdrop of a bank of TVs (all switched off). Was it worth all the time and effort?

Fourthly, presumably then this TOTP was broadcast live otherwise what was all the fuss about? Mark Franklin must have been bricking it in case the technology failed and he had to fill (his pants).

Finally, has Mariah’s fame come full circle in this country now. Sure, she went one to sells bucket loads of records over here eventually but did the scenario below play out across the nation with parents watching this TOTP repeat on BBC4 the other week?

Across the nation, parents are telling their kids 'she sings All I Want For Christmas Is You'. The kids say 'oh i know her'
— Sharon Hanley (@sharonlhanley) January 7, 2022

“Can’t Let Go” peaked at No 20. See? Not a big deal in the UK in January ’92!

We have a new No 1! Queen have been dethroned after 5 weeks of looking down on their chart subjects and there is a new monarch at the head of the Top 40. Who predicted that Wet Wet Wet would have a chart topper around this time in their career? You’re a liar if you answered that question with “I did” as the Wets hadn’t been anywhere near pop’s summit for ages by the time 1992 rolled around.

Having burst into the scene in 1987 with their debut album “Popped In Souled Out” and its attendant 4 hit singles, the Clydebank boys had consolidated that success with their first No 1 single in 1988, a cover of “With A Little Help From My Friends” for the ChildLine charity. And then, the dreaded second album syndrome (I’m not counting “Memphis Sessions” as a proper album). 1989’s “Holding Back The River” was not a commercial disaster by any means but it didn’t sell nearly as well as its predecessor either. The singles from it peaked at 6, 19, 31 and 30. By any metric, they weren’t ripping up the trees that they had been.

The band regrouped and we got some new material in September of 1991 but the single “Make It Tonight” only just scraped into the Top 40 at No 37. Oh. Another new track “Put The Light On” was rush released the next month but it only compounded the issue when it peaked at No 56! Oh oh. A third single was shoved out 2 days before Xmas presumably timed to miss the festive rush but hopes can’t have been high for a return to former glories. Somehow though, “Goodnight Girl” exceeded all expectations and became the first and only No 1 of the band’s career that they actually wrote themselves. As a feat of redemption it’s almost unparalleled. *The only other example that comes to mind is when Robbie Williams, his solo career hanging in the balance after his single “South Of The Border” stalled at No 14 and with record label Chrysalis wobbling, released “Angels”. The rest is history. So it was with the Wets. A No 1 single led to a No 1 album (“High On The Happy Side”) and two more Top 20 hits from it.

My wife really liked this one and asked me to get her the album using my work discount. Not the standard version though, oh no. There was a limited edition that included a whole second album of cover versions called “Cloak And Dagger” that the band had recorded under the pseudonym Maggie Pie And The Imposters. It featured their take on songs by artists like Elvis Costello, Carole King and Tom Waits, all of whom my wife loves. Unusually, the Monday the album was released was my day off that week so I had to ring work to get them to put a copy aside for me (thanks Julie!). I don’t think my wife has played it for years.

Wet Wet Wet may have not been in the show for a while but their performance here made it look like they’d only been away for a couple of weeks. A live vocal policy was no problem for Marti Pellow who also finds the camera every single time to do that smile into. They were clearly in a long hair phase though. It’s like the early 70s up there in stage. Two years on from this, they would pull a Bryan Adams with their version of “Love Is All Around” but let’s not get into that business right now.

*Oh yeah, and Shakespear Sister that were on just a few minutes earlier. That’s another good comeback example isn’t it? Doh!

https://youtu.be/h1oo0K8LBkc

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	2 Unlimited	Twilight Zone	Definitely not
2	Shakespears Sister	Stay	I didn’t
3	Curtis Stigers	I Wonder Why	Nah
4	Genesis	I Can’t Dance	Nope
5	Kylie Minogue	Give Me Just A Little More Time	No but I think my wife has it on a Best Of album
6	Public Enemy	Shut ‘Em Down	No
7	Mariah Carey	Can’t Let Go	Negative
8	Wet Wet Wet	Goodnight Girl	No but my wife had the album

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001349p/top-of-the-pops-23011992

TOTP Rewind – the 90s

My memories of 90s chart music

TOTP 01 JUN 1995

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TOTP 23 APR 1992

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TOTP 09 APR 1992

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TOTP 02 APR 1992

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TOTP 23 JAN 1992

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