Eurythmics

TOTP 18 MAY 1990

Posted on by 80stastic

Hang on? TOTP on a Friday? What gives? Yes, this particular episode of the show aired on a Friday due to having been bumped off its regular and time enshrined Thursday night slot because of the FA Cup final replay being shown on that day. Having not been a final replay in the competition for seven years, 1990 saw it return after a draw on the Saturday before between Man Utd and Crystal Palace. The whole of that year’s FA Cup had been one to cherish – not for my beloved Chelsea who had gone out in the 4th round to Third Division Bristol City (bah!) – but Semi Final day had seen both games televised live on the BBC one after the other on a glorious Sunday afternoon for football fans who gorged on 13 goals between the the two games. The Final saw the goal fest continue in a thrilling 3-3 contest…

…the thrills couldn’t last though and the replay was a dour affair with Man Utd triumphing 1-0 in a game which saw Crystal Palace in one of the worst kits to ever feature in an FA Cup final.

I watched all of these games in the sitting room of my parents’ house as I was unemployed (still), depressed and skint. My brother on the other hand, an ardent Man Utd fan, had attended all the games (including both at Wembley) as this was his peak period for going to see the red scum (sorry bruv!). Fortunately, it wouldn’t be long before my luck would change and I would find employment in Hull where my girlfriend lived and would spend the Summer there before getting married and I was never to live in the family home again.

So what were the tunes that would see me into this happier period of my life? Well, they seemed to be supplied by acts that had made their name in the previous decade who were letting us know they were still around by returning to the Top 40 in 1990. Let’s see who we’re talking about…

...Hothouse Flowers had not been visitors to the UK Top 40 since their only previous trip in 1988 with their No 11 hit “Don’t Go”. I’d really liked that song and my wife had even gone as far as to buy their album “People” which was also packed full of good songs. However, I must admit that I wasn’t sure there was still a market for their brand of soul infused rock when the new decade rolled around. I was wrong though as they made it back into the charts with “Give It Up”, the lead single from their second album “Home”. The new track didn’t really show much musical progression but it was still a decent tune I thought even if the piano riff in the chorus seems to have been nicked off “Love Is In The Air” by John Paul Young. Furthermore, lead singer Liam Ó Maonlaí displayed that he still had the ability to sing songs that sounded like they had too many lyrics in them to work properly but somehow did. In the two years since I’d seen them live at Sunderland Poly, the band’s guitarist Fiachna Ó Braonáin had grown sprouted some dreadlocks by the look of him which was a bold move that I’m not completely sure worked.

“Give It Up” peaked at No 30 and they followed it up with a cover of Johnny Nash’s ” I Can See Clearly Now’ which did better by going to No 23 but a third single from the album “Movies” didn’t chart at all despite it being the best of the three in my opinion. Hothouse Flowers spilt in 1994 only to reunite in 1998 and sporadically release material and do gigs to this day.

Another 80s band resurfacing at the start of the 90s were The Pasadenas. I have no recall of this single – “Love Thing” – at all. I knew they’d had a big hit in 1992 with a cover of “I’m Doin’ Fine Now” by New York City but I was clueless to the fact that there was also an intervening hit between that and their 1988 heyday when they raced up the charts with the likes of “Tribute (Right On)” and “Riding on a Train”.

I think the reason I can’t recall this song is that the band forgot to include a tune in the damn thing! This is just a backing track to their admittedly very co-ordinated dance moves which seem to take more prominence than the actual music. There’s a definite James Brown sample at the beginning which, given my detest of The Godfather Of Soul, lost me within the first 10 seconds. Not my bag at all.

One final thing, why were this lot obsessed with letter writing when it came to naming their albums? Their debut was called “To Whom It May Concern” whilst their second was called “Yours Sincerely”. What would their next one have been called? “Dear Sir or Madam”?

Ah – a brand new act now albeit one performing a song straight out of the 80s. The Chimes were actually from Edinburgh although I’d assumed at the time that they were American and they found fleeting fame with their cover of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. I seem to recall their version received a lot of plaudits from the music press but in my mind it was more a rejection of Bono and U2 than applause for them – almost as if they were saying this is how the song should really sound now that it’s been done properly. My memory may be playing tricks on me though.

It was certainly a very classy sounding treatment of the song that had originally been a No 6 hit back in 1987 for Bono and the lads. I hadn’t realised until now that the singer was Pauline Henry who went on to have a number of solo hits later in the decade including another cover version – this time of Bad Company’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love”. The bass player went and ruined any critical praise and credibility that his former band ever achieved though by going on to produce the first two albums by The Lighthouse Family.

The Chimes’ version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” matched the chart fortunes of U2’s original by also peaking at No 6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ7VNA_B4Tg

Back with the 80s bands now as Eurythmics remind us that they had more than one song with the word ‘angel’ in the title. Yes, no doubt often overshadowed by their only No 1 “There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)”, the duo also recorded this track called simply “Angel”. As host Nicky Campbell advises, this was the forth single to be lifted from their “We Too Are One” album and, although none of us knew at the time, it would be Annie and Dave’s last release of ‘new’ material for nine years. I thought this was exceptional at the time and even went as far as to buy it on cassette single. The chorus was just so uplifting even if the subject matter of death (inspired by the death of Annie’s aunt) was hardly joyful.

I also found the video very affecting though the version shown here on TOTP is the one edited for US audiences as MTV refused to play the original promo with its scenes of a seance proving to be a step too near to the dark side for American audiences. To be fair though, I once had a mate who went out with a girl who went to a seance and came out of it believing she was Marie Antoinette reincarnated. Don’t mess with the spirits was the message I took from that incident.

Back to Annie and Dave though and after releasing eight studio albums in eight years and endless touring, it was time for a hiatus. Apparently there were tensions between the two by this point but despite all of that, they still had the abilty to create their magic. In his autobiography Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This, Dave Stewart recalls one such moment even as they were about to go their separate ways…

“When The Day Goes Down”, another of the album’s tracks, slowly became one of my favourites to play with just me on acoustic guitar and Annie singing. We played it on Wogan…while being interviewed by writer / comedian Ben Elton. It was nearing the end of the show when Annie and I just started performing it, right there on the sofa. Ben was visibly moved to tears and the whole audience was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. In the control room the producers knew we were out of time and were getting calls to go to end credits – this was live TV- but the director and cameramen were so into the performance that after they pulled all the way out for the ending, the cameras started to move back in. We continued to play and sing two or three more songs just for the studio audience and the whole place went crazy afterward. There’s something very magical when the two of us play together...”

This is the clip Stewart was referring to:

Eurythmics would not release any new material for nigh on the rest of the decade before returning in late 1999 with the album “Peace”. There was a Greatest Hits package released in 1991 which looked likely to be the biggest selling album of the year for ages until Simply Red beat it at the last moment with “Stars”. Yet another reason to despise Mick Hucknall.

And yet another 80s act back in the 1990 Top 40. To be fair to Sam Brown, she’d only just achieved pop stardom some 12 months before so she was hardly an established 80s act although technically my opening statement is true. Having found fame with the smash hit single and album “Stop!”, Sam moved into the new decade with the task of having to follow up that success. It’s probably not well remembered that she did manage to do that albeit with much smaller commercial returns. “Kissing Gate” was the second single from that follow up album (“April Moon”) and was certainly melodic even if it didn’t have the drama of “Stop!”. It sounded like quite an old -fashioned type of song (for want of a better phrase) to me, especially set against a backdrop of a Top 40 bursting with dance anthems.

I’d actually preferred the first single from the “April Moon” album though which was called “With A Little Love” and which I’m sure I’d had in my hand as a potential purchase at one point but which never made it to the till.

“Kissing Gate” peaked at No 23 and was Sam’s last ever Top 40 single.

Now this next guy definitely qualifies as an established 80s act making a return to the charts in the 90s. Having referred to John Paul Young earlier in the post, we now come to Paul Young who had last been seen in the vicinity of the Top 40 back in 1986 when his single “Wonderland” made it to No 24. Subsequent singles had failed to chart and he hadn’t released a note of music for three years by the time he popped up again with “Softly Whispering I Love You”. This was a cover version (of course it was, this is Paul Young we’re talking about!) but I didn’t know the original which was by The Congregation in 1971. Despite having purchased his previous two albums, this one didn’t appeal to me that much. It sounded a bit lame and insubstantial if I’m honest. Its lack of appeal wasn’t aided by this performance. What the hell had Paul done to his hair?! It’s the 90s Paul, not the mid 70s! Also, the affectation of the guitar prop didn’t work for me at all. Totally unconvincing. I don’t think I’d ever seen him perform with one before so why now? There’s no way that what he’s miming is how you play the middle eight guitar solo.

Still, as a means of getting him back into the charts, “Softly Whispering I Love You” did the trick. He even managed another Top 40 hit later in the year with yet another cover – this time of “Oh Girl” by The Chi-Lites. Both were taken from his “Other Voices” album which despite selling steadily, was nowhere near the units shifted in his 80s heyday.

As with Eurythmics, Paul would release a Greatest Hits compilation in 1991 (“From Time to Time – The Singles Collection”) which would return him to the very top of the album charts and he would also bag an unlikely Top 5 single with Italian singer-songwriter Zucchero but that’s for another year and another post.

“Killer” by Adamski (featuring Seal lest we forget) is still No 1. In the last post, all I talked about was Seal so to redress the balance, let’s have some Adamski chat. Erm…well… his real name is Adam Tinley (supposedly his stage name was inspired by controversial ufologist George Adamski) although he now records under the alter ego of Sonny Eriksson which I’m guessing is a play on the Sony Ericsson Walkman brand name. He’s also released records under the pseudonym of Fleas On Skis and has producer credits for Adam Sky. Blimey! This guy gives Norman Cook a run for his money when it comes to aliases!

The play out video is “Policy Of Truth” by Depeche Mode. This was the third of four singles to be released from their “Violator” album and is the one I least remember. Not sure why that should be as it’s a perfectly good track. Maybe it didn’t get that much airplay? Or maybe I wasn’t listening to the right radio stations back then? It is unique though in the band’s singles discography as it is the only Depeche Mode single to chart higher on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (No 15) than on the UK Singles Chart (No16).

For posterity’s sake, I include the chart run down below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVt1y2rLUrs

Order of appearanceArtistSongDid I Buy it?
1Hothouse FlowersGive It UpI did not
2The PasadenasLove ThingA definite no
3The ChimesI Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking ForWhatever it was, it wasn’t this though. No
4EurythmicsAngelYES! Finally a single I bought!
5Sam BrownKissing GateThat euphoria didn’t last long. It’s back to a no
6Paul YoungSoftly Whispering I Love YouNot the single but I did buy that Greatest Hits album with it on
7AdamskiKillerNo but I had the Seal album with his version of it on
8Depeche ModePolicy Of TruthTo be honest, no

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000q5l9/top-of-the-pops-18051990

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.

Some bedtime reading?

https://michaelmouse1967.wixsite.com/smashhits-remembered/1990-issues

TOTP 08 FEB 1990

Posted on by 80stastic

After a raft of new acts and songs in the last couple of TOTP shows, the charts of early 1990 seem to have slowed down a bit with only three of the performances tonight not having featured before. Also, there’s only ten artists in total as opposed to the thirteen that have been crammed into the last couple of broadcasts which means less writing for your truly. Thank f**k for that!

Tonight’s presenter is Gary ‘safe pair of hands’ Davies and opening the show are Yell! with their version of “Instant Replay”. Now these two were definitely not a couple of talentless bimbos. Says who? Erm…those two talentless bimbos up there on stage. Yes in a rather tetchy Smash Hits interview, Yell! rejected all accusations of a dearth of perceivable musical ability in their camp:

“We’re not a couple of talentless bimbos”

Well, that clears that up then. Anything else you want to say for the record:

“People tend to think if you’re doing something like this you don’t have any brains…’cause we lift our arms and go ‘Instant Replay!!!’…’cause we click our fingers at the same time…’cause we’re doing a cover…We’re saying ‘this is for now!’, let’s have a good time and get serious later…”

Hmm… bit of protesting too much going on there I think. So did Yell! ‘get serious later’? Well, they released another cover version of a dance tune (Average White Band’s  “Let’s Go Round Again”) and erm…this. *Does this count as getting serious?

*No, no it really doesn’t.

Right, what’s with the guys in hard hats in the studio audience crowding around Gary Davies? I don’t get it. Bob the Builder wouldn’t become a chart sensation for a further ten years so it can’t be anything to do with that. Just weird.

On with the music though and here’s Janet Jackson with a song I don’t recall at all in “Come Back To Me”. Taken from her “Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814” album, it sounds very much like one of her earlier singles “Let’s Wait A While” to me. Like brother Michael, Janet wasn’t adverse to releasing multiple tracks of her albums as singles. There were seven off this album alone none of which got any higher than No 15 over here. Contrast that to their performance in the US where she clocked up four No1s, two No 2’s (including “Come Back To Me”) and a No 4. Cross-Atlantic differences and all that.

A huge record up now and indeed a future No 1 from the latest incarnation of a post Housemartins Norman Cook. Having already released two singles under his own name the previous year in “Blame It on the Bassline” and “For Spacious Lies” (albeit aided by MC Wildski and Lester respectively), he decided to formalise his collaborations under the banner of Beats International (which on reflection is a pretty crappy name). More of a collective than a stable band including singers, musicians, rappers and dancers, their first single “Dub Be Good to Me” was a huge hit straight off the bat. Mashing up The Clash’s “Guns Of Brixton” and SOS Band’s “Just Be Good To Me” proved to be a genius idea which was then expanded by lacing it with other samples from Ennio Morricone and Johnny Dynell (the “Tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty, you’re listening to the boy from the big bad city, this is jam hot” rap at the start of the track). Featuring the lead vocals of an unknown Lindy Layton, there was just something about this almighty groove that captured the public’s attention and affection and it was soon a chart topper.

Parent album “Let Them Eat Bingo” however was only a moderate seller and generally perceived by the critics as a bit of a curate’s egg (my wife bought it though and second album “Excursion On The Version”). Cook called time on the project after that, moving onto form Freak Power and then assume the FatBoy Slim alter ego before the decade was out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaeCn_8aCkk

It’s those deadly serious looking Scottish lads Del Amitri next with their folk pop dirge of tune “Nothing Ever Happens”. Folk pop dirge? Look, they’re not my words but only those of lead singer Justin Currie himself who tweeted along to this performance as the BBC4 TOTP repeat went out. See…

I loved the fact that Currie is very self deprecating in his tweets with this one being my favourite:

Despite this being the second time the band appeared on TOTP, the producers just reused their original performance clip for this show (there’s an abrupt cut away from Gary Davies to the band with no long, lead in shot) so this was their debut. In keeping with the acoustic nature of the song, it’s a very downbeat performance, almost as if they’re busking. It must have been a strange experience for the rest of the band. Finally, after years of trying they have a genuine chart hit and have made it onto the legendary show that was TOTP where careers are made or broken. The next three and a half minutes were vital to their career and what are they doing as the camera turns to them and they beam direct into the watching nation’s sitting rooms? They’re sat down with their arms draped over their guitars, not knowing where to look. After what must have seemed like an age whilst Justin Currie sings the unaccompanied intro, the rest of the song kicks in and they can mime along. Meanwhile, the normally excitable studio audience just sort of stand there, no clapping, no cheering and certainly no dancing.

They did go onto sell six million albums worldwide after this (and got to meet Sinéad O’Connor in the BBC bar afterwards!) so it all turned out alright in the end. Nothing ever happens indeed!

The last of the ‘new’ tunes next as Lisa Stansfield attempts to follow up her huge No 1 hit “All Around The World” with her new single “Live Together”. I was never much of a fan of the former and much preferred this one. The orchestral strings in the mix gave it a fuller, more lush sound that that of its predecessor. However, when you get such a big seller that early in your career, trying to emulate its success is never going to be easy and although achieving a very respectable No 10 peak, “Live Together” never looked likely to bring Lisa the same returns.

Lisa’s image in the video reminded me of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Dick Dastardly but instead of his twirly moustache, she’s got twirly kiss curls. Despite working in the Our Price store in Rochdale (Lisa’s hometown) for a year in the early 90s, I never saw her in the shop once. The one time she finally did come in, I was on my day off! Drat and double drat!

After appearing in last week’s Breakers section, The Beloved have moved up sufficient places in the Top 40 to warrant a studio appearance this time around to perform their single “Hello”. I loved this quirky dance / pop crossover tune and despite being on the dole, purchased the cassette single from my local record emporium.

I really like Jon Marsh’s dancing in this with his finger pointing hand guns and swishing poncho. Sadly, the song gets cut short before we get to the Jeffrey Archer name drop. I would have liked to see if Jon would have incorporated his ‘wanker’ gesture from the promo video into the studio performance. As fate would have it, I write this post on the day after one of the celebrities that we do get to hear name checked in the lyrics, comedian Bobby Ball, died. RIP Bobby and Rock On.

Those hard hat guys are back again as Gary Davies introduces the next act. There are also two young girls with matching Deirdre Barlow spectacles and frizzy perms in shot! Quite extraordinary! Very much the opposite of extraordinary though is the artist that Gary is introducing as it’s Phil Collins who plods his way through latest single “I Wish It Would Rain Down“. I’m sure I’ve told this story before but as Phil is so boring, I have no other recourse than to wheel it out again…

I once attended a wedding where the music that was played in the registry office as we waited for the bride to arrive appeared to be a Phil Collins Greatest Hits CD. As such, the three songs that were played one after the other before she arrived were:

  • “I Wish It Would Rain Down” (surely not on your wedding day?)
  • “Against All Odds” (with its lyric ‘you coming back to me is against all odds’)
  • “Separate Lives” (perhaps not the best song to celebrate the union of two people in matrimony)

“I Wish It Would Rain Down” peaked at No 7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yseNilZX3_I

Skid Row‘s video for their “18 And Life” single is the next thing we get to see on the show despite it only being on just last week. Its rise of 11 places to No 12 though was deemed justification enough by the TOTP production team to reshow it. Written about the plight of an 18 year old who received a life sentence for the murder of his friend with a gun he thought was not loaded, the full version of the video incorporates this element of the song with many scenes showing the use of a firearm. Uncomfortable with this, MTV refused to air the video.

Comparing the full video below with the version shown on TOTP, it’s clear that the BBC had similar concerns and all of the images involving a gun have been edited out. They even removed the scene where the protagonist’s father chucks him out of the house threw a plate glass window. Well, it was before the watershed and Mary Whitehouse was still in post as President of the National Viewers and Listeners Association to be fair.

Sinéad O’Connor is still at No 1 with “Nothing Compares 2 U” and this week it’s the video that TOTP uses rather than her in studio performance. The promo won three Moonmen at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards for Video of the Year (O’Connor became the first female artist to be awarded with it), Best Female Video and Best Post-Modern Video.

With all the accolades though inevitably came the piss takes. This one is courtesy of Gina Riley on Australian comedy show Fast Forward…

The play out song this week is “The King And Queen Of America” by Eurythmics. I’m kind of surprised this video got a second airing considering it peaked at a lowly No 29 and had already been shown last week but it did go up five places in the Top 40 that week which seemed to be the criteria for inclusion on the show at the time (see also Skid Row and The Beloved earlier).

Apparently, the 7″ single was issued in an incorrect sleeve initially and had to be withdrawn on the day it went on sale. Those copies that slipped through the net have become one of the most collectable Eurythmics items and command around £1000 resell price. Sort of their version of the A&M release of The Sex Pistols’ “God Save The Queen” though not quite as desirable – a copy of that collectible sold for £13,000 at auction in 2019.

For posterity’s sake I include the chart rundown below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXlaIQkzzEw
Order of appearanceArtistSongDid I Buy it?
1Yell!Instant ReplayNO!
2Janet JacksonCome Back To MeNah
3Beats InternationalDub Be Good To MeNo but my wife had their album
4Del AmitriNothing Ever HappensNo but it’s on a Q magazine compilation album I bought
5Lisa StansfieldLive TogetherNope
6The BelovedHelloYes! I did buy this one! The cassette single no less!
7Phil CollinsI Wish It Would Rain DownAs if
8Skid Row18 And LifeHaddaway and shite
9Sinéad’ O’Connor  Nothing Compares 2 UDon’t think so
10EurythmicsThe King And Queen Of AmericaThat’s a no

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nnyn/top-of-the-pops-08021990

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.

Some bedtime reading?

https://michaelmouse1967.wixsite.com/smashhits-remembered/1990-issues

TOTP 02 FEB 1990

Posted on by 80stastic

We’ve come through January 1990 here at TOTP Rewind and by general consensus that was one shitty month. When BBC4 were showing the TOTP repeats of the tail end of 1989 back in the Summer, there was a clamour on Twitter for the 80s to be consigned to the dustbin and for the sweet release of the 90s to swoop in and rescue us. Yeah, it hasn’t quite worked out like that yet I would wager. So far we’ve had a truck load full of nasty Italo house tunes, the New Kids On The Block phenomenon go into overdrive and ..erm…Fish! OK, that’s not absolutely everyone we’ve seen so far but you get my drift. Surely February will be better?

Well, early signs are not good as tonight’s presenter is well known Tory supporter Bruno Brookes who welcomes us to another “spondicious” TOTP. Spondicious? Is that a word? Well, according to the online Urban Dictionary it is and means awesome, brilliant, amazing, ace and was used in the Midlands in the 80s. Whoa! Hold on there! I’m from the Midlands and grew up there in the 80s and I have never said that word in my life! Wait, where’s Brookes from?

*checks internet*

…hmm. Well he was born in Stoke and went to school in Newcastle-Under- Lyme in Staffordshire so yes, he is a Midlander but in an online list of 51 words and phrases you only know if you are from Stoke-on-Trent, spondicious is nowhere to be seen. I’m not convinced.

On with the music though and here comes Lonnie Gordon to kick off the show with her S/A/W penned hit “Happenin’ All Over Again”. This was Lonnie’s biggest hit by far peaking at No 4 (she had two further Top 40 entries in ’91 and ’95). There was an album as well called “If I Have to Stand Alone” but it only got a limited release in parts of Europe, Japan and Australia but curiously it was never released in the UK. However, as ever, it’s Cherry Red Records to the rescue as they gave it the special edition reissue treatment in 2009! In the promotional blurb for the album, Cherry Red state:

“If I Have To Stand Alone” is one of three sought-after albums from the Stock Aitken Waterman / PWL Hit Factory to be given a simultaneous Special Edition release on Cherry Pop, along with Mandy Smith – “Mandy” and Princess – “Princess”

WTF?! Mandy Smith’s album? Sought after? Why not go the whole hog and call it ‘spondicious’ while you’re at it?!

Back to Bruno who’s up on the studio bridge with a gaggle of young girls from the audience surrounding him as he prepares to do the next link. Bruno opens with:

“I’d just like to say that all these girls are at least six foot tall“

Jeeze! I thought for one, horrifying spilt second he was going to say ‘All these girls at least sixteen’! Thankfully he was only making a comment about his diminutive size and nothing of a more salacious nature. When he does get around to introducing the next act it’s Wreckx-n-Effect with “Juicy”. So what was their name all about? According to band member Aquil (Aquil?) Davidson it means “Making things happen, gettin’ busy”. Of course, over here in the UK, ‘gettin’ busy’ meant something altogether different…

Back to those New Jack Swingers Wreckx-n-Effect though and the lyrics to their hit single were more gettin’ jiggy than gettin’ busy…

Look a there Juicy is a cutie, she has nice legs and a big booty

Have no fear ’cause Juicy is here, she said you can lick me everywhere

Pure filth! You’d never get that sort of smut with Sooty! Actually, what would you get if you crossed New Jack Swing with the Sooty Show? New Jack Sweep? Sue Jack Swing? I’ll stop now.

More dodginess from Brooke’s next as he allows a female member of the studio audience to fondle his frankly vile looking tie! “You should be watching the band not studying my tie” he protests too much.

The next band’s TOTP performance was the source of a full three page feature in Smash Hits magazine. In said article, And Why Not? (for it is they) state that for the record, they think that Stock, Aitken and Waterman are crap. Must have been a bit awkward being on the same show as Lonnie Gordon and her S/A/W produced song then. Apparently they were in dressing room No 24 whilst Lonnie was just down the corridor in No 31. Anyway, despite going through the usual experience of TOTP debutants – admitting that everything is so much smaller than it looks on TV and being bored waiting around for hours before they get their three and a half minutes slot – the boys look like they enjoyed their moment, jumping around and grinning like good ‘uns. Their tune “The Face” isn’t bad either with its jerky bass line and choppy guitar licks – they could have dropped the Bros style grunting in places though. There would be one more very minor Top 40 hit and one flop from And Why Not? before they left the pop music world to it.

The case of US singer Sybil is a curious one. She managed to rack up five Top 40 hits in the UK including three Top Tenners and yet three of those songs were cover versions. Not only that, two of them were written by the same song writing team and then made famous by the same singer! Yes, after she scored a No 19 hit in late ’89 with the Bacharach and David tune “Don’t Make Me Over” originally recorded by Dionne Warwick, she then repeated the trick for her next single when she released a cover of the duo’s “Walk On By” again, a song best known for being sung by Dionne Warwick. There have, of course, been numerous cover versions of the song down the years by artists as disparate as Gloria Gaynor to The Stranglers and indeed, it would be continued to be covered throughout the 90s and into the new millennium by Gabrielle, Cyndi Lauper and Seal. For me, Sybil’s take on it is one of the weakest. It’s not that she couldn’t sing the thing, more a case of a clunky production that lost all the soul of the original and didn’t age well to my ears.

Sybil would return in 1993 with yet another cover and the biggest hit of her career, this time of the old Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes song “The Love I Lost”, which she took to No 3 in the charts. Meanwhile, back in 1990, her treatment of “Walk On By” would peak at No 6.

Three Breakers next starting with Birdland who I had completely forgotten about until now. These Brummie indie kids were given that poisoned chalice of the title of being ‘the next big thing’ by the music press but all that expectation quickly dissolved when they were hamstrung by delays to the release of their debut album. Initially their fiery brand of high octane, post punk noise and chaotic live gigs had the press drooling. Assisted by their strident Andy Warhol homage image, they came over like a peroxide blonde Ramones meets The Jesus And Mary Chain. Despite their first four single releases topping the indie charts between ’89 and ’90 (including this mainstream breakthrough track “Sleep With Me”), a delay that meant the album was not released until ’91 saw all momentum lost and it struggled to a peak of No 44. Their plight is nicely summed up by band members and brothers Ron and Lee Vincent in a recent Von Pip Musical Exptress (VPME) website interview in which they were asked:

What five words would best sum up Birdland’s career in the late 80’s early 90’s?

Their replies were:

ROB : Speed/chaos/pop/blonde/noise

LEE: Well ‘short’ has to be one of them!!

A great track next which shows that quirky pop doesn’t have to mean novelty song. Having finally scored a Top 40 hit the previous year with dance cross over “The Sun Rising”, The Beloved followed it up with “Hello”, a song just about as far removed from its Lionel Richie namesake as it’s possible to be. Essentially a list song, like Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire”, comprising an eclectic mixture of names of both real and fictitious people, it hooked me in immediately. Even now, I like the idea that the names chosen weren’t all mega famous identities and indeed many of them would requite lengthy explanation to today’s youth as to who they actually were/are. Billy Corkhill? Vince Hilaire? I’m guessing your average 18 year old today wouldn’t have a clue. There was also something about the order in which Jon Marsh sang the names that intrigued. I think it was probably just the alliteration and rhyming in retrospect:

“Little Richard, Little Nell, Willy Wonka, William Tell”

“Billy Corkhill, Vince Hilaire, Freddy Flintstone, Fred Astaire“

If you watch the video closely, when Marsh name checks Jeffrey Archer, he sneaks in a ‘wanker’ gesture into his dance moves such was the band’s revulsion at Archer as, in their own words, “the epitome of slimeball Tory liar”. Well played Jon. “Hello” seemed to have much more of a conventional pop song structure to me than “The Sun Rising” which was probably another reason why I was drawn in and ultimately bought it – I was always more of a pop kid than a dance head. “Hello” peaked at No 19 making it the band’s joint second biggest hit ever.

By the start of the new decade, Eurythmics had been around for ten whole years and had released eight albums in that time but they were nearing the end of their time together, at least the first phase of it. This single, “The King and Queen of America”, was the third to be taken from their No 1 album “We Too Are One” but there would be only one more single release (the glorious “Angel”) this year before the duo took just about the rest of the decade off. The constant recording and touring schedule had created tensions between and Annie and Dave and although there was no official split, they went on hiatus until reforming in late 1999 for the “Peace” album.

I hesitate to say this but possibly the video to this one is more interesting than the actual song with Annie and Dave playing multiple characters such as cheerleaders, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, game show hosts and TV evangelists to visualise the song’s message of taking a swipe at the concept of the American Dream. Unsurprisingly, it was never released in the US as a single.

Despite “We Too Are One” being the second No 1 album of their career, the singles from it all under performed:

TitlePeak chart position
Revival26
Don’t Ask Me Why25
The King and Queen of America29
Angel23

Maybe, the timing of that career hiatus was right after all.

Meanwhile, back in the studio, we find another indie guitar band (that’s two on the same show following Birdland in the Breakers before – have that house music!) in House Of Love. I knew of these guys from having bought the incredibly pretentious “The Hit List” compilation album fronted by Mark Goodier with its  ‘for the discerning music lover‘ tagline. It included one of the band’s previous singles “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” in its track listing which had peaked at No 41 in ’89 (one of two successive singles to do so that year for the band – how’s your luck?). “Shine On” would break that particular hoodoo when it crashed into the charts on its way to a peak of No 20. It was actually a new version of their original debut from ’87 having been signed to major label Fontana who didn’t seem to ‘get’ their latest addition to their stable and desperately wanted a hit which was at odds with the creative aspirations of the band.

Lead singer Guy Chadwick, who always seemed to be trying morph into Mark E Smith to me, would come to regard signing with Fontana as the worst mistake in the band’s career. Unbelievably, Chadwick is now 64 meaning he was already 34 at the time of this performance. House Of Love limped on for another couple of years before splitting in ’93 and ultimately reforming in ’03.

Back to the videos now and we find Mantronix with “Got To Have Your Love”. Mr Mantronix’s real name is Kurtis Khaleel but he changed it to Kurtis Mantronik which then became the inspiration for his dance act’s name when he replaced the ‘k’ with an ‘x’. Why? Well, according to Kurtis himself (in a Smash Hits interview) it was because:

“Mantronix just sounds cooler. Man…and er, tronix“.

Hmm. Not sure that we’re dealing with an intellectual heavyweight here. What else did we find out about him in the interview? Well, he had just two hobbies which were:

“Music, music, music. And Girls“

Again I say hmm. Asked if he was a sophisticated type he replied:

“In some ways. Hehe. Ummm, um like when it comes to when you’re in a one-to-one situation with the the opposite sex“

I see…and his ideal woman?

“Someone that understands me, all my moods because I’m a very moody person. Um, she’d be basically independent. If I said ‘naff off she’d leave and come back the next day or whatever because she’d know that I don’t really mean it. Like I said before – music, music and girls…so she’d have to accept that.”

Does he have a girlfriend?

“No”

No further questions m’lud. “Got To Have Your Love” peaked at No 4.

Back to Bruno Brookes now who reveals that the next song is about one of his heroes. Really? Who could that be then? Nelson Mandela perhaps? Martin Luther King maybe? Who is it Bruno? Well it is of course…. Jesse James? Jesse James?! The notorious outlaw and murderer? The Jesse James who took part in a train robbery in a Ku Klux Clan mask? That Jesse James? He’s your hero Brookes? OK, there is a train of thought that depicts James as a hero, an American Robin Hood, standing up against corporations in defence of the small farmer, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. Wikipedia, however, advises though that there is no evidence that he shared the loot of his robberies with anyone other than his gang members. Think your hero worship of Jesse James is shot down in flames Bruno. Oh well, at least he didn’t say Margaret Thatcher.

Anyway, the source of all this Jesse James discussion is of course Cher and her single “Just Like Jesse James”. The second track lifted from her “Heart Of Stone” album, it was very much a reflection of the soft rock direction that Cher had gone in. It was written by AOR songwriters in chief Desmond Child and Diane Warren who had provided huge hits for the likes of Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Starship so you could see why Cher would want to record one of their compositions. After admitting that I had bought Cher’s previous single “If I Could Turn Back Time” in my 80s blog, I am pleased and relieved to announce that I kept my money firmly in my pocket when it came to this one. “Just Like Jesse James” peaked at No 11.

From Mantronix earlier to Technotronic now and their single “Get Up! (Before the Night Is Over)“. The brain child of producer Jo Bogaert, what was the origin behind this band name? Here’s @TOTPFacts with the answer:

Oh, it’s another ‘it sounded cool’ moment as per Mantronix. Look, I’ve never been in a band so have never been through the whole band name saga but I’m guessing the idea is to come up with a cool sounding moniker for your group? What’s that Mr McAloon? Prefab Sprout? Ok – right you are. As I say, I’ve never been through it.

Back to Technotronic and I should point out that this single featured Ya Kid K who wrote the lyrics and sang vocals on their previous mega hit “Pump Up The Jam” although they drafted in some model with ultra-blue lipstick to do the visuals for the video and promotion. This, I believe, is yer actual Ya Kid K in this performance though. Her real name is Manuela Barbara Kamosi Moaso Djogi with the ‘Kamosi’ (meaning ‘the only one’) part informing the ‘K’ bit of her stage name. She is not to be confused with Leila K of Rob’n’Raz featuring Leila K fame. What is it with all the ‘K’s? Someone should have pointed the trend out to Kurtis Mantronik – he really should have stuck with the ‘k’ rather than dropping it for an ‘x’. That trademark Technotronic sound would eat up the charts in 1990 with this single reaching No 2 and a further three singles becoming chart hits including two Top 10s.

The third different No 1 in three weeks now as Sinéad O’Connor makes it to the top with “Nothing Compares 2 U”. Is it fair to say that, despite her clear musical talent, the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Sinéad isn’t actually her music? How many of her songs could you name apart from “Nothing Compares 2 U”? I’ve got “The Emperor’s New Clothes” (which was the follow up), that song she did with Jah Wobble (“Visions of You”) and I think she did a cover of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”. Apart from that….Sadly I think her back catalogue is over shadowed by the controversies that seem to have followed her around for her whole career from tearing up photos of The Pope on Saturday Night Live to Tweets about non-Muslims. It’s certainly been a life lived.

Whilst commenting on Megadeth in a recent post, I stated that I was never not dumbfounded by the amount of useless heavy metal acts that seemed to get so much chart action in these TOTP repeats. I also name checked Anthrax, W.A.S.P and Mötley Crüe. Well add another to the list for here come Skid Row with “18 And Life”. This lot of New Jersey rockers were fronted by Sebastian Bach whose real name was Sebastian Bierk – oh make your own jokes up….

Order of appearanceArtistSongDid I Buy it?
1Lonnie GordonHappenin’ All Over AgainNah
2Wreckx-n-EffectJuicyNope
3And Why Not?The FaceNo but my wife had their album
4SybilWalk On ByNo
5BirdlandSleep With MeI did not
6The BelovedHelloYes! I did buy this one! The cassette single no less!
7EurythmicsThe King And Queen Of AmericaThat’s a no
8House Of LoveShine OnNo but I had their previous single on that Hit List album
9MantronixGot To Have Your LoveDefinitely not
10CherJust Like Jesse JamesNo – phew!
11Technotronic featuring Ya Kid KGet Up! (Before The Night Is Over)Obviously not
12Sinéad’ O’Connor  Nothing Compares 2 UDon’t think so
13Skid Row18 And LifeHadaway and shite

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nnyl/top-of-the-pops-02021990

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.

Some bedtime reading?

https://michaelmouse1967.wixsite.com/smashhits-remembered/1990-issues