Gary Barlow

TOTP 14 NOV 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

With a couple of notable exceptions, this episode of TOTP has a definite mainstream flavour to it. Nothing wrong with that necessarily – it’s just an observation. Our host is Jayne ‘knowing smirk’ Middlemiss and we begin with a second consecutive appearance from Natalie Imbruglia performing her hit “Torn”. This would definitely fall into the category of ‘mainstream’ in my book as well as being a very decent tune. However, the version we all know wasn’t how it sounded in earlier incarnations. Check out its back story – it has more chapters to it than War And Peace. This is the Danish language version by Lis Sørensen which went under the title of “Brændt” (“Burnt” in English)…

Then there’s this – the ‘grunge’ version by US rock band Ednaswap that featured two of the song’s writers in its line up – Scott Cutler and Anne Preven. Discussing “Torn” in an interview with theringer.com, Sophie B. Hawkins said that she would like to have Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones administer her with the Men In Black memory eraser treatment so that she didn’t know the Natalie Imbruglia version allowing her to see if she could spot the potential of the Ednaswap version to be such huge pop smash.

Would she have? Would any of us? Who knows? What I do know is that after Ednaswap and Lis Sørensen and before we got to Natalie there was a stop off in Norway where singer Trine Rein had a hit with it there…

Finally, the definitive version came about when third co-writer Phil Thornalley was put together with Natalie Imbruglia by his manager and new music publisher and one time Haircut 100 member Marc Fox. It was Fox who convinced them that they should give “Torn” another shot and so they worked the track up between them for days on end until they had what they believed was the perfect pop take on it. It was a heaven sent pairing – Thornalley’s reputation for working with some of the 80s biggest names was now so far in the rear mirror as to be imperceptible to the naked eye and he was desperate to relive his past glories whilst Imbruglia wanted to throw everything she had at pursuing a pop career. They were both prepared to do the hard yards and it paid off handsomely. “Torn” tore up the charts globally going Top 5 just about everywhere whilst her album “Left Of The Middle” went multi platinum. What I remember about that album is that they changed the artwork on it. Initially, it had a rather arty four column design with different images of Natalie in each. However, subsequent reorders were fulfilled by a new design that was just a portrait of her face that accentuated her striking eyes. I always assumed that was a deliberate and blatant marketing strategy on behalf of her label. I could be wrong.

Now, these reviews take some time to put together (I’ve spent literally weeks of my life doing this for the past nine years) so when a chance for a shortcut comes along, I’m going to take it. And here is one such opportunity. “Open Road” by Gary Barlow was on the 6th June edition of the show when Gazza performed it to celebrate the release of his debut solo album of the same name. Back then, I commented on how many people he’d brought to the studio with him that day. I don’t think it’s quite as many this time though it’s a pretty large band of musicians up there with him. Also different this time is that he’s plonked behind some keyboards for this performance whereas he was wandering up and down a walkway (the titular “Open Road” maybe?) before. Anyway, to see what else I wrote about this one, just click on the link to my previous post below:

TOTP 06 JUN 1997

Now, I said earlier there were a couple of exceptions to the wall to wall mainstream running order and this next artist is one of those I was thinking of. However, did Moby sit outside of that mainstream world? Within two years, he would have a UK No 1 and a worldwide 12 million selling album that spawned eight singles so could he be considered ‘alternative’ for want of a better word? I think he’d certainly begun his career out in the left field with his techno rave hit “Go” sampling the theme from cult, surrealist horror drama Twin Peaks but here he was in 1997 doing a dance version of perhaps one of the most recognisable theme tunes in movie history. It’s a conundrum for sure.

So quite why was he turning his hand to the “James Bond Theme”? Well, it was all to do with the new Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies which was released in the UK in December. The second movie starring Pierce Brosnan as 007, it followed 1995’s Goldeneye. I’ve never been a huge Bond fan I have to say. He’s just too slick and cool a character for me to get on board with – to quote Morrissey, he “says nothing to me about my life”. Anyway, back to Moby and his ‘re-version’ (as it was officially titled) of that famous tune. It was part of the soundtrack album to Tomorrow Never Dies the theme tune of which was recorded by Sheryl Crow. I have to say that his version doesn’t do much for me and is certainly no improvement on or indeed interesting take on the original to my ears. Even Moby himself rather distances himself from his recording by apparently saying that the original is miles better than the version he did. Whilst the go to image in our minds eye of Moby might be of him behind a keyboard and not wielding a guitar, here’s @TOTPFacts to add some context to what we saw here on our TV screens:

Oh blimey! Here’s a duet that, depending on your tastes, was either made in Heaven or came directly from the bowels of Hell. The backstory to this pairing of Barbra Streisand (note spelling of first name!) and Celine Dion is that at the 1997 Oscars show, Celine became the first artist ever to perform twice on the same show. One of the songs she sang was “I Finally Found Someone” from The Mirror Has Two Faces movie (that had been a hit for Streisand and Bryan Adams) after Babs declined to perform it. Originally, Natalie Cole was scheduled to replace Streisand but when she pulled out at short notice, Celine was asked to step into the breach. So pleased was Barbra with Dion’s treatment of her song that she suggested they record a duet together. The result was “Tell Him” which I assumed was also from a film soundtrack but wasn’t. Listening to it, I could more imagine it being used in a stage musical – a bad one mind you. “Tell Him” is less a song and more an emoting contest with Céline and Babs dukin’ it out for top billing. Apparently, Barbra (watch that spelling again!) is one of Celine’s idols so maybe it was subconscious on the latter’s part but Streisand is so lost in the business of show that it must have been instinctive. With those two names involved, it couldn’t help but be a hit and it was peaking at No 3 in the UK. That made two consecutive Top 10 hits for Barbra in the UK for the first time since the late 70s/early 80s whilst Celine would go down the soundtrack route to devastating effect (and I used that world deliberately) before 1997 was out with “My Heart Will Go On”.

I was talking to someone at work the other day who is 30 years younger than me and it transpired that she’d never seen Trainspotting. Not only that but she’d never heard of it and thought it would be a film about nerdy people with an obsession about trains. It’s moments like these that make me realise how old I really am. Anyway, that rather clunky reference is my segue into the next artist who are PF Project featuring Ewan McGregor and their hit “Choose Life” based on a speech given by McGregor’s character Mark ‘Rentboy’ Renton. This would be the second of my non-mainstream hits on the show this evening but again, given the popularity of Trainspotting and the reach of the film, did it actually reside in the left field? Well, sonically I think so as it reminds me of that dance track which used to give me the fear – “Higher State Of Consciousness” by Josh Wink.

As for the that speech it was based around, well, clearly that had to be and was sanitised for commercial consumption with the offending swear words removed so a case could be made that the track had been modified for mainstream acceptability and tastes. As for the performance here, it was the usual dance hit set up with anonymous blokes behind keyboards but with McGregor’s part shown on a big screen behind them. However, as with Moby earlier, there was a guitarist on stage which must have been some sort of record for two dance track studio performances to feature that instrument on the same show.

Some acoustic action now from Jon Bon Jovi with his third solo hit of 1997 all taken from his album “Destination Anywhere”. Host Jayne Middlemiss tells us that it was written about a row with his wife in Amsterdam though he’s applied some creative licence as his wife’s name is Dorothea not Janie as in “Janie, Don’t Take Your Love To Town”. Someone commented on Twitter that Mr Jovi had clearly written this with the help of an Oasis chord book and you can kind of hear what they meant. It has that ‘busker’ quality to it that so many Noel Gallagher songs have. It’s not an unpleasant sound though and in any case, Jon must also have taken some inspiration from Kenny Rogers who, of course, had a massive hit with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town” with his group First Edition in 1969. As of 2025 though, Jon Bon Jovi is yet to resume his solo career.

What a time 1997 had been for Texas. After eight years of trying to follow up on the success of debut album “Southside” (spearheaded by the slide guitar propelled hit “I Don’t Want A Lover”), they finally cracked it big time with their fourth studio album “White On Blonde”. A chart topping, multi-platinum selling monster, it furnished the band with four hit singles all of which went Top 10. The final one of these was “Put Your Arms Around Me” and I have to say it was by far the weakest. For me, it’s just not substantial enough and I’m surprised that it was chosen for single release. Sharleen Spiteri’s vocals are as poignant as ever but there’s just not enough to it to make it truly memorable. It’s an album filler and no more and certainly not single material.

What’s even more bemusing is that they had a glorious track closing the album called “Breathless” that would have made a fine choice as the final single release. What do I know though?

Aqua remain at No 1 for a third week of four. Although often derided and despite appearing regularly in ‘The Worst Songs Of All Time’ lists, “Barbie Girl” has quite the cultural reach, impact and legacy. Fancy hearing a South Park version? Here you go…

Or a Family Guy version? No problem…

What? You want the original? Surely not? Oh well…

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Natalie ImbrugliaTornLiked it, didn’t buy it
2Gary BarlowOpen RoadNever happening
3MobyJames Bond ThemeI did not
4Barbra Streisand and Celine DionTell HimNever
5PF Project featuring Ewan McGregorChoose LifeNah
6Jon Bon JoviJanie, Don’t Take Your Love To TownNope
7TexasPut Your Arms Around MeNo but I had a promo copy of the album
8AquaBarbie GirlNo

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/m002bx6b/top-of-the-pops-14111997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 06 JUN 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

So here we go with the Chris Cowey era. Yes, the new executive producer is finally in post after a few weeks of the position being covered by some temporary names and he’s rung some changes already as we are introduced to new presenter Jayne Middlemiss. Jayne would be one of the names in the roster of regular hosts alongside the likes of Zoe Ball and Jamie Theakston. These three were recruited from BBC mini-music show The O–Zone but were promoted to the corporation’s flagship pop programme by Cowey as he got rid of the ‘golden mic’ slot. On reflection, was this anything different to the infamous ‘year zero’ revamp when a load of bright, young things were brought in to replace the ousted and ageing Radio 1 DJs? We didn’t know who any of those guys were and that break in familiarity was one of the criticisms thrown at the new regime but did we really know any of this lot much better at the time? It’s hard to recall I guess but I’m not sure I was that aware of Jayne Middlemiss before this point but she was certainly engaging with her winning North East accent – let’s see how she did…

We don’t get to see her immediately as Cowey is sticking with the start to the show which launches straight into the first song with no presenter intro. I can live with that but what I’m not sure about is this weirdness of opening the show with last week’s No 1 which is no longer No 1! Not only does it go against TOTP history of not featuring hits going down the charts but it also means we closed last week’s show and opened this week’s with the same song! In this case it’s “I Wanna Be The Only One” by Eternal and Bebe Winans. Maybe it’s me who’s got it all wrong though. Clearly this single was still selling in huge quantities as it was at No 2 in the charts so why not show a hit that was still popular with the masses? Was that not giving the people what they wanted more than featuring a new hit that’s entered the charts much lower down? Adding weight to the argument is this whole phenomenon of first week discounting of singles which was manipulating the charts at this time. We’d already seem eight songs spend just one week at the top this year and Eternal were now the ninth. Under the old appearance rules, we’d have only seen “I Wanna Be The Only One” once on the show. Was that fair on the sixteenth best selling single of the year? I don’t know – I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate I guess.

OK, so Jayne’s on our screens finally and she seems (understandably) nervous. She doesn’t fluff any lines but there’s a lot of clearly pre-rehearsed posturing and thrusting of her microphone purposefully. Amid all of that, she introduces Gina G who is in the studio to promote her fourth hit “Ti Amo”. Laudably, she’s tried to deviate from her winning Eurodance formula of her first three hits but her plan for doing so seems to have been to plagiarise Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” from ten years earlier. It’s all flamenco guitars, castanets and Latin rhythms. The music press pointed out the obvious Madge influence but were generally favourable in their assessment. Maybe it wasn’t Madonna who had been the source of inspiration though – hadn’t Eurodance outfit No Mercy brought flamenco guitars back into the charts this year? Whatever the truth, on reflection, “Ti Amo” does seem to provide the missing link between “La Isla Bonita” and Geri Halliwell’s 1999 No 1 “Mi Chico Latino”.

Here’s another song that was only on last week though to be fair, it was an ‘exclusive’ then and is a chart new entry this so it can just about be explained. Jayne Middlemiss is struggling to control her nerves in the intro to it. Again, she’s word perfect but is speaking so quickly it’s almost garbled. Said song is “Waltz Away Dreaming” by Toby Bourke and George Michael and unlike last week, George isn’t in the studio in person to introduce it. Well, twice in two weeks after a gap of eleven years would have been pushing it. Irishman Toby Bourke would never trouble the chart compilers again with this being his only UK hit. Indeed, he didn’t even have a hit in his own country as “Waltz Away Dreaming” wasn’t released there which seems a bit odd.

And another! That’s three of the first four songs on tonight that were only on the show seven days ago! We might as well have been watching MTV with its heavy rotation playlists! Jayne Middlemiss even seems to be proudly advertising this as she informs us that it’s two weeks running on the show for Rosie Gaines and “Closer Than Close”. This successive appearances policy is really testing my creative writing to its limits – what am I supposed to say about this one that I haven’t already said. It’s not as if I can simply effuse all over it – I didn’t like it at all. I know, check her Wikipedia entry; there must be some kernel of inspiration in that.

*scans Rosie Gaines Wikipedia details*

Erm…well, her first band back in the 80s were called The Oasis. You can see why they weren’t successful – if only they’d dropped that ‘The’!

Now what’s going on? What’s Ronan Keating doing on the show? Well, he seems to be plugging the next Boyzone single (from the Mr Bean movie) which wouldn’t be released for another six weeks! Apart from that he mentions that the band are playing Wembley that night and saying “Please God” a lot. It’s all a bit unnecessary and neither Ronan nor Jayne come out of it very well.

Back to the music and the good news is that we’ve alighted on a new song finally. The bad news is that it’s from Gary Barlow in solo artist mode. He’s been shoehorned into the running order to celebrate his album “Open Road” going to No 1 in the charts and so we get the title track even though it wouldn’t be released as a single for another five months! Makes Boyzone seem quite tardy in their promotional activities doesn’t he? Anyway, his song is a mid-tempo story of…self discovery?…Gary keeps banging on about talking to a man who it turns out is him so maybe getting in touch with your inner feelings? I don’t really know nor care much. Supposedly, there a sample of Mr. Mister’s “Kyrie” in there somewhere but I can’t hear it. However, it does kind of remind me of Marc Cohn’s “Walking In Memphis”. I guess “Open Road” was an improvement on the insipid “Love Won’t Wait” but not by much. If this was the best Barlow could do then his solo career was in trouble and that’s exactly how events would play out with his second album “Twelve Months, Eleven Days” a commercial disaster and he was swept away by a deluge of Robbie Williams hits.

There seem to be more people than necessary up there on stage with him all of whom he seems intent on cosying up to. Maybe, like Ronan Keating expressed earlier, they thought that “TOTP is such a cool show”, they’d come down. On mass.

And so we arrive at the point where Radiohead set the tone not just for their own personal direction as a band but also for the future of UK rock music. Too much? Maybe but it’s no exaggeration to say that their third album “OK Computer” routinely ranks highly in the ‘Greatest Albums of All Time’ polls and has retrospectively been seen as the emerging sound as Britpop dwindled into mere vestiges of a once dominant movement. I don’t want to go into too much detail about this – there’s plenty been written about it by those more erudite than me. However, my own personal view is that whilst I owned and enjoyed “OK Computer” to an extent, I actually preferred “The Bends”. That seems to go against received wisdom and all those poll placings but, as ever, music taste is subjective and you like what you like.

The lead single from the album was “Paranoid Android” and if you created a Word Cloud from the reviews of it in the music press, I’m guessing the big word in the middle would be ‘EPIC’. Clocking in at 6:23, it dwarfed nearly everything else that they’d recorded up to that point. Jayne Middlemiss even describes the clip that we see as an ‘extract’ from a performance on Later…with Jools Holland. Composed in four distinct sections, it inevitably drew comparisons with “Bohemian Rhapsody” though a more pertinent analogy might be “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” by The Beatles. It really is a sprawling, mammoth track that took me a few listens to get into but I did get to the place called ‘Appreciation’ eventually. Not everyone did – some felt it and its parent album self indulgent including Henry Yates of the NME who said of “OK Computer” that it was the moment Radiohead stopped being ‘good’ and started being ‘important’.

Its title obviously referenced the character Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I’d watched the 1981 BBC TV series and enjoyed it but what I hadn’t realised as that two singles had been released by the character voiced by actor Stephen Moore including the one in the clip below. Take note Henry Yates, at least Radiohead didn’t release this…

We’re nearly at the No 1 song but first, after the Top 10 rundown, Jayne gathers all the artists who have been in the studio tonight (including Ronan Keating who didn’t even perform) around her to ask if they’ve had a good time. I’m not sure why or what it brought to the show but at a guess was it Chris Cowey trying to promote the idea that TOTP was still the music programme that all the stars loved and wanted to be on?

So, it’s a new chart topper and it arrives fully formed from Hanson – yes, it’s time for “MMMBop”. This was another of those hits like “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt that there had been so much buzz about that there was zero chance it wouldn’t just go straight to No 1 first week in. It would make international stars of the three Hanson brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac who were only 16, 14 and 11 years old respectively at the time. As such, comparisons with The Osmonds and The Jackson 5 abounded, egged on by the incredibly catchy, bubble gum-pop sound of their song. However, it was a rumoured connection to a contemporary artist that was doing the rounds at the time that, although completely without any substance, seemed to be accepted without question – Hanson were related to Beck. Erm, no they weren’t/aren’t and yet even the fact that the spelling of their surnames was different (Beck Hansen with an ‘e’) didn’t dispel the myth. There was, however, a tie between the two but it wasn’t a family one. Hanson were signed to Mercury Records on the strength of an early demo which included a different, much slower version of “MMMBop” but the potential of the song prompted the label’s head of A&R to call on the production duo The Dust Brothers to sprinkle some magic over it. They had previously helped produce “Paul’s Boutique” by the Beastie Boys but it was their collaboration with another artist that would cause work on “MMMBop” to be delayed. The album was “Odelay” by, of course, Beck. And that’s the only connection between Hanson and Beck Hansen that I’m aware of. Eventually, The Dust Brothers would get back to “MMMBop” and when finished, it was unleashed on the world to devastating effect – No 1 in the US and the UK and just about everywhere in Europe besides. The three brothers will be our chart topper for another two weeks so I’ll leave their story there for now.

So, what did we make of the new era of TOTP? There were a few changes – the incongruous interview with a random pop star who wasn’t even performing on the show, the little get together of all the stars that appeared just before the end, a new presenter (hopefully she’ll get over her nerves and be better in future shows) and when did the rolling, on screen chart rundown start at No 20 and not No 40? Overarching all of this was the fact there were only seven hits on the show which surely must be the least for a while. The jury’s out for now…

Order of appearance ArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Eternal featuring Bebe WinansI Wanna Be The Only OneYes for my wife
2Gina GTi AmoNah
3George Michael and Toby BourkeWaltz Away DreamingNope
4Rosie GainesCloser Than CloseDefinitely not
5Gary BarlowOpen RoadNo
6RadioheadParanoid AndroidNo but I had the album
7HansonMMMbopYes but for my goddaughter who was six at the time

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/m0028dz1/top-of-the-pops-06061997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 16 MAY 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s 16th May 1997 and I’m waking up in London after travelling back from my trip to China and stopping over with a friend having missed my last train home the night before. China was mind blowing and at times I struggled with the culture shock but it was also something I’ll never forget. I saw some amazing sights (including The Great Wall of China) and experienced a different way of life I never would have otherwise. I couldn’t get used to locals wanting to have their picture taken with me because I was a Westerner though like I was a tourist attraction! I’d gone to see my mate Rob who was living and studying there and travelled with his brother Chris who stayed on in Beijing after I’d left for the UK. Why didn’t I stay longer? I had an important date with my TV at 3pm on Saturday 17th as my beloved Chelsea were in the FA Cup final for only the second time in my living memory. It sounds kind of sad that I gave up more potential time on a trip of a lifetime for a football match but I couldn’t be sure I would have found anywhere in Beijing showing it and in any case, neither Rob nor Chris were big football fans. However, I did try and convert some Chinese friends of Rob’s in a bar by getting them to chant “Chelsea, Chelsea” (Chris went down the political route and got them to chant “Tony Blair, Tony Blair”). Anyway, I was back home in time to watch the match and it’s a good job I wasn’t scrabbling around trying to find somewhere in Beijing to watch it as we scored after 43 seconds and eventually triumphed 2-0 to win our first major trophy in 26 years. Hurray! My diary entry for that day just says ‘We Won!’ and then stops forever so they’ll be no more posts inspired by that time going forward. Enough of my personal life though. This is meant to be a music blog so hopefully you’re still with me as we dive into what was showing on TOTP way back when….

Dannii Minogue is our host following in the footsteps of sister Kylie (wasn’t it always thus) who presented the show a few weeks back. The first act on tonight is a throwback to The Monkees (or was it an S Club 7 prototype) as North & South make their TOTP debut. These four lads were put together by ‘Pop Svengali’© Tom Watkins who was responsible for East 17 and had managed Pet Shop Boys and Bros. However, this wasn’t just a plain old charge at the pop charts – no, this time it was a double pronged strategy with a TV show starring the boys as well. Named No Sweat, it had the group playing characters rather than themselves (though they reverted to their own names for the second series) who form a band at school and try to make it big. I can’t say I ever saw it but it doesn’t stop me making (potentially) lazy comparisons with The Monkees (that’s twice now). With the show a hit (initially at least), there needed to be some product to sell and so “I’m A Man Not A Boy” was released as their debut single. Now given what I said about who their mentor was, it’s hardly surprising that there’s a whiff of Bros about this one and not just because they had a similar sounding hit in “Drop The Boy”. I mean, at least it wasn’t yet another cover of a 70s ballad by the Bee Gees or The Osmonds which was the go to song choice for boy bands at the time. It chugs along with enough hooks and slots for the screams and sighs of the female teenage audience that they were so clearly put together to woo.

The single would go in at No 7 but that would be the height of their appeal despite the band touring. Three subsequent singles charted lower than the one before, the second series of No Sweat didn’t pull in the same amount of viewers as Series 1 and their album remained unreleased. Within two years, that other ‘Pop Svengali’© Simon Fuller would return to the idea and put together S Club 7 who similarly rose to fame via TV show Miami 7. Oh and by the way, “I’m A Man Not A Boy” was nothing to do with Chesney Hawkes’ other hit of the same name (yes he did have another one chart fact fans). See, listen for yourselves..,

Brownstone are up next in the studio. My knowledge of Brownstone, despite working in record shops for the whole of the 90s, was/is meagre at best…

  • They were (and still are apparently) an all female R&B group
  • Erm…that’s it

Consequently, I haven’t much to say about them or their song “5 Miles To Empty” (which obviously I don’t remember). I couldn’t have even told you how many members were in the group before watching this performance back. Oh yeah, members. Some American all female R&B groups in the 90s seemed to operate a revolving door policy when it came to group line ups. Wikipedia informs me that just like En Vogue, Brownstone had a few members come and go from the original starting line up. In total seven singers have worn the Brownstone shirt over the years and they’re only a trio! And I thought the Sugababes were the queens of members coming and going!

Dannii Minogue describes both the artist and her song as “beautiful” in her next intro and she spot on with both assessments. Sinéad O’Connor was beautiful – she had that timeless beauty like Audrey Hepburn, something that sometimes gets lost in all the controversy that surrounded her, not that she would have considered herself so nor that it was in the least bit important to her I would imagine. As for her song “This Is To Mother You”, it’s an exquisitely beautiful composition taken from a four track EP called “Gospel Oak” that would peak at No 28 in the UK charts. Nobody did affecting vocals like Sinéad and they are what makes this song so haunting, that and its simplicity. So strong is its message and emotional pull that it was remade in 2009 as a duet with Mary J.Blige as part of the Girls Are Not For Sale campaign to bring awareness to the issue of child sex trafficking.

And another studio appearance! Hang on…

*checks running order*

Yes, they’re all studio appearances in this episode (albeit the last artist is just a repeat from a previous show). There are no promo videos featured at all. I wonder what the thinking behind that was? Anyway, Damage are the next act appearing in person and after their last two hits both went Top 10, they reach their commercial peak with this single which is an unlikely cover of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”. I say unlikely as it’s not an obvious choice for an R&B group but they just about make it work, keeping their rendition fairly faithful but injecting it with some subtle soul inflections. Damage’s version would debut at No 3 which was loads higher than Clapton’s original mainly on account of the fact that it was never released as a single in the UK – well, not until a live version came out in 1991 and made No 30 anyway. Now, “Wonderful Tonight” was one of the songs that I learned to play at one of my early guitar classes, largely due to its chords actually being quite basic despite it being an Eric ‘God’ Clapton song. I got pretty good at picking that one.

P.S. After Pottsy with Monaco the other week, this TOTP featured another person that I knew (well, I’d met before at least) – the nearest violinist on the left hand side of the screen was the friend and colleague of one of my wife’s best friends who herself is a classical musician.

Here come Katrina And The Waves now with their third TOTP appearance – clearly the buzz about them winning Eurovision hadn’t dissipated yet. Alternatively, you could say that they were milking their rise from pop’s ashes for all that they were worth. In fairness to them, they had just moved up the charts from No 50 to No 13 so another trip to the TOTP studio could certainly be justified.

Now, is it just me or does “Love Shine A Light” have a faint whiff of “Let The River Run” about it. I’ve listened to both back to back and I still can’t decide if they are similar or I’m just overreaching massively because both choruses feature the word ‘let’ heavily. What do you think?

After mentioning Mary J. Blige earlier, here she is on her first ever appearance on TOTP in person – I love it when a post comes together. Hang on, you don’t suppose this could have been when Mary and Sinéad O’Connor met for the first time which led to a friendship resulting in that collaboration years later on “This Is To Mother You” do you? Or am I overreaching again?

Anyway, the ‘Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’ was in the studio to perform her latest single “Love Is All We Need” making her the third R&B artist on the show tonight following Brownstone and Damage earlier. My word, the running order is testing the limits of my limited knowledge of the genre this week! I do know that she has legendary status in that world and a string of awards to her name but I would struggle to name any of her songs. “What’s The 411?”? Was that one? Or was that the title of one of her albums? Look, I’m trying my best, OK? Listening to this one, it sounds a bit Mariah Carey-ish to me or maybe Janet Jackson-esque but then it was produced by the latter’s long time collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis so maybe that’s not surprising. It was taken from the album “Share My World” which marked the parting of the ways between Mary and her producer, manager and mentor Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Diddy which, with what we now know about him was surely a good move. This led to Mary working instead with the likes of the aforementioned Jam and Lewis, Babyface and…ah…R Kelly…oh dear. I think I’ll just retreat from this one without any further comment.

We have a new No 1 and it’s one of those records that seemed to come out of nowhere but, of course, it had its background story like every other hit. “You’re Not Alone” by Olive had originally been released in August of 1996 when it peaked just outside of the Top 40 at No 42 (they would make a habit of this – follow up “Miracle” peaked at No 41). Despite missing out on mainstream success, it was a hit in the clubs and was given a remix and rereleased and debuted at the very top of the charts staying there for two weeks. It reminds me of the Baby D hit “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” from late 1994, another dance track fronted by a female singer that came from out of left field and which similarly went to the pinnacle of the charts despite the act behind it having had no previous Top 40 hits. These were the crazy 90s where such chart feats were possible.

Olive were put together by someone from trip-hop entity Nightmares On Wax (which made sense) and a fella who used to be in Simply Red (which really didn’t). Vocalist Ruth-Ann Boyle had done some vocal samples for Vini Reilly’s The Durutti Column and once the Simply Red guy heard them and contacted Boyle, Olive were formed. “You Are Not Alone” with its skittering, trip-hop backing, melancholy feel and Boyle’s warm, smooth vocals proved irresistible to record buyers second time around and they would follow it with a No 14 hit in “Outlaw” and a Top 30 album in “Extra Virgin” (see what they did there?). However, that would be the extent of their chart career. A third single – a rerelease of “Miracle” – peaked again at No 41 making it surely one of the most unlucky releases ever. By the way, doesn’t Ruth-Ann Boyle look like Natalie Casey from BBC sitcom Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps?

Natalie, of course, has her own pop star claim to fame story…

Right, this nonsense has gone too far now! I’m talking about this new policy of featuring hits on the show that are going down the charts. Look at this – we end with last week’s No 1 which has fallen five places to No 6! WTF?! I’m not sure who was ultimately responsible for this daft decision, be it producer Mark Wells, executive producer Trevor Dann or show director John L. Spencer but it was baffling. It’s as if they were deliberately trying to run the programme down, making it less and less attractive to its audience and hence causing declining viewing figures. Say what you like about recently departed executive producer Ric Blaxill but he never pulled any shit like this. The lucky recipient of this undeserved exposure this time is Gary Barlow with his single “Love Won’t Wait” but he’ll get his comeuppance soon enough when the Robbie Williams factor kicks in.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1North & SouthI’m A Man Not A BoyNope
2Brownstone5 Miles To EmptyNah
3Sinéad O’ConnorThis Is To Mother YouI did not
4DamageWonderful TonightNo
5Katrina And The WavesLove Shine A LightNegative
6Mary J. BligeLove Is All We NeedDidn’t happen
7OliveYou’re Not AloneNot for me
8Gary BarlowLove Won’t WaitAnd 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/m002861w/top-of-the-pops-16051997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 09 MAY 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s the 9th May 1997 and I’m in China! Yes, Beijing to be exact visiting my old school pal Rob who is living and studying out there. According to my diary, this date was our second day there (I’d travelled with Rob’s brother Chris) and we’d so far been to Tiananmen Square, Ritan Park and spent a mad night in a karaoke bar. However, one of my abiding memories is that on our plane there had been a French youth orchestra who were going to play some concerts in China and as we flew over rice fields on the approach to Beijing airport, one of their number looked out of the window and exclaimed “Ah, le chinois!”. With my location confirmed, I can categorically say that I would not have watched this episode of TOTP. I wonder what I missed…

…not much if the opening act is anything to go by as it’s the same one that closed the last episode! I guess it’s understandable as Katrina And The Waves had won Eurovision for the UK the weekend before for the first time in 16 years so they probably deserved their moment in the limelight. “Love Shine A Light” was the track that brought the trophy home and although it was a deserved winner on the night, it didn’t live long in the memory. Katrina (Leskanich) herself has explained that the reason the band had never recorded it before was due to the fact that it was “too cheesy, too ABBA, too Eurovision”. Even the guy who wrote it, guitarist Kimberley Rew, didn’t want anything to do with it and Eurovision and didn’t join his band mates for their performance of it on the big night. According to Katrina, the song (and subsequently the band) didn’t endure because they didn’t have a gimmick like Bucks Fizz. What it did have though was an anthemic quality and a feel good vibe that clearly won the voters over at least temporarily. In 2020, it created its own legacy of sorts as its title was used as the inspiration for a show called Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light which was a live, two hour show arranged to replace the full Eurovision Song Contest which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Love Shine A Light” was performed by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra before also being reprised at the show’s finale by all the artists meant to have been in the official show with Katrina herself joining those on stage.

I should have said that Jo Whiley is tonight’s presenter and she’s positively effusive about the next artist who have a great track to be fair to them. There was always going to be in huge interest in what the members of the Stone Roses did next after the band was dissolved in October 1996. Mani* would join Primal Scream, Ian Brown embarked on a solo career to varying degrees of success and Reni went into hiatus hibernation.

*He came into the Our Price in Stockport where I worked one day and bought our entire stock of Primal Scream albums to learn the bass parts.

As for John Squire, he was first out of the traps with a new project in the form of The Seahorses. Unlike the Roses who couldn’t have been more Manc, Squire’s band were York-centric with lead singer Chris Helme having been infamously recruited after being spotted busking outside the city’s Woolworths store. Another feature of The Seahorses story that was being played out in the music press was that the band’s name was an anagram of ‘He Hates Roses’ or alternatively ‘The Rose Ashes’. Squire denied this as pure coincidence and speculation.

Anyway, their debut single was “Love Is The Law” and it was a banger. Recorded with Bowie and T-Rex producer Tony Visconti and naturally featuring Squire’s immense guitar work to the fore, it was an exuberant, indie rock song that had an immediacy that made it sound familiar from the get go. The lyrics though – well, they seemed to go under the censor radar…

“She was a rum old slapper and we always tried to get her pants off when she phoned…

Strap-on Sally chased us down the alley, we feared for our behinds”

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: John Squire
Love Is the Law lyrics © Polygram Music Publishing Ltd. Gb

Hmm. Anyway, in this performance, Squire has decided to come as a member of Mansun whilst Chris Helme looks like a cross between 60s era David Essex and Danny Macnamara from Embrace. The Seahorses would go on to have three further hit singles and a No 2 album in “Do It Yourself” but would split in 1999 after increasing tensions between Squire and Helme (who wished to pursue a solo career in tandem with the band) boiled over. Squire would eventually release two solo albums before the Stone Roses second coming in 2011 and just last year had a No 1 album with Liam Gallagher called…erm…”Liam Gallagher John Squire”. I don’t think that’s an anagram of anything but according to one user on Twitter, said album contains the track “Just Another Rainbow” which is an anagram of ‘Just to hear Ian Brown’!

Four days short of the one year anniversary of the release of his “Older” album, George Michael was still releasing tracks from it as singles. “Star People ‘97” was the fifth of those (and there would even be one more after that) and it kept up the remarkable record of them all peaking within the Top 3 chart positions when it debuted at No 2. And people talked about all the singles released from “Faith”!

This one was re-recorded (hence the ‘97 suffix) from the original album track to make it a bit more funked up and danceable. I’m guessing this performance was from the MTV Unplugged set that was recorded in 1996 where he also did a version of Wham!’s “Everything She Wants” which was released as an extra track on the “Star People ‘97” single. Want to hear it? Yeah you do…

In May ‘97, Mansun were still at the top of their game with “Taxloss” (or “Taxlo$$” as it’s stylised on the single’s cover) being their fourth consecutive Top 20 hit with all of them taken from debut No 1 album “Attack Of The Grey Lantern”. There was something different about this one though – not sonically as it was still that guitar-driven, epic soundscape that characterised the album. No, it was in its naming. All their other releases had been titled sequentially as EPs – hence “One EP”, “Two EP” etc with the last having been “Five EP” (though each was headlined by a lead track). However, for “Taxloss” it was just called…well…”Taxloss”. No reason has ever been forthcoming.

I said earlier that John Squire had turned up looking like a member of Mansun and blow me down, one song later here was the real thing and singer Paul Draper (bless him) confirms my observation by wearing his Army Surplus Store outfit front and centre. Something else about this TOTP performance was that, for a moment, I thought that The Seahorses drummer and the guy on the sticks for Mansun were the same person. I think though it’s just that they both had a goaty beard. I think. Oh and that video that Jo Whiley mentions, that really did happen. Not quite up there with The KLF burning a million quid but still…

As Jo Whiley says in her intro, it’s time to throw your pants at the screen as 911 get another outing for their single “Bodyshakin’” even though it’s dropped from No 3 to No 10 this week – I just can’t get along with these new TOTP appearance rules.

I’ve nothing else to say about this one except what was the deal with those tops they were wearing?! I’m no fashionista but they’re gross. As bad as they are though, nothing beats the legendary Carlisle United away kit from the mid 90s that was labelled ‘the deckchair’ due to its garishness. Why am I randomly talking about Carlisle United? Because it’s not random – 911 lead singer Lee Brennan was born in Carlisle and captained their football clubs under-14 and under-16 teams but was turned down for a professional contract on account of him being too short. A career as a pop star clothes horse awaited…

Jo Whiley goes all Blue Peter presenter in her next intro as she says that Jay Kay of Jamiroquai can’t be in the studio as his band are on tour “so here’s something they prepared earlier” as we get the video for “Alright”. That old cliche could also be applied to Jamiroquai as this track was almost an identikit replica of all their other hits it seemed to my uncultured ears. People who knew more about it (basically the music press so that might be a misnomer) reckoned it was the best track on parent album “Travelling Without Moving” with one Sam Taylor of The Observer commenting on its “effortless swank”. Yeah, he could have lost an ‘s’ there for me. “Alright” peaked at No 6.

Wait…Blackstreet had more hits than just “No Diggity”? Yes, yes they did including a further three Top 10 hits one of which was this – “Don’t Leave Me”. Now, if it sounds a bit like a 2Pac song that’s because it features the same sample used in the rap legend’s track “I Ain’t Mad Atcha” but said sample is from an unlikely source – DeBarge. The “Rhythm Of The Night” hitmakers from the mid 80s? The very same though the track in question is called “A Dream” from 1983. How do I know all this? I looked it up obviously. My R&B/rap knowledge doesn’t extend to those levels of detail. As such, it’s no surprise then that this song means very little to me and in fact, my apathy turned to displeasure when one of the group introduced it by saying “This song goes out to all the ladies in the house tonight”. Eeeww!

Gary Barlow has this week’s No 1 record with a song that wasn’t even his. “Love Won’t Wait” came out of the writing sessions for Madonna’s “Bedtime Stories” album and was a collaboration between Madge and prolific producer and songwriter Shep Pettibone. After all the flak I gave Robbie Williams initially for starting his solo career with a cover version (George Michael’s “Freedom’90”), blow me if Barlow’s second release under his own name wasn’t even one of his own compositions but a Madonna reject! You can hear why it didn’t make the cut – it’s a perfectly serviceable but oh so unremarkable dance/pop tune that isn’t as good as some of Take That’s best work which raises the question of why did Barlow record it? Was he having doubts about his ability to be a solo artist? After all, it had been over nine months since his debut single “Forever Love” which suggests that he didn’t have confidence in the songs he had already got together. Despite my questioning attitude, Gary still had a fanbase large enough to send him to No 1 for the second successive time in his solo career. As the performance starts you can clearly hear someone in the audience screaming “Gaaarrry!”. However, the writing was on the wall as follow up single “So Help Me Girl” would fail to make the Top 10 and within a year he wouldn’t be able to give his records away as Robbie Williams cemented his place as Barlow’s personal nemesis. Still, it all worked out pretty well for Gary in the end didn’t it?

The play out video is “Lovefool” by The Cardigans who spend a second week at No 4. Looking at the singles ahead of them at No 1 on those occasions – by Michael Jackson and Gary Barlow – it does seem somewhat of a travesty that “Lovefool” couldn’t quite get to the top (it peaked at No 2). Being up against new release singles that would have been heavily discounted when your’s had reverted to full price maybe had a part to play. Hits by the likes of No Doubt, R Kelly and Puff Daddy all had extended stays at the top of the charts which would seem to debunk that theory but what is true is that there had been five different hits at No 1 in five weeks earlier in 1997.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Katrina And The WavesLove Shine A LightNope
2The SeahorsesLove Is The LawThought I might have but its not in the singles box
3George MichaelStar People ’97Nah
4MansunTaxlossNo but I had the album
5911Bodyshakin’As if
6JamiroquaiAlrightAll wrong – no
7BlackstreetDon’t Leave Me NowNo
8Gary BarlowLove Won’t WaitThree guesses?
9The CardigansLovefoolNo but my wife had the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack with it on

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/m0027xn2/top-of-the-pops-09051997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 19 JUL 1996

Posted on by 80stastic

We’ve jumped from the end of June straight into the middle of July ‘96 with these BBC4 repeats having missed two whole shows in the process. Why? Well, general consensus amongst the TOTP community seems to be that there were some issues with the meet and greet competition winners in terms of criminal proceedings being brought against them in later life. Yet another depressing indictment of our society.

With that sombre start to the post, I’m looking for some positive energy now so who’s hosting this week? Well, he’s certainly bringing the energy but whether I’ll have a positive reaction to him is in doubt for our host tonight is Keith Allen or more specifically his alter ego ‘Keithski’. I find Allen the person quite intriguing and his autobiography was a good read but ‘Keithski’ was a bellend. Totally unfunny and intensely annoying. Before we even get to him though, we have the direct to camera message at the top of the show and this one is a little piece of pop music history. Was this our first glimpse of the Spice Girls on our TVs? Probably not as they must have been doing the media rounds to promote “Wanabe” to have got it to debut at No 3 in the charts but it must be their first TOTP appearance and given the show would have been the most obvious choice for pop fans to get their weekly fix of chart music then it might well have been a first for many viewing at home.

Anyway, they’ll be along in due course but we start with …who? Umboza? Yes, Umboza. Surely you remember their first, Lionel Richie sampling hit “Cry India”? Erm, no I don’t actually and I must have reviewed it for this blog. The only thing I recall writing is that their name reminded me of the tropical fruit drink Um Bongo which had that memorable ad campaign featuring the jingle “Um Bongo Um Bongo they drink it in the Congo”. However it seemed that one hit wasn’t enough for these fame guzzlers and so they were back with “Sunshine” using the same formula as before but with a different sample. Instead of “All Night Long (All Night)” we had “Bamboléo” by the Gipsy Kings – it seemed that Lionel Richie wasn’t the one they were looking for this time (I’ll get me coat later). Given the ubiquity of that song (it always seems to soundtrack any piece of film that has a Latin theme to it), I was amazed to discover that it’s never been a hit in the UK in its own right. In fact, the Gipsy Kings have never had a single make the Top 40 which makes you wonder how they became so popular over here. Was it something to do with the late 80s lambada craze?

As for Umboza, this sounded to me like music for bozos. Were committed clubbers seriously out dancing to this on a weekend? Maybe it was popular at some of the more cheesy nightclub establishments? Certainly the guy fronting this nonsense has gone down the cheddar route with his Saturday Night Fever suit and wide winged collars. The whole thing seems very unnecessary on reflection and should be consigned to the pop music waste bin of bad ideas.

As an antidote to the crap that opened the show, here’s some rock music from Terrorvision who were on to their third hit of the year with “Bad Actress”. I say antidote but it was more like a placebo (no, not the band!) as I feel like this particular song gave off the sense that it was better than it actually was. Oh sure, compared to Umboza, it was the best song ever recorded but, in reality, it wasn’t even Terrorvision’s best song. After some great earlier hits like “Oblivion” and “Perseverance”, “Bad Actress” was quite pedestrian or at least was jogging along rather than running at full pelt. Tony Wright has to annunciate the word ‘actress’ as ‘act-tress’ rather than ‘actriss’ so as to enable some rhyming lyrics and the whole thing feels forced as if the band was told to hold up in the studio and not come out until they’d written and recorded a single from scratch. Terrorvision would finish the year with a fourth and final Top 20 hit before disappearing for two years and then returning with the “Shaving Peaches” album and that No 2 hit single.

Oh not this again. Why was the “Theme From Mission Impossible” by Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jnr going back up the charts? Well, it’s an easy and obvious answer – the film had been released in the UK and was doing big business. This caused the ripple effect of blowing out the burning fuse about to detonate the chart life of its iconic theme tune and sending it from a low of No 27 to a second peak of No 16 before finally leaving the Top 40 by stealth four weeks later. I don’t know what else to say about this one other than “What’s done is done when I say it’s done”* and my review of this hit is done.

*It’s a line of dialogue from the film if that doesn’t mean anything to you

Here’s another song that’s been similarly knocking around the charts for a few weeks. By my reckoning, this was the sixth week on the chart for “Don’t Stop Movin’” by Livin’ Joy with all of them spent inside the Top 10. It was a most orderly descent of the chart with one place dropped per week from its debut at No 5 for the first five weeks until a rise of one place back up to No 8 afforded this further TOTP appearance. In total, it would spend three months in the Top 40 and nearly re-entered it in November when it missed achieving that feat by just one place. There was one last week at No 62 before it ignored the instruction of its title and did, indeed, finally stop moving…sorry…movin’.

Next, a charity record for a very worthy cause – The Nordoff -Robbins Music Therapy Centre – whose aim is to help children with psychological, physical or developmental disabilities using the tool of music. Back in 1996, the Rock Therapy project was set up to raise funds for the charity via the release of the single “Reaching Out”. Sadly for the charity, and in a cruelly ironic twist, the song failed to raise much money when it peaked at No 126. Yes, No 126. Not a great example of the power of music and its ability to help change lives. This lowly chart peak was despite the presence of such huge names as Queen’s Brian May, ex-Free singer Paul Rodgers, “Stop” hitmaker Sam Brown, the “Wide Eyed And Legless” Andy Fairweather Low and…erm…the drummer from Wet Wet Wet. The sad truth was though that “Reaching Out” was a stinker of a record. Words can’t quite express how awful it was but I’ll try. How about lumbering, insipid, lifeless, soulless or passionless? No? A sleeping pill in the form of a song? Not quite there? Musical melatonin? Yes, that’s the one. Nailed it which incidentally is what should have happened to “Reaching Out” – a nail put through every copy.

And so it begins. The time of the Spice Girls is here. Sporty! Scary! Ginger! Baby! Posh! Girl Power! An undeniable global phenomenon and it started with debut single “Wannabe” and what a curious thing it was. Musically all over the place but with enough cohesion and charisma to make it a worldwide chart topper. Look, I can’t recount the whole Spice Girls story in one post and I’m guessing you wouldn’t want nor need me to but just a few words about their origins seeing as we’re starting at the beginning. Recruited Monkees style by Bob and Chris Herbert of Heart Management via an advert in the trade paper The Stage, their intention was to create a girl group to rival the boy bands that were dominating the charts of the early 90s. After whittling down 400 hopefuls to just five – Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Victoria Adams, Geri Halliwell and, with their very own Pete Best figure, one Michelle Stephenson. The group were originally titled Touch of which Stephenson was seen initially as an important ingredient (she’d received the highest scores at the first audition). However, she was removed from the project by Heart Management amid accusations of laziness and lack of commitment. Stephenson naturally refuted such claims stating that she left of her own accord to care for her mother who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Victoria Adams (later Beckham) wrote in her autobiography that Stephenson “just couldn’t be arsed” to work as hard as the rest of the group. Whatever the truth, she was ultimately replaced by Emma Bunton and the rest is history. Michelle Stephenson would forge herself a career as a television presenter for a while whilst also finding work as a backing singer for the likes of Ricky Martin and Julio Iglesias.

As for this satellite performance from Japan, it’s notable that Posh Spice is the only person in the group not to have any solo lines in the song. Stephenson has her own story behind that as well claiming “Wannabe” was originally written with Stephenson in mind and that after she left, Adams refused to take on her parts. Other accounts suggest that it was due to Adams experiencing scheduling conflicts during the writing of the track (which happened after Stephenson’s departure). Yeah, right. Just one more thing, wasn’t Ginger Spice meant to be called Sexy Spice originally? Stephenson has her own take on that as well claiming she was going to be given that nickname. Ginger does make a lot more sense if we’re talking spices but then I’ve also never seen any spices called Sporty, Scary, Baby and Posh on the racks of my local supermarket either.

As with the Spice Girls, there’s a lot to unpack about the story behind the next song and given the song in question, I’m not sure I can be bothered to go through it all. Damn the completist in me! Right, let’s go through this quicker than a Cole Palmer hat trick. Two Andalusian Spanish blokes who’d had a Latin lounge act called Los Del Rio since 1962 went to a private party whilst touring Venezuela thirty years later and witnessed a dance by a local flamenco teacher. One of the fellas is inspired to write some lyrics in tribute to the dancer’s moves and calls it “Macarena” after his daughter. Initially released in 1993 to mediocre success, the track turned into a true worldwide sensation three years later thanks to a remix by The Bayside Boys who added a dance beat and English language lyrics. Its popularity in nightclubs led to a dance being associated with the song which would become a global craze. Fourteen weeks at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 followed making it the best selling single of 1996 in America. With Europe falling in line with the track’s dance moves, it clocked up No 1s all over the continent. Dear old Blighty initially resisted the charms of these two codgers and their insanely infectious hit when it spent two weeks at Nos 64 and 77 in June but come July, it leapt straight in at No 11 making it one of the then biggest leaps up the chart in history. It would go on to sell eleven million copies worldwide and is a staple of party playlists to this day. I myself have witnessed teachers and children alike performing its moves at end of year discos when my son was in primary school. And that’s all I’m saying (for now) about “Macarena”. Ay!

Neneh Cherry burst onto the music scene in the late 80s with the box fresh, street wise sound of “Buffalo Stance” and her debut, platinum selling album “Raw Like Sushi”. She was one of the big stories of 1989 though she’d actually been around the industry for years before that performing in the likes of The Slits and post-punk outfit Rip Rig + Panic. Indeed, her stepfather was the American jazz musician Don Cherry. That first blast of success though proved hard to sustain with 1992’s sophomore album “Homebrew” a significant commercial downturn. In the intervening four years though, Cherry had actually come up with two of her biggest hits albeit that neither was completely under her own steam. “7 Seconds” with Senegalese artist Youssou N’Dour was a perhaps unexpectedly huge hit almost everywhere whilst her appearance alongside Cher, Christie Hynde and Eric Clapton on 1995 Comic Relief single “Love Can Build A Bridge” would provide her only career No 1 record.

In 1996 though, she would come up with a last commercial hurrah as a purely solo artist with the album “Man” and hit single “Woman”. Written as a response to James Brown’s 1966 hit “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”, it talked of the hardships faced by women in life and very much espoused and sought to empower the female voice. Culturally, in the same week that the Spice Girls were making their debut on the show, the difference in style between “Woman” and ‘Girl Power’ was marked. Still, two techniques to amplify your point however dissimilar they were from each other is surely better than one. Matching its themes was the sound of “Woman” – brooding yet soulful, did it have a hint of Portishead about it? The single would give Neneh one last Top 10 hit whilst the album would achieve silver status for sales of 60,000 copies. She is still releasing music to this day with her last album, 2022’s “Versions” being reworking of songs from her back catalogue. Her two daughters Tyson and Mabel are both singers, with the latter having had both her albums go Top 3.

P.S. Nice to see Bernard Butler up there on stage with Neneh, He has a credit on the song for a ‘Special Guitar Section’ plus a shout out from Keithski.

Ah yes, Keithski. How to evaluate Allen’s alter ego in this TOTP? Irritating? Vexatious? Infuriating? Probably all of the above. He seemed determined to get one over the TOTP producers by slipping in some innuendo into his segues but some of it was so cryptic (“Banging out the round ones”, “Check the pellets in my pistol”, “Bump and grind to the garden tribe”) he just sounded like he was talking crap at high speed. Allen finally drops the act to announce the winner of the latest meet and greet competition before fake yawning as he introduces this week’s new No 1…

Hard as it is to remember, there was a time before the reemergence of Robbie Williams when all signs pointed to another ex-member of Take That being the one with the stellar solo career. Everybody expected Gary Barlow as the chief songwriter of the group to be the one to carry on seamlessly with chart hit after chart hit and sure enough, here he was first out of the traps with his debut solo single “Forever Love” straight in at No 1. The natural order of things was happening just as expected. To nobody’s surprise, his first post Take That hit was a big, slushy ballad with the piano to the forefront demonstrating our Gary’s musicianship as he sought to do a George Michael and transcend from boy band star to mature recording artist. It would sell over 100,000 copies in its first week of release before eventually going gold. There’s a bit in this performance when the screaming audience are at their loudest where Barlow almost smirks to himself. Maybe it was from embarrassment or maybe it was his inner voice saying “You’ve cracked it Gary lad. This solo star stuff is a piece of piss. All your dreams are coming true”. And it looked like they were. Uptempo follow up single “Love Won’t Wait” also topped the chart whilst his debut solo album “Open Road” did the same achieving platinum status sales. Meanwhile, as we shall see in next week’s show, Robbie decided to launch himself with a copycat, pointless version of George Michael’s “Freedom”. Nah, Gary was clearly the true talent. Fast forward two years and the roles were well and truly reversed. Barlow couldn’t buy a hit whilst Williams was unavoidably everywhere, racking up the hits as fast as Keithski could speak. Pop had raised see its fickle finger once more…

After a weak pun from Keithski where he refers to Gary Barlow as Ken Barlow, we’re into the play out song which is “Krupa” by Apollo Four Forty. As you might have guessed, I didn’t take much notice of this electronic dance group from Liverpool who’d made their name as remixers initially before raiding the charts in their own right. After three small Top 40 hits, “Krupa” became their biggest ever (at the time) when it peaked at No 23. Essentially an instrumental track, it was inspired by the jazz drummer Gene Krupa. So here’s the question that needs answering – did I know who Gene Krupa was back then? You know, I think I did. I have a vague recollection of having watched a documentary about the most influential drummers in music history and Krupa was featured. I could be bullshitting myself of course as we all know that the memory shifts and re-edits things to make false recollections but I’m sticking by my stick man story. Apollo Four Forty would go onto rack up a further six UK Top 40 hits including their biggest “Lost In Space” from the soundtrack to the 1998 film of the same name which was a remake of the 60s TV series.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1UmbozaSunshineAs if
2TerrorvisonBad ActressNo
3Theme From Mission Impossible Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen JnrNope
4Don’t Stop Movin’ Livin’ JoyNah
5Rock TherapyReaching OutNever
6Spice GirlsWannabeI did not
7Los Del RioMacarenaOf course not
8Neneh CherryWomanNo but my wife and the album
9Gary BarlowForever LoveNegative
10Apollo Four FortyKrupaNot my bag

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/m00239nb/top-of-the-pops-19071996?seriesId=unsliced