George Michael | TOTP Rewind – the 90s

TOTP 13 DEC 1990

Posted on May 14, 2021 by 80stastic

And we’re back! After a two week hiatus due to BBC4’s coverage of the snooker, TOTP Rewind is back in the groove as we hoover up the last couple of shows from the year 1990. This episode picks up the story of the year with just 12 days to go until Xmas and I am working my very first Our Price yuletide retail season. Despite being frenziedly busy, I’m enjoying it.

I was working in the Market Street store in Manchester which was a three floor unit (two of them trading) so the number of staff employed there was pretty sizeable – although this was certainly not the case in future years – meaning there was always somebody to chat to. This was especially true if you got yourself to work early. An early arrival you see meant that you could grab yourself a place at the processing table upstairs, set yourself up with a brew and a fag (yes in 1990 you could still smoke in work premises kids!) if so inclined, a stash of stock for processing and settle in for a comfortable day off the counter chatting to your processing neighbour. Hell, if you were really organised, you could commandeer the staff cassette player and relax with some tunes of your choice as well. The store seemed to run itself to a point (or that’s how it seemed to me). There was very little delegation of tasks. If you were a temp (like me) then you were counter fodder whilst the permanent members of staff would only come down if buzzed due to a customer queue build up. Ah yes, the buzzer system. I’m pretty sure it went like this:

1 buzz = it’s busy, help serving required

2 buzzes = management required (refund, swap etc)

3 buzzes = a very attractive woman has entered the shop. Cue a stampede of male staff members rushing down the stairs for a look.

It sounds horrendous to me now but that sort of thing seemed to be much more prevalent and tolerated back in the un PC early 90s. I can honestly say that I never used the three buzzes signal!

Right that’s enough record shop reminiscences for now, back to TOTP and if it’s Xmas it must be Shakin’ Stevens right? Sadly, this was the case as despite it being five years since his Xmas No 1 record “Merry Christmas Everyone”, Shaky still thought it was worth a go bunging a festive ditty out there again. Somebody would buy it wouldn’t they? Apparently so as here is the Welsh Elvis with “The Best Christmas Of Them All”.

This really was bottom of the barrel stuff. Shaky’s chart career had been in decline for a while by this point. This was only his second hit of the calendar year and also only the second time he had made the Top 20 in three years. There would be only a further three Top 40 singles after this one – yet another Xmas effort in 1991, a collaboration with Queen’s Roger Taylor in 1992 and a cover of Pink’s “Trouble” in 2005 which I think was linked to him winning ITV’s entertainment show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time.

“The Best Christmas Of Them All” was utter crud with Shaky phoning it in over a formulaic 50s honky tonk rhythm and some banal festive lyrics about Santa Claus, Rudolph, presents and peace in the world. Just horrible. He’s backed in this performance by some bizarre looking characters. There’s two fellas dressed as waiters one whom looks like Jason Donovan (if you squint) and the other who seems to have modelled his hairstyle on Francis Rossi of Status Quo. The rest look like they should be down the Queen Vic pub for a right old cockney Xmas knees up except for the drummer – isn’t that Boabby the landlord of The Clansman from Still Game?

“The Best Christmas Of Them All” peaked at No 19.

The most predictable re-release of the year up next as following the phenomenal success of The Righteous Brothers‘ “Unchained Melody” due to its use in Ghost, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” was hastily put out into the market place as a follow up. One of the most recognisable songs of all time (in 1999 it was ranked by performing rights organisation the BMI as the most-played song of the 20th century), this was always going to be a surefire hit all over again and it duly sped up the charts all the way to No 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DHI-g4Fq4w

I had no idea until now that this track was at the centre of one of the most bizarre chart battles ever back in 1965 when it was first a hit for The Righteous Brothers. Apparently Cilla Black had recorded her take on the song as well and both versions were released in the same week. Cilla hit the front early and maintained a lead over Bobby and Bill until peaking at No 2. with The Righteous Brothers right behind her at No 3. In the heat of the battle for No 1, the US boys were flown into the UK to spend a week promoting their version and it tipped the balance in their favour as they won the battle for top spot with Cilla falling away to No 5. Forget your Oasis V Blur, this was the mother of all chart battles.

As with “Unchained Melody”, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” was also heavily featured in a hit film (albeit a few years previously)…

It’s been covered by just about everybody – aside from Cilla, it’s also been recorded by Dionne Warwick, Elvis and Hall & Oates to name a few. Oh and this lot…

Yazoo? In 1990? What was this all about? I really don’t know and despite searching the internet I can’t find a reason why “Situation” was released in 1990. There was no Best Of compilation to promote (the first Yazoo Greatest Hits album didn’t arrive until 1999) and it wasn’t featured in a film Righteous Brothers style. Originally hurriedly recorded as the B-side to their debut hit “Only You” (the only other song they had was “Don’t Go” which was deemed to good to throw away as a B-side) it was actually released as the duo’s first single in the US and although only a minor hit, on the Billboard Hot 100, it topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart there. This 1990 incarnation was named the Deadline Mix and was produced by French DJ, producer, remixer and label owner Francois Kevorkian and it was he that also produced that original 1982 12″ mix for the US market back in the day.

My abiding memory of the 1990 version is watching a work colleague called Scott getting ribbed mercilessly by the rest of the staff for dancing to it while listening on headphones on the shop stereo after the store had shut for the day. He was really going for it (in silence to the rest of us) before he eventually realised that he had attracted a crowd. Scott’s reaction? “Fuck you, it’s a great track”. Well said Scott.

“Situation ’90” peaked at No 14.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvsOYx8_NyU

Right, who’s this then? Malandra Burrows? Oh yeah, I remember this. In an attempt to prove that it wasn’t just Aussie soap stars that could have chart hits in our country, a star of one of our own soaps was pushed into the world of pop. Malandra played a character called Kathy Glover in Emmerdale (or Emmerdale Farm as it was when she first appeared in it) and by 1990 had been on our screens for about 5 years (her character was called Kathy Merrick by this point). With that established profile, perhaps she was seen as a safe bet for popularity and appeal with UK pop fans?

“Just This Side Of Love” was the song with which she debuted as a pop star and incidentally is also very nearly the same title as the aforementioned Yazoo’s third single release. Apparently the song was actually featured in an Emmerdale plot line as it was sung by Malandra’s character at a village concert. In that respect, it was more Letitia Dean and Paul Medford than Kylie and Jason. Malandra gives a confident performance here and she would go onto release three more singles before the decade was out but none of them made the Top 40.

My abiding memory of this song was that when copies of the 7″ single arrived in store and we opened up the box, they were all damaged in a rather peculiar way as the silver bit in the middle with all the song credits on seemed to have spilt over onto the actual grooves of the record. It was like a thermometer had exploded and there was mercury everywhere.

Oh and that was a terrible pun Simon Mayo on Emmerdale Farm and The Farm. Idiot.

Blimey, these next four songs were leaving it late for a title at the Xmas No1 spot. Breakers they may have been but time was against them if they wanted to get anywhere near the summit of the charts. We start with INXS and “Disappear”. The second single from the band’s “X” album, I always preferred it to the more organic (yes I do sound like a knacker!), frantic “Suicide Blonde”. It was a more polished production and the track had room to breathe – a good , sold, proper record. The difference between the two reminded me of my feelings towards the U2 singles “Desire” and “All I Want” from “Rattle And Hum”. I guess it was the pop kid in me coming out again.

In the US, “Disappear” was a much bigger hit where it went Top 10 but it was left stranded at No 21 over here. I think it just got lost in the Xmas rush. The fact that it was released a whole three months on from “Suicide Blonde” (and indeed the album) seems like an error of judgement by the record company in hindsight.

The mostly black and white video showcases Michael Hutchence at his lithe, rock god peak. There would be terrible tragedy to come but for the moment, INXS were maintaining their status as one of the world’s top rock acts just nicely than you very much and it would lead to perhaps the band’s ultimate high of performing at Wembley Stadium in July of the following year to a sold-out audience of 74,000 fans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKAa20ukR-s

Oh God! Remember this? The Gregorian chant phenomenon? This was truly strange wasn’t it? The Enigma project was the brainchild of producer Michael Cretu who wanted to create a new form of music that didn’t follow the traditional blueprints and that had an added element of mysticism. He found the ingredient he was after in Gregorian chant which he combined with an almost hypnotic, downbeat rhythm and some whispered vocal parts in both French and Latin on the hit “Sadness (Part I)”. Who would have though that those disparate parts would make a huge No 1 record? In the wake of Enigma’s success, a plethora of Gregorian chant albums were suddenly released and became massive sellers. The one I remember the most was called “Canto Gregoriano” by Coro De Monjes Del Monasterio Benedictino de Santo Domingo de Silos. It was a double album but the cassette version came in individual cases which was a bugger to display on the shelves. Cue the sellotape!

Having been a No1 hit all over Europe, it was inevitable that “Sadness (Part I)” would make its way to these shores and indeed it did but with one small difference – for the UK release the title was changed from its original spelling of ‘Sadeness’ to ‘Sadness (Part I)’ dropping an ‘e’ like a late 80s raver. I recall this being pointed out to me by an Our Price colleague called Sarah though I had no idea that it was all to do with the sexual desires of Marquis de Sade! This makes more sense when you realise that the French bits roughly translate to ‘Sade tell me’ (‘Sade dis moi’) and ‘Sade give it to me’ (‘Sade donne moi’). It’s kind of like a Gregorian chant version of “Je t’aime… moi non plus” by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Pure filth in other words!

The parent album “MCMXC a.D.” was also a No 1 and a 3 x platinum seller in the UK seller despite neither of the subsequent singles issued from it making the Top 40. Enigma returned in early 1994 with a Top 3 hit in “Return to Innocence” which had a more world music flavour to it and another No 1 album in “The Cross Of Changes” before a dose of diminishing returns set in. Oh and by the way, any idea how long it took before “Sadeness (Part 2)” was released? 26 years! Yes, it wasn’t until their 2016 album “The Fall Of A Rebel Angel” was released that part II came into existence as its lead single. Truly an enigma.

Despite its near iconic status these days, George Michael‘s “Freedom ’90” only achieved a chart high of No 28 in the UK (No 8 in the US). Was it third single from the album syndrome? The Xmas rush? We’ll never know for sure but it does seem a very meagre peak for a song that has had so much written about it over the years. My contribution to the word count (for what its worth) is that clearly George was in turmoil at this point. Legally trying to disentangle himself from record company Sony and artistically trying to free himself of the “Faith” era image, “Freedom ’90” was a statement in more ways than one. Intensely autobiographical charting his career from Wham!…

Heaven knows we sure had some fun, boy
What a kick just a buddy and me (what a kick just a buddy and me)
We had every big-shot good time band on the run, boy
We were living in a fantasy (we were living in a fantasy)

via “Faith”…

I went back home, got a brand new face
For the boys on MTV

and onto a declaration of intent to move away from all that into his next phase as an artist…

But today the way I play the game is not the same, no way
Think I’m gonna get myself happy

The lyrics were backed up by the hard hitting video. After not doing one at all for “Praying For Time” and with something cobbled together off a South Bank Show documentary for second single “Waiting For That Day”, a video was produced for “Freedom ’90” but George refused to appear in it. Instead a quintet of super models (Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford) were the stars of the show lip synching the lyrics while the storyline literally dismantled George’s “Faith” persona image by image.The iconic jukebox was usurped by a CD player before being blown up whilst the leather jacket was set on fire. Powerful stuff. Michael would use the promo video format to make an even more explosive point when his “Outside” video depicted him dressed as a police officer kissing another male officer in retaliation to his arrest by an undercover police officer for ‘engaging in a lewd act’ in a public toilet in Beverly Hills.

The comments about the “Freedom ’90” video on the songfacts.com website include one which states

‘I have heard that Michael added “90” to the title so that it would not be confused with the song by Wham! with the same title. Yeah, like that would ever happen!’

Well, I can confirm that this did actually happen. How do I know? Because it was me that made that error. Sitting in the staff room at the Our Price store I was working in I was checking out the official chart rundown in Music Week (the go to trade paper for the UK record industry). Seeing the title “Freedom” against the name George Michael, I had a senior moment (despite being aged just 22 at the time) and exclaimed to my assembled work colleagues ‘Why is “Freedom” by Wham! back in the charts?’. After much guffawing and comments from the assembled throng such as ‘Oh shit, have Wham! broken up?’, I finally realised my mistake. What a schmuck.

The song was covered in 1996 by Robbie Williams to celebrate his emancipation from boy band Take That. I remember looking at the single’s track listing and thinking ‘So there of the four tracks on here, one is a remix, one is an instrumental and one is an interview?! Where are your songs Robbie?’. He would confound me a year later with his mega successful “Life Thru A Lens” album with its five hit singles. Who knew? Well, Guy Chambers probably.

I have no recollection whatsoever of The Carpenters being in the charts again in 1990. I an only assume that the re-release of “(They Long to Be) Close to You” was part of the promotion campaign for greatest hits compilation “Only Yesterday” which was released in 1990. Or was it a cynical Xmas cash in by label A& M as it seems to have been a double A-side with “Merry Christmas, Darling”. Whatever the reason, it was statistically their first UK Top 4 hit since 1978’s “Sweet, Sweet Smile”.

You have to love The Carpenters don’t you? C’mon. This track has been covered by many an artist including Stevie Wonder, Dian Ross and Gwen Guthrie but I also want to give a shout out to Rick Moranis who gamefully took the song on in the film Parenthood…

The 1990 release of “(They Long to Be) Close to You” peaked at No 25.

Now then, here comes Seal throwing off his Adamski / “Killer” cocoon to emerge beating his wings as a fully fledged pop star in his own right. “Crazy” sounded like a hit instantly, from the very first time I heard it. Boasting a tight yet atmospheric production courtesy of Trevor Horn, it was packed full of hooks, a propulsive beat and Seal’s soulful vocals tying it all together. It seemed like a great deal of thought had gone into its composition but not in a cynical, let’s just pour all the currently popular ingredients into the pot and see what concoction brews way; it was more organic (there’s that word again!) than that.

It was also the first single from his debut album that appeared 6 months later and which would become a No 1, double platinum seller. Indeed, I bought it myself and I even caught him in concert where he was as confident as he was in this performance. He’s definitely giving off a vibe that says ‘look, being a pop star is the only thing I could possibly do – I have no choice’. Adamski who?

“Crazy” peaked at No 2 , the highest charting single of his career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSM3psgx6sQ

Oh come on! This is really taking the piss! After Technotronic had released a megamix of their previous hits called…erm…”Megamix” just a few weeks earlier, now Italian house outfit Black Box were jumping on the bandwagon! Ah, but they weren’t totally stealing the idea. Yes, it was a mash up of their previous chart hits just like Technotronic but there’s was called “The Total Mix” – different eh? See? Bloody snake oil salesmen the lot of them. Oh and you can add Snap! to the list of shysters who released “Mega Mix” the following year.

“The Total Mix” peaked at No 12.

Right, home stretch now as after ten hits that were new to the show, we end with three that we had seen before. We start with Chris Isaak who is up to No 10 this week with “Wicked Game” (it will rise no further however). I have to say that I’ve always admired Chris’s hair – always immaculate. Only potentially bettered by Mark Ronson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K38ZwN_8crg

What? The music? Oh, well, yes…I liked “Wicked Game” and I think my wife bought the album. So atmospheric was its sound that it was always destined to be used as the soundtrack to a car commercial and director Jeffrey Darling duly delivered in 2001 with this advert for the Jaguar X-Type.

It’s still Vanilla Ice at No 1 with “Ice Ice Baby” and it’s become one of those songs that’s taken on a life of its own way beyond the parameters of its original release. Not convinced? OK, here it is being ‘officially paroled’ on US TV show Glee in 2010…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33vZFEpy4AU

and here’s the song coming full circle with Jedward and Vanilla Ice! Yikes!

Back to 1990 though and could Mr Ice keep all opposition at arm’s length in the battle for the Xmas No 1?*

*SPOILER ALERT!

No he couldn’t – Cliff toppled him at the death obviously

The play out video is Dimples D with “Sucker DJ”. Who was Dimples D? Well, she was only the first female hip hop artist to achieve a No 1 record in Australia. That’s who. As for the phrase ‘Sucker DJ’, well it was used by Cameo in their “Word Up” single. Witness:

Now all you sucker DJ’s
Who think you’re fly
There’s got to be a reason
And we know the reason why

but were Run DMC the true originators with their “Sucker M.C.’s” track back in 1983?

You try to bite lines but rhymes are mine
You’s a sucker M.C. in a pair of Calvin Klein
Comin from the wackiest, part of town
Tryin’ to rap up but you can’t get down

Or was it in fact Dimples D all along…

"Sucker DJ" was first recorded in 1983, when Dimples D was still in school. Here's the original version: https://t.co/G87HCd7Ghs #TOTP

— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) May 7, 2021

“Sucker DJ” (the 1990 version) peaked at No 17.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl8GEsW0V1k

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Shakin’ Stevens	The Best Christmas Of Them All	The word ‘Best’ and Shaky don’t really belong together do they? Of course not!
2	The Righteous Brothers	You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’	Nope
3	Yazoo	Situation ‘90	I did not
4	Malandra Burrows	Just This Side Of Love	The wrong side though Malandra – no
5	INXS	Disappear	Not the single but I have it on something somewhere I think
6	Enigma	Sadness (Part 1)	No
7	George Michael	Freedom ‘90	No but I have the Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 album
8	The Carpenters	They Long To Be (Close To You)	No but we all have a Carpenters Greatest Hits CD don’t we?
9	Seal	Crazy	No but I bought the album
10	Black Box	The Total Mix	Total shit more like – no
11	Chris Isaak	Wicked Game	I think my wife had the tape of the “Wicked Game” compilation album once upon a time but no idea where it would be now
12	Vanilla Ice	Ice Ice baby	No No baby
13	Dimples D	Sucker DJ	Nah

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/m000v4b6/top-of-the-pops-13121990

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?

TOTP 01 NOV 1990

Posted on April 1, 2021 by 80stastic

It’s November 1990 and having got married just 12 days earlier, another huge moment in my life has occurred – we’ve moved to Manchester! Yes, despite knowing only two other residents of Manc land between us, my wife and I have chosen to move to that great city to begin our married life together. We arrived back from our honeymoon exactly one week after the wedding day and moved that very day to Manchester. I hadn’t even seen the rented flat we were going to be living in as my wife had sorted that out. That small studio flat would be our home for the next four years and we loved it. The big events kept coming as after the wedding, the honeymoon, moving city, moving into a flat, I then started work on the Monday at Our Price. After two days training in the offices above the Piccadilly store, I was despatched to the Market Street shop down the road. By the time this TOTP was broadcast, I would have completed two whole days there (If my dates are correct). Given that this was such a momentous time for me, I must surely remember all the songs that were on the show?

Tonight’s host is Simon Mayo who I don’t recall being so smug but that’s the exact word I would use to describe his performance here. Certainly not smug though is the opening act – if anything I would think she was the exact opposite – unsure and apprehensive. Kim Appleby was of course one half of Mel & Kim who had torn up the charts in the late 80s with their SAW dance tunes and ‘up yours’ attitude. Tragically, Mel had died of cancer-related pneumonia at the start of 1990 but Kim resolved to carry on and record some of the songs that they had been working on during her sister’s illness. “Don’t Worry” was the first of those to see the light of day but Kim’s hesitancy about going it alone was revealed in a Smash Hits interview:

“I don’t know how people are going to react to my record but all I can say is I’m doing my best.”

She needn’t have… erm…worried because “Don’t Worry” was a fantastic pop song. Was it a million miles away from her Mel & Kim era? No, of course not (even though it was not produced by SAW) but it had an added sense of maturity to it from that unexpected, gentle fade in to the uplifting lyrics promoting positivity – there was no showing out or getting fresh going on here.

If Kim was nervous about her return to the world of pop music, she disguised those anxieties with an energetic performance here although quite what she thought being dressed like Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen would add to the overall effect, I’m not sure.

“Don’t Worry” surely exceeded Kim and her record label’s expectations after being away for so long by peaking at No 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLBC43xoNE0

Robert Palmer already had a reputation for being a musical chameleon with his back catalogue combining elements of soul, jazz, rock, pop, reggae and blues. Quite what he hoped to get credibility wise out of a collaboration with UB40 then I’m not sure. Not only that but it wasn’t even an original song that they might have cooked up between them but a cover version. “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” was a Bob Dylan song from his “John Wesley Harding” album and given how many artists have interpreted Dylan songs down the years*, was Palmer just jumping on a well ridden bandwagon? To be fair, the version he and the Brummie reggae boys came up with didn’t sound much like Dylan with its calypso lilt and jaunty rhythms. It still doesn’t explain the reason why the two acts chose to record it though. It wasn’t as if either had been languishing in the chart doldrums for a sustained period. Indeed, both had clocked up Top 10 singles within recent memory. Maybe they just knew each other and got along?

Palmer’s album “Don’t Explain” (from which “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” was the lead single) would go onto be certified Gold although the only other chart hit from it was another cover version – “Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me” whilst “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” would peak at No 6.

*The history of recorded music is littered is with Dylan covers by a multitude of artists but if you want a really out there one, how about “Subterranean Homesick Blues” by Lofty from Eastenders?

After coming over all smug and superior with his ‘look at how much I know about pop music’ tone when advising us all that “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” was actually a Bob Dylan song, Simon Mayo is at it again when introducing Black Box.

“Well, cover versions are all the thing. We’ve already had one, that was the UB40 song. Here’s another one…” he starts off. He’s like the most patronising Jackanory presenter ever. ‘Let me tell you a story about cover versions…’ he might as well have said. Git. Technically he is right of course in that “Fantasy” is the song by Earth, Wind And Fire but his tone is so condescending.

This was Black Box’s fourth consecutive UK chart hit but it would prove to be the last time that they would visit the Top 10 when it peaked at No 5. I’m not sure that their version actually adds anything at all to the original being a fairly faithful reproduction of it. Also, surely the cat must have been out of the bag by this time that the woman up there front of stage (Katrin Quinol) wasn’t the actual vocalist on any of these hits. The singer on this one was Martha Wash who did most of the vocals on their “Dreamland” album. Apparently the guys behind Black Box didn’t care a jot though and were boldly brazening it out like Boris Johnson shamelessly disregarding yet another cronyism scandal. In ‘Borisworld’, the PM would no doubt have Jennifer Arcuri up there lip syncing away whilst declaring that all her vocals had been laid down in complete propriety and that the recording sessions were all there on public record for anyone to see.

More ‘look how clever I am’ – ness from Mayo next as he references Robert Palmer / UB40’s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” (yet again) with Whitney Houston‘s “I’m Your Baby Tonight” as the song titles sound very similar. Well done Simon, what an amazing insight you provided. In all honesty though, whilst I’m criticising Mayo, I’ve very little else to say about this one myself other than I have a memory of selling the “I’m Your Baby Tonight” album on tape whilst working at Our Price that Xmas and the shop chart cassette buyer (a guy called Steve who I am still friends with all these years later) sitting near the chart cassette filing one Saturday afternoon trying to order some more as we had almost sold out and asking me to go away and sell something else as he was nearly out of stock. Yeah, right, not sure how that was supposed to work Steve? I don’t think I had an ‘Actually, would you mind awfully buying something else otherwise the buyer’s going to have a breakdown’ in me. Oh, hang on – was it the Jimmy Somerville Best Of album now I come to think of it? Amazing insight from your blogger there I’m sure you’ll agree.

“I’m Your Baby Tonight” (the single) peaked at No 5.

Some Roxette next with a re-release of their “Dressed For Success” single. When I started at Our Price there wasn’t much of a dress code; certainly there wasn’t a staff uniform (although that would come in later years). You could pretty much wear what you wanted within reason. One woman turned up in a catsuit one day and asked me if I thought it was a bit much for work. I didn’t know where to look! I’ve no memory of what I’d chosen to wear for my first day in the shop but I do remember being mercilessly ribbed the day I decided to come in wearing a white shirt and a black waistcoat. Cue lots of comments about Ray Reardon, snooker and…erm…cues.

Back to Roxette and Mayo is still shoehorning in references to Bob Dylan b-sides (even though there is no relevance here whatsoever). Some eagle eyed viewer reckoned that this performance must have been recorded for the initial release of the single back in ’89 (you could tell by the BBC logos or something) and that does make sense as the cut to the duo clearly indicates that they were not there for the actual recording of the show. This of course raises the question of why a performance would have been recorded for a song that didn’t get in the chart on first release? I thought the show was meant to have a strict Top 40 only policy? What? They had ‘the look’ and were ‘dressed for success’ and that got them the gig? Sorry – that was lame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKY6ec7HSdg

Another song we’ve seen before recently now as Rita MacNeil sings us a tale of a “Working Man”. Although the song’s sentiments were very worthy, there was very little here to hold my attention. It was all a bit Lena Martell (who had been a favourite of my parents during my childhood) meets “Every Loser Wins” by Nick Berry. Rita never had another UK chart hit and sadly died in 2013.

When I think of The Cure‘s remix compilation album “Mixed Up”, the track that comes to mind is “Never Enough” which was the single chosen to promote it. I had totally forgotten that a second single was released from it. “Close to Me – Remix” was that single and of course was a remix of their 1985 track from their “The Head On The Door” album. I really cannot see the point of this 1990 version though. It sounds exactly like the original but just slowed down a bit doesn’t it? Or am I missing something? The gentle intrigue of the 1985 original gets lost in the mix for me.

It took me a little while to realise that the video for the remix single was a continuation of the original promo which I thought was very clever, playing on the theme of claustrophobia with the band performing under duress within the confines of a wardrobe. Unfortunately, the second video doesn’t really work as well. Carrying on where the first video ended with the wardrobe (and its content of band members) falling off the edge of a cliff into the sea Young Ones style. The story board of the second video had the band escaping from their potential watery grave only to be attacked by an octopus and a starfish. The 1985 video was genuinely ingenious – there didn’t seem to be much thought gone into its 1990 counterpart although I’m guessing they were both directed by the band’s long time collaborator Tim Pope. The sea creature costumes make it all look a bit Mighty Boosh but without the laughs. Actually, maybe the video was was a source of inspiration for Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. I can imagine Fielding in particular being a big Robert Smith fan.

“Close to Me – Remix” peaked at No 13 (as did “Never Enough”) which was 11 places higher than the much better original. We would not see The Cure in the charts for another 18 months when they would return with their “Wish” album.

OK, for me, this next song is peak Kylie Minogue. I might be looking back through nostalgia-tinted glasses of a much happier and simpler time but “Step Back In Time” was a great pop-dance track and yes, I realise that means I am commending a SAW produced track! Essentially one of those tribute songs like “Nightshift” by The Commodores and… erm…”Tribute (Right On)” by The Pasadenas with its 70s disco referencing lyrics, it’s got a great hooky chorus whilst the bridges that lead into them (‘Remember the O’Jays…’) are brilliant. One of my Xmas co-workers at Our Price in 1990 was a girl called Lucy who loved this track and she was bang on the money. Also, the dance routines on show in this performance really are impressive. Say what you like about Kylie but she really was very good at jumping in time.

“Step Back In Time” was the second single from Kylie’s “Rhythm Of Love” album and peaked at No 4.

Well that didn’t take very long did it? “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers is No 1 after just two weeks! Know-it-all Mayo feels the need to once more furnish us with his pop music knowledge by giving us the details of other artists who have recorded the track by name checking Jimmy Young, Harry Secombe and Des O’Connor (all the greats then). Look Mayo, if you wanted to dazzle us with charts statistics then here’s how you do it courtesy of @TOTPFacts:

"Unchained Melody" was first a UK hit for Les Baxter in 1955, peaking at 10. The top 20 for 17-23 June 1955 included four different recordings of the song: Al Hibbler's version at 2, Jimmy Young at 3, Les Baxter at 17 and Liberace at 20 – a record! #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) March 26, 2021

Last week I mentioned that the video for this had confused me when I first saw it as there was only one person (Bobby Hatfield) singing and I wondered where the other Righteous Brother Bill Medley was. Well, Simon Mayo, the guru of pop trivia , had the answer for me in his closing link. At the song’s end, he says “the other one was in the loo or something, I don’t know”. Simon Mayo there doing his best Mike Read impression.

The play out video is George Michael with “Waiting For That Day”. Another video mystery with this one as last week I posited the notion that I didn’t think George had done a promo for this (much as he had refused to film one for previous single “Praying For Time” due to his dispute with Sony). All that I could find was a clip from The South Bank Show which showed George discussing the song’s origins in the studio. However, TOTP seemed to have secured a video which was solely a performance of the track in the said same studio. I’ve worked out what the deal was here though. If you go to the final minute of that South Bank Show clip, there is that very performance. Bit of clever editing going on there then I think by the TOTP producers.

“Waiting For That Day” peaked at No 23.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yvHXM9Ur5E

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Kim Appleby	Don’t Worry	Don’t think I did – great pop song though
2	Robert Palmer / UB40	I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight	No but it might be on my Robert Palmer Best Of CD
3	Black Box	Fantasy	Nope
4	Whitney Houston	I’m Your Baby Tonight	Negative
5	Roxette	Dressed For Success	Nah
6	Rita MacNeil	Working Man	No
7	The Cure	Close To Me – Remix	Another no
8	Kylie Minogue	Step Back In Time	No but I think my wife has her Greatest Hits with it on
9	The Righteous Brothers	Unchained Melody	It’s a no
10	George Michael	Waiting For That Day	No but my wife had the album

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000th90/top-of-the-pops-01111990

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?

Page 1 - Smash Hits - Issue 311 - 31st October - 13th November 1990

TOTP 25 OCT 1990

Posted on March 26, 2021 by 80stastic

It’s late October 1990 and I’m on my honeymoon in Germany. Yes, having tied the knot with my girlfriend five days prior to this TOTP broadcast, we were abroad (for the first time for me) thanks to one of our old friends from Polytechnic who had sorted out a cheap holiday for us as they were working as a temp in a travel agents at the time. Unfortunately for me, my feet were in spasms of agony after I had made a very poor choice when purchasing a pair of shoes for the big day on the morning of the wedding. Why I did this so late I can’t recall but I had no time to wear them in and the shape of them clearly didn’t agree with my feet. My despair was compounded when I realised that I hadn’t packed any other sort of footwear for the honeymoon and so had to spend the whole week wearing them in pain.

As a result of being out of the country, I am absolutely sure that I would not have watched this particular TOTP – if memory serves, I was bathing my poor plates of meat whilst watching some German football in our accommodation. I wonder if there was anything soothing on the show that night or was it a distinctly more painful experience….

We start with the song that closed the last show but this time the artist is in the studio. Not only that but, according to host Jakki Brambles, she had broken off rehearsals with the reformed Go-Go’s to be there. It can only be Belinda Carlisle with “(We Want) The Same Thing”. That Go-Go’s rehearsal was for a tour to promote their first Best Of album although according to Wikipedia, it peaked at No 127 in the US so I’m not sure that the tour was really that successful in achieving its aim.

“(We Want) The Same Thing” on the other hand was doing a great job of re-energising Belinda’s “Runaway Horses” album, surprisingly going Top 10 despite being the fifth single to be released from the album. When I joined Our Price the following week, there was a tip from the buying department in the weekly memos advising stores to stock up on the album noting that it was a record that, despite being over a year old, just wouldn’t stay dead.

Belinda’s beehived backing singers appear to include Sharon Watts from Eastenders in their number whilst her own outfit seems to have been inspired by a French maid character that you might see on those ‘saucy’ postcards back in the 70s. Thankfully it isn’t the same thing though despite what young teenage lads watching on TV may have wanted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5sBYjXb_sA

Another golden oldie back in the charts?! Oh and guess what? It was from yet another film. This time it was the supernatural romantic thriller Ghost starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg that was to blame. The Righteous Brothers had already featured in a very successful film back in 1986 when they were included on the Top Gun soundtrack with “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” (there really was an all roads lead to Tom Cruise thing going on wasn’t there?) but now their version of “Unchained Melody” was at the centrepiece of Ghost’s most iconic moment – the pottery wheel scene. Cited as ‘one of the most iconic moments of ’90s cinema’, all that mucky clay business created a clamour for the song that could only be sated by a re-release that would become not only a No 1 record (it originally peaked at No 14 in 1965) but also *spoiler alert* the UK’s top selling single of 1990. The single’s success would be reason enough for a follow up and so, inevitably, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” was re-issued and made No 3 as did a hastily arranged Righteous Brothers Best Of compilation.

The Righteous Brothers were, in their original format, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. Medley, of course, already had his own personal bit of soundtrack history when he duetted with Jennifer Warnes on “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing. Given this info, I was immediately confused when I saw the video being used to promote “Unchained Melody” as there was only one Righteous Brother on display who was Hatfield, Where the Hell was Bill Medley?! Well, the legend goes something like this. Hatfield and Medley had agreed to do one solo song each per album. Both had wanted to sing “Unchained Melody” for their fourth album but Hatfield won the coin toss.

The song would cause another Top 40 phenomenon five years later when it was performed by actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn in the ITV drama Soldier Soldier. I was working in the Stockport branch of Our Price at the time and the amount of people who had not been near a record shop for years that ventured in to enquire about that record from Soldier Soldier was unreal. When eventually released, like The Righteous Brothers five years before them, it would become the best selling single of the year in the UK. Strange times indeed. And we haven’t even mentioned the Gareth Gates version in 2002 but let’s not get into that eh?

An example of a new track being used to promote a load of old tunes next as we get “Don’t Ask Me” by Public Image Limited. This single was taken from a Best Of album called “The Greatest Hits, So Far” (although PiL never did manage another chart entry after this). It sounded so very pop music-like to me which was a surprise given John Lydon’s previous canon of work. When I was a full on pop kid back in ’83 influenced almost entirely by the Top 40, “This Is Not A Love Song” sounded like it had come from a different universe entirely compared to its chart peers. I didn’t know much of PiL’s back catalogue (although I obviously knew of Lydon’s Sex Pistols’ history) but anybody could hear how completely ‘other’ this song was in the shiny world of ‘new pop’ back then. Fast forward seven years, and although anything with Lydon’s vocals on it could never be described as mainstream, “Don’t Ask Me” was ….well…a good pop song. According to @TOTPFacts though, the band’s bassist Allan Dias who wrote it really wasn’t happy with how it sounded:

"I hate that version that's out, it's so soft. You should have heard my version – it was cutting, it kicked! They softened it up, they made it MTV-friendly." #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) March 19, 2021

“Don’t Ask Me” peaked at No 22 and it took PiL a further two years to release any new recordings which arrived in the form of the album “That What Is Not”. Two years was nothing though as the album after that didn’t appear for TWENTY years as the band was put on hiatus.

I’ve always found Lydon a captivating character and been intrigued by his confrontational interviews. However, his support for Donald Trump in the 2020 US Presidential election was a step too far for me and I found his views totally unpalatable.

Oh come on! This is getting ridiculous now! After Maria McKee spent a month at No 1 with a song from a Tom Cruise movie and after seeing “Unchained Melody” back in the charts earlier from the film Ghost, here were Berlin riding high in the Top 40 once more with that song from yet another movie! And indeed, another Tom Cruise film! What was it with this guys films generating huge hits in the music charts back then? After Top Gun gave us the frankly awful (in my book) “Take My Breath Away”, we then had two singles from the soundtrack to Cruise’s 1988 flick Cocktail in “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” which both became massive successes.

Even his 1992 film Far And Away whose soundtrack was composed by John Williams and was a mixture of traditional Irish instrumentation and conventional orchestra; yes even that managed to give us “Book Of Days” by Enya! The following year his Interview With A Vampire film spawned what was seen as heresy for many a rock fan, the Guns N’ Roses cover of “Sympathy For The Devil” by The Rolling Stones (described by a record shop colleague at the time as ‘comedy record of the week’).

Out of interest, I just googled if there was an album of Tom Cruise film songs and there is! Called “Born On The Fourth Of July – Music From The Films Of Tom Cruise”, it’s yours for £369.32 from Amazon! All of this would eventually and inevitably lead to Cruise having a go at the old singing lark himself when he played rock star Stacee Jaxx in Rock Of Ages. Behold the Cruisemeister!

Finally some new music from a new band (sort of). Having finally hit big commercially with “I’m Free” over the Summer, The Soup Dragons needed a quick, sure -fire follow up to consolidate on that success. So what did they do? Well, they did what everyone does and re-released a previous single that had flopped and bingo! Another bona fide chart hit! The previous single in question was “Mother Universe” which for me was even better than “I’m Free” and I duly bought it. However, that original version that was released back in 1989 (which I hadn’t known) didn’t sound like the re-release….

Compare that rather turgid mix to the revamped, pimped up 1990 incarnation…

It’s as if the magic elixir that they had discovered for “I’m Free” had been liberally poured all over the original “Mother Universe” recording and what grew in its place was the slick, knowing and well-to-do cousin of its poor relative. The gospel choir, the Mikey Dread sample in the intro and all those other little elements that had conspired to make “I’m Free” so irresistible did the trick again. and “Mother Universe” (the re-release) was another chart hit, albeit much smaller than its predecessor peaking at No 26.

Despite that, and as much as I liked “I’m Free”, this will always be the better record for me (see also The Boo Radleys whose “Wake Up Boo!” is by far their biggest and most played hit but I infinitely prefer its follow up “Find The Answer Within”) Is there a name for that syndrome of preferring a more obscure song to the one that was an artist’s biggest hit that everyone else always chooses? Oh yes, I think it’s called being a precious, music snob.

Jason Donovan again?! For all that he was the pop prince of 1989 which was his year in the sun, he seems to have cast quite the shadow over 1990 as well. “I’m Doing Fine” was his fourth single release of the year (all taken from his “Between The Lines” album) and was also the worst performing, peaking at No 22. Now what’s Jakki Brambles saying about him in her intro? Something about him proving all his critics wrong by actually playing live at his…erm…live gigs. She protests too much I do fear. And what was that about The Beatles? This was his tribute to them? What’s that supposed to mean? OK, let’s have a listen then….

…well, as a Beatles influenced record it’s hardly Oasis is it? The opening guitar chords are very vaguely reminiscent of their “Rubber Soul” era but if anything, it sounds more like a track by The Monkees than the MopTops. It’s like a piss weak version of “Tonight” by New Kids On The Block which in itself was a piss weak take on The Beatles / Beach Boys sound. And what the heck was Donovan’s performance here all about? All that Billie from The Double Deckers thumbs up, arm jerking, his ridiculous hair and those frankly bizarre strides. Yet again, I say he protests too much.

Ooh! A single now from a new album that the music business is in raptures over according to Jakki B – what could it be? Oh… it’s “The Rhythm Of The Saints” by Paul Simon. This is probably a completely unfair opinion and I am certainly no expert on the album but wasn’t this just a retread of his iconic “Graceland’ album only not as good? As I said, probably unfair but the sales figures kind of back me up. Although it sold well (2 x platinum in both the UK and the US – indeed it was a No 1 album over here), those numbers were dwarfed by what “Graceland” achieved. Again, probably an unfair gauge but apart from lead single “The Obvious Child”, none of the other tracks lifted from “The Rhythm Of The Saints” were hits.

Although both were termed ‘world music’ albums, whereas “Graceland” had combined Western pop themes with African rhythms, its follow up relocated geographically to South America and took its inspiration from Brazilian drum beats. “The Obvious Child” was pleasant enough although those drums seemed a bit incongruous but it was nowhere near as memorably quirky as say “You Can Call Me Al”. I’m sure that in the intervening 30 years that some revisionism will have taken place and “The Rhythm Of The Saints” will no doubt be critically adored but it all felt a bit underwhelming to me at the time. “Graceland 2”? Bit obvious wasn’t it Paul?

A couple of Breakers next from two guys who knew each other well and had worked with together previously. George Michael was not happy with his record company Sony Music at this time as he perceived that they were not supporting him as an artist. So toxic had the relationship become that he refused to film a video for his last single “Praying For time” which had been the first track released from his second solo album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1”. As far as I can see, he didn’t film one for follow up single “Waiting For That Day” either. The clip below seems to be taken from the South Bank Show judging by Melvyn Bragg’s voice over. It’s quite an interesting clip though, explaining as it does how George put the track together by employing the ubiquitous James Brown “Funky Drummer” sample in a totally different way alongside some mellow folk style guitar chords. The melody borrows heavily from “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones so George wisely drew attention to this by referencing that song in the lyrics and giving Mick Jagger and Keith Richards a songwriting credit.

After the mega success of “Faith” and its attendant singles, whatever came after from Michael would probably not be seen favourably in comparison but for me, “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” is by far the better album with “Waiting For That Day” one of the stand out tracks. However, much like Paul Simon, the album didn’t sell anywhere near as well as its predecessor and the singles were not huge hits. “Waiting For That Day” peaked at No 23 in the UK and No 27 in the US.

I don’t recall this Elton John single at all. “You Gotta Love Someone”? Nope – I’ve got nothing at all. Was this another track from “Sleeping With The Past”?

*checks Wikipedia*

FFS! It was from the Days Of Thunder soundtrack! Pissing Tom Cruise strikes again!

It’s not much of a song in truth. As with much of his early 90s output, it was a trudging, mid tempo ballad that Elton tried to liven up a bit at the end with the addition of a gospel choir – he should have got onto The Soup Dragons for help in that direction. It peaked at No 33 but was included on “The Very Best Of Elton John” album that was released this month and which would end up being the first thing I ever sold when I came to work at Our Price a week or so later.

Paul Simon, George Michael, Elton John and now Paul McCartney in the running order for this TOTP! Talk about big names! They weren’t exactly new and exciting though were they? We saw “Birthday” just the other week so I’ve very little left to say about it.

The 90s were not Paul’s most successful years I would argue. He didn’t have a single that even made the Top 15 let alone the Top 5. He did however dabble in a different musical genre when he released “Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio”, his first foray into classical music and a collaboration with conductor and composer Clive Davis to commemorate The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s 150th anniversary. Towards the end of the decade, he released the “Flaming Pie” album which, although not necessarily reversing his commercial fortunes, was critically well received.

“Birthday” peaked at No 29.

We arrive at what remains the only No 1 song ever penned by Paul Heaton*. Given his canon of work, this seems incredible. “A Little Time” was the first single from the second album by The Beautiful South called “Choke” and rather bizarrely was the only single from it to be a Top 40 hit. The album sold well enough – it went platinum and peaked at No 2 – but the two further singles released from it, (the Soul II Soul lampooning “My Book” and “Let Love Speak Up Itself”) peaked at Nos 43 and 51 respectively. The phenomenon of No 1 singles by established artists (so not one hit wonders) being followed by records that didn’t even chart is not a common one I’m guessing. I can think of “E.S.P” by The Bee Gees peaking outside the Top 40 after their chart Topper “You Win Again”. off the top of my head.

I recall that when I started at Our Price, whoever the chart LP buyer was in my store had gone a bit overboard with the orders for “Choke” and there was a massive overstock of it that I don’t think was ever cleared (a lack of further hit singles from it probably didn’t help!).

*”Caravan Of Love” was a No 1 for The Housemartins but was a cover version of an Isley-Jasper-Isley song

The play out video is “Dressed For Success” by Roxette whose re-release schedule was still in full effect at this point. Having hit it big with “It Must Have Been Love” (yet another film soundtrack single), the band’s record company had embarked upon a strategy of re-issuing their previous singles that hadn’t been hits first time around. We’d already had “Listen To Your Heart” go Top 10 and now it was time for “Dressed For Success” to try its luck. Despite its self prophesying title, it didn’t quite do the same job although its peak of No 18 was 30 places higher than its original release.

Not sounding as accomplished as either “It Must Have Been Love” or “Listen To Your Heart”, it was like a clunky version of early Abba material. It did the job of maintaining the duo’s profile though until new album “Joyride” was released in the March of 1991.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncLd3FK21Rc

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Belinda Carlisle	(We Want) The Same Thing	Not sure we did Belinda because I didn’t buy this
2	The Righteous Brothers	Unchained Melody	It’s a no
3	Public Image Limited	Don’t Ask Me	Nope
4	Berlin	Take My Breath Away	No – not in 1990 nor 1986
5	The Soup Dragons	Mother Universe	Yes! Present and correct in the singles box!
6	Jason Donovan	I’m Doing Fine	No of course not
7	Paul Simon	Obvious Child	No but it was on that first Q Magazine album that I bought.
8	George Michael	Waiting For That Day	No but my wife had the album
9	Elton John	You Gotta Love Someone	No
10	Paul McCartney	Birthday	Negative
11	The Beautiful South	A Little Time	Not the single but I have it on their Best Of album
12	Roxette	Dressed For Success	Nah

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000t888/top-of-the-pops-25101990

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?