Looking at the running order for this TOTP, I’m struck by the quality of it which is the best it’s been for quite some time. What am I talking about and have I gone mad? Well, there’s the return of the Eurythmics after a decade away for a start plus a cover version that was as unlikely as it was interesting. Added to that the first appearance of a soul singer with a very distinctive voice and the Pet Shop Boys who were usually good value. Usually. However, what is most noticeable is the lack of nasty, 90s dance tunes on the show with only one falling into that category. Granted it is the No 1 record but in these 1999 repeats, I’ll celebrate any small wins I can. Our host is Jamie Theakston and our TOTP On Tour location this week is the Dome II nightclub in Birmingham which is now the O2 Academy.

A quick bit of admin before we start. In previous posts, I’ve been disparaging about the quality of some of the acts that have been in these tour venues which usually numbered around four with the other slots filled by either a promo video or pre-recorded appearances either filmed at the pre-renovation work Elstree studios or some other location. However, all but the No 1 act seem to be in the Dome II nightclub in person this time which include some pretty big names. Lucky Brummies.

We start with the song holding at No 2 this week – “S Club Party” by S Club 7. Now although the group had a squeaky clean image – they had their own kids TV show after all – I did notice a suspect lyric in their hit which is:

“Hoochie mamas, show your nanas”

Songwriters: Hallgeir Rustan / Tor Hermansen / Mikkel Eriksen / Hugh Atkins

Erm…whatever could they mean? Well, AI explains the line like this:

Hoochie mamas: A slang term that originated in hip-hop culture, usually referring to women who dress in a flashy, provocative, or overtly sexy manner.

Show your nanas: “Nanas” is British and Australian slang for grandmothers.

Because it is British pop slang, the phrase isn’t meant to be taken literally. S Club 7 was just trying to rhyme and create a high-energy, party atmosphere by telling the party girls in the crowd to get loud alongside the older, grandmotherly figures. It basically translates to: “Women who want to party, get loud and bring your grandmas, too!

Really?! “Women who want to party, get loud and bring your grandmas, too!” That translation puts me in mind of that scene from Life Of Brian when Brian is caught writing anti-Roman graffiti by a centurion who tells his that Latin grammar is all wrong – “People called Romanes they go the house?”.

The Can’t Stop The Pop website gives a more literal explanation in its article on the song by saying it translates as “Women of low morals, show your vaginas” but explains that can’t have been the intended meaning though the alternative “Women of low morals, show your grandmother” wasn’t much better. Maybe S Club 7 weren’t as innocent as we all thought.

And so to the aforementioned Pet Shop Boys and what would be their final single of the 90s. “New York City Boy” would be their 20th such release of the decade and the second track taken from their “Nightlife” album. The chart fortunes of those 20 singles were a mixed bag. Nine of them went Top 10 (including a No 2) but there were no chart toppers. By comparison, the 80s yielded four No 1s. Of those other eleven 90s hits, eight peaked between Nos 12 and 15 which shows a definite consistency but also a lack of those absolutely huge hits. Neil Tennant infamously said that he knew the duo’s “imperial phase” was over when “Domino Dancing” only entered the charts at No 9 in 1988. Those words would also ring prophetically true into the 90s.

As for “New York City Boy” itself, it’s a completely extravagant disco anthem which was inspired by and written as a tribute to the Village People. In that respect, it fulfilled its brief. However. Its lack of huge chart success (it was one of those ‘consistent’ singles peaking at No 14) was possibly due to the fact that Neil and Chris had already been down this route six years prior when they covered the actual Village People with their version of “Go West” which had delivered their biggest hit of the 90s. So why go there again? Apparently, it had been the idea of producer David Morales (who incidentally had produced the first Pet Shop Boys single of the 90s “So Hard”) and Neil and Chris certainly followed through on that theme with this performance. Sailor-outfitted backing singers, a Native American with traditional headdress, a man with butterfly wings and, bizarrely, a…more mature lady shall we say in a checked dress who doesn’t seem to know why she’s there or what she’s doing. Who was she?

Oh, and there’s a continuation of the “hoochie” theme with this lyric:

“The street is amazing, the hoochies unreal”

Writer(s): Neil Tennant, Christopher Lowe, David Morales

Do you think the Pet Shop Boys intended its usage to have quite the same meaning as S Club 7? Somehow I can’t quite see it.

It’s that soul singer with the distinctive voice next as Macy Gray makes her TOTP bow. Appearing from seemingly nowhere, Macy (real name Natalie Renée McIntyre) went to the same elementary school as another singer who would adopt a stage name – one Brian Warner who would become Marilyn Manson though they didn’t know each other. As Jamie Theakston says in his intro, Macy rarely spoke as a child – she didn’t learn to hold a conversation until her 10th birthday – so embarrassed was she by her voice. However, she took up singing whilst at the University of Southern California after agreeing to write songs for a friend and the intended vocalist failed to show. Signed by Atlantic Records whilst singing in jazz cafes, she was later dropped in the middle of recording her debut album but was subsequently picked up by Epic Records who would release her debut album “On How Life Is”. After her first single “Do Something” failed to make the Top 40, her second release “I Try” was a huge sleeper hit becoming the UK’s 20th best selling single of 1999 despite never getting higher than No 6 in the weekly chart. Look at these numbers for proof of its longevity:

10 – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 7 – 7 – 6 – 9 – 11 -11 – 15 – 13 – 16 – 15 – 22 – 27 – 38

That’s four and a half months on the Top 40. On the back of that profile, her album would achieve huge commercial success going four times platinum in the UK and it was a similar story in the US. “I Try” would win a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (quite the irony given her childhood misgivings about her voice) whilst Macy would collect two BRIT Awards for International Breakthrough Act and International Female Solo Artist. And yet, despite releasing ten albums during her career, I would struggle to name any of her songs other than “I Try” – is it the same for you? Admittedly, those ten albums suffered from diminishing returns sales wise (albeit with some good critical reviews) but even so.

A parallel film career whilst also contributing songs for soundtrack albums kept her profile high but in my head, I can only picture Macy in late 1999. I should perhaps have taken more interest as I really liked “I Try”. Her performance of it here with her stooped physical stance puts me in mind of Ian Dury or John Lyon though both their postures were due to medical reasons – Dury contracted polio and Lydon spinal meningitis when they were both aged seven. When I eventually left my job in record shops after nearly 10 years, I chose three songs to play on the shop stereo to go out on. One was “My Way” by Frank Sinatra for obvious reasons but the other two were “MacArthur Park”* the Richard Harris version (I really can’t explain that choice!) and “I Try” which was probably just because of the timing of when I left but it will always remind me of that life event.

*What links Macy Gray to the Pet Shop Boys? “New York City Boy” samples the Donna Summer version of “MacArthur Park” and that’s possibly the most tenuous connection I’ve ever made in this blog.

So who was the first Spice Girl to go solo? The answer isn’t as straightforward as it could be. Strictly speaking, the first to market was Melanie B with “I Want You Back” which was released in September 1998. However, it also featured Missy ‘Misdemeanour’ Elliott so was that strictly a solo release? Next up was Melanie C but hers was a supporting role on the Bryan Adams song “When You’re Gone” so I don’t think that counts. That leaves “Look At Me” by Geri Halliwell as the first truly solo Spice Girl single in May 1999 but…she wasn’t an actual Spice Girl at this point having already left the group so can she be the answer to the question ‘who was the first Spice Girl to go solo?’? That could be semantics at play but if not her then who? In chronological order that would return us to Melanie B when she released her cover of Cameo’s “Word Up”…except that single was officially credited to Melanie G as she’d recently got married to Jimmy Gulzar and taken his surname but Melanie G only existed for that one release and nobody talks about Mel G when the subject of the Spice Girls is discussed so…that brings us back to Melanie C and her single “Goin’ Down”.

The first track taken from her triple platinum album “Northern Star”, this was no “Wannabe”. In fact, it was nothing like any Spice Girls release ever. A defiantly rock track, it was supposedly inspired by Blur’s “Song 2” but it sounds like Mel’s doing her best Skunk Anansie impression to me. I have to say that it’s not great – all style over content – though it secured a fairly respectable chart peak of No 4. Mel’s sound wasn’t the only thing that was new – she also unveiled her latest look. That blond spiky hair had more than a touch of the aforementioned John Lydon about it (Jamie Theakston even refers to her as “Punky Spice”) and was that gold tooth cap always there? More than that though was her attitude. Gone were the backflips and cheesy smiles – this was a growling, confrontational Melanie C. She could even be said to be courting controversy, The lyrics include the words “bitch” and “whore” (though they’re obviously muted in this performance) and then there’s her video for the song which was banned by some outlets for its violent content though the biggest crime is Mel’s Axl Rose spring tartan skirt.

French and Saunders memorably parodied said video…

Joking aside though, Mel C has some amazing stats to her name:

• Her album “Northern Star” is the best selling album of any of the Spice Girls’ solo releases
• She holds the record for the largest attendance of a free concert within a public event
• She has co-written 11 UK number ones, more than any other female artist in chart history
• She remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet

Having said all of the above, I heard her latest single “Sweat” on the radio the other day and it’s proper pony.

When did tribute albums become a thing? I suppose it depends on your definition of what a tribute album is. For example, is “Hollies Sing Dylan” a tribute to Bob Dylan by The Hollies or just The Hollies doing a load of Bob Dylan covers? Does a tribute album have to be composed of multiple different acts covering the work of one artist? That would rule out “The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles Hits” which is probably a just as well.

OK, so if we’re going with that rule, the first one I think I was aware of was 1990’s “Red Hot + Blue” which was a compilation of covers of Cole Porter songs by various artists including Annie Lennox, U2, Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop and, best of all, David Byrne’s version of “Don’t Fence Me In”. In 1994, we had The Carpenters tribute album “If I Were A Carpenter” which had a more indie vibe to it with contributions from Sonic Youth, Shonen Knife, Babes In Toyland and my personal favourite Redd Kross. I think there might have been one for The Smiths as well but in 1999 came the big one – well, a big one if, like me, you’d grown up with The Jam. Now, to be clear, it was my elder brother who was a fully paid up member of The Jam Army but I couldn’t help but be exposed to them by osmosis if nothing else. When Britpop came along, Paul Weller found himself positioned as The Godfather of the movement and name checked constantly as an influence for its main protagonists. Was that part of the reason behind the release of their tribute album named “Fire & Skill: The Songs Of The Jam”?

Whatever its origin story, it featured some very contemporary indie rock artists such as Gene, Heavy Stereo and Silver Sun alongside some bigger names like Noel and Liam Gallagher, Garbage and the Beastie Boys. A double A-side single was released to promote it which was “Going Underground / Carnation” by Buffalo Tom / Liam Gallagher and Steve Cradock. Now, “Going Underground” was an obvious choice being The Jam’s first of four No 1 singles but “Carnation”? That was an album track from the band’s sixth and final LP “The Gift” so nowhere near as well known to the uncommitted. It is a fine song though nevertheless.

This 1999 version of it works well enough but I could have done without the overly keen attempt to instil it with a spaced out, trippy vibe with the reverb effects on Liam’s vocals (which suited the track anyway without them) and the backwards tape loops. It was a track from The Jam in 1982 not a psychedelic Beatles song from the late 60s. Anyway, although not credited on the single, that’s clearly Noel Gallagher up there with his brother and Ocean Colour Scene’s Steve Cradock and is that Oasis’s Alan White on the drums as well? Noel added his own individual contribution to the album (“To Be Someone” from 1978’s “All Mod Cons”) and was a regular collaborator with Paul Weller. The whole album doesn’t appear to be on Spotify though Buffalo Tom’s version of “Going Underground” is and it’s worth a listen for a different take on a well known classic.

We hadn’t seen nor heard from Eurythmics for nearly the whole of the 90s. After releasing eight albums in eight years, tensions between Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart were strained and the band disbanded with little fanfare. Lennox would release two successful solo albums whilst Dave Stewart formed The Spiritual Cowboys and released his own underrated solo album. In his intro, Jamie Theakston says that Annie had told him that it had been 10 years since the release of their last single. Well, that was nearly true. Their last single taken from an album of new material came in April 1990 – “Angel” from “We Too Are One” – and I should know as I bought it. After that their was a rerelease of “Love Is A Stranger” and a remix of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” to promote 1991’s six times platinum selling “Greatest Hits” collection so Annie wasn’t 100% correct but she wasn’t far off. Suddenly though, with just a few weeks left of the decade they were back.

So what prompted their return? The popular story is that after receiving a Brit Award For Outstanding Contribution To Music at the start of 1999, they decided to reconvene Eurythmics once more. However, that’s a false narrative as they’d already been writing together since playing at a record company party in 1998 and subsequently at a benefit concert for the family of journalist Ruth Picardie who had died of breast cancer. The result of their endeavours was “Peace”, the eighth and, so far, final Eurythmics album.

The lead single was “I Saved The World Today”, melodic of tune yet sorrowful of mood and possessing that, as ever, crystal clear vocal from Annie. It was a strong comeback and deserved better than missing the Top 10 by one place. The follow up single – “17 Again” – was even better and I especially enjoyed the interpolation of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” in its coda. The album did well commercially though its sales were dwarfed by those of that 1991 “Greatest Hits” which was the second best selling album of that year behind Simply Red’s “Stars”. The only Eurythmics album released since “Peace” was another Best Of called “Ultimate Collection” in 2005 whilst Dave and Annie have performed at one off events in 2014 (a Beatles tribute concert) and at Sting’s 30th We’ll Be Together benefit concert in 2019. They were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Another return now as Gabrielle is back in the charts for the first time in two years with her new single “Sunshine”, the lead track from her third album “Rise”. Had we missed her? I’m sure some had but me? Not so much. I always found her too generic, too samey. Sure, “Dreams” was a memorable tune but for me, the majority of her output conformed to a soul/pop formula that was certainly radio friendly but not very substantial. “Sunshine” was another such song in my book. Conversely, her next single, the title track from her album, would be more of a standout with its Bob Dylan sample taking her back to No 1 for the first time since her debut with the aforementioned “Dreams”. She would perfect her blueprint sound with “Out Of Reach” in 2001 from the soundtrack to Bridget Jones’s Diary.

And so to the No 1 and the only nasty dance track in the show (in my humble opinion). “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by Eiffel 65 was in its third week at the top and by this point, any novelty hook that it might have had long since lost its appeal. They would have one more hit – the No 3 “Move Your Body” – so we’re not done with this lot yet I’m sorry to say.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	S Club 7	S Club Party	No
2	Pet Shop Boys	New York City Boy	Nope
3	Macy Gray	I Try	Good song but no
4	Melanie C	Goin’ Down	Nah
5	Buffalo Tom / Liam Gallagher and Steve Cradock	Going Underground / Carnation	Despite my association to The Jam, I did not
6	Eurythmics	I Saved The World Today	See 3 above
7	Gabrielle	Sunshine	No thanks
8	Eiffel 65	Blue (Da Ba Dee)	And 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/m002w1qw/top-of-the-pops-08101999