Constantly writing reviews of these BBC4 repeats of TOTP for the past eight years has been quite a drain on the old creative juices. I mean, nobody would be interested in a list of songs with me denoting whether I liked them or not would they? I try to give each show some context about what else was happening in the world at the time of its broadcast or perhaps something from my own personal life (if I can remember!). On other occasions, I’ll try and hang the whole past around a theme (however tenuous it might be). Sometimes it’ll work and sometimes it can feel like I’m shoehorning stuff in that really has no place being there. And sometimes…well, sometimes everything just sort of dovetails together by delightful happenstance. This post is one of those. This is how it unfolds. The day after this TOTP aired, a brand new BBC sit com aired called UnfinishedBusiness. Now, I never watched this nor have I even any memory of it but having read its Wikipedia entry, it didn’t sound like it was a laugh-fest. Anyway, what’s that got to do with TOTP? Well, apart from both shows being on the BBC and being broadcast within a day of each other, nothing. Except…our host tonight is Jamie Theakston who I was delighted to find out (when I was looking for a theme for this post) has presented a reality show on Netflix called Cheat: UnfinishedBusiness with Amanda Holden. Is that it I hear you ask? No, one of the artists on this TOTP released an album in 1998 which was called “Unfinished Monkey Business”. And there’s more. The band who had the No 1 record this week, I would argue, are a perfect example of having unfinished business but more of that later.
We begin with half man, half washboard Peter Andre who I’m amazed to find was still having hits as late as 1998. “All Night, All Right”, as Jamie Theakston says, was based around a sample of 1978 hit “Boogie Oogie Oogie” which is familiar from my youth but if I’d been pushed to name who it was by, I would have come up with Earth, Wind & Fire rather than the correct answer of A Taste Of Honey. None of this affects the truth that Andre should have given up on his pop star notions long since. He did after one more hit in the 90s for a whole six years but, deciding he had unfinished business with the charts, relaunched himself after appearing on I’mACelebrity Get Me Out Of Here with the wretched “Insania”.
According to Wikipedia, “All Night, All Right” was a collaboration with Coolio on the album version of the track but with Warren G on the single release. Unless I’m missing something, there’s no sign of either rapper in this performance. What gives?*
*Oh, there’s Warren G! Two places below Andre at No 18 in the charts with “Prince Igor”!
It’s a hat-trick of consecutive appearances for the LighthouseFamily! Yes, the duo (they were a duo despite it all being about singer Tunde Baiyewu) have been on every TOTP of this new year so far with their hit “High”. In an attempt to keep things fresh though, executive producer Chris Cowey has come up with the idea of a stripped back, acoustic performance (witness Robbie Williams doing the same last week on his own third time on the show doing “Angels”). It was a decent shout I guess but maybe the better solution would have been to not have the same songs on every week? Certainly the TOTP community seemed to have had enough of this one judging by their online comments or were said comments triggered by who the artist was rather than how many times they’d been on the show? The usual accusations of being ‘bland’ and ‘vacuous’ were made – an almost obligatory event when discussing the Lighthouse Family it seems. I have to say that I certainly wasn’t a fan but would I have gone as far as to call them the Shitehouse Family? I don’t think so (even though I just did).
We have reached, what is for me, the point of peak Radiohead also known as the moment before they disappeared up their own arses musically speaking. If you are a Radiohead devotee and that offends you then I refer you to my disclaimer at the bottom of this post. Let’s not dwell on the negative though– “No Surprises” is possibly one of the most affecting songs on its first hearing you could ever imagine. Not many* tracks have that inherent emotive power that stirs something within you immediately but that’s how it was for me.
*And certainly not many featuring a glockenspiel!
The third single taken from the “OK Computer” album, it would also be the band’s final commercial release of the 90s and what a way to end their decade. Maybe that’s part of the reason why I couldn’t follow their musical path from this point onwards – I’d already drawn a line under my interest in them subconsciously prompted by the arrival of the new millennium.
Anyway, “No Surprises” was just magnificent – a simple lullaby on the one hand the melody of which was at complete odds with its lyrics that were a caustic indictment of modern life. It had a sense of distress about it, as if it was recorded under duress. Both these extremes of the song were portrayed visually. The lullaby narrative was turned into comedy gold by this scene from TheRoyleFamily…
Meanwhile, that theme of duress was captured by its striking video. Directed by Grant Gee, it depicted Thom Yorke in an astronaut type helmet that slowly filled with water as he sang the song’s lyrics that scrolled upwards, reflected in the helmet. Yorke has to lift his head above the water level to sing until he is fully submerged and then stays motionless for over a minute before the water is released and he completes the song. It was genuinely unnerving and took multiple takes before Yorke could complete it to everyone’s satisfaction.
Apparently, Gee was influenced in his vision for the video by the old Gerry Anderson science-fiction series UFO which featured aliens whose spacesuits had a helmet that was filled with a green liquid that they breathed rather than oxygen. That show scared the crap out of me as a very young kid.
As I write this, it’s Glastonbury weekend of which I’ve watched the following artists:
Shed Seven – not bad but Rick Witter introducing them as a 90s band rather dates them
Alanis Morissette – good vocal but she was clearly very nervous
The 1975 – just insufferable
Pulp – reliably excellent
Noah Kahan – a favourite of my teenage son and fast becoming one of mine too
Olivia Rodrigo – better than expected
However, I don’t think anything I’ve seen this weekend can rival Radiohead’s 1997 Glastonbury set which featured “No Surprises”…
Now, here’s some business that is definitely being finished – the dreadful business of OTT that is, who are on to their final UK chart hit and I’m guessing (please!) their last ever TOTP appearance. Their valedictory song is – surprise, surprise – not another cover version but a serviceable pop ditty aimed squarely at capturing the hearts of teenage girls across the land called “The Story Of Love”. Two of their previous three hits had been with other people’s material but this one could easily have been a Boyzone single. Well, they did seem to be copying their fellow Irish lads at every turn so I guess it makes sense to have a hit that was indiscernible from one of theirs. OTT really were second rate in the boy band stakes though. Apparently Asia went mad for them but over here, they never once even made the Top 10. The story of love? Nah, this was more a tale of tosh. Utter guff. OTT were over and OUT!
And now to that artist whose album featured the words ‘unfinished business’ in its title. Since the messy demise of the Stone Roses in 1996, we’d seen John Squire rise from the ashes with The Seahorses, Mani join Primal Scream and not much else. Suddenly though, frontman Ian Brown was back and throwing his hat into the solo career ring. His debut album was titled “Unfinished Monkey Business” and its lead single was “My Star”. Basically a Brown tirade against the expenditure on and reasoning behind the space race, the Mission Control type voices and sound effects put me in mind not of space exploration though but of CB Radios and trucking and that song “Convoy” from the mid 70s by C.W. McCall. Funny how the mind works isn’t it? I recall quite liking this at the time but on reflection, there doesn’t seem to be much to it other than more than a passing resemblance to this rather good track by The Jam…
Anyway, I guess we’d better address the elephant in the room…what was going on with all those eggs?! There’s a man playing a set of them like they’re a percussion instrument and then Brown himself lobs some at the image of him at the back of the stage. The only explanation I can find is that Brown wanted an organic sound effect for the production on the track and so the sound of an egg being cracked into a frying pan was inserted into the mix. Truth or myth? Who knows? What I do know is that it was quite the comeback given the place Brown found himself in after the Roses imploded after a catastrophic performance at Glastonbury in 1996. It was the very antithesis of the aforementioned appearance by Radiohead at the festival a year later. Having said that, given his ex-band’s fanbase, perhaps a hit was almost guaranteed regardless of its quality but its lo-fi sound had some appeal I guess. It was certainly a far cry from the huge expense of the production on the last Stone Roses album “Second Coming” – apparently Brown financed the recording of “Unfinished Monkey Business” himself and it was partly recorded at his home studio.
Looking at Brown’s discography, I’m slightly taken aback at how many hits he’s had under his own steam although he was part of the reformed classic Stone Roses line up in 2011 proving that the four members had some unfinished business with each other. Said business seems to have finally been dealt with as in September 2019, John Squire confirmed in an interview with The Guardian that the Stone Roses had disbanded.
It’s the world’s favourite boy band according to host Jamie Theakston next – BackstreetBoys. Oh dear Lord. I’m not sure I have anything nor want to say anything about this lot at this juncture. They were just so dull and grim. Look, here are the facts…”All I Have To Give” was their eighth consecutive UK hit of which six went Top 5. It was another wimpy ballad that was written and produced by Full Force who collaborated with Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam back in 1985 on “I Wonder If I Take You Home” (I’m sure they’re famous for much more but that’s all I know of them). Apparently the track allowed Backstreet Boy Howie D to do some lead vocals as his voice wasn’t suited to the more pop orientated hits they’d had up to this point. I wonder if Howie had threatened to take his ball home if he wasn’t given his chance? OK, enough of this! My puns are almost as bad as their song!
Oasis are No 1 with “All Around The World” and just like Radiohead before them, this would be their last release of the 90s. Also like Radiohead, it could be seen as a watershed moment. Not only was it the final release on Creation before the label folded but was the last to feature original members Bonehead and Guigsy. This week there’s another intro courtesy of Noel explaining that the band are still in America touring so we get the video rather than a studio appearance. If anyone was in any doubt as to the influence of The Beatles on Oasis and Noel in particular then one watch of this promo surely resolved that. The YellowSubmarine vibe is not so much prevalent as a direct steal.
Now, as fortune would have it, I write this as we enter the week of the first Oasis reunion gigs – yes, the much heralded concerts are nearly here and it will be interesting to see/hear what shape the band are in after sixteen years away. After all the hype, anticipation and negative publicity surrounding dynamic ticket pricing, it’s surely the music that matters right? Well, there is no new music of course – the much speculated and indeed leaked set list won’t have anything we haven’t heard before in it but is that what the hordes would have wanted anyway? I’m not part of the horde by the way. I didn’t feel the need to spend hours virtually queuing for tickets – I saw them in 1996 when they played Maine Road, Manchester when they were at the height of their powers and popularity and felt no pull to revisit the band nearly 30 years later. The band (or more pertinently Noel) clearly don’t feel the same and so we get to the ‘unfinished business’ bit. The reasons behind the Oasis reunion tour have been widely speculated. Did Noel and Liam genuinely want to rebuild their tattered relationship? Was it all about nostalgia and reliving that feeling of when the band could do no wrong? Or is it purely about the money? I think I’m plumping for the last option.
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
Peter Andre
All Night, All Right
As if
2
Lighthouse Family
High
No
3
Radiohead
No Surprises
No but I had OK Computer
4
OTT
The Story Of Love
Nah
5
Ian Brown
My Star
Nope
6
Backstreet Boys
All I Have To Give
Never
7
Oasis
All Around The World
No but I had a promo of the Be Here Now album
Disclaimer
I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).
All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.
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 nolonger 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 GinaG 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 MrBean 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…withJools 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’sGuideToTheGalaxy 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
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
Eternal featuring Bebe Winans
I Wanna Be The Only One
Yes for my wife
2
Gina G
Ti Amo
Nah
3
George Michael and Toby Bourke
Waltz Away Dreaming
Nope
4
Rosie Gaines
Closer Than Close
Definitely not
5
Gary Barlow
Open Road
No
6
Radiohead
Paranoid Android
No but I had the album
7
Hanson
MMMbop
Yes 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.
I’m still way behind in these TOTP reviews (give me a break BBC4!) but at least I’m now in the same month as the repeats schedule which is February of 1996. It’s yet another ‘golden mic’ host in comedian Lee Evans (who was only on just the other week it feels like). In fact, the celebrity host rather than a Radio 1 DJ seemed to be the norm around this time. Next week we have Julian Cope (blimey!) and the week after that Justine Frischmann from Elastica. As for the music, it’s the usual mix bag of styles with the following genres represented – bouncy techno (that was a thing apparently), art rock, Britpop, heavy rock, Gabber (again, a thing apparently), hardbag (seriously, I’m not making these up!), rap metal and…well…whatever you want to label Babylon Zoo as.
So what category does opening act QFX fall into? Well, they’re the ‘bouncy techno’ outfit according to Wikipedia. I have no recall of this lot at all but it seems they were from Scotland and had five medium sized UK Top 40 hits. A bit like Time Frequency then (in my easily befuddled by dance music brain anyway). This one – “Everytime You Touch Me” – was their first and second biggest when it peaked at No 22. So what was this ‘bouncy techno’ of which I speak? Well, unsurprisingly given where QFX hailed from, it originated in the Scottish rave scene before it crossed the channel to infiltrate the Dutch happy hardcore market where it became known as gabber (more of that later). It was characterised by having a tempo of 160 to 180 bpm and…oh I’ve no idea have I? I just know it wasn’t for me. Like I said earlier, I was easily confused by dance music. Though I couldn’t get into the music, I can appreciate the wild steps by the backing dancers in this performance. Unreal. Do you think the silver suits were influenced by the current No 1?
A bit of art rock? Look, these aren’t my categories but Wikipedia’s OK? I would just put “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” by Radiohead firmly in the ‘bloody good tune’ box. The fifth and final single from “The Bends”, its release seemed like a very big moment in the band’s career. Up to this point, their singles had only just brushed the Top 20 but going straight in at No 5 showed how much the band’s fan base had grown. Sure it was out of the Top 40 two weeks later but the fact that they could release a track from an album that had been out for just under a year by this point and it garnered such first week sales illustrated how much interest there was in Radiohead. And who wouldn’t be interested in this song! Based around a rolling guitar arpeggio, it was the definition of sublime. The fact that it was in and out of the Top 40 very quickly only added to its power – in a way it was too good for the charts. Some of the other hits taking up chart positions around it didn’t deserve to be in its presence. It came, it outshine everything else and…well…faded out. We wouldn’t see or hear any new Radiohead material for the next 15 months before “Paranoid Android” trailed third album, the seminal “OK Computer”.
Want to hear a ‘hardbag’ dance tune? No, me neither but it’s not up to me is it? Blame TOTP executive producer Ric Blaxill or the punters that bought the record. Said record was “The Naughty North & The Sexy South” by E–Motion. What a racket this was both sonically and metaphorically. Somebody was making money out of this nonsense. Even this small amount of exposure to the track via this TOTP repeat is giving me a headache. Just repetitive, hammering beats with the track’s title rapped over and over. Look, everyone knows if you’re singing about the naughty north and the sexy south, it goes like this…
Even the video is shite, using lazy cultural stereotype lookalikes to illustrate the north (Oasis, a whippet, an old fella gurning) and the south (Blur, Del Boy, pearly kings and queens) . Where are Marco, Merrick, Terry Lee, Gary Tibbs and yours truly when you need them?
I don’t think there can be too many disputing voices if I categorise the next band as being Britpop can there? TheBluetones were very much seen as part of that movement with their place at the forefront of it being secured by this – their biggest ever hit – “Slight Return”. I hadn’t taken that much notice of the band’s first two major label single releases “Are You Blue Or Are You Blind” and “Bluetonic” despite them both being Top 40 hits but I couldn’t ignore this one when it crashed into the charts at No 2. I recall selling out of it in the Our Price store I worked presumably because the initial copies the company’s buying department had allocated for us (the scale out) weren’t enough to cope with the demand. Maybe they were caught on the hop by the single’s success? Understandable I guess considering those two previous hits had peaked at Nos 31 and 19. I also seem to remember there being some issues restocking it with our orders continually coming back as out of stock. Distribution issues or perhaps their label were similarly caught on the hop by their artist’s sudden rise to fame? None of us should have been really as it’s a great song, full of melody and hooks. That stuttering chorus allied to a shuffling beat – it was a winner all day long. Singer Mark Morriss looked every inch a Britpop hero in his massive parka type coat. He must have just dissolved into a pool of sweat when he got back to the dressing room though after performing in it under those studio lights. Eleven days after this TOTP aired, the band’s debut album “Expecting To Fly” was released and certainly lived up to its title by soaring to the top of the charts in week one. The Bluetones had lift off!
Definitely and defiantly another Britpop act now as the watching millions get introduced to NorthernUproar. These little scamps were from Stockport which, coincidentally, was where I was working at the time in the Our Price in Merseyway shopping centre. Coming on like a distant member of the Gallagher family tree, they powered their way to a No 17 hit with this double A-side single “From A Window” / This Morning”. Listening to it now, it all seems very derivative and a bit of a mess frankly but it probably seemed very exciting back in 1996. Frontman Leon Meya did seem to have a bit of presence at least though his wardrobe had, like Mark Morriss before him, been influenced by Liam Gallagher a bit too much.
In my last post, I stated that I’d been trying to organise a PA for the Our Price in Stockport where I worked but my plans to secure Upside Down had been met with a definite “Forget it”. I’m pretty sure my attention then shifted to Stockport’s very own Northern Uproar but clearly any intentions I had didn’t get any further than the “What about…” stage as I never got any nearer to them than watching this TOTP appearance.
After a double barrel of Britpop, now it’s time for something completely different. I don’t recall the term ‘Gabber’ being in common use back in 1996 as a descriptor for this type of music but maybe I wasn’t moving in the right circles to hear it. Technohead were one of its protagonists but having watched their performance of “I Wanna Be A Hippy” back, my uninformed take on it would be that it was happy hardcore. I don’t think I’m that far off in my assessment as both strands emerged from the Dutch techno rave scene in the early 90s. According to Wikipedia, the difference between the two is that happy hardcore has breakbeats running alongside the 4/4 kick drum…whatever the hell that means.
Technohead was yet another alias for husband and wife team of Michael Wells and Lee Newman whose previous vehicles included Tricky Disco and LFO. “I Wanna Be A Hippy” was remixed by Dutch-American producers Flamman & Abraxas and had been a massive hit all around Europe in 1995. Everywhere in fact except the UK. Our resistance to the Gabber effect was only so resilient though and we yielded early the following year when it made No 6 in our charts. Based around a song from the 1989 comedy film RudeAwakening called “I Like Marijuana”, its references to drug taking (“I want to get stoned on Mari-marijuana” and “I want to get high”) were never going to fly on the BBC’s prime time, before the watershed, flagship pop music show so the performance here is highly edited with the offending lyrics literally blanked out and not mimed. It kind of makes a nonsense of the whole thing as if it wasn’t nonsensical enough already. The awful thing is, once heard, the track becomes an immovable ear worm. I can’t get it out of my head and it’s driving me mad! Gabber Gabber Don’t!
And so we arrive at the second tenuous link to Adam And The Ants of the night in the form of rap metal outfit (if that indeed is what they were) DogEatDog. I literally have zero memories of this lot and their hit “No Fronts:The Remixes” though I actually don’t mind it now that I’m acquainted with it. The last time this lot were on the show, the lead singer’s very staid and sensible haircut caused quite a reaction online from the BBC4 TOTP community. I wonder if back in the day a similar thing had happened as he’s donned a baseball cap (on backwards naturally) for this second appearance.
Now, we saw the BBC make heavy edits to literally the previous act’s hit and yet there seemed to be zero censorship of “No Fronts: The Remixes” which includes the lyrics:
By the smell on the skunk, it’s the funk we blow it. So split the mud and reach for the sack, ease up your mind never look back. Inhale deeply and pass it around, c’mon everybody, let’s all get down….No guns just blunts, we kick this just for fun
Blimey! They weren’t exactly a bunch of ‘goody two shoes’ were they?! Ahem. Presumably the BBC censors didn’t know that what a ‘blunt’* was!
*A hollowed out cigar filled with cannabis
There’s no doubting the musical genre of the next artist. Meatloaf never strayed very far from the rock ballad blueprint did he? This particular example of it – “Not A Dry Eye In The House” – would be his penultimate UK Top 10 hit. After being disregarded for a slot on the show as one of the new entries to the chart last week, TOTP couldn’t ignore The Meat any longer when it climbed to No 7.
I have to say that it’s not a great example of his canon of work but then it wasn’t written by long term partner Jim Steinman. Rather it came from the pen of Dianne Warren who undeniably knew her way around a soft rock ballad having written Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”, Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” and Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” amongst many, many others. However, “Not A Dry Eye In The House” seems to be soft rock ballad by numbers to me which somehow lacks the theatre of some of Meatloaf’s biggest hits. It’s a serviceable example of the genre but I’m surprised it was as big a hit as it was.
“Spaceman” by Babylon Zoo is obviously still No 1 what with it being the best selling single in the UK for 30 years by that point.
Now as I’m still behind with these write ups, I’m going to just leave this here. This is the Zupervarian remix of the track which is what the public thought they were buying based on the Levi’s ad. The happy hardcore (that again) version with the speeded up vocals all the way through. You’re welcome.
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
QFX
Everytime You Touch Me
No
2
Radiohead
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
No but I had The Bends album
3
E-Motion
The Naughty North & The Sexy South
As if
4
The Bluetones
Slight Return
Could have but didn’t
5
Northern Uproar
From A Window / This Morning
Nope
6
Technohead
I Wanna Be A Hippy
Never
7
Dog East Dog
No Fronts:The Remixes
Nah
8
Meatloaf
Not A Dry Eye In The House
I did not
9
Babylon Zoo
Spaceman
I am going to admit to buying it but not for me for a friend who was obsessed with it so she could use my staff discount – honest!
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.
We’re well intro the Autumn of 1995 with these TOTP repeats now but away from which artists were in the charts, who else was in the news around this time? Well, the day before this show aired, Everton striker Duncan Ferguson was making headlines of the wrong kind when he was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment for making lines on the head of Raith Rovers defender John McStay after head butting him during a game. As such, he became the first British footballer to be given a custodial sentence for an on-field offence. I wonder if there are any criminal records on this TOTP that deserved to be sent down?
Here’s one for a start! PJ&Duncan should have been locked up and the key thrown away for this rubbish. Eighteen months on from their first hit, the novelty was wearing thin. “U Krazy Katz” was the duo’s seventh Top 40 single and what a stinker it was! Everything about this song honked not least its awful title. ‘Crazy’ spelt with a ‘K’ and ‘Cats’ spelt with a ‘K’ and a ‘Z’ with the obligatory ‘U’ replacing ‘You’. Who did they think they were? Slade?! As for the track, it’s like Modern Romance doing their mambo styled hit “Don’t Stop That Crazy Rhythm” but instead of singing it they‘ve rapped their way through the damned thing. Vile stuff.
Although their music was still crap, something had changed with these two. Yes, obviously they’d gone for 40s style suits and brogues (and an ill judged cane for Dec/Duncan) for this appearance rather than the usual baseball cap, jeans and trainers look but it’s something else I’m referring to. A small but defining detail that would shape their future careers to this day…yep, they swapped sides! It’s not for the whole performance but there are definite points where they swap over so that PJ is on the left (as we look at the TV screen) and Duncan on the right. Do you think they watched this back and thought “Haway man! We look better this way round ‘n’ that!”. Think of Ant & Dec now and I’m betting your mind’s eye places the former on our left and Dec the right. It’s hard wired into our brains but up to this point, their stints on TOTP had their positions reversed. By the way, that’s another more obvious change that is on the way – the dropping of the PJ & Duncan monikers and the adopting of the Ant & Dec brand. There’s only two more PJ & Duncan hits to endure after this one before they switch.
The solo career of Suggs was the equivalent of a one man crime wave. It should have been illegal and actionable. After his disastrous cover of “I’m Only Sleeping” by The Beatles as his debut offering, the Madness frontman followed it up with this original track called “Camden Town”. A fusion of ska and pop with a side order of reggae, it was jaunty for sure but oh so insubstantial. The verses remind me of the theme tune to OnlyFools And Horses but set in Camden rather than Peckham. Ah yes, that title location. Was that a deliberate and contrived attempt to drum up some credibility for Suggs off the back of the epicentre of the burgeoning Britpop movement?
Now, I like Madness and have seen them in concert but whilst Suggs’s character makes sense within the structure of the band, out on his own, his affected delivery and stilted movements just grate on me. Worse was to come with his cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Cecilia” released from his album “The Lone Ranger” the following April.
So what links Mariah Carey and Simply Red? Well, the former’s video for her single “Fantasy” was set in an amusement park and saw Mariah riding a rollercoaster and the latter were at No 1 at the same time with “Fairground” and the promo for that one was filmed at Blackpool Pleasure Beach with The Big One rollercoaster prominently featured. There was another link between Mariah and a fellow resident in this week’s chart. Ten places below her at No 16 were folk-rockers The Levellers with their new single…yep…”Fantasy”. Fancy that!
Next, a second consecutive studio performance for Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue with their murder ballad duet “Where The Wild Roses Grow”. I mentioned in the last post that I performed this song in a guitar class I used to attend back in 2010 as a duet with a student called Lisa and that it was recorded for posterity. The guitar teacher gave me a CD of our performance and I added it to my iTunes library. I thought I could maybe embed it into this blog but I’ve run into a few tech issues. I got a new Mac a while back and never got around to importing everything from my old one onto the new one including my iTunes library (well, we’re all on Spotify now aren’t we?). When I’ve gone back to said library on the old Mac, it says that the file for the track can’t be located. It’s all a bit of a mess. If I could find the original CD, maybe I could upload it to the new Mac? Can’t find it anyway so it looks like you’re all have to live with the disappointment of not hearing my Nick Cave impression but rest assured it was immense!
My duet with Lisa wasn’t as unexpected as Nick and Kylie’s what with us both attending the same guitar class and all but there have been other pairings throughout musical history that rivalled their unlikeliness. How about Youssou N’Dour and Neneh Cherry on “7 Seconds” or Marc Almond and Gene Pitney with “Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart”. Yeah, Richard and Lisa from guitar class doesn’t sound as left field as some of those names I admit. As for musical crimes, “Where The Wild Roses Grow” is an excellent song and should never be considered in those terms but if you listen to the lyrics, well that’s literally a different story altogether.
After Jimmy Nail used his AufWiedersehen, Pet fame to launch his music career in 1985 with a cover of Rose Royce’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”, it took him seven years to come up with his next hit single, the chart topping “Ain’t No Doubt”. However, once he’d made that comeback, he was determined to stick around and in the mid 90s, he was prolific. He released three albums in three years between ‘94 and ‘96, the middle of which was “Big River”. Coming after “Crocodile Shoes” and before “Crocodile Shoes II” (a “Crocodile Shoes” sandwich?), it was a sizeable success going platinum in the UK and making the Top 10. Its lead single was the title track which made No 18 on the UK charts. A love letter to the River Tyne and its heyday at the heart of the once thriving shipbuilding industry that also acknowledges its decline, it features the guitar work of fellow Geordie Mark Knopfler. It’s a decent enough song that was a good platform for Nail’s gruff voice but quite why it needed a rerelease three months later as “Big River ‘96” is beyond me and also most of the record buying public as it stalled at No 72.
I’ve said before in this blog that you could do worse than give Jimmy’s 1997 Best Of album “The Nail File” a spin on your streaming platform of choice. Tracks like the Paddy McAloon penned “Cowboy Dreams” and “Country Boy” are just great songs and you can’t deny that Jimmy has a distinctive voice. A crime against music? Hadaway and shite!
Something serious now. The War Child International charity was founded in 1993 to ensure war child victims have access to protection, education and psychosocial support both in conflict and post-conflict areas with the UK arm established in 1994. A year later, they worked with British and Irish artists to create “The Help Album” to raise funds for the charity. Featuring the likes of Oasis, The Stone Roses, Suede, The Charlatans and Sinéad O’Connor, it took John Lennon’s “Instant Karma!” as its inspiration and was recorded, mixed and released within five days. So quick was the process that initial copies hit the shops with no track listing printed on the sleeve. Despite that drawback, the album went to No 1 in the compilation album chart. A single and an EP were taken from the album, the former was a cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together” by supergroup The Smokin’ Mojo Filters whose membership included Paul McCartney, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Steve Craddock, Steve White and Carleen Anderson. It peaked at No 19. The “Help EP” was a four track release that included contributions from Portishead, Guru, PJ Harvey but was headed up by this song – “Lucky” by Radiohead.
For some reason, and I don’t recall this but Wikipedia assured me it happened, Radio 1 refused to support the EP with airplay which contributed to it only making No 51 in the charts. TOTP had no such qualms and so we got this video exclusive which gave us an early taste of a Radiohead track that would end up on their third album, 1997’s “OK Computer”. This is a great song, epic in its sound and ambition but also moving in its intensity – the sort of song that has the power to send shivers up your spine. For some reason, it’s always reminded me of the theme tune to the 1981 BBC2 adaptation of The Hitchhiker’sGuideToTheGalaxy by Douglas Adams.
The affecting video could sadly have been made in 2024 what with the world witnessing the Russia/Ukraine and Gaza/Israel conflicts, the only difference being that such images (and much, much worse) are now beamed directly into our heads via our mobile phones.
On a much lighter note, “The Help Album” included some great cover versions such as Suede taking on Elvis Costello’s “Shipbuilding”, Terry Hall and Salad doing “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” and this one by the Manic Street Preachers…
All three tracks on the spin to end the show we have seen before so I’m going to rifle through them beginning with “When Love And Hate Collide” by Def Leppard. Like many artists, the Sheffield rockers recently went down the orchestral versions of their back catalogue route (see also Midge Ure, Embrace and even Cutting Crew) with an album called “Drastic Symphonies”. Said album includes an orchestral version of “When Love And Hate Collide” which does make it sound monumentally epic.
An orchestra can’t do anything about the song’s lyrics though which are straight up dreadful. Clichéd, hackneyed and in places non sensical. Look at these:
I got your number on my wall but I ain’t gonna make that call
How can you stand divided but fall united? And who had a phone number on their wall? I know this was pre-mobile phone ubiquity but wouldn’t you have written a phone number on a telephone pad or Filofax even? Then there’s stock phrases like “Heart of Stone” and “hits you right between the eyes” and some dreadful rhyming couplets like “fighting for” and “act of war”. What do you expect though from grown men who wrote a song in “Let’s Get Rocked” from the point of view of an American teenager with references to ‘taking out the trash’ and ‘tidying your room’?
I seem to have used the word ‘epic’ a lot in this post but if there’s anyone in the history of music for whom that word was invented it must be Meatloaf. However, he’d also give Def Leppard a run for their money when it came to wonky lyrics. I mean, just look at the title of this one – “I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth)”. Clever play on words or just plain dumb? On top of that there’s more clichés like ‘selling your soul’, ‘holding your hand’ and ‘moving mountains’. Somehow though, Meat manages to sound the right side of ridiculous just by the sheer force of his personality and stage persona. He’s joined for this performance by an un-name checked woman but whom my research (OK Wikipedia!) tells me is Patti Russo who toured and recorded with Meatloaf between 1993 and 2013. She still tours and “I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth)” regularly appears in her set list (and that’s no lie).
It’s a third week (of four) for Simply Red with “Fairground” at the top of the charts and we are still yet to see that aforementioned Blackpool Pleasure Beach video. To date, the single remains the band’s only No 1. In fact, despite all their hits over the years (31 Top 40 entries by my reckoning), very few have come close to getting to the peak. “Holding Back The Years” and “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” were both just one position away from hitting top spot but as for the rest – well, only one other made the Top 5. I guess they’re more of an albums band. A quick check of their discography shows that indeed they are with them racking up four No 1 studio albums plus a Greatest Hits collection that also topped the charts. Now that’s a criminal record!
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
PJ & Duncan
U Krazy Katz
No chance
2
Suggs
Camden Town
I did not
3
Mariah Carey
Fantasy
Never happened
4
Nick Cave / Kylie Minogue
Where The Wild Roses Grow
Sang it, never bought it
5
Jimmy Nail
Big River
Nope
6
Radiohead
Lucky
No but I had their OK Computer album
7
Def Leppard
When Love And Hate Collide
Nah
8
Meatloaf
I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth)
No
9
Simply Red
Fairground
As if
Disclaimer
I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).
All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.
It’s June 1995 and I’ll be 27 years old in five days time. Where does the time go? Well, I’ve been writing this blog for the last 8 years for a start! Seriously though, time and the passing of it can really bend your head if you think about it for too long. Do you reckon these BBC4 TOTP repeats have a similar effect on the acts who actually appeared on the show? Being reminded of your glory days that have now faded and of a time when you were young and beautiful as opposed to the person ravaged by middle age that they are now?
Take opening act Reef for example. I wonder if lead singer Gary Stringer still has all that hair?
*googles Gary Stringer*
Yes he does! It has gone grey though and he’s grown a huge beard but still. Not a bad effort. I tried convincing myself a few years back that I didn’t look much different from when I was in my 20s. It was complete tosh of course and I was clearly lying to myself.
Anyway, Reef. This lot were pretty big for a while in the mid 90s, somehow benefitting from the rise of Britpop even though they weren’t your archetypal Britpop band. Nothing of the sort really. I think it may have had something to do with them doing a jingle for TFIFriday. Remember “It’s your letters” based around their biggest hit “Place Your Hands”? Somehow Britpop, lad culture and Chris Evans all seemed to mesh with each other, in my mind anyway. I’m getting ahead of myself though. That’s all a year or so away. Back in 1995, “Naked” was the band’s second Top 40 hit from their debut album “Replenish”. It’s not bad either. Hardly revolutionary and highly derivative but a pretty good blues rock work out. I’m sure that descending guitar riff is nicked off something else but I can’t put my finger on what. Somebody else who was having trouble putting his fingers somewhere was Reef’s bass player – what was the deal with those loose strings flapping all over the place. Tighten your tuning heads man! One last thing about this performance – was the stage invasion by members of the studio audience pre-arranged or impulsive do you think? Can’t make my mind up.
Next a man who I was convinced only had two hits (both back in 1992) but here he is again three years later with another one. Curtis Stigers is said man and helpfully he has joined in with my ‘time’ intro by releasing a single called “This Time” from an album called “Time Was”. Nicely timed Curtis. And talking of the passing of time, in those intervening three years since his last hit, he’s lost his flowing locks that he had when he was in the charts with “You’re All That Matters To Me” and “I Wonder Why”. In fact, if you take Reef’s Gary Stringer with all his hair and stood him next to Curtis, it would be like a ‘before and after’ picture. As for the song itself, it’s a radio friendly little ditty but it doesn’t live long in the memory as was illustrated by its No 28 chart peak.
Another song with the word ‘time’ in the title now. BabyD scored a No 1 in late 1994 with “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” but it took them six months to come up with a follow up and when they did it was just yet another dance version of a classic pop song. “(Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving” was basically a straight cover version of The Korgis’ 1980 Top 5 hit but with a skittering jungle dance beat added to it. As if that wasn’t enough to differentiate it from the original, they messed around with the song title by adding a line from the lyrics and putting the original title in brackets. What was all that about? I couldn’t get onboard with this at all. It just seemed lazy and pointless to me. As ever, the record buying public disagreed with me and sent it to No 3. Ah, what did they know eh?
Next a band that I always find hard to write about; not because I don’t like them – it would be easy to crank out a few derogatory words accusing an act of being the shittiest of the shitty – but because I don’t actually have any feelings about them one way or the other. I think my state of mind concerning Therapy? is partly due to the fact that they mostly passed me by at the time. I mean, I knew of them – I worked in a record shop for heaven’s sake – it’s just that my knowledge of them pretty much ended with what their album covers looked like. Somehow I never really heard how they sounded. Or maybe I did hear them but it made no impression on me and so I didn’t retain them in my head? Either way, needless to say, I don’t remember this hit “Stories” at all. Listening to it now, it’s more of their brand of driving rock but this one has a sax thrown in for good measure. Singer Andy Cairns is a supporter of my beloved Chelsea and I’ve heard him interviewed on the Chelsea fancast that I listen to and he seems like a lovely guy but somehow his music just hasn’t cut through to me. Sorry Andy.
Two huge songs of this era coming up now starting with “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead. What a tune this is!*
*Makes that awful T-shaped hand signal*
For me, this could be their best ever song though to be honest my knowledge of their material past “OK Computer” is nearly nonexistent so if you’re a Radiohead super fan reading this and snorting in derision at my suggestion then obviously you have more material to pick from than me. The third single to be released from “The Bends”, it’s a slowly building banger dripping with aura and imagery and Thom Yorke’s vocal that almost sounds like it was recorded under duress, it’s almost unignorable (if that’s a word). Maybe ‘striking’ would be a better one. I think it was probably this track that convinced me that I must own a copy of “The Bends”.
Others weren’t quite as convinced albeit the most famous example was a fictional character in a movie. Alicia Silverstone played Cher in Clueless who describes “Fake Plastic Trees” which features in the film as “crybaby music”. Asked if he was bothered about that line, Yorke said in an interview in Vox magazine that the character of Cher wasn’t the type of person he’d want to like Radiohead anyway as she was a two dimensional Beverly Hills kid and he was all about 3D people. Fair comment I think and it put me in mind of another music artist who felt the need to publicly distance himself from someone famous. In 2006, former Prime Minister and renowned dead pig f****r David Cameron appeared on DesertIslandDiscs and chose as one of his songs “This Charming Man” by The Smiths. When Johnny Marr became aware of this, he issued a statement that said Cameron was banned from liking The Smiths and rightly so. Also on Cameron’s list of songs? Yep, “Fake Plastic Trees”. Cameron also famously declared that one of his favourite songs ever was “Eton Rifles” by The Jam. In response, Paul Weller said “Which bit didn’t you get?”. David Cameron ladies and gentlemen…a complete bellend of the highest order.
That second huge song now and it’s another appearance by Pulp to perform “Common People”. This was a genuinely a career pivoting time for the band. After being together for sixteen years (most of them in obscurity) the stars were now aligning and fame and fortune beckoned. Not only had “Common People” crashed into the charts at No 2 (NO 2!) but this month they would also headline the aforementioned Reef’s hometown of Glastonbury after the Stone Roses pulled out following John Squires suffering a broken collarbone in a mountain biking accident. Success was now definitely coming at Pulp and fast.
Apparently the band learned of that chart position whilst appearing at a Radio 1 Roadshow in Birmingham. As the chart rundown was announced, the various acts at the event were paraded on the back of an articulated lorry as their chart position was called. By the end, there was only Pulp left to learn their fate and, by now, Jarvis Cocker was pissed. Taking to the stage, he slipped and fell leaving bass player Steve Mackey to observe the irony of finally getting to where you wanted to be after years of trying only to end up on your arse in the rain in Birmingham at the moment of triumph. Just perfect.
What’s this? A rugby song?! Yes, we’d only just suffered the trauma of two football songs in the chart thanks to FA Cup finalists Everton and Manchester United and now we had another sporting related hit. The 1995 Rugby Union World Cup was only the third time the competition had taken place since its inaugural event in 1987 but already we were starting to get used to it being commemorated / promoted by the medium of song. More specifically two songs in particular. The 1991 World Cup had brought us “World In Union” by Dame Kiri te Kanawa based on Holst’s “Jupiter” or “I Vow To Thee My Country” as it is more commonly known. That year also saw the England Rugby Squad release a version of the African-American spiritual song and subsequent Christian hymn “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” which had been sung by rugby crowds as early as the 60s though it was adopted as an anthem by the England team supporters around 1988. The song has been recorded on multiple occasions for the Rugby World Cup by the likes of Russel Watson, UB40 and Blake.
In 1995, it was the turn of the unlikely pairing of “Searching” hitmakers ChinaBlack and South African male choral group LadysmithBlackMamboza. Quite how this pairing came about I’m not sure but I guess it was advantageous to both artists. China Black had failed to build on the success of “Searching” and so “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” provided them with another vehicle to the charts. Ladysmith Black Mamboza were prolific album makers but had never had a UK Top 40 single to this point. Their famous collaboration with Paul Simon on “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes” from the celebrated “Graceland” album inexplicably peaked at No 77 though they would team up with B*Witched in 1999 for No 13 hit “I Shall Be There”. Ladysmith Black Mamboza were one of those artists that would get a regular airing when Our Price did their specialist music mornings where the shop would only play music from a particular genre that wasn’t rock/pop. Easy Listening morning meant you were guaranteed to hear The Carpenters Greatest Hits whilst Ladysmith Black Mamboza would get a spin on the store stereo when it was the turn of World Music.
This version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is not impressive I have to say. The addition of that ubiquitous, nasty dance beat pretty much ruins it for me. It was nice though to see some of England’s Rugby stars of yesteryear in the video like Rob Andrew, Will Carling, Rory Underwood and Jeremy Guscott. China Black would never return to the UK Top 40 singles chart whilst Ladysmith Black Mamboza would achieve a No 2 placing in our album chart for 1998’s Best Of collection.
I said earlier about there being two huge songs of this era being on the show tonight in “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Common People” but how could I have forgotten about this one?! They’re not everyone’s cup of tea but I loved BlackGrape. Rising from the ashes of Happy Mondays and the Ruthless Rap Assassins, I remember there being a huge buzz about this second coming of Madchester. OK, it wasn’t really quite like that but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to indulge in some Manchester related hyperbole. “Reverend Black Grape” was their debut single and calling card and what a fabulous shake up of the charts it was. Sample heavy and funky, big beats-tastic, this was Shaun Ryder back to his twisted genius best after the demise of the Happy Mondays and the nadir of their 1992 album “Yes Please!”. Ably aided by Kermit, it would crash straight into the Top 10 at No 9. What? Bez? Oh yeah, he was there as well doing his usual Bez schtick. The “Talking bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit” lyric is obviously edited out for this TOTP performance but like “Yes” by McAlmont & Butler, “Reverend Black Grape” would become one of my go to songs I would play on my way to work if I really didn’t fancy it that day.
The band’s debut album “It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah” would top the charts for two weeks and achieve platinum sales. Packed with great tunes like “Tramazi Parti”, “Shake Your Money” and “Kelly’s Heroes”, it became an essential purchase for me. Sadly, their success would fail off dramatically. Second album “Stupid Stupid Stupid” would underperform commercially and attract criticism in the US for its golliwog and google eyes cover art. It was one of those albums that the buying department at Our Price Head Office had invested heavily in but which failed to sell. We had massive overstocks of it. The band would dissolve in 1998 after Shaun fired the rest of its members. They reformed to release a third album in 2017 called “Pop Voodoo” which I quite liked but which received mixed reviews.
It’s a third week at the top for Robson&Jerome with their double A-side “Unchained Melody” / “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover”. My amazement at what happened here has not diluted in the 28 years since. What was going on? Why did these two actors appeal so much? It wasn’t just a one off either. They had three No 1 singles and two No 1 albums over a period of 18 months despite the fact that all they ever did was cover versions. I bet Simon Cowell who convinced the pair to record material couldn’t believe his luck. Ladies and gentlemen…Simon Cowell the David Cameron of the music world.
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
Reef
Naked
No
2
Curtis Stigers
This Time
Nah
3
Baby D
(Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving
I did not
4
Therapy?
Stories
Nope
5
Radiohead
Fake Plastic Trees
No but I bought the album The Bends
6
Pulp
Common People
No but I had the album Different Class
7
China Black with Ladysmith Black Mamboza
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Negative
8
Black Grape
Reverend Black Grape
No but I had the album It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah
9
Robson & Jerome
Unchained Melody” / “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover
As if
Disclaimer
I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).
All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree
We’re well into March 1995 with these TOTP repeats and I’m pretty sure that work wise back then, I was firmly ensconced back at the Our Price store in Stockport following the closure of the shop in Market Street, Manchester. I say ‘back’ as I’d spent a couple of months there in the Autumn of 1993. It hadn’t gone well and I’d been glad to get out of there but now I was on my way back after spending the whole of 1994 in Manchester. I would spend the next four years there. It had its ups and downs but on the whole it would turn out to be a much better experience.
Right at the start of my time there, an album by the first artist on tonight’s show was released which would stay with me until the present day. Its lead single would provide the band with their biggest commercial success but it would also prove to be completely divisive in terms of its appeal. Some may even argue that it did them more harm than good in terms of credibility. The BooRadleys had been in existence since 1988 but were largely unknown to the great British public despite their 1993 album “Giant Steps” being voted album of the year by NME readers. All that was to change in 1995 with the release of their fourth album “Wake Up!” and its lead single “Wake Up Boo!”. Beloved of breakfast DJs up and down the land (especially Radio 1’s Chris Evans who had a jingle made for his show based on it), it’s an almost perfect example of the bright, bouncy, exuberant pop song. It was impossible to ignore so in your face was it as it dragged you kicking and screaming from your bed and demanded that you face the new day in front of you. It was everywhere and yet that ubiquity worked against it. Some people couldn’t (and still to this day can’t) stand it. Perhaps for the existing fanbase it felt like a betrayal and that the band had sold out and for the wider general public, was it that the track was just a bit too much for the innate misery of the national identity?
For my part, I liked the way it raced along and combined some lush harmonising with perky brass parts. However, it wasn’t that No 9 hit which made me invest in the album. I much preferred the follow up single “Find The Answer Within” which, having been the catalyst for me to purchase “Wake Up!”, led me to other gems within its twelve tracks like “Twinside” and “Wilder”. I stand by the album and still listen to it nearly 30 years later. For once, I was in sync with the rest of the record buying public as it went to No 1 and briefly The Boo Radleys were the bomb.
Inevitably though, they got shoved in the box labelled Britpop despite rejecting such associations (did anybody ever admit to being a Britpop band?) and as the movement floundered so did their commercial fortunes. Subsequent album “C’mon Kids” was perceived as a deliberate attempt to dismantle their pop star / hitmaker status (an accusation the band deny) but it is certainly true that the sound of it was less commercial than its predecessor. The writing was on the wall by the release of their sixth studio album “Kingsize” in 1998 which peaked at No 62 in the charts and they disbanded not long after. Almost miraculously, they resurfaced in 2022 with new material though without chief songwriter Martin Carr within their ranks.
And back to the crap. I really am sick of these brainless Eurodance hits. I mean 2 Unlimited pushed me to my limits (ahem) but at least their songs were originals. Applying the Eurodance formula to existing songs was really taking the piss. Presumably the perpetrators of this musical crime did it to extend the shelf life of the genre in case the punters were tiring of it? We had already strayed into this area with the likes of Rage covering Bryan Adams in 1992 and more recently the Hi-NRG treatment of “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” by Nicki French but this next act would take it to another level. Clock would…erm…clock up thirteen UK Top 40 hits in total of which at least half were cover versions starting with this – Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F”. The original made No 2 in 1985 and was, of course, from the soundtrack to the film Beverly HillsCop and was an instrumental track. The 1995 version though had a rapper and female vocalist tacked onto it in the way of that established Eurodance model. Now I was never much of a fan of the original – in fact I found it quite annoying – but this…THIS! Well, it was every shade of shit. Why did anybody need this in their life?! Apparently lots of people did as it went Top 10 in the UK. To be fair, I could also have lived without the original having ever existed either. Its appearance in the chart meant there were two 90s danced up cover versions of 80s instrumental hits in the Top 10 concurrently alongside Perfecto Allstarz and “Reach Up (Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag)”.
As for the performance here, presumably the dancers in police uniforms and the CHiPs style motorcycle that tonight’s host Mark Goodier rather ludicrously sits astride in his intro are to tie in with the Eddie Murphy film but it’s all rather unnecessary and silly. And why was the rapper dressed as a circus ringmaster? If we thought this was bad though, it was literally a musical masterpiece compared to what Crazy Frog inflicted on us ten years later.
It’s another dance tune next (of course it is) but this one’s a definite upgrade on Clock. Bucketheads was a side project by Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez, one half of the classic house music Masters at Work production team. Taking Chicago’s “Streetplayer” as his source material Kenny came up with “The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)”, a fusion of house, disco and funk that had been causing a stir in nightclubs for six months before it got a proper release on the Positiva label. That buzz would translate into sales sending it to No 5 in the UK charts.
You know, I’ve always dismissed Chicago as that band who produced all those sickly ballads like “If You Leave Me Now,” “You’re the Inspiration,” “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” and “Hard Habit To Break” which were, to my ears, all essentially the same song. However, there is so much more to them than I ever realised. They’ve been going for 55 years, have released 26 studio albums, sold 100 million records, have been inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and have a list of band members past and present that would rival The Fall. Then there’s the music. They’ve tried everything from jazz-rock to funk to soul to those adult contemporary hits. There’s even a documentary about them called TheLastBandOnStage – apparently they were pretty much the last artist to play a live gig on the planet as Covid shut the world down in March 2020.
Anyway, back to Bucketheads and the video shown here was directed by one Guy Ritchie three years before he became famous for Lock, StockAndTwoSmokingBarrels. As for the name Bucketheads, was it anything to do with the satirical political candidate Lord Buckethead who stood in the 1987 and 1992 General Elections? The film maker Todd Durham created the character in 1984 for the sci-fi comedy film Hyperspace and when he claimed ownership of Buckethead following the 2017 General Election, the character was renamed as Count Binface by the comedian Jonathan Harvey who was the current incumbent. I guess the idea just fell into his mind.
Enough with the dance tunes! Give us something else! Well, you couldn’t get more of a contrast from Clock and Bucketheads than the moment Radiohead transformed from shoe-gazing one hit wonders into colossal, stadium-filling art rockers. After the indie disco favourite “Creep” had gone Top 10 in 1983, Radiohead had come under pressure from EMI to repeat the trick. What they did instead was so much more than just another isolated crossover hit. Sophomore album “The Bends” would come to be seen as a game-changer, redefining the parameters of rock music and it wasn’t hard to understand why. Compared to the likes of Oasis (whose lad rock charms I had been easily swayed by), it was a much more layered, complex and involved record. The first time I heard it played on the shop stereo, I knew I was listening to something special, something that demanded more exploration, something…well…just more. It was one of the few albums that I’ve ever bought that I felt I had little choice in. It had to be purchased. As with The Boo Radleys earlier, “The Bends” is an album that has stayed with me ever since and which has not diminished over the years.
There’s another reason for linking Radiohead and The Boo Radleys (I do love a bit of synchronicity) and that’s in the Charles Bukowski T-shirt Thom Yorke is wearing. The American writer and poet had died exactly one year ago to the day that this TOTP was broadcast which presumably was why Thom was wearing the T-shirt. So what’s this got to do with The Boo Radleys? Well, their album “Wake Up” has a track on it called “Charles Bukowski Is Dead”. Sometimes this shit just writes itself.
Anyway, “High And Dry” was the second single from “The Bends” (after “My Iron Lung” in the Autumn of 1994) and was a double A-side with “Planet Telex” (the opening song on the album) and its almost achingly beautiful. Originally recorded as a demo in 1993 and almost incredulously dismissed as being too Rod Stewart (!), it has been described as being responsible for the careers of the likes of Coldplay and Travis. I’ll leave you to decide if that’s a good thing or not.
One more thing, they say a song’s quality can be judged by its ability to be covered in a style that is completely different to its original form. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Radiohead as done by ABC. Who needs AI?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Having an artist do an ‘exclusive’ performance of a single yet to be released only to have them back on the show the following week once it’s entered the charts isn’t working for me. Take FaithNoMore for example. They were on just last week performing “Digging The Grave” and I struggled to find anything to say about it then. Now I’ve got to go through exactly the same torment again this week? They could have at least shown the video to give me something different to go at.
Look, I’ve got nothing so not for the first time I’m going to leave it to Beavis and Butthead…”They just look and sound like everyone else”.
Genuine music icon time now as the venerable Stevie Wonder is on the show. Now while I can totally appreciate why TOTP Executive Producer Ric Blaxill would have jumped at the chance to get such a legendary name on the show, it really does feel like a case of shoehorning going on here. Yes, Stevie had an album due out (“Conversation Peace”) but it wasn’t actually available in the shops for another two weeks. The lead single from it (“For Your Love”) had peaked and was going down the charts so he couldn’t really perform that. The solution was to get Stevie to sing a track from the album called “Tomorrow Robins Will Sing” (it would eventually be released as the second single).
Now I love Stevie’s 60s, 70s and early 80s stuff as much as the next person but most of his material from “I Just Called To Say I Love You” onwards was of variable quality at best. I have to say that the song performed here really wasn’t up to much. A reggae flavoured number that saw Stevie unwisely indulge in some sort of faux rapping in the verses. And here’s my point. Yes, he is a legendary name and yes it was an exclusive to have him in the studio in person (his last performance appearance was in 1974 promoting “Living For The City”) but was there really that much buzz and anticipation about a new Stevie Wonder album in 1995? I’m not sure. “Conversation Peace” did go Top 10 in the UK but it’s hardly regarded as a classic is it?
In amongst the proliferation of R&B artists that the 90s gave us, I always feel that Des’ree gets overlooked somewhat. I’m not sure why as she has the sales/streams and awards to not be but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that of her six UK Top 40 hits, three of them were courtesy of the same song. “You Gotta Be” was first released in April 1994 peaking at No 20. So why the rerelease nearly a whole year later? It was down to its stellar performance in America where it made No 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. And why was it a hit over there? Well, because it was used to soundtrack an advertising campaign for the ABC network magazine programme GoodMorningAmerica thereby raising its profile significantly. The UK rerelease saw the single peak at No 14 but it was its third outing in 1999 when it gained its biggest success with it finally made the Top 10. That final release was again due to its use in an advert, this time to promote the Ford Focus car. “You Gotta Be” also won an Ivor Novello for Best Contemporary Song whilst Des’ree herself won a BRIT Award for Best Female Solo Artist. Outperforming all three of those releases though was her 1998 single “Life” which got to No 8 despite it including a lyric that was voted the worst ever in a pop song in a 2007 BBC poll. You know the one – where Des’ree sings that she doesn’t want to see a ghost and would rather have a piece of toast? Yeah, that one. She also duetted with Terence Trent D’Arby on his 1993 hit single “Delicate”.
So why do I think she’s over looked? Well, she never had a massive selling album, at least not in the UK though her 1994 collection “I Ain’t Movin'” sold a million copies in the US. I also think the two years between that release and her debut “Mind Adventures” and its attendant hit single “Feel So High” in 1992 meant she lost a bit of momentum. In that time, the likes of Gabrielle, Dina Carroll appeared on the scene to step into her vacant shoes. Hell, even EastEnders actress Michelle Gayle got in on the act. Did Des’ree just get crowded out of that particular musical genre? Actually, listening back to “You Gotta Be”, it does have more than a hint of Gabrielle’s “Dreams” to it. Did Des’ree see which way the wind was blowing and decide to follow suit?
One person who didn’t overlook Des’ree was my wife who is a primary school teacher. When she was teaching a music unit one year, she decided that there wasn’t enough R&B / soul music represented on the module and so added “You Gotta Be” to it. Apparently her class loved the song and would sing along to it when she found a video on YouTube with the lyrics included. I’m not sure how many pupils my wife had in her class but I’m guessing it wasn’t as many as Des’ree had in a world record breaking event for charity in 2008 when she led 600,000 children in singing the same song simultaneously at the O2 Arena. The song was, of course, “You Gotta Be”.
Now, was it too soon for the return of WetWetWet after their fifteen week stint at No 1 with “Love Is All Around” the previous year? In fact, how do you follow up a hit that big? Is it even possible to achieve such sales with consecutive releases? Erm, no is the short answer though “Julia Says” was no flop either peaking at No 3. Trailing the band’s fourth studio album “Picture This” (though “Love Is All Around” was tacked onto it as the last track), it seemed a rather safe choice by Marti and the gang to be honest. Despite being melodic and tuneful, it was hardly breaking any new ground. The exact opposite in fact as I’m sure I can detect traces of “Strawberry Fields Forever” era Beatles in there at one point. Still Pellow sells it well to the delight of the screaming studio audience (as Mark Goodier says, the band always got a good reaction whenever they were on TOTP).
Ah yes, those fans. I have a memory of Wet Wet Wet fans being a bit of a pain when “Julia Says” came out, a bit precious about when exactly would it be available in the shop to buy. Not Numanoid levels of annoying – Gary Numan’s fans were always ringing up and arguing the toss about release dates – but still the wrong side of polite I would say. They, at least, far from having had enough of Wet Wet Wet, couldn’t get enough of them.
Celine Dion is not finished with the No 1 spot yet as she clocks up a sixth week there with “Think Twice”. In desperation of having to say something about this song yet again, I decided to have a gander at the lyrics. Written by Andy Hill and ex-King Crimson lyricist Pete Sinfield (who also wrote “The Land Of Make Believe” for Bucks Fizz), the words are really not very good. Like, at all. Rhyming ‘dice’ with ‘twice’? I took a guitar class a few years back and we were tasked with writing a song of our own to perform in front of everyone else. I came up with some crap based around life as a board game which included a lyric about rolling the dice. I was almost embarrassed to sing it. Celine clearly had no such qualms.
“Think Twice” also includes these lines:
Babe, I know it ain’t easy when your soul cries out for higher ground ‘Cause when you’re halfway up, you’re always halfway down
Writer/s: Andrew Gerard Hill, Peter John Sinfield Publisher: Songtrust Ave, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
What was the inspiration for that? The Grand Old Duke of York nursery rhyme?! Thankfully, we’ve only one more week of this crud to go.
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
The Boo Radleys
Wake Up Boo!
No the single but I bought the album
2
Clock
Axel F
NO!
3
Bucketheads
The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)
Nope
4
Radiohead
High And Dry / Planet Telex
See 1 above
5
Faith No More
Digging The Grave
I did not
6
Stevie Wonder
Tomorrow Robins Will Sing
Negative
7
Des’ree
You Gotta Be
Nah
8
Wet Wet Wet
Julia Says
No
9
Celine Dion
Think Twice
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
And there go the 1993 TOTP repeats – weren’t they awful?! This particular year was the one I was least looking forward to reviewing so far and my trepidation was justified. Some truly terrible music made the charts topped off with the festive chart topper also being possibly the worst No 1 single of all time. What a time to be alive! So what was all this terrible music of which I write? Well, if I think of the charts of 1993, the first word that comes to mind is ‘Eurodance’ – so many acts seemed to appear this year peddling their synth riffs, drum machines, inanely and insanely catchy choruses and their ‘featured’ rappers. The likes of 2 Unlimited, Culture Beat and Haddaway all scored massive hits during the twelve calendar months with the first two even bagging themselves a No 1 record. The second thought that enters my head when considering this year is the spectre of the ‘Three S’s’ – Shaggy, Shabba and Snow. They each racked up a ginormous smash, specifically “Oh Carolina” (No 1), “Mr Loverman” (No 2) and “Informer” (No 2) all within a few weeks of each other. And they were all shite. As I said, what a time to be alive. Singles sales in general were up after the slump of the previous year but the standard of No 1s was as poor as ever. Look at this lot…
It’s grim reading. Seventeen chart toppers by sixteen artists (Mr Blobby was No 1 on two occasions) and I bought none of them. I would break them down as follows:
3 x Eurodance nonsense (2 Unlimited, Culture Beat, Ace Of Base)
3 x teen sensations (Take That)
2 x 80s songs reactivated by (i) TV advert (The Bluebells) and (ii) record company fleecing an artist’s back catalogue posthumously (Freddie Mercury)
1 x EP taken from the tribute concert for said deceased artist (George Michael & Queen with Lisa Stansfield)
1 x execrable novelty hit (Mr Blobby)
1 x last year’s Christmas No 1 hung over into the new year (Whitney Houston)
1 x out of the blue monster hit by hoary old rocker (Meatloaf)
1 x lame reggae flavoured cover for a film soundtrack by a band that owed their biggest hits to lame reggae flavoured covers (UB40)
1 x soul/dance floor filler by a new artist (Gabrielle)
1 x hip-hop shout-a-long anthem from an artist better known as a TV star at the time (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
1 x reggae hit from a new artist jumping on the dancehall/toasting bandwagon of 1993 (Shaggy)
It’s not the most inspiring collection of songs ever. Where was the innovation? Was this really what the kids wanted? It wasn’t any better if you looked at the biggest selling albums of the year. The Top 10 included the usual mainstream names like Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, Diana Ross, UB40, U2 plus the resurrected Meatloaf who easily helped himself to both the year’s best selling single and album. The only real surprises were the performances of the No 2 and No 3 albums. The former came from REM who achieved that position with a record that was released in the October of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latter came from the only ‘new’ artist in the Top 10 in Dina Carroll whose success was no doubt enabled by the presence of six hit singles on her album. It doesn’t get much better if you scroll down the chart where you’ll find the familiar names of Sting, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart and Tina Turner. However, honourable mentions should go to Spin Doctors, Stereo MCs and Björk.
Hits We Missed
Despite there being very few shows in 1993 that weren’t rebroadcast by BBC4 due to presenter issues – I think we may have missed the episode with Rolf Harris performing “Stairway To Heaven” understandably – there were still a few Top 40 hits that didn’t make it onto TOTP. Yes, even though the infernal Breakers section with its five or so songs crammed into a two minute slot was a constant throughout the year, somehow there were still some singles we never got to see. Here are my picks…
Sugar – “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”
I used to work with someone who loved Bob Mould and his post Hüsker Dü project and you can hear why on this, Sugar’s only UK chart hit. Leaving behind his previous band’s punk tendencies for some perfect power pop, this should have been huge. If you need validation of this opinion then check out the comments against it on YouTube where the most used word to describe the song/artist is ‘underrated’.
The parent album “Copper Blue” was well received by the critics both at the time (it was the NME album of the year) and beyond (it features in the 1001AlbumsYouMustHearBeforeYouDie reference book). It wasn’t just the critics who liked it as it did sell well making the Top 10 in the UK so why didn’t this single get a chance on TOTP? Bob Mould broke up Sugar in 1996 though he did tour “Copper Blue” just as himself in 2012.
Released: Jan ‘93
Chartpeak: No 30
Radiohead – “Anyone Can Play Guitar”
Asked to name Radiohead’s first hit, I’m guessing many would answer “Creep” but although it was their first single release, “Anyone Can Play Guitar” was actually their first foray into the Top 40. You could forgive the error though. One week at No 32, one week at No 50 and then gone. No wonder we didn’t get to see this one on TOTP. It was an inauspicious chart start for a band that would become a behemoth of the 90s and beyond.
Listening back to it now, it must have seemed at odds with its chart contemporaries. It’s all feedback and distortion in the opening before that’s zapped and the now familiar Radiohead staccato rhythm kicks in. The chorus actually has a strong, almost joyful (for them) melody which plays directly against the entrenched, downbeat nature of the verses. I must admit that it passed me by at the time before we were all swallowed up by that enormous sound of “Creep”. Fast forward two years and the band upped their game with the epic “The Bends” album and I for one couldn’t resist them any longer. So, “Anyone Can Play Guitar” – if nothing else, a great Pointless answer if the category of Radiohead Top 40 hits ever comes up.
Released:Feb ’93
Chartpeak:No 32
Neil Young – “Harvest Moon”
I have to admit that my knowledge of Neil Young in 1993 could never be described as extensive – in fact it’s as limited as the amount of copies that exist of the A&M pressing of “God Save The Queen”. Obviously I knew his only UK hit single to that point (1971’s “Heart Of Gold”) and that it came from an album called “Harvest” but beyond that? Hardly anything. I was aware of a handful of his songs from cover versions by other artists like “The Needle And The Damage Done” via a cover version by The Icicle Works and Pete Wylie from 1986 and “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” by Saint Etienne in 1991. Oh and The Alarm covered “Rockin’ In The Free World” on their early 90s album “Raw”. Yes, I knew about his involvement in Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young but all I really knew of their catalogue was “Our House” (I’ve since discovered a few more of their wonderful harmonies). It’s not much to say that Young has recorded forty-five studio albums over the course of his career. I think the fact that he released an album of feedback (1991’s “Arc”) didn’t help to pique my curiosity.
In 1993 came “Harvest Moon” though and I recall there being a lot of fuss in the music press about its release. Seen as a follow up to “Harvest” twenty years on, it would be his biggest selling album since the original. However the title track didn’t achieve the same level of success when issued as a single despite being critically lauded. It seems to me that it borrows the guitar motif from “Walk Right Back” by The Everly Brothers (albeit a slowed down version) but that’s not a criticism. It’s a gorgeous melody and judging by the comments against the video for it on YouTube, it certainly means a lot to people. Entry after entry talks about how it is the song that reminds the author of a departed loved one. The power of music isn’t always measured by chart positions.
Released:Feb ’93
Chartpeak:No 36
Duran Duran – “Too Much Information”
1993 was a year of rejuvenation for a few names from the past. The Bluebells had a TV advert inspired No 1 with a single from 1984, Nick Heyward would return with his first new album for five years (more of that later) whilst Go West somehow managed to bag themselves three Top 40 hits. And then there was Duran Duran. Seemingly destined to be locked away with the other unwanted 80s artefacts in the pop music broom cupboard as the new decade dawned, they completed a remarkable commercial comeback in this year.
After the very poorly received “Liberty” album in 1990, many thought we had seen the last of Duran Duran. However, the doubters hadn’t banked on the band’s seventh eponymously titled studio album (aka ‘The Wedding Album’). Led by the outstanding and enduring single “Ordinary World”, it went Top 5 in the UK and Top 10 in the US becoming their highest charting album in a decade since “Seven And The Ragged Tiger” at the height of their pomp. Another accomplished single followed in “Come Undone” but there was a third, largely forgotten single that appeared in August.
“Too Much Information” was the opening track on the album and it’s a belter. Starting off with an acoustic guitar intro, it suddenly bounds into life with a punchy groove that never quits over the next four minutes or so. Reversing the traditional single release template of two uptempo tunes and then a slow track, this was quite the change of pace after “Ordinary World” and “Come Undone”. Often seen as a prediction of the information highway which was in its infancy, the lyrics also show some self knowledge with lines like “Destroyed by MTV, I hate to bite the hand that feeds me” referencing the role that the music channel played in breaking the band in America. There’s also some tongue in cheek admittance of the turbulent past of the band with the lyric “This band is perfect, just don’t scratch the surface”.
The Julian Temple directed video does a great job of depicting sensory overload with multiple cuts coming thick and fast – there’s even a homage to the infamous eye clamps scene from AClockworkOrange. None of this made any difference to the single’s chart fortunes though and it barely scraped into the Top 40. Would a Breaker slot on TOTP have made any difference? Maybe. The success and favourable sway of public opinion the band received in 1993 quickly evaporated when they released their collection of covers “Thank You” two years later which was declared the worst album of all time by QMagazine in 2006.
Released:Sep ’93
Chartpeak:No 35
Squeeze – “Third Rail”
As comebacks go, this next band’s reappearance in the charts wasn’t as successful as Duran Duran’s but was easily as welcome. Squeeze had gone a whole six years without a Top 40 entry before “Third Rail” became their first (just!) since “Hourglass” in 1987. In that time they’d released two albums neither of which had pulled up any trees commercially although a 1992 Greatest Hits had returned then to the Top 10 of the album charts.
However, 1993 saw a renaissance of sorts. “Some Fantastic Place” achieved a No 26 peak and was quite the sleeper hit selling steadily under the radar. The album featured the return (briefly) of Paul Carrack who had been with the band on 1981’s “East Side Story” and also Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas who replaced long term sticks man Gilson Lavis.
The title track was released as the second single from it and is a superlative piece of work. Like “Harvest Moon” earlier, it resonates with people who have lost loved ones – it was written about the death of a long time friend of the band who introduced Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook in the 70s – with both men claiming it to be their favourite Squeeze song. I could have included it in the HitsThatNeverWere section below but I’ve gone with “Third Rail”. Starting with a startling, descending guitar riff, it then goes into a backbeat borrowed from the old Rhythm and Blues stomper “Some Other Guy” before the typically catchy chorus hooks you in. Unbelievably, Squeeze have only ever had three Top 10 hits with the last of those coming in 1981. There really isn’t any justice in the world.
Released: July ‘93
ChartPeak: No39
Hits That Never Were
My favourite part of these yearly overviews is rediscovering those songs that I believed should have been huge chart hits but somehow failed to pierce the Top 40. Here are my selection for 1993…
Freaky Realistic – “Leonard Nimoy”
One of the greatest lost gems of the decade came from Peckham but unlike its most famous fictional resident Del Boy, hardly anyone seemed to promote their claims to superstardom by declaring “you know it makes sense”. By rights, Freaky Realistic should have been saying to themselves “This time next year, we’ll be millionaires!” off the back of their one and only album “Frealism” but as ever, the UK record buying public thought they knew better (they didn’t) and almost totally ignored them. Not my wife though who bought the album and introduced me to its delights. Fusing some gorgeous pop melodies with dance beats, it should have been an iconic title of the genre alongside the likes of The Beloved and even Primal Scream (no, really – it’s that good). Somehow though, not even a super low retail price (promoted as a ‘freaky price’) of £5 could entice enough punters to explore its charms.
Three singles were released from it and I could have plumped for any of them to highlight but in the end I chose the Star Trek referencing “Leonard Nimoy” which was as catchy as hell and yet kooky in a playful way with its choice of subject matter. Unfortunately, it didn’t live long and prosper in the charts spending just one week at No 71 being unable to…ahem…’cling on’ to any higher placing.
Internal feuding broke the band up and a planned second album never materialised despite a batch of new songs being demoed. “Frealism” was unavailable for many years but reissue specialist label Cherry Red rereleased it in 2010. Get yourself a copy, you won’t regret it.
Released:July ’93
Chart peak: No 71
Ian McNabb – “If Love Was Like Guitars”
Throughout these reviews, especially in the 80s years, one of the artists that I have included most in this section have been The Icicle Works. Great single after great single was routinely ignored by the record buying public until the band could take no more and disbanded in 1990.
By 1993, Ian McNabb had formulated his first solo album “Truth And Beauty” (he’s added another ten in the intervening thirty years) and guess what? Hardly anybody bought that either! I did my best for Ian’s fortunes by purchasing it though and it’s a great little collection of well crafted songs as you would expect from such an accomplished songwriter. “If Love Was Like Guitars” wasn’t, as I incorrectly remembered, the lead single (at least not technically) though my mistake was forgivable. McNabb had released two singles in 1991 which both ended up on the album but given that was two years prior and they did absolutely nothing, no wonder my mind has settled on “If Love Was Like Guitars” as the main promotional track for “Truth And Beauty”. And what a track! A trippy, swirling, psychedelic Beatles-esque verse leads into a huge, chunky guitar chorus with sing-a-long lyrics before the obligatory but perfectly placed key change and wah-wah guitars take us home. Why oh why did this not become a huge hit?
The following year, Ian released the Mercury Music Prize nominated “Head Like A Rock” album with Crazy Horse of the aforementioned Neil Young fame. I saw him live on that tour and he was great. In fact, I’ve seen Ian maybe four or five times live and he can still knock it out of the park. A starry blue eyed wonder indeed.
Released: January ‘93
Chart peak: No 67
The Lemon Trees – “Child Of Love”
You wait all decade (so far) for a lost gem and then two turn up in the same year. After Freaky Realistic earlier, here’s another lost treasure of 1993. The Lemon Trees (not to be confused with The Lemonheads nor indeed the song “Lemon Tree” by the German band Fool’s Garden) were so much more than just the original band of Guy Chambers who would find fame and fortune for his songwriting collaborations with Robbie Williams. This 60s influenced five piece were interested in real instruments and life affirming melodies and they brought all that to the table on their only album “Open Book” which I duly bought. Every track on it is a winner including all five singles taken from it none of which hit higher than No 52 in the charts. They operated a spirit of true egalitarianism with those five singles being sung by three different band members.
“Child Of Love” was the fourth of those and I was convinced it would be the one to be the band’s breakthrough hit. It has a lovely, lilting, Summertime feel to it with a Stevie Wonder sounding harmonica break towards the end (although the singer Alex Lewis plays a melodica in the video). Why did it fail? Not enough promotion? I’m pretty sure it was on ITV’s ChartShow but maybe record company MCA didn’t have enough faith in their charges after three misses on the trot? Whatever the reason, it never quite happened for The Lemon Trees. A fifth single – the excellent “I Can’t Face The World” – came close but that was not enough to prevent a second album remaining unreleased and gathering dust in the MCA vaults. To add to the crime, you can’t even access their first album easily as it’s not on Spotify. Sort it out somebody!
The various members of the band stayed in music mostly. Brothers Paul and Jeremy Stacey have worked with the likes of Sheryl Crow, The Black Crowes and The Finn Brothers. As for the aforementioned Guy Chambers, although mostly known for writing many of Robbie Williams’ biggest hits, his list of other artists he’s worked with is as long as two arms including Melanie C, Beverley Knight, Rufus Wainwright and Miles Kane as well as writing music for the RSC and finally getting round to releasing his own piano album in 2019. As of 2005, Paul Holman was running a record shop in Dorset which is staying in music I guess.
Released:April ’93
Chart peak:No 55
Eskimos And Egypt – “Fall From Grace”
I’ve included this one as I knew the girlfriend of one of the band members and consequently met him a couple of times. Hailing from Manchester (where I was living), Eskimos And Egypt were a hybrid of dance beats and real instruments, kind of like a cross between The Shamen and The Prodigy. They were signed to One Little Indian, the label that was also home to Björk. As she was enjoying a year of mainstream breakthrough success, presumably Eskimos And Egypt held high hopes that they would follow a similar course. Despite TV appearances like this one on TheWord, they weren’t able to crossover into the Top 40.
Like The Lemon Trees earlier, most of the members remained in the music business after the band split moving into production and working with the likes of Sonique, Erasure and t.A.T.u. They even wrote and produced a hit for Rednex of “Cotton Eye Joe” fame called “The Spirit Of The Hawk”. Hmm. As I recall, the guy from the band I met was called Mark and was a big Bolton Wanderers fan who liked to talk about a goal he’d seen cult hero Frank Worthington score for them. Not the famous one against Ipswich where he has his back to goal and flips it over his head before volleying home but one not recorded by the cameras where he supposedly did keepy uppy all the way from the halfway line before scoring. In the snow. Or something.
Released:April ’93
Chart peak:No 51
Betty Boo – “Hangover”
There was so much more to Betty Boo than those catchy, space cadet, start of the 90s hits “Doin’ The Do” and “Where Are You Baby?”. For a start there’s that stuff-of-legend meeting and impromptu performance for Public Enemy in the Shepherd’s Bush MacDonalds as part of She Rockers. Then there’s the pop duo WigWam she formed with Alex James of Blur and her career as a songwriter penning tracks for Girls Aloud, Dannii Minogue, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and of course the Ivor Novello winning “Pure And Simple” for Hear’Say. What most people don’t talk about though is her sophomore album “GRRR!It’sBettyBoo”. Madonna was such a fan of the album that she offered Betty to sign with her own Maverick Records label but she turned down the opportunity – the timing wasn’t right as she was committed to caring for her terminally ill mother.
That second album was a commercial failure peaking at No 62 (by comparison her debut “Boomania” went Top 5 achieving platinum sales) but it did have some decent singles on it. The lead one, “Let Me Take You There”, was even a hit making it to No 12 but it would prove to be Betty’s last. The two follow ups couldn’t breach the Top 40 – “I’m On My Way” peaked at No 44 whilst this one, “Hangover” did even worse. And yet it’s a great pop song, a catchy melody cleverly combined with a Country & Western slide guitar twang and Betty’s trademark rap in the middle eight – what’s not to like? Even the video-in-a-video promo is nicely pitched. Bloody record buying public strikes again.
Released:April ’93
Chart peak:No 50
Luke Goss And The Band Of Thieves – “Sweeter Than The Midnight Rain”
A surprising but deserved entry I think. After making the decision in 1992 that he couldn’t continue with Bros, Luke Goss was left with no record deal and no income but a desire to be honest about who he was. To that end, he wrote his autobiography entitled IOweYouNothing which was well received and formed a band to perform the music that he wanted to play. Not wanting to do a pale imitation of his former glories, he changed musical direction completely for “Sweeter Than The Midnight Rain”. In an interview with Philip Schofield on the last ever GoingLive, Goss described his new sound as being a bit Lenny Kravitz-y, his voice as gravelly and that it was basically “slamming”. He was kind of right as well, especially about his voice. The song begins with an almost wah-wah guitar before Luke comes in doing his best John Mellencamp impression. It was pretty much as far removed from “When Will I Be Famous” as it was possible to be and I, for one, admired that. It’s not a bad tune to boot. Luke also went for a new look to go with his new sound though the long hair isn’t convincing and he’s completely bald these days.
There was meant to be an album (six tracks had already been laid down) but the only material that appeared was a second single called “Give Me One More Chance” but the public didn’t and it failed to chart and Luke turned his back on music to chance his arm as an actor which he has made a decent fist of. Bros were back in the spotlight in 2018 after that documentary aired but I don’t remember any mention of Luke’s solo career in amongst his brother Matt’s laughable one liners. Maybe it wasn’t such a joke after all.
One of the most exciting musical moments of 1993 for me was the return of this man. Despite being one of the most underrated UK songwriters ever (in my humble opinion), we hadn’t seen nor heard from Nick Heyward in nearly five years. Having realised a remarkable transformation in just a few weeks from pin up lead singer of Haircut 100 into mature solo artist with the beyond accomplished 1983 album “North Of A Miracle”, Nick’s commercial fortunes had declined sharply by the end of the 80s. Second and third solo albums “Postcards From Home” and “I Love You Avenue” had both disappeared without trace and Nick entered the 90s so lacking in confidence that he turned down the offer to become the vocalist of Electronic who turned their attention to Neil Tennant. Suddenly though, he was back with a new record label in Epic and a first album since 1988. “From Monday To Sunday” was not a big seller but it was well received critically and crucially announced Heyward as being back as a functioning recording artist. It also showed that his pop instincts (that had always been spot on) were still ahead of the curve, predating Britpop’s channeling of The Beatles by two years.
Lead single “Kite” is a deceptively wonderful track. On first hearing, I didn’t quite get it but it’s a work of genius which is Heyward’s greatest achievement for many. XTC flavoured with autobiographical lyrics that seem to describe his experience of flying high in his early days of fame before getting a case of vertigo, it’s a real winner. Oh, and is that trumpet sound (“The afternoon came, trumpets played”) pinched off “Fantastic Day”? The single not only led Nick’s revival at home but was a surprise hit on US college radio (otherwise rather bizarrely known as Billboard’s Hot Modern Tracks Chart). This gave him the impetus to tour America with the likes of Therapy?, Evan Dando, Teenage Fanclub and almost unbelievably Tony Bennett. I think he toured with Squeeze in the UK (who were presumably promoting the aforementioned “Some Fantastic Place” album) but I couldn’t get tickets for their show at the Manchester Apollo.
Nick would release a further two albums during the 90s with the second of the two released on that most Britpop of labels Creation. Nick was now one of the Godfathers of the movement! Despite being one of the busiest live performers around, it would be another twenty years before his next proper studio album, the magnificent “Woodland Echoes”.
Released:August ’93
Chart peak:No 44
REM – “Find The River”
This is quite the 90s rarity – an REM single that didn’t make the Top 40. Out of twenty-three that they released during the decade, this was the only one that failed to chart. On the one hand that’s understandable as it was the sixth single released from the “Automatic For The People” album that had been out for fourteen months by this point. On the other, this was absolute nonsense, a travesty and a stinging indictment of the UK record buying public’s poor judgment.
“Find The River” is a beautiful song and easily my favourite track from the album which is quite the accolade given the quality of the rest of the songs on it. It’s wistful, meandering, achingly beautiful and for some reason always reminds me of Christmas, probably because of its very late November release date – it’s certainly on my festive playlist anyway. Maybe that release date was part of the reason it wasn’t a hit in that it got caught up in the Christmas rush? I’m not sure how you can explain away it getting no further than No 54 whilst Mr Blobby was No 1 though.
REM would return just nine months later with “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?”, the lead single from their “Monster” album which would become their third biggest UK hit at the time when it peaked at No 9.
Released: Dec ‘93
Chartpeak: No54
Their Season In The Sun
4 Non Blondes
One of those artists whose hit became bigger than them in the same vein as “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin and “(I Just) Died In Your Arms” by Cutting Crew. Unlike these other two acts though, 4 Non Blondes were genuine one hit wonders. “What’s Up” made No 2 in the UK charts in the Summer of 1993 and then…nothing. Or not quite nothing as parent album “Bigger, Better, Faster, More!” was also a success (presumably off the back of the single) but who knows anyone who has it…except me. I didn’t buy it. I found a copy down the back of a filing cabinet when shutting down the Our Price store in Market Street, Manchester. All the stock had been boxed up and shipped out by that point so I kept it. I never played it once.
Dina Carroll
Never mind WhatHappenedToBabyJane (the film not the Rod Stewart song), whatever happened to Dina Carroll. One of the undoubted breakthrough stars of 1993, she promptly disappeared for three years before returning with a sophomore album that sold well but which nobody remembers. That’s because her back catalogue is dominated by her debut album “So Close” and its attendant six hit singles especially the final one “Don’t Be A Stranger”. Reading between the lines, I wonder if Dina just didn’t fancy this whole business of being a star and all its trappings. She took some time off after 1993 due to feeling ‘burnt out’. Maybe that was a big indicator. A shame because she had demonstrated her diversity of sound ably with the “So Close” album. Hopefully, unlike Bette Davis’s character ‘Baby Jane’ Hudson, Dina’s not bitter about it all.
Haddaway
…and shite!
Joey Lawrence
US teen actor who made the leap into pop stardom albeit briefly. He was kind of like a 90s Leif Garrett. With just two middling UK hits to his name, he disappeared pretty quickly. All I really remember about him is that his singles came with a free fold out poster, never a good sign of musical ability. In his defence, he returned to acting and eked out a fairly successful career.
Shabba Ranks
Surely one of the biggest wankers of the decade, the stench of Ranks’ revolting homophobic views still permeates his public image. That and being responsible for one of the stupidest and most ridiculed shout outs ever committed to record. ‘Shabba!’? Tosser more like.
Snow
Canadian rapper who spent seven consecutive weeks on top of the US charts with his single “Informer” (it made No 2 over here). This dreadful track featured the phrase ‘A licky boom-boom down’ repeatedly and told the story of Snow (presumably) being arrested and taken to a police station ‘where they whipped down my pants and looked up my bottom’. The censors didn’t get involved though as Snow’s rapping skills were so poor nobody could understand a word of what he was banging on about. Needless to say, he never had another hit single in this country.
Spin Doctors
And a third ‘S’ artist but not the final member of the unholy trinity that was Shabba, Snow and Shaggy. In fairness to Shaggy, he continued to have big hits well beyond this year. Spin Doctors on the other hand will always be remembered for 1993 and “Two Princes”, a fabulously groovy tune no doubt but which, much like 4 Non Blondes, was more memorable than the band themselves.
No Christmas Show Review?
Nope. There’s nothing on it we haven’t seen before and it goes on for ages. I’m not doing that Smashie and Nicey 30 years retrospective either.
Last Words
So, 1993 – the worst year of the decade for chart music? It must be up there though I fear that there may be some equally awful moments lurking in the late 90s. For me personally it was a year of great change. I worked in three separate Our Price stores over the course of the twelve months and with lots of different people. The moves didn’t stop in 1994 either but that’s for future posts. I don’t recall buying that much music from this year despite my staff discount which either means most of it was shite (or at least didn’t tally with my personal tastes) or I was skint most of the time. Or a bit of both. 1994 must be better mustn’t it? Fancy joining me to find out?
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
There’s some massive tunes and stellar names on this particular TOTP starting with one of the biggest rock songs of all time. Who doesn’t know “Ace Of Spades” by Motörhead? Seriously though, who doesn’t?
Enter Motörhead fan, stage left…
MF: Alright pal. What other Motörhead songs do you know?
Me: Erm…well…there’s that one about…you know…um…ahh…Oh God! I don’t know any others!
Yes, turns out I’m not really an aficionado on Motörhead at all though I do like “Ace Of Spades” but then who doesn’t (don’t start all that again!). What I do know however is that during their early 1980s heyday I read a series of articles about the band in the Daily Mirror (our family’s choice of paper) where I learned of the classic line up of Lemmy, Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor and ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke. I also read of their tales of debauchery involving what they called ‘dodgy boilers’ who even the wet behind the ears 12 year old me knew referred to groupies who were prepared to get horizontal to meet their idols.
Sadly, all three of the classic line up have now shuffled off this mortal coil with the band officially disbanding following Lemmy’s death in 2015. Still, all us 80s kids will always have this…
The iconic tunes continue with the PetShopBoys treatment of The Village People classic “Go West”. This cover version had been first performed by the duo at an AIDS charity gig at the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester organised by Derek Jarman. Originally scheduled for a non-album release in 1992, it was eventually included in the set list for their fifth studio album “Very”.
I recall there being a real buzz about this single – I have a distinct memory of Simon Bates (who must have been coming to the end of his time at Radio 1) asking on air when it was going to be released. Certainly it provided a spike in sales of “Very” when it entered the chart at No 2. Somehow it never made it to that coveted top spot though.
Watching the video back now, it seems madly prophetic with Neil and Chris striding across Red Square in blue and yellow costumes which offer up images of the war in Ukraine perpetrated by Russia. This is hammered home by the intro which seems strangely redolent of the State Anthem of the Soviet Union. Obviously, nobody would have been considering any of that back in 1993 when we would probably have been marvelling at the CGI of the promo by Howard Greenhalgh which was nominated for a Grammy.
I saw the Pet Shop Boys live about six months ago with a friend and this track was a stand out inducing much hugging, swaying and singing along. Chris and Neil would never have as big a hit single again.
Another huge song now as we see the TOTP debut of Radiohead. So much has been written about “Creep” let alone the band themselves so I don’t think I can add anything much to that particular canon of work. However, these are my personal thoughts and memories for what they are worth.
I’d heard of Radiohead due to their minor hit single “Anyone Can Play Guitar” from earlier in the year but hadn’t actually heard Radiohead if you see what I mean. The initial release of “Creep” from 1992 when it failed to chart hadn’t registered on my musical radar. I’d kept meaning to give their debut album “Pablo Honey” a play on the shop stereo but never got round to it. Suddenly though, there was a huge buzz around “Creep” again. Why? It had been a big hit in Israel and gained a lot of airplay on alternative rock radio stations in the US which, in a Spinal Tap “Sex Farm” has gone Top 10 in Japan style, convinced EMI to rerelease it against the band’s wishes. Their decision was rewarded with a No 7 smash hit single.
Knowing what we do now about what the band went onto do, watching this performance back seems a little surreal. Compared to even their next album “The Bends”, “Creep” has a rather unsophisticated albeit massive sound to it. Or maybe it’s just being confronted by the shock of Thom Yorke’s peroxide blonde hair that grates. That’s not to say “Creep” isn’t a good (or even great) song just that its legacy wouldn’t be being chief representative of their catalogue. Indeed, for a while it became one of those songs that becomes an albatross around an artist’s neck. The band nearly imploded from the record company expectations of writing a similar follow up and refused to play it live for years.
For all that though, you can’t underestimate the impact of the performance here on TOTP – it blew most other songs in the chart away. That ‘ch-chunk’ guitar sound from Jonny Greenwood’s guitar was off the scale whilst Yorke’s tortured vocals could not be ignored. This was the performance Nirvana should have given on the show for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” instead of that comedy turn they served up. Certainly only Motörhead could compete on this particular show. “Creep” then – by no means Radiohead’s best song but it was still much more than just a slacker anthem.
That run of three choice tracks on the spin comes to an end then (in my humble opinion) with yet some more slick but soulless US R’n’B courtesy of Jade. A third consecutive hit for the Chicago trio, “One Woman” was a big ballad unlike their previous two, hip-hop influenced singles “Don’t Walk Away” and “I Wanna Love You” but although it’s a very accomplished sound I’m sure, it did little for me. And hadn’t we seen the choreography with a chair routine before from Janet Jackson? Or was it Madonna? Or Liza Minnelli in Cabaret? “One Woman” peaked at No 22 both here and in the US.
Another live by satellite performance now. This time it’s from Minneapolis and is by Lenny Kravitz. Is this the third time he’s been on the show doing “Heaven Help”? It feels like it and means I have very little left to say about this one…
…other than check out the hair on his backing band. The guitarist’s Afro is immense but then you see his drummer’s. Wow! If Roy Wood and the drummer from Wizzard had a love child…
Just the three Breakers this week starting with ex–MassiveAttacksinger SharaNelson and “One Goodbye In Ten”. The follow up to Top 20 hit “Down That Road”, quite what we were meant to make of it after hearing just sixteen seconds of it here (I timed it) I have no idea. Sixteen seconds! What was the point?! Seriously though Stanley Appel, sixteen seconds?! Having listened to the full song on YouTube, it seems to me to be a pleasant enough ditty with a Motown-esque feel to it and some nicely inserted strings but just on the wrong side of lightweight. It would peak at No 21, two places lower than her debut hit.
What the Roxette is going on here? Marie and Per were back in the charts with “It Must Have Been Love” again? Host Mark Franklin tells us it’s because of the film it was taken from PrettyWoman having its terrestrial TV premiere recently and therefore record company EMI had rereleased it to cash in on its second wave of popularity. Yes kids, back in the day before Spotify and streaming platforms had been invented allowing continuous access to just about everything song wise, events like this would happen regularly. Off the top of my head, Berlin went back into the charts with “Take My Breath Away” four years after it was a hit initially thanks to the TV showing of TopGun and Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes experienced a similar thing with “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” when DirtyDancing made it to our TV screens four years after the cinema release of the film.
I wonder what Marie and Per felt about the rerelease? It’s not as if they hadn’t recorded any other material since “It Must Have Been Love” was originally a hit in 1990. In fact, they were very consistent visitors to our charts so would they have been pleased to see that by making No 10 in 1993, it became their third biggest hit over here of the eight singles they had released in the intervening years? Maybe they just thought about the royalties cheques.
1993 saw the first new material from Kate Bush of the decade. Her last studio album had been 1989’s “The Sensual World” and apart from her version of “Rocket Man” for the Elton John /Bernie Taupin tribute album “Two Rooms”, we hadn’t heard from her since. “Rubberband Girl” was the lead single from her album “The Red Shoes” and like three of her last five singles released, would improbably peak at No 12 in the charts. Was that a good return for such a big name? I dunno. Maybe Kate was always more of an album artist and her fan base would be waiting for “The Red Shoes” itself to come out? I know my wife did.
As for the song, Kate herself dismisses it rather as:
Well, it’s a fun track […] It’s just a silly pop song really […]
Mojo magazine (UK) 2011
Other online reviews I have read say the song’s production values date it and that it feels like an outlier on the rest of the album. I don’t know about any of that but I found it engaging enough. I assume the lyrics reflect somebody bouncing back from a setback? Kate Bush does Chumbawumba? Or is it more literal than that and Kate is talking about a dancer who just wants to be supple? The album cover does depict a drawing of red ballet shoes and Kate did release a short film in conjunction with the album called The Line,TheCrossAndTheCurve in which she played a dancer who puts on a pair of magical ballet shoes. Whatever. I thought it was OK but nowhere near the standard of some of her early career classics.
No! No! No! Not Chaka DemusAndPliers again! “Tease Me” has only just gone out of the charts and they’re immediately back in with the follow up “She Don’t Let Nobody”. I have to say I don’t recall this one despite its No 4 chart peak. “Tease Me” yeah of course and their chart topper cover of “Twist And Shout” obviously but this one? It escaped the memory bank somehow.
I wasn’t expecting much based on “Tease Me” which seemed to be full of either Chaka Demus or Pliers (I’ve no idea which) shouting “Baby Girl” or “Number One In The World” repeatedly. Having listened to it though, it could have been worse. It’s almost a proper song which I guess is not surprising seeing as it was written by soul legend Curtis Mayfield. Obviously, it’s completely ruined by the inclusion of all the rapping/toasting but you know, the template was there.
If a week is a long time in politics (and that has been proven beyond any doubt by recent events in Westminster), it is also true that a year can be an eternity in pop music. Multiply that by five and it feels like time has bent and warped and no longer exists by any temporal measures. Five years though was the real time gap between Belinda Carlisle hitting No 1 with “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” and her 1993 incarnation. By this point in her career, the hits were much smaller in the UK and non-existent in America. Her last album “Live Your Life Be Free” hadn’t yielded any Top 10 singles and neither would this, her next album, “Real” though lead single “Big Scary Animal” came close when it peaked at No 12.
I was working at the Our Price store in Stockport by now having transferred from Rochdale and the staff there were quite unforgiving of artists deemed to not be credible. Belinda came into that category and there was much mocking of the title of her latest single which I didn’t quite understand. What I did understand was that this wasn’t much of a departure from her usual fare. Pleasant song with a big hooky chorus? You betcha. Still, if it ain’t broke and all that…
The album sneaked into the Top 10 at No 9 but just a year earlier, her first Greatest Hits collection had gone to No 1 suggesting that there was an appetite for her earlier work but maybe not her new stuff. I think maybe Madonna went through a similar thing with “The Immaculate Collection” release. In 1996 though, she bucked that trend when her album “A Woman & A Man” provided her with two Top 10 UK singles.
Oh, yes. I had to watch this performance very closely to realise that the blonde haired guitarist on the left wasn’t Nick Beggs of Kajagoogoo who toured with Belinda around this time and worked with her on the aforementioned “A Woman & A Man” record.
Still at No 1 are CultureBeat with “Mr.Vain” although this will be the last of four weeks at the top. The single would end up being the 10th biggest seller of 1993 in the UK. The rest of that Top 10? Oh god it was awful. Haddaway, Shaggy, 2 Unlimited, Ace Of Base…and horror upon horror another single with the prefix ‘Mr.’…”Mr.Blobby”. “Mr…f*****g…Blobby”. I give up.
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
Motörhead
Ace Of Spades
I must have it on something surely?!
2
Pet Shop Boys
Go West
No but I have it on there Pop Art collection
3
Radiohead
Creep
No but I had it on one off those Best Album Ever…indie compilations
4
Jade
Oner Woman
Nah
5
Lenny Kravitz
Heaven Help
I did not
6
Shara Nelson
One Goodbye In Ten
Nope
7
Roxette
It Must Have Been Love
No
8
Kate Bush
Rubberband Girl
No but my wife had the Red Shoes album
9
Chaka Demus And Pliers
She Don’t Let Nobody
Of course not
10
Belinda Carlisle
Big Scary Animal
Negative
11
Culture Beat
Mr. Vain
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.
TOTP Rewind - the 90s 