After a few weeks hiatus due to the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury and Wimbledon, we’re back with the 1998 TOTP repeats again. I can’t say I missed them which might sound a perverse thing to say from someone who has devoted over eight years of their life to blogging about them but hear me out. Firstly, after publishing over 700 posts in that time, I welcome any break from the relentless writing. Secondly, I have the feeling that 1998 wasn’t a vintage year for the UK charts and that we might be about to endure some hits of dubious quality at best (i.e. some right old shite). Let’s see if my fears are realised in this episode…
Tonight’s host is Zoe Ball who I’m not the biggest fan of but she seems like a safe pair of hands here. Someone who wasn’t exhibiting safe hands was Executive Producer Chris Cowey who has brought back that crap idea again of featuring the song that was last week’s No 1 as the first song of tonight’s show meaning that effectively the same hit is played back to back seven days apart. I might have fallen for what Cowey no doubt thought was a clever ruse back then but watching these repeats nearly 30 years on it seems plain daft. The fortunate recipient of this additional exposure this time is Usher whose “You Make Me Wanna” track lasted just a solitary week at No 1 before being deposed by…well, we’ll get to that in due time.
As for Usher, he’s determined to take off as many clothes as the BBC censors will allow pre-watershed although he maybe should have practiced a bit more first as he struggles to remove his silver padded jacket which he then flings to the floor. What happened to said jacket as it’s nowhere to be seen as the performance progresses – presumably it was snaffled away by a studio audience member. Did they get to keep it or did security make them return it to Usher. I mean, they didn’t even ask for it nicely with one of those annoying ‘Can I have your shirt?’ placards that are ubiquitous at elite football matches these days. By the end of the performance, Usher is naked from the waist up although, as Joe Cocker and, indeed, Tom Jones nearly sang, he did keep his hat on. That’s alright then.
Some proper music from a proper singer next. Much was made back in the day of Carleen Anderson’s musical family heritage* (Zoe Ball even makes a reference to it here) but Carleen’s own personal musical career took in many a familiar name. She’s worked with Omar, on Guru’s “Jazzmatazz: Volume 1” album, Incognito, Brand New Heavies, Jocelyn Brown and yes Zoe, Paul Weller. Of course, she came to prominence with acid jazz pioneers Young Disciples in 1991 with their Mercury Prize nominated album “Road To Freedom” before striking out in her own with solo album “True Spirit” which sold 60,000 copies in the UK and supplied her with four Top 40 singles.
*Carleen’s family tree included:
Her Mum was Vicky Anderson, a singer with the James Brown Revue.
Her stepfather was Bobby Byrd, the R&B, soul/ funk legend and James Brown band mate.
The ‘Godfather of Soul’ himself was Carleen’s actual godfather
Leading the way for her second album was a cover of Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” which I hadn’t realised until now had never been released as a Macca single (though a live version by Wings was a minor hit in 1977). This is a fantastic track, perhaps one of McCartney’s best, and Carleen does it justice with her version complete with soaring vocal (is it live in this performance?). However, on reflection, it doesn’t have the feel of a single in 1998 somehow. A highlight of Laterwith…Jools Holland yes, or even his New Year’s Hootenanny show but just not a Top 40 single. The trippy graphics behind Carleen give it the feel of a performance on Channel 4’s notorious late night show TheWord but surely Carleen was too classy to have appeared on that (I haven’t checked by the way).
This would prove to be Carleen’s final UK hit and she now has followed a different direction pioneering a new cultural form called “Opus Griot”, a blend of singing, poetry, storytelling and the use of MI.MU Gloves, a new gesture-controlled digital instrument developed by Imogen Heap. As for “Maybe I’m Amazed”, it continues to be covered by artists such as Marc Cohn, Thomas Lang and Billy Joel. Oh and if you play it backwards, you’ll hear a recipe for a really ripping lentil soup…
How does one describe Saint Etienne? It’s a legitimate question I feel as they certainly embraced the eclectic ethic more than most. It’s also a question that will be revisited this year I’m guessing as the band have announced that their forthcoming album “International” will be their last. No doubt this will usher (no, not him!) in retrospective articles in the music press reassessing their career. Indeed, there is one in the latest edition of the excellent ClassicPop magazine which has an interview with the trio at its heart.
My own personal experience of the band started…well, at the start I guess with their dance version of Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” which was perfect for coming-down play lists with its aching sorrowfulness. It wasn’t a massive hit (No 39) but many of my hipper Our Price colleagues at the time loved it and it was heavily played on the shop stereo. Indeed, my wife liked it so much she bought the band’s debut album “Foxbase Alpha”. The natural progression from this was to see them live which we did in Manchester Academy but it wasn’t a fulfilling experience. Heavily reliant on backing tapes, they played for just 43 minutes and left the stage with Sarah Cracknell delivering the line “We’re not a rock band. We don’t do encores” and they were, indeed, gone. It wasn’t all bad though – the support band were Pulp who were excellent.
As the 90s progressed, Saint Etienne were almost prolific in their output which the stat of four albums in seven years attests to. They’d even accrued enough material for a Best Of album by the midpoint of the decade. Although some of their best known songs seem to be infused with an overt pop sensibility (“You’re In A Bad Way”, “He’s On The Phone”), they truly did span the musical genres. 1994’s “Tiger Bay” explored folk electronica whilst last year’s “The Night” was all about the understated and ambient. Then there’s their actual soundtrack albums. It really is wide ranging stuff. By 1998, they were back in that pop groove with the album “Good Humor” albeit of a more acoustic variety. Lead single “Sylvie” returned them to that classic Saint Etienne sound though – a stylish and catchy tale of sibling love rivalry. Some of its lyrics were a bit trite though rhyming ‘September’ with ‘remember’ and ‘person’ with ‘flirtin’. It would peak at No 12 thus maintaining their record of never having had a Top 10 hit. That run would remain unbroken*, something that Sarah Cracknell admits in that ClassicPop magazine interview remains a regret.
*I’m not counting 1991 No 8 hit “7 Ways To Love” under the guise of Cola Boy nor 2000’a collaboration with Paul van Dyk on “Tell Me Why (The Riddle)”
That last album should arrive in September this year and features guest appearances from the likes of Vince Clarke and the Greatest Living Englishman Nick Heyward so it should be well worth checking out.
By the end of the 90s, it felt like Will Smith was permanently in the charts with a succession of catchy, dance/rap numbers that were based on samples of classic hits from back in the day. Starting with “Men In Black” in 1997 (and omitting the outlier minor hit “Just Cruisin’”), he had a run of six singles that peaked at either No 1, No 2 or No 3. “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” was the second in that run and was primarily based around Sister Sledge’s 70s disco classic “He’s The Greatest Dancer”. The lyrics, which, incidentally, some people believe were written by rapper Nas and not Smith, include the line:
“Met Ali he told me I’m the greatest”
Written by: Bernard Edwards / Joe Robinson / Nile Rodgers / Samuel Barnes / Will Smith.
How prescient. Smith would play the boxing legend in the 2001 biopic Ali. Anyway, “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” was a perfect example of the successful formula that Smith had hit upon and he would run with it for all it was worth. However, what did it actually mean to ‘get jiggy with it’? I presumed it was a euphemism for the sexual act but according to Wikipedia, the term was originally a description of sexy fashion or style that was expanded to include dancing skills. As for Smith himself, he saw the use of ‘jiggy’ in the lyrics as an opportunity for racial empowerment as he associated it with the ethnic slur ‘jigaboo’ which popularised the folk-myth of an innate sense of rhythm in people of colour. In essence, it was claiming the phrase back.
The video was suitably grandiose being filmed at various Las Vegas hotels with scenes including Ancient Egypt imagery, volcanoes and ultimately a Statue of Liberty replica. The money and effort put into the promo was rewarded with an MTV award for Best Rap video. We’ll be seeing a lot more of Mr. Smith before these 90s TOTP repeats are through.
I’m totally out of my comfort zone on this next one as TOTP goes freestyle…literally. Freestylers are a British electronic group whose sound is so eclectic it makes Saint Etienne seem like fuddy duddy, dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists. Encompassing elements of breakbeat, big beat, trip hop, acid house and electro house, they are the trio Matt Cantor, Aston Harvey and MC SirReal. Looking at that list of sub genres of dance music, you may understand my comment about being out of my pop/rock comfort zone. I wasn’t the only one though. Zoe Ball was as well although she tries to convince us that she knows what she’s talking about in her intro where she refers to them as the “freesty-laaas”. That faux patois is undermined though by her pronunciation of the word “dancing” as “darncing”. And I thought you were a safe pair of hands Zoe!
Anyway, back to the Freestylers who are joined on this their debut hit “B-Boy Stance” by Tenor Fly who brings some ragga stylings to the mic (or something). It’s all very frenetic with the three breakdancers on stage twirling around on their arses adding to the spectacle/ looking ridiculous (delete as appropriate). To me, it seems very retro even in 1998 with the scratching of records and those “Brrrrrrrrrr” noises from Mr T. Fly. I love the fact though that the pasty, ginger haired bass player looks as un-hip-hop as it’s possible to be.
As with Will Smith’s earlier hit, the track’s title raised the question of what it actually meant (for me anyway). Apparently, it’s that arms-crossed, feet apart pose employed by breakdancers at the end of a routine which represents strength, defiance and the legacy of hip-hop (according to AI Overview anyway). “B-Boy Stance” would peak at No 23 but did it pave the way for an enormous hit later in the year that would become the UK’s third biggest selling single of 1998? I refer, of course, to “It’s Like That” by Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins.
From out of my comfort zone to totally confused now as we get TheRolling Stones and their hit “Saint Of Me”. Before we get to my confusion though, a couple of points of order. What’s the deal with the little message to camera from Mick Jagger apologising for not being in the TOTP studio in person? Did anyone really expect them to be? Seems a bit unnecessary. Maybe it was part of the ‘Still No 1’ campaign whose tagline the hosts were made to trot out each week – “see, we can get names like Mick Jagger to do stuff for us because we’re still, you know, No 1”. Secondly, what was with the shot of the studio audience watching the promo video on a big screen? How did that help the watching millions at home have a better experience or indeed the song’s chances of increasing its sales?
Anyway, to my confused state of mind. I don’t recall this single though I remember the album it came from “Bridges To Babylon” – its cover at least. Consequently, I’ve had to rely on the internet for some info about it and everything I’ve found seems to suggest that this track was remixed by dance remix duo Deep Dish. This seems possible as the first single from the album – “Anybody Seen My Baby” – had been given the remix treatment by Armand Van Helden. Listening to it though, it doesn’t sound very dance influenced at all. Presumably there was a remix of it as an extra track on a CD single or the 12” format? This can’t be it surely? As for the song itself, it’s pleasant enough blues rock, the kind of which the Stones made their legend on with lots of religious imagery in the lyrics – a companion piece to “Sympathy For The Devil” maybe? To be honest though, it sounds like they were doing their best “Give Out But Don’t Give Up” era Primal Scream impression. Or was it the other way round? Ahem.
Wait…what?! Why are OTT back in the show?! I thought we’d done with this lot for the final time the other week? What? They’ve climbed one place from No 20 to No 19 with “The Story Of Love” after debuting at No 11 in its first week? That was enough to warrant another appearance? Damn you Chris Cowey!
Hands up who thought Aqua would be a one hit wonder?
*Blogger sheepishly raises his hand*
It was a fair assumption though. “Barbie Girl” was just about a novelty song so how could a career be carved out from that beginning? How wrong we all were. Not only did they have more hits but they completed a hat-trick of consecutive No1s. The second of those was “Doctor Jones”, another insanely catchy bubblegum pop track. The whole boy/girl cutesy thing was starting to get really annoying second time around and the “Ah-yippie-yi-ooh, ah-yippie-yi -yeah” lyric was brain rotting. Sadly, we would fall for it hook, line and sinker just as we had done for its predecessor. The UK record buying public was sick. Somebody should have called the doctor. Wake up now!
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
Usher
You Make Me Wanna
I did not
2
Carleen Anderson
Maybe I’m Amazed
Negative
3
Saint Etienne
Sylvie
No
4
Will Smith
Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It
Nope
5
Freestylers
B-Boy Stance
Not my bag at all
6
The Rolling Stones
Saint Of Me
Nah
7
OTT
The Story Of Love
Of course not
8
Aqua
Doctor Jones
Away with you!
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.
Tonight’s TOTP sees yet another ‘golden mic’ host at the helm. I find Lee Evans an interesting guy not because I especially liked his physical brand of humour but more because he took the unusual to retire from stand up comedy and retreated from the world of celebrity at the age of just 50 to spend more time with his family. Apart from a couple of stage roles, he’s rarely been seen since. Anybody who walks away at the height of their fame makes for a fascinating case study in my book just because you don’t see it that often. In the world of music, off the top of my head there’s Rick Astley though he subsequently came back to the world of pop music with a level of success that must have surprised even him. I guess you could also include Take That in this category who split in 1996 whilst still wildly popular though again they came back to the charts with a vengeance. How about Syd Barrett? The co-founder of Pink Floyd withdrew from public life completely in 1972 though to be fair, he’d already been fired from his band over concerns about his drug taking and mental health but he did release two solo albums before disappearing to concentrate on his gardening.
Anyway, Lee Evans had been pulling in huge crowds on his stand up tours playing to a record breaking 10,108 people in 2005 at the Manchester Arena. His 2008 “Big” tour was the biggest selling comedy DVD that Christmas. In 2011, he was honoured by the British Comedy Awards with the Channel 4 award for Special Contribution to Comedy. In short, he was huge. And then, in 2014 he announced his retirement from stand up comedy. Presumably, he could have carried on with the massive grossing tours but he quit at the top and fair play to him. I wonder if there’s any acts on tonight’s TOTP that also went out at the top?
Well, I don’t think the opening turn tonight could be put into that category. One No 13 hit could hardly be described as being at the top! Who the heck were Ruffneck featuring Yavahn anyway? Having listened to their hit “Everybody Be Somebody” they appear to have been the creators of one of the worst dance tracks of the 90s. This is just horrible! Totally repetitive with Yavahn basically singing the title over and over with some bloke screeching it back to her somewhere in the mix. Seriously, this was awful. And yet, incredibly, in one chart – the US Hot Dance Club Play chart – this Swedish act were actually at the top as this track went to No 1 for three weeks. Ruffneck? I’d rather have Rednex and that’s saying something!
Talking of dreadful Swedish pop groups, here’s another one right on cue. AceOfBase had first entered our lives in 1993 with the odious chart topper “All That She Wants”. The hits kept coming with no upturn in quality – “The Sign” was as bad as its predecessor whilst their cover of Aswad’s “Don’t Turn Around” was execrable. “Lucky Love” was the lead single from their second album “The Bridge” and was more of the same turgid, insipid euro-pop that they made their name with. And the lyrics! They must have taken all of the time it took for Lee Evans to start sweating to write…
What the hell does that mean?! Pure gibberish. The track was so insubstantial and unmemorable that even the TOTP caption person couldn’t remember its title and so we got a graphic declaring it was called “Lucky Cove” which sounds like a location on a pirate map where ‘X’ marked the spot where the treasure was to be found. “Lucky Love” was less treasure and more cheap baubles and despite it being a No 1 in their home country and Finland, it rightly stalled at No 20 in the UK.
Next, a true legend of popular music who potentially could have gone out right at the top of their game but, unlike their erstwhile rivals The Beatles, chose to carry on…and on…and on…and on. By 1995, TheRolling Stones had been on the go for 33 years – the fact that they are still an ongoing entity a further 29 years later is utterly remarkable. A career lasting 62 years and counting? It’s just mad, crazy and probably never to be repeated. Sure, there’s versions of other bands still touring but they’ve had so many line up changes that you’d have to apply the spade law* to them. The fact that The Stones have only ever had eight official band members in all those years surely marks them out as unique from everyone else. Ronnie Wood is the youngest of the current band line up at the age of 76!
*If you replace the handle of your spade and then subsequently its blade, is it still the original spade or a different tool entirely?
Anyway, in late 1995 the band had not long finished TheVoodooLoungeTour. Instead of taking a well earned break, they released “Stripped” which was an acoustic album made up of a mixture of live tracks from the tour (including rehearsals performances in some cases) and studio reworking of songs from their back catalogue. I’m guessing that new label Virgin had their eyes on the upcoming Christmas market and took inspiration from the then in vogue MTV Unplugged show to come up with the idea for “Stripped”. To promote the album, a single was needed and in a move that seems so calculated yet obvious you can’t believe they hadn’t done it before, the band released a version of the Bob Dylan classic “Like A Rolling Stone”. It’s a great song and a decent enough version but come on! Dylan has always been a conundrum to me – a great songwriter but I don’t like his voice. I suppose it’s all subjective. The same could be said of Tom Waits but I really like Tom’s vocals. The Stones’ version of “Like A Rolling Stone” made No 12 giving them their biggest UK hit since “Undercover Of The Night” twelve years earlier. Ah, the power of a cover – and in this particular case, that cover by this band.
SaintEtienne have always been a band who do things on their own terms it seems to me so they had it in them to quit while they were ahead as it were but chose to carry on a career which has been going 34 years now. Never let it be said that it hasn’t been a diverse one though. 60s pop, house music, electronica and even folk have been influences incorporated into their sound. The very definition of eclectic. With support from the ‘inkies’ press, they really should have had bigger hits but they’ve never even had one Top 10* hit.
*If you don’t count “7 Ways To Love” under the guise of Cola Boy which I don’t.
Their lack of huge selling singles makes the decision to release a singles collection album literally called “Too Young To Die: Singles 1990-1995” seem a rather odd one. A Japan only Best Of called “Fairy Tales From Saint Etienne” had been released earlier in the year so maybe they wanted a more official documentation of their work so far? Whatever the reason, the album did OK sales wise reaching No 17 in a crowded pre-Christmas market place though failed to match the chart highs of previous two studio albums “So Tough” and “Tiger Bay” which both went Top 10.
To promote the album, the single “He’s On The Phone” was released. The song’s origins were rather convoluted. A remix by producer Motiv8 of their track “Accident” from the band’s “Reserection” EP (and no that’s not a typo) that they made in collaboration with French singer songwriter Étienne Daho, “Accident” itself was a reworking of Daho’s 1984 French language hit “Week-end à Rome”. That’s Daho in this TOTP performance, the bloke who wanders on stage towards the end of the song to mumble some words in French. I’d forgotten what how much of a dance track this one was. I think I was confusing it with “You’re In A Bad Way” which was much more pure pop. There seems to be an awful lot of PVC on show here with the overly energetic backing dancers kind of jarring against the smooth delivery of Sarah Cracknell who’s very good at looking straight down the camera. “He’s On The Phone” became the band’s biggest ever hit when it peaked at No 11.
A proper One Hit Wonder now (in the UK at least) as Whale get their fifteen minutes of fame. Can such an artist that falls into this category be able to quit at the top? I suppose it depends on whether they carry on in search (unsuccessfully) of more hits. I’m guessing that most do. In Whale’s case, they pushed really hard just to have the one. “Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe” was on its second mission to seek out the strange new world of the UK Top 40 having peaked at No 46 on its first release back in 1993. Its second incarnation beamed down into the Top 20 at No 15. And what a curious, almost alien life form it was. The music press tied itself up in knots trying to define it. Many tried to describe the song by referring to it as a hybrid of other bands, usually Beastie Boys/Dee-Lite/ Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Sugacubes. Others just made shit up like Stephen Dalton from the NME:
Dalton, Stephen (12 August 1995). “Long Play”. NME. p. 42.
“Scuzz–metalriffola? Anyways, what did I make of it? I suppose I have to give you my attempt to describe it now. Well, I liked it – let me say that for starters. An otherworldly, wailing (no pun intended) vocal from the female singer on an undulating, almost hypnotic verse before the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” like chorus not just kicks in but kicks the door down. There’s even some death-metal-esque random shouting in there. How’s that for a description? I seem to recall a fair bit of discussion about what a ‘slobo’ was so here’s @TOTPFacts with the answer:
What is a “slobo”, exactly? Er, a misunderstanding. Whale’s Henrik Schyffert: "I heard that 'slobo' was a nickname for Chelsea girls. 'Hobo Humpin' Sloane Babe' would have been right. So there's a cute Swedish misunderstanding for you.” #TOTP
I like the way singer Cia Berg pops up beside Lee Evans in his intro before joining the rest of the band on stage. I thought she was a cheeky, inventive studio audience member at first. Whale would have one more (even bigger) hit in their native Sweden but after two albums they were done and split before the end of the decade.
Having described Saint Etienne as the very definition of eclectic earlier, where the hell do I go to talk about EverythingButTheGirl? Their Wikipedia entry uses the following categorisations of their music:
Sophisti-pop
Electronica
Drum and Bass
Trip-hop
Folk pop
Jazz pop
Indie pop
Pick the bones out of that lot. However you think of them, perhaps the first song of theirs that will come to mind is “Missing” or rather the Todd Terry remix of it. Already inside the Top 10 by this TOTP appearance and therefore their biggest ever hit even at that point, it would spend 14 weeks inside the Top 10 peaking at No 3. The success of the single saw them head off to explore more possibilities of a dance sound with 1996’s album “Walking Wounded” embracing electronica and finding acceptance amongst the record buying public by going platinum in the UK. Not everyone was in favour of their new direction though. I recall Tracey and Ben in an interview talking about a crowd reaction to a gig they did around the time of “Walking Wounded” and recalled that one disgruntled punter had said of the music on the way out “Well, that was a load of techno bollocks!”. Can’t please them all I suppose.
Now here’s a band that probably should have called it a day long before they did but in 1995, there was no bigger name in British music than Oasis. After losing out in the Battle of Britpop to Blur, the lads from Burnage would go on to win the war when it came to album sales. “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?” would go 17 (seventeen!) times platinum in the UK alone becoming the second best selling album here of 1995 despite only being out for three months. Fast forward 13 years and the band’s final album “Dig Out Your Soul”, whilst still selling well and going to No 1 would go just double platinum with some parts of the music press accusing the album of being “generically Oasis”. I have all their albums bar one (2000’s “Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants”) but even I as a fan, could see that they had gone on about two albums two long.
Back in November 1995 though, they were unstoppable. Well, almost. In fact, they were stopped twice around this time and on both occasions by the same act. More of that later though. The third single to be released from the album was “Wonderwall” which has become possibly their most well known hit. I say possibly as it’s maybe a toss up between that and the following single “Don’t Look Back In Anger”. Fine margins and all that. Sadly for me, “Wonderwall” was so ubiquitous that it’s become one of those songs that it’s hard to listen to anymore. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good song or that I didn’t enjoy it at the time but merely that, for me, it’s suffered from overexposure. However, I have to also say that it sounded like a classic from the get go. Spare and brittle yet perfectly conceived and executed. It would become a staple of the busker’s repertoire. Apparently bass player Guigsy didn’t play on the actual recording of the track with Noel taking on bass duties instead. He also didn’t feature in the official promo video for “Wonderwall” as he had temporarily left Oasis due to nervous exhaustion with his place in the band and promo briefly being taken by Scott McLeod. I’m sure that’s Guigsy in this TOTP though. Maybe it was a case of timing as this performance looks pre-recorded so maybe it was done a bit before the single was released.
The song’s title was inspired by the 1968 film Wonderwall and its soundtrack album called “Wonderwall Music” by George Harrison, the first solo album by a member of The Beatles. Sometime in the early 2000s, I was working and living in York and used to attend a pub pop quiz on a Tuesday evening. One night, one of the questions was ‘What was the 60s film whose title is also the name of an Oasis single?’. I confidently wrote down “Don’t Look Back In Anger” but soon discovered I’d got confused with the 1959 kitchen sink drama LookBackInAnger based on the John Osbourne play of the same name. I’ll never make that mistake again.
As confident as I was in my incorrect answer, so was Lee Evans in his false prediction that “Wonderwall” would be No 1 soon enough. It never made it though it has sold 3.6 million copies making it the biggest selling Oasis single in the UK. As for the Mike Flowers Pop version, I’ll get to that all in good time.
After Madonna in the studio last week, seven days on TOTP executive producer Ric Blaxill had pulled off another coup – that of getting David Bowie on the show in person! OK, 1995 wasn’t peak Bowie but still; David Bowie! As much as it’s generally accepted that the 80s weren’t The Thin White Duke’s finest years, I’m not convinced that the 90s were much, if any, better. Before I go any further, I should state that whilst I like Bowie (who doesn’t?) that I’m no aficionado and so my opinions come from a place of limited knowledge – if you are a mega-fan and are offended by anything else I may write from this point, it was not my intention to irk you. So…in my humble opinion, of the four albums he released during the 90s, I would venture that none of them rank highly in the Bowie canon. His fanbase ensured that four of them went Top 10 including a No 1 in “Black Tie White Noise” but none achieved massive sales. In fact, I think I’m right in saying that Bowie’s biggest selling albums of the decade were both compilations – 1990’s “Changesbowie” and 1993’s “The Singles Collection”.
Come 1995, the latest Bowie album was “Outside” and as with any album by The Master (as Lee Evans refers to him in his intro), there’s a shit load of words written about it online which I couldn’t hope to summarise in this post. Suffice to say, the main themes are that it was inspired by Twin Peaks (and possibly Cluedo) with a concept narrative about the murder of a 14 year old girl being investigated by a detective Nathan Adler. The album (though I talk about it in the surety that I’ve never heard it) features a bewildering mix of styles including rock, jazz, electronica, industrial rock and ambient. This single – the second taken from it – “Strangers When We Meet” – was originally a track on Bowie’s soundtrack album to the BBC series TheBuddhaOf Suburbia based on the novel by Hanif Kureishi. That album did the sum of naff all sales wise though has retrospectively come to be regarded as a ‘great lost album’. I don’t know how much the original version of “Strangers When We Meet” differs from its later incarnation (if at all) but for what it’s worth, I quite like what we get in this performance. I don’t remember it at all but it’s a good tune if a little pedestrian for Bowie and though it will certainly never be regarded as one of his classics, it probably deserved a better UK chart placing than No 39. As ever, Bowie looks effortlessly cool here and is the natural opposite when juxtaposed to the upcoming act at No 1.
P.S. I’m saying that Bowie was still at the top of his game when his final album “Blackstar” was released in 2016. Obviously, his premature death wasn’t the same as him calling time on his career. He surely would have released more albums post 2016 had he lived on.
And so to the act that not only kept Oasis from scoring a No 1 single with “Wonderwall” but also pipped them to the accolade of having the best selling UK album of 1995. How did theabominationthat was Robson&Jerome happen? Well, as with most musical abominations, it was all Simon Cowell’s fault. It was him who pursued the SoldierSoldier actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn to release a version of “Unchained Melody” after their characters had performed the song in a plot line in the show and the phenomenal public response to the record (it sold 1.8 million copies) meant that more would follow. Cowell wasn’t going to let this cash cow go out to pasture without milking it dry first. And so, the inevitable follow up arrived and of course, it was another cover version. “I Believe” had been a massive hit in 1953 for Frankie Laine – no, like really massive – it went to No 1 on three different occasions registering 18 weeks at the top of the charts in the process. The Bachelors also had a big hit with the song when their version got to No 2 in the UK in 1964. Cowell would have known this and also that the age demographic who would buy a Robson & Jerome single would also know the song from years before. It smacks of cold, calculating strategy. R&J’s take on “I Believe” would top the charts for 4 weeks though they were unable to last the extra 3 weeks that would have been required to become the Christmas No 1. Ha! You got that calculation wrong didn’t you Cowell?! Thankfully, the song is only just over 2 minutes long so the performance here is mercifully short.
Talking of mercifully short, Robson & Jerome at least had the good sense and self knowledge to understand when to cut short their pop career. A second album and third single followed in 1996 – all of which went to No 1 in their respective charts – but these were their last releases (if you don’t count a couple of subsequent compilations shoved out by their label RCA). This means we’ve finally found an act on this TOTP that went out at the top just like Lee Evans!
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
Ruffneck featuring Yavahn
Everybody Be Somebody
Never happening
2
Ace Of Base
Lucky Love
No
3
The Rolling Stones
Like A Rolling Stone
Nah
4
Saint Etienne
He’s On The Phone
I didn’t
5
Whale
Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe
Liked it, didn’t buy it
6
Everything But The Girl
Missing
No but I must have it on something surely
7
Oasis
Wonderwall
This was one of the few of their singles I failed to buy for some reason
8
David Bowie
Strangers When We Meet
Nope
9
Robson & Jerome
I Believe
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 the middle of February 1994 and something odd is happening. Unlike in 2023, my beloved Chelsea are still in the FA Cup. Somehow they managed to get past last season’s runners up Sheffield Wednesday after a replay in the last round and, two days after this TOTP aired, would travel to Oxford United and dump them out as well. To put this in context, this was only the third time in my living memory that they had made the Quarter Finals and I’d been supporting them since 1975. Nowadays of course they are serial finalists and winners of the cup but back in 1994, this felt like a very big deal. They would end up making it all the way to the final that season but let’s not talk about the 4-0 thrashing they were handed by Manchester United eh? I was working in the Our Price in Market Street, Manchester at the time and the Sony rep assigned to our shop was a guy called John who was also a Chelsea fan. He called in during the week and offered me the chance to go with him to the Oxford game on the Saturday but I had to work. What has all this got to do with TOTP? Nothing at all really but I like to recall what was going on in my life at the point these repeats originally aired. Right, now that’s done, let the music play…
This is the third show of Ric Blaxill’s stewardship and so far he’s only used Mark Goodier and Simon Mayo of his roster of returning Radio 1 DJs to host the show. Mayo gets the gig this week unfortunately but he gives a mercifully short intro at least before we’re into the tunes. SaintEtienne ended last week’s show and they begin this one but this time in the studio with a performance of “Pale Movie”. I said in the last post that it put me in mind of the theme tune to dubbed, black and white 60s TV series WhiteHorses. However, on reflection it’s got the merest whiff of Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” about it – must be the Spanish guitars. Apparently the band themselves view the track as a missed opportunity in that it could have been absolutely blinding but they didn’t get it quite right. It sounds pretty good to me though.
Mayo can’t resist going through his various gears of smugness at the end where he makes references to the staging of the performance and the usage of Lambrettas. “That’ll be the first time you’ve seen Lambrettas on Top of the Pops since…ooh…1980 and Poison Ivy” he can’t wait to tell us to show off his pop knowledge. Oh piss off Mayo!
Right, what’s this screeching nonsense?! Well, it’s Cappella, the people who bought you “U Got To Know” and “U Got 2 Let The Music” in 1993. They’ve dispensed with the use of a ‘U’ instead of ‘you’ in their choice of song title this time as they deliver “Move On Baby” though they would return to it for their next hit “U & Me”.
Reading their Wikipedia entry, they were kind of like the Eurodance Tight Fit. How so? Well, Tight Fit were a hastily put together trio of models/ singers who were assembled to be the public image of a recording of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” organised by producer Tim Friese-Greene. However, the year before a different producer called Ken Gold had made a record called “Back To The Sixties”, a medley jumping on the Starsound/Stars On 45 craze. Although it was recorded by session musicians and singers, it was promoted by a group of actor/singer types also under the name of Tight Fit for a TOTP appearance. Sound familiar?
OK but how does this relate to Cappella? Well, Cappella weren’t really a group but more a promotional name for the ideas of Hi-NRG producer Gianfranco Bortolotti. They first had a UK chart hit in 1989 with “Helyom Halib” which was fronted by model Ettore Foresti who didn’t appear on the record at all. Fast forward four years and Bortolotti was having those aforementioned ‘U’ hits but this time the public faces of the act were rapper Rodney Bishop and dancer Kelly Overett. Neither were anywhere near the recording studio at the time the tracks were laid down. Judging by the vocals that Kelly gives on this TOTP appearance, that was probably a wise choice. Anyway, it does seem like the Tight Fit strategy of promoting a single was copied by Cappella. Or was it Tight Fit who copied Boney M and Black Box who copied Tight Fit and Capella who copied Black Box? Considering that question is more likely to give me a headache than listening to “Move On Baby” if that was possible!
For all their success, CrowdedHouse have a patchy record when it comes to hit singles. The did accrue thirteen UK Top 40 entries between 1987 and 1996 (twelve of them consecutively) which in itself is not too shabby but of those only one reached the Top 10 and of the rest only five made the Top 20. I guess they were more of an albums band. This one, “Locked Out”, was their joint second biggest hit when it peaked at No 12. The third single from their fourth album “Together Alone”, it’s a great pop song; urgent yet melodic, well crafted yet felt spontaneous.
It was also featured in a film that I’ve mentioned before (though I can’t recall why now). RealityBites starred Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder and Ben Stiller who also directed and whilst it wasn’t a runaway success at the time, has since become a bit of a cult classic. Its soundtrack isn’t talked about in such revered tones but it did furnish a fair few hits. Aside from “Locked Out” it also featured “Stay (I Missed You)” by Lisa Loeb (a US No 1 and UK No 6) and Big Mountain’s cover of Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way” (UK No 2 and US No 6). Those hits are for much later in the year though.
I confidently predicted the other week that we wouldn’t be seeing Dina Carroll on the show again until 1996 when her next album came out. So what’s she doing here this week performing an album track? It was all to do with the BRITS which last week’s TOTP had bigged up with a whole section dedicated to the nominations. Dina won Best British Female but as she will have got the gong for that at the actual BRITS show, they’ve allowed Simon Mayo to present her with an award to commemorate her album “So Close” selling one million copies. To celebrate that occurrence, she’s singing “Hold On” exclusively for the show despite it never being released as a single. It’s got a bit of a Marvin Gaye vibe about it but it certainly wasn’t as strong as “Don’t Be A Stranger” for example. Was this type of performance going to be a regular thing under new producer Ric Blaxill? The ‘million seller’ slot? Surely not…?
…or definitely maybe because here’s another new section of the show that is based around songs not actually in the Top 40. To be fair to Blaxill, this slot was at least linked to the charts being billed as it was Bubbling underthe40 and highlighting a song just outside them. Was he thinking that if a single was just outside the 40, given prime exposure on TOTP it would definitely be inside it the following week anyway so why not just get it on early doors? That did rather cast him in the role of hitmaker which is maybe not the job of the show’s producer? Wasn’t TOTP always meant to reflect the tastes of the record buying public and not to be forcing songs upon it? Anyway, whatever the reasoning behind the slot, in the case of Sinéad O’Connor, the exposure it gave her song “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart” didn’t turn it into a hit in the UK. In fact, it never got any higher than where it was at the time of this performance – No 42. Taken from the soundtrack to the film InTheNameOfTheFather about the 1974 Guildford pub bombings and the four people falsely convicted of perpetrating them, it’s certainly an affecting track. I’ve never seen the film but I can imagine it fitting in well to a movie of such gravity. However, whether you’d want to listen to it over and over outside of the film I’m not sure.
Sinéad gives a typically atypical performance here. With just some spotlights, a smattering of dry ice, the word ‘forgiveness’ marker penned on her chest and a long bob wig (I’m assuming) for company, she goes from standing still defiantly to full on animated dancing via a bit of gentle swaying all in the space of three minutes. Sinéad would get herself a bona fide chart hit later in the year when “Thank You For Hearing Me” made No 13 and a gold selling parent album in “Universal Mother”.
The well established Breakers slot is still with us and we start with a third consecutive hit for UrbanCookieCollective. Yes, you read that right – a third consecutive hit. Remembered by many as a one hit wonder, the Cookies (as nobody ever called them) actually had five UK Top 40 hits though the final one was a a rerelease of their first. “Sail Away” was the third of those and would make No 18. It’s got a frenetic beat but none of the charm of “The Key The Secret”, as if they were trying to do their best 2 Unlimited impression.
Mayo’s at it again with his smug mode enabled going on about how there hasn’t been an act called Sasha on TOTP for decades. I presume he was referring to the French singer/songwriter Sacha Distel? Ooh Simon, you’re so knowledgeable! Nob. Anyway, this Sasha is the Welsh, multi-award winning DJ and producer. He isn’t the guy in the video who I believe is Sam Mollison. You didn’t make that clear in your intro did you Mayo? Maybe you didn’t know? He also isn’t Sash! the German DJ of “Encore Une Fois” fame. Anyway, this track “Higher Ground” made No19 and was a track from Sasha’s “The Qat Collection” which also furnished a No 32 hit called “Magic” also with Mollison on vocals though the album itself only made No 56.
Next it’s the official follow up single from Meatloaf to his gigantic, global No 1 hit “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”. I say official as Sony rereleased “Bat Out Of Hell” in December 1993 to cash in on the renewed interest in their one time artist. However, the second song from the “Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell” album was this track- “Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through”. Yet another Jim Steinman composition, the track was actually recorded by Steinman 13 years prior for his “Bad For Good” album and was his only US chart hit in his own right.
Written about the uplifting power of rock music and its ability to see people through even the most extreme of circumstances, it’s classic Meatloaf fodder (it was originally written for him) and has the usual play on words title with the use of ‘through’ rather than ‘true’. Any song from the album chosen as the follow up to its chart busting predecessor would struggle in comparison sales wise and that was the case with “Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through” which didn’t even make the Top 10 over here. The video was as over the top as you would expect though with Meatloaf cast as some sort of vigilante fortune teller going around blowing up jukeboxes to rescue runaway teenagers including a young Angelina Jolie. Director Michael Bay would go onto direct movies including Armageddon, Pearl Harbour and Transformers so he obviously had a thing about explosions.
God Mayo really is insufferable. In his next link, he says this:
“Now there comes a point in every good Top of the Pops where your Dad in the corner goes ‘What the Hell is this?!’. Well, just tell him it’s TheWildhearts and they’re great!”.
What’s wrong with that you may ask? Well, at the time of this show, Mayo was a 35 year old father of two so I’m not really buying his ‘I’m down with the kids’ positioning of himself. As for the band he was introducing, I really can’t remember them at all despite their thirteen UK Top 40 hits and four albums they released between 1993 and 1997. So were they great as Simon Mayo told us? Well, if “Caffeine Bomb” was anything to go by, not in my book. All this glam metal stuff had been done to death before and by better bands than this. New York Dolls, Kiss with their full face make up, even Manic Street Preachers had dabbled with make up and guitars in their early days. Then there was the early 90s UK glam blues/rock movement from the likes of The Quireboys and The Dogs D’Amour…oh and guess what The Wildhearts had links to both those bands. Here’s @TOTPFacts with the details:
The Wildhearts singer/guitarist Ginger (real name David Walls) was previously in The Quireboys, while drummer Bam was (and currently once again is) a member of The Dogs D'Amour. #TOTP
Oh it all makes sense now. They tried to make themselves controversial with headline baiting song titles like “Greetings From Shitsville”, “Sick Of Drugs” and “Just In Lust” but it all seems a bit desperate to me. Nothing to see here. Next!
Did someone mention 2Unlimited before? Um, yeah…it was me obviously but here they are still having hits even in 1994, three whole years after their first. “Let The Beat Control Your Body” was the ninth of fourteen in total in the UK and the fifth and final one from their “No Limits” album. To highlight how many hits they’ve had, the TOTP production team have set up a 2 Unlimited ‘art gallery’ full of gold and silver discs to enable a really weak link for Simon Mayo who obviously had a thing about other people’s disc awards following Dina Carroll’s earlier. They could have at least used the VisionOn gallery music to soundtrack it:
Once the performance starts it the usual 2 Unlimited shtick with lots of pounding beats and some ropey rapping from Ray and Anita enthusiastically singing some dreadful, trite lyrics like “My beat accepts you just as you are, it drives you away just like a fast car”. Seriously, how did they get away with this for so long?!
Mariah Carey has crashed straight I at No 1 with her cover version of Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” finally bringing D:Ream’s four week reign to an end. Supposedly the release of the single was delayed by three weeks probably to align perfectly with the Valentine’s Day market but possibly so as not to clash with the death of Nilsson himself who passed away on 15th January. A respectful amount of time maybe needed to be seen to have passed or was it to see if his record company might rerelease his most famous song in the aftermath of his demise? The single’s success gave her “Music Box” album a huge sales push despite it having been out for six months by this point. I’d ordered in a load for the Our Price I was working in but we still sold out by Saturday afternoon – a rookie error. “Without You” will be No 1 for another three weeks.
The play out tune is “Rush” by FreakPower which is the second song on the show tonight after Sinéad O’Connor’s “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart” not to become a Top 40 hit. Freak Power were, of course, one of Norman Cook’s many musical vehicles and followed the dissolution of Beats International in his timeline. They would score a massive hit in 1995 with “Turn On, Tune In Cop Out” following its use in a Levi’s advert. I don’t remember this one at all though hardly surprising seeing as it peaked at No 62.
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
Saint Etienne
Pale Movie
Liked it, didn’t buy it
2
Cappella
Move On Baby
Never
3
Crowded House
Locked Out
No but I think I have it on a Best Of album
4
Dina Carroll
Hold On
I never bought her album, no
5
Sinéad O’Connor
You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart
No
6
Urban Cookie Collective
Sail Away
Uh-uh
7
Sasha
Higher Ground
Nah
8
Meatloaf
Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through
Nope
9
The Wildhearts
Caffeine Bomb
God no!
10
2 Unlimited
Let The Beat Control Your Body
As if
11
Mariah Carey
Without You
I did not
12
Freak Power
Rush
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.
We’re still just about in sync with the BBC4 TOTP repeats which means it’s coming up to Valentine’s Day both in 2023 and 1994. Does that mean there’ll be a load of love songs on this show as the big day approaches? Were record companies that cynical back then? Let’s find out…
We start with a combination that hadn’t been seen on the show since the fag end of the 80s. D Mob and CathyDennis first collaborated in 1989 on “C’mon And Get My Love” and achieved a chart peak of No 15. D Mob had already caused some sensationalist tabloid headlines a year earlier with thejr banned hit single “We Call It Acieed” whilst Cathy became a major star in her own right in 1991 with four Top 40 hits and a No 3 album. Since then though, Cathy’s chart trajectory had hit a downturn with none of the three singles taken from her second album “Into The Skyline” piercing the Top 20. As for D Mob, they’d barely released anything this decade so far which I guess explains their absence from the charts. Either way, it was probably advantageous to both parties for another joint project and it arrived in the form of this song “Why” that was actually the second track on that sophomore album of Cathy’s. Yet again, this was another track that has evaded permanent residence in my memory banks. I’m not surprised as it’s not as immediate as “C’mon And Get My Love” though it did manage a high of No 23.
Cathy has clearly had an image change. Her loose, cascading curls have been replaced by a short, spiky crop and her catsuit of two years before by a full length dress. By the time of her final studio album release “Am I The Kinda Girl”, she’d got a sort of overgrown bob. Why am I talking about Cathy Dennis’s various hairstyles? Yes, you’ve guessed it – I’m desperately filling as I’ve very little else to say about this one apart from the following: this was D Mob’s last ever Top 40 hit whilst Cathy managed two more one of which was a cover of The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset”.
If you Google ‘when did Britpop start?’, the answer you mostly get is 1993 (and that it ended in 1997). Yet if you ask the question in a different way like ‘what was the first Britpop song?’ then you get the answer “The Drowners” by Suede which came out in 1992. Suede is also the answer to the question ‘who were the first Britpop band?’. Then there’s thatSelect magazine cover of Brett Anderson superimposed over a Union Jack with the tag line ‘Yanks go home!’. That issue came out in April 1993. Well, Suede are on this TOTP later so does that mean Britpop was in full flow already by this point?
What about the claims of Blur though? Journalist John Harris pinpoints their “Popscene” single alongside “The Drowners” as the very start of Britpop. Their 1992 tour of America supposedly sparked Damon Albarn’s resentment of US culture and his desire to big up its British counterpart. One person straddled both the Suede and Blur camps whilst also creating her own personal chapter of Britpop. Here she is being interviewed by the aforementioned John Harris…
Look, many cleverer people than me have written millions of words about Britpop so I’m not going to carry on with my own essay about its origins here but…Justine Frischmann and Elastica were certainly right in amongst it and were actually having hits far earlier in the whole story than I remember. Interestingly in his intro, the returning Radio 1 DJ Mark Goodier refers to Elastica as “a brilliant indie band” so no mention of Britpop there. “Line Up” was the band’s second single after their debut “Stutter” had peaked at No 80. However, that single had been limited to a pressing run of 1,500 copies so it was never going to be a big hit but it did create a buzz around the band and whetted the appetite of fans to create a demand for their music meaning that, when their second single was made more widely available, it shot into the Top 40. Fellow centre-of-Britpop Camden dwellers Menswear would do a similar thing by performing debut single “I’ll Manage Somehow” on TOTP before it was even released.
As for Elastica’s sound, it certainly stood out back in early 1994. Crunching guitars and almost off key riffs that sounded like a mad, hypnotic tune bewitching the pop kids with Justine cast as some sort of indie Pied Piper of Hamelin inculcating them to “line up in line”. Justine herself made quite the splash of course with her androgynous looks and style, coming on like Marcella Detroit’s younger and hipper sister.
“Line Up” would make No 20 paving the way for the band’s most well known tune “Connection” to be released in the October. Their debut eponymous album didn’t appear until March 1995 which is probably why my brain was deceiving me into thinking that they didn’t turn up until much later than they actually did. That album would go to No 1 and be the fastest selling debut at that point since…well, Oasis’s “Definitely Maybe” just the year before but it was still quite the achievement. A second album wouldn’t appear until 2000 by which point Britpop felt like ancient history. The band split in 2001 and Frischmann relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area to become an artist.
Finally a song with the word ‘love’ in its title as Valentine’s Day approaches but it’s hardly a big, slushy ballad. “A Deeper Love” was first a hit in 1992 for Clivillés And Cole, the guys behind C+C Music Factory but it was covered two years later by the Queen of Soul herself Aretha Franklin to promote her collection album “Greatest Hits: 1980-1994”. Though you can’t deny Aretha’s legacy, I’m not entirely convinced that she had that many hits between those years.
*checks her discography
Hmm. The results are in. In the UK, Aretha had four Top 40 hits, three of them with other artists.
1985 – “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” with Eurythmics – No 9
1986 – “Who’s Zoomin’ Who – No 11
1986 – “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” with George Michael – No 1
1989 – “It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be” with Whitney Houston – No 29
Ok, the chart positions aren’t too bad (including a chart topper) but four in fourteen years is hardly prolific and just one of those totally solo. “A Deeper Love” would bring it up to a five when it went straight into the charts at No 5 which was also its peak. It was a better set of results in America where her “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” album alone supplied four hit singles including the rather good “Freeway Of Love” which bombed over here. Hit statuses were reversed for “A Deeper Love” which only made No 63 in the US. As we can see from the single’s video, it also featured in the film SisterAct2: BackInTheHabit. The Clivillés And Cole original did nothing for me though it is widely regarded as a bit of a House classic. I wasn’t struck by Aretha’s version either though you can’t deny her excellent vocals on it.
Right, does this count as a love song? I’m not sure. I am certain though that TheCranberries were one of the breakthrough acts of 1994 despite having been in existence since 1989. For many, of course, The Cranberries were Dolores O’Riordan in the same way that Debbie Harry was Blondie. Completely unfair but that’s perceptions for you. To be honest though, everything changed for the band when Dolores walked into their rehearsal room in Limerick in 1990. Given a sheet of chord progressions by band founder Noel Hogan, she returned within a week with lyrics and melodies which would form the basis of “Linger”. Known then as The Cranberry Saw Us, they trod the usual path of demos and gigs before eventually signing with Island Records in 1991. A few aborted recording sessions and a sacked manager later, they finally released their major label debut single “Dreams” in 1992. Despite critical acclaim it failed to chart and nor did the follow up, the initial release of “Linger” in February 1993. A turning point was reached when they supported Suede (them again!) on a tour and gained the attention of MTV who put their singles on heavy rotation. “Linger” would become a huge US hit going to No 8 in the Billboard Hot 100. Such success couldn’t be ignored back home and “Linger” duly got a rerelease in early 1994 when it peaked at No 14. I have to admit that I thought it got much higher in the charts than that given it seemed to be constantly on the radio but then none of their nine UK chart hits made the Top 10. They did however, sell a lot of albums. Their debut “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” went to No 1 over here and went five times platinum in the States. These were huge numbers.
As a song, “Linger” is a bit of a belter. That soft, lullaby-like intro before the swirling strings swoop in and Dolores sings in that distinctive Irish brogue. It was always going to be a hit; it just took a while for the stars to align – maybe there was a bit of cloud cover about during that first release. It had that quality of feeling accomplished yet also somehow organic despite the lush production. It was a perfect example of shimmering pop/rock. Oh and Sting, that’s how you write a great song that features the lyrics ‘wrapped around your finger’ as opposed to the turgid nonsense you released in 1983.
The success of “Linger” meant demand for the album that had already been out for a year suddenly snowballed and I’m guessing that it was temporarily withdrawn by Island and then re-promoted as was the way back then. “Dreams” would also get a rerelease and become a hit this time around when it peaked at No 27. They would end 1994 with a second multi platinum selling album in “No Need To Argue”. Tragically Dolores O’Riordan would die aged 46 by accidental drowning following excessive intoxication by alcohol.
The early to mid 90s saw many a female R&B solo artist in the UK charts. Des’ree, Toni Braxton, Oleta Adams, Karyn White, Aaliyah and there are two more of them on the show tonight starting with Carleen Anderson. The former vocalist with the Young Disciples of “Apparently Nothin’” fame was no longer a follower but a leader as she started out on her solo career. Mark Goodier has already stolen the James Brown reference in his intro but what he didn’t say was that in addition to Carleen’s Mum having been in the Godfather of Soul’s touring band that he was also Carleen’s godfather.
Anyway, with that musical tidbit out of the way, let’s return to Carleen herself and if I wasn’t sure that “Linger” was a love song then her debut single surely wasn’t with a title like “Nervous Breakdown”. Now I was aware of Carleen Anderson as I worked in a record shop so if nothing else I knew what the cover of her album looked like but not how it sounded. Listening to this back now though I was pleasantly surprised…until that horrible bit where a god awful jazz intervention is triggered by the singing of the word ‘breakdown’. Just horrible. The guitarist up there on stage with Carleen looks like the spit of Outspan from the film TheCommitments while the saxophonist could be Dean from the same film after he’d had his ‘jazz haircut’. “Nervous Breakdown” made No 27 and was the first of four tracks lifted from her album “True Spirit” that were Top 40 chart hits.
There’s no Breakers this week as that slot is reserved for a montage of acts that have been nominated for the 1994 BRIT Awards which took place at the Alexandra Palace on Valentine’s Day itself. The event was hosted by Elton John and RuPaul with performances including Take That doing that Beatles medley, Van Morrison and Shane MacGowan duetting on “Have I Told You Lately” and of course Elton and RuPaul with a rendition of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. You can look up who won what yourselves as I’m not going to list them all here.
The second of those female R&B solo artists now and like Carleen Anderson before her, she made her name initially as the vocalist in a successful band. SharaNelson was, of course, the voice behind the Massive Attack hits “Unfinished Sympathy” and “Safe From Harm”. By 1993, she’d embarked on her own solo career scoring hits with “Down That Road” and “One Goodbye In Ten” and a hit album in “What Silence Knows”. “Uptight” was the third single taken from that album and as with Carleen’s song, the title of the single is not really very Valentine’s Day orientated but it’s a jolly, upbeat number though the chorus does rather disappoint. It feels like it’s building up to this killer hook that never really materialises.
On that song title still, Sahara’s track was absolutely nothing to do with the Stevie Wonder song of the same name. That wasn’t the case though with “Step Out” by Oasis. The B-side to “Don’t Look Back In Anger” was so based on “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” that Stevie got 10% of the single’s royalties.
And so we arrive at the band described by host Mark Goodier as “one of the most talked about British bands of the last year” and to be fair, nearly 30 years on, I’ve spent a great deal of this post referring to them before we even get to their appearance. Suede were, of course, making huge headlines in the music press at this time but they seemed to have a premonition of what was coming over the hill like a monster (to paraphrase The Automatic) and decided they would quite like to sidestep it. I speak of Britpop obviously and how Suede always seemed determined to distance themselves from the movement and plough their own furrow. After the runaway success of their eponymous debut album, instead of just repeating that formula, they released a sophomore album in “Dog Man Star” that provoked divided reactions. Rolling Stone magazine described it as:
“one of the most pretentious albums ever released by a major label”[
Sheffield, Rob (2004). “London Suede”. In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 493–94. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8
Other critics labelled it overblown and self indulgent. However, it has a special place in the hearts of the fanbase in much the same way that Manic Street Preachers’ defiantly uncommercial third album “The Holy Bible” regularly tops fan polls as their best. In terms of the chronology of Suede’s album releases, from a music business point of view, it might have made more sense to have swapped hit laden third album “Coming Up” with “Dog Man Star”. Wet Wet Wet followed a similar trajectory when releasing the mature but less commercial “Holding Back The River” album as the follow up to “Popped In Souled Out” when the more logical move was to have come up with third album “High On The Happy Side” in its place. Still, you have to allow artists their integrity and creative freedom to write as they wish and this is what Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler did on “Stay Together”. This track didn’t actually appear on “Dog Man Star” so was it a stand alone release to maintain the band’s profile during the 18 months between albums? Whatever the reason it was the last Suede single released whilst Butler was still in the band before he defected after his relationship with Anderson broke down. He quit shortly after this TOTP with his final Suede gig coming just two days after it aired.
Apparently the band have distanced themselves from the track (maybe the reason it doesn’t appear on “Dog Man Star”) but it did provide them with their highest ever chart placing (equal with 1996’s “Trash”) of No 3. An epic song clocking in at 8:29 uncut (the radio edit was halved to 4:19), it was written while Butler’s father was dying of cancer. It’s instantly recognisable as Suede and I always like the way Brett sang the word ‘skyscrapers’ in the chorus and he looks cool as f**k in this performance. Bernard on the other hand…I do like Butler though and own pretty much all of his material released post Suede. The performance by him and David McAlmont of “Yes” on Later…with Jools Holland is one of my favourite ever.
It’s a fourth and final week at the top for D:Ream and “Things Can Only Get Better”. The success of the song would see a rerelease for another of their singles that had already been a hit as a Perfecto remix of “U R The Best Thing” became the follow up reaching No 4 in March and eclipsing its 1993 release by 15 places. Their album “D:Ream On Vol. 1” would also benefit from the gargantuan success of “Things Can Only Get Better” going to a high of No 5.
They’re still doing that end of show montage thing which this week is soundtracked by “Pale Movie” by Saint Etienne.
This was the lead single from their third album “Tiger Bay” and it would make No 28 in the UK charts. Yet again this was another tune that passed me by but it’s a pleasant little ditty with Spanish guitars and some lovely, ethereal vocals from Sarah Cracknell. As with much of their stuff, it puts me in mind of this…
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
D Mob / Cathy Dennis
Why
Nah
2
Elastica
Line Up
I didn’t
3
Aretha Franklin
A Deeper Love
Nope
4
The Cranberries
Linger
Should have but didn’t
5
Carleen Anderson
Nervous Breakdown
No
6
Shara Nelson
Uptight
Negative
7
Suede
Stay Together
Thought I may have but no
8
D:Ream
Things Can Only Get Better
It’s another no
9
Saint Etienne
Pale Movie
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.
It’s nearly Christmas. Well, yes that’s hardly news I know but I’m talking about Christmas twenty-nine years ago as per the BBC4 TOTP repeats schedule which has arrived at the festive period in 1993. I was working in the Our Price store in Altrincham at the time and so if I watched this episode then I would have done so in the knowledge that the following day was perhaps the busiest of the whole retail year. Given my experience of Christmas Eve in the Rochdale store the previous year, I wouldn’t have been looking forward to it. You could say there was a distinct lack of festive cheer from the punters or to put it another way, they tore lumps out of us. Rude, aggressive and if we told them that we’d sold out of Gloria Estefan’s Greatest Hits on cassette (we had), they reacted as if we’d told their three year old child that Father Christmas didn’t exist. As such, I wasn’t looking forward much to the 24th December. I wonder which songs were in the charts that I might have been flogging to Christmas stressed customers?
We start with a song that would reach its chart peak the following year which is why I associate “Come Baby Come” by K7 with 1994 rather than 1993. The last time this was on TOTP in the Breakers section, I commented on how its lyrics were full of innuendo so I was expecting a very risqué studio performance full of explicit, sexually charged dance moves. However, whilst Mr K7 (real name Louis Sharpe) and his three backing singers/dancers are next level slick, I didn’t notice too many moves that would have had the TOTP producers panicking. Bizarrely though, at one point the main man pulls out one that appears to be replicating him washing his armpits in the shower with his microphone substituting for a bar of soap! He then follows it up with a Jarvis Cocker Michael Jackson baiting bum waft – not sure if that qualifies as explicit or just plain silly. “Come Baby Come” would peak at No 3 in the UK.
The BeeGees are up to No 4 with “For Whom The Bell Tolls” giving them their highest chart placing since their No 1 “You Win Again” in 1987. The song’s title references the phrase originally written by metaphysical poet John Donne and the novel by Ernest Hemingway but there was another band that beat the Gibb brothers to using it to name a song by nearly a decade. I have to admit to not having a clue that this track even existed before now but exist it does and it comes from one of the biggest rock bands ever. Metallica (for it is they) recorded a track called “For Whom The Bell Tolls” for their second album “Ride The Lightning” in 1984. In the name of musical exploration, I listened to it earlier and guess what? It did absolutely nothing for me! Lots of crunching rock guitar and strangulated vocals does not make yours truly a happy boy. Apparently the song is a huge fan favourite but seeing as I’m not a Metallica fan, that influences me as much as Rishi Sunak telling me that he cares about the working class (ooh, bit of politics there as Ben Elton used to say).
Anyway, the rather surprising success of the Bee Gees song meant that the group now had a UK Top 5 single in four consecutive decades (the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s) – that’s approaching Cliff Richard levels of chart achievement. They would even bag themselves two more before the decade was out. Quite remarkable.
Now here’s a curious but rather charming Christmas tune. This seemed to come out of nowhere just as the big day approached but maybe it was released too late to make any real impression on the Top 40. Certainly its chart peak of No 37 seems to reflect that. Or maybe it was just too out of leftfield for the mainstream Christmas market with its non traditional shoppers for whom the festive season is the only time they would venture into a record shop all year looking for Cliff Richard or that nice Elton John and Kiki Dee song or even the Bee Gees. It was unlikely their shopping list included the record by SaintEtienne and the bloke from The Charlatans.
I’d forgotten that “I Was Born On Christmas Day” was actually just one song from a four track EP called (rather bluntly) “Xmas 93” but it was the only one to feature the now national treasure that is Tim Burgess. The other tracks included a Billy Fury cover and two instrumentals none of which I’ve ever heard as the lead song was presumably the only one played.
As Christmas tunes go, it’s an odd one but pretty groovy. Mostly devoid of the usual festive music baubles (sleigh bells, references to Santa Claus, snow, trees, presents etc), it instead has a driving house beat and an unusual melody. In fact, apart from its title which is sung on repeat in the coda, there’s very little to distinguish it’s a Christmas song. The lyrics seem to be about someone missing their absent partner throughout the course of the year awaiting their return at Christmas and thinking of everything that has happened in the world they left behind whilst away.
Tim Burgess and Sarah Cracknell have definite chemistry up there on stage, holding hands, draping a shared feather boa around each other’s shoulders…is there even a little kiss between them at one point? Well, the lyrics do refer to a Tim and Sarah tying the knot!
As host Mark Franklin says in his intro, 1993 had been a great year for Saint Etienne with a Top 10 album (“So Tough”) and their highest ever charting single (to that point) in “You’re In A Bad Way”. The Charlatans on the other hand failed to release any material but would return in 1994 with their own Top 10 album “Up To Our Hips” and the excellent single “Can’t Get Out Of Bed”. As for “I Was Born In Christmas Day”, you don’t hear it that often on the radio despite its obvious time slot each year. Incidentally, neither Tim nor Sarah were actually born on Christmas Day though Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley was. Other rock/pop stars born on the 25th December include Annie Lennox, Dido and Shane MacGowan whilst Lemmy came into the world on Christmas Eve.
One of the nastiest things about 1993 (amongst many) was the breakthrough success of the revolting Shabba Ranks. After a rereleased “Mr Loverman” took him to No 3, there was a small procession of follow up singles in its wake of which “Family Affair” was the third. Pretty much a remake of the Sly And The Family Stone classic with some rapping and toasting over the top (including inevitably a few shouts of ‘Shabba!’), this was from the soundtrack to the AddamsFamilyValues film. I’d quite enjoyed the silly but likeable “Addams Groove” by Hammer from the original 1991 TheAddamsFamily film but this was just horrible. It featured Patra, TerriandMonica (I’ve no idea) and made No 18 in the charts but I’m glad to say I don’t remember it at all – I’ve never seen any of the Addams Family films either. Shabba Ranks would only have one more UK Top 40 hit after this. Good riddance to his homophobic ass!
Dina Carroll now with “The Perfect Year”, a single that perfectly encapsulates her annus mirabilis. One of the comments most made by people commenting on the Twitter hashtag #TOTP during the 1993 repeats has been “Whatever happened to Dina Carroll?” and it’s a fair question. After this single, we didn’t hear any new material from her for nearly three years. When it did arrive, it was successful but just not anywhere near as much as her earlier stuff. Debut album “So Close” went four times platinum. By comparison, the follow up “Only Human” sold a quarter of that; not insubstantial by any measure but a definite decline. Why did it take so long for that sophomore album to appear? Well, she suffered from burn out after that initial runaway success and took a break from touring and recording and when she returned she walked into a contract mess. The guy who signed her for A&M had left for Mercury Records but his new label weren’t keen on him taking Dina with him initially. By the time it was all resolved and Dina’s first single on Mercury appeared (“Escaping”), it was 1996!
Her new label seemed unsure what to do with her – was she a slick, soul balladeer or a club diva? Or both? She’d successfully straddled both camps with her eclectic debut album but somehow Mercury didn’t seem reassured by that. A third album was never released and a case ofotosclerosis (hereditary bone disease of the ear) was clearly not helpful for a recording artist. As the millennium dawned, Dina just seemed to disappear. A Best Of album fulfilled her contractual obligations to Mercury in 2001 and her only release since then was 2016’s “We Bring The Party” with the Dig Band.
Meanwhile, back in 1993, Dina became the only British female artist to have two simultaneous Top 10 hits during the whole of the decade. In the week 12th to 18th December, “Don’t Be A Stranger” was at No 8 whilst “The Perfect Year” was at No 10. I think I’m right in saying A&M had deleted the former to make way for the latter so we had loads of the No 10 but hardly any of the No 8. Funny the things you remember isn’t it?
Even though this is officially the Christmas chart, there are still room for a couple of Breakers. One though is utterly dreadful and the other is last year’s Christmas No 1! Yes, despite being the best selling single in the UK of 1992, it’s back in the Top 40 twelve months on. I refer, of course, to Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You”. Now remember that the charts were a different beast back then to the one that functions (sort of) these days. You couldn’t just get a song (any song) into the charts via a concerted social media campaign by coercing people into streaming it loads. It had to be officially released which means that “I Will Always Love You”, despite its ubiquity over the last twelve months, must have been rereleased. Why would that have happened? Well, it was all to do with the VHS of The Bodyguard coming out in November of this year.
This was such a big marketing event back then that it presumably made perfect sense to record label Arista to give the soundtrack and the most famous single from it another promotional push. As a result, “I Will Always Love You” managed a peak of No 25 the second time around. Of course, this wasn’t an entirely new phenomenon. In 1985, both “Last Christmas” by Wham! and “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid returned to the charts after being the festive No 2 and No 1 respectively the year before. Even so though, it did feel like overkill.
Now to that second and abhorrent Breaker. Probably long forgotten as the other novelty record in the chart of Christmas 1993, overshadowed by the spotted, pink dickhead at No 1 but the combination of Hulk Hogan and Green Jellÿ doing a cover of “I’m The Leader Of The Gang” is potentially even more heinous than the blobby one’s effort, given what we now know about Gary Glitter. Hulk Hogan had been a wrestling star throughout the 80s with his 1988 WWF match with Andre the Giant holding the record for the highest TV audience for wrestling ever. In 1993, Hogan broke away from WWF to sign for rival federation WCW which maybe is the reason for this single release? Bit of promotion for WCW? After all, the WWF Superstars had bagged themselves two UK hit singles in the past twelve months so…
GreenJellÿ had achieved the same chart feat with two hits of their own in 1993 with “Three Little Pigs” and “Anarchy In The UK” and it was they that Hogan was paired with to deliver this execrable record. I mean, it’s literally unlistenable. Who the hell bought enough copies to take it to No 25?
The penultimate tune before we get to the Christmas No 1 comes from EYC. This lot of chancers were put together to take the US by storm but did diddly squat over there. They did, however, gain moderate chart success both here and in Australia. Debut hit “Feelin’ Alright” reached No 16 but listening to it back now, it just sounds like a lot of horrible shouting. Maybe I’m just too middle aged to be able to engage with this sort of stuff now but I probably felt the same about it nearly thirty years ago.
They were the first act to win the Best Roadshow Act award at the SmashHitsPollWinnersParty but that sounds like an award that was designed purely for them to win – a bit like the award I got from my works 5-a-side team for Most Improved Player (a back handed compliment if there ever was one). They also picked up six UK Top 40 singles during their brief career so I fear we may not have seen the last of them by a long chalk.
“So this is Christmas and what have you done?” sang John Lennon and in 1993 this line rang truer than ever for it was indeed Christmas and what the British public had done was to make MrBlobby the festive chart topper. How on earth could we have let this happen?! I’d foolishly believed that the “Mr Blobby” single had peaked too early after being No 1 two weeks ago but the deposed chart topper somehow rallied and regained the crown just in time to be announced as the Christmas No 1. How often did that sort of chart trajectory occur? Apparently “She Loves You” by The Beatles was No 1 for four weeks in 1963 before dropping down for a whole seven weeks and then miraculously returning to the top for a further two weeks. The Fab Four then knocked themselves off the pinnacle with “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. So not without precedent but that was The f*****g Beatles we’re talking about not some tit in a pink latex suit! Aaaarrrgh!!
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
K7
Come Baby Come
I did not
2
Bee Gees
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Nah
3
Saint Etienne and Tim Burgess
I Was Born On Christmas Day
Probably should have but no
4
Shabba Ranks with Patra, Terri and Monica
Family Affair
Never happening
5
Dina Carroll
The Perfect Year
Nope
6
Whitney Houston
I Will Always Love You
Not the first nor second time
7
Hulk Hogan and Green Jellÿ
I’m The Leader Of The Gang
As if
8
EYC
Feeling’ Alright
No
9
Mr Blobby
Mr Blobby
Did I bollocks!
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.
A rare Friday night appearance for TOTP which has been shifted from its historical Thursday slot to accommodate the previous night’s FA Cup replay. This would be the last time it would ever happen after occurring three times consecutively in the 80s and a further time in 1990. Was it worth the extra 24 hours wait? Let’s find out but it does include nine ‘new’ songs so I guess that’s a good thing?
…or maybe not. Has there ever been a more lifeless opening to an episode of TOTP? “Stars” was the third hit for British DJ and producer Francis Wright aka Felix though I’m not entirely convinced that it even qualifies as a dance track so lacking in energy is it. It’s not helped by the guy fronting the song. Talk about a lackadaisical performer?! Seriously, put some effort into it!
I didn’t know this until now but apparently “Stars” is a cover version of a song originally recorded by Sylvester – yes that Sylvester, the disco ‘queen’ of “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” fame. I have to admit that’s the only track I know from his back catalogue and even then only via the Jimmy Somerville cover from 1990. As such, I had to look up his original version of “Stars” and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s superior to the Felix take on it in every way. I’m no disco aficionado by any stretch but a tone deaf music hating hermit can hear the difference.
“Stars” was already at its peak of No 29. Felix would have two more chart singles, both of which were remixes of debut hit “Don’t You Want Me”.
OK a dodgy start admittedly but the next song would turn out to be the second biggest selling single of 1993! Given the way the year has panned out so far though, I’m not sure that’s much of an accolade. The song is “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You”, the band is UB40 and both are protagonists in a tale as old of time of commercial popularity not always equating to cultural worth.
Without a Top 10 hit since the Robert Palmer collaboration “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” in late 1990, UB40 were suddenly back with their first ever single to enter the charts inside the Top 10. Well, 1993 was the year of reggae/ragga/dancehall I guess so why wouldn’t the UK’s most well known reggae band want a piece of that action? Except there was an element of the accidental about this future No 1 record that belies the notion that this was pure cynicism on behalf of the Brummies. Their cover of the Elvis 1961 hit was recorded for submission to the soundtrack of a rom-com starring Nicolas Cage called Honeymoon In Vegas with said soundtrack being made up of cover versions of Elvis tunes. What the band didn’t realise was that there version of the song wasn’t the only one recorded and a version by U2’s Bono was the one selected for inclusion.
In fairness, the soundtrack was a very country music affair with the likes of Trisha Yearwood, Dwight Yoakam and Willie Nelson featuring so UB40 would probably have been an outlier in such company. Their recording lay in the Virgin vaults unused and unloved (even by the band themselves most of whom didn’t want it put on their latest album “Promises And Lies”) until it was discovered by film music supervisor Tim Sexton who convinced director Phillip Noyce to use it in his erotic thriller flick Sliver. I think therein lies some of the problem for UB40 and their version of the song in that it is associated with a film that is generally perceived to be a duffer, hogwash, a right old stinker. Clearly all involved were hoping for a BasicInstinct 2 – Sharon Stone, who infamously made her name by crossing her legs in that film, was even on board. It was universally panned by critics and received nominations for the Golden Raspberry Awards in just about every category. Maybe subliminally, the brickbats the movie received tainted people’s view of UB40’s track.
Or maybe not. Maybe I’m the one spouting hogwash? After all, it topped the charts both in the UK and in America where it was No 1 for seven weeks. It’s just that retrospectively it doesn’t seem to have stood the rest of time too well. Compared to say Pet Shop Boys’ treatment of “Always On Your Mind”, it just doesn’t seem very cherished in the canon of Elvis covers. I’m not a fan I have to say. It’s all very clunky sounding and what was with the altering of the song title and the adding of brackets? Was that meant to imply that this wasn’t just a cover and that they had in fact literally made it into another song entirely or as the infernal Louis Walsh would say ‘made the song their own’? Do you know what, I think that’s enough time spent on it for one post. After all, it’ll be back on soon enough.
We stick with the new songs with a man who, despite being famous for having one of the sweetest of soul voices, had never pulled up many trees when it came to having big hit singles in the UK. Prior to his No 2 duet on “The Best Things In Life Are Free” with Janet Jackson the previous Autumn, Luther Vandross never had a Top 10 hit in this country. Sure his albums had sold well but somehow it has never quite translated into singles success. Given that Janet Jackson boost though, could “Little Miracles (Happen Every Day)” bring him a huge hit under his own steam? Well, ‘No’ is the blunt but honest answer as it topped out at No 28 making it the second single on this TOTP that an appearance on the show failed to propel any further up the charts. Was the programme losing its power to generate sales or were these just anomalies?
Luther Vandross has never done anything for me I have to say, either his uptempo numbers or slow ballads of which this single falls into the latter category. It sounds like a vocal exercise in search of a tune to me. Maybe if they’d spent the budget for the performance on a gospel backing choir (which clearly exists on the record) instead of his Showaddywaddy style jacket then maybe things might have turned out better.
Next we get to gatecrash that Bon Jovi party as host Tony Dortie promised at the start of the show but quite what did he mean by that? Surely not exclusive access backstage or to the after show party at some swanky nightclub. Well, no of course. It’s as another of those ‘live’ crossovers to a concert date, this time in Glasgow. Wasn’t the last time they did this for Bruce Springsteen also in Glasgow? I think it was. Must have had some sort of arrangement with the venue which Wikipedia tells me was the SEC Centre. Jon Bon Jovi’s singing on “In Your Arms” here sounds a little bit strained like he’s singing from his throat rather than his diaphragm but Richie Sambora is always reliable with his double neck guitar to the forefront. Attaboy Richie!
After using up my Jon Bon Jovi waxwork story in the last post, I’ll have to resort to pulling out the tale of my disgrace on the dance floor of a Sunderland nightclub this time. Having imbibed too much alcohol on a night out when a student at Sunderland Poly, I crashed out in the toilets of Rascals club and made rather a mess of a toilet bowl. My friend Robin came to check out if I was OK and, seeing the state of me, suggested we call it a night and leave. “I’m not going home ‘til I’ve danced to the Jovi” came my reply from the cubicle. “OK, let’s get back out there” encouraged Robin. “I can’t stand up” I declared in a sorrowful tone.
“In Your Arms” peaked at No 9.
Another new song and another turkey. What do CharlesAndEddie have in common with the aforementioned Luther Vandross? Nothing really except they both recorded songs called “House Is Not A Home”. Well, almost. Luther’s was a version of the marvellous Bacharach and David tune which actually includes an indefinite article ‘a’ in its title and which Dionne Warwick famously had a hit with. The Charles and Eddie song was written by the latter and was a bit shit. Oh come on! It was! Some nondescript soul on a faux Motown tip? No thanks.
The whole Charles And Eddie phenomenon was basically a one trick pony revolving around that horribly catchy “Would I Lie To You” chart topper. Nothing else they released came close to its success and six months on from it nobody was that interested in the duo any more as evidenced by the No 29 peak of this single. Still, at least they could say incontrovertibly that they were not a one hit wonder.
Someone in the TOTP production team must have been a big Runrig fan! The Celtic rockers bagged (or maybe blagged) themselves a first ever appearance on the show with previous hit “Wonderful”, a single that only made it to No 29 in the charts, and now they were back in the TOTP studio with the follow up “The Greatest Flame” and this one only made it to No 36! Surely these were Breakers at best?!
What’s that you say Tony Dortie? They were at No 2 in the album charts? Oh, is that why they made the show’s running order? They were in the album chart feature? Only, the onscreen caption doesn’t say that and, having checked the chart record of parent album “Amazing Things”, something else doesn’t quite add up. Yes, it did go to No 2 in the charts but that was in its first week of release in March. By the time of this TOTP show it had dropped out of the chart altogether so it would appear Tony was telling some porkies.
As for the song, it’s so laboured and slow. It never picks up at any point – just one monotonous dirge. And I thought Felix were bad. They look like the most uncomfortable, unconvincing band ever to play the show. Last time the lead singer wore a leather jacket but he’s outdone himself this time in the naff stakes with a sleeveless version. I’m sorry if this sounds harsh but they look so out of place. Was this really what the kids wanted?!
Some Breakers now starting with DireStraits and a taster from their live album “On The Night” which I’d forgotten all about (I was quite prepared to stay in utter oblivion of its existence to be fair). The “Encores EP” was recorded to capture the band’s OnEveryStreetTour and included four tracks including “Your Latest Trick” which was the fifth and final single from their iconic “Brothers In Arms” album. Yes, despite my previous derogatory comments, it is an iconic album whether we like it or not. Looking at the track listing for “On The Night”, four of the ten tracks on it were from “Brothers In Arms”, the same amount as from the “On Every Street” album the tour was promoting. Make of that what you will.
Of the other three tracks on the EP, I only know the theme from LocalHero. I’ve tried with this film, I really have but I just don’t get it. I have a friend who swears by it but I can’t see it. Literally. Nothing happens. I mean, yes there’s a plot but it’s so slow. Look, I can appreciate nuances and that not everything has to be all bangs and crashes like a Jerry Bruckheimer film but come on! I need something a bit more engaging.
Anyway, back to Dire Straits and I’m wondering if they’d have been better off choosing “Money For Nothing” to promote the EP. Surely more well known than “Your Latest Trick”. I mean, if the EP was purely designed just to help sell the live album. I’m basing that on the fact that the “Encores EP” only made it to No 31 in the charts. All part of the walk of life I suppose.
A song now that instantly reminds me of 1993 and which I think probably gets an unjustified bad rap. The SpinDoctors looked a bit like Nirvana and sounded a bit like a poppier version of Extreme when they weren’t doing acoustic ballads – too glib and uninformed? Probably but I’ve only got so much space in one blog post to describe these things so needs must. This lot were one of those bands that we cottoned on to long after the US audience had shown an interest – their debut album “Pocketful Of Kryptonite” had been released nearly two years prior to this appearance with the singles “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and this one “Two Princes” both having been hits months before they transferred over here.
The latter was the first and biggest hit the band had over here ultimately peaking at No 3. A funky, jumping number with an instant hook that attached itself to your brain immediately refusing to let go, it was a genuine crossover hit that allowed the band to traverse from their alternative rock trappings into the mainstream. It was a great airplay hit as well helping it to swell sales. I liked it a lot. So did a friend of mine who was so enamoured he asked me to purchase the album for him on my Our Price store discount – I’ve never asked him what he made of the album.
A few more hits followed but “Two Princes” would be the song that the band would be remembered for and it seemed to me that they paved the way for a number of American rock bands with an alternative edge but pop sound to make inroads into our charts like Gin Blossoms, Semisonic and Hootie And The Blowfish.
Somehow though “Two Princes” became an albatross around the band’s neck. It was rated No 21 in Blender magazine’s 50 Worst Songs Ever poll and featured in a sketch on the Sarah Silverman Program as evidence of someone having something wrong with them when “Two Princes” is the only song on their iPod which they’ve owned for five years.
Some songs are just so ingrained in our brains/hearts/cultural lives that it’s hard to remember their initial impact on us or even their backstory. For instance, I had totally forgotten that “Jump Around” by House Of Pain was originally released in October of 1992 and had only made No 32 in the UK charts. It was rereleased seven months later and went Top 10.
This was literally a huge record both in its sound and reach. I heard this played at every Manchester nightclub I went to around this time (not that many admittedly but a few) and was guaranteed to fill the floor, turning it into a heaving, sweaty mass moving in cohesion just like the scenes in the single’s video. It’s the high pitched squeal that is repeated 66 times during the course of the record that makes it. The origin of the source material is disputed. Some say it’s from Prince’s “Gett Off” while others have posited the theory that it’s “Shoot Your Shot” by Junior Walker And The All Stars. The band themselves say it’s actually Divine Styler’s “Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin’” which samples “Shoot Your Shot”. Whatever the truth, it made “Jump Around” one of the most instantly recognisable tracks of the 90s.
An American hip-hop trio comprising Everlast, Danny Boy and DJ Lethal, they styled themselves as Irish-American urchins both in their music (their follow up was called “Shamrocks And Shenanigans”) and their image and branding (their logo included a shamrock and the legend ‘fine malt lyrics’). They never came close to replicating the success of “Jump Around” and split in 1996. Everlast forged a successful solo career and the band gave reunited in 2010 and again in 2017.
Tina Turner is on the rise with “I Don’t Wanna Fight” after her TOTP appearance last week. Taken from the soundtrack to her film biopic What’sLoveGotToDoWithIt, it will peak at No 7. That soundtrack did even better going all the way to No 1 and selling 300,000 copies in the UK alone. I was surprised at the time about its success given that Tina’s “Simply The Best” compilation had been a huge seller over Xmas of 1991.
However, the music supervisors of the film were clever as the soundtrack wasn’t just another Greatest Hits under a different name. The track listing was mostly made up of re-recorded versions of songs from the Ike And Tina Turner era rather than her massive rock hits from the mid 80s onwards so there was very little overlap with “Simply The Best”. The film’s plot is mainly based around that part of Tina’s life leading up to the climax of her finally leaving her abusive relationship with Ike. Only two tracks feature on both albums – “What’s Love Got To Do With It” (unsurprisingly) and “Nutbush City Limits”. Add to that the power of a popular film and its ability to sell soundtracks (look at how TheBodyguard OST flew off the shelves) and I don’t really know why I was surprised at its success at all.
There were two sets at Glastonbury this year that I watched in full (on TV you understand as we established weeks ago that I’ve never actually been to Glastonbury). One was Paul McCartney (along with millions of other people) but the second was a bit more of a surprising choice – to me as much as anybody – and that was SaintEtienne. I found myself alone in the house on the Saturday afternoon with wife and child out and so I tuned into the Glasto coverage. Saint Etienne were on and I watched their whole set from start to finish and enjoyed it.
I was surprised at how deep their catalogue was and that they had far more decent tunes than I remembered but more than that I enjoyed their live performance which was a huge improvement on the last time I saw them 30 years previously. Yes, around 1993 I caught them in Manchester on the So Tough tour. They were supported by a pre-mainstream Pulp who were by far the better band on the night. Sarah Cracknell and co played for 43 minutes with backing tapes and at the end of their set Sarah said “We don’t do encores, we’re not a rock band”. I wasn’t impressed.
Fast forward to 2022 and Sarah seemed in a much better mood and genuinely happy that the band could still command an audience. She was even still rocking the feather boa look she wore on this TOTP and her backing singer still had the same bob haircut. The song they perform on the show here – “Who Do You Think You Are” – was actually a double A-side with “Hobart Paving” with the former actually being a cover of a 1974 hit from OpportunityKnocks winners Candlewick Green. No really. I mean that most sincerely folks (ask your parents, kids!).
The single peaked at No 23 but they would return with the wonderful but cruelly ignored Xmas single “I Was Born On Christmas Day” with national treasure Tim Burgess of The Charlatans.
Oh and one final thing. Why is Ian ‘Mac’ McCulloch* of Echo And The Bunnymen on drums in this performance?!
* I know it’s not really him
That didn’t take long! AceOfBase are No 1 already with “All That She Wants”. After the second best selling single of the year made its debut earlier in the show via UB40, here comes 1993’s third best selling single. Not surprising really as it was No 1 in just about every country in Europe and also in the US.
I didn’t get it though. Sure it was catchy but it was also intensely annoying which is not something I’m looking for in a record. Apparently though Ace Of Base have quite the legacy with artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Clean Bandit and even Beck have quoted them as an influence.
Perhaps rather stupidly I always thought the line ‘all that she wants is another baby’ meant that the song’s protagonist literally wanted another baby (i.e. becoming pregnant). It turns out – and I surely would have realised this if I’d bothered to listen to the lyrics more closely – the word ‘baby’ referred to a sexual partner and perhaps more explicitly a one night stand. The clue is in the very next line ‘she’s gone tomorrow’. How did I misunderstand this?!
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.
In the last post, as it featured Curiosity aka Curiosity Killed The Cat, I tried to fit in a few feline themed comments. Well, guess what? My research tells me that immediately after this TOTP was broadcast, we saw the last ever appearance on Eastenders of Ethel’s dog Willy on our screens before he retired. Sadly for Willy, his retirement was short lived as he passed away just two weeks into it. All of this means I can use dear old Willy as an excuse for a dog themed post. Be prepared for lots of ‘the dog’s bollocks’, ‘canine cahoonas’, ‘every dog has its day’ etc.
We start tonight with the follow up to one of the year’s biggest hits. “Stay” by Shakespear’sSister spent eight weeks at No 1 and although the duo’s next single also went Top 10, you very rarely hear it on the radio these days such was the ubiquity of its predecessor. It’s not as if ”I Don’t Care” doesn’t have its merits either. A pop song that really bounces along yet is quirky enough to elevate it above the bog standard. I’m not wavered by accusations of sounding a bit too like “Don’t Get Me Wrong” by The Pretenders (it does) as it’s got enough of a bark (oh, here we go!) to make itself heard in its own right. In fact, it’s even got a highfalutin intellectual element to it. Here’s @TOTPFacts:
The spoken bit in "I Don't Care" is "Hornpipe", a poem by Dame Edith Sitwell. It's one of a series of studies in word-rhythms and onomatopoeia, designed to be read to musical accompaniment, and first performed in 1922: https://t.co/NbsjZbDuCz#TOTP
The performance here continues with the theme of Detroit and Fahey being oppositional to each other. They couldn’t be more contrasting with Marcella all sharp, angular haircut and tight control of her guitar and Siobahn… well I’m not sure what look she was going for but I’m guessing it wasn’t the one in my head which was as Aunt Sally after a night on the grog with her pal Worzel Gummidge.
“I Don’t Care” peaked at No 7.
If it’s 1992 then it must be time for another chart hit by TheWeddingPresent. Of the twelve “Hit Parade” singles released by the band in this calendar year, “Come Play With Me” would be the highest charting when it made it to No 10. My memory of working in a record shop whilst this project played out was that there was huge punter demand initially but that fans got fed up of it eventually, trying to track down these limited release singles or pre-ordering them every month, sometimes having to put down a deposit. This is just about borne out by the arc of the chart peaks achieved by each release:
26-20-14-14-10-16-22-19-17-17-23-25
OK, it’s not a perfect parabola but I think there’s a definite peak about half way through followed by a tailing off as the year comes to a close.
There’s no studio appearance this time presumably because the band were on tour as host Claudia Simon references so it’s the video instead. It strikes me that both the promo and indeed the song are almost The Wedding Present doing their best Beautiful South impression. No? Just me then. This was my peak The Wedding Present era. Not because I was one of those hardy souls trying to purchase every one of those limited edition singles but because this was the time I most resembled David Gedge. I was just about to be 24, I was lean and my hair didn’t have a wisp of grey in it. I may have even had something approaching cheekbones. These days…well let’s just say I have not been unaffected by the travails of middle age! Even in dog years I’d now be considered a senior.
Next a band who had been absent for the whole of 1991. Del Amitri had presumably spent the previous year recording new material and “Always The Last To Know” was the first of it that we got to hear. The lead single from their third album “Everything Changes”, this sounded to me like a distinct attempt to write a hit single and they pulled it off perfectly. A Rolling Stones-esque opening riff led into a well executed pop song that was perfect for daytime radio about the realisation that your partner has been unfaithful. Supposedly it’s one of author Stephen King’s favourite ever songs – “It’s so goddamn sad” he told Rolling Stone magazine. I wouldn’t say I was in total agreement with King – it’s not one of my favourite ever songs – but I liked it enough to buy the single. I’d liked most of their stuff that I’d heard before without ever being compelled to purchase any of it but I caved on this one.
The album would prove to be the band’s most successful going all the way to No 2 and generating four Top 40 singles of which “Always The Last To Know” was the biggest peaking at No 13. And that huge, sheepskin jacket that Justin Currie is wearing under hot studio lights? Here’s @TOTPFacts again:
"In a desperate attempt to keep me fit, we got some nurse to come out and give me an injection in the arse – some vitamins which didn’t do any good whatsoever… So I ended up with that stupid sheepskin thing because I was really freezing and sweating." #TOTP
If I think of the year 1992 in terms of the Top 40 singles chart, this next song always comes to mind. It wasn’t always like that. The first time I ever heard the name Kris Kross was when some young lad came up to the counter and asked if we had anything by them in stock. I thought he meant “Sailing” and “Arthur’s Theme” hitmaker Christopher Cross. This lad must have been listening to the US charts where Kris Kross were tearing it up. Their debut single “Jump” would be No 1 there for eight weeks.
Of course, there are two things that have to be mentioned when discussing Kris Kross – their ages and their jeans. Chris ‘Mac Daddy’ Kelly and Chris ‘Daddy Mac’ Smith were only 13 years of age when they had their biggest success after being discovered by record producer Jermaine Dupri in a shopping mall. Dupri wrote “Jump” for the duo which would go on to be the fastest selling single in the US for 15 years. Inevitably it would crossover to the UK market where we were unable to resist its Jackson 5 bass line and high speed raps.
We also seemed unable to resist their penchant for wearing their jeans back to front. In some cases literally. The duo were scheduled to do a PA at the Our Price store in Piccadilly, Manchester just up the road from where I worked in the Market Street store and the manager there couldn’t stop the staff from wearing their jeans Kris Kross style. My recollection is that they never turned up to the PA for some reason but I could be wrong. They called their fashion style ‘totally krossed out’ which was also the name of their debut album that topped the US charts and went four times platinum. We were only focussed on the single here though which was bought in enough quantities to send it to No 2. The album by contrast peaked at No 31.
As is often the case with child stars who found fame and celebrity so early in their lives, the Kris Kross story ended in tragedy when Chris Kelly died in 2013 at the age of just 34 after an extensive history of drug abuse.
Just a slight pause before the next act to make an observation about the staging of the show tonight. The hosts for this one are Mark Franklin and Claudia Simon but you’d be forgiven for that fact having passed you by. After we see the pair on screen after the Shakespear’s Sister performance at the top of the programme introducing the Top 10 countdown, apart from a brief glimpse of Mark as he introduces the Breakers, we only see them again at the end of the show (and even then as images on TV screens). All their segues have been voice overs and as for the link between Del Amitri and Kris Kross…there wasn’t one! Nothing. Just the camera sliding over from one stage to the other. What was that all about?
They’re still not on screen as we head into the next song which is “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” by EnVogue. The video for this won an MTV Video Music Award for best choreography. I’m not sure if that relates to the group’s moves or those of the featured dancers one of whom appears to be in full on gimp clobber but which Wikipedia informs me is actually a zentai suit and are often used for video special effects. Talking of which, I quite like the fact that at one point in the video the group are shown against just a blue background. I’m sure today that would be a green screen with all sorts of imagery going in behind them as they strutted their stuff.
“My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” peaked at No 4 in the UK.
Some Disney schmaltz now and our very first sighting of a singer who would come to dominate / blight (delete as appropriate) the UK charts throughout the 90s. For their 30th animated film, Disney chose the 1756 fairy tale Beauty And The Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont as its source material. To promote the film, they decided to release the title track from the soundtrack as a single. Not the actual track from the soundtrack featuring the vocals of Angela ‘MurderSheWrote’ Lansbury though. No, they wanted it re-recorded for a pop audience and so settled on Canadian balladeer Celine Dion. Unsure though that she was well known enough globally to promote the song, they roped in Peabo Bryson to record it as a duet. Peabo of course is the go to guy for male/female duets. You may recall his ghastly 1983 No 2 hit “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” with Roberta Flack but he’s also collaborated with Natalie Cole and Minnie Riperton amongst others.
As the performance begins, Celine walks on stage against a backdrop showing a motif of the film. It’s not the Celine that we would get used to seeing as the decade progressed and her hits stacked up though. That massive 80s style hair! Eventually Peabo ambles on to join in but the whole thing is so anodyne that the performance has to be propped up with some video clips from the film.
Within two years Celine would be at No 1 with some proper dog shit called “Think Twice” whilst Peabo would score another Disney hit later in 1992 with “A Whole New World” from Aladdin which was, yes you guessed it, a duet with Regina Belle.
“Beauty And The Beast” peaked at No 9 in the UK and won an Academy Award for Best Song.
Three Breakers this week starting with a song that seemed to receive praise and criticism in equal measure. For some, “Everything About You” by UglyKidJoe was the missing link between the dumb ass joy of hair metal and the nihilism of grunge rock. For others, it was just a joke record, an opinion reinforced by its inclusion in the goofball comedy Wayne’sWorld. And me? I just accepted it as the knockabout fun I perceived it to be and didn’t mind it.
These Californian rockers took their name from spoofing LA glam band Pretty Boy Floyd (see what they did there?) and the inspiration for “Everything About You” from their friend Farrell T. Smith’s cynical take on life – we all know someone like that don’t we? The single was a Top 10 hit in the US but an even bigger hit over here where it went Top 3. Often thought of as a one hit wonder, they actually had a second hit the following year when their cover of Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s In The Cradle” was a UK No 7. Hang on, “Cat’s In The Cradle”? How’s that helping with my dog theme for this post? What’s that? There’s a sheepdog in the video for “Everything About You”? Oh well, that’s OK then.
I have a memory that at the time, the only other Ugly Kid Joe product that you could buy in addition to the single was an EP called “As Ugly As They Wanna Be”. Now I seem to remember that “Everything About You” wasn’t included in its six tracks causing some disappointment to punters but Wikipedia tells me it was. Yet when I checked the EP out on Spotify it isn’t included. ‘Goofy’ or what?
SaintEtienne were achingly trendy back in 1992 it seemed to me, at least with a lot of the Our Price colleagues I worked with but being fashionable hadn’t yet translated into chart success. Even record label Heavenly weren’t overly convinced of their charges commercial potential; so much so that when the band argued for their track “People Get Real” to be their next single release, they refused without there being a much more commercial track to go with it as a double A-side.
Undaunted, the band came up with “Join Our Club”, a song written to highlight how commercially viable they could be. To that end they referenced contemporary hits in the lyrics like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and some classics like Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘bout A Thing” (itself soon to be a current hit courtesy of Incognito). The result was a joyous anthem perfect for the forthcoming Summer.
The single rose to a high of No 21 in the charts becoming at a single stroke their biggest hit to date at that time.
The final Breaker is oneofthose ‘story’ songs’ from Richard Marx. I know at least one person for whom “Hazard” is a guilty pleasure not to be widely publicly acknowledged. Marx had a shit load of huge hits (or a huge load of shit hits if you prefer) in America but in the UK, he was barking up the wrong tree (nice). His only significant chart success over here came in 1989 with “Right Here Waiting”. The chances of him bagging a huge, chart munching hit single as the 90s we’re getting under way seemed remote at best. Factor in it being about the disappearance of a young woman with the main suspect being the singer of the song and well…Ladbrokes would have struggled to work out the odds. And yet…here he was back in our Top 40 and on TOTP.
There’s no denying it, “Hazard” is a weird song and even Marx himself wasn’t convinced – he only recorded it to disprove his wife’s conviction that it would be a hit. His wife (actress Cynthia Rhodes) was right and bizarrely, after years of ignoring his music that the US lapped up, it was a bigger hit here (No 3) than over the pond (No 9). In its wake came a trickle of middling to minor hits but nothing ever came close to replicating “Hazard”.
Marx does seem to be a decent sort though. In 2016, he helped Korean Air flight attendants pacify an unruly passenger and then took on Piers Morgan in a Twitter spat over his soft interviewing of then US President Donald Trump.
Back in the studio we find CeCePeniston giving an ‘exclusive’ performance of her new single “Keep On Walkin’”. I really don’t have much to say about this one. I certainly don’t remember it – surely Ce Ce is pretty much just remembered for “Finally” – and it sounds like an unremarkable pop/dance/RnB number. Indeed, so unremarkable is it that the TOTP production team felt the need to intercut Ce Ce’s turn here with snatches of the official promo… which is just Ce Ce performing the song. Yes, the video mirrors what we are actually witnessing in the studio. What was the point of that? She’s even wearing a similar style jacket in both, only the colour is different.
“Keep On Walkin’” peaked at No 20 in the UK and was a No 1 on the US Dance chart.
We arrive at the current UK chart topper via another sound only presenter segue and a panoramic camera angle. Right Said Fred have been deposed to be replaced by…KWS? Who were these guys? Well, they were a dance act from Nottingham who got lucky with their cover of KC And The Sunshine Band’s 1979 hit “Please Don’t Go”. It was one of those hits that came from out of nowhere, a real club tune that went mainstream. They got into the Top 40 on limited airplay let alone any TV appearances before rising almost unnoticed to the top of the charts in just three weeks. At that point, we finally got to see them as TOTP had to give the No 1 act its rightful exposure. They have that feel of an act who have been performing at Butlins who suddenly find themselves plucked from obscurity and thrust into stardom. They can’t believe their luck.
“PleaseDon’t Go” is one of those songs that feels immediately familiar even if you don’t know who made the original. That’s how it felt to me anyway the first time I heard KWS’s version. Did I know that it was originally performed by KC at the time? Not sure I did. I definitely knew their unlikely 1983 No 1 “Give It Up” and “That’s The Way (I Like It)” from Dead Or Alive’s hi-energy cover from the following year but I must have also heard “Please Don’t Go” at some point without properly registering it as a KC tune. Apparently there were some legal issues surrounding a German act who had released their own version at the same time but we’ve got a few weeks of KWS at No 1 so that story can wait for another post.
And that’s that. All the dog poo has been scooped up and it’s time to put it in the bin. OK. That’s unfair. Not all the acts on tonight’s show were excrement – I bought at least one of them – but I need to bring this dog theme to an end somehow.
RIP Willy
Order of appearance
Artist
Title
Did I buy it?
1
Shakespear’s Sister
I Don’t Care
Nope
2
The Wedding Present
Come Play With Me
No
3
Del Amitri
Always The Last To Know
Yes – this is in my singles box
4
Kriss Kross
Jump
Fun but not purchase worthy
5
En Vogue
My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)
Yes this is in the singles box and well though I think my wife actually bought it
6
Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson
Beauty And The Beast
Never happening
7
Ugly Kid Joe
Everything About You
See 4 above
8
Saint Etienne
Join Our Club
Negative
9
Richard Marx
Hazard
Nah
10
Ce Ce Pension
Keep On Walkin’
I’d rather take out dog for a walk in the pissing wind
11
KWS
Please Don’t Go
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 goes 1991! Phew! So, was it a case of “Thank God that’s all over” or was it that we were all left wanting more? Let’s be honest, it’s option one isn’t it? As ever when I approach the next year of TOTP repeats, my optimism got the better of me and I came out the reviews thinking “it can’t have been as bad as all that surely?” and, as ever, I was wrong. In my defence, after the year of ‘Madchester’ that was 1990, was it unreasonable to have anticipated that 1991 would see a continuation of the dominance of the indie dance scene and all the cultural invention it bought? Sadly, the two biggest names of that movement were conspicuous by their absence. Both Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses were in a state of paralysis as they attempted to follow up on the huge events that were their iconic albums “Pills ‘n’ Thrills And Bellyaches” and “The Stone Roses . The latter were banjaxed by legal issues as they sought to disentangle themselves from their Silvertone recording contract and the Mondays? Well, they were hanging out with Ronnie Biggs in Brazil and doing a lot of drugs weren’t they?
Into the vacancy they created strode indie rock bands like Blur, Jesus Jones and Ride who looked the part but were they really just signings by major labels looking to jump on a bandwagon whose wheels had already come off? By the end of the year, a new dominant strain of rock music would arrive from Seattle in America. The era of grunge was upon us.
Dance music was still in the ascendancy with most of the tunes crossing over into the charts being rave anthems by the likes of The Prodigy, Bizarre Inc, Altern-8 and SL2. Meanwhile, some of the stars of the previous decade made a come back like Paul Young and a trimmed down OMD. Surely the biggest return of an act we’d first seen in the 80s though was by Simply Red who bagged the year’s biggest selling album in “Stars”.
As for TOTP, 1991 was a year of huge change with the ‘year zero’ revamp culling all those familiar Radio 1 DJ presenters in one fell swoop, replacing them with fresh faced youngsters we’d never seen before. A new live vocal performance policy was introduced to mixed results while the whole shebang was moved lock,stock and barrel, relocating from BBC Television Centre in London to BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood. It all took some getting used to and judging by the shows I’ve already reviewed, the new changes weren’t an immediate hit.
As usual with these end of year reviews, I like to remind myself of the songs that topped the charts to see if there is were any trends behind the sales and as ever, nothing really seems to make much sense.
17 songs had travelled to the summit of the charts. Of them, I would say they broke down like this:
6 by established stars (Queen twice, Michael Jackson, Cher, U2, George Michael and Elton John)
3 by ‘teen’ sensations (Chesney Hawkes, Jason Donovan, Color Me Badd)
2 by ‘new’ artists with a ‘new’ sound (Enigma, The KLF)
2 x novelty records (The Simpsons, Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff)
1 by a band with a loyal fanbase that manipulated the release schedules (Iron Maiden)
1 x TV advert tie in (The Clash)
1 x charity record (Hale & Pace)…
…and 1 by Bryan Adams.
Some may argue with my categories and you could swap some of the artists around of course. Was “Dizzy” an actual novelty record? Were Color Me Badd really a teen sensation? I had to draw the line somewhere though. Of those 17, I bought two and one of those was by mistake – I’ll let you work out / guess which ones they were. Discounting novelty and charity records and with the exception of Enigma, Iron Maiden and The KLF (and at a pinch U2), it was all very mainstream. Nothing ever seemed to change that much when it came to the really big hit singles. Maybe grunge will change all that in 1992…
Hits We Missed
During these reviews of the year in my other blog TOTP Rewind – the 80s, a lot of the entries in this section were songs and artists that had made it onto the show but those shows were not repeated by the BBC for reasons of taste surrounding hosts that were totally unpalatable today or, in the case of Mike Smith, because of legal restrictions. Thankfully, in 1990, any such restrictions were eradicated as none of the aforementioned hosts were still on the show.
However this vexatious issue returned in late 1991 due to one of the new presenters in the ‘year zero’ revamp (one Adrian Rose) following Smitty’s lead and failing to sign the repeat broadcast waiver! Fortunately, this only resulted in a couple of non transmitted shows but that kiss from Rose will prove to be more deadly in 1992 when multiple repeats won’t be shown. With all that said, there will still a few chart hits we missed seeing this year because they never actually featured on the show despite making the Top 40…
Alison Moyet – This House
Released 30/09/91
Peak chart position No 40
After finding solo stardom in the mid to late 80s after the dissolution of Yazoo, Alison Moyet began the new decade rejecting the notion of pursuing chart hits at any cost and putting artist integrity at the heart of her work. Her first album of the 90s was “Hoodoo” which sold reasonably but failed to produce any big hits as her commercial peak “Raindancing” had done. Maybe that’s what she wanted all along having publicly disowned that 1987 album.
“This House” was the only single from “Hoodoo” to scratch the Top 40 (and it was the lightest of dents) despite being the final of four releases. I think it’s fair to say that the track perfectly demonstrated her reinvention as a serious artist. A haunting, sombre number with a touch of Dire Straits’ “Private Investigations” in the verses, this was no “Weak In The Presence Of Beauty “. Its heavy nature meant that it struggled to find a home though in the rave obsessed charts despite it having originally featured as the B side to Alison’s cover of “Love Letters” which represented the peak of her commercial era. Oh the irony.
The fight for artistic integrity and credibility would continue with the release of the “Essex” album in 1994 before Alison would finally disentangle herself from her record label Columbia and return with “Hometime” some eight years later. Columbia meanwhile would flick the metaphorical v’s at Ms Moyet when they released a compilation of her singles in 1995 called…erm…”Singles” which went to No 1.
The Black Crowes – Hard To Handle
Released 05/08/91
Peak chart position No 39
*Originally released 1990 when it peaked at No 76.
In a year when the charts were seemingly dominated by rave anthems, there was still a small corner of the Top 40 reserved for some revivalist sounds, in this case courtesy of Southern rockers The Black Crowes. I’d certainly never heard of them before this point but apparently they’d been around since 1984 although they didn’t release their first studio album until six years later. That album was “Shake Your Money Maker” which included the band’s take on the Otis Redding song “Hard To Handle”, their first Top 40 hit in the UK.
I didn’t and don’t regard myself as any sort of enthusiast of Southern rock but I didn’t mind this. Knowing the original version of the song helped as well. I don’t remember the album being played on our shop stereo that much but somewhere along the line I also became aware of another single from the album, that being “Twice As Hard” (I think it may have been on that first Q Magazine compilation album that I bought around this time). The band would enjoy their biggest period of success the following year when their second album “The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion” went to No 1 in the US and No 2 in the UK. Rave anthems be gone!
Jellyfish – The King Is Half Undressed
Released 14/01/91
Peak chart position No 39
Sometimes the crazy world of pop throws up some complete anomalies, artists and songs that seem out of time with the era in which they appeared. Jellyfish were a fine example of this phenomenon. Hailing from San Francisco, they took their myriad influences of the likes of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, ELO, 10cc, Queen, Bowie, Wings and XTC and placed them all in a huge cooking pot, set it on a low heat and came up with a new pop cuisine that was both appetising and yet like something you wouldn’t necessarily choose from the menu. Intricate melodies combined with complex harmonies and all glued together by a timeless pop sensibility. Marvellous for pop fans like me but undeniably incongruous in a soundscape of rave and grunge.
Their material would engender a loyal cult following who saw them as the musical missing link but commercial success would remain tantalisingly out of reach despite tour slots with the aforementioned The Black Crowes. They even played at Wembley Stadium before 72,000 people supporting INXS yet “The King Is Half Undressed” would be their only UK Top 40 hit (and then only just). It came from an album called “Bellybutton” which included some great tracks including “Now She Know’s She’s Wrong” and “Baby’s Coming Back” the latter of which was even a No 1 for British boy band McFly in 2007. A sophomore album appeared in 1993 called “Spilt Milk” which the band saw as the natural culmination and apogee of their sound and which drew (probably unhelpful) comparisons with “Pet Sounds” – indeed they had even some ultimately unproductive songwriting sessions with yer actual Brian Wilson! It bombed in America though was better received in this country and the band broke up due to that well worn and weary of excuses ‘creative differences’. Their back catalogue probably demands a better legacy than it is afforded.
Milltown Brothers – Which Way Should I Jump?
Released 11/02/91
Peak chart position No 38
*Originally released 1989 – did not chart
When Tiffany sang “Could’ve Been” in 1988 I’m pretty sure she wasn’t singing about a gang of lads from Colne, Lancashire – not least because Milltown Brothers weren’t formed until a year later – but she…ahem…could’ve been.
Tipped by the NME no less for stardom as the 80s became the 90s, a bidding war by the major labels saw the band sign with A&M records who released a re-recording of “Which Way Should I Jump” (it was originally issued on an indie label two years before) which made them bonafide chart stars when it entered the Top 40 at No 38. A debut album called “Slinky” promised much with some nifty tunes that did much to dispel the idea that they were just another bunch of baggy chancers. I’m pretty sure it was a Recommended Release in Our Price.
However, the fates conspired against them with the release of follow up single “Here I Stand”. According to the band’s own website, the track was denied sales from independent record shops where they had done a string of promotional PAs by the chart compilers who feared chart rigging (officially the single was subject to the process of ‘weighting’) and it peaked at that most unfortunate of chart positions No 41. The repercussions were disastrous. No Top 40 hit meant no TOTP appearance and A&M lost their nerve and faith in the band. A follow up album wasn’t released until two years later by which point all momentum was lost. The band effectively broke up only to reform in 2004 and are still together to this day last releasing an album in 2020.
And yes they were brothers. Well at least singer and guitarist Matt and Simin Nelson are.
Nirvana- Smells Like Teen Spirit
Released 10/09/1991
Peak chart position 7
The first casualty of that unsigned Adrian Rose waiver and it’s a biggie. Who knew back in the Autumn of 1991 what an influence and legacy this song would have? I didn’t that’s for sure. I don’t mind admitting that I didn’t have a clue who Nirvana were nor did I get what all the fuss was about back then. It seemed to all happen overnight, this movement called grunge. Suddenly there were punters coming into the shop asking for that album with the front cover of a naked child, underwater and reaching for a dollar bill on a string. What was going on?
And then I heard the song. I couldn’t understand what they were singing about but then I wasn’t the only one not able to translate those lyrics that seemed indecipherable on first hearing. It didn’t matter. It was a huge cacophony of noise, bludgeoning the listener into submission. Immediately designated a legacy of being the ultimate anthem for a generation of disaffected, nihilistic youths, it is routinely listed at the top of all those polls like ‘The Best Single Ever’ and ‘The Most Important Rock Song Of All Time’. I’m guessing it still resonates with the younger generation some 30 years on even though those who were first turned on by it are now middle aged and thinking about their pension provision. The only track I can think of that has had such a visceral effect since would be “Creep” by Radiohead. Possibly. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, in short, was a monster.
And then I watched this TOTP performance. God it was awful. From Kurt Cobain’s deliberately tone deaf vocals to his giving the microphone a blow job to the inevitable and uncovincing stage invasion. The band were never invited back. More informed and articulate people than I have already written millions of words about the influence and impact of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain and indeed “Smells Like Teen Spirit” so I don’t propose to write an essay on this but suffice to say that I’m pretty sure I have wigged out like a lunatic to this in some seedy venue on an indie night. Haven’t we all?
Saint Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Released 12/08/91
Peak chart position No 39
*”Only Love Can Break Your Heart” originally reached number 95 on the UK Singles Chart. It was re-released in August 1991 reaching a new peak of number 39.
The second of two cover versions in this section comes from a band as far removed from the southern rock of The Black Crowes as it’s possible to be. Before 1991, if anyone had asked me about Saint Etienne, my mind would have immediately reverted to 1977 and that memorable European Cup tie between Liverpool and St Etienne that was one of my first footballing memories. David ‘Supersub’ Fairclough and all that. I would never have thought that 13 years later the defeated French team would provide the name for a dance act that seemed to come out of nowhere but who would transcend their club beginnings and become a cultural force for years to come. I say ‘out of nowhere’ but founding members Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs had already masterminded a Top 10 hit in ‘91 courtesy of “7 Ways To Love” by Cola Boy, not that I knew of that connection at the time.
I think I first heard their version of Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” when I covered for a day in the Our Price Piccadilly store in Manchester (I usually worked down the road in the Market Street shop). It never seemed be off the shop stereo that day and it sounded achingly trendy to my ears ( yes ‘trendy’ was still an acceptable word back then!). It had a haunting quality to it combined with a shuffling back beat that immediately created a perception that the band were part of the indie-dance scene. My wife bought the parent album “Foxbase Alpha” and the tracks within it demonstrated that they had much more to them than just that. 60s pop influences combined with club culture sensibilities and some art film samples shaped an experimental yet accessible album. I think “Wilson” might be my favourite track.
Apparently vocalist Sarah Cracknell doesn’t actually do the singing on “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” (those duties were performed by one Moira Lambert) as she wasn’t a permanent band member at the time of recording. As much as I liked the band, I did have a problem with them though. I saw them in concert around 1993 (supported by Pulp no less) but they used backing tracks and only played a 43 minute set! Crackers (she must be known as ‘Crackers’ within the band don’t you think?) announced at the end of the last song that “we’re not a rock band and we don’t do encores”. What a swizz!
Hits That Never Were
Airhead -Funny How
Released 05/10/91
Peak chart position No 57
There’s a surprising number of famous people that hail from Maidstone, Kent. There’s the actors Mackenzie Crook (The Office / Worzel Gummidge), Tamsin Greig (Black Books / Friday Night Dinner) and Shaun Williamson (Barry from Eastenders / erm that’s it). If that wasn’t enough there’s also artist, Children’s TV presenter and national treasure the late, great Tony Hart. When it comes to pop stars though there’s a distinct dearth. Yes, David Bowie lived in Maidstone in the early 60s pre fame as part of blues group Manish Boys but he wasn’t from there. So it fell upon a group of lads in the early 90s to maintain Maidstone’s end in the pop stakes and those lads were called Airhead.
Originally entitled Jefferson Airhead before being threatened with legal action by US psychedelic rockers Jefferson Airplane, they briefly garnered public attention due to their brilliantly poppy single “Funny How” gaining heavy rotation on Radio 1’s playlists. Despite this exposure and its insanely catchy lyric “it’s funny how the girls you fall in love with never fancy you, funny how the ones you don’t do”, it failed to crack the Top 40. They did achieve that feat with follow up single “Counting Sheep” as 1991 turned into 1992 which reached No 35 but it’s “Funny How” that remains their best known work. It was even used to soundtrack some montages in Match Of The Day at the time.
They only released one album called “Boing!!” which made the Top 30 but the band split not long after due to tensions with their record label. For those that know it though, “Funny How” remains one of the biggest and best hits that never were of the whole decade.
Crowded House – Chocolate Cake
Released 22/06/91
Peak chart position No 69
Prior to the start of the 90s, Crowded House we’re pretty much known in the UK purely for their 1987 Top 30 hit “Don’t Dream It’s Over”. Their eponymous debut album it was taken from did exactly zilch over here. Follow up long player “Temple Of Low Men” made even less impact (is there anything lower than zilch?). However, their breakthrough moment would come with the release of third album “Woodface” in 1991 which would sprout four Top 40 hit singles including a Top Tenner in “Weather With You”.
And this one. Very much the runt of the litter, “Chocolate Cake” was the first single to be released from the album and it was largely ignored by the UK. Maybe it was too confrontational for most people. The lyrics take a swipe at multiple targets including overweight Americans, Andrew Lloyd Webber, capitalism and how the masses will accept any old toss served up to them as culturally valid without understanding the value of true art. Something like that anyway. I never did work out who ‘Mrs Hairy Legs’ was though.
A thoroughly forgotten Crowded House track, it didn’t even appear in their 1996 No 1 Best Of album “Recurring Dream” for which the advertising campaign used the tagline “you know more Crowded House songs than you realise”. Clearly not “Chocolate Cake” though.
Elvis Costello – The Other Side Of Summer
Released 08/04/91
Peak chart position No 43
I may have included this one in the review purely because my wife is a big admirer of the artist and I remember buying this one for her (using my Our Price staff discount of course!). I’m certainly no super fan myself but I do like plenty of his stuff. It’s just that since his 70s and 80s heydays he seems to have forgotten to include a melody in most of his tunes. Sorry my love!
“The Other Side Of Summer” couldn’t be described as such though having been deliberately written as a Beach Boys pastiche (early 70s era) and it fair bounces along in a very hummable way. Its musicality is totally at odds with its lyrics though which takes issue with both Pink Floyd and John Lennon with the latter being taken to task for “Imagine” (‘Was it a millionaire who said ‘imagine no possessions’?”).
It didn’t strike a chord with UK music fans though peaking at No 43. Taken from the album “Mighty Like A Rose”, what I most remember about this was the massive Grizzly Adams style beard Costello had grown and that was used in the promotional images surrounding the release. Paddy McAloon eat your heart out!
Before bestriding the UK charts later in the 90s with massive hits like “Are You Gonna Go My Way” and “Fly Away” (a chart topper no less), his singles weren’t always hits. Indeed, by the end of 1991, he’d only ever had two Top 40 entries to his name – “Let Love Rule” (No 39) and his breakthrough hit of this year “It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over” which just missed the Top 10 when it peaked just outside at No 11.
“Stand By My Woman” was the follow up to that single and it failed to keep the hit momentum going, returning him to the chart doldrums by missing the Top 40 altogether. Why wasn’t it a success? There was no apparent reason. Yes, it was a change of tempo though still a well structured if rather mournful and brooding ballad as opposed to its breezily paced predecessor but who decreed that each song had to sound the same as all your others? Well yes, Stock, Aitken and Waterman obviously but who cares what they thought?
Taken from his “Mama Said” album which I liked so much I bought, its title could have been a direct response to Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” although it had more in common musically with Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me”.
Lloyd Cole – Weeping Wine
Released 21/10/91
Peak chart position Did not chart
When a lead singer of a successful band goes solo it tends to be an endeavour fraught with potential obstacles. Will your fan base accept you as an individual artist? Should you stick to the formula that made you a star in the first place or try and attract a different (meaning more mature) audience? Will you change your image? Not many have made the transition successfully I would contend. For every George Michael there’s a Limahl. In the case of Lloyd Cole, the former Commotions frontman didn’t pull up any trees commercially but he did produce a more than credible body of work.
After his band called it a day in 1989, Lloyd hit the ground running with two solo albums released in consecutive years. Although hit singles proved to be elusive, the albums sold steadily presumably as he retained his fan base’s interest and devotion at least initially. The second of those albums “Don’t Get Weird On Me Babe” is regarded by some Lloyd aficionados as his creative peak and from it came the single “Weeping Wine”. Hardly my favourite song of his by any standard but there was something about this unassuming, county tinged lament that appealed.
Years on from this I caught Lloyd live at a gig in New Mills, Derbyshire. He was great – entertaining yet self effacing banter with some brilliant tunes. The best thing was the interval though. That’s not a slur on Lloyd at all. During the break in his set, me and my mates Robin and Steve decamped to a pub round the corner from the venue for a quick jar and who was at the bar ahead of us having a whisky but Lloyd himself. I loved that nobody in the pub (including us) bothered him for autographs or selfies. He was just another punter. And of course Lloyd is a Chelsea fan like me. Gotta love the man just for that!
Love And Money – Winter
Released 16/11/91
Peak chart position No 52
Who comes to mind first when you hear the term ‘Scottish rock and pop’? Simple Minds? Big Country? Deacon Blue? Maybe somebody a little less obvious like Teenage Fan Club? Or more traditionally Gaelic like Runrig? How many attempts would it take before this lot came up as an answer I wonder?
I first became aware of Love And Money back in 1986 when their debut single “Candybar Express” started getting airplay on Radio 1. It wasn’t enough to make it a hit but it was a solid marker of things to come. Fast forward two years and their “Strange Kind Of Love” album generated four singles all of which I liked including the title track and “Up Escalator “. Still Top 40 success eluded the band.
By 1991, their third album “Dogs In The Traffic” seemed like a last throw of the dice to achieve the chart placings they deserved. Yet another Our Price Recommended Release, it became their highest charting long player but even then at a paltry peak of No 41. The final single from it was “Winter” presumably kept back to coincide its release with its namesake season. It’s a rather lovely, reflective track that was quite the change from the rawness of “Candybar Express” and the slick 80s production of “Strange Kind Of Love”. Sadly it disappeared like dandruff in a blizzard in the Xmas rush peaking outside the Top 40 yet again at No 52. Criminal really.
Singer and songwriter James Grant is still out there gigging and recording. His band’s debut album was called “All You Need Is…Love And Money”. Perhaps he also needed just a little bit of luck.
Malcolm McLaren – Magic’s Back
Released 21/12/91
Peak chart position No 42
What a curiosity this was but then anything involving Malcolm McLaren was never going to be run of the mill! On Xmas day in 1991, Channel 4 broadcast The Ghosts Of Oxford Street, basically a vanity project by McLaren (who wrote, directed and acts as narrator for the film) detailing the history of the famous London shopping street. The narrative is helped along by the interspersing of musical segments performed by an eclectic array of artists including Tom Jones, Happy Mondays, Sinead O’Connor and Kirsty MacColl and The Pogues doing that Xmas song.
This being a McLaren project though, Malcolm of course grants himself a song in amongst it all and what a song it was. His previous musical output had pushed the boundaries of traditional genres with the likes of “Buffalo Gals” and “Double Dutch” but “Magic’s Back” was a straight up dance floor filling house track ably aided by the vocal talents of Alison Limerick. Malc’s contribution is limited to his rather creepy spoken word intro but the rest of the track is banging! There was a whole album of the songs featured in the film but like the single it didn’t sell that well.
I’m pretty sure that I watched The Ghosts Of Oxford Street on Xmas day in 1991 and I’m equally pretty sure I was very disappointed with it even allowing for my fascination of all things McLaren. You never see it repeated on TV do you? Ever. Funny that.
TheMock Turtles – And Then She Smiles
Released 29/06/91
Peak chart position No 44
I waxed lyrical about The Mock Turtles back when I reviewed the TOTP show on which they performed “Can You Dig It?” months ago in this blog. I don’t therefore propose to rehash all of that again here. However, I did want to include them in this section as they really should have had more than just one hit (and no I’m not counting the 2003 Fatboy Slim remix of “Can You Dig It?”).
Back in 1991 when that song was originally in the charts, the band chose the tried and tested strategy of following it up by rereleasing a previous single. “And Then She Smiles” was originally out in 12” format back in 1989 but it was re-recorded and given a second bite of the cherry to consolidate the band’s commercial breakthrough. It seemed a smart move. The track was radio friendly and not a million miles away from the sound of its predecessor. It had a decent shot of charting. Somehow though, it fell tantalising short. Maybe it didn’t have that X Factor hook of “Can You Dig It?” – its spiralling, psychedelic guitar intro and its bouncing bass groove? Was it actually just a bit too…pedestrian? Not for me I have to say.
The band (or possibly the record company) doubled down on the misstep when it released a third single that sounded just like “And Then She Smiles” in “Strings And Flowers”. Again, I was a fan but it didn’t make much commercial sense to do the same thing as before and expect a better return. It sank without trace and so did The Mock Turtles until that 2003 revival thanks to David Beckham and a Vodafone ad. “And Then She Smiles” finally had its day when it was used as the theme tune to Sky’s comedy drama show Stella which ran from 2012 to 2017 starring none other than my mate Robin’s sister Emma.
Pete Wylie & Wah! The Mongrel – Don’t Lose Your Dreams (Excerpt From A Teenage Opera Part 154)
Released 15,07/91
Peak chart position Did not chart
As the 90s we’re getting going, apart from a couple of collaborations with The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu (aka The KLF) and fellow scousers The Farm, nothing much had been seen or heard of Pete Wylie since his 1986 hit single “Sinful!”. Well, those of us who classed ourselves as Wylie fans had been wowed by a string of excellent singles released in “Sinful!”s wake but as far as the charts were concerned, nothing he offered up to the record buying public had returned him to his former glories. “Diamond Girl”, “If I Love You” and “Fourelevenfortyfour” were all fantastic but each one had come and gone without a sniff of the Top 40. It really was a ludicrous state of affairs given his immense talent for turning a fine tune.
1991 would be a pivotal year for Pete but it had nothing to do with his music. Not that there wasn’t any music. Far from it as he released the album “Infamy! Or How I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today” under his latest pseudonym of Pete Wylie And Wah! The Mongrel. As I recall it was yet another Our Price Recommended Release. It failed to chart at all despite including yet more wonderful tracks to add to his remarkable ‘repertwah’. “Circle Of Salt” and the epic “The Kerry Baby” were standouts for me but the lead single from the album was “Don’t Lose Your Dreams (Excerpt From A Teenage Opera Part 154)”. A sprawling opus with everything chucked into the production and a title that referenced Keith West’s 1967 No 2 hit “Grocer Jack” was possibly out of place in 1991 but Wylie has never been one to play by the rules or do what might be expected of him.
Predictably (and quite wrongly) it sank without trace but that was the least of a Pete’s troubles. On 11th November he suffered a near fatal fall in Liverpool when a railing gave way fracturing both his spine and sternum. Thankfully he made a full recovery. Legend has it that when the paramedics arrived on the scene and went through the usual response questions to ascertain Pete’s level of consciousness and awareness starting with asking him his name he replied “You should f*****g know who I am!”. Pete Wylie ladies and gentlemen, part time rock star, full time legend.
TheReal People – Window Pane
Released 06/07/91
Peak chart position No 60
From one scouse legend to another bunch of Liverpudlians who would end up with a legacy of legend makers rather than actual legends themselves. Noel Gallagher was a roadie with the Inspiral Carpets when he first met Tony Griffiths of The Real People who had been a going concern since 1988, touring the world as a major label artist having been signed by Columbia on CBS. They’d released their debut eponymous album in 1991 to positive reviews though commercial success had been harder to come by. Noel wanted to put together a demo for his band Oasis to send out to record labels and Griffiths helped him out by lending him use of The Real People’s own eight track studio. Lacking much in the way of recording know how, Griffiths and his brother and fellow band member Chris showed Noel, Liam et al the studio ropes. The result was the “Live Demonstration” tape that included original versions of many of the tracks that would end up being released on “Definitely Maybe” including “Columbia”, “Bring It On Down” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”.
Although their Manc mates would go onto become the biggest band in the UK by the mid 90s, it never quite worked out for The Real People success wise. One paltry No 38 in 1992 (“Believer”) was the peak of their chart fame and a second album for CBS , though recorded, remained unreleased until 2012 when the band finally made it available independently. However, despite cult status amongst those in the know, the Griffiths brothers went on to write hits for the likes of Cher, Ocean Colour Scene and Atomic Kitten. Their band continues to play live and record with their last album being 2016’s “Monday Morning Breakdown”. The Real People then, the real people behind Oasis. Definitely….maybe.
Their Season In The Sun
Banderas
Communards offshoot group Banderas looked they were onto something in early 1991 when they took their single “This Is Your Life” (nothing to do with Eamon Andrews nor The Blow Monkeys) into the Top 20. Funky yet spiky it was taken from an album called “Ripe” which boasted the musical chops of Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner as contributors. The all female duo of Sally Herbert and the striking, shaven headed Caroline Buckley shook up the conventional band template and they seemed in the right place at the right time to form a successful chart career. However follow up singles failed to make the Top 40 and the album similarly struggled commercially.
There were no further releases and the band dissolved, left with a legacy of the “whatever happened to…?” conundrum. However, excellent reissues label Cherry Red are just about to release a double CD deluxe version of the album which includes liner notes by Sally and Caroline plus an interview with their by old pal Jimmy Somerville. Banderas – a band ‘ripe’ for reassessment.
Cathy Dennis
One of the biggest breakout stars of 1991, diminutive Cathy came straight outta Norwich and achieved four Top 20 singles and a gold selling album in the space of 12 months. However, the hits dried up as she attempted to consolidate on her success and by the mid point of the decade the game was up. Cannily though, Cathy changed sports and became an in demand songwriter for other artists penning “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” for Kylie, “Toxic” for Britney Spears and “I Kissed A Girl” for Katy Perry.
Chesney Hawkes
Poor old Chezza. Perhaps the ultimate here today gone tomorrow pop star. A five week stint at No 1 with “The One And Only” led to both fame with the public but also derision in the music press. By the end of the year he was pretty much finished. He even has to put up with the ignominy of being labelled a one hit wonder despite follow up single “I’m A Man Not A Boy” going Top 30. Still, he seems like a nice bloke and is happy to play his (not quite) one and only hit in the nostalgia circuit.
Color Me Badd
How on earth did this happen? A group who included a sub standard George Michael lookalike, a Kenny G doppelgänger and a lead singer who was the spit of that god awful rapper Snow somehow managed to have a huge global hit with a song with one of the most teeth grindingly creepy titles of all time?! Come on people! What were you thinking?!
Shamelessly riding the New Jack Swing wave, these four knobheads from Oklahoma briefly caused a sensation when “I Wanna Sex You Up” hit No 2 in the US and topped the charts over here. They looked ridiculous and sounded horrendous. It couldn’t last and it didn’t. One more hit (the candy pop of “All 4 Love”) and that brief craze was over. Color Me Fad anyone?
Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch
When you’re more famous for your kecks than your music then you know you’re in trouble (just ask Kris Kross). Marky Mark would of course go on to have a very successful film career under his real name of Mark Wahlberg but for a brief (chortle) period of time Marky Mark and indeed his Funky Bunch were very hot news indeed. A US No 1 single in “Good Vibrations” led to him being the face (or possibly crotch) of a Calvin Klein underwear advertising campaign. However, the stench of some repugnant homophobic views aired on Channel 4’s The Word would see him rightly vilified and his music career was dead after just two years.
The Railway Children
Wigan New Wavers who having spent their early years on the tracks of the indie charts finally flagged down a mainstream chart hit in 1991 with “Every Beat Of The Heart”. Their late arrival as chart stars didn’t sustain though and despite pursuing a timetable of further hits, their time in the public spotlight was cancelled (ahem).
Sophie Lawrence
Five years on from Nick Berry taking “Every Loser Wins” to No 1, another Eastenders actor tried their luck at the pop game as Sophie Lawrence brought us a pretty straight and sterile version of Donna Summer’s disco classic “Love’s Unkind”. Whereas Berry’s character Wicksy had been a fan favourite (especially amongst the female side of the show’s audience I’m guessing), I’m not convinced that Sophie’s stroppy teenager Diane Butcher was quite so popular. Maybe that’s why her attempt at pop stardom stalled at No 21.
A Stock, Aitken and Waterman produced follow up was recorded (a Kylie album track fact fans) but it was never released and Sophie’s time in the pop merry go round came to a shuddering and final stop. Dum dum da dum dum dum dum ….
Zoë
Like Chesney Hawkes before her, Zoë wasn’t quite a one hit wonder but she is surely only known for one song, her No 4 hit “Sunshine On A Rainy Day”. A well crafted pop/dance crossover with an exuberant chorus, it proved a substantial hit, staying on the charts for 11 weeks. Despite her album being of similar material it failed to convince record buyers of its worth and came and went without anyone hardly noticing. No 37 hit “Lightning” didn’t pull up many trees as a follow up so Zoë quit pop music and reinvented herself as a potter before returning to music trying out rock and folk directions.
Last Words
So where does 1991 rank in terms of musical excellence? It’s not a classic in my book but I don’t think it’s the worst ever either (yes 1993 I’m looking at you). The Top 40 – and therefore TOTP – seemed to be awash with dance tunes of every hue but there were some standout songs for me as well. “Can You Dig It?” by The Mock Turtles, “Sit Down” by James, “3AM Eternal” by The KLF for example.
However, there was an elephant in the room that the whole of the year (almost literally) was dominated by; one song bestriding the charts behemoth like that would forever be associated with 1991. I speak, of course, of “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” by Bryan Adams. Was it a great big steaming turd brought into existence to remind us that nothing had really changed when it came to mainstream chart music despite the dance revolution or a phenomenon of commerciality that deserved our recognition? Yeah, don’t all rush to reply – I think I know the answer already.
And me personally? How was 1991? I didn’t know it then but this year was possibly the most stable year of the decade work wise. I remained in the same job working at the same record shop (Our Price in Market Street, Manchester) and liked the people I worked with. A brief wobble about the shop being sold off earlier in the year came to nothing and by Xmas I had become the store’s chart cassette buyer! The thrill of it all! 1992 would bring big changes though as for the first time in my life I got a work promotion and became an Assistant Manager but that’s all for future posts
I’ve going to carry on into the 1992 TOTP repeats. Fancy joining me?
TOTP Rewind - the 90s 