Steps

TOTP 29 JAN 1999

We’re nearly through January in these 1999 TOTP repeats and the charts, with a couple of notable exceptions, have been cleansed of all those Christmas hits as those record company new release schedules kick in. For example, four of this week’s Top 5 are new entries and we’ll see three of them on this show. There no sign of any new presenters though as stalwart Jayne Middlemiss is on hosting duties again for this one. A bit of admin before we get into it. That woman stood next to Jayne with a sign saying ‘Now can I have a pay rise?’ – what was that all about? Here’s the marvellous TOTP Archive website (https://totparchive.co.uk) with the answer:

“At the beginning of the episode, Zoe Alpass, a broadcast assistant on the Radio 1 Zoe Ball breakfast show, stands next to Jayne Middlemiss holding a placard that says “Now can I have a pay rise?” Previously on Radio 1, there had been banter about her wanting a pay rise, and they challenged her to appear on TV to get one”

With that sorted, let’s get into it. We start with the No 2 song and the biggest hit of Terrorvision’s career. Said career was a model of consistency. Over a five year period up to this point, they’d had eleven Top 40 UK hit singles but only two of them made the Top 10 with eight of the other nine peaking between Nos 29 and 20. When it came to albums though, only one of their four released so far had made the Top 10 and indeed, their latest “Shaving Peaches” peaked at a lowly No 34. Their failure to command bigger commercial achievements had led to talk at record company EMI about dropping them…and then came “Tequila”. Sort of. The track that crashed into the charts at No 2 wasn’t the version on the album but a remix by Mint Royale which had been championed by Zoe Ball who had a big public profile as Radio 1’s Breakfast Show DJ and partner of Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim who himself had just had a No 1 record with “Praise You”. Radically different from the version on the album, the single release had added children’s voices and a whistles and bells feel to it which lifted it from an average rock track into a huge party anthem. This was the aforementioned Fatboy Slim effect on Cornershop’s “Brimful Of Asha” part II. Naturally, the remixed version of the single caused consternation amongst the band’s loyal fanbase* but found a whole new mainstream audience.

*A poll on which track to release from the album distributed to fan club members had resulted in a different song being voted as the favourite.

According to singer Tony Wright, its release was delayed by a week presumably so not to clash with fellow EMI act 911’s own tilt at the No 1 spot although Wright seems to misremember it as being Geri Halliwell whom they were up against. Whatever the truth, in the end, “Tequila” would come up one place short of topping the charts themselves. As the original pressing of “Shaving Peaches” didn’t feature the Mint Royale remix (later reissues did include it), this caused the usual awkward conversations between record store staff and disappointed punters who’d bought it on the strength of the single that wasn’t on it. Despite the success of “Tequila”, the band were indeed dropped by EMI shortly after follow-up single “Ill Wishes” failed to make the Top 40 and they split in 2001 although they reformed in 2007 releasing their most recent album in 2024.

As part of her outro to Terrorvision, Jayne Middlemiss is waving a bottle of tequila about. That strikes me as a tad reckless. Granted she refers to it as a “nasty, intoxicating little substance” but still. Before the watershed! It gets you drunk from the legs up Jayne! Now, for one of those notable exceptions I referred to earlier. This was the fourth time on the show for Steps and their version of “Tragedy” with the first having been aired over two months before! That’s how long the single had been knocking around the charts including one week at the very top. It was still in the Top 3 this week so I’m guessing that’s why it’s on again as executive producer Chris Cowey continued his policy of showing hits that were still selling lots of copies as opposed to those that were moving up the charts.

According to the official charts website, “Tragedy/Heartbeat” is the group’s biggest selling hit ever with combined sales of 1.4 million units. That makes sense given it was a No 1 record and spent 15 weeks inside the Top 10. However, their other No 1 single “Stomp” is only their 11th best selling single. This anomaly is further compounded by the fact that the second best selling hit for Steps is “5,6,7,8” which never got any higher than No 14 in the charts. How do you explain that?

Now this is a real rarity. I cannot think when this has happened before on the show. Last week The All Seeing I performed “Walk Like A Panther” with Tony Christie on vocals. Seven days later and they are back minus Tony (who’s gone back to Amarillo according to Jayne Middlemiss – chortle) and in his place is the guy who co-wrote the song Jarvis Cocker! A hit sung by two different people in consecutive weeks? Was that unique? Whether it was or not, it gave us the chance to compare the two versions and work out which one we liked better. So who did you prefer, Jarvis or Tony? I think I’m leaning towards the latter but then we don’t actually get the full Cocker effect as it sounds to me as if Christie’s vocals are played during the chorus in this performance. What was that about? Couldn’t Jarvis reach those notes? It memoirs me of when Tracey Ullman couldn’t do the “Bay-bee!” line in “They Don’t Know” an they had to use Kirsty MacColl’s original recording. All very odd.

Back to the Top 5 now and another new entry for someone called TQ. Jayne Middlemiss ponders whether those initials stand for “Top Quality” or maybe “Two Quid” but it was actually TerranceQuaites, an R&B singer, songwriter and producer who, for a little while at the end of the 90s and start of the millennium had a string of hits starting with “Westside”. Now, this is far from my field of expertise but I can’t work this track out. Jayne says it’s a “smooth, soulful sound” and “gangster rap”. So which one is it? Can it be both? Maybe it can as sonically it’s definitely smooth and soulful but its words do warrant a ‘parental advisory explicit lyrics’ sticker. There’s a lot of editing and silent spaces in this performance to blank out the ‘n’ and ‘f’ words and the like. It’s all very confusing for a pop kid like me.

As for the title of the track, obviously it is culturally associated with rap artists and the East Coast-West Coast rivalry and indeed, the lyrics reference Ice Cube, Ice-T and Eazy-E and is dedicated to Tupac Shakur but did any of that mean anything to the white, middle class kids buying it to try and rebel against their parents. We used to get loads of them in the Our Price store in Altrincham where I was working, flipping through our rap section, doing the ‘pimp limp’ walk with as much swagger as they could muster and saying things like “Oh man, that’s bad!”. Just tedious. I’m betting they thought “Westside” was originated by this guy…

Whose idea was this?! Well, Chris Cowey’s I’m guessing. Sebadoh though?! A lo-fi indie rock band who’d never had a hit record before but had somehow sneaked into the Top 40 for one week never to return and they deserved a slot in the TOTP running order? Really?! Yes, “Flame” was this lot’s only chart hit and you can hear why – what a racket. This was never going to motor up the charts even with the exposure of this appearance – surely it was just a week one, fanbase thing? OK, so you could make a case that, by giving the viewers at home a glimpse of something out of left field, Cowey was providing an antidote to the wall to wall coverage of acts like Steps, Boyzone and the like which I, to be fair, have been decrying. However, I refer you to my previous question – Sebadoh though? Cowey could have had…

*checks chart for that week

…Duran Duran! In at No 23 with “Electric Barbarella”! Hmm. The video for it was a bit dodgy though so unless the band were available to be in the studio…

…Whatever! I, personally, could live without this particular distraction and having to watch a lead singer who was desperately trying to recreate looking like John Lennon when The Beatles played that famous, impromptu gig on the roof of the Apple Corps headquarters at Saville Row. Get back indeed.

Despite dropping five places to No 6, last week’s No 1 is back on the show. Now, “A Little Bit More” might seem like a sweet ballad and therefore a perfect choice for 911 to cover (I said as much in a previous post) but listening to the lyrics, I’m not so sure it is. Look at some of these lines:

“When your body’s had enough of me
And I’m layin’ flat out on the floor
When you think I’ve loved you all I can
I’m gonna love you a little bit more”

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Bobby Gosh
A Little Bit More lyrics © Bygosh Music Corp.

Erm…could that not be perceived to be about the carnal act? Then there phrases like “I’ve got to be touchin’ you” and “turns me on” and “we better get it on now” – this is double entendre territory at least. To think that my Mum and Dad had the Dr Hook album with this on! Eeeewww!

This next performance couldn’t be any more current. The debut single by a fresh, new artist that the whole world was excited about if you believed what was being written about them and there were plenty of column inches. There have been a few bands down the years where the hype about them before they’d even released anything has been huge. Sadly, in nearly all of those cases, the hype has been mere hyperbole. Back in 1985, the Roaring Boys were meant to be the new aforementioned Duran Duran but it turned out that we didn’t even want the existing DD and so they sank without trace. A year later, the future of rock ‘n’ roll had arrived to save us in the form Sigue Sigue Sputnik but their publicity machine was infinitely better than their music. A decade on from them, Menswear created a buzz about themselves with their limited copies policy of their first releases and narrative as the poster boys of Britpop. They burnt brightly but briefly.

And then, as the end of the decade neared, came Gay Dad. So what was so special about them? Well, there was their headline making name but more than that, lead singer Cliff Jones was a former journalist for Mojo, The Face and Melody Maker so there was a whole narrative developed about how he’d gone from writing about pop stars to being one (though Neil Tennant had beaten him to that story by about 15 years). The there was the fact that due to an early test pressing of their track“To Earth With Love” getting into the hands of Radio 1’s Mark Radcliffe and getting airplay, a whole subplot about them being the saviours of rock ‘n’ roll without even having a record out evolved. Their label London had to rush release the single leading to even more clamour for the band. Predictably, when it finally came out, it wasn’t very good. It sounded like they were trying too hard to manufacture a composite of every successful rock/pop song of the last few years into one track. The pretentious performance here with Jones taking himself oh so seriously only upped the pomposity levels and what was with the matching Walker Brothers/Birdlamd haircuts?

Its peak of No 10 was a success on a superficial level but its quick descent down the charts (Nos 28 and 39 in the following two weeks) also suggested Gay Dad might be a short lived fad. Conversely, follow up single “Joy” was a much better song. Why hadn’t they opened their account with that instead? Debut album “Leisure Noise” was hardly a runaway success peaking at No 14 and sophomore effort “Transmission” couldn’t reverse their fortunes, not being helped by lead single “Now Always And Forever” peaking at that most unfortunate of chart positions No 41. Gay Dad would ultimately linger on until 2002 when they split.

We have a new No 1, the fifth in as many weeks and we’re not even out of January yet. This time around it’s from an unexpected source – The Offspring with “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)”. Having only ever had two UK chart entries previously (neither which made the Top 30), here were the Californian pop-punk rockers going straight in at the top! I have to say that I didn’t know much about them before this moment despite:

a) the band having released their first album in 1989

b) my having worked in record shops since 1990

I knew the ‘skeleton’ cover of their 1994 album “Smash” but that was about it. “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)” was very much of that 90s pop-punk rock sound that would make stars of the likes of Green Day, Blink-182 and Sum 41 but it was actually the aforementioned “Smash” album which broke The Offspring and precipitated a move to major label Columbia. Their first release for them “Ixnay On The Hombre” underperformed commercially but their fifth album “Americana” would sell 10 million copies worldwide and go platinum here in the UK. Did the band’s existing fanbase appreciate their new found commerciality? Maybe not but hey, deal with it.

I mentioned earlier when discussing TQ those white, middle class kids buying rap music to rebel against their parents and guess what? That’s exactly what “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)” is about! No really. Here’s @TOTPFacts to confirm:

Offspring vocalist Dexter Gordon on “Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)”: “It’s really inspired by wannabe gangsters. Guys who go to malls and get the gangsta rap clothes. Guys on Ricki Lake who won’t listen to their moms.” #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) January 9, 2026

“… [Guys] from, like, Omaha, Nebraska – regular white-bread boys, but who act like they're from Compton. It's so fake and obvious that they're trying to have an identity.” #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) January 9, 2026

OK, their American counterparts but for Omaha read Altrincham. The Offspring are still together albeit with a few line up changes but front man Dexter Holland is still in the ranks and holds a PhD in molecular biology. Pretty dry for a punk guy.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Terrorvision	Tequila	No thanks
2	Steps	Tragedy	Negative
3	The All Seeing I	Walk Like A Panther	It’s a no from me
4	TQ	Westside	Nope
5	Sebadoh	Flame	Never
6	911	A Little Bit More	No
7	Gay Dad	To Earth With Love	Nah
8	The Offspring	Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)	I did not

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

TOTP 08 JAN 1999

Posted on 26 Days Ago by 80stastic

So, TOTP 1999 repeats are go! It’s my last year of doing this – please be halfway decent! As we’re in early January, the charts are very static with few new releases meaning that this show is full of songs that have been on before. Familiarity is also in evidence with our host who is Jamie Theakston who is becoming as ubiquitous as Simon ‘Smug’ Mayo used to be back in the day.

We start with Bryan Adams and Melanie C with “When You’re Gone”. This single really had legs spending ten consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 including three on the trot at No 6 which is its position this week. It’s continued to enjoy longevity in many forms long after the single finally dropped out of the charts via re-recordings and live performances. Adams returned to the song in 2005 for his compilation album “Anthology”, laying down a new version of it with Pamela Anderson of all people whilst Melanie C rejoined him in 2022 as they revisited the track for Adams’s “Classic Pt. II” album. Bryan frequently performs the song live as an acoustic number, usually plucking a member of the audience out to join him whilst Chisholm has also performed it during her concerts on a regular basis.

Theakston goes in for a bit of sexual innuendo in his intro to the next act. “If you’re one of the millions suffering from the flu then may I suggest the Theakston remedy. Stay in bed, snuggle up under your duvet and enjoy a healthy dose of the Honeyz” he chirps before doing his best Sid James impression by blowing out his cheeks. Yeah, knobhead. The Honeyz are back on the show for similar reasons as Bryan Adams/Melanie C – their hit “End Of The Line” is holding at No 9 having already peaked at No 5 in its first week in the chart. They were a bit like a prototype Sugababes weren’t they? Not that they shared a musical style but in terms of a revolving door policy when it came to their line up. Though there have only ever been four members to feature in a trio format, there is just one ever present in Célena Cherry. Of the other three, Heavenli Roberts has had five separate stints in the band, Naima Belkhiati two and Mariama Goodman three. The current lineup features Cherry, Roberts and Cherry’s sister Candace. Do you think they’ve…ahem…finally found the right combination?

Next, a third hit on the spin that has been on the charts for weeks already. Why is Robbie Williams on the show performing “No Regrets” again? Well, because he’s Robbie Williams would seen to be the main criteria. Observe the sycophantic intro from Jamie Theakston – “It’s Rob’s world, we just live in it”. Notice he calls him Rob not Robbie. I think they were possibly ‘mates’ at this point on account of Williams dating Nicole Appleton and Theakston seeing her sister Natalie though I think the former relationship ended around this time. Executive producer Chris Cowey would argue that it’s because “No Regrets” was going up the charts and with a lack of new releases to showcase, this was perfectly legitimate and justified. The truth is though that after debuting at No 4, the single had not spent another week inside the Top 10. Yes, successive drops to Nos 14 and 19 had been countered by consecutive moves back up the charts to No 18 and this week’s position of No 16 but it was hardly a big seller at this time. This was surely just a case of trying to pad the show out with a big name wasn’t it? Theakston’s intro doubles down on this. Let me entertain you? Nah, I’m good thanks.

A new song! A rare new entry into the Top 40 in the first week of January! It comes courtesy of Alisha’s Attic whose chart career to this point has been a model of consistency. Their first five hits had all peaked at either Nos 12, 13 or 14. “Wish I Were You” would end that run by going no higher than No 29. More than that though, it was portentous, ushering in the end of their pop career. None of their subsequent singles were bigger hits than No 24 and their third album “The House We Built” failed to make the Top 40. So what happened? It’s a question as old as The Rolling Stones that if I knew the answer to, I’d be a music industry mogul. If I had to guess though, I’d say that musical tastes moved on and, despite their consistency, Alisha’s Attic hadn’t established a big enough foothold in the charts to ride the changes. Ultimately, I think that’s a shame as I quite liked their quirky pop songs. However, “Wish I Were You” wasn’t their best work. It’s a bit slight and insubstantial to the point that the middle eight is essentially the sisters singing “I, I, I, I…” over and over. We didn’t need another Jim Diamond thanks! Things worked out for Shelly and Karen though as both have gone on to form successful careers as songwriters for other artists. Having been and done the pop star thing, presumably they don’t wish they were those people anymore.

Right who’s this? Oh it’s that woman with the huge hair again, Alda. She had a hit in 1998 with “Real Good Time” and she’s back with the follow up “Girls Night Out” which sounds very similar to its predecessor. No, not ‘very similar’ – exactly the same. As such, what else can I say about Alda who is originally from Iceland but relocated to London and now lives in…oh, this is just brilliant…High Barnet! This shizzle writes itself sometimes! What about her music you say? Well, it’s out and out pure pop confectionery – fine if that’s your flavour but too much of it would make you barf. Compared to her pop contemporaries like Robyn for example, she’s the cheap supermarket own brand equivalent of an M&S best seller – Home Bargains’ Claude The Caterpillar as opposed to M&S’s Colin The Caterpillar cake. No, not Claude The Caterpillar but Cuthbert because she’s more Aldi than Alda.

*I’ll get me coat*

Another new entry now and it’s from the Lighthouse Family. Now, I’ve defended this lot in the past on the basis that musical snobbery is wrong and that ridicule is nothing to be scared of but oh dear…this one…this one is just undeniably, irredeemably dreadful. Awful. Just no good.“Postcards From Heaven” was the title track from their second album and also the fifth single to be lifted (see what I did there?!) from it. That might explain why its peak of No 24 was the duo’s lowest chart position in a run of nine hits up to that point but I’m pretty sure it was because it was horseshit. It’s so insubstantial and slight and…dull. And it sounds just like all their other hits. Abject crap. Postcards from Heaven? More like delivery from the depths of Hell. Sorry guys but it turns out Adam Ant was wrong. Ridicule is something to be scared of.

Right, that’s your new tunes done with and so we’re back to the (very) familiar starting with a former (and indeed Christmas) No 1. Yes, the Spice Girls claimed the (then) coveted festive chart topper in 1998 with “Goodbye” and thereby became the first act to have three such consecutive hits since The Beatles in 1965. However it only stated stayed at the peak for one week hence the comment from Jamie Theakston about them getting on the wrong side of Chef’s “Salty Balls” as that was the record that deposed them. It was, in fact, the first No 1 single of 1999 but was not played on TOTP as an episode did not air the week of the 27th December 1998 to 2nd January 1999. So why didn’t “Salty Balls” feature on this particular show rather than “Goodbye”? Was it an issue with the lyrics? I mean, there’s a lot of innuendo in them but no actual swear words – I don’t think the single carried a Parental Advisory sticker did it? Whatever the reason, Chris Cowey chose not to go with Chef so we get a re-showing of a previous performance of “Goodbye”. As it turned out, this would be the group’s final TOTP appearance of the 90s and, therefore, also the last time I’ll be reviewing them in this blog. So, “Goodbye” indeed Sporty, Scary, Baby, Ginger and Posh. You came, you saw, you conquered – you spiced up our lives.

Who saw this coming? Steps at No 1? Seven weeks after it debuted at No 2, “Heartbeat/Tragedy” has risen to the top of the charts. It feels a bit like All Saints’ journey to No 1 with “Never Ever” which took weeks as well. Yes, its achievement was probably enabled by a lack of big new releases in the first week of January but still. In fairness, their last single “One For Sorrow” had peaked at No 2 and all three of their releases to this point had spent at least two months inside the Top 40 so maybe the clues had been there all along? “Heartbeat/Tragedy” took it to a new level though. Fifteen consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 including a month inside the Top 3 after it had relinquished the top spot – it was a chart monster.

In recognition of this success, we get a medley of the two tracks but it’s not a new performance but two separate appearances in the show cobbled together. Is it me or does it seem a bit of a shoddy edit? It’s not like when The Jam and Oasis were afforded two songs to celebrate their respective No 1s – the former’s “Town Called Malice” / “Precious” double A-side and the latter’s “Don’t Look Back In Anger” when they also performed their cover of Slade’s “Cum On Feel The Noize” which was an extra track on the CD single. Still, it was hardly a tragedy was it? Better best forgotten.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Bryan Adams and Melanie C	When You’re Gone	Nah
2	Honeyz	End Of The Line	Negative
3	Robbie Williams	No Regrets	Didn’t happen
4	Alisha’s Attic	Wish I Were You	Nope
5	Alda	Girls Night Out	Never
6	Lighthouse Family	Postcards From Heaven	Good Lord no!
7	Spice Girls	Goodbye	No
8	Steps	Heartbeat / Tragedy	I did not

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

TOTP 04 DEC 1998

Posted on December 26 by 80stastic

We’ve entered December, the month of Christmas, time off work* and office parties talking of which, our presenter, Kate Thornton, looks like she’s come dressed for the party season-in a sparkly red dress and crimped hair. I wonder if any of the tunes on this show might have soundtracked some office parties that festive season.

*I only got Christmas Day off this year as the record shop chain I was working for (Our Price) introduced Boxing Day opening for the first time. Bah and indeed, humbug!

As it’s Christmas, we start with a ballad. Not just any ballad mind but a boy band ballad. Yes, just seven days after Five threw their hats into the ring for a huge hit with a big love song, so did Boyzone. I have to admit that I can’t place “I Love The Way You Love Me” at all but if I had to, it would be in the bin. A country-tinged ballad, it redefines the word ‘cynical’ meaning that it’s an ‘ickle’ song that it was a ‘sin’ to record. Oh alright, it’s not that bad but it’s not that good either is it? Again like Five, the vocal heavy lifting is done by just two of the five members of the band but then that was pretty much always the case with Boyzone – did any of the other three that weren’t Ronan or Stephen ever get a solo spot? I don’t think so, not on the hits anyway. And yet it went straight in at No 2 and but for the Cher phenomenon would have been another No 1 for them. Two and a half years on from the initial demise of Take That, you’d have to say that the five Irish lads had taken their opportunity to be the UK’s biggest boy band. In that period, of the eight singles which they released, four went to No 2 and four went to No 1. They loved the way you loved them.

Would it have made an office party playlist? Unlikely but maybe it could have soundtracked an illicit snog by the photocopier.

A ‘forgotten’ single next or at least one that isn’t well remembered I suspect. “War Of Nerves” by All Saints anyone? The fifth and final track lifted from their debut eponymous album, it was presumably released just so the fans had something to buy at Christmas. Or was it, as we saw recently with the example of James releasing a remix of “Sit Down”, just an attempt to revitalise sales of an album which had already been in the shops for more than a year? Either way, its peak of No 7 was a long way short of the success of their previous three singles which all topped the charts. Was that down to the fact that so many people had already bought the album or was it just that the song wasn’t that strong? I think probably the former as, although “War Of Nerves” is understated, it does have a quiet power and definite charm. Maybe it worked better as an album track? Certainly the performance here is very laid back and not at all pushy nor forward with the group all sat on a sofa or a plush chair possibly due to Melanie Blatt’s baby bump as prefaced by Kate Thornton in her intro. However, if any of us thought that the All Saints bubble had burst with the smaller hit that “War Of Nerves” gave the group, we would all be proved wrong and then some when their next release – “Pure Shores” – was their fourth No 1 hit.

Would it have made an office party playlist? Doubtful. More likely “Never Ever” or “Lady Marmalade” might have got a spin.

Did anyone else watch Ally McBeal back in the day? For a while there it as quite the TV sensation. Winning a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy in its first two seasons, the legal comedy-drama TV series starring Calista Flockhart was seen as groundbreaking in its use of surreal running gags and its uptake of one of the very first internet memes ‘The Dancing Baby’.

My wife and I enjoyed the show at the time but I don’t think we watched it much after those first two series when the ratings started to fall away. Anyway, as well as internet memes, the show heavily featured a soundtrack that was provided by the previously unknown Vonda Shepherd. OK, not completely unknown as she’d had a hit in 1987 in America with “Can’t We Try”, a duet with Dan Hill of “Sometimes When We Touch” fame. In the UK though, zip, nothing, nada. Then came the Ally McBeal break. “Searchin’ My Soul” was the theme tune and would be the single released from the soundtrack album but Shepherd was more than just a one track pony. She recorded the whole album though, in fairness, most were cover versions of pop standards. She even bagged herself a regular cameo spot on the show as the resident singer at the bar the show’s protagonists would often find themselves visiting (usually at the end of each episode). Here’s the thing though. Despite the fact that I used to watch Ally McBeal in its early years, I don’t recognise its theme tune at all. How can that be? Yes, it was never played in full on the show but even so.

However, I definitely remember something quite specific about this whole Ally McBeal era. The Our Price shop where I was working would sometimes receive promo copies of forthcoming albums to play in store and plug ahead of the release date. We received one such promo for the Ally McBeal soundtrack. It wasn’t the whole album just a sampler with maybe half a dozen songs on it. We hadn’t really played it that much and it was just knocking about near the shop stereo. Anyway, a customer came in and she was desperate to buy the music from Ally McBeal, her favourite TV show. I explained that neither the album nor the single had been released yet. However, I suddenly remembered that promo CD. Now, in theory, such promo material should only be signed out to staff but the poor woman was desperate to go home with something and as I’m a generous type of guy, I said I would ask the manager if it could be signed out to her. In return, I asked if she could make a donation into one of our charity boxes. Everyone’s a winner! Except…the manager was dead against the idea despite my protestations that it might inspire customer loyalty. In the end, he relented but made me feel like I was out of order for even suggesting such a thing. This was the manager who I just couldn’t get along with and who was a protagonist in my deteriorating mental health. He had a problem with trying to do a customer a small favour yet I’d witnessed some of his practices that were undoubtedly not squeaky clean including flouting health and safety rules when it came to his staff. As before, I won’t mention his name but let’s just say he went be getting a Christmas card from me anytime soon.

Would it have made an office party playlist?Probably not well known enough even despite Ally McBeal.

“So which one’s your favourite?” asks Kate Thornton at the end of the next performance which is “Tragedy” by Steps. Clare Richards always seemed to be the vocal focal point of the group but personally, I always had a soft spot for Faye Tozer – can’t think why (ahem). I couldn’t really be doing with the two blokes and that just leaves Lisa Scott-Lee. Have I ever told you my incredibly tenuous connection story to Lisa Scott-Lee? I once worked with someone who was friends with someone who was related to Lisa! Said relative worked in McDonalds at the time which seemed light years away from the life Scott-Lee was living and I always wondered if her relation held any feelings of jealousy towards her? Anyway, apparently she’s the best member of Steps and here’s why…

Lisa Scott-Lee is clearly the best member of Steps and here’s why that is

Would it have made an office party playlist? Most definitely.

Faithless are up next with a second single lifted from their “Sunday 8PM” album. Not quite as impactful as “God Is A DJ”, “Take The Long Way Home” nevertheless adheres to the their usual sonic blueprint of a dominant portentous, ominous sound punctuated by Maxi Jazz’s almost spoken word vocals and those fleeting, shuffling beats. If the track’s title sounds familiar, like me, you may be thinking of that song by Supertramp from their “Breakfast In America” album. It got me thinking what Faithless would have done with a cover version of “Take The Long Way Home” as opposed to their own composition so I asked AI. This is what it said:

“If Faithless covered Supertramp’s “Take the Long Way Home,” it would likely transform the classic rock ballad into an anthemic, pulsing electronic track, blending Maxi Jazz’s soulful vocals with Sister Bliss’s sweeping synths and Rollo Armstrong’s beats, creating a euphoric dancefloor version full of spiritual depth, contrasting the original’s wistful melancholy with rave energy, akin to their own hits like “Insomnia” but with Supertramp’s narrative heart…Ultimately, a Faithless cover would flip the Supertramp classic from a reflective, almost sad, acoustic-driven song into a hands-in-the-air, communal dance anthem”.

Hmm. It’s not really telling me anything I couldn’t have thought up or written myself. In fact, it doesn’t really say anything at all other than generic guff. It did do it in seconds though whereas I seem to be taking longer and longer to write these reviews. I guess AI isn’t distracted by cups of tea or mince pies like I am. Or is it?

Would it have made an office party playlist? Not mainstream enough I would have thought but probably caused some dance floor action in a club setting.

After tempting Madonna into the TOTP studio for only the second time in 14 years, executive producer Chris Cowey wasn’t going to show Madge’s performance of her latest hit “The Power Of Goodbye/Little Star” there just once. Inevitably, it would get re-shown two weeks on and, as that first performance was an ‘exclusive’ a fortnight ahead of the single’s release, Cowey even had the added rationality for featuring it again as it had only just entered the charts at No 6. A canny move by the Mackem TV producer. Kate Thornton rather over eggs her intro by saying “This next lady’s sold over 100 million albums but she still likes to drop into TOTP”. Two in person appointments within a 14 year period would suggest the opposite Kate.

Would it have made an office party playlist? No chance. Far too slow a track. “Holiday” on the other hand…

A grinning Will Smith appearing on screen with a message for his UK fans whilst introducing the video for his latest hit seemed to be a regular event around this time. Here he was again with a segue into “Miami”, his third Top 3 hit of the year. Taken from his “Big Willie Style” album, it was yet again a pop/R&B/rap track based around a retro hit. After borrowing from Sister Sledge and Bill Withers/Grover Washington Jr previously, Smith turned to the 1979 smash “And The Beat Goes On” by The Whispers this time. You’d have to say that the writing team behind those hits were right on the money when it came to nailing their commercial appeal. The formula would continue to be applied into 1999 with a further brace of No 2 hits built around samples from the likes of The Clash, Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five and Stevie Wonder.

Would it have made an office party playlist? Yeah, maybe.

It’s six weeks out of seven in the top spot for Cher with “Believe”. Keeping the challenge of Boyzone at arms length this time around, the sales of her hit were showing no signs of slowing down. Could she manage to hold on to not only have the biggest selling single in the UK that year but also the Christmas No 1? History shows that she didn’t with *SPOILER ALERT* the Spice Girls securing their third consecutive Yuletide topper but “Believe”’s chart position of No 4 in Christmas week, over two months on from its debut showed how much hold it still had on the record buying public.

Would it have made an office party playlist? Absolutely!

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Boyzone	I Love The Way You Love Me	Never
2	All Saints	Wart Of Nerves	No but I think my wife and the album
3	Vonda Shepherd	Searchin’ My Soul	Nope
4	Steps	Tragedy / Heartbeat	No
5	Faithless	Take The Long Way Home	Nah
6	Madonna	The Power Of Goodbye/Little Star	See 2 above
7	Will Smith	Miami	I did not
8	Cher	Believe	And no

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

TOTP 27 NOV 1998

Posted on December 19 by 80stastic

After featuring nine songs in the last TOTP, we’re down to seven this time though six of them are new to charts (sort of). Our host is Jayne Middlemiss and we start with that ‘start of’ hit which is from Steps. The reason for it’s unclear categorisation is that whilst “Heartbeat” hasn’t been on the show previously, it wasn’t actually a new chart hit being the other track to their double A-side single alongside their cover of “Tragedy” which we saw on the previous programme. Now, I said in the last post that I didn’t think that I’d ever heard “Heartbeat” before such was the ubiquity of “Tragedy” and I stand by that statement having listened to it today. There’s no bells ringing (even though it’s Christmas time) and I’m rather glad there aren’t as it’s a sickly, saccharine pop ballad that cloys but leaves no cultural nor sonic sustenance whatsoever. It’s literally like a musical form of candy floss. Surely punters weren’t buying the single for this track but purely for “Tragedy”?

“Cor! It’s the Corrs!” or so Jayne Middlemiss in her intro would have us believe that’s what the male population would be saying at this point. Bit sexist that isn’t it Jayne? Well, it was the time of lad culture and Jayne herself had spent time as a glamour model early in her career so maybe all that informed her comments. Or maybe she was just reading the lines written in a script (presumably by a man). Let’s not tie ourselves up in knots about all that. On with the music and “So Young” was the third hit on the trot for The Corrs this year. Written by violinist Sharon about her parents and the notion that no matter how old they got, they seemed to her to be forever young in spirit and outlook. All this talk of ageing and youth got me thinking about who are the eldest and youngest Corrs and the order of the ages in the middle. So how about a festive game of ‘Guess the age of the Corrs’? I’ll start. I’m going:

Jim – eldest
Sharon
Andrea
Caroline – youngest

How did I do?

*checks Wikipedia*

Ooh! Almost! These are their actual ages:

Jim – 61
Sharon – 55
Caroline – 52
Andrea – 51

This, of course, means that even “the beautiful Corrs” (© Ant and Dec) are all now in their 50s.* Time waits for no man…or woman.

*Before you all accuse me of ageism and misogyny, I’m sure they are all still beautiful and absolutely agree that age should have no bearing on perceptions of attractiveness. I was trying to make a point about the passing of youth and how time marches on but I’m regretting saying any of it now. Let’s move on quickly…

…to the Vengaboys! NOOO!!! We can’t have reached that time already. 1998 you really have been a pile of steaming shite and this is the little twist on the turd after it’s been curled out. Too graphic? I care not a jot when it comes to this lot. Which despicable people were responsible for this utter crapola? I’ll tell you who – a couple of Dutch producers who went by the aliases Danski (real name Dennis van den Driesschen) and Delmundo (Wessel Dietrich van Diepen) who threw (according to the official Vengaboys website) impromptu and illegal beach parties from their worn out school bus in the early 90s. Deciding to grow their operation, they recruited some singers and dancers to spice up their DJ sets and then took it a massive step further by deciding to form a record label and produce records. With that concept established, the task of fronting said records would fall to those dancers and singers they had already recruited. After a couple of minor hits in their own country, they went truly international with the release of “Up & Down” which was a Top 10 hit all around Europe and topped the US Dance Club Play chart.

This whole thing has given me some strong 2 Unlimited vibes. The Dutch duo began their run of hits with the track “Get Ready For This”, the single edit of which was essentially an instrumental with the occasional shout out thrown in which many (me included) thought would make them one hit wonders. They made mugs of us though by proceeding to have a run of 14 Top 40 singles including that No 1. Similarly, the Vengaboys, for all the world, looked like being a one-off, almost novelty act with “Up & Down” the lyrics of which consisted of the words ‘up’, ‘and’, ‘down’, and ‘woo!’. Just like 2 Unlimited though, they would follow it with a string of hit singles (including two No 1s) between 1998 and 2001. All of which means we’ve only just scratched the surface of the crust of the Vengaboys planet of which we will all become inhabitants (willing or not) until the end of the 90s.

Ah that explains it! Here’s @TOTPFacts with the reason why there’s only seven songs on this repeat:

Edited out here: the Celine Dion and R Kelly duet “I’m Your Angel”, which was at its number 3 peak. #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) December 12, 2025

Moving on very quickly we find Sash! with yet another hit in “Move Mania”. This was the trio’s* sixth consecutive UK hit but the first not to debut at either No 2 or No 3 when it made its chart entry at No 8.

*Yes, Jayne Middlemiss, Sash was a three man production team not a single person and certainly not an “international man of mystery” as you describe them in your intro.

In their continual conveyer belt of guest vocalists, for this release they have teamed up with Shannon who had a couple of hits in the mid 80s notably with “Let The Music Play” though she also featured on Todd Terry’s 1997 Top 20 hit “It’s Over Love”. Maybe it’s the Shannon effect but “Move Mania” sounds very retro to me by which I mean retro even in 1998. It’s all very frantic, frenetic and furious – dare I say like an 80s Hi-NRG track? Maybe I’m reaching a bit there but it didn’t have the same feel as some of the other Sash! hits to this point. Although the hits certainly didn’t dry up after this slight downturn in chart fortunes for “Move Mania”, they didn’t sustain at that previous high level either with only one of their subsequent six UK entries making it to No 2, the mention of which allows me to trot out this well worn fact about Sash! – they remain the act with the most No 2 hits (five) without ever having a No 1. In the dark times that we currently live in, this bit of pop trivia somehow gives me the slightest slither of hope for the world.

And that slither of hope is extinguished immediately by this next hit. Not another Latin flavoured dance track! How many times have we seen this sort of thing during these late 90s TOTP repeats? Here’s just a few I can think of:

Dario G – “Carnaval De Paris”
Echobeatz – “Mas Que Nada”
Ricky Martin – “(Un Dos Tres) Maria”
Bellini – “Samba De Janeiro”

That’s was surely more than enough of that kind of thing no? No, it wasn’t apparently as here were Ruff Driverz and their flamenco inspired track “Dreaming”. Officially, this was credited as being ‘Ruff Driverz Presents Arrola’ who was the vocalist who has worked with loads of dance acts (sometimes under her real name of Katherine Ellis) including 4-2 The Floor, Eruption and Utah Saints amongst many others. Similar to Sash! and the Vengaboys earlier, the people behind the hit were a DJ/Production team who in this case consisted of Brad Carter and Chris Brown whom for some reason thought that it what the charts needed, as Christmas approached mind, was a flamenco themed hit that surely would have been more suited to a Summer release. As ever though, what did I know as it debuted at No 10 becoming, in the process, the seventh new hit to chart inside the Top 10 that week. What a time to be alive!

After coming up with a true banger with their last single “Everybody Get Up”, Five have resorted to the usual marketing trick of releasing a slushy ballad just in time for Christmas. “Until The Time Is Through” is almost mechanical in its construction, adhering to the accepted boy band blueprint at every turn. Perhaps in an attempt to mix things up a bit, they’ve settled on a rather odd performance for this TOTP appearance. As Jayne Middlemiss says in her intro, the vocals on this one are handled by Richie and Scott presumably because it was their turn with Abz and J having taken the lead on rapping duties on “Everybody Get Up” – poor old Sean never seems to get a go in the spotlight.

Anyway, with those two situated at the front of the stage, the other three are sat right at the back on chairs. I’m sure it sounded like a good idea on paper but the optics of it look a bit odd. They never move once from their seated position which created the impression that they’re rather disinterested in what was happening in front of them. There’s something a bit ‘three wise monkeys’ about them with Abz sat with his chair back to front, J with it the right way around and Sean with his angled to one side. Was that deliberate? You know what would have livened things up? If they’d played a game of musical chairs whilst performing. That would have been a first and created a talking point! As it is, the only talking that happens is right at the very end when J turns to Sean and appears to say something to him. I wonder what he said? “Thank God that’s over”? “I could have sung that better than those two”? “Last one to the BBC bar gets the drinks in”?

It’s a fifth week at the top for Cher and “Believe”. What else is there to say about this one? I’ve covered its chart and sales data, the auto tuned vocals, its awards…what else is there? OK, how about who wrote it? Originally it was a demo worked up by Brian Higgins in 1990 who would gain fame via his Xenomania production team who wrote hits for Sugababes, S Club 7, Girls Aloud and The Saturdays. Higgins couldn’t get any interest in the track (apparently Saint Etienne were one of the artists offered it who turned it down) but he submitted it to Warners chairman Rob Dickins after a chance meeting. Dickins thought it was terrible but had a great chorus and so he employed two more songwriters (Steve Torch and Paul Barry) to work on it. Cher herself added some lyrics but did not get a writing credit though three other names did alongside Higgins, Torch and Barry. Cher admitted in 2023 that she regretted not asking for a songwriter’s credit. With worldwide sales of 11 million, I’m not surprised.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Steps	Heartbeat / Tragedy	No
2	The Corrs	So Young	Nope
3	Vengaboys	Up & Down	NOOOO!
4	Sash! / Shannon	Move Mania	I did not
5	Ruff Driverz	Dreaming	Nah
6	Five	Until The Time Is Through	Never
7	Cher	Believe	Negative

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002nd35/top-of-the-pops-27111998

TOTP 20 NOV 1998

Posted on December 17 by 80stastic

Those pesky BBC4 programmers have slipped an extra TOTP repeat into the schedule this week meaning I have three shows to review rather than the usual two. I think it’s to make up for the fact that they only showed one last week due to the snooker coverage and so, in order to get the 1998 shows to sync with 2025 real time, they’ve had to go with three this week. As if that wasn’t enough, this one features nine instead of the standard eight acts. I’ll never get all my Christmas shopping done at this rate!

Anyway, our host is the increasingly annoying Jamie Theakston and we start with a repeat showing of last week’s performance by the now trio of East 17/E-17 and their hit “Each Time”. With a debut chart position of No 2 and a solid second week of sales sustaining it in the Top 5, this single looked like it would foreshadow a new period of success for the group after the recent negative publicity surrounding Brian Harvey’s ‘drug interview’ and the trauma of chief songwriter Tony Mortimer’s departure. It would prove to be a false dawn though as the poor chart showing of parent album “Resurrection” indicated that there wasn’t a big appetite within their fanbase for a slimmed down version of the band with a new R&B direction and a truncated name. Subsequently, the group were dropped by their label Telstar Records in 1999. Bizarrely, the album would be released by Demon Music Group in 2013 but retitled as “Greatest” despite not actually being a collection of their biggest hits and also ignoring the fact that there were already four Best Of albums in existence by this point. Crucially though, none of those albums contained the word ‘greatest’ in their title. What a shady practice.

2025 Update: It was reported in the press this week that songwriter Tony Mortimer earns about £97,000 in royalties each year from “Stay Another Day”. What a Christmas pension pot!

What was it about the mid to late 90s and Bee Gees cover versions? Take That, Boyzone, N-Trance, Adam Garcia and 911 all had hits with their treatments of classic songs by the brothers Gibb and now here were Steps adding their name to that list with their take on “Tragedy”. As with the 911’s cover of “More Than A Woman”, this was taken from a Bee Gees tribute album but was released as a double A-side with a track called “Heartbeat” from the group’s debut album “Step One” (it would also appear as the first single on their follow up “Steptacular”). I’m sure I can’t be the only person who could genuinely claim to have never heard “Heartbeat” possibly because you couldn’t escape from “Tragedy”. This single just sold and sold and sold and then the next day it would do the same all over again. It would spend a whopping 23 weeks on the UK Top 40 and 15 consecutively inside the Top 10 including (after a wait of two months) one at No 1. It sold more than all their previous three singles put together and was surely the piece of concrete evidence that Steps were going to be around for quite some time.

So why did the nation go barmy for the Steps version of “Tragedy”? Well, it was a tightly produced and faithful-to-the-original cover of a dance classic which helped and maybe the younger elements of their fanbase didn’t even know it wasn’t a Steps original but I think what really propelled it to its commercial heights was the dance that went with it. Involving hand gestures that framed the face, shoulder twists and arm raises, it maybe wasn’t as iconic as vogueing as popularised by Madonna but it was up there. It looks pretty impressive in this performance anyway. I reckon we’ll see loads of this one in future repeats so I’ll leave it there for now.

2025 Update: Steps performed at Blackpool recently as the musical interlude for Strictly Come Dancing to promote the opening of the Steps musical.

Despite being released originally in 1989 and again in 1991, come 1998 the story of “Sit Down” by James still had another chapter to be written in the form of a remix and yet another release. The rather unimaginatively titled “Sit Down ‘98” was commissioned by the band’s label Mercury to help re-promote sales of their first “Best Of” album (which had hit the shops in the March) in the run up to Christmas. As far as I can tell though, this version never actually made it onto said Best Of nor was there a rerelease of it with the ‘98 remix added onto the track listing. It was what was known as a standalone single. Wouldn’t it have been better just to rerelease the hit version of “Sit Down” from 1991 if Mercury wanted to associate it with the Best Of album? I’m guessing that wouldn’t have been creative enough for Tim Booth though and so we got an Apollo 440 mix of the classic track which probably made sense at the time given their high profile and whilst their treatment of “Sit Down” is interesting, it does lose some of its charm in the process it seems to me. It would appear not to have stood the test of time either. Do you ever hear it played on the radio instead of the hit version? Nor did it have the desired effect of re-energising the Best Of album’s sales. As far as I can tell, it spent the whole of November and December skirting around between Nos 75 to 60 in the charts. Could you say the whole idea was ridiculous and touched by madness? Only if you’re trying to squeeze in some pathetically obvious “Sit Down” references to finish this bit off like I am.

2025 Update: In an unexpected turn of events there’s another Strictly Come Dancing story – I’ve just seen “Sit Down” performed by James on the results show. It wasn’t the ‘98 remix obviously but just like in 1998, the band have a new Best Of album out to promote called “Nothing But Love: The Definitive Best Of”.

I’ve checked and this is the fifth time “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith has been on the show over a period of just under three months. FIVE times in THREE months! Those two numbers are remarkable! Firstly that a hit that never got higher than No 4 could be on that many times but secondly that it was in the charts for that long! Actually, I should be more precise with that chart figure – it spent nine consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 and 18 (EIGHTEEN!) on the Top 40 in total. This week it was at No 8 but, given that this was the fourth time of seeing that satellite concert performance, were there not any other songs in the Top 40 that could have taken its place in the running order? Hang on, I’ll check…

…well, Marilyn Manson was a new entry at No 12 but maybe he was seen as not a safe enough choice. Further down the chart there are the likes of Tina Cousins, Karen Ramirez and Air but I think I would like to have seen the song at No 39 get a look in – “All I Want” by Puressence. That was never going to happen though.

2025 Update: A collaboration between Aerosmith and Yungblud topped the album charts just a week or so ago thus becoming the band’s first ever UK No 1 album some 38 years after their chart debut. Quite extraordinary.

I was right in what I said in the last post! There is someone from the Fugees on the show every week! After Wyclef Jean last time, we get Pras in this TOTP. In fact, Pras was also on with Wyclef Jean alongside Queen in that appearance seven days prior so the show really was full of Fugees around this time. “Blue Angels” is the track that Pras is promoting and although it features a sample from Frankie Valli’s “Grease”, there’s another film that is mentioned in the lyrics that caught my attention, one that I’d never heard of before but which seems to have been quite the influence on many a hip hop artist. 1984’s Beat Street was set in South Bronx with a plot surrounding the hip-hop lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends. Now I’ve never heard of nor come across this film before but it had a cultural reach I would never have imagined. In Germany for example, which was still divided into East and West at this point, it had a particularly seismic impact. Released in the former to supposedly highlight the evils of capitalism, it instead promoted the more visual images of hip-hop and ushered in an emerging scene there. The film has been name checked in tracks by the likes of The Notorious B.I.G., Jay Electronica and AZ.

Now clearly, a white 16 year old living in Worcester in the West Midlands at the time of its release (that’ll be me) was never going to be its target audience but the fact that it bypassed me completely is surprising. I mean, I was aware of the breakdancing phenomenon at least if only via the hits of Break Machine. Did it not get UK distribution? Maybe not. Still, it’s opened my eyes a little. This blog was never meant to be educational but I seem to be learning about things I was never aware of as a by product of it.

2025 Update: In November this year, Pras was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his part in an alleged criminal conspiracy re: the illegal transfer of funds into the Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign.

The first of three new hits now starting with Robbie Williams who made a rather cringeworthy cameo appearance during the James performance earlier trying to convince us all that he was a rock god axeman. After his first No 1 single “Millennium” earlier in the year, presumably hopes were high that he would repeat the trick with follow up “No Regrets”. However, it would debut and peak at No 4 when it was eventually released ten days after this TOTP performance. Why didn’t it go straight to the top of the charts when many press reviews had picked it out as one of the strongest tracks on parent album “I’ve Been Expecting You”? The answer possibly lies with that old issue of timing. Said album had already been out for a month by the time “No Regrets” made it into the shops so perhaps punters who might have shelled out for the single had already bought the album and didn’t feel the need to buy both? Perhaps anticipating that outcome, was that why record label Chrysalis made the single a double A-side with Robbie’s version of “Antmusic” by Adam And The Ants making up the other track? Wait, Williams did a version of “Antmusic”? I don’t recall this! I have to check this out…

…Oh dear God! That’s horrible! Just awful! What was he thinking?! What was Adam Ant thinking letting him butcher it?! Anyway, back to “No Regrets” and I have to say I never really liked it that much. It didn’t have the quirky charm of “Millennium” and always struck me as a bit miserable to be honest. Maybe its source material of his time in Take That meant it was inevitably going to create a less than joyful sound given how it ended and that it was all a bit raw at the time. The overly dramatic ending when Robbie says “Guess the love we once had is officially – dead!” always seems a bit…well…overly dramatic to me, like it was trying too hard. The third single from the album released in March 1999 – “Strong” – was a much more radio friendly, pop track that maybe should have been the song to follow up “Millennium” it always seemed to me. By comparison, “No Regrets” sounded like an album track. Just my opinion of course – I could have it completely wrong but I have no regrets about sharing it.

2025 Update: And now another Yungblud story! This week the singer revealed that he had received a letter of support from Robbie Williams after admitting to mental health struggles.

Blimey! This is a bit of a thing! Madonna on TOTP in person! Seriously, this hardly ever happened. I checked the wonderful Top Of The Pops Archive website which gives a breakdown of appearances by every artist and this is as only the fourth time ever that she was in the studio over a fifteen year period (not including repeats of performances in things like year end specials or anniversary shows). How had executive producer Chris Cowey managed to pull this coup off? For the record, her previous appearances had been performing “Holiday” and “Like A Virgin” (the one with the pink wig) in 1984 and “You’ll See” in 1995 but here she was again to promote the fourth single of her “Ray Of Light” album called “The Power Of Good-Bye”. As with Robbie Williams before her, this was actually a double A-side with the other track being “Little Star”, another song from the album but I only recall “The Power Of Good-Bye” being played on the radio. It’s essentially a ballad though one that sounded nothing like a traditional slow song with acoustic guitars, strings and almost hypnotic electronic beats. This was the William Orbit effect coming into play again as it had done across the whole of the album which he co-produced and which almost redefined how a pop song could sound.

As for the performance here, Madge has sleek, shiny black hair (almost a negative of that pink wig) and a sheer black outfit but, despite the sombre appearance, you can see that, in 1998, she still retained the presence of one of the most famous people on the planet with those in the studio audience stretching out their hands just to get a touch of her as if she was a deity with life healing properties. I can’t shake the feeling that she has been totally usurped by Taylor Swift in the present day. At the end she still had the grace and humility to say thank you and touch some of those aforementioned outstretched hands. They were simpler times for us all back then.

2025 Update: Just a day ago, Madonna was pictured with her ex-husband Guy Ritchie for first time since their divorce in 2008 when they both attended the latest art show of their son Rocco in London.

After a string of medium sized hits to this point, the Stereophonics suddenly exploded with the release of “The Bartender And The Thief” which debuted at No 3. The lead single from sophomore album “Performance And Cocktails”, it’s a high-octane, relentlessly driving rock track that barely draws breath at any point but which has enough melodic hooks to make the trip totally worth it.

Written by Kelly Jones after an observation in a bar in New Zealand whilst waiting for a plane, it expresses the idea that the bartender must see multiple different characters and their changing moods as they transcend from sober to drunk during the course of their shift. Its success would help propel the album to the top of the charts and nearly two million sales in the UK. Four more hits from it would follow including two further Top 5 placings – Stereophonics were officially big news. As with their debut album “Word Gets Around”, I seem to recall playing “Performance And Cocktails” lots in the Our Price store where I was working, so much so that my wife would scratch that itch for me by buying it me for Christmas that year. The Apocalypse Now themed video for “The Bartender And The Thief” reminded me of a long night with school mates watching that film at one of their houses when I was 17. You can read that particular story here if you feel so inclined…

TOTP 12 MAY 1983

2025 Update: The band are currently on tour playing a number of Arena dates in December.

Cher is No 1 again with “Believe” for a fourth of seven weeks. This run at the top really wasn’t the norm back then. Only Run D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins and “It’s Like That” could rival it in 1998 which had six weeks at the top. At the time of this chart, “Believe” was only the fifth single in two years to have spent more than three consecutive weeks at No 1 which just goes to show the power it was wielding over the record buying public.

2025 Update: Cher has denied rumours she is ready to marry her boyfriend who is 40 years younger than her ahead of her 80th birthday next year. And who is her boyfriend? The aforementioned rapper AZ. Sometimes the planets just align and the blog writes itself!

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	East 17	Each Time	Negative
2	Steps	Tragedy / Heartbeat	I did not
3	James	Sit Down ’98	No but I had that first Best Of album
4	Aerosmith	I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing	Nah
5	Pras	Blue Angels	Nope
6	Robbie Williams	No Regrets	No
7	Madonna	The Power Of Good-Bye	No but my wife had the album
8	Stereophonics	The Bartender And The Thief	No but I had the album
9	Cher	Believe	And no

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002nd33/top-of-the-pops-20111998

TOTP 02 OCT 1998

Posted on November 24 by 80stastic

We’ve entered October in these 1998 TOTP repeats meaning that we’re three quarters through the year already. As such, the album release schedules will have been set with an eye on the all important Christmas period. I wonder how many of the artists on this TOTP also had an album to flog and also how well it sold? Our host is Jayne Middlemiss again and we start with Steps with “One For Sorrow”. Despite dropping down the charts from No 7 to No 10, it’s a third appearance on the show for this one because…oh, I’ve no idea anymore and to be honest I’m bored of trying to work out the machinations of the TOTP running order in this era of the show. Or am I just being naive? Was it all about promoting the artist’s album and nothing to do with reflecting the state of the singles chart? Well, let’s look at the factual evidence – did Steps have an album to promote? Yes they did. Their debut “Step One” was in the shops from 14 September so there very much would have been an imperative to advertise it. Maybe it was all as purely cynical as that.

Incidentally, Steps were kept off the No 1 spot in both the singles and album charts in this year by the same artist – Manic Street Preachers. Bizarrely, that chart battle was revived 23 years later when the Manics’ album “The Ultra Vivid Lament” pipped Steps’ “What The Future Holds Pt. 2” to the top spot in 2021. Missing out on a No 1 three times to the same band? It really was a case of “One For Sorrow” for Steps.

Now, this next hit was quite a surprise. Not because the artist behind it was in the charts; as Jayne Middlemiss correctly informs us in her intro, this was the 20th single of their career of which 16 had been UK Top 40 hits. No, it was more its lofty position in the charts. Of those previous 16 hits for The Beautiful South, only five had gone Top 10 (albeit including a No 1). Indeed, their last single release had peaked at No 43 and yet suddenly they were debuting at No 2 with “Perfect 10”. The lead single from their sixth studio album “Quench” (there it is!), it sold 89,000 copies in its first week though it would prove to be the band’s final Top 10 hit. How did this one become such a big hit? The lazy answer would be heavy first week of release discounting but if you check out its chart life, that doesn’t really stack up as it would spend four weeks inside the Top Ten and two and a half months on the Top 40. I’m guessing that it must have been had high levels of consistent airplay but also it was about its sound. Sometimes, The Beautiful South would do reflective, sentimental tracks like “I’ll Sail This Ship Alone”, “Let Love Speak Up Itself”, “Bell Bottomed Tear” and “Blackbird On The Wire” which weren’t always their most successful tunes but they also did little nuggets of perky, breezy pop like “You Keep It All In”, “We Are Each Other”, “Don’t Marry Her” and “How Long’s A Tear Take To Dry?”. It seems to me that these were the songs that, whether by luck or design, got the higher chart positions. “Perfect 10” was definitely in the latter category being one of their finest jaunty pop songs.

Whatever the sonic qualities of the music though, the lyrics were always sharp and incisive and in this case was a biting sexual politics narrative about rejecting the absurdity of ideas about conventional beauty. With a funky rhythm and catchiest of choruses, it’s surely one of their best known and loved songs. As an advert for their sixth studio album “Quench”, it was magnificent and said album duly topped the charts and became the 14th best selling title in the UK for 1998 despite only being released on the 12th October. Incidentally, you can see the original painting of the album’s specially commissioned artwork in Hull (where I live) where it hangs in the Ferens Art Gallery.

It’s happened again – another hit that I have no memory of at all. I’m wondering if by this point, I wasn’t at work in the record shop having been signed off sick with my poor mental health that I wrote about in a recent post. Anyway, the hit in question is “The Way” by Fastball. Jayne Middlemiss describes it as “good old southern-fried entertainment” by which she means…I’m not exactly sure but she clarifies by saying the band are from Austin, Texas. Formed in 1992, this track brought the band their big break by topping the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks whilst parent album “All The Pain Money Can Buy” went platinum in America. So how come I’ve never heard of them? Well, the album did nothing over here, they never had another UK chart hit and “The Way” only spent three weeks inside the Top 40. All of which is a shame as “The Way” is rather good, great even. Yes, it’s very derivative with the twangy guitar verses reminiscent of Urge Overkill’s cover of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” whilst the chorus puts me in mind of some of Elvis Costello’s more tuneful moments but a great song is a great song and this one has me hooked. Even its lyrics have an interesting origin story being about the 1997 disappearance of an elderly couple who left their Texan home to visit a nearby festival but were found dead two weeks later at the bottom of a ravine hundreds of miles away from their intended destination. Apparently, the band are still an ongoing entity having last released an album in 2024. I should maybe investigate them further.

Next another act with an album to sell but sadly for Republica, things didn’t work out as well as they did for the artists we’d already seen on this TOTP. Having successfully joined the plethora of female-fronted bands that were around at this time in the charts – I’m thinking Sleeper, Elastica, Echobelly, Garbage etc… – in 1997 with two hit singles and a Top 5 album, Saffron and the lads were quick off the mark with a follow up, so quick in fact that their sophomore album was called “Speed Ballads”. It seemed a sensible strategy – strike while the iron’s hot and all that. However, two obstacles stood in their way to consolidating their initial success. Firstly, their record label Deconstruction folded shortly after the album hit the shops and it never got a full release elsewhere in major territories like America. Secondly, if lead single “From Rush Hour With Love” was any sort of gauge of quality, their new material wasn’t very good. I don’t wish to be mean but it sounds like a jam session in search of a song. Presumably at the end of said session, the band looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and said “that’ll have to do”. As they trooped out of the rehearsal room, someone might have said “we could spruce it up by giving it a clever title, a pun or something like that. How about “From Rush Hour With Love’?”. I have to admit that I didn’t get the James Bond wordplay immediately perhaps because what Saffron – who seems to be doing her best Toyah impression in this performance – actually sings is ‘From the rush hour with love’. It’s all a bit of a mess. To their credit, Republica are still active to this day albeit after a few hiatuses with an album of new material due for release in 2025.

Sarah McLachlan is one of those names that I was always aware of but whom I knew/know very little of. As such, I was surprised to see her in this TOTP as it had escaped my attention that she’d ever had a UK Top 40 hit. In my defence, “Adia” is the only time she bothered the UK chart compilers despite her very consistent output of material. As ‘The life and times of Sarah McLachlan’ was never going to be my Mastermind subject of choice, I read up a bit about the Canadian singer-songwriter and she sounds like a truly marvellous person. In 1997, she founded the Lilith Fair touring festival to showcase female musicians. In 2002, using funds from Lilith Fair, she founded the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach program providing music education for inner city children after noticing that music programs were being cut from the school curriculum. Evolving into the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, in the 2024/25 school year, it provided private and group lessons to 1,754 students. Her adverts for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has helped raise $30 million for the charity whilst she has also appeared at Live 8, a tsunami relief benefit concert and is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism. A true philanthropist.

Having said all of that, I can’t bring myself to be a fan of this track “Adia”. It’s all a bit overwrought and boy does it go on. When I was watching this, on numerous occasions I thought this must be the end but then Sarah would rev up for yet another lap of the chorus. Clearly, a lot of people disagreed with this analysis though. In America, the single went Top 3 and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance losing out only to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”. “Adia”’s parent album “Surfacing” went to No 2 and eight times platinum in the US. Flamin’ ada!

The next artist had an album out the Monday after this TOTP aired and it was that often cited ‘difficult second album’. Having conquered the UK with their debut No 1 album “1977” in…erm…1996, Ash were faced with the dilemma that has plagued many a band before and since, how to come up with a second album under pressure after you’d had your whole life to write the first one. Actually, Ash’s ‘whole life’ didn’t amount to that much time did it when you consider that their debut was named after the year in which the band members were born and that lead singer Tim Wheeler was famously still at school when it was released. Anyway, you get my drift. When faced with the task of crafting songs for a second album, it didn’t help that Wheeler was suffering from a case of writer’s block. Added to that was his desire not just to draft “1977 Pt II” but rather come up with songs with a harder sound that would establish the band as a more serious artist. The addition of guitarist Charlotte Hatherley as a permanent member of the line up proved to be the catalyst for the creation of new material and “Nu-Clear Sounds” was duly released.

Although generally well received by the music press, it failed to do the business its predecessor did, shifting about a third of the units “1977” had. If that was a disappointment to the band and their label, it was also a big let down to record retailers who had been banking on a big seller in the run up to Christmas. In the Our Price chain for whom I was working, an edict came out from Head Office that stores were officially not allowed to sell out of the album – I presume it was some sort of negotiating tactic employed to gain beneficial discounts on the album. Sadly for everyone concerned, we never looked likely to run out of copies of “Nu-Clear Sounds” which is a shame as lead single “Jesus Says” is quite the tune. “Iggy Pop-tastic” is how Jayne Middlemiss describes it and you can see her point. It’s a relentlessly driving, garage rock track the lyrics of which reference the pressures that come with a job promotion and using alcohol to deal with them. Fast forward three years and Ash would release the album “Free All Angels” which would return them to former glories with a handful of hit singles and the No 1 position in the charts. In the era after TOTP had been axed, they made a conscious decision to become a ‘singles band’ embarking on the “A-Z Series”, a series of 26 singles, each represented by a letter of the alphabet and released fortnightly over a 12 month period.

I know I’ve been banging on about this for what seems like ages but this is just nonsense. Why on earth is “To The Moon And Back” by Savage Garden being given another slot in the running order when we first saw it six weeks ago when it debuted at No 3 and since then has recorded chart positions of 4 – 8 – 10 – 10 – 10 and 12? If it had featured on one of those three weeks at No 10 it might have made some sense but to give it a second shot when it’s dropped out of the Top 10?! Perhaps the truth lies in the fact that the duo’s album was residing in the Top 3 at this time some six months after its release and having spent the majority of that time between Nos 41 and 11? Was the murky and mucky business of album promotion at play here again?

It’s another new No 1 (the sixth in six weeks) and it’s from those Irish girls who fight like their da’s. Yes, it’s B*Witched with the follow up to their debut hit “C’est La Vie” and this time they were on a “Rollercoaster”. Two No1s out of two wasn’t unique but it was still a considerable achievement for a new pop act.

I wasn’t sure if I could remember how this one went but it was very familiar when I listened to it but not just because my grey cells were firing into action – there were two extra reasons why it resonated. Firstly, the bridge to the chorus sounds like “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles (no, it does!) and the chorus is very reminiscent of the theme tune to 70s children show Here Come The Double Deckers! I swear down! Anyway, this performance sees the group pull off some of the niftiest dance moves in a confined space in the history of the show. It’s almost exhausting to watch. In fact, one of the Double Deckers characters (Billie) would have been proud of them! And yes, of course B*Witched had an album coming out ten days after this TOTP was broadcast which would go double platinum in the UK.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it
1	Steps	One For Sorrow	No
2	The Beautiful South	Perfect 10	I didn’t
3	Fastball	The Way	Negative
4	Republica	From Rush Hour With Love	Nope
5	Sarah McLachlan	Adia	Nah
6	Ash	Jesus Says	No but I had their Best Of with it on
7	Savage Garden	To The Moon And Back	Didn’t happen
8	B*Witched	Rollercoaster	And no

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002m4hl/top-of-the-pops-02101998

TOTP 04 SEP 1998

Posted on November 10 by 80stastic

With Jo Whiley having vacated her seat in the TOTP presenter merry-go-round recently, it’s time for Kate Thornton to take centre stage. Having already passed the audition with her guest stint back in July (when Jayne Middlemiss was ill supposedly), here she was as a fully fledged member of the team. I quite liked her – she seemed like a safe pair of hands and, crucially, didn’t do that knowing head tilt/smirk thing that Middlemiss did ALL THE TIME!

Speaking of things that happened on the show all the time, here are Boyzone singing “No Matter What” for the fourth week in a row. Yes, I know they were also the last artist we saw on the previous show thereby making a curious set of bookend appearances but that was no unusual occurrence in the Chris Cowey era. And yes, I know they had slipped from No 1 to No 3 but again, that was no obstacle to consecutive appearances under Cowey. However, he was really taking the piss this time though as this was literally just a reshowing of the same performance that ended last week’s show! Unlike their previous appearances, the lads weren’t all in matching outfits this time – it was hardly dress down Friday stuff but it was a more casual approach all the same. According to Kate Thornton, the reason for them being on the show again was to acknowledge that that their latest album “Where We Belong” had gone back to No 1 in the album charts off the back of “No Matter What”. Having checked, this is true – it had debuted at No 1 back in June and then spent three months kicking around the upper end of the charts before jumping from No 21 to the top again this week. OK, so you could argue that was, indeed, reason enough to grant them another slot in the running order (I don’t agree as it goes).

What doesn’t make sense here though is that “Where We Belong” originally didn’t include “No Matter What”, the song that was sparking all this interest in the album and generating all those sales. A special edition came out in the November that included it plus “I Love The Way You Love Me” which was subsequently released as a single but back in September, the original UK version of the album didn’t feature “No Matter What”. This clearly didn’t matter to the record buying public as they helped create a Joe Cocker / Jennifer Warnes* moment for the lads pushing “Where We Belong” up to the top spot.

*”Up Where We Belong”? No? Please yourselves.

Steps weren’t helping themselves when it came to dispelling those ‘ABBA on speed’ accusations were they? Third single “One For Sorrow” actively encouraged those comparisons with its pure pop confection ways. I know I’ve previously dismissed them as bubblegum/ candy floss but time retrospectively seems to have been kind to this particular track with the Official UK Chart inducting it into their ‘Pop Gem Hall of Fame’. Clearly taking inspiration from the traditional children’s nursery rhyme about counting magpies, it would peak at No 2 becoming their then biggest hit. For any one of my age though, the phrase ‘one for sorrow’ will always be associated with the legendary kids TV programme Magpie…

For those who don’t know it, Magpie was the delinquent cousin to BBC’s Blue Peter. Way cooler and with much hipper (and attractive) presenters, it was to Blue Peter what Tiswas was to Multi Coloured Swap Shop. So would Steps have been Magpie or Blue Peter viewers?

Next up is one of the shortest chart hits of the year. Clocking in at just two minutes long (though Kate Thornton gets her maths wrong by calling it “178 seconds of pure Mansun action” which by my reckoning is nearly three minutes – maybe she wasn’t such a safe pair of hands after all?) “Being A Girl (Part 1)” was Mansun’s ninth consecutive Top 40 hit. Taken from their “Six” album, in its original format it was 7:53 long but it was chopped up and its opening two minutes were released as the lead track from their “Nine EP” (hence the “Part 1” suffix). Its frenetic, almost pop-punk pace was at odds with the band’s previous output. Apparently, “Part 2” is of a much more experimental rock nature though I can’t say I’ve ever listened to it. Now, when I said that “One For Sorrow” by Steps was inspired by the children’s nursery rhyme about counting magpies, I hadn’t bargained on it being completely trumped by the origin of one of Mansun’s lyrics. Check these out:

The lyric “A frog, it cannot comprehend the sea” is a riff on a fable by fourth century Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou, from the Zhuangzi, one of the foundational texts of Taoism. #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) October 31, 2025

Blimey! I reckon Zhou would have been a Blue Peter fan rather than a Magpie viewer then.

Before the revolving door of members that was/is (?) the Sugababes, there was the Honeyz. Yes, perhaps the most notable thing about this lot was the times that their line up changed with individuals leaving and returning multiple times. Here though, they were in their infancy with their original members and debut hit “Finally Found”. Its smooth production and sound with a trip-off-the-tongue chorus was always going to find a home in the upper echelons of the charts at this time when you couldn’t move for all girl groups peddling a pop infused R&B sound. However, I did find myself asking whether saturation point was being reached? I mean, they weren’t really offering anything new were they? It could have been Eternal up there on stage singing that song couldn’t it?

Just like Eternal, the Honeyz had a member leave the group just as their success began but for Louise Nurding read Heavenli Roberts (formerly Abdi) who dropped out after just two singles. Unlike Louise though, she would rejoin the group, leave again, rejoin again, leave again, rejoin, leave one more time before finally rejoining with her current status being a fully paid up member of Honeyz. Confused? You will be. Her replacement the first time she left was Mariama Goodman who we saw on TOTP just the other week as part of Solid HarmoniE. Her time with her new group was short lived (about 14 months) before she left and was replaced by the retuning Heavenli Abdi. She would remain with the group until 2003 when they spilt following diminishing commercial returns and being dropped by their label. However, following an appearance by the original line up on ITV’s Hit Me, Baby, One More Time show in 2005, the group was reactivated and went back out on tour. However, Naima Belkhiati wanted to pursue an acting career and so was replaced for said tour by Candace Cherry, sister of lead vocalist Célena. By August of 2006, it was all change again as Heavenli Abdi departed for the second time and was replaced by Mariam Goodman (again). They continued with this line up until 2010 when the group went into hibernation. Two years on and Honeyz were back once more, lured together by another ITV show The Big Reunion and for this convening, the trio was Cherry, Abdi and Goodman, the first time that the latter two had been in the same line up together. The trio toured throughout 2013 before Abdi left for a third time in 2014. The duo of Cherry and Goodman released the first Honeyz single for 14 years in 2015 but it failed to chart. Over the next few years the duo would appear in reality TV shows such as Celebrity Coach Trip and Pointless Celebrities before, in 2023, Abdi announced she had rejoined the group. Within a year Goodman left again was replaced by Candace Cherry which is the current state of the line up. Phew! I’ve finally found the end of the story of the Honeyz group changes. Got all that? Good.

“Now watch out Songs Of Praise. The big fella’s got a new job. Haven’t you heard? God’s a DJ”. So says Kate Thornton in her intro to the next hit which can only be “God Is A DJ” by Faithless. I can’t recall such casual blasphemy since football commentator Alan Parry called Liverpool legend “the creator supreme” back in the early 80s. As Danny Baker said in his Match Of The 80s series, “The creator supreme? One in the eye for Christians everywhere there”.

Apparently, the inspiration for the track’s title came from a slogan on a T-shirt that the band’s guitarist Dave Randall used to wear to rehearsal if you were wondering. This was the lead single from the band’s second album “Sunday 8PM” and whilst there appears to be a lot going on sonically, my main take away from re-listening to it was that it seemed like there was a void where maybe some lyrics could/should have been. I get that it’s a dance track and so maybe words aren’t the thing but if you call said track a provocative title like “God Is A DJ”, I was hoping for a bit more than the late Maxi Jazz repeatedly telling us “This is my church, this is where I heal my hurts”. I know he says (and literally says, not sings nor raps) more than that and that there are fuller lyrics to be found on the internet that maybe exist in different remixes to the edit we get here but still. Is the message as simple as ‘music is my religion’? Conversely you could say it’s full of words and meaning if, as I suspect, Maxi was doing some sign language of what he was saying in this performance. Was that what he was doing? I think I’m just confused by the whole thing and better move on to…

…The Corrs…for the second time in consecutive weeks with “What Can I Do” despite dropping from No 3 to No 7. The technique of superimposing the presenter over the artist in the intro is already starting to look really tired and jaded, probably even back in 1998. When Kate Thornton moves towards the camera at one point, it really emphasises the clunky nature of the technology and looks like a special effect from a 70s episode of Dr. Who or something. Compare Kate with the guy hovering in this clip…

As for The Corrs, they were on the verge of their imperial phase with their next two singles going to No 6 and No 2 before they scored their first and only No 1 in the summer of 2000.

Back when Madonna was still relevant and hadn’t been totally eclipsed as the most famous woman on the planet by Taylor Swift, her releasing a new single was still a major deal. Faced with such an event, Chris Cowey’s ridiculous no video policy wilted before the power of her Madgesty. However, Cowey would still get his bit in by allowing just 1:45 worth of screen time to be shown of the promo for “Drowned World (Substitute For Love)”. There may have been good reason for Cowey to cut short the video for the third single from and opening track of Madge’s “Ray Of Light” album but he didn’t exercise that here. There was some controversy surrounding the scenes where Madonna is chased in her car by paparazzi on motorbikes which critics likened to the events that led to the death of Princess Diana the year before amid accusations of insensitivity and crassness. However, we get to see those scenes in this short clip so it’s shortened length clearly wasn’t due to the editing out of the offending images. In Madonna’s defence, her publicist Liz Rosenberg said that they were nothing to do with Princess Diana and were a reflection of Madge’s own personal experiences with the paparazzi. As for the song itself, it’s a bit of a lost classic that deserved a higher chart placing than its No 10 peak. That William Orbit production that permeates the whole album is very much in evidence with Madonna, whose voice I’ve never really considered as her biggest asset, giving a great vocal performance. Is it fair to say that “Ray Of Light” is Madonna’s best ever album? Quite possibly.

As we saw earlier, Boyzone no longer had the No 1 single but who had knocked them off? I can’t decide if the next occupants of the top spot were a surprise or not? What do we think about “If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next” by Manic Street Preachers being No 1? I don’t mean the quality of the song but that they could sell enough copies to outstrip everyone else. On the one hand, they’d nearly achieved that chart feat two years earlier when perhaps their best known song “A Design For Life” made No 2. This was backed up by a three times platinum selling album and the fact that all four singles released from it went Top 10. That album – “Everything Must Go” – had seen the band breakthrough into the mainstream so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that anticipation for new material would have increased off the back of it, thus contributing to the sales of “If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next” when it was finally released. Maybe I’ve already answered my question with an earlier comment though when referring to “A Design For Life” as ‘perhaps their best known song’. Is that why, in retrospect, I’m surprised? The fact that ‘their best known song’ wasn’t their first chart topper? Or is it even that the song that did do it for the band has such an unwieldy* title? Is it a purely a case of me being offended by the linguistic aesthetics?

*Apparently, it’s in the Guinness World Records as the No 1 single with the longest title without brackets

So what about the song itself? Inspired by a Spanish Republican propaganda poster warning of the horrors of not resisting Franco’s nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, it’s suitably epic sounding with those trademark broad sonic brush strokes whilst James Dean Bradfield manages to make that elongated title fit into a chorus somehow. It’s a good song but not a great one in my opinion and certainly not my favourite Manics tune. In the end though, it was their first No 1 single and so has its own individual elevated place in the band’s history but somehow I can’t help thinking whether it would have topped the charts without that other factor which I haven’t considered before – the dastardly record company tactic of first week discounting.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Boyzone	No Matter What	Never
2	Steps	One For Sorrow	I’d rather listen to the Magpie theme tune
3	Mansun	Being A Girl (Part 1)	Negative
4	Honeyz	Finally Found	Nope
5	Faithless	God Is A DJ	No
6	The Corrs	What Can I Do	Nah
7	Madonna	Drowned World (Substitute For Love)	No but my wife had the album
8	Manic Street Preachers	If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next	I did not

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002lj3p/top-of-the-pops-04091998

TOTP 22 MAY 1998

Posted on September 12 by 80stastic

It might just be because I’m getting fed up of having to write something different about the same songs that keep appearing in these TOTP repeats every week but I’m starting to really dislike the Chris Cowey era of the show. Take this episode for example. It features nine songs of which only three haven’t been on before and this new practice of having the host list the names of the artists appearing on each show in their introduction isn’t convincing me. Was the landslide of names meant to distract the watching TV audience hoping they wouldn’t notice it was the same acts each week? It’s clever in a way – dazzling us with a cavalcade of names but which were blatantly the same ones each week. Talk about hiding in plain sight. Tonight’s list-reader (literally – the placard is shown on camera at one point) is the increasingly prevalent Jamie Theakston and we start with The Mavericks and their hit “Dance The Night Away”. Judging by the cutaway shots, this seems to be a reshowing of their previous performance on the show which got me thinking about just how many artists were actually in the studio with an audience on a weekly basis under Cowey? Was the show under budgetary restrictions meaning performances had to be recycled whatever their respective chart positions may be? Anyway, I think The Mavericks had a genuine case for being back on the show having risen to No 8after falling to No 10 the week before. It would rise to a peak of No 4 when the next chart was published and you know what that means…yes, they’ll be featuring in the next repeat as well. Here’s a thing though, whilst “Dance The Night Away” is undoubtedly their best known song over here, in America it seems it might be one of their least known if chart positions have any sway. Of their 15 entries on the US Country chart, only two have placed lower than “Dance The Night Away”. What does this mean? Does it, in fact, mean anything? I think I’m past caring.

OK so this next performance isn’t just a rerun of a previous one. You can tell by the camera shot that travels from Jamie Theakston positioned high up on a gantry down to the studio floor where we find Steps. Again. I think this is the third time they’ve been on performing “Last Thing On My Mind” but, as with The Mavericks before them, have a legitimate spot on the show having risen from No 9 to No 7 in the charts after falling two weeks prior. You can tell also that it’s a new performance as the group have changed their outfits to be dressed in all white. Was this to project an image of virtue and wholesomeness? To be fair, I can’t recall many Steps controversies in the press. Have there been any?

*checks internet*

Hmm. Well, there was the time Lee Latchford-Evans made some comments in an interview in 2000 that were perceived as racist that required an apology from the group’s representatives. Then there’s the upset caused by the announcement of their split on Boxing Day 2001 that some of their fan base felt was a betrayal. However, my favourite controversy is the disclosure by Lisa Scott-Lee that on the group’s 1999 US tour, Ian ‘H’ Watkins upset the other members by travelling for three months on the private jet of one Britney Spears whilst the rest of them slummed it on a tour bus. Ha!

It’s the third hit on tonight’s show in a row that we have already seen now as Imaani gets to enjoy the last few seconds of her 15 minutes of fame. She was, of course, the UK’s 1998 Eurovision entry but with the contest having been and gone nearly two weeks ago, interest in her and her song “Where Are You?” was starting to wane. That being said, she had moved up 17 places in this week’s chart which was the biggest leap of the year to that point but her position of No 15 would be where her trajectory stopped. Had she won instead of losing by a mere six points would things have turned out differently for Imaani? I’m not so sure. I just don’t think her song was that memorable. Gina G didn’t come anywhere near to winning two years before yet “Ooh Aah…Just A Little Bit” was a huge seller going all way to No 1 precisely because it was memorable whether you liked it or not. Instead, Imaani became the first UK Eurovision artist not to make the Top 10 since Frances Rufelle in 1994.

A new song! Finally! Yeah, but it’s that remake of “Kung Fu Fighting” so careful what you wish for…Officially credited to Bus Stop featuring Carl Douglas as it featured samples of the latter’s original No 1 from 1974, this was another example of that heinous trend for taking songs from the past and ‘updating’ them with the addition of a nasty Eurodance backbeat and a rap, the lyrics of which, read as if they were literally being made up freeform, on the hoof (see also Clock). Daz Sampson was the main guy behind Bus Stop who would go on to represent the UK at Eurovision in 2006 coming 19th out of 24 acts.

The original 1974 hit capitalised on the popularity of the martial arts films of Bruce Lee in the early to mid 70s and the TV series Kung Fu starring David Carradine and included prominently the ‘Oriental Riff’*, a Western trope to represent the setting of East or Southeast Asia. It’s also used in Aneka’s “Japanese Boy” and “Turning Japanese” by The Vapors. Is it in Iggy Pop’s “China Girl” as covered by David Bowie as well? Not sure.

*I believe the use of the word ‘oriental’ is not considered racist as long as it isn’t referring to a person.

It’s sometimes concluded by the sound of a gong. Off the top of my head, I can think of two songs that utilise that – “Big In Japan” by Alphaville and “Burning Sky” by The Jam but there must be more. Anyway, back to “Kung Fu Fighting” and it has twice been voted the No 1 One Hit Wonder in Channel 4 polls even though Carl Douglas had two other minor hits and despite the fact that the 1998 remake made it a hit all over again when it reached No 8. As for Bus Stop, they forged themselves a small pop career with two further remakes of songs that were hits way back when from Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Van Halen before doing us all a favour and knocking it on the head. I did quite enjoy the high kicking by the backing singer in this performance though, plus I noticed her doing that arm roll move that the Steps routine was based around. Was that a thing back then? Bizarrely, this was the second Kung Fu themed hit in this month after 187 Lockdown’s No 9 hit “Kung Fu”. However, my favourite song featuring “Kung Fu” in the title would be this…

It’s taken a while but Lutricia McNeal has finally released her follow up to “Ain’t That Just The Way” that debuted on the chart back in November 1997. I’m guessing that the reason for the delay was the chart longevity of that single which stayed inside the Top 40 for nigh on four months. Her management had to wait for the sales to subside so as not to affect those of any follow up. “Stranded” was said follow up and it was more of the same, radio friendly R&B/pop hybrid that was beloved of daytime radio controllers. I mean, it’s pleasant enough chugging away on a radio in the background but it was never going to grab my ears and make me want to turn the volume up LOUD! What’s more interesting to me than her song is the lighting on this performance. It seems to be in black and white except for some pools of spotlight of a blue-ish/purple hue. Was that Cowey trying to be all arty? Or is my TV on the blink?

It’s a third time on the show for The Tamperer featuring Maya with “Feel It” which, like the Bus Stop hit before it, was heavily based around a hit from a previous era – “Can You Feel It” by The Jacksons. Didn’t anyone have any original ideas in 1998? OK, that’s not really a fair comment. The notion of combining The Jacksons with a little known track by a little known outfit in Urban Discharge and creating one of the most unlikely but memorable hooks of the decade with the line “What’s she gonna look like with a chimney on her?” was creative inspiration in action. After two more hits though, Maya went missing in action and left the project. Well, she wasn’t exactly missing in action. She actually went to join the cast of Rent on Broadway and when her contract with her record label was up, it wasn’t renewed. Mystery solved. Maya Days would continue her acting career with roles in Jesus Christ Superstar and Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. As far as I can tell, she has yet to play a character that involved wearing a chimney.

Now I thought my knowledge of Shed Seven hits was pretty good – not infallible but not bad at all. However, I find myself undone by this one – “The Heroes”. Nothing to do with Bowie’s classic track – the addition of a definite article in the title makes that clear and in any case, if they were tempted to do a cover version then Oasis had already beaten them to it – this was actually the third single taken from their third studio album “Let It Ride”. In my defence, it lasted only two weeks on the Top 40 suggesting that it was just the completists in their fan base buying it. It doesn’t sound strong enough to be a single to me – much more of an album track. It’s… well… a bit downbeat and glum. Maybe they should have released a cover of “Heroes” after all.

Eh? All Saints have gone back to No 1 after being deposed by Aqua last week? Looking at the rest of the Top 10, I’m thinking it wasn’t the biggest week for new releases with the highest being Lutricia McNeal at No 5 which might have accounted for this. To mark the occasion, we get both songs of their double A-Side single “Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade”. Who did All Saints think they were? Oasis? The Jam? It’s just the previous appearances on the show spliced together though rather than a new exclusive performance.

In a couple of weeks, another all girl group will be at No 1 and it’s not the Spice Girls. Que Será Será or should that be C’est La Vie?

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	The Mavericks	Dance The Night Away	I did not
2	Steps	Last Thing On My Mind	Never happening
3	Imaani	Where Are You?	Negative
4	Bus Stop featuring Carl Douglas	Kung Fu Fighting	Nope
5	Lutricia McNeal	Stranded	Not for me thanks
6	The Tamperer featuring May	Feel It	Nah
7	Shed Seven	The Heroes	No
8	All Saints	Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade	No but my wife had the album I think

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002j0xt/top-of-the-pops-22051998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 08 MAY 1998

Posted on September 9 by 80stastic

It’s that time of the year again in 1998 when, as a nation, we outwardly cringed in embarrassment at the very idea of it but, on the night itself, found ourselves at home watching it on our TVs anyway. Yes, it can only be the Eurovision Song Contest and in 1998, the UK was the host nation having won the thing the year before courtesy of Katrina And The Waves. The National Indoor Centre in Birmingham was the chosen venue and our hosts for the evening were Sir Terry Wogan (of course) and Ulrika Jonsson who was very familiar with the location for the contest as it was where she filmed the ITV show Gladiators. She was also one of the resident captains on surreal panel show Shooting Stars with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer so her profile was suitably in the ascendancy to be the go to co-host for such an event. Sadly, just one month later, she was in the headlines again having been assaulted by her then boyfriend, footballer Stan Collymore in a Paris bar during the 1998 World Cup. Let’s concentrate on much lighter events though and some would argue none is more lightweight than Eurovision. However, one person taking it seriously was my record shop colleague Stephen who was so confident in the UK entry that he bet me a fiver that it would win. I didn’t share his faith and took the bet. Who won Eurovision and therefore the bet as well? That’s all to come but for now let’s get back to the charts and TOTP where we find Jamie Theakston on presenting duties for a second consecutive week. Presumably executive producer Chris Cowey must have liked what he saw from Theakston though he didn’t seem to bring anything extra to the show for me.

Talking of not bringing anything extra to the show, despite the new theme tune and titles, Cowey has only brought us three new tunes for this week with five of the eight hits having already been on before including opener “Feel It” by The Tamperer featuring Maya. This one was featured on the show before last and will be on a further two times subsequently. As such, I don’t know what to write about it as I pretty much said it all previously. However, as it’s very heavily based on the 1981 hit “Can You Feel It” by The Jacksons, I did look up whether there were any cover versions of it out there and there are including one by a group I’ve never heard of before. V anyone? I guess I wasn’t really their target audience seeing as they were a boy band and I was 36 years old when this hit was in 2004. Plus, it was four years after I’d left my time in record shops behind me. Anyway, it’s a fairly routine cover that adds literally nothing to the original but got to No 5 as a double A-side with a track called “Hip To Hip”.

Easily beating V in the entertainment stakes though is this version of The Tamperer track by the aforementioned Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer as their Mulligan and O’Hare characters:

Eurovision credentials: None but the Bosnia and Herzegovina entry in 2012 was by an artist called Maya Sar. She finished 18th.

Now for that performance by Boyzone that the band were unable to do last week due to the death of Ronan Keating’s mother. In the intervening seven days, the lads have dropped from No 1 to No 4 but an exclusive performance is an exclusive performance so here they are with “All That I Need”. This must be one of the most forgettable chart toppers of the decade but then, let’s be fair, most of their well known songs are cover versions anyway. I’m thinking “Love Me For A Reason” (The Osmonds), “Father And Son” (Cat Stevens), “Words” (Bee Gees) and “When The Going Gets Tough” (Billy Ocean). Oh, and perhaps their best known song was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I think that says a lot if not everything. Nothing else to see here.

Eurovision credentials: Just 12 months prior to this, Ronan Keating had been the co-host for the contest which took place in Dublin. Boyzone were the interval act performing a song called “Let The Message Run Free”.

Now this next one is interesting on a number of fronts. Firstly, hands up who remembered/knew that Freak Power had more than one hit? Not me for sure but here it is – a No 29 hit called “No Way”. Thankfully nothing to do with that awful novelty hit “No Way, No Way” by Vanilla from earlier in the year, on initial hearing I thought it sounded very similar to their huge hit “Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out” but by the end of the track I’d decided it sounded like something else – this from the multi-talented and much missed Kirsty MacColl…

Of further interest is the staging for this one which shows a sudden burst of creativity that had been missing for a while from the show. The setting of a house party with vocalist Ashley Slater positioned next door and banging against the partition wall as Norman Cook and a host of party goers live it up was…well… interesting as I say. Given that Freak Power seemed to have run their course after the aforementioned “Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out” had been a hit three years prior to “No Way” and that the material they released in between hadn’t generated any hits and that he’d had more commercial success with another vehicle Pizzaman, I wonder why he returned to the Freak Power moniker for this one? Whatever the reason, this would be the last we would hear from Freak Power which is a shame.

Eurovision credentials: Ashley Slater provided the original vocals for the 2015 UK entry “Still In Love With You”. He didn’t want to be involved in promoting it though so he withdrew from the project and duo Electro Velvet fronted the song. It placed 24th out of 27 with just five points.

Next come an act that many would consider perfect for Eurovision. In May 1998, Steps were only at the beginning of a career whose longevity very few of us would have predicted with “Last Thing On My Mind” being just their second single release. After the almost novelty debut single ”5,6,7,8” which had jumped on the bandwagon of the line dancing craze that was sweeping the country, the follow up couldn’t have sounded more like Eurovision giants ABBA if it tried. Actually, it was written to try to sound like the Swedish megastars as part of Pete Waterman’s plan to revive Bananarama’s career by pursuing project ‘ABBA-Banana’. Anyway, listening back to it now, if it had been our Eurovision entry in 1998, it would have been a shoo-in to triumph at the contest and I would not have taken that bet with my work colleague Stephen. They even had a Bucks Fizz style gimmmick with that arm roll move. In fact, given the tacky nature of the contest, it wouldn’t have been beyond the realms of possibility for “5,6,7,8” to have gone close to winning the thing. Apparently, there have been discussions within the group about participating but, although Ian ‘H’ Watkins would do it in a heartbeat, some of the other members aren’t as keen or convinced. I’m sure though that if they could be persuaded, the UK would have its best chance of winning in years.

Eurovision credentials: Apart from everything already mentioned, they won the OGAE Song Contest – Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l’Eurovision or General Organisation of Eurovision Fans – in 2018 with their single “Scared Of The Dark”.

Some hip-hop now courtesy of the Jungle Brothers. You know me, I’m a pop kid at heart so my knowledge of this lot is the equivalent of what Nigel Farage knows about being a decent human being – nothing. Thankfully Wikipedia is there to tell me all about them. They’re from New York and are acknowledged as pioneers of the fusion of the hip-hop, house and jazz genres (oh, so they’re not just hip-hop then – told you I knew nothing about them). They paved the way for A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and founded the Native Tongues collective of hip-hop artists that included Monie Love, Queen Latifah and Busta Rhymes in its membership. Their biggest UK hit up to this point had been 1988’s “I’ll House You” but that was superseded by “Jungle Brother (Urban Takeover Mix)” which made No 18. I have to say it sounds like a lot of shouting to me but the breakdancers supporting them were impressive. They didn’t fall over or go Boom Bang a Bang once.

Eurovision credentials: Absolutely none whatsoever.

“How Do I Live” by LeAnn Rimes was yet another of those songs that lingered on the charts for literally months around this time. I wrote in a recent post how the aforementioned “5,6,7,8” by Steps was, at the time, the biggest selling single in the UK never to make the Top 10. Well, “How Do I Live” has a similar accolade – despite never getting any higher than No 7, its solid 30 (THIRTY!) weeks inside the Top 40 meant that it was the 6th best selling single of 1998 in the UK. It’s quite hard to get your head around – it ranked higher in the end of year chart than at any point during its Top 40 life. I think we must have got caught out by its longevity in the Our Price where I worked a few times thinking its chart run would have to be over soon and therefore running down stock only for it to reverse its sales and go back up the charts which it did on NINE occasions! It seems that the record buying public weren’t any good at making their collective mind up about whether they could live without that particular track.

Eurovision connection: None but LeAnn has appeared on a singing contest – both the Australian and UK versions of The Voice.

So we arrive at the act with genuine Eurovision credentials given that she was the UK’s actual entry this year but who was Imaani? Well, she hailed from Nottingham, her birth name was Melonie Crosdale and she got into the music industry via a chance encounter with a record producer on a train journey. After contributing some vocals to an album by acid jazzers Incognito, she became the UK’s Eurovision entry after a protracted selection process that started in early February and involved a semi final broadcast on Radio 2, appearances by the finalists on The National Lottery Draw and a tele-vote on The Great British Song Contest* broadcast on BBC1 in March.

*Ooh, now here’s a nice little tie-in. The song that came third in that final was by a group called Sapphire (who’d changed their name from Kitt halfway through the process). The singer in Sapphire was one Kate Cameron who worked with Norman Cook under his Pizzaman name and is a backing singer with Freak Power. This really should have gone in the Eurovision credentials section for Freak Power as well.

Imaani’s winning song was “Where Are You?” and she duly embarked on the usual circus of promotional duties including appearances on Blue Peter, Live & Kicking and Fully Booked. In fact, the release of her song as a single came as early as the 21st of March but it spent six weeks bouncing around the very bottom end of the charts between Nos 99 and 76 before the exposure it gained as the contest itself loomed ever closer pushed it into the Top 40 where it would peak at No 15. So, about the song itself. Well, I couldn’t remember how it went but listening to it back, Imaani does a decent impression of Toni Braxton. However, and this is why I didn’t share my colleague Stephen’s faith in it and took his bet, it didn’t sound very Eurovision. Now, I have no idea what the Eurovision sound is anymore with the contest having transcended its legacy definitions and morphed out into all sorts of musical directions but back in 1998, it just didn’t seem to fit the bill to me.

So how did Imaani do on the big night and did I win the bet? Yes I did but only just with “Where Are You?” coming in second to the winner by just six points. By today’s standards, that was a stellar performance but after winning it the year before, was it possibly seen as a disappointment? Surely not. And the winner? Well, this caused many headlines and not all positive as Israel’s Dana International took the crown with the track “Diva” and, in the process, became the first transgender participant in the contest and its first LGBTQ+ winning artist. Twenty-seven years later and the world is still tying itself up in knots over everything transgender. As for Imaani, she returned to working with Incognito and supplied lead vocals on a garage cover of Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me” by Tru Faith and Dub Conspiracy which made No 12 in 2000. She released her first and so far only solo album in 2014 (some 16 years after her Eurovision moment) and as recently as 2023, was part of the Revival Collective that recorded a version of “Best Of My Love” by The Emotions.

Eurovision credentials: I think we’ve covered these in sufficient detail above.

As predicted by Jamie Theakston last week, All Saints are No 1 with “Under The Bridge” / “Lady Marmalade”. We get the former track again this week but it’s a different performance as the group aren’t high up in a gantry like last time but back on Terra Firma. I must say, although I’m not the biggest fan of their treatment of the Red Hot Chili Peppers classic, I am quite taken with how they managed to get maximum impact out of minimal movement in the dance routine they put together for it. Minor hip shakes and small scale footsteps show that sometimes less really is more.

Eurovision credentials: None but the phrase ‘never ever’ is a key lyric in the track “No No Never” by German entry Texas Lightning which came 14th in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	The Tamperer featuring Maya	Feel It	I did not
2	Boyzone	All That I Need	No Way
3	Freak Power	No Way	Good song but no
4	Steps	Last Thing On My Mind	Nope
5	Jungle Brothers	Jungle Brother (Urban Takeover Mix)	No
6	LeAnn Rimes	How Do I Live?	Nah
7	Imaani	Where Are You?	No but thanks for the fiver
8	All Saints	Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade	No but my wife had the album I think

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002hqxx/top-of-the-pops-08051998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 01 MAY 1998

Posted on September 5 by 80stastic

We’ve reached a TOTP milestone – no, nothing to do with my blog (though my 400th post for the 90s shows happened recently). This was all about executive producer Chris Cowey who has taken the decision to change the show’s theme tune and titles. Graphics wise, gone are the flaming torsos and gold medal style logo to be replaced by a more back to basics flurry of primary colours, stripes, circles and lines that morphed into a 60s themed, almost pop art styled motif with bold font. The theme tune was even more retro bring a drum ‘n’ bass-ified take on “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin, an instrumental version of which by CCS was used on the show from 1970 to 1977. The new opening music was the work of Bad Man Bad (aka Ben Chapman) and I’m guessing was meant to be an obvious homage to the show’s past but with a current vibe to ensure it remained contemporary and relevant. Cowey had taken nearly a year to bring in these changes, taking his time and experimenting with not having a theme tune at all (Vince Clarke’s “Red Hot Pop” had been phased out during 1997/98 having been in place since 1995). I think I prefer the changes as opposed to nothing at all which had led to a lack of show identity.

The first presenter in this new era was Jamie Theakston and the first artist was All Saints who, having spent months (literally) in the charts with their second single and first No 1 “Never Ever”, are back with…a cover version?! Yes, just three singles into their career and they’ve already hit the cover version button by recording “Under The Bridge” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Now, as we have seen many, many times over the course of these TOTP repeats, the recording of a cover version can be a break-in-case-of-emergency strategy to save a dwindling pop career but this can’t have been the case with All Saints as they were riding the crest of a commercial wave. So what gives? Were some of the other tracks on their eponymous debut album not considered strong enough to maintain their momentum? That particular theory might have held more sway if the single after this one – “Bootie Call” – had bombed but it didn’t. In fact, it was a third, consecutive No 1 for the group. As such, I am at a loss as to why they went with a cover version so early on in their career but they were so sold on the idea that they doubled down on it by releasing two covers when they made the single a double A-side with the other track being their take on Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade”. Gitchie, gitchie ya-ya, da-da!

Whilst I quite like the staging of this performance with the group positioned on a gantry above the studio audience, I wasn’t that keen on their rendition of “Under The Bridge”. They changed the intonation of both the verse and chorus thereby affecting the melody which made it quite jarring to my ears. Yes, they at least attempted to do something different with it and yes, a change of phrasing can prove a winning tweak (see Paul Young’s take on “Every Time You Go Away” by Hall & Oates) but it just didn’t work for me. Maybe I was too familiar with the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ original. All Saints do a good job of selling it though (even if I wasn’t buying) with a nice little shimmy movement worked out for the distinctive guitar opening which was actually sampled from the original. They’ve also gone heavy again on the cargo pants with all four members sporting them. Their fashion influence has even spread to our host Theakston who’s wearing a camouflage design example of them.

The next song would spend two whole months inside the Top 10 peaking at No 4 and thereby providing another example that disproves my memory that all hits around this time were in and out of the charts within a fortnight. Admitting to liking “Dance The Night Away” by The Mavericks was never going to win you any credibility points but some people must have had a real thing for this rock/pop/country/Latin influenced tune though I can honestly say I was not one of them (my Dad has a fondness for it however). I could never really hear the appeal of what, for me, was a very sleight composition – even the guy who wrote it, lead singer Raul Malo, admits that it came together as a “happy accident” and that it just about wrote itself. So why was it such a big success? Well, my guess is that it was a crossover hit at just the right time. Whilst the UK had been a receptacle for country hits before from the old guard of the like of Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and Don Williams, when it came to the 90s and the emergence of ‘new country’, we hadn’t exactly welcomed the movement with open arms. Its biggest exponent Garth Brooks was a superstar in the States but he’d had solid but not widespread success over here. Fast forward five years and we were ready to embrace country music again so long as it had a pop flavour to it. 1998 saw both LeAnne Rimes and especially Shania Twain hit huge numbers sales wise and so the door was open for a track like “Dance The Night Away” to walk through and into our charts. I’m guessing it got a lot of play in Radio 2 back then when it wasn’t the catch-all station for the middle-aged as it is now. It was one of those record that people who wouldn’t be seen anyway near a record shop except with a present list at Christmas would venture into their local emporium to buy. Parent album “Trampoline” also sold well making the UK Top 10 but they would not sustain their commercial appeal. They are still together and touring with Raul Malo on vocals. I wonder if they ever get fed up of having to play their biggest hit though?

Now, as follow ups to a No 1 single go, Usher only making No 24 with “Nice & Slow” after previous hit “You Make Me Wanna…” topped the chart isn’t the worse example of how to consolidate on that success*. However, it can’t have been what the R&B superstar would have been expecting or hoping for. After all, the song gave him another Billboard chart topper across the pond.

*Bee Gees followed up No 1 “You Win Again” with “E.S.P.” which peaked at No 51 whilst Nena’s next single after “99 Red Balloons” was “Just A Dream” which struggled to a high of No 70.

However, its inability to achieve the same level of success as its predecessor certainly wasn’t anything to do with a lack of confidence on Usher’s part to sell the song. Look at him in this performance – he has the studio audience of young girls literally trying to paw him. The man in the hat is actively encouraging the near fever pitch crowd though – what is that finger movement near his crotch area when he sings “I got plans to put my hands in places…”? Well, I think we all know what it is but before the watershed BBC? He follows this up by making thrusting motions with his groin after he’s thrown the hat off Michael Jackson style. In case the audience can’t contain themselves, in what must be a first in TOTP history, Usher has a bodyguard stood at the side of the stage. Surely this must have been for effect? Another Chris Cowey innovation maybe? Or was he an actual bodyguard primed for action? What was going on?!

Was there a more intriguing artist in the 90s than Tori Amos? Now don’t all come at me at once with your own, much more deserving (in your opinion) nominations for such a question – I had to start the paragraph with something to introduce her and, in any case, she is intriguing I think, both musically and culturally. Sure, there were the inevitable Kate Bush comparisons early in her career but to dismiss her as some sort of tribute act was pure folly. Sonically, her compositions could make your senses tingle or alternatively make you think “what on earth is this?” so genre-fluid is her work. At once eerie and haunting but also aggressive and deeply emotional with lyrics that address subjects such as sexual assault, religion and gender politics. This track – “Spark” – dealt with her own experience of suffering a miscarriage. It’s hardly ‘I love you, you love me’ stuff.

In her personal life, Tori is a spokesperson for Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) and has a deep connection with Native American culture due to her ancestors on her Mother’s side being of Cherokee descent. Some of the artists she is reported to have influenced include Alanis Morissette, Olivia Rodrigo and Olly Alexander of Years & Years. Her songs have appeared in multiple TV series including Dawson’s Creek, Yellowjackets, Charmed and Beavis and Butt–Head. She’s undoubtedly a complex and multi-layered character which, as I say, makes her an intriguing artist. As a performer, she’s visually arresting too. Look at this TOTP appearance in which she employs both keyboards and a piano. I also admire the way she looks like she’s come to the studio straight from having a shower with wet hair. It’s an unconventional approach. Having said all of this, “Spark” would prove to be her final Top 40 hit of her career so did her idiosyncratic ways prove ultimately to be to impenetrable for mainstream success? I think probably it was just a case of shifting tastes and anyway, Tori retains a loyal and sizeable fan base to this day.

Is this a case of the sublime to the ridiculous? I think it might be. Having created an unusual piece of pop history for themselves with their first single “5,6,7,8” which, at the time, became the biggest selling single never to make the Top 10, Steps were back to prove that they were never destined to be a one-hit wonder and a novelty one at that. Now, if I said some of the Kate Bush comparisons with Tori Amos were inevitable (and unjustified) then the parallels being drawn between “Last Thing On My Mind” and ABBA were inescapable and totally justified. The back story of this track is that it was originally recorded and released by Bananarama in 1992 as Keren and Sara began the second phase of their career as a duo with Mike Stock and Pete Waterman as producers. It was the latter whose idea for working with the Nanas on the album “Please Yourself” was encapsulated by the phrase ‘ABBA-Banana’. In the end, only the singles released from it stuck to the plan of which “Last Thing On My Mind” was the second. It turned out that the world wasn’t ready to accept this hybrid in the early 90s and the single bombed.

Waterman must have ruefully filed the idea in a drawer marked ‘Do not open until 1998’ as it was recycled for his latest project Steps. Spending a fortnight at No 6 not only justified Waterman’s faith but also ensured that Steps would carry on (and on and on) beyond one hit. It’s as sugary as golden syrup and as substantial as a politician’s promise but at least they didn’t just do a remake of their line dancing debut. Watching this performance, it strikes me that Ian ‘H’ Watkins and Lee Latchford-Evans, though I’m sure that they’re lovely people, are also two of the luckiest pop stars going based on their contribution to this which consists of some tightly rehearsed but limited dance moves. Maybe they’ll come into their own the bigger the hits become.

Out of the way! Here come Catatonia and they’re mad with “Road Rage”! Yes, confirming their status as one of the hottest bands of 1998, Cerys and co follow up “Mulder And Scully” with an absolute banger. Some songs are defined by a singular detail – that ringing guitar chord in “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult comes immediately to mind – and so it is with this one but said detail in this case is Cerys’ ability to roll her Rs in the chorus which became the USP of the track. Despite its rather gruesome inspiration being the real life event of the murder of Lee Harvey by his girlfriend Tracie Andrews in 1996 (Andrews falsely claimed to the police Harvey was killed by a man during a road rage confrontation), the track has a glorious, singalong chorus that helped it peak at No 5 in the charts. That position, following the No 3 hit that was its predecessor, meant Catatonia were finally big news after a few early releases that failed to land.

However, was it the band that were building their profile or Cerys Matthews who was generating the headlines? It seemed to me to be the latter and that they were following in the footsteps of Blondie, No Doubt and Sleeper. Press coverage of Cerys reportedly storming out of the Ivor Novello Awards after “Road Rage” was beaten to the Best Contemporary Song gong by Tin Tin Out only fuelled the perception. In her defence, at least her band wrote their song whilst Tin Tin Out’s was a cover of a track by The Sundays. Maybe her rage was justified?

Nearly two years on from their breakthrough hit “Tattva”, Kula Shaker were still experiencing huge commercial success but this single – “Sound Of Drums” – would mark the beginning of the end of their time as chart stars. Whilst it’s true that it went straight in at No 3, it would be their last ever visit to the Top 10. So what went wrong? Well, a lot of factors contributed to their decline I think not least the bad press lead singer Crispian Mills had generated with some decidedly dodgy comments he made to the NME about the symbolism behind the swastika for which he later apologised. In today’s world, he’d have probably been cancelled immediately but back in the late 90s, the slump was more gradual. The press also applied that well worn convention of building up our heroes only to knock them down which played a part in their downfall with Mills’ acting dynasty background that once marked him out as unusual now saw him as part of some elite to be criticised. Then there’s the band’s own inertia when it came to releasing new material. Between “Govinda” in November 1996 and “Mystical Machine Gun” in the March of 1999, the only Kula Shaker tracks made available in the shops were the singles “Hush” and “Sound Of Drums” and one of those was a cover version! The latter was officially the lead single from their second album “Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts” but said album didn’t arrive until ten months later. All these gaps between releases meant that the band’s momentum inevitably waned and their place amongst the rock/pop A-list was destabilised.

What about the music though? Well, despite having a title that sounded like an Audie Murphy Western, it was talked up in the music press as being an attempt to sonically resemble The Doors though I’m not sure I can hear it. They were still definitely playing that mystical, psychedelic rock card in their image though. Check out the trippy backdrop in this performance and The Beatles referencing helter skelter prop. I have to say that having liked their debut album “K” enormously, they were starting to lose me at this point but then maybe I was just paying too much attention to the dissenting voices.

We finally have a new No 1 but be careful what you wish for as replacing Run-D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins are Boyzone. Now despite this being a chart topper, I have zero recall of it. An actual No 1 that I can’t remember at all despite working in record shop at the time! It doesn’t say much for the song in question which is “All That I Need”. A ‘mature’ ballad is no doubt how the band would have described it whereas I would have gone with a dreary non-entity of nothingness. For the record, the thing that Ronan Keating was struggling with that meant the band didn’t perform in the studio was that his mother had recently passed away. The interview with three of the other four band members means we get less than a minute of the promo but it maybe demonstrates as well that executive producer Chris Cowey really couldn’t stand featuring videos on the show but don’t panic as they are in the studio the following week despite having dropped down the charts from No 1 to No 4. Also, why was Stephen Gately the only one to speak during the interview? What was the point of the other two being there?

It’s taken me the whole post but I’ve finally realised what the new opening title graphics remind me of and it features one of the greatest drum fills of all time…

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it ?
1	All Saints	Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade	Nope
2	The Mavericks	Dance The Night Away	Nah
3	Usher	Nice & Slow	Negative
4	Tori Amos	Spark	Intriguing as she was, it’s a no
5	Steps	Last Thing On My Mind	Never
6	Catatonia	Road Rage	Great track but no
7	Kula Shaker	Sound Of Drums	No
8	Boyzone	All That I Need	Whatever I needed, it wasn’t this

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002hqxv/top-of-the-pops-01051998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP Rewind – the 90s

My memories of 90s chart music

TOTP 29 JAN 1999

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TOTP 27 NOV 1998

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TOTP 22 MAY 1998

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TOTP 01 MAY 1998

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