The Cranberries

TOTP 18 APR 1996

Posted on by 80stastic

Who the heck is / was Beertje Van Beers? Why? Because she’s hosting this TOTP and I, for one, haven’t a clue as to why. Hang on, she’s not the singer with Technohead of “I Wanna Be A Hippy” fame is she?

*checks internet*

No, I don’t think so. I’ll have to do some more research.

*checks internet again*

Well, it seems I wasn’t the only person confused but inevitably someone had the answer…

Right so basically she was Bis in presenter form? Anyway, the first artist tonight are The Wildhearts who were a favourite of TOTP executive producer Ric Blaxill according to the tweet above which seems to accuse him of employing some favouritism when it came to the running order. Is that fair? Well, let’s look at the evidence. The Wildhearts were no strangers to the charts having had five UK Top 40 hits to this point though only one had made it into the Top 20. This single – “Sick Of Drugs” – would become their biggest when it peaked at No 14 so they were on an upwards trajectory which would add weight to the claim that a place on TOTP was justified. The counter argument would be that those chart positions were inflated by the band being shoe horned onto the show and benefiting from the exposure. Where lies the truth? I think I’ll leave (literally) the final word on this to the band’s lead singer Ginger who says at the end of the performance “If you wanna hear the rest of the song go and buy the single”. The full track clocks in at 4:43 in length but this TOTP performance is about 2:30 long. I think Ginger’s frustration at being cut short suggests the band were not in receipt of preferential treatment from Ric Blaxill.

Now to another artist who wasn’t revelling in huge hit singles. However, she was positively ripping it up when it came to albums sales. Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” had been in UK charts since August of 1995. However, it didn’t make it into the Top 10 until January of the following year. That slow burn was possibly due to the fact that it hadn’t furnished any massive hits with the three singles taken from it up to that point having peaked at Nos 22, 24 and 26. Respectable but not the kind of numbers to propel an album into the stratosphere. However, playing the long game would prove to be a much more successful strategy ultimately. Word of mouth promotion and an organic growth of the album would see it spend 41 consecutive weeks inside the Top 10 once it had got there with 11 of them at No 1. This was quite the phenomenon. Compare that to say Babylon Zoo’s album which crashed into the chart at No 6 off the back of the enormous “Spaceman” single but which was out of the Top 40 within a month, never to be seen again. With sales of “Jagged Little Pill” showing no signs of tailing off, a fourth single was released from it and this one would not only be the second highest charting of the six ultimately take from it but also the most infamous of them.

“Ironic” is a great tune based around a simple yet effective narrative but unfortunately for Alanis, her choice of title for the song didn’t match what she was singing about. Much cultural analysis has gone into dissecting the lyrics of “Ironic” and pointing out that the scenarios depicted in the song are not examples of irony but rather just bad luck. Such criticism opened the song up to parody, the king of which, “Weird Al” Yankovic, was always going to join in the pile on which he duly did with his song “Word Crimes”. Perhaps the most famous take down of it though came courtesy of Irish comedian Ed Byrne:

Ed made a career for himself out of that skit! Had we all noticed the irony of a lack of irony in a song about irony back in 1996 though? If we did, I don’t remember it. That Ed Byrne clip came from a Channel 4 show broadcast in 1999. In fairness to Alanis, she took it all on the chin and even extracted the piss out of herself in this updated performance of the song on The Late Late Show With James Corden in 2015:

Time to check in on how Bertje Van Beers doing as host? Well, she’s enthusiastic, I’ll give her that. Perhaps ever so slightly the wrong side of annoying? Maybe. Her next link is for a live by satellite performance by Presidents Of The United States Of America and their biggest hit “Peaches”. This is a great left field song which, like “Ironic” before it, created a bit of discussion about its lyrics. Unlike “Ironic”, said discussion was of a much baser nature. Now I just thought this was a quirky song about a guy who liked to eat peaches. However, there is a school of thought that it’s actually about eating something altogether different. I’ll say no more than that.

Lead singer Chris Ballew though says it was inspired by overhearing a homeless man walk past him muttering “I’m moving to the country, I’m gonna eat a lot of peaches” over and over. Apparently that line could have been inspired by a song by John Prine called “Spanish Pipedream”…

Blow up your TV, throw away your paper

Go to the country, build you a home

Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches

Try an’ find Jesus on your own

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Jeffrey Bradford Kent / John Prine
Spanish Pipedream lyrics © Walden Music, Inc.

So there’s that but there’s also a second part to the inspiration for the song also from Ballew who recounts going to the house of a girl he fancied whilst under the influence of recreational drugs, finding her not at home and so waiting for her sat under a peach tree, having an hallucinogenic experience whilst crushing fallen peaches in his hands. I think I’ll choose to go with Ballew’s story as to what the song’s about. Not everyone agrees though. Here’s Captain D from Cincinnati on the Songfacts.com website:

I’m a pervert so I thought it was sexual too

Well, I guess the Captain is honest at least. The Presidents Of The USA would have two more UK hits before disbanding in 1997. “Peaches” remains their signature hit though. Such was its renown that it even permeated our culture to the point that the character of Hank from King Of The Hill knew it:

Everything But The Girl have finally moved on from “Missing” after it stayed in the charts for six months but they weren’t leaving their new direction behind them. “Walking Wounded” (both the single and album) saw the duo continue to embrace dance beats and in particular those of a drum and bass variety that were ripping up the nation’s dance floors and starting to enter the mainstream. Whilst their repositioning of themselves as a dance act no doubt won them some new admirers, I wasn’t one of them. I’d grown up with the Ben and Tracey era of “Each And Everyone” and the wonderful “Baby, The Stars Shine Bright” album, not this electronica, trip-hop material. I just couldn’t get into it. Sure, I could appreciate “Missing” for its musicality that could see it be effective as both an acoustic ballad and dance anthem but did I want to hear an Everything But The Girl album that went further than that? No thanks. The record buying public disagreed with me of course sending the album to No 4 and a platinum certification selling three times as many copies as predecessor “Amplified Heart”. However, it could be argued that this new direction only brought short term gains. Follow up album “Temperamental” continued the dance experiment but received a lukewarm reception and sales. Appearing in 1999, it would be the last Everything But The Girl album for nearly a quarter of a decade with the band’s output becoming mired in a haze of Best Of compilations and collections. Their legacy deserved better.

After a terrible decade so far in terms of his legal battle with Sony over the fairness of his recording contract, 1996 was turning out to be a splendid year for George Michael. Sure, he’d had two No 1s (a duet with Elton John and his version of “Somebody To Love” from The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert) but he lost that litigation with the court wholly rejecting his claims of restraint of trade. However, when Sony sold his contract to Virgin in 1995, he was able to resume his career and he did so in some style. “Jesus To A Child” gave him his first truly solo UK No 1 since 1986’s “A Different Corner” and he followed it with a second chart topper in “Fastlove”. Based around an interpolation of Patrice Rushen’s 1982 hit “Forget Me Nots”, it was a stark contrast from the haunting balladry of its predecessor, a funk-based number celebrating one night stands over committed relationships. The track had a very sophisticated, highly polished production sound to it with the saxophone part played by Andy Hamilton who was responsible for the memorable saxophone break in Duran Duran’s “Rio”. Somehow, the BBC censors missed George singing the line “all that bullshit conversation” at the start of the song.

The B-side was a funked up but slowed down version of “I’m Your Man” showing that George hadn’t totally turned his back on his rich pop past. Although it’s hard to beat the effervescence of the Wham! original, the ‘96 remake is definitely worth a listen:

The song’s futuristic video gave George the opportunity to have a dig at Sony re: the aforementioned court case with one of the promo’s dancers wearing a set of headphones displaying the word ‘FONY’ in the style of the Sony corporate logo. That didn’t stop it from being nominated for three MTV Music Video Awards winning the one for International Viewer’ Choice. Watching it back now, it seems to draw inspiration from the film Logan’s Run, in particular the scene where Logan meets Jessica on ‘the circuit’, the tinder of 2274:

As with a few artists, I kind of lost touch with The Cranberries after a while. I’d enjoyed their early hits and had been to see them live in October of 1994 I think but by 1996, they’d definitely slipped off my radar. “Salvation” was the lead single from their third album “To The Faithful Departed” and was definitely more in the vein of “Zombie” than “Linger”. It would become their joint biggest hit when it peaked at No 13 which seems an awfully low bar for a band that turned out a few cracking hits. I guess they were more of an albums band?

Featuring Dolores O’Riordan stomping all over the track with a strident vocal and almost shouted chorus, “Salvation” was seen as an anti-drug song though Dolores herself described it more as anti anything that took control of you. Sadly for her, she was unable to live by the lyrics of her song and was found dead in 2018 in a hotel room in Mayfair, London with the inquest ruling that she had died by accidental drowning following sedation by alcoholic intoxication.

Here’s something unusual – a controversial Michael Jackson single. I jest of course. Jacko’s whole life (and death) was surrounded by controversy. However, “They Don’t Care About Us” was certainly up there for generating a storm of headlines. The fourth single taken from the “HIStory: Past, Present And Future, Book 1” album, it attracted unwanted (by Jackson) attention both for its lyrics and video. The former were accused of being anti-Semitic with its use of the phrases “Jew me” and “Kike me” which Jackson strenuously denied and, indeed, agreed to re-record the track for subsequent copies of the album with the offending phrases replaced with “sue me” and “strike me”. In the end though, they were just covered up with some abstract noises – you can hear said sounds in the video shown on this TOTP.

The video was filmed in a favela or ghetto in Rio de Janeiro and caused concern for their Secretary of State for Industry, Commerce and Tourism who was worried showing the poverty in the area would adversely affect tourism and Rio’s bid to host the 2004 Olympics. A judge banned the filming of the video but a counter injunction saw it go ahead. Some supported Jackson’s claim of highlighting the poverty in the area whilst others criticised his production team for negotiating with local drug dealers for permission to film in the favela. It’s interesting to note that we only get about 2:20 of the video shown here where in the past TOTP have devoted huge sections of their half hour to showcasing a Jacko exclusive. Could they have been put off by the negative press? As for the song itself, its samba beat and chant like chorus actually make it stand out for me within Jackson’s catalogue – was the “hooo-aaargh” shout halfway through the song and attempted by Beerjte Van Beers in her intro the impetus for Leigh Francis to choose Jackson for one of his outlandish Bo’ Selecta! characters?

The caption accompanying this performance by The Cure says that they haven’t been on TOTP since April 1990. That can’t be right can it? They’d had five Top 40 hits since then. Didn’t any of those justify an appearance on the show? Anyway, “The 13th” was the lead single from the “Wild Mood Swings” album and well, I’m sorry but it’s awful. The Cure do Mariachi? No thanks.

The album was not well received by fans or the music press and it was the band’s poorest selling for 12 years. Even Robert Smith himself has said that he was disappointed with it – maybe he should have taken more heed of the lyric he sang in “The 13th” of “I just know this is a big mistake”. I recall that we didn’t sell many at all in the Our Price where I was working at the time. Though they would never regain their commercial edge, the band are still together and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 which gave us this marvellous Robert Smith moment…

Mark Morrison has completed his slow slither up to the No 1 position with “Return Of The Mack”. It’s taken six weeks to get there which was an eternity in 1996 when we were used to singles debuting in the top spot in week one. True to his dubious character, he sidles up to Beertje Van Beers at the end of his performance and drags her away with him as the credits roll. Maybe this was cooked up between the pair of them pre-show but even if it was, it looks terrible especially through 2024 eyes.

For the first time in a while, we have a play out video of a current chart hit rather than a clip from the archives to promote TOTP2. In this case, we get a football song but not that one. Yes, in 1996 if your single about the beautiful game wasn’t called “Three Lions” then it was destined to be forgotten. Who remembers “Move Move Move (The Red Tribe)” by The 1996 Manchester United FA Cup Squad? Well, you might if you’re a United fan I guess but when it’s not as memorable as the odious “Come On You Reds” from 1994, then you know the game is up. For the record, it was a horrible Reel 2 Real facsimile which is never a good thing.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1The WildheartsSick Of DrugsNegative
2Alanis MorissetteIronicNo but I had the Jagged Little Pill album
3Presidents Of The United States Of AmericaPeachesNo but I had it on one of those Best Album Ever compilations
4Everything But The GirlWalking WoundedDidn’t happen
5George MichaelFastloveNope
6The CranberriesSalvationIt’s a no from me
7Michael JacksonThey Don’t Care About UsI did not
8The CureThe 13thNah
9Mark MorrisonReturn Of The MackNo
10The 1996 Manchester United FA Cup SquadMove Move Move (The Red Tribe)Never

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/m0020crt/top-of-the-pops-18041996?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 29 SEP 1994

Posted on by 80stastic

I haven’t revisited what was going on with me personally back then in these posts for a while so (and I know this is of minuscule interest to anybody but me) let’s correct that. Two days after this TOTP aired we moved flat. Me and my wife had been in our tiny South Manchester flat for nearly four years and had been happy there. So why move? Well, our landlord let it be known that he had a bigger flat becoming available and we thought we could do with a bit more space and best of all, it was only two doors down! Yes, we were moving from Flat 4, No 47 to Flat 2, No 43 on the same street! This was great as it meant there was no need to incur removal van costs. However, it didn’t eliminate the need to put everything in boxes the same as any other move and that’s a job nobody looks forward to. We asked some friends from out of town to come to stay in the new place meaning that they could also help with carrying the boxes. My mate Robin’s taxi turned up just as the last box went in. Brilliant timing! We weren’t the only ones moving on around this time. On the same day this TOTP went out, Chris Evans presented The Big Breakfast for the very last time after two years. The times they were a-changin’…

…unless you were 2 Unlimited of course. Three years on from their debut hit, they were still clogging up the charts with their brand of repetitive Eurodance beats. The standard criticism of the Dutch duo was that all their material sounded the same and that you would feel like you’d heard it all before. Well, in the case of “No One” that was literally true. It had already been on TOTP back in the Summer on the show that was broadcast on 16th June. Back then it was featured within the album chart slot as their album “Real Things” had just been released and gone to No 1. So what did I say about it in my review of that show?

*checks TOTP Rewind archive*

Well, I referred to the frightening prospect of it being on the show again as I mentioned that it would be released as a single eventually and lo and behold, my prediction came true. I also said that, despite all my earlier talk of their sound never deviating from their original concept, this one did sound slightly different, not quite having the usual 2 Unlimited ‘bpm urgency’. Which it doesn’t. Was that an improvement then? Not really. I stand by my earlier review. Every word of it.

Huge tune incoming though not necessarily a big seller in the UK. After the lilting melodies of “Linger” and the perfectly crafted, jangly pop of “Dreams”, I was completely wrong footed by The Cranberries’ next release “Zombie”. A densely heavy slice of grunge rock that wasn’t a million miles away from “Creep” by Radiohead, it included an almost pained vocal from Dolores O’Riordan. ‘Pained’ is probably an apt word as the song was written as a visceral outpouring from Dolores in reaction to the tragic events of the IRA bombings in Warrington in 1993. The band’s record label Island got cold feet about releasing the track as a single fearing a song about The Troubles would be too controversial and that would affect airplay and its chances of commercial success. However, it had gone down well with audiences when played live in its early form as “In Your Head” and Dolores would not be deterred. She was right too. Although it would only make No 14 over here, it was huge around the rest of the world going to No 1 in seven countries. The album it came from – “No Need To Argue” – was huge too racking up 17 million sales worldwide. The Cranberries were officially a big deal.

A future chart topper now as the trend for reggae-fied versions of classic oldies continues apace. “Baby Come Back” was originally a No 1 hit in 1968 for the ethnically diverse group The Equals who included a young Eddy Grant in their ranks. A cover version of it 26 years later came courtesy of Pato Banton who I’d never heard of but who’d worked with The Beat in the early 80s and had guested on the 1985 UB40 album “Baggariddim”. Oh yes, there was a connection with UB40 just as there had been for Bitty McLean and his chart career. That connection became even more apparent when Ali and Robin Campbell performed on “Baby Come Back” alongside Banton. They even had a credit on the single’s cover.

By the way, Pato was nothing to do with another, much more objectionable Banton – the Jamaican Dancehall artist Buju – who held some vile homophobic views in the 90s that he aired in his song “Boom Bye Bye”. It turns out that the name ‘Banton’ is a Jamaican slang term for someone who is a respected storyteller.

Anyway returning to “Baby Come Back”, the combination of the Campbell brothers vocals on the chorus and Pato’s toasted verses proved irresistible to record buyers and the single would go to No 1 for 4 weeks ending the year as the UK’s fourth best selling single of the year. As we’ll be seeing it plenty more in future episodes I’ll leave it there for now.

After the real thing earlier, here come an act whom I saw recently online described as the ‘2 Unlimited of ragga’ which seemed pretty on the money. Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman (they even had a figure 2 in their name like Ray and Anita!) were onto their third hit of a very thin source material in “Can You Feel It?”. This wasn’t just money for old rope but money for pieces of string too short to be useful. Basically a man (The Mad Stuntman presumably) toasting while a woman occasionally sings “Can you feel it baby?”. Just awful. Total crud. Somehow it managed to scramble up the charts to No 13. What was wrong with people back in 1994?!

Now here’s a curious thing. A performance on TOTP that on the face of it seems to be not instigated by the need to promote something. “You Really Got Me” was The Kinks’ first hit and first No 1 in 1964. So why were the band performing the song on TOTP in 1994? Well, the official line was to commemorate the song’s 30th anniversary and that was it. How often though had this sort of event happened though? Never that I can recall. The Kinks (well, Ray and Dave Davies essentially) just appear slap bang in the middle of the show – there isn’t even any caption allocated to them about career sales or anything. Ray did do the message to camera bit at the top of the show but he just told us how TOTP was going to rock us to the bone. Checking their discography, they’d had a Greatest Hits album out in 1993 (“The Definitive Collection”) which was rereleased in 1996 with a TV ad campaign but this TOTP appearance falls between these two releases so it can’t be that can it?

*checks discography again*

Oh hang on. They released a live album four days after this TOTP aired and it was called “To The Bone”. That’s what Ray was referring to in his rather cryptic message at the start of the show! And…published two weeks before this appearance was Ray’s autobiography called X–Ray which explains his off script lines during the performance about having “seen the X-Ray”. And….hadn’t the BBC just launched TOTP2 featuring clips from the archive so maybe this performance was to (indirectly) push that show? All makes a bit more sense now.

The performance is half in black and white presumably to try and create a feeling of 1964 before it reverts to colour during Dave’s guitar solo. Not sure it works really to be honest. However, I do like the way that Ray treats it as a proper live gig by encouraging some audience participation with his goading question “Are you listening to me?”.

Right, what’s this? Well, it’s Eurodance behemoth Snap! but you’d be forgiven for not recognising them. Firstly, they’ve got a new singer called Summer (real name Paula Brown) but then they had previous in that department having already been through vocalists Penny Ford, Thea Austin and Niki Haris by this point. Rapper Turbo B was long gone by this stage. Secondly, and perhaps more to the point, their new single “Welcome To Tomorrow (Are You Ready?)” didn’t sound like them. It’s a much poppier almost lilting sound than something like “The Power” or “Rhythm Is A Dancer” which made their names on the club dancefloors before crossing over massively into the mainstream charts. This felt like they had purposely made a record that could just go straight to daytime radio.

The space age sci-fi video that we see here apparently took three months to make. Some of the spacecraft in it look a bit Blake’s 7 to me but then that’s probably unfair as I’m looking at it through 2023 eyes. Back in 1994, this probably looked, if not mind blowing, then very impressive. “Welcome To Tomorrow (Are You Ready?)” would peak at No 6 but they would only have one more UK Top 40 hit subsequently.

East 17 were never as big as they were in 1994. A double platinum album and four hit singles including the Christmas No 1? Nice work if you can get it! “Steam”, despite being the title track of said album, was the smallest of those hits but the fact that it peaked at No 7 shows how big the others were. After the lighter sound of previous single “Around The World”, this was a return to the sound that made their name – pop/rap with a bit of streetwise savvy heavy in the mix. Watching this performance back though, it all seems faintly ludicrous. They’ve all had skinhead haircuts (presumably to big up those street credentials) but the outfits they’ve got on kind of work against that. What exactly are they wearing? A leather hoody with leather baggy trousers and boots? Sorry lads, you just look silly. At least the staging of the performance was easy. A song called “Steam”? Just have a few jets of the stuff going off behind them occasionally. My old history teacher Mr Cooper who used to overly emphasise the word ‘steam’ when talking about steam power would have approved. STEAM power lads!

Now to a man who is surely only behind Keith Richards in the ‘How is he not dead yet?’ stakes. I remember the Shane MacGowan And The Popes era of the ex-Pogues frontman’s career but I couldn’t tell you about any of their material. And I certainly don’t recall the Johnny Depp connection! Listening to “This Woman’s Got Me Drinking” though, it’s as if Shane was attempting his version of Motörhead’s “Ace Of Spades”. It’s all snarled vocals aside a strident, propelling one chord riff but doesn’t quite pull it off for me. Would it have been a coup to get Johnny Depp in the studio at this time? Well, he’d been in films like Cry–Baby, Edward Scissorhands and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by this point in his career so he was certainly a name but surely wasn’t as notorious and divisive a figure as he is today. I must admit to not really thinking of him as a musician but he’s contributed to works by the likes of Oasis, Iggy Pop, Aerosmith and Jeff Beck as well as Shane MacGowan.

It’s another week at the top for Whigfield, Now would you categorise “Saturday Night” as a novelty record? I think I could almost be persuaded. It’s the dance that went with it that’s tipping me over. Like “Macarena” by Los Del Río or “Gangnam Style” by PSY. Or maybe I’m being too harsh. After all, Whigfield did have more hits than just this one hit – five in all including a further couple of Top 10s so they were more of a pop act than just a song. Their final hit was an almost unforgivable cover of Wham!’s “Last Christmas” though so I think any credit they may have had is completely wiped out.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
12 UnlimitedNo OneNever
2The CranberriesZombieNo
3Pat Banton with Ali and Robin CampbellBaby Come BackNegative
4Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad StuntmanCan You Feel It?As if
5The KinksYou Really Got MeNot released as a single in 1994 but I must have it on something
6Snap!Welcome To Tomorrow (Are You Ready?)Nah
7East 17 SteamNo but I had t a promo copy of the album from work. Sadly it had talky bits in between the tracks from Mark Goodier
8Shane MacGowan And The PopesThis Woman’s Got Me DrinkingI did not
9WhigfieldSaturday NightAnd 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/m001m15z/top-of-the-pops-29091994

TOTP 05 MAY 1994

Posted on by 80stastic

There have been some memorable chart battles for the No1 spot over the years. The Beatles in an unlikely fight with Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967, Rod Stewart in a right royal dust up with The Sex Pistols to see who would be the Silver Jubilee chart topper, and of course, the Oasis v Blur Battle of Britpop that we’ll see in these TOTP repeats of 1995. Then there’s those contests where the story wasn’t about the artists and the sides that they represented (establishment v anti-establishment, North v South) but were more about the sales and the tiny margins that determined who got to be No 1. I’m thinking 1990’s Deee-Lite v Steve Miller Band where there was a cigarette paper between them. Apparently, another battle of that nature took place in this week but you rarely hear it talked about with a handful of sales separating three artists one of which we start the show with.

In the final totting up, C.J. Lewis had to settle for the No 3 position with his execrable cover of “Sweets For My Sweet” by The Searchers. What a hideous thing this was. A desecration of a classic 60s pop song by the then popular trend of ragga-fying (for want of a better description) Shaggy style. I can’t understand what C.J. is banging on about during his rapping so I looked up the lyrics online and, having read them three times over, am still none the wiser. Rather bizarrely, the TOTP caption states that Lewis used to be a social worker. He really should have stuck to that much more useful profession than tormenting us all with this nonsense.

By the way, I should mention that Simon ‘Smug’ Mayo is back again as host and he’s at it already in his first intro. “Good evening. You’ve seen him in Shadowlands, now hear his single…C.J. Lewis!”. This pathetic quip concerns the film Shadowlands that had been in UK cinemas around this time and which details the relationship between The Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis and Jewish American poet Joy Davidman. What was the point of referencing this other than for Mayo to make himself feel superior to us plebs who couldn’t possibly understand his comment, not having his literary breadth of knowledge? Arse.

It’s The Cranberries next whose name is another opportunity for another pathetic Mayo line about ‘sauce’. The stupid thing is that the pun had already been done…by the band themselves. Here’s @TOTPFacts:

Anyway, they’re on the show to promote the re-release of their song “Dreams” (it had originally been their debut single when released in 1992). This was the most obvious choice of a follow up single since Spandau Ballet released “Gold” to consolidate on the success of “True”. A driving, uptempo number that was at odds with the more lilting “Linger”, it was nevertheless another perfectly crafted pop song. Also like “Linger”, it was ubiquitous. It seemed to get enormous amounts of airplay. Was it used on an advert as well?

*checks internet*

Well, it was certainly used by Tourism Ireland in 1996 and again in 2019 by P&O Cruises whilst a cover of it was used in a bed commercial called ‘What Dreams Are Made Of’. Anyway, why the hell did it not get any higher than No 27?! If Gabrielle could have a No 1 with a song called “Dreams”, why couldn’t The Cranberries?

Dolores O’Riordan pulls a Dave Grohl (or should that have been the other way round) for this performance by being sat down in an armchair covered in drapes due to knee ligament damage but, miraculously, she stands up unaided halfway through. She wasn’t having us on was she? Possibly because Dolores always was the main point of attention for the band. It wasn’t a new scenario of course. Look at Toyah and Blondie in the late 70s and early 80s and No Doubt also in the 90s. Were Nena of “99 Red Balloons” fame a band not a singer as well?

In an act of vicious irony, a bastardised version of the song would finally become the Top 10 hit the original deserved to be when Dario G’s “Dream To Me” went to No 9 in 2001.

Now Simon Mayo had some history when it came to football-related quips when hosting TOTP so giving him a song by an actual football team to introduce was too much of an open goal for him to miss. Keen to show off his credentials as a Spurs supporter, Mayo bangs on about there not being enough Chas ‘N’ Dave* in “Come On You Reds” by The Manchester United Football Squad.

* Chas ‘N’ Dave famously made three FA Cup final songs with Tottenham Hotspur.

I despise this song. Not because it’s dreadful (it is though), not because the original song it’s based on – “Burning Bridges (On And Off And On Again)” by Status Quo – is dreadful (it is though) but because it was recorded for the 1994 FA Cup final. So? Well, United’s opponents were my beloved Chelsea who had made the final for the first time in 24 years. I was so excited but it would all end in tears in the rain at Wembley nine days after this TOTP aired. I think I’ll leave the whole sorry saga until the following week’s repeat.

As for “Come On You Reds”, the popularity of the club and their historic double achievement of the league and FA Cup would see the single go to No 1 making it the only single released by a club* side to ever make it to the top of the charts.

* “Back Home” (1970) and “World In Motion” (1990) were by England World Cup squads.

It’s time to party like it’s 1985 now which is the last time this next band had a UK Top 40 hit. The first time I became aware of Killing Joke was is their excellent 1984 single “Eighties” but it’s their No 16 song “Love Like Blood” that they are best know for outside of their loyal fanbase. That single blew my 16 years old ears off; powerful and brooding, it somehow enticed me in despite my dominant pop sensibilities. However, I didn’t think my about them after that. To be fair, they didn’t release anything at all between 1990 and 1994 so my lack of engagement with them was hardly surprising. Suddenly though, they were not only back with a second Top 40 hit nine years after thejr first but also with an appearance on TOTP. This should be interesting…

…as expected, Jaz Coleman doesn’t disappoint with an intense, wild eyed performance complete with dirty boiler suit and face marks. Their single “Millennium” isn’t as immediate as “Love Like Blood” but it has a slowly building potency that you can’t ignore. However, a party tune it ain’t and, unlike Robbie Williams’ similarly named 1998 No 1, I bet it wasn’t in any New Year’s Eve party playlists in 1999. The single’s success prompted a handful of chart hits though none were bigger than No 25. The band are still touring to this day.

We’re firmly back in 1994 now with a dance tune from the Positiva label. A subsidiary of Universal Music Group, it was responsible for hits by Radoc, DJ Quicksilver, Barbara Tucker, Alice Deejay, and, rather lamentably, Vengaboys. Into the 2000s the label scored chart toppers with Frogma and Spiller featuring Sophie Ellis Bextor (another one of those famous battles for the No 1 spot with True Steppers featuring Dane Bowers and Victoria Beckham). Positiva was also home to Judy Cheeks who was having her second chart hit with “Reach”. A crossover club track, this was a Hi-NRG tune that was in the same vein as “Peace” by Sabrina Johnston from three years prior. Judy gives an energetic performance and I like the massive letters spelling out R-E-A-C-H on stage with her. Simple yet effective. The single (ahem) reached No 17 in the UK and No 22 when a remix was released in 1996.

It’s time for a satellite exclusive performance now, this week from Richard Marx who also did the message to camera at the top of the show. For a man who had a rather occasional relationship with the UK charts – he seems to have been on TOTP a lot. These are his chart peak numbers from 1987 – 1994:

78 – 50 – 50 – 60 – 52 – 2 – 45 – 38 – 54 – 55 – 3 -13 – 29 – 13 – 32 – 38

“Silent Scream” was the No 32 in this list and therefore his penultimate hit over here. Taken from his “Paid Vacation” album, it’s got a worthy message – the poor treatment of the older generation in the US compared to other countries where that demographic is recognised for their knowledge and wisdom – but the song itself is pretty average. Some may even say dull. Performing on the top of a skyscraper doesn’t change that. Sorry Richard.

The Levi’s advertising campaign strategy that began in 1985 with that commercial of Nick Kamen taking his kecks off in a launderette not only established the brand at the forefront of everyone’s minds when it came to jeans, it also altered the face of the UK charts. Nostalgia ruled as track after track from the 50s, 60s and 70s reappeared in the Top 40 after being the soundtrack to the latest Levi’s ad. In some cases, they would even sell enough to go to No 1 (Ben E King, The Clash and the aforementioned Steve Miller Band).

However by 1992/3, the hit formula seemed to be on the wane. Tracks by Dinah Washington and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins failed to make the charts and so, in 1994 a change of approach was required. Enter Peter Lawlor. Who? Well, I’d never heard of him either but he is a songwriter, producer and multi instrumentalist who single handedly came up with the song “Inside” which soundtracked this Levi’s ad:

The advert was a huge success and subsequently there was a curiosity about what the song was and who made it that led to a clamour to be able to buy it. The aforementioned Peter Lawlor played everything on the track but recruited singer Ray Wilson for the vocals. So who were the band Stiltskin that were credited with being the artist behind the song ? Well, I didn’t know this until now but they didn’t exist before the advert was made. They were formed by Lawlor just to promote the song. No wonder the TOTP caption just says ‘From Scotland – 1st single’. The track’s post-grunge sound struck a chord with the record buying public and it would go to No 1 for a week making it the first original song used in a Levi’s ad to do so. I have my own personal Stiltskin story but I’ll leave that for the next show’s post.

So what’s going on here then? Evan Dando doing a solo turn without the rest of The Lemonheads of a song that wasn’t even a hit? Did Evan just happen to be in the country and popped by as a favour to new TOTP producer Ric Blaxill? The caption just says ‘Evan Dando from The Lemonheads Big Gay Heart Acoustic Version’ which doesn’t explain much. “Big Gay Heart” was released as a single by the band so maybe a TOTP booking was just part of the promotional campaign for the track and the rest of the band were unavailable for some reason? I don’t know. It just looks a bit odd.

The new trend for using a gold disc as an intro is back with Mayo presenting one to Evan who looks like he’d rather be anywhere than on stage talking to him (can’t blame him for that). Dando’s had his hair lopped off since the last time we saw him which makes him look even taller than ever. And that T-shirt he’s wearing? Here’s @TOTPFacts with the details:

Despite the pre- performance cringe fest, Evan gives a nice turn giving off some heavy Chris Isaak vibes. I think I do prefer the full band version though. None of this promotion could prevent “Big Gay Heart” from stalling at No 55 which was a shame (about Ray).

And so to the climax of the battle for this week’s No 1 spot. In the end, it went to unlikely pop star Tony Di Bart and his “The Real Thing” single but apparently there was only a handful of sales between him, Prince and C.J. Lewis. Di Bart’s one week stay at the top of the charts followed by Stiltskin’s seven day reign would mean we had four different No 1s in just six weeks. That would all change dramatically very shortly though. Wet Wet Wet are coming…

The play out song is “The Real Thing” by 2 Unlimited. Wait. What? Two songs with the same title one after the other. Did Ric Blaxill do that deliberately? Is that the only reason the 2 Unlimited track is on the show? Because it completed some sort of producer in-joke? In actual fact, despite having released a fifth and final single from their “No Limits” album, this was the lead single from their next album “Real Things”. It would make No 6 but it would be Ray and Anita’s last visit to the UK Top 10. The era of 2 Unlimited was coming to an end.

Gun

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1C.J. LewisSweets For My SweetHell no
2The CranberriesDreamsShould have but didn’t
3The Manchester United Football SquadCome On You RedsNever, ever happening!
4Killing JokeMillenniumNo
5Judy CheeksReachNegative
6Richard MarxSilent ScreamNope
7StiltskinInsideNah
8Evan Dando / The LemonheadsBig Gay HeartLiked it, didn’t buy it
9Tony Di BartThe Real ThingI did not
102 UnlimitedThe Real ThingAnd 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/m001jvpx/top-of-the-pops-05051994

TOTP 10 FEB 1994

Posted on by 80stastic

We’re still just about in sync with the BBC4 TOTP repeats which means it’s coming up to Valentine’s Day both in 2023 and 1994. Does that mean there’ll be a load of love songs on this show as the big day approaches? Were record companies that cynical back then? Let’s find out…

We start with a combination that hadn’t been seen on the show since the fag end of the 80s. D Mob and Cathy Dennis first collaborated in 1989 on “C’mon And Get My Love” and achieved a chart peak of No 15. D Mob had already caused some sensationalist tabloid headlines a year earlier with thejr banned hit single “We Call It Acieed” whilst Cathy became a major star in her own right in 1991 with four Top 40 hits and a No 3 album. Since then though, Cathy’s chart trajectory had hit a downturn with none of the three singles taken from her second album “Into The Skyline” piercing the Top 20. As for D Mob, they’d barely released anything this decade so far which I guess explains their absence from the charts. Either way, it was probably advantageous to both parties for another joint project and it arrived in the form of this song “Why” that was actually the second track on that sophomore album of Cathy’s. Yet again, this was another track that has evaded permanent residence in my memory banks. I’m not surprised as it’s not as immediate as “C’mon And Get My Love” though it did manage a high of No 23.

Cathy has clearly had an image change. Her loose, cascading curls have been replaced by a short, spiky crop and her catsuit of two years before by a full length dress. By the time of her final studio album release “Am I The Kinda Girl”, she’d got a sort of overgrown bob. Why am I talking about Cathy Dennis’s various hairstyles? Yes, you’ve guessed it – I’m desperately filling as I’ve very little else to say about this one apart from the following: this was D Mob’s last ever Top 40 hit whilst Cathy managed two more one of which was a cover of The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset”.

https://youtu.be/H60wiT05D-M

If you Google ‘when did Britpop start?’, the answer you mostly get is 1993 (and that it ended in 1997). Yet if you ask the question in a different way like ‘what was the first Britpop song?’ then you get the answer “The Drowners” by Suede which came out in 1992. Suede is also the answer to the question ‘who were the first Britpop band?’. Then there’s that Select magazine cover of Brett Anderson superimposed over a Union Jack with the tag line ‘Yanks go home!’. That issue came out in April 1993. Well, Suede are on this TOTP later so does that mean Britpop was in full flow already by this point?

What about the claims of Blur though? Journalist John Harris pinpoints their “Popscene” single alongside “The Drowners” as the very start of Britpop. Their 1992 tour of America supposedly sparked Damon Albarn’s resentment of US culture and his desire to big up its British counterpart. One person straddled both the Suede and Blur camps whilst also creating her own personal chapter of Britpop. Here she is being interviewed by the aforementioned John Harris…

Look, many cleverer people than me have written millions of words about Britpop so I’m not going to carry on with my own essay about its origins here but…Justine Frischmann and Elastica were certainly right in amongst it and were actually having hits far earlier in the whole story than I remember. Interestingly in his intro, the returning Radio 1 DJ Mark Goodier refers to Elastica as “a brilliant indie band” so no mention of Britpop there. “Line Up” was the band’s second single after their debut “Stutter” had peaked at No 80. However, that single had been limited to a pressing run of 1,500 copies so it was never going to be a big hit but it did create a buzz around the band and whetted the appetite of fans to create a demand for their music meaning that, when their second single was made more widely available, it shot into the Top 40. Fellow centre-of-Britpop Camden dwellers Menswear would do a similar thing by performing debut single “I’ll Manage Somehow” on TOTP before it was even released.

As for Elastica’s sound, it certainly stood out back in early 1994. Crunching guitars and almost off key riffs that sounded like a mad, hypnotic tune bewitching the pop kids with Justine cast as some sort of indie Pied Piper of Hamelin inculcating them to “line up in line”. Justine herself made quite the splash of course with her androgynous looks and style, coming on like Marcella Detroit’s younger and hipper sister.

“Line Up” would make No 20 paving the way for the band’s most well known tune “Connection” to be released in the October. Their debut eponymous album didn’t appear until March 1995 which is probably why my brain was deceiving me into thinking that they didn’t turn up until much later than they actually did. That album would go to No 1 and be the fastest selling debut at that point since…well, Oasis’s “Definitely Maybe” just the year before but it was still quite the achievement. A second album wouldn’t appear until 2000 by which point Britpop felt like ancient history. The band split in 2001 and Frischmann relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area to become an artist.

Finally a song with the word ‘love’ in its title as Valentine’s Day approaches but it’s hardly a big, slushy ballad. “A Deeper Love” was first a hit in 1992 for Clivillés And Cole, the guys behind C+C Music Factory but it was covered two years later by the Queen of Soul herself Aretha Franklin to promote her collection album “Greatest Hits: 1980-1994”. Though you can’t deny Aretha’s legacy, I’m not entirely convinced that she had that many hits between those years.

*checks her discography

Hmm. The results are in. In the UK, Aretha had four Top 40 hits, three of them with other artists.

  • 1985 – “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” with Eurythmics – No 9
  • 1986 – “Who’s Zoomin’ Who – No 11
  • 1986 – “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” with George Michael – No 1
  • 1989 – “It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be” with Whitney Houston – No 29

Ok, the chart positions aren’t too bad (including a chart topper) but four in fourteen years is hardly prolific and just one of those totally solo. “A Deeper Love” would bring it up to a five when it went straight into the charts at No 5 which was also its peak. It was a better set of results in America where her “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” album alone supplied four hit singles including the rather good “Freeway Of Love” which bombed over here. Hit statuses were reversed for “A Deeper Love” which only made No 63 in the US. As we can see from the single’s video, it also featured in the film Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit. The Clivillés And Cole original did nothing for me though it is widely regarded as a bit of a House classic. I wasn’t struck by Aretha’s version either though you can’t deny her excellent vocals on it.

Right, does this count as a love song? I’m not sure. I am certain though that The Cranberries were one of the breakthrough acts of 1994 despite having been in existence since 1989. For many, of course, The Cranberries were Dolores O’Riordan in the same way that Debbie Harry was Blondie. Completely unfair but that’s perceptions for you. To be honest though, everything changed for the band when Dolores walked into their rehearsal room in Limerick in 1990. Given a sheet of chord progressions by band founder Noel Hogan, she returned within a week with lyrics and melodies which would form the basis of “Linger”. Known then as The Cranberry Saw Us, they trod the usual path of demos and gigs before eventually signing with Island Records in 1991. A few aborted recording sessions and a sacked manager later, they finally released their major label debut single “Dreams” in 1992. Despite critical acclaim it failed to chart and nor did the follow up, the initial release of “Linger” in February 1993. A turning point was reached when they supported Suede (them again!) on a tour and gained the attention of MTV who put their singles on heavy rotation. “Linger” would become a huge US hit going to No 8 in the Billboard Hot 100. Such success couldn’t be ignored back home and “Linger” duly got a rerelease in early 1994 when it peaked at No 14. I have to admit that I thought it got much higher in the charts than that given it seemed to be constantly on the radio but then none of their nine UK chart hits made the Top 10. They did however, sell a lot of albums. Their debut “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” went to No 1 over here and went five times platinum in the States. These were huge numbers.

As a song, “Linger” is a bit of a belter. That soft, lullaby-like intro before the swirling strings swoop in and Dolores sings in that distinctive Irish brogue. It was always going to be a hit; it just took a while for the stars to align – maybe there was a bit of cloud cover about during that first release. It had that quality of feeling accomplished yet also somehow organic despite the lush production. It was a perfect example of shimmering pop/rock. Oh and Sting, that’s how you write a great song that features the lyrics ‘wrapped around your finger’ as opposed to the turgid nonsense you released in 1983.

The success of “Linger” meant demand for the album that had already been out for a year suddenly snowballed and I’m guessing that it was temporarily withdrawn by Island and then re-promoted as was the way back then. “Dreams” would also get a rerelease and become a hit this time around when it peaked at No 27. They would end 1994 with a second multi platinum selling album in “No Need To Argue”. Tragically Dolores O’Riordan would die aged 46 by accidental drowning following excessive intoxication by alcohol.

The early to mid 90s saw many a female R&B solo artist in the UK charts. Des’ree, Toni Braxton, Oleta Adams, Karyn White, Aaliyah and there are two more of them on the show tonight starting with Carleen Anderson. The former vocalist with the Young Disciples of “Apparently Nothin’” fame was no longer a follower but a leader as she started out on her solo career. Mark Goodier has already stolen the James Brown reference in his intro but what he didn’t say was that in addition to Carleen’s Mum having been in the Godfather of Soul’s touring band that he was also Carleen’s godfather.

Anyway, with that musical tidbit out of the way, let’s return to Carleen herself and if I wasn’t sure that “Linger” was a love song then her debut single surely wasn’t with a title like “Nervous Breakdown”. Now I was aware of Carleen Anderson as I worked in a record shop so if nothing else I knew what the cover of her album looked like but not how it sounded. Listening to this back now though I was pleasantly surprised…until that horrible bit where a god awful jazz intervention is triggered by the singing of the word ‘breakdown’. Just horrible. The guitarist up there on stage with Carleen looks like the spit of Outspan from the film The Commitments while the saxophonist could be Dean from the same film after he’d had his ‘jazz haircut’. “Nervous Breakdown” made No 27 and was the first of four tracks lifted from her album “True Spirit” that were Top 40 chart hits.

There’s no Breakers this week as that slot is reserved for a montage of acts that have been nominated for the 1994 BRIT Awards which took place at the Alexandra Palace on Valentine’s Day itself. The event was hosted by Elton John and RuPaul with performances including Take That doing that Beatles medley, Van Morrison and Shane MacGowan duetting on “Have I Told You Lately” and of course Elton and RuPaul with a rendition of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. You can look up who won what yourselves as I’m not going to list them all here.

The second of those female R&B solo artists now and like Carleen Anderson before her, she made her name initially as the vocalist in a successful band. Shara Nelson was, of course, the voice behind the Massive Attack hits “Unfinished Sympathy” and “Safe From Harm”. By 1993, she’d embarked on her own solo career scoring hits with “Down That Road” and “One Goodbye In Ten” and a hit album in “What Silence Knows”. “Uptight” was the third single taken from that album and as with Carleen’s song, the title of the single is not really very Valentine’s Day orientated but it’s a jolly, upbeat number though the chorus does rather disappoint. It feels like it’s building up to this killer hook that never really materialises.

https://youtu.be/ZAzFhkATlUk

On that song title still, Sahara’s track was absolutely nothing to do with the Stevie Wonder song of the same name. That wasn’t the case though with “Step Out” by Oasis. The B-side to “Don’t Look Back In Anger” was so based on “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” that Stevie got 10% of the single’s royalties.

And so we arrive at the band described by host Mark Goodier as “one of the most talked about British bands of the last year” and to be fair, nearly 30 years on, I’ve spent a great deal of this post referring to them before we even get to their appearance. Suede were, of course, making huge headlines in the music press at this time but they seemed to have a premonition of what was coming over the hill like a monster (to paraphrase The Automatic) and decided they would quite like to sidestep it. I speak of Britpop obviously and how Suede always seemed determined to distance themselves from the movement and plough their own furrow. After the runaway success of their eponymous debut album, instead of just repeating that formula, they released a sophomore album in “Dog Man Star” that provoked divided reactions. Rolling Stone magazine described it as:

“one of the most pretentious albums ever released by a major label”[

Sheffield, Rob (2004). “London Suede”. In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 493–94. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8

Other critics labelled it overblown and self indulgent. However, it has a special place in the hearts of the fanbase in much the same way that Manic Street Preachers’ defiantly uncommercial third album “The Holy Bible” regularly tops fan polls as their best. In terms of the chronology of Suede’s album releases, from a music business point of view, it might have made more sense to have swapped hit laden third album “Coming Up” with “Dog Man Star”. Wet Wet Wet followed a similar trajectory when releasing the mature but less commercial “Holding Back The River” album as the follow up to “Popped In Souled Out” when the more logical move was to have come up with third album “High On The Happy Side” in its place. Still, you have to allow artists their integrity and creative freedom to write as they wish and this is what Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler did on “Stay Together”. This track didn’t actually appear on “Dog Man Star” so was it a stand alone release to maintain the band’s profile during the 18 months between albums? Whatever the reason it was the last Suede single released whilst Butler was still in the band before he defected after his relationship with Anderson broke down. He quit shortly after this TOTP with his final Suede gig coming just two days after it aired.

https://youtu.be/ywEraPLrXT8

Apparently the band have distanced themselves from the track (maybe the reason it doesn’t appear on “Dog Man Star”) but it did provide them with their highest ever chart placing (equal with 1996’s “Trash”) of No 3. An epic song clocking in at 8:29 uncut (the radio edit was halved to 4:19), it was written while Butler’s father was dying of cancer. It’s instantly recognisable as Suede and I always like the way Brett sang the word ‘skyscrapers’ in the chorus and he looks cool as f**k in this performance. Bernard on the other hand…I do like Butler though and own pretty much all of his material released post Suede. The performance by him and David McAlmont of “Yes” on Later…with Jools Holland is one of my favourite ever.

It’s a fourth and final week at the top for D:Ream and “Things Can Only Get Better”. The success of the song would see a rerelease for another of their singles that had already been a hit as a Perfecto remix of “U R The Best Thing” became the follow up reaching No 4 in March and eclipsing its 1993 release by 15 places. Their album “D:Ream On Vol. 1” would also benefit from the gargantuan success of “Things Can Only Get Better” going to a high of No 5.

They’re still doing that end of show montage thing which this week is soundtracked by “Pale Movie” by Saint Etienne.

This was the lead single from their third album “Tiger Bay” and it would make No 28 in the UK charts. Yet again this was another tune that passed me by but it’s a pleasant little ditty with Spanish guitars and some lovely, ethereal vocals from Sarah Cracknell. As with much of their stuff, it puts me in mind of this…

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1D Mob / Cathy DennisWhyNah
2ElasticaLine UpI didn’t
3Aretha FranklinA Deeper LoveNope
4The CranberriesLingerShould have but didn’t
5Carleen AndersonNervous BreakdownNo
6Shara NelsonUptightNegative
7SuedeStay TogetherThought I may have but no
8D:ReamThings Can Only Get BetterIt’s another no
9Saint EtiennePale MovieAnd 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/m001hhh1/top-of-the-pops-10021994