The Wildhearts

TOTP 15 AUG 1997

We’ve lost another month to the Puff Daddy/P Diddy issue as “I’ll Be Missing You”, having spent three weeks at No 1 and then slipping a place to No 2 to accommodate Oasis for seven days, went back to the top of the charts for another three weeks! Bloody hell! Who did we miss? Nobody I was that bothered about to be honest – I’m actually very relieved to have missed reviewing Gary Barlow, Boyzone, Backstreet Boys and Peter Andre. Maybe Paul Weller and Morrissey would have been interesting but hey ho!

We pick the TOTP story back up in the middle of August and this one is actually quite an important episode. Not for the artists on it who are quite underwhelming but because this was the week that the decision was taken (presumably by new executive producer Chris Cowey) to do away with any sort of theme music at all. From early February 1995 we’d had the Vince Clarke composition “Red Hot Pop” which had replaced “Now Get Out Of That” by Tony Gibber which had ushered in the ‘Year Zero’ revamp. Prior to that, the show had been soundtracked by Paul Hardcastle’s “The Wizard” stretching back to 1986. Come 15th August 1997, we had nothing except an intro from the host – Denise van Outen this week – and then the opening of the first song played under the titles.

Said first song is “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks. Yeah, that one. Meredith was one of a number of female solo artists in the 90s who would be known for one hit and one hit only (see also Alannah Myles, Paula Cole, Donna Lewis) but what a hit it was – No 2 in the US and No 6 over here. Co-written with songwriter Shelly Peiken who was frustrated at having had album cuts for the past 10 years but never a huge hit single, her vexation spilled over into the lyrics of “Bitch” and a worldwide smash was born. It nearly never happened though as her record label Capitol baulked at some of the lyrics and the song’s title. One of those unsure about the song’s potential was producer Geza X who expressed concern that the lyrics might have a negative effect on its chances of commercial success. That’s infamous punk producer Geza X who produced the Dead Kennedys classic “Too Drunk To Fuck”! Unbelievable!

Despite those misgivings, it was released and the rest is history. Its success would lead to a spate of covers and parodies including this one by Australian comedian Chris Franklin and yes, it’s as bad as you might be imagining.

As with Michael Jackson the other week, I think it’s the final TOTP appearance that I’ll have to comment on in my blog (which I’m calling time on at the end of the 1999 repeats) by Wet Wet Wet. And what a crummy way to go out – with a version of one of the most recorded songs in the history of popular music. Why were they covering “Yesterday” by The Beatles? Was it just to ensure a hit? Unlikely. The first phase of their career might have been winding down but was it in need of a reviving, shot-in-the-arm smash? No, it was just another case of the band having recorded a 60s song for the soundtrack of a film. Panic not though. This wasn’t a repeat of their 15 week spell at No 1 with “Love Is All Around” from Four Weddings And A Funeral. Their version of “Yesterday” was taken from the soundtrack to Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie and would peak at No 4. Despite how many times the song has been covered, its chart statistics aren’t that impressive. Famously never released by the Fab Four as a single whilst they were together, it was taken into the charts by Matt Monro and Marianne Faithfull in 1965 within a month of each other with ‘The Man with the Golden Voice’ winning out with a high of No 8 compared to Marianne’s No 36. Ray Charles would have a go at making it a hit two years later but he wouldn’t crack the Top 40. In 1976, The Beatles original was finally released and it scampered up the charts to match Matt Monro’s placing. 21 years later Wet Wet Wet, whether deserved or not, would have the biggest UK hit with it. So was their version any good? Well, I think Marti Pellow’s voice suited the song well enough but it’s a fairly unremarkable take on it and the pedal steel guitar interlude is particularly incongruous. On the plus side, Marti’s lost his peroxide blonde hair at last. So, farewell Wet Wet Wet. There was some good stuff, some not so good stuff and some downright annoying stuff but it was undoubtedly a chart life well lived.

No, Olive weren’t a classic one hit wonder (a No 1 record then nothing) but could I have told you what their other hit was without checking? Absolutely not. Turns out it was called “Outlaw” and, for what it’s worth, having listened back to it, I much prefer it to “You’re Not Alone”. Why? I guess because it sounds like a proper song rather than a dance track. Although it retains a shifting, skittering drum ‘n’ bass backbeat, it’s got a defined structure to it – there’s a genuine song in there. I could imagine it reconfigured in a pure pop style and it would work.

In an act that seemed to confirm their pop sensibilities, Olive would release a cover version of one of the classic pop songs of the 70s when they chose 10cc’s “I’m Not In Love” as the lead single from their second album “Trickle”. It wouldn’t reverse their chart fortunes but there remains a lot of love online for Olive. It seems they remain ‘not alone’.

There’s three female solo artists on tonight’s show starting with Mary J Blige who is enjoying her biggest ever UK chart hit* with “Everything”. Based around “You Are Everything” by The Stylistics, it was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – of course it was. It was a good vehicle for Blige’s vocals though I’m still surprised that it was as big a hit as it was with it peaking at No 6. With her huge, tinted wrap-a-round glasses and long hair, Mary seems to have modelled her look on ex-Dutch international footballer Edgar Davids but that can’t have been the case surely?

*She would also have a No 4 hit in 1999 with a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “As” but that was a duet with George Michael

“You Are Everything” was also a hit for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross in the early 80s but my research tells me that there was another version of it that was never actually released but was surely one of the oddest collaborations in pop history. There are only snippets of the track that have been leaked online but I give you heavy metal band Judas Priest doing a cover of a soul song produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman…

Judging by what I’d read about this one beforehand, I wasn’t expecting much but it was actually better than predicted. The Wildhearts had established themselves as a consistent chart band and by this point in the decade had amassed seven consecutive Top 40 hits (though none bigger than No 14). Hit number eight came courtesy of the lead single from their fourth studio album “Endless, Nameless” entitled “Anthem”. Having made their name with a brand of melodic rock, 1997 saw them spurn that for an industrial rock style that was more about distortion and feedback than riffs and hooks. The album was not well received by their fanbase and it failed to make the Top 40 of the album chart. The band’s lead vocalist Ginger though has proclaimed it as his favourite Wildhearts album and retrospectively, it has come to be seen as a strong rock statement.

As for “Anthem”, as I said, I had feared the worst, a grungey mess akin to *Nirvana’s infamous TOTP appearance in 1991 when Kurt Cobain sang live on “Smells Like Teen Spirit” deliberately badly. However, despite vocal duties being undertaken not by regular singer Ginger but by bassist Danny McCormack, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it’s a heavy sound but far from a noise. It does get a bit repetitive towards the end with the constant chanting of its chorus but I wasn’t completely put off. One person who was far from put off was the topless guy in the studio audience who was having it large down the front. Do you think he was a superfan? There’s always one and he was probably it. He’s probably approaching his 50s now. I wonder if he’s kept the faith?

*The title “Endless, Nameless” is also that of a Nirvana song apparently

I think I was expecting the next turn to be an out and out diva house artist but that’s possibly because I was confusing Robyn with Robin S though, in my defence, they both had hits with songs called “Show Me Love”. This wasn’t the American singer Ms S though but Swedish singer Robin Miriam Carlsson (aka Robyn) who would rack up eight UK Top 40 hits over a 13 year period including a No 1. I don’t know/remember any of them I have to say. That run started with “Do You Know (What It Takes)” and, having listened to it, my impression is that this was a blueprint for the sound that would make Britney Spears a global superstar. It’s not a surprising reaction on my behalf when I tell you that the co-writer and producer of the track was one Max Martin* who would go on to write “…Baby One More Time”. So, given all of this, maybe we should be asking ourselves why Robyn didn’t become Britney Spears before Britney did? She had the looks and the sound after all. On reflection though, given what would happen to the ‘Princess of Pop’, maybe Robyn was quite happy with the pop career she had?

*Martin would go on to write/co-write an incredible 27 Billboard No 1s including Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” and Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” so he clearly knew what he was doing when it came to penning hits for female pop stars!

Our third female solo artist on the show tonight is Kym Mazelle who despite not having a large collection of huge hits, does have a huge reputation – not for nothing is she known as ‘The First Lady of House Music’. Having worked with the likes of Dr.Robert of The Blow Monkeys, house legend Marshall Jefferson, Norman Cook, Soul II Soul and Jocelyn Brown, here she was stepping out on her own with her version of Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free” from the soundtrack to Romeo + Juliet. It’s a fairly faithful cover of the disco classic albeit with a nod towards the genre on which Kym made her name which makes me wonder why the film’s director Baz Luhrmann didn’t just use the original* in his film?

*Staton’s version was eventually rereleased in 1999 when it made No 29.

Despite all that she achieved in her long career, I have to say that the first thing I think of when I hear her name is this song in which she gets a name check…

We’re stuck with this Top 20 countdown business and we’re onto our third person doing the voiceover for it after Jayne Middlemiss and some random anonymous bloke. This week’s it’s Mark Goodier and he will keep the gig for the next five years.

The first No 1 that Goodier has to announce comes from Will Smith and it’s yet another song from a film and yet another hit that is based around a sample of an older song. “Men In Black” was, of course, from the movie of the same name and was the second chart topper this year to be built around Patrice Rushen’s “Forget Me Nots” following George Michael’s “Fastlove” in April. What were the chances?! It was also the second UK No 1 for Smith though the first hit (of any size) under his own name – “Boom! Shake The Room” was as The Fresh Prince with DJ Jazzy Jeff.

With the film a box office smash, its theme tune was almost assured massive hit status and so it proved to be with it topping charts around the world (though curiously not in America where it wasn’t given a physical release). It was the UK’s sixth best selling single of 1997 and would kick off a string of chart successes in this country for Smith up to 2005. As for me, it was one of those songs that you could appreciate for what it was but after one or two listens it became rather annoying. The appearance mid-video here of a superimposed Smith apologising to the TOTP viewers for not being there in person is similarly irritating but I’m sure executive producer Chris Cowey would have been pleased with himself for the coup.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Meredith Brooks	Bitch	No
2	Wet Wet Wet	Yesterday	I did not
3	Olive	Outlaw	Nope
4	Mary J. Blige	Everything	Nah
5	The Wildhearts	Anthem	Negative
6	Robyn	Do You Know (What It Takes)	Another no
5	Kym Mazelle	Young Hearts Run Free	Didn’t happen
8	Will Smith	Men In Black	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/m0028x68/top-of-the-pops-15081997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 18 APR 1996

Posted on July 5, 2024 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…

Here's why. pic.twitter.com/99IkVj3W6V
— Andrew ✈ (@ker_fuffle) June 21, 2024

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 appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	The Wildhearts	Sick Of Drugs	Negative
2	Alanis Morissette	Ironic	No but I had the Jagged Little Pill album
3	Presidents Of The United States Of America	Peaches	No but I had it on one of those Best Album Ever compilations
4	Everything But The Girl	Walking Wounded	Didn’t happen
5	George Michael	Fastlove	Nope
6	The Cranberries	Salvation	It’s a no from me
7	Michael Jackson	They Don’t Care About Us	I did not
8	The Cure	The 13th	Nah
9	Mark Morrison	Return Of The Mack	No
10	The 1996 Manchester United FA Cup Squad	Move 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 04 MAY 1995

Posted on November 10, 2023 by 80stastic

These BBC4 repeats are coming thick and fast now after taking the Summer off and I’m getting behind. I need to whip through this post in double quick time just to keep up. Who’s on tonight’s show that I could skim over briefly?

*checks running order*

Hmm. Well, four of the songs on tonight have been on the show before so maybe they’re contenders for a short write up. Of the newbies, I can’t believe I’ll have much to say about Runrig or Joshua Kadison but let’s see.

It’s another ‘golden mic’ host tonight who is Whigfield of “Saturday Night” fame. Having watched the whole show from start to finish, I have to say that her presenting skills aren’t the best. She seems to get tongue tied on occasion and lose track of what she’s meant to be saying. Still, she certainly had more to offer than last week’s host Chris Evans in other areas if you know what I mean. Erm…anyway, the first artist she introduces are The Wildhearts who were only just on seven days ago performing “I Wanna Go Where The People Go”. Indeed, only Take That as the No 1 and that Weezer video as the play out track separate them from their last appearance.

As it’s another studio performance, this really does seem like a prime candidate for as few words as I can get away with. OK let’s go with the fact that lead singer Ginger looks ever so slightly John Lennon-esque here with his shades, shaggy hair and psychedelic design shirt and talking of John Lennon lookalikes…I once went to the Frog And Bucket comedy club in Manchester as part of a staff night out. The compère realised we were on a works outing and so asked us who we were. When we replied “Our Price”, he immediately came back with “there’s always someone in a group of people who work in a record shop who looks like John Lennon” and we all turned to our colleague Mike who did indeed resemble John Lennon with his glasses and hairstyle. How we laughed. Except Mike.

If you closed your eyes whilst listening to this next artist, you would be forgiven for thinking it was Elton John in the studio performing his latest single. Joshua Kadison looked nothing like Elton though he had radically changed his appearance recently. How do I know this? Well, because he (or more likely his record label) had been peddling his song “Jessie” for over a year by this point trying to make it a hit in the UK after achieving that status in the US way back in 1993. This was the third time the single had made a tilt at our Top 40 after peaking at Nos 48 and 69 in 1994. The promotion for those releases (including the official video) had Joshua in full on Curtis Stigers mode with shoulder length hair and clean shaven. Fast forward to May 1995 and he’d lopped off the locks and grown some facial hair. Like some sort of Samson in reverse, the image change worked and “Jessie” finally gained entry to the UK Top 40. Though not a runaway hit, it was a consistent performer peaking at No 15 but also staying solid at No 20 for three consecutive weeks.

“Jessie” would prove to be the peak of commercial success for Joshua (at least in the UK). A follow up single called “Beautiful In My Eyes” was a minor hit and his albums never really took off in terms of actual sales. He would carry on releasing material via his own website but his music career went quiet in 2012 and his only recent public appearance came in 2020 via a YouTube video in support of Black Lives Matter.

Paul Weller had been always been a part of my life due to the devotion to him by my Jam mad elder brother. By 1995, he was also becoming a part of the lives of people who maybe hadn’t been a disciple of The Jam and The Style Council but were discovering him for the first time due to the rise of Britpop. Named by many a band involved in that movement as being a huge influence, Weller was declared in vogue again though his army of loyal fans would claim he never went out of fashion. I think it was around this time that he also became associated with the title ‘The Godfather Of Britpop’ though I think that there were a few names in the hat for that particular accolade. Ray Davies of The Kinks, Steve Marriott of Small Faces, XTC’s Andy Partridge and even Adam Ant have all been mentioned in that conversation alongside Weller.

One label that certainly was allocated to him around now was that of ‘Dadrock’ but what was it? The most basic definition seemed to be any music that your Dad might have listened to in their youth. That, of course, gave the phrase the flexibility to be applied to fathers of all generations including future ones. Apparently, Sun 41 and Blink 182 are now considered to be ‘Dadrock’! A more sensible take seems to be that it refers to rock songs performed by elder statesmen of the genre in an earnest style. That, admittedly broad, definition could certainly include Weller’s “The Changingman”. Now I thought this was the lead single from Paul’s album “Stanley Road” but his discography informs me that it was in fact the second after “Out Of The Sinking” though I think my confusion may be due to the fact that “Out Of The Sinking” was rereleased as the final single from it in March 1996. It’s a decent song no doubt with a strident guitar riff which Weller admits was borrowed from ELO’s “10538 Overture”. The similarities can’t be denied.

Apparently the Labour Party wanted to use it alongside D:Ream’s “Things Can Only Get Better” for their 1997 General Election campaign but Weller refused despite his previous ties to the party dating back to his support for the Red Wedge movement in the 80s. I’m sure I read somewhere that he doesn’t even bother to vote at all these days which seems a sad state of affairs for someone once seen as an ‘angry young man’. “The Changingman” indeed.

Now here’s a rarity – a record I don’t remember from the nineties but which I do know from the noughties. Even more unlikely is that I prefer the noughties version. “Freak Like Me” was a No 1 for Sugababes in 2002 and deservedly so when it combined Adina Howard’s 1995 original with “Are “Friends” Electric?” by Gary Numan and Tubeway Army. The brainchild of producer Richard X, it was a genius idea, brilliantly executed. Adina’s version must have something to it to have supplied the source material for such a perfect mashup but it doesn’t really do it for me at all on its own. Apparently, UK audiences agreed with me as it only made No 33 over here but was a No 2 hit in America. Adina would replicate that chart position in the UK the following year though when she joined forces with Warren G for a version of “What’s Love Got To Do With It” made famous by Tina Turner. Don’t remember that either – Adina’s version not Tina’s obviously.

Now for that second act that I didn’t think I’d have much to say about. Somebody at TOTP must have really loved Runrig as they seem to be on the show a lot for a Gaelic rock band. It turns out that this song – “An Ubhal As Airde (The Highest Apple)” – was used to soundtrack an advert for Carlsberg Lager and that’s why it was in the charts. It had originally been recorded in 1987 for the album “The Cutter And The Clan”. I have to say I don’t remember the song nor the advert.

Watching this performance, it’s hard to think of a more tedious turn in the show’s history. Hardly anybody on stage moves and I can’t decide if they all look petrified or bored out of their brains. You know what? That’ll do for this one.

From a snooze fest to a wheeze attack or rather a Weezer attack. It’s that Happy Days video for “Buddy Holly” again. Just as Happy Days ran for much longer than my childhood memory informs me it did (1974-84 and 255 episodes), so Weezer’s career has racked up so many more miles than I would have guessed. In my head, they completely disappeared after “Buddy Holly” and its parent eponymous debut album. However, despite a five year gap between their second and third albums, they have continued to record and release material prolifically since then with fifteen studio albums to their name. They even had a Top 10 hit in 2005 with the Wheatus-like “Beverly Hills”.

Of course, Weezer’s track isn’t the only song to feature Buddy Holly in its title. Mike Berry had a hit in 1961 called “Tribute To Buddy Holly” but I don’t know that at all. The one that is prominent in my mind is by Alvin Stardust whose 1984 No 7 hit “I Feel Like Buddy Holly” was written by Mike Batt of Wombles fame. The lyrics include these lines:

… Well, I feel like Buddy Holly ’cause it’s raining in my heart
All the sad songs take me back to you now that we are apart
Now I know how Paul McCartney felt when he got up to say:
I wish it was yesterday
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Mike Batt
I Feel Like Buddy Holl lyrics © Dramatico Music Publishing Ltd

Yeah, that’s fine Mike except Paul McCartney doesn’t sing (or say) “I wish it was yesterday” in the Beatles classic does he? “I believe in yesterday”? Certainly. “I long for yesterday”? Indeed. “I wish it was yesterday”? Not once.

It’s another of those tracks that have been on the show before next…or is it? True, we did see Björk perform “Army Of Me” just the other week but this time she’s doing a remixed version of it alongside Skunk Anansie in a new slot TOTP called ‘Exclusive Mix’. This beefed up take on it sounds infinitely better to me than the radio edit and Skin looks genuinely disturbing as she looks down the camera lens into the living rooms of the nation. This mix was the third track on the second CD single and it really rips it up (and remember, I’m not a massive Björk fan). Skunk Anansie were relatively unknown at this point having only officially released one single which failed to make the UK Top 40. It wouldn’t be until “Weak” hit the charts early the following year that their profile raised dramatically.

It’s that event that crops up on TOTP (very) occasionally now, a performance of a single that never made the Top 40. The TV series Crocodile Shoes ushered in the third movement of Jimmy Nail’s pop career. Firstly, we had his 1985 cover of Rose Royce’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” which made No 3. A seven year gap was surprisingly and spectacularly ended by his No 1 single “Ain’t No Doubt” (she’s lyin’) before the Crocodile Shoes project with its attendant album and single arrived in late 1994. That album gave Nail two hit singles; the rather mournful title track and the excellent “Cowboy Dreams” supplied by Paddy McAloon who recorded his own version of the song with his band Prefab Sprout on the “Gunman And Other Stories” album.

This third single – “Calling Out Your Name” – would only make it to No 65 and is nowhere near as strong as its predecessor to my ears. A decent enough song but a bit of a plodder. Jimmy took its lack of success in his stride though. In an unusual spurt of activity, he would be back before the end of the year with another album and hit single in “Big River” and just twelve months later he would unleash “Crocodile Shoes II” on us. There ain’t no doubt (ahem) that we’ll be seeing more of Jimmy on these TOTP repeats before too long.

And so to the new No 1. There was never, ever any way that Oasis wouldn’t get there with this release – their sixth single “Some Might Say”. The buzz around them was too big by then, almost unstoppable. They were the biggest band in Britain and it seemed only right and proper somehow that they had a No 1 under their belt to cement that status. Now, some might say that the fact that it came via one of their more prosaic singles besmirched that achievement rather but that didn’t matter to me much at the time even though I knew that it wasn’t even the best track on the CD single. For their part, the band’s (or rather Noel and Liam’s) swagger was now in full ascendancy – witness their cocky message to camera at the top of the show. Such was Noel’s belief in himself and his songs and his perception of his standing in the band that he presumably had felt no compunction about forcing drummer Tony McCarroll out of the band since their last TOTP appearance just the other week. Alan White was now in possession of the drum sticks and he would remain there until 2004. This appearance on TOTP came just a day after he had joined the band.

I duly bought “Some Might Say” and at the time took no notice of its frankly bizarre front cover. Set in a disused railway station with a man (sleeve designer Brian Cannon’s father) stomping up the platform with a sink / wheelbarrow full of fish and a homeless man with a sign reading ‘education please’ and a man pouring a watering can over a woman’s head. I’d never noticed before but watering can man is Noel and you can spy Liam on the bridge waving. All of these seemingly unlinked images were actually visual representations of the songs lyrics. Check these out:

‘Cause I’ve been standing at the station
In need of education in the rain
You made no preparation
For my reputation once again
The sink is full of fishes
She’s got dirty dishes on the brain
It was overflowing gently
But it’s all elementary my friend
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Noel Gallagher
Some Might Say lyrics © Oasis Music

See? Yeah, it’s probably not as clever as Noel thought it would be when he requested that Cannon’s sleeve make reference to all the track’s lyrics but it kind of hangs together well enough I think. The single would only stay at No 1 for a solitary week but certainly in the Our Price I was working at in Stockport, it would continue to sell steadily and would stay in the Top 100 for 83 weeks between 1995 and 1998.

I might not remember that Carlsberg advert featuring Runrig’s song but nobody who was around in 1995 can fail to recall the advert that tonight’s closing track was used in surely? That weird dancing man one for Guinness? Yeah, this…

The track used for it was “Guaglione” by Perez ‘Prez’ Prado which was recorded way back in 1958. Prez was a Cuban bandleader, pianist, composer and arranger who popularised the mambo sound in the 1950s with hits such as “Mambo No. 5” (yes that one covered by Lou Bega in 1999) and a cover of Louiguy’s “Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)” (yes that one that Modern Romance covered in 1982). Its use by the Guinness marketing team would eventually lead to an official release of the song as a single that would go to No 2 in the UK and No 1 in Ireland (obviously). I couldn’t really be doing with either the song or the advert to be honest though I can appreciate the charms of a perfectly poured pint of Guinness occasionally.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	The Wildhearts	I Wanna Go Where The People Go	No
2	Joshua Kadison	Jessie	I did not
3	Paul Weller	The Changingman	No but I had the Stanley Road album with it on
4	Adina Howard	Freak Like Me	Nope
5	Runrig	An Ubhal As Airde (The Highest Apple)	Negative
6	Weezer	Buddy Holly	Liked it, didn’t buy it
7	Björk / Skunk Anansie	Army Of Me	Nah
8	Jimmy Nail	Calling Out Your Name	Never happened
9	Oasis	Some Might Say	YES!
10	Perez ‘Prez’ Prado	Guaglione	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/m001s1hy/top-of-the-pops-04051995

TOTP 26 JAN 1995

Posted on September 19, 2023 by 80stastic

You know in the last post I said that thinking about time too much can seriously mess with your head? I should have taken my own advice. How can it be that one of the most controversial and talked about moments in the history of football is now nearly twenty-nine years old?! The Eric Cantona Kung Fu kick incident was a monumental, seismic event. It was all anyone was talking about back then. The images in the clip below are now scorched into our collective memories but at the time, before I’d seen the footage, I recall thinking it can’t be that bad and then I saw it and it was so much worse. Of course, we now know that the Crystal Palace ‘fan’ he assaulted – one Matthew Simmons – turned out to be a right scrote (he assaulted the prosecutor immediately after he himself was found guilty of offensive behaviour) and somehow Cantona’s popularity, if anything, increased following the incident. His “When the seagulls follow the trawler…” statement at a press conference called later became almost as famous as the Kung Fu kick itself.

Anyway, it all happened the day before this TOTP aired though I doubt it’s referred to in the show as they tended to be recorded on a Wednesday so it probably hadn’t even occurred as the cameras were rolling. I also think guest the presenters were probably far too nice to mention it. Yes, it was time for another golden mic slot and this time it fell to all girl group Eternal to fill the role. By this point in their career, they had a four times platinum album and six hit singles under their belts so they were a fairly big deal. They also had still had Louise Nurding in their ranks but she would leave the group to pursue a solo career well before the year was up. And yes, she was Louise Nurding and not Redknapp in 1995 – she didn’t marry footballer Jamie until three years later. Although he was a part of that group of Liverpool players dubbed ‘The Spice Boys’ in the press, the biggest crime Redknapp ever committed was wearing that cream Armani suit for the 1996 FA Cup final. Mind you, some might say that was a bigger offence than Cantona’s Kung Fu kick.

The first act that Eternal have to introduce tonight are MC Sar & The Real McCoy and “Run Away”. Yes, it may be 1995 – the year of Britpop – but the honking nonsense (in my own humble opinion) that was Eurodance was still lingering about our charts like the shadow of Liz ‘lettuce’ Truss over UK politics. However, there seemed to be a fair bit of love around for this track online after the BBC4 repeat went out and it appears in many a Best Dance Tune of the 90s poll. It was well liked at the time as well, even going to No 3 in the US (and No 6 over here). I mean, it’s not that it isn’t catchy it’s just that I’m surprised about the extended life expectancy of a formula of a male rapper / female vocalist over a generic dance beat. I mean, 2 Unlimited had been playing that particular hand for years by this point. Never mind The Real McCoy, I would have preferred Star Trek’s Dr McCoy turning to Captain Kirk and advising him on the health of Eurodance “It’s dead Jim”.

Right who the deuce is this? Oh, it is…erm…Deuce in fact. Yes, coming on like a prototype Steps were this boy/girl combo peddling a Abba-infused, high octane Eurodance number. “Call It Love” would be the first of four UK Top 40 hits for the group who briefly looked like they could be a force in the world of pop – ‘New UK Talent’ was how the TOTP caption introduced them. Hmm. Despite that run of hits, their career also took in the rather embarrassing episodes of failing to better Love City Groove in the battle to be the UK’s Eurovision entry and singing on a Coronation Street anniversary album with actress Sherrie Hewson. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the band was dealt a further blow when lead vocalist Kelly O’Keefe left and they were dropped by London Records. They resurfaced on Mike Stock’s Love This label for one final hit but by 1997, and following more line up changes, time was called on the project and Deuce were no more.

Possibly the biggest legacy that Deuce left us with was that one of their number – Lisa Armstrong – would end up marrying (and divorcing) Ant McPartlin of Ant & Dec fame. Now, I know a story about them because an old friend from college ended up sharing a flat in London with someone who worked for Smash Hits and Lisa Armstrong herself. Sadly, my wife says I’m not allowed to tell it though but I will say it involves dirty bed sheets!

Next, we have another look at Simple Minds playing their latest single “She’s A River” at the top of the Eiffel Tower. This was an exclusive performance a couple of shows previously but so spectacular was its setting that it’s been given a repeat airing. Either that or the band themselves weren’t available for an in studio appearance. I’m guessing it’s the former though – in a similar move the Bon Jovi performance at Niagara Falls was repeated at least once.

“She’s A River” was the lead single from their “Good News From The Next World” album and would be the band’s final Top 10 hit when it peaked at No 9.

Of course, Simple Minds weren’t the first band to arse about on the Eiffel Tower to promote themselves. “The name’s Bon…Simon Le Bon”.

It’s yet another dance act in the TOTP studio – the third one of this particular show but this was easily the biggest of the three sales wise. “Set You Free” by N–Trance would go all the way to No 2, sell over a million copies and be the 17th best selling single in the UK in 1995.

However, for me personally, I’d rather see the video for this one. Why? Well, because (and I didn’t know this at the time and even if I had it wouldn’t have meant anything to me) but part of the video was shot in front of Cliffords Tower in York. So what you may ask and it would be a reasonable question. Well, five years after “Set You Free” was a hit, I left Our Price after working for the company since 1990 and took a job in the civil service in York. My wife and I lived right in the centre of the city and would often walk past Cliffords Tower, the ruined keep of a medieval Norman castle. Up until now, I had no idea about the scenes in the video that were shot in front of it but now I’m intrigued. Talk amongst yourselves a moment while I check it out on YouTube…

Yep, definitely Clifford’s Tower. OK, it’s maybe not quite as well known as its French counterpart Eiffel but still impressive. Meanwhile, back in the TOTP studio, N-Trance have brought their dancer mate with them again. Whilst the temptation to make the comparison with Bez is strong, I’m drawn to this guy from 90s sit com Spaced. Ladies and gentleman, I give you… Tyres….

Boy bands dominated the 90s with the likes of Take That, Boyzone and Westlife probably in the Premier League of that musical genre whilst Five, 911 and East 17 were probably more Championship level. Once you start dropping even further down the leagues you encounter OTT, Upside Down and Worlds Apart. So where would we find Let Loose? I’m saying mid table mediocrity in League 1. Yes, they had seven hit singles including three Top 10s but they’re only really remembered for “Crazy” aren’t they? Take this hit – “One Night Stand” – for example. Catchy? Yep. Memorable? Hardly.

However, it seems not everyone thinks this way. A recent article in the Metro newspaper about a Let Loose relaunch was positively rapturous about the news despite it being one of the worst ideas ever conceived. Too harsh? Well, consider this. They’re not reforming with lead singer Richie Wermerling but a bloke from the bottom of League 2 in terms of boy bands – Bad Boys Inc! Really?! There’s a demand for this?! Well, according to that Metro piece this Bad Boy Stinker – one Matthew Pateman – is, in their words, a “music icon”! I mean, please! The plan is for a new record and London gig by the end of the year and then a whole tour in 2024. I’m sorry but I can’t imagine their being thousands of people poised at their keyboards for when those tickets go on sale. It’s hardly a Taylor Swift tour is it? Still, they’ve achieved more in terms of a music career than I ever could dream of so I should maybe shut up*

* My version of “Where The Wild Roses Grow” by Nick Cave and Kylie in guitar class back in 2010 was a triumph though.

Right, this, for me, is easily the best song on the show tonight and yet it pretty much passed me by at the time. I knew there was this band called Green Day and that they had an album called “Dookie”. I even knew what the album cover looked like what with working in a record shop and all and that there was a track called “Basket Case” on it as it had one of those “includes the single…” stickers on it. However, what I didn’t know was what it/they sounded like. Yes, that does seem unlikely given the whole record shop thing but then that perception that we spent all our days leaning on the counter, drinking coffee and listening to the latest tunes was never, ever true. Sometimes the days were so busy that I couldn’t have told you the names of any CDs that had been played on the shop’s stereo.

Anyway, the bottom line was that Green Day weren’t massively on my radar. It seems though that they had come to the attention of Kéllé and Vernie from Eternal judging by their rather gushing intro (most of it directed at lead singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong). I used to work with someone in York who was similarly enamoured by BJ though I could never see it. At some point in the intervening 28 years though, I did come to know and love “Basket Case”. Supposedly it’s a seminal track in the pop-punk movement, inspiring a generation of subsequent bands; it may well be but all I know is that it’s a great track full of energy and a driving rhythm. On that, I would never have made the connection but said rhythm and chord progression is based on Pachelbel’s Cannon. I think there’s a more obvious example in “All Together Now” by The Farm but if you need convincing, here’s a mash up video:

What I did notice is that the BBC censors failed to pick up on the word ‘whore’ in the lyrics. Or maybe it was that new TOTP executive producer Ric Blaxill was aware of it but didn’t make a fuss as it fitted in with his ethos of trying to make the show more edgy. However, I’m not sure this ‘exclusive’ performance from San Francisco fits that bill. We’re back to a (probably) empty concert hall for this one – the Eiffel Tower it is not.

By the way, as well as “Where The Wild Roses Grow”, my guitar prowess also extends to finger picking Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”. Eric Clapton? Pah!

Next another band who, similar to Green Day, I was aware of but had little idea what they sounded like. The Wildhearts were a rock band who, unsurprisingly given the title of the song they perform here, hailed from Newcastle. Having listened to “Geordie In Wonderland”, my impression is that they wouldn’t be out of place mixing in the same social circles as the likes of The Quireboys, Little Angels and Dogs D’Amour. Indeed, The Wildhearts formed when lead singer Ginger was sacked from The Quireboys and at one point they had the drummer from Dogs D’Amour in their ranks. However, there’s also something of The Pogues about this particular track as well – it’s got that drunken sing-a-long quality to it. Unlike Green Day’s use of the word ‘whore’ in their lyrics slipping past the censors, Ginger has to fudge singing the word ‘shit’ from the line “some of the shit has sprouted in roses” presumably at the behest of some BBC suits.

I have to say I don’t mind the song – it’s sort of like a lairy version of “Run For Home” by fellow Geordies Lindisfarne. Unsurprisingly, given the band member in full football kit and the Toon Army banner on display, the song was offered to then Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan as a potential club anthem but Kev wasn’t ‘head over heels in love’ with the idea and politely declined.

As for The Wildhearts, they reached a commercial peak four months on from this performance when their album “P.H.U.Q” made No 6 in the charts. Years of drug problems and record company wrangling though meant that they were never able to maintain that high. The band have been on and off for years but released their last album as recently as 2021.

In a show that’s already had it’s fair share of distinctly average at best dance acts, the TOTP producers have left the worst till last and indeed second last. I got some grief off a reader the last time I discussed Nicki French who objected to my description of her cover of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” as one of the worst records of the 90s. Apparently, said reader knew Nicki personally and therefore took criticism of her personally as well. OK look, I’m sure Nicki is a lovely person and the five million global sales of TEOTH (it was a No 2 in the US) are certainly not to be sniffed at plus the fact that she has maintained a career in music all these years should be respected but…I just think it’s an awful cover and a dreadful record. I refer anyone who disagrees to my disclaimer at the bottom of the post.

And so to the No 1 and it’s the final week at the top for “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex. Dear oh dear. Quite how did this happen? Well, it wasn’t just the UK that couldn’t resist this techno/hoedown hybrid – it went to No 1 in eleven different countries globally. I guess the success of Rednex was the logical peak of a very niche musical sub genre that flared up briefly in the mid 90s. Back in ‘94 we had “Swamp Thing” by The Grid with its banjo-picking house beats and the square dance disco of “Everybody Gonfi-Gon” by Two Cowboys which were both big hits. Maybe the only way to burst this particularly pustular chart pimple was to let it go full term and wait for it to pop by itself. A No 1 record was surely the apex of the arc and there would be nowhere else for it to go? Well, nearly. There was a mini revival in 1997 when Steps took “5,6,7,8” boot scootin’ up the charts but even they ditched that idea after one single to pursue a career of pop cheese.

Rednex themselves didn’t give up the ghost though. A follow up hit called “Old Pop In An Oak” followed but couldn’t match its predecessor’s sales. An album called “Sex And Violins” (heh) did nothing at all. It was as if we all understood that this was a one-trick pony. The b(r)and name is still going though and in 2018 they started a live stream channel on Twitch. What a time to be alive!

Dgjm

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	MC Sar & The Real McCoy	Run Away	No
2	Deuce	Call It Love	Alternatively, call it crap – no
3	Simple Minds	She’s A River	I did not
4	N-Trance	Set You Free	Nope
5	Let Loose	One Night Stand	Nah
6	Green Day	Basket Case	Not at the time but I must have it on something
7	The Wildhearts	Geordie In Wonderland	Why Aye Man! Actually, no
8	Nicki French	Total Eclipse Of The Heart	Hell no!
9	Rednex	Cotton Eye Joe	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/m001qgbm/top-of-the-pops-26011995

TOTP 17 FEB 1994

Posted on February 7, 2023 by 80stastic

It’s the middle of February 1994 and something odd is happening. Unlike in 2023, my beloved Chelsea are still in the FA Cup. Somehow they managed to get past last season’s runners up Sheffield Wednesday after a replay in the last round and, two days after this TOTP aired, would travel to Oxford United and dump them out as well. To put this in context, this was only the third time in my living memory that they had made the Quarter Finals and I’d been supporting them since 1975. Nowadays of course they are serial finalists and winners of the cup but back in 1994, this felt like a very big deal. They would end up making it all the way to the final that season but let’s not talk about the 4-0 thrashing they were handed by Manchester United eh? I was working in the Our Price in Market Street, Manchester at the time and the Sony rep assigned to our shop was a guy called John who was also a Chelsea fan. He called in during the week and offered me the chance to go with him to the Oxford game on the Saturday but I had to work. What has all this got to do with TOTP? Nothing at all really but I like to recall what was going on in my life at the point these repeats originally aired. Right, now that’s done, let the music play…

This is the third show of Ric Blaxill’s stewardship and so far he’s only used Mark Goodier and Simon Mayo of his roster of returning Radio 1 DJs to host the show. Mayo gets the gig this week unfortunately but he gives a mercifully short intro at least before we’re into the tunes. Saint Etienne ended last week’s show and they begin this one but this time in the studio with a performance of “Pale Movie”. I said in the last post that it put me in mind of the theme tune to dubbed, black and white 60s TV series White Horses. However, on reflection it’s got the merest whiff of Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” about it – must be the Spanish guitars. Apparently the band themselves view the track as a missed opportunity in that it could have been absolutely blinding but they didn’t get it quite right. It sounds pretty good to me though.

Mayo can’t resist going through his various gears of smugness at the end where he makes references to the staging of the performance and the usage of Lambrettas. “That’ll be the first time you’ve seen Lambrettas on Top of the Pops since…ooh…1980 and Poison Ivy” he can’t wait to tell us to show off his pop knowledge. Oh piss off Mayo!

Right, what’s this screeching nonsense?! Well, it’s Cappella, the people who bought you “U Got To Know” and “U Got 2 Let The Music” in 1993. They’ve dispensed with the use of a ‘U’ instead of ‘you’ in their choice of song title this time as they deliver “Move On Baby” though they would return to it for their next hit “U & Me”.

Reading their Wikipedia entry, they were kind of like the Eurodance Tight Fit. How so? Well, Tight Fit were a hastily put together trio of models/ singers who were assembled to be the public image of a recording of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” organised by producer Tim Friese-Greene. However, the year before a different producer called Ken Gold had made a record called “Back To The Sixties”, a medley jumping on the Starsound/Stars On 45 craze. Although it was recorded by session musicians and singers, it was promoted by a group of actor/singer types also under the name of Tight Fit for a TOTP appearance. Sound familiar?

OK but how does this relate to Cappella? Well, Cappella weren’t really a group but more a promotional name for the ideas of Hi-NRG producer Gianfranco Bortolotti. They first had a UK chart hit in 1989 with “Helyom Halib” which was fronted by model Ettore Foresti who didn’t appear on the record at all. Fast forward four years and Bortolotti was having those aforementioned ‘U’ hits but this time the public faces of the act were rapper Rodney Bishop and dancer Kelly Overett. Neither were anywhere near the recording studio at the time the tracks were laid down. Judging by the vocals that Kelly gives on this TOTP appearance, that was probably a wise choice. Anyway, it does seem like the Tight Fit strategy of promoting a single was copied by Cappella. Or was it Tight Fit who copied Boney M and Black Box who copied Tight Fit and Capella who copied Black Box? Considering that question is more likely to give me a headache than listening to “Move On Baby” if that was possible!

For all their success, Crowded House have a patchy record when it comes to hit singles. The did accrue thirteen UK Top 40 entries between 1987 and 1996 (twelve of them consecutively) which in itself is not too shabby but of those only one reached the Top 10 and of the rest only five made the Top 20. I guess they were more of an albums band. This one, “Locked Out”, was their joint second biggest hit when it peaked at No 12. The third single from their fourth album “Together Alone”, it’s a great pop song; urgent yet melodic, well crafted yet felt spontaneous.

It was also featured in a film that I’ve mentioned before (though I can’t recall why now). Reality Bites starred Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder and Ben Stiller who also directed and whilst it wasn’t a runaway success at the time, has since become a bit of a cult classic. Its soundtrack isn’t talked about in such revered tones but it did furnish a fair few hits. Aside from “Locked Out” it also featured “Stay (I Missed You)” by Lisa Loeb (a US No 1 and UK No 6) and Big Mountain’s cover of Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way” (UK No 2 and US No 6). Those hits are for much later in the year though.

I confidently predicted the other week that we wouldn’t be seeing Dina Carroll on the show again until 1996 when her next album came out. So what’s she doing here this week performing an album track? It was all to do with the BRITS which last week’s TOTP had bigged up with a whole section dedicated to the nominations. Dina won Best British Female but as she will have got the gong for that at the actual BRITS show, they’ve allowed Simon Mayo to present her with an award to commemorate her album “So Close” selling one million copies. To celebrate that occurrence, she’s singing “Hold On” exclusively for the show despite it never being released as a single. It’s got a bit of a Marvin Gaye vibe about it but it certainly wasn’t as strong as “Don’t Be A Stranger” for example. Was this type of performance going to be a regular thing under new producer Ric Blaxill? The ‘million seller’ slot? Surely not…?

…or definitely maybe because here’s another new section of the show that is based around songs not actually in the Top 40. To be fair to Blaxill, this slot was at least linked to the charts being billed as it was Bubbling under the 40 and highlighting a song just outside them. Was he thinking that if a single was just outside the 40, given prime exposure on TOTP it would definitely be inside it the following week anyway so why not just get it on early doors? That did rather cast him in the role of hitmaker which is maybe not the job of the show’s producer? Wasn’t TOTP always meant to reflect the tastes of the record buying public and not to be forcing songs upon it? Anyway, whatever the reasoning behind the slot, in the case of Sinéad O’Connor, the exposure it gave her song “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart” didn’t turn it into a hit in the UK. In fact, it never got any higher than where it was at the time of this performance – No 42. Taken from the soundtrack to the film In The Name Of The Father about the 1974 Guildford pub bombings and the four people falsely convicted of perpetrating them, it’s certainly an affecting track. I’ve never seen the film but I can imagine it fitting in well to a movie of such gravity. However, whether you’d want to listen to it over and over outside of the film I’m not sure.

Sinéad gives a typically atypical performance here. With just some spotlights, a smattering of dry ice, the word ‘forgiveness’ marker penned on her chest and a long bob wig (I’m assuming) for company, she goes from standing still defiantly to full on animated dancing via a bit of gentle swaying all in the space of three minutes. Sinéad would get herself a bona fide chart hit later in the year when “Thank You For Hearing Me” made No 13 and a gold selling parent album in “Universal Mother”.

The well established Breakers slot is still with us and we start with a third consecutive hit for Urban Cookie Collective. Yes, you read that right – a third consecutive hit. Remembered by many as a one hit wonder, the Cookies (as nobody ever called them) actually had five UK Top 40 hits though the final one was a a rerelease of their first. “Sail Away” was the third of those and would make No 18. It’s got a frenetic beat but none of the charm of “The Key The Secret”, as if they were trying to do their best 2 Unlimited impression.

Mayo’s at it again with his smug mode enabled going on about how there hasn’t been an act called Sasha on TOTP for decades. I presume he was referring to the French singer/songwriter Sacha Distel? Ooh Simon, you’re so knowledgeable! Nob. Anyway, this Sasha is the Welsh, multi-award winning DJ and producer. He isn’t the guy in the video who I believe is Sam Mollison. You didn’t make that clear in your intro did you Mayo? Maybe you didn’t know? He also isn’t Sash! the German DJ of “Encore Une Fois” fame. Anyway, this track “Higher Ground” made No19 and was a track from Sasha’s “The Qat Collection” which also furnished a No 32 hit called “Magic” also with Mollison on vocals though the album itself only made No 56.

Next it’s the official follow up single from Meatloaf to his gigantic, global No 1 hit “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)”. I say official as Sony rereleased “Bat Out Of Hell” in December 1993 to cash in on the renewed interest in their one time artist. However, the second song from the “Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell” album was this track- “Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through”. Yet another Jim Steinman composition, the track was actually recorded by Steinman 13 years prior for his “Bad For Good” album and was his only US chart hit in his own right.

Written about the uplifting power of rock music and its ability to see people through even the most extreme of circumstances, it’s classic Meatloaf fodder (it was originally written for him) and has the usual play on words title with the use of ‘through’ rather than ‘true’. Any song from the album chosen as the follow up to its chart busting predecessor would struggle in comparison sales wise and that was the case with “Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through” which didn’t even make the Top 10 over here. The video was as over the top as you would expect though with Meatloaf cast as some sort of vigilante fortune teller going around blowing up jukeboxes to rescue runaway teenagers including a young Angelina Jolie. Director Michael Bay would go onto direct movies including Armageddon, Pearl Harbour and Transformers so he obviously had a thing about explosions.

God Mayo really is insufferable. In his next link, he says this:

“Now there comes a point in every good Top of the Pops where your Dad in the corner goes ‘What the Hell is this?!’. Well, just tell him it’s The Wildhearts and they’re great!”.

What’s wrong with that you may ask? Well, at the time of this show, Mayo was a 35 year old father of two so I’m not really buying his ‘I’m down with the kids’ positioning of himself. As for the band he was introducing, I really can’t remember them at all despite their thirteen UK Top 40 hits and four albums they released between 1993 and 1997. So were they great as Simon Mayo told us? Well, if “Caffeine Bomb” was anything to go by, not in my book. All this glam metal stuff had been done to death before and by better bands than this. New York Dolls, Kiss with their full face make up, even Manic Street Preachers had dabbled with make up and guitars in their early days. Then there was the early 90s UK glam blues/rock movement from the likes of The Quireboys and The Dogs D’Amour…oh and guess what The Wildhearts had links to both those bands. Here’s @TOTPFacts with the details:

The Wildhearts singer/guitarist Ginger (real name David Walls) was previously in The Quireboys, while drummer Bam was (and currently once again is) a member of The Dogs D'Amour. #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) February 3, 2023

Oh it all makes sense now. They tried to make themselves controversial with headline baiting song titles like “Greetings From Shitsville”, “Sick Of Drugs” and “Just In Lust” but it all seems a bit desperate to me. Nothing to see here. Next!

Did someone mention 2 Unlimited before? Um, yeah…it was me obviously but here they are still having hits even in 1994, three whole years after their first. “Let The Beat Control Your Body” was the ninth of fourteen in total in the UK and the fifth and final one from their “No Limits” album. To highlight how many hits they’ve had, the TOTP production team have set up a 2 Unlimited ‘art gallery’ full of gold and silver discs to enable a really weak link for Simon Mayo who obviously had a thing about other people’s disc awards following Dina Carroll’s earlier. They could have at least used the Vision On gallery music to soundtrack it:

Once the performance starts it the usual 2 Unlimited shtick with lots of pounding beats and some ropey rapping from Ray and Anita enthusiastically singing some dreadful, trite lyrics like “My beat accepts you just as you are, it drives you away just like a fast car”. Seriously, how did they get away with this for so long?!

Mariah Carey has crashed straight I at No 1 with her cover version of Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” finally bringing D:Ream’s four week reign to an end. Supposedly the release of the single was delayed by three weeks probably to align perfectly with the Valentine’s Day market but possibly so as not to clash with the death of Nilsson himself who passed away on 15th January. A respectful amount of time maybe needed to be seen to have passed or was it to see if his record company might rerelease his most famous song in the aftermath of his demise? The single’s success gave her “Music Box” album a huge sales push despite it having been out for six months by this point. I’d ordered in a load for the Our Price I was working in but we still sold out by Saturday afternoon – a rookie error. “Without You” will be No 1 for another three weeks.

The play out tune is “Rush” by Freak Power which is the second song on the show tonight after Sinéad O’Connor’s “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart” not to become a Top 40 hit. Freak Power were, of course, one of Norman Cook’s many musical vehicles and followed the dissolution of Beats International in his timeline. They would score a massive hit in 1995 with “Turn On, Tune In Cop Out” following its use in a Levi’s advert. I don’t remember this one at all though hardly surprising seeing as it peaked at No 62.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Saint Etienne	Pale Movie	Liked it, didn’t buy it
2	Cappella	Move On Baby	Never
3	Crowded House	Locked Out	No but I think I have it on a Best Of album
4	Dina Carroll	Hold On	I never bought her album, no
5	Sinéad O’Connor	You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart	No
6	Urban Cookie Collective	Sail Away	Uh-uh
7	Sasha	Higher Ground	Nah
8	Meatloaf	Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through	Nope
9	The Wildhearts	Caffeine Bomb	God no!
10	2 Unlimited	Let The Beat Control Your Body	As if
11	Mariah Carey	Without You	I did not
12	Freak Power	Rush	And no

Disclaimer

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

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001hqvf/top-of-the-pops-17021994

TOTP Rewind – the 90s

My memories of 90s chart music

TOTP 15 AUG 1997

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TOTP 18 APR 1996

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TOTP 04 MAY 1995

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TOTP 26 JAN 1995

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