Will Smith

TOTP 14 AUG 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

There’s a whole swathe of hits in this TOTP show that we hadn’t seen before back in 1998…and I don’t think I could have told you how any of them went without watching this BBC4 repeat back. Let’s see if that is actually the case. Our host is Jayne Middlemiss but we actually start with a song that bar the No 1 record was the last hit we saw in the previous show – “Lost In Space” by Apollo Four Forty. Yes, despite having dropped two places from its debut position of No 4, it was still considered a big enough seller by executive producer Chris Cowey to be featured again just seven days later. In fairness to Cowey, all but one of the other hits (including the No 1 record) on this show are new entries so maybe I’ll let him have this one. This is just a repeat of that initial performance so clock up another one for Cowey’s recycling policy. So successful was this venture into contributing songs for film soundtracks (“Lost In Space” was their biggest ever hit) that Apollo Four Forty would go there again two years later when they reworked the Charlie’s Angels theme for the 2000 reboot starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu which also featured Matt Le Blanc in a smaller role than he commanded in Lost In Space. How you doin’ Matt the film star? Not so good apparently.

Just like Karen Ramirez from a few shows ago, we are faced with a solo female artist who prompts the question “whatever happened to…?”. In this case it’s Hinda Hicks who was briefly talked about as the next big name in UK R&B but who would ultimately drift away to the ultimate status of ‘current whereabouts unknown’. After her debut album “Hinda” went Top 20, she received three MOBO and two BRIT award nominations (the later of which The Guardian unkindly dismissed as just ‘making up the numbers’). This single – “I Wanna Be Your Lady” – was actually a rerelease of her debut single that initially peaked at No 89 but made No 14 second time around to become Hinda’s highest charting hit possibly helped by her support slots on tours with Boyzone and 911. However, that old chestnut of record label mergers meant that promotion of her new material for the second album was undercooked and she would not return to the Top 40 again with that sophomore album never receiving a full commercial release. She would make a third album available via R&B label Shout Our Records in 2004 but it failed to chart and a fourth album announced in 2007 remains unreleased. As of 2015, Hinda has been missing in action from her social media channels and the story of Hinda Hicks has gone cold with the only notable mention of her coming from Lilly Allen tweeting that she was experiencing ‘Toni Braxton Hinda Hicks’ about the pregnancy of her daughter in 2011 referring to the condition of ‘Braxton Hicks’ or practice contractions. As of 2025, we are still awaiting the rebirth of the career of Hinda Hicks.

As Jayne Middlemiss says in her intro, this next bloke seems to have a “different lass” with him every time he appears on the show. Sash! though, was actually three blokes, what with them being a German DJ/production team who racked up a string of massive hits in the late 90s/early 00s. Famously, they achieved the most No 2 hits without ever getting to the top of the charts.

“Mysterious Times” was their fourth hit of five to miss being No 1 by one place (the other made No 3) and no, I don’t remember it on the account of it being totally forgettable. This is despite it featuring another new vocalist, this time the UK’s Tina Cousins who would go on to carve out a small solo career of her own but it didn’t last too long with her biggest hit actually being part of the conglomerate that included Steps, Cleopatra, B*Witched and Billie Piper who recorded the medley “Thank ABBA For The Music”. Rather inevitably, she ended up on the ‘Identity Parade’ section of Never Mind The Buzzcocks though I did enjoy her giving host Simon Amstell the finger…

By this point in the 90s, had the whole concept of girl groups not been done to death in the same way that boy bands had in the earlier part of the decade? I know subsequently the format would spawn super successful names like Girls Aloud and The Saturdays but at this particular time of the summer of 1998, hadn’t we had our fill of them? The Spice Girls, All Saints, Eternal, B*Witched, Cleopatra, N-Tyce had all had success ranging from global domination to a few medium sized chart hits with styles of music encompassing either all out pop or an R&B/pop hybrid. Did we need anymore? Well, apparently we did. The very end of the 90s saw no let up in the girl group phenomenon with the likes of Honeyz, Hepburn and Precious all chart regulars. In between came Solid HarmoniE (no capital ‘E’, no points). Conceived as the male counterpart to the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC by Lou Pearlman, the man behind those two boy bands and a very shady character indeed*, they would have three Top 20 hits that all started with the word ‘I’. This one – “I Wanna Love You” – was the last of those three and it’s a nice enough pop song but it was never going to set the world alight or ignite a global sensation like “Wannabe” did for example.

*I’d never heard of him before now but reading up on him, he had his fingers in all sorts of business pies and would end up being sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy and money laundering. He died incarcerated after serving just two. There’s probably a film to be made about him though

One of their number – Mariama Goodman – would leave the band, rejoin, leave again and throw her hat in with the aforementioned Honeyz before giving it all up and retraining as a midwife…and then joining up with her ex-band mates for the ITV2 series The Big Reunion in 2013. After that series finished, I presume she went back to being a midwife. As with Hinda Hicks, there are no further signs of her pop career being reborn.

There seems to be a theme of rebirth/renewal emerging within this post which certainly wasn’t planned but I guess the title of this next hit kind of plays into that? “Pure Morning” was the lead single from Placebo’s second album “Without You I’m Nothing” but was actually a last minute addition to the album, having emerged during a B-side session after the rest of the album ahead been recorded. I have to say that the idea of a ‘B-sides session’ doesn’t sit well with me like they’d sat down to write some songs they didn’t want to be as worthy as their A-sides. Is that how the creative process works for some artists? That they can deliberately write songs that they know will never reach the widest audience? It all sounds very cynical. I’m put in mind of the story about Creation Records founder Alan McGee telling Noel Gallagher that “Acquiesce” was too good a song to be just an extra track on the “Some Might Say” single to which Noel replied “I don’t write shit songs”. McGee, of course, was right about “Acquiesce” in the same way that Brian Molko was right to make “Pure Morning” an A-side and not a B-side. Created around a repeated guitar loop, it sounds kind of like a demo version of “Nancy Boy” which is possibly due to it being produced by Phil Vinall, the guy behind their first hit. I thought that I didn’t remember it but the opening lyrics of “A friend in need’s a friend indeed” was instantly recognisable. Molko gives a performance here in an observed, dispassionate state which lends itself well to the song which would become the band’s joint biggest hit single ever.

It’s another showing next of that ‘exclusive’ performance we’ve already seen from two weeks ago by Will Smith with his hit “Just The Two Of Us”. Maintaining the (re)birth theme, the video (which presumably we didn’t see because of Chris Cowey’s reluctance to include promos on the show) features Smith’s wife Jada who was pregnant with their first child Jaden. A reworking of the Grover Washington Jnr/Bill Withers classic with Smith taking on the mantle of a father trying to be a good role model for his young son, the admirable intentions of the lyrics were rather undermined by the events of March 27, 2022 when Smith left his seat at the 94th Academy Awards, walked across the stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face during his presentation for Best Documentary Feature. Smith’s image as an upstanding family man of firm moral fibre and virtue were certainly put into doubt by the incident despite his aforementioned son Jaden tweeting support of his Dad “And that’s how we do it!”.

It’s the return of the Fun Lovin’ Criminals next with a brand new track – “Love Unlimited”. Having broken the UK (if not America) with their first album “Come Find Yourself”, Huey, ‘Fast’ and Steve Borgovini looked to consolidate on their success with sophomore collection “100% Colombian”. I recall there being quite a buzz around its release what with them being one of the hippest bands around with their Quentin Tarantino sampling hits and effortlessly charismatic front man Huey Morgan. But then…they came back with a song about Barry White! Now, I don’t have any objections to ‘The Walrus Of Love’ but neither am I much of a fan. I can appreciate his unique voice and the fact that he was also a songwriter, record producer and keyboard player. However, I didn’t really appreciate “Love Unlimited” that wanted to pay tribute to him on account of it being as dull as yet another old character being resurfaced on EastEnders. It really is so very pedestrian and one paced with the call and response chorus just being banal. I wonder how many of the youth in the TOTP audience shouting White’s name even knew who he was. Maybe they thought he was an EastEnders character; after all, his name sounded like one (“Awright Baz, fancy a pint in the Queen Vic?”). As poor as “Love Unlimited” was (and yes, I get the reference in its title), follow up single “Big Night Out” was brilliant and I duly bought it. Hope we get to see that one on these TOTP repeats.

Boyzone are No 1 for the second time in 1998 but this time it’s with a track written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman no less. Yes, it’s time for that song from the Whistle Down The Wind musical. Is it fair to say that “No Matter What” is the band’s best known hit? I think it might be given that it shifted 1.4 million copies and was the fourth best selling single in the UK in 1998. This was one of those songs that was always destined to be No 1 if for no other reason than the promotion and fuss around it demanded it. Look at the way it’s presented here with both Steinman and Lloyd Webber in the TOTP studio to give it that extra push and imbue it with a sense that this was no ordinary chart topper. Except that it was…ordinary that is, to my ears at least. I could never hear why it was supposed to be so great. If I thought “Love Unlimited” before it was pedestrian then “No Matter What” was like walking my dog when he really can’t be arsed – painfully slow and with a good chance of featuring shit along the way. Apart from vocalists Stephen Gately and Roman Keating, the other three really might as well not be there. They are given almost zero to do on stage except shuffle from foot to foot with their arms behind their back, make some “ooh” and “aah” backing noises and occasionally click their fingers. Ah yer bollix ye.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1 Apollo Four FortyLost In SpaceNo
2Hinda HicksI Wanna BeYour LadyNah
3Sash! featuring Tina CousinsMysterious TimesNegative
4Solid HarmoniEI Wanna Love YouNope
5PlaceboPure MorningOK song but no
6Will SmithJust The Two Of UsI did not
7Fun Lovin’ CriminalsLove UnlimitedNo but I bought the follow up
8BoyzoneNon Matter WhatNever

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/m002kx4x/top-of-the-pops-14081998

TOTP 31 JUL 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

We’re still stuck in the Summer of 1998 here at TOTP Rewind but we’re not the only ones who are stuck as TOTP executive producer Chris Cowey is stuck in a rut of accommodating hits that have been on at least twice before within the show’s running order. I know I keep banging on about this but it seems so extreme and unnecessary. Look at the opening act in this episode for example. This was the seventh week on the chart for “Got The Feelin’” by Five and after debuting at No 3, most had seen the single descending the chart. However, in its fifth week, it had arrested that trend by climbing one place from No 14 to No 13 and they were immediately back on the show! Its next chart position saw it fall to No 20 but a two place climb to No 18 seven days later and slam dunk! – back on the show again! Patently ridiculous. We don’t even get to see a different studio performance nor the official video as it’s always just that very first appearance with the football shirts re-shown. A regular reader to this blog sent me a message asking me if I thought that, in the scenario of TOTP still being on TV in October 2025 and Cowey still being executive producer, would he still be showing “Got The Feelin’”? That’s certainly the feelin’ I’ve got.

Here’s another hit that we’ve seen twice before already but at least this one is still selling well, holding at No 3 and having spent its entire chart life inside the Top 5 to this point. We did only see it on the previous show though and again, it’s just a repeat of the last appearance for “Ghetto Superstar (That Is What You Are)” by Pras Michel featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard and introducing Mýa. By the way, our host is Jayne Middlemiss again who is making up for lost time by making consecutive appearances after having gone missing for a month. They’re doing that super imposing thing again that they did recently with Jamie Theakston by attempting to make Jayne look like she’s in the studio with Pras et al but which just makes the whole thing look cheap and nasty. Now, is it fair to describe “Ghetto Superstar” with those same words? Is it a bit lowest common denominator? A bit dumb-downed? A bit lowbrow? Or am I being a musical snob? I can’t decide so I suppose it’s unfair to expect anyone else to know. What I do know is that it was the 9th best selling single in the UK in 1998 which must mean something mustn’t it?

Right, who’s this? Lovestation? Don’t remember them at all. Nothing to do with the high numbers on the TV guide on your remote (a direction which I won’t be pursuing further), they are a UK garage outfit who had a couple of hits most notably with this cover of “Teardrops” by Womack And Womack. Despite its almost universally rapturous legacy, I was never that fond of the 1988 original and always found it quite dull so a housed-up version for the late 90s was never going to win me over. However, I have to say this is exceptionally drab. It sounds so tinny next to the original, almost as if it’s the demo version that was released by mistake. And what is with the two over enthusiastic dancers in this performance who movements and steps seem wildly incongruous to the actual song? Lovestation seemed to only have about three songs that they kept on releasing and re-releasing according to their discography. “Teardrops” appears three times, a track called “Love Come Rescue Me” was released thrice and “Shine On Me” had a hat-trick of releases as well. Funnily enough, they did have three Top 40 hits though two were courtesy of “Teardrops” and another wasn’t either of the other songs mentioned.

The Supernaturals are back with the lead single from their second album “A Tune A Day” called “I Wasn’t Built To Get Up”. It was also their last Top 40 entry when it peaked at No 25 meaning that all five of their hits registered between Nos 38 and 23. That sounds fairly modest but a numbers approach maybe doesn’t tell the whole story as The Supernaturals were once the darlings of the music press with their debut album “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” receiving very positive reviews whilst their song “Smile” was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. As is the way of the press though, it wasn’t long before they were tearing the band down describing them as ‘ordinary’, ‘unambitious’ and generally lambasting them for not realising that the Britpop sound was dead in the water. One review noted of their “A Tune A Day” album that if you:

“crossed a hint of Blur’s mid 90s upbeat output with a Scottish-flavoured twist of The Beach Boys and their sunny melodies, you’d probably end up with something a bit like The Supernaturals”

“REWIND: Revisiting the Best of July 1998 + Playlist | XS Noize | Online Music Magazine”

Hmm. Then there’s @TOTPFacts who said on X rather harshly of this TOTP performance:

Ouch. Both of these got me thinking about my own comparisons and I came up with The Supernaturals being the missing link between Ash and Scouting For Girls and that this song title was like a mix of “Can’t Get Out Of Bed” by The Charlatans and “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” by Brian Wilson. Yeah, I’m not sure any of the above is helpful. Writing about music never really does anyone justice. As Frank Zappa famously said, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture”.

Wh-wh-what?! Who was Charli Baltimore and why was she in our charts and on our TV screens? Well, she was actually Tiffany Lane, a name which sounds like one of Charlie’s Angels but was deemed not exciting enough for launching a music career so Tiffany stole the name of the character played by Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight, a film that was a big VHS rental hit back in the day as I recall. Charli was also the partner of legendary rapper the Notorious B.I.G. at the time of his death and it was he that had encouraged Charli in her rap music ambitions. I have to be honest and say I wish he hadn’t bothered because her debut single “Money” was just a horrible noise, a monotonous and relentless horrible noise. Look, I’m no rap expert so maybe her ‘flow’ was magnificent but that doesn’t make it any more enjoyable or even listenable. And why did so many rap records back in the day all feature lines about ‘waving your arms in the air like you just don’t care’ or variations of it?! Oh I can’t be arsed to linger any longer on this one. I’d rather listen to Charli XCX and I have no idea what she sounds like at all.

One of the bands of 1998 now as Catatonia release a fourth single from their No 1 album “International Velvet”. I’m not sure I remember “Strange Glue” – it certainly didn’t leave the same impression that “Mulder And Scully” or “Road Rage” did which have lasted nigh on three decades inside my brain. Not that it’s not a good song now that I’ve re-listened to it. It’s got a strong melody and ambitions to be epic sounding but it just doesn’t seem like an obvious choice for a single. It sounds like an album closing track (which it nearly was save for the solo piano accompanied and 2:22 long “My Selfish Gene”) rather than the surefire airplay hit that its predecessors were. Maybe it would have been wiser to go with a rerelease of nearly-flop single (it reached No 40) “I Am The Mob”? There was a fifth and final single taken from “International Velvet” in “Game On” but that really was stretching it as a peak chart position of No 33 demonstrated. Maybe I was on to something with that “I Am The Mob” idea?

In a very rap heavy show, we’re not done with the genre yet as here comes a special performance by Will Smith with a track inspired by the Grover Washington Jr. / Bill Withers song “Just The Two Of Us”. Instead of treating it as a love song between a couple though, Smith subverts the traditional narrative and makes it about the love between a father and his young son. It’s an intriguing idea and well executed with Will adding layers to the father character by informing us that things didn’t work out between him and the child’s mother and that they are separated. There’s some nice touches in the lyrics with lines such as :

“It’s a full-time job to get a good Dad, you got so much more stuff than I had”

Writers: William Salter, Will Smith, Ralph MacDonald & Bill Withers

However, it’s also dated by cultural references and practices with mentions of CD-ROMs, putting CDs in PCs and hitting your kids (“but I will test that butt when you cut outta line”). There’s also a lot of unnecessary grunting for want of a better word in this performance from Smith with multiple “Ha-ha”, “uh-uh-uh” and “whoo” noises forthcoming. Overall though, it’s a decent attempt to do something different within a rap context with the father trying to be a good role model for his young son. Coincidentally or perhaps intentionally, the single’s release was in sync with the fact that Smith had become a father for the first time in real life following the birth of his son Jaden.

It’s yet another new No 1 with the Spice Girls at the summit with “Viva Forever”. Given everything that had transpired within the group over the last two months, I have to say I was surprised that they’d managed to pull this latest chart topper off. There was a school of thought that said that after the departure of Geri Halliwell from the line up, the group might implode from the fracture and the end might be nigh but it seemed that the public were happy to accept a four piece Spice Girls just as they had accepted a Robbie Williams-less Take That. It was an especially impressive return given that their last single “Stop” had been their first in eight releases not to go to No 1 so the doom merchants would have jumped on “Viva Forever” falling similarly short.

We first saw the group performing the track on TOTP way back on the 5th June edition in the aftermath of Halliwell’s statement that she had left when executive producer Chris Cowey realised what he had on his hands with the footage including all five members. This performance saw the now slimmed down group on tour in America meaning that there was a definite decision by someone (be it Cowey, the label, management or the Spice Girls themselves) not to show the stop motion promo video featuring the group (including Geri) as fairies. Presumably the five months that it took to put it together weren’t wasted though as no doubt it featured on programmes like The Chart Show and other pop music platforms around the world.

Around this time, whilst I was working at the Our Price store in Stockport, a young man who I would now recognise as being neurodivergent, attached himself to me after I’d served him one day. His name was David and he was obsessed with the Spice Girls. He was a nice lad but took quite a lot of time serving when he came in as he would want to talk about the Spice Girls continuously. He would always ask for me which took me away from whatever I was doing which wasn’t necessarily convenient but I would always try and make the time for him if I could. When I transferred to the Altrincham branch in 1999, he followed me over there even though it was out of his way and involved multiple trips on public transport. The day that “Viva Forever” was released, we were playing it in the store just as David came in and he wondered around the shop in a sort of dream, lost in his own little world. I often think of that moment and wonder what happened to David and whether his Spice Girls obsession ever burnt itself out.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1FiveGot The Feelin’I did not
2Pras Michel featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard and introducing MýaGhetto Superstar (That Is What You Are)Negative
3LovestationTeardropsNever
4The SupernaturalsI Wasn’t Built To Get UpNo
5Charli BaltimoreMoneyNot if you paid me
6CatatoniaStrange GlueNope
7Will SmithJust The Two Of UsNah
8Spice Girls Viva ForeverAnd 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/m002kkmz/top-of-the-pops-31071998

TOTP 06 FEB 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

After a few weeks hiatus due to the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury and Wimbledon, we’re back with the 1998 TOTP repeats again. I can’t say I missed them which might sound a perverse thing to say from someone who has devoted over eight years of their life to blogging about them but hear me out. Firstly, after publishing over 700 posts in that time, I welcome any break from the relentless writing. Secondly, I have the feeling that 1998 wasn’t a vintage year for the UK charts and that we might be about to endure some hits of dubious quality at best (i.e. some right old shite). Let’s see if my fears are realised in this episode…

Tonight’s host is Zoe Ball who I’m not the biggest fan of but she seems like a safe pair of hands here. Someone who wasn’t exhibiting safe hands was Executive Producer Chris Cowey who has brought back that crap idea again of featuring the song that was last week’s No 1 as the first song of tonight’s show meaning that effectively the same hit is played back to back seven days apart. I might have fallen for what Cowey no doubt thought was a clever ruse back then but watching these repeats nearly 30 years on it seems plain daft. The fortunate recipient of this additional exposure this time is Usher whose “You Make Me Wanna” track lasted just a solitary week at No 1 before being deposed by…well, we’ll get to that in due time.

As for Usher, he’s determined to take off as many clothes as the BBC censors will allow pre-watershed although he maybe should have practiced a bit more first as he struggles to remove his silver padded jacket which he then flings to the floor. What happened to said jacket as it’s nowhere to be seen as the performance progresses – presumably it was snaffled away by a studio audience member. Did they get to keep it or did security make them return it to Usher. I mean, they didn’t even ask for it nicely with one of those annoying ‘Can I have your shirt?’ placards that are ubiquitous at elite football matches these days. By the end of the performance, Usher is naked from the waist up although, as Joe Cocker and, indeed, Tom Jones nearly sang, he did keep his hat on. That’s alright then.

Some proper music from a proper singer next. Much was made back in the day of Carleen Anderson’s musical family heritage* (Zoe Ball even makes a reference to it here) but Carleen’s own personal musical career took in many a familiar name. She’s worked with Omar, on Guru’s “Jazzmatazz: Volume 1” album, Incognito, Brand New Heavies, Jocelyn Brown and yes Zoe, Paul Weller. Of course, she came to prominence with acid jazz pioneers Young Disciples in 1991 with their Mercury Prize nominated album “Road To Freedom” before striking out in her own with solo album “True Spirit” which sold 60,000 copies in the UK and supplied her with four Top 40 singles.

*Carleen’s family tree included:

  • Her Mum was Vicky Anderson, a singer with the James Brown Revue.
  • Her stepfather was Bobby Byrd, the R&B, soul/ funk legend and James Brown band mate.
  • The ‘Godfather of Soul’ himself was Carleen’s actual godfather

Leading the way for her second album was a cover of Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” which I hadn’t realised until now had never been released as a Macca single (though a live version by Wings was a minor hit in 1977). This is a fantastic track, perhaps one of McCartney’s best, and Carleen does it justice with her version complete with soaring vocal (is it live in this performance?). However, on reflection, it doesn’t have the feel of a single in 1998 somehow. A highlight of Later with…Jools Holland yes, or even his New Year’s Hootenanny show but just not a Top 40 single. The trippy graphics behind Carleen give it the feel of a performance on Channel 4’s notorious late night show The Word but surely Carleen was too classy to have appeared on that (I haven’t checked by the way).

This would prove to be Carleen’s final UK hit and she now has followed a different direction pioneering a new cultural form called “Opus Griot”, a blend of singing, poetry, storytelling and the use of MI.MU Gloves, a new gesture-controlled digital instrument developed by Imogen Heap. As for “Maybe I’m Amazed”, it continues to be covered by artists such as Marc Cohn, Thomas Lang and Billy Joel. Oh and if you play it backwards, you’ll hear a recipe for a really ripping lentil soup…

How does one describe Saint Etienne? It’s a legitimate question I feel as they certainly embraced the eclectic ethic more than most. It’s also a question that will be revisited this year I’m guessing as the band have announced that their forthcoming album “International” will be their last. No doubt this will usher (no, not him!) in retrospective articles in the music press reassessing their career. Indeed, there is one in the latest edition of the excellent Classic Pop magazine which has an interview with the trio at its heart.

My own personal experience of the band started…well, at the start I guess with their dance version of Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” which was perfect for coming-down play lists with its aching sorrowfulness. It wasn’t a massive hit (No 39) but many of my hipper Our Price colleagues at the time loved it and it was heavily played on the shop stereo. Indeed, my wife liked it so much she bought the band’s debut album “Foxbase Alpha”. The natural progression from this was to see them live which we did in Manchester Academy but it wasn’t a fulfilling experience. Heavily reliant on backing tapes, they played for just 43 minutes and left the stage with Sarah Cracknell delivering the line “We’re not a rock band. We don’t do encores” and they were, indeed, gone. It wasn’t all bad though – the support band were Pulp who were excellent.

As the 90s progressed, Saint Etienne were almost prolific in their output which the stat of four albums in seven years attests to. They’d even accrued enough material for a Best Of album by the midpoint of the decade. Although some of their best known songs seem to be infused with an overt pop sensibility (“You’re In A Bad Way”, “He’s On The Phone”), they truly did span the musical genres. 1994’s “Tiger Bay” explored folk electronica whilst last year’s “The Night” was all about the understated and ambient. Then there’s their actual soundtrack albums. It really is wide ranging stuff. By 1998, they were back in that pop groove with the album “Good Humor” albeit of a more acoustic variety. Lead single “Sylvie” returned them to that classic Saint Etienne sound though – a stylish and catchy tale of sibling love rivalry. Some of its lyrics were a bit trite though rhyming ‘September’ with ‘remember’ and ‘person’ with ‘flirtin’. It would peak at No 12 thus maintaining their record of never having had a Top 10 hit. That run would remain unbroken*, something that Sarah Cracknell admits in that Classic Pop magazine interview remains a regret.

*I’m not counting 1991 No 8 hit “7 Ways To Love” under the guise of Cola Boy nor 2000’a collaboration with Paul van Dyk on “Tell Me Why (The Riddle)”

That last album should arrive in September this year and features guest appearances from the likes of Vince Clarke and the Greatest Living Englishman Nick Heyward so it should be well worth checking out.

By the end of the 90s, it felt like Will Smith was permanently in the charts with a succession of catchy, dance/rap numbers that were based on samples of classic hits from back in the day. Starting with “Men In Black” in 1997 (and omitting the outlier minor hit “Just Cruisin’”), he had a run of six singles that peaked at either No 1, No 2 or No 3. “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” was the second in that run and was primarily based around Sister Sledge’s 70s disco classic “He’s The Greatest Dancer”. The lyrics, which, incidentally, some people believe were written by rapper Nas and not Smith, include the line:

“Met Ali he told me I’m the greatest”

Written by: Bernard Edwards / Joe Robinson / Nile Rodgers / Samuel Barnes / Will Smith.

How prescient. Smith would play the boxing legend in the 2001 biopic Ali. Anyway, “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” was a perfect example of the successful formula that Smith had hit upon and he would run with it for all it was worth. However, what did it actually mean to ‘get jiggy with it’? I presumed it was a euphemism for the sexual act but according to Wikipedia, the term was originally a description of sexy fashion or style that was expanded to include dancing skills. As for Smith himself, he saw the use of ‘jiggy’ in the lyrics as an opportunity for racial empowerment as he associated it with the ethnic slur ‘jigaboo’ which popularised the folk-myth of an innate sense of rhythm in people of colour. In essence, it was claiming the phrase back.

The video was suitably grandiose being filmed at various Las Vegas hotels with scenes including Ancient Egypt imagery, volcanoes and ultimately a Statue of Liberty replica. The money and effort put into the promo was rewarded with an MTV award for Best Rap video. We’ll be seeing a lot more of Mr. Smith before these 90s TOTP repeats are through.

I’m totally out of my comfort zone on this next one as TOTP goes freestyle…literally. Freestylers are a British electronic group whose sound is so eclectic it makes Saint Etienne seem like fuddy duddy, dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists. Encompassing elements of breakbeat, big beat, trip hop, acid house and electro house, they are the trio Matt Cantor, Aston Harvey and MC SirReal. Looking at that list of sub genres of dance music, you may understand my comment about being out of my pop/rock comfort zone. I wasn’t the only one though. Zoe Ball was as well although she tries to convince us that she knows what she’s talking about in her intro where she refers to them as the “freesty-laaas”. That faux patois is undermined though by her pronunciation of the word “dancing” as “darncing”. And I thought you were a safe pair of hands Zoe!

Anyway, back to the Freestylers who are joined on this their debut hit “B-Boy Stance” by Tenor Fly who brings some ragga stylings to the mic (or something). It’s all very frenetic with the three breakdancers on stage twirling around on their arses adding to the spectacle/ looking ridiculous (delete as appropriate). To me, it seems very retro even in 1998 with the scratching of records and those “Brrrrrrrrrr” noises from Mr T. Fly. I love the fact though that the pasty, ginger haired bass player looks as un-hip-hop as it’s possible to be.

As with Will Smith’s earlier hit, the track’s title raised the question of what it actually meant (for me anyway). Apparently, it’s that arms-crossed, feet apart pose employed by breakdancers at the end of a routine which represents strength, defiance and the legacy of hip-hop (according to AI Overview anyway). “B-Boy Stance” would peak at No 23 but did it pave the way for an enormous hit later in the year that would become the UK’s third biggest selling single of 1998? I refer, of course, to “It’s Like That” by Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins.

From out of my comfort zone to totally confused now as we get The Rolling Stones and their hit “Saint Of Me”. Before we get to my confusion though, a couple of points of order. What’s the deal with the little message to camera from Mick Jagger apologising for not being in the TOTP studio in person? Did anyone really expect them to be? Seems a bit unnecessary. Maybe it was part of the ‘Still No 1’ campaign whose tagline the hosts were made to trot out each week – “see, we can get names like Mick Jagger to do stuff for us because we’re still, you know, No 1”. Secondly, what was with the shot of the studio audience watching the promo video on a big screen? How did that help the watching millions at home have a better experience or indeed the song’s chances of increasing its sales?

Anyway, to my confused state of mind. I don’t recall this single though I remember the album it came from “Bridges To Babylon” – its cover at least. Consequently, I’ve had to rely on the internet for some info about it and everything I’ve found seems to suggest that this track was remixed by dance remix duo Deep Dish. This seems possible as the first single from the album – “Anybody Seen My Baby” – had been given the remix treatment by Armand Van Helden. Listening to it though, it doesn’t sound very dance influenced at all. Presumably there was a remix of it as an extra track on a CD single or the 12” format? This can’t be it surely? As for the song itself, it’s pleasant enough blues rock, the kind of which the Stones made their legend on with lots of religious imagery in the lyrics – a companion piece to “Sympathy For The Devil” maybe? To be honest though, it sounds like they were doing their best “Give Out But Don’t Give Up” era Primal Scream impression. Or was it the other way round? Ahem.

Wait…what?! Why are OTT back in the show?! I thought we’d done with this lot for the final time the other week? What? They’ve climbed one place from No 20 to No 19 with “The Story Of Love” after debuting at No 11 in its first week? That was enough to warrant another appearance? Damn you Chris Cowey!

Hands up who thought Aqua would be a one hit wonder?

*Blogger sheepishly raises his hand*

It was a fair assumption though. “Barbie Girl” was just about a novelty song so how could a career be carved out from that beginning? How wrong we all were. Not only did they have more hits but they completed a hat-trick of consecutive No1s. The second of those was “Doctor Jones”, another insanely catchy bubblegum pop track. The whole boy/girl cutesy thing was starting to get really annoying second time around and the “Ah-yippie-yi-ooh, ah-yippie-yi -yeah” lyric was brain rotting. Sadly, we would fall for it hook, line and sinker just as we had done for its predecessor. The UK record buying public was sick. Somebody should have called the doctor. Wake up now!

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1UsherYou Make Me WannaI did not
2Carleen AndersonMaybe I’m AmazedNegative
3Saint EtienneSylvieNo
4Will SmithGettin’ Jiggy Wit ItNope
5FreestylersB-Boy StanceNot my bag at all
6The Rolling StonesSaint Of MeNah
7OTTThe Story Of LoveOf course not
8AquaDoctor JonesAway with you!

Disclaimer

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

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002fzc7/top-of-the-pops-06021998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 05 SEP 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

Given the events in Paris five days before this TOTP aired and that the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales was to happen the following day, it will be interesting to remind ourselves how the BBC handled broadcasting their flagship pop music show. On the face of it, a programme based around the pop charts might have seemed at odds with the sombre mood of the nation which was still in shock and in some cases hysterical about accepting the tragic news. A studio audience shouting and cheering and behaving in an overexcited way whilst a presenter introduced the latest sounds might have seemed incongruous at best and disrespectful at worst. Would the decision to cancel the show altogether have been considered? You would assume so given that radio stations had been tying themselves up in knots all week about their on air output and avoiding playing anything deemed to be inappropriate. That decision wasn’t made though so let’s see how they did handle it.

Tonight’s host is Zoe Ball who we haven’t seen in these repeats as yet though she had presented the show before but the Puff Daddy/P Diddy/R Kelly issue meant they weren’t broadcast on BBC4. There’s no discernible changes in the opening of the show with Zoe giving us the well worn line about TOTP still being No 1 though there’s no actual prop of the figure ‘1’ this week. The studio audience breaks into the usual screaming/cheering on cue but Zoe does seem to be playing it straighter than we’ve seen from fellow presenter Jayne Middlemiss up to now.

The first artist on tonight is global superstar/diva (delete as appropriate) Mariah Carey. By this point in her career, Mariah was up to her sixth studio album in just eight years – “Butterfly” was released the week after this TOTP aired and was trailed by lead single “Honey”. This wasn’t a case of just churning out another album though. No, this was the moment Mariah went full hip-hop. Or was it R&B? Or both? It’s not my bag so I don’t feel qualified to comment really but everything online I’ve read tells me this was an ‘important’ album for Mariah which usually signals a crossroads in an artist’s career. Messing with the formula can produce amazing results – think of all those brilliant songs by The Beatles we would have been denied if they’d never deviated from their early ‘moptop’ sound. It can also go the other way alienating the fanbase – I lost faith with Radiohead once they disappeared up their own arses on “Kid A”. Of course, it’s all subjective. You may prefer Genesis of the “Invisible Touch” brand to the early Peter Gabriel era or the abstract noodling of late period Talk Talk to their synth pop beginnings. Similarly, a hip-hop-upped Mariah Carey may have held your attention more than her warbly balladeer persona. Personally, I wasn’t bothered about either. As for the track “Honey”, is it me or does she not actually appear to sing that much on it? I can hear the backing singers more than Mariah. Was she turned down in the mix or something? Even when you can hear her, all she seems to be doing is some elongated, over pronouncing of the words so we get a load of ‘ye-aah’, ‘no-oo’, and ‘ba-aabe’. Then, before she can really let rip, she’s joined on stage by a rapper (called Mase apparently) – well, she had gone hip-hop I suppose. It’s all a bit of a mess and guess who had his fingerprints all over it? Yep, P Diddy. We couldn’t have had this show cancelled as well?

Next up are Ocean Colour Scene and we find another case of someone being about out-sung. “Travellers Tune” was the second single lifted from the band’s “Marchin’ Already” album and featured soul singer P.P. Arnold on additional vocals but describing her contribution as ‘additional’ hardly does her justice. It’s not that frontman Simon Fowler doesn’t do a decent job of anchoring the song but P.P. Arnold brings it into dock and secures its lines with a clear hitch knot. It’s not surprising as her track record shows she has worked with some huge names like Ike and Tina Turner, Small Faces and the aforementioned Peter Gabriel as well as having her own hits in the 60s and collaborating with dance acts like Beatmasters and Altern-8.

Unlike Mariah Carey before them, “Travellers Tune” itself wasn’t breaking any new ground and was more of the blues rock sound that made the band’s name as Britpop broke. It was still a decent…well…tune though, full of melody and enough hooks to keep the listener engaged. Its chart peak of No 5 meant their last five singles had achieved the following chart highs:

7 – 4 – 6 – 4 – 5

They were now established chart stars. Indeed, “Marchin’ Already” would knock Oasis’s “Be Here Now” off the top of the album chart when released nine days after this TOTP aired. Ocean Colour Scene had supported Noel, Liam et al on their 1995 tour. As far as I can tell, they won’t be supporting them on their 2025 reunion tour though the likes of Cast and Richard Ashcroft have been confirmed.

Not this guy again! How on earth did Ginuwine manage to have hits with his nasty brand of call and response R&B? Having already bagged himself two UK Top 20 singles, he went one further with a third chart entry by going Top 10 with – blasphemy upon blasphemy – a cover of Prince’s “When Doves Cry”. How dare he?! This really was nonsense for the feeble minded. Predictably, Ginuwine (real name Elgin Lumpkin – no, really!) starts his performance by exhorting the crowd to wave their arms in the air and shouting “Ho-ooo!”. Someone else made their name by doing a similar thing but he was playing it for laughs – Ginuwine was…well…being genuine!

This version of “When Doves Cry” was produced by Timbaland whose own real name is Timothy Mosley but I’m guessing he isn’t named after Moseley, the suburb of South Birmingham like Ocean Colour Scene’s “Moseley Shoals” was. No, because that was a humorous play on Muscle Shoals, Alabama, home to several famous recording studios. There’s nothing funny about Ginuwine covering Prince which was a mad idea. Elgin Lumpkin? I think Elgin lost his marbles on this one.

Now here’s a quality tune from a group who were only what the Spice Girls could/should have been like – the time of All Saints (and their cargo pants) is upon us. Just like Baby, Posh, Scary, Sporty and Ginger, this lot had a back story that involved a Pete Best type figure – for Michelle Stephenson (Lost Spice) read Simone Rainford who was part of an original trio (alongside Melanie Blatt and Shaznay Lewis) named All Saints 1.9.7.5. who were signed to ZTT Records. Two single releases failed to make any impression on the charts and, following internal conflicts, Rainford left the group who were subsequently dropped by their label. Tasked with finding a replacement member and a new recording contract, Blatt and Lewis turned up trumps on both accounts finding the Appleton sisters Natalie and Nicole and a new label in London Records. The mix was perfect and they hit the ground running with debut single “I Know Where It’s At”, a slinky, R&B infused but resolutely pop track (that’s how you do it Mariah!) that became an instant earworm once heard. I never knew that it had a Steely Dan sample in it but then I’m hardly a Steely Dan aficionado so I can forgive myself that. For the record though it’s this track:

Although the comparisons with the Spice Girls were inevitable, I always thought that All Saints were cooler by far though in truth, I’m not convinced that they were similar acts at all. My sense is that the Spice Girls had a much younger fanbase. The All Saints performance here ticks all the boxes, synchronised moves though not overly choreographed, those cargo pants and a definite sense of unity. They would become a huge success with five No 1 singles and two multi platinum albums before they split in 2001. Though there have been two subsequent reunions and three further albums as well as solo careers and the duo Appleton, I still have the feeling that, if not unfulfilled potential, then there was more we never got to see and hear from All Saints.

Following up “MMMBop” was always going to be a tall order for Hanson but they gave it a decent go with “Where’s The Love”. A No 5 hit over here (it didn’t chart in the US as it wasn’t given a physical release so didn’t comply with Billboard regulations), it was another uptempo, hook-laden pop tune. However, to me, this always sounded like a more mature sound compared to its predecessor. Now I now the words ‘mature’ and ‘Hanson’ don’t seem compatible (especially in 1997 – had lead singer Taylor’s voice even broken yet?) but hear me out. Whereas “MMMBop” had that saccharine feel to it that even the youngest of the young could cotton onto (my then six year old goddaughter included), “Where’s The Love” just seemed more like a proper song. I’m probably vastly over examining this whole subject but then I have to write something about it don’t I?

At the time of their biggest fame, drummer Zac wasn’t even a teenager and I have a distinct memory of Huey Morgan of Fun Lovin’ Criminals telling a story about him whilst appearing on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Apparently, they’d been in a recording studio at the same time and Huey had lit up a cigarette during a break only to be confronted by the youngest Hanson brother saying “You can’t smoke in here, you can’t smoke in here!”. Huey wasn’t going to be told what he could and couldn’t do by an 11 year old and so it spilled over into an argument resulting in him telling the viewing audience that he had “beef with the little guy”. Where’s the love Huey?

It’s the fourth and final week at the top for “Men In Black” and still we have the superimposed Will Smith intro over the top of the video. I guess TOTP just got him to freestyle for a bit and then cut up whatever he gave them and laid it over the four separate times the video was played. I wonder how much more footage they had if he was at the top any longer? Four weeks feels like enough but we should maybe have cherished that time more – Elton is on his way…

…but not yet. We finally get to the part of the show where they acknowledge “the end of a very sad week” as Zoe Ball puts it. Clearly, Zoe had been given instructions about the presenting style that was required at this time and she duly delivered a muted tone with some basic intros and a lack of extravagance. There weren’t even any of those knowing looks and raised eyebrows that Jayne Middlemiss was determined to make her trademark. And talking of Jayne…why has she suddenly appeared on screen alongside Zoe? All she does is a plug for the chart rundown show on the Sunday – this seemed really odd. Was it meant to be a show of unity by the show’s presenters as if to say “we’re all in this together’? If so, it failed as Jayne can’t resist her raised eyebrows look before Zoe steps in and takes over with a respectful intro into the last song of the night which, by very fortunate happenstance, is actually a suitable track and a new release.

“You Have Been Loved”, Zoe tells us, was written by George Michael for his late mother. However, everything I’ve read online says it was inspired by the death of his lover Anselmo Feleppa who passed away from an AIDS-related illness in 1993. I guess maybe the cover story given to the press about his mother* was deemed necessary as George hadn’t come out as gay by this point (he would do so in 1998).

*His previous single with Toby Bourke “Waltz Away Dreaming” was also reported to have been recorded as a tribute to his Mum

The sixth and final single taken from George’s “Older” album, “You Have Been Loved” was the tale of losing a loved one (whoever that may have actually been) and had already been distributed to radio stations for plugging and so was manna from heaven for programme directors desperately trawling the playlist catalogues for something inoffensive to play*. It would peak at No 2 and would surely have been a third No 1 from the album but for the Elton John single. As it was, “Older” itself would receive a sales injection off the back of it.

*As I recall, another contemporary tune that was deemed appropriate was “Don’t Go Away” from Oasis’s recently released “Be Here Now” album.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Mariah CareyHoneyDidn’t happen
2Ocean Colour SceneTravellers TuneNegative
3GinuwineWhen doves CryNever
4All SaintsI Know Where It’s AtNope
5HansonWhere’s The LoveI did not
6Will SmithMen In BlackNah
7George MichaelYou Have Been LovedNo

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/m0029cfh/top-of-the-pops-05091997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 29 AUG 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

We’ve nearly got to that point in the 90s when one the decade’s most historic events took place – the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Two days after this TOTP aired, reports started to emerge that she had been involved in a car crash in Paris before her death, aged just 36, was confirmed. It really is one of those seismic incidents which anchors you in time. I’m guessing we can all remember where we were when the story broke. I myself was in my flat in Manchester doing not very much at all (well it was a Sunday) but from the moment news came in of what had happened, the coverage was wall-to-wall. Normal life seemed to be put on hold. Now, I should say straight out that I’m not a fan of the monarchy and don’t believe in the institution but I could appreciate that this was a tragedy especially for her two young children. What I couldn’t understand though was the reaction of the general public which seemed to be frenzied hysteria – vast swathes of the population seemed to lose all sense of proportion. There were stories of people missing funerals of family and friends to go to London to watch the funeral procession on its way to Westminster Abbey. Coverage of the funeral showed people wailing uncontrollably and hurling bunches of flowers at the coffin. I just didn’t understand nor agree with, what seemed to me, to be these disproportionate displays.

The day of the funeral on 6th September saw everything close in the morning as a mark of respect and so that the nation could watch the funeral. The Our Price store where I worked dutifully complied. We opened in the afternoon and the very first bloke who came in walked straight up to the counter and said “Have you got that song that Elton John sang at the funeral?”. In today’s digital world, that wouldn’t have seemed like an unreasonable request but back in 1997, it was a ludicrous question. I was flabbergasted. How did he think we would have copies of a single in stock of a song that had just been performed for the first time ever about an hour before. At this point, it hadn’t even been decided that it would be made available to the general public via a single release. I should be clear that the guy was asking for that version of the song specifically performed at the funeral and not just the original “Candle In The Wind” recording. Even if he’d have been happy with the original, we might have had it on a Greatest Hits but that would have been it. In 2025, a song from an event of such public interest could be made available on a streaming platform instantly but in 1997, the world just didn’t work like that. Ultimately, the song was released as a single about a week later but that’s a discussion for a future post. Right now, let’s sit back and watch TOTP as if in a more innocent time before Diana’s death.

Jayne Middlemiss is our host again and executive producer Chris Cowey is still wedded to the idea of incorporating a model of the figure 1 into the show’s opening to enforce the idea that it is still the No 1 music show on TV. This week, a glammed up Jayne in full evening dress walks on as the model No 1 drops to the floor behind her. No, you’re right it doesn’t really work does it? The opening artist is Jon Bon Jovi who continues the royal theme to this post with his single “Queen Of New Orleans”. The second track released from his “Destination Anywhere” album, like its predecessor “Midnight In Chelsea”, it was co-written with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. A solo album by the man behind Bon Jovi was never going to be a huge departure from the sound that made him and his band global stars but “Queen Of New Orleans” is no “Livin’ On A Prayer”. It’s got a laid back feel to it with Jon growling his way through the lyrics whilst some rock guitars squall and squeal away in the background. Ah yes, those lyrics. It’s hard to believe that two men with the amount of hits to their names as Bon Jovi and Stewart could have come up with such useless words. For example:

“Me and Leigh met Summer of ‘95, in a burgundy dress looking finer than a French wine“

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: David Allan Stewart / Jon Bon Jovi
Queen Of New Orleans lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Really? Burgundy and French wine in a line together? Talk about cheesy (thank God they didn’t!). Then there’s this:

“That night I made a move, man I felt hard, when I put my hands in her cookie jar”

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: David Allan Stewart / Jon Bon Jovi
Queen Of New Orleans lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Oh please! Viz’s Finbarr Saunders would have baulked at that. And finally, in a blinding piece of self knowledge, we have this:

“She said baby our love’s just like your songs, the beat ain’t bad but the words are all wrong”

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: David Allan Stewart / Jon Bon Jovi
Queen Of New Orleans lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Ha! Apart from appearing on a few charity singles, Jon Bon Jovi has yet to return to his solo career.

Shola Ama had nine UK Top 40 hits in total but apart from her cover of Randy Crawford’s “You Might Need Somebody”, I couldn’t have told you the names of any of them without checking her discography first. It turns out that this one – “You’re The One I Love” – would be her highest charting when it peaked at No 3. This was actually a rerelease of her debut single which stalled at No 85 in 1996. Her album “Much Love” came out on the Monday after this TOTP and would go to No 6 eventually selling 100,000 copies. Shola was big news and never bigger than when she won a BRIT award for Beat British Female and two MOBOs for Best Newcomer and Best R&B act. And then…well, it all went a bit flat. A follow up album appeared in 1999 but it was a commercial failure peaking at No 92. Shola would remain within the music business even featuring on a Top 10 hit in 2004 for The Pirates. However, it maybe wasn’t the career she might have imagined she would have after her success filled start.

As for “You’re The One I Love”, it’s a very serviceable R&B/soul hit the type of which was very prominent at this time but does it linger long in the memory? Not mine I’m afraid. Apparently, Shola’s son is a big name music producer called Mekhi or prollymac or something – he’s one of those ‘Nepo Babies’ which is what the kids are saying these days but I wouldn’t know about that or Mekhi/prollymac. In fact, I struggled to find anything to say about his Mum.

Who’s this? Conner Reeves? Do I know this guy? Let me think….Reeves…Reeves….I know Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves obviously and Country legend Jim Reeves. Hell, I even remember 80s footballer Kevin Reeves but Conner (with an ‘e’ not an ‘o’) Reeves? Nope, I’ve got nothing. What’s his hit called? “My Father’s Son”? That kind of sounds familiar but am I getting confused with that song by Mike + The Mechanics about a son’s regret over an unresolved conflict with their now deceased father – “The Living Years”. Actually, didn’t the bloke who had a hit with that song called “Jessie” do one called “My Father’s Son”?

*checks internet and cross references*

That’s him. Joshua Kadison and yes he did but that’s not this song. It’s all very confusing.

Anyway, Conner Reeves’ song was his debut hit of five (five!) in total and apparently big things were predicted for him but I’m not sure why on the strength of “My Father’s Son” as it’s a bit of a plodder. How would I describe his sound? Well, Wikipedia categorises it as blue-eyed soul which is as good a description as any I guess. As for his image, he’s giving me serious Gilbert O’Sullivan vibes with that cap. Did he always wear it? Was it his USP? He looks like a bit of a knacker to be honest. In short, I’m not sold. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I’d rather have “Son Of My Father” than “My Father’s Son”…

Hmm. The running order for this particular show isn’t turning out to be the best. Now we’ve got UB40 but it’s not the UB40 of their classic early 80s hits. No, the 1997 version of the band had certainly seen better days and was probably past its sell by date. They hadn’t released a new studio album for four years and had filled that gap with a Best Of Volume 2. “Tell Me Is It True” was their first release of any nature for two years and was initially from the soundtrack to the movie Speed 2: Cruise Control though it would later turn up on their album “Guns In The Ghetto”. As Jayne Middlemiss hints at in her intro, the band actually had a cameo appearance in the film but I didn’t know that until now as I’ve never seen it. I loved the original Speed starring the aforementioned Keanu Reeves (I love it when a post comes together) but he wasn’t in the sequel and it got bad reviews so I gave it a miss. There were a few supposed blockbuster movies out that Summer that didn’t really land – Event Horizon and The Fifth Element were two others. I actually fell asleep in the latter though I was talking to someone at work the other day who loves it.

Anyway, that’s all besides the point. What is the point? The music of course so was “Tell Me Is It True” any good? Well, having listened back to it, it was actually better than I expected. The verses echoed back to those glory days of their prime although the chorus was a bit of a letdown. Also a letdown was the reaction to the “Guns In The Ghetto” album so the band returned to that reliable sales generator the “Labour Of Love” project with Volume III released in 1998. The new millennium would see the band splinter acrimoniously but that’s a whole other story/film/documentary…

And yet another artist who I don’t know at all despite having been in full time employment in a record shop at the time of her biggest hit. The name Tina Moore does resonate with me but only because that’s the name of the wife of the 1966 World Cup winning England captain Bobby Moore. Tina Moore the singer? My memory bank is as empty as a MAGA supporter’s head. For the record, she had two UK chart hits with “Never Gonna Let You Go” the first and biggest of them. Now if it sounds a bit like Rosie Gaines that’s possibly because it was on the flip side of white label copies of “Closer Than Close” but it wasn’t picked up for an official release like its partner. When it finally was, it was this ‘Bump-N-Go’ remix by Kelly G (an associate of Chicago house legend Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley no less) that did the trick sending the track to No 7. I assume the “chicka-boom” comment by Middlemiss in her intro was a reference to the noise of the track’s two-step backing track was it? Look, I don’t know what I’m talking about do I? I’m clearly winging it here!

And so to a band whose name I do recall but I would struggle to tell you any of their songs let alone how they sounded. Symposium were ‘the best live band in Britain’ according to the Melody Maker’s front page in late March 1997. I obviously never saw them live but judging by this TOTP appearance, I’ve got a fair idea of what one of their gigs would have been like. “They’re noisy, they’re wild, they’re anarchic” Jayne Middlemiss tells us in her intro which I’m sure fitted perfectly with how the band’s label would have wanted them to be described but were they? Certainly their song “Fairweather Friend” had lots of pop punk energy but was it anything we hadn’t heard before? Green Day springs to mind. Maybe if I’d have been the same age as the band (18 or so) I’d have found them as entertaining as the even younger studio audience clearly did. Once again, I have to question the lack of security here – there’s a semi-mosh pit going on down the front and then, breaking a longstanding taboo, one of the band stage dives into the audience! Naturally, after such antics, there’s then a stage invasion just as we’ve seen recently with Oasis and to a lesser extent Stereophonics recently. What was going on here?!

“Fairweather Friend” would be Symposium’s biggest hit of three peaking at No 25. By 2000, the perennial problem of ‘musical differences’ would do for the band though they reformed for occasional gigs in 2022. By the way, they surely have two of the most tongue-twister type named members in their line up since Big Country drummer Mark ‘Unpronounceable Name’ Brzezicki – try saying Wojtek Godzisz and Hagop Tchaparian three times in a row.

What was executive producer Chris Cowey thinking of with this running order? After stage-diving and stage invasions with Symposium, the next act in the studio is Chumbawamba! All those youngsters in the studio audience needed calming down not given another track to get their adrenaline pumping! “Tubthumping” was definitely the latter! Thankfully, the first couple of rows of the audience seem to have settled into a rather nerdy ‘dance’ of bending over when singer Dunstan Bruce sings “I get knocked down” and raising their arms when he sings “but I get up again” before shaking their fist rather limply to “You’re never gonna keep me down”. Ah to be young again – actually, they’ll all be in their mid-40s now! Oh, and talking of unusual band member names, Chumbawamba had Danbert Nobacon and Alice Nutter in their ranks but obviously they were made up.

It’s a third week at the top for “Men In Black” and once again we have a superimposed Will Smith introducing the video. I think it worked OK once but I fear overexposure had caused the magic dust to disperse too far by this point. The same couldn’t be said for the single itself which continued to see off all opposition to remain at No 1 for this chart and the following week’s. However, we would all be saturated by the news of a car crash in Paris in the days to come after this TOTP was broadcast.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Jon Bon JoviQueen Of New OrleansNo
2Shola AmaYou’re The One I LoveNegative
3Conner ReevesMy Father’s SonI did not
4UB40Tell Me Is It TrueNo and that’s the truth
5Tina MooreNever Gonna Let You GoNope
6SymposiumFairweather FriendNah
7ChumbawambaTubthumpingYES!
8Will SmithMen In BlackAnd 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/m00293qd/top-of-the-pops-29081997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 22 AUG 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

After rotating a trio of presenters in Jayne Middlemiss, Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley in the first few weeks of his tenure, TOTP Executive Producer Chris Cowey has branched out with his choice of hosts. Recent shows were piloted by Mary Anne Hobbs, Phil Jupitus and Denise van Outen. And then there’s this week – the curious case of Sarah Cawood. Having started her presenting career on Nickelodeon, she’d most recently appeared in Channel 4’s The Girlie Show. You remember The Girlie Show surely? It was a Channel 4 late night magazine show that was in the slot usually reserved for The Word and was hosted by a team of presenters including Cawood and a very young Sara Cox. It wasn’t well received by viewers or the tabloids though I always quite liked it, especially the ‘Wanker of the Week’ feature. Anyway, despite those post-pub beginnings, she was drafted into host the BBC’s flagship, prime time pop music show in 1997 but here’s the curious thing – Cawood wouldn’t present another TOTP for nearly five years at which point she was a regular until June 2003. So what was that all about? Didn’t Cowey think Cawood was any good in this 1997 show but changed his mind in 2002? I think she does a decent job for what it’s worth.

We start with one of the biggest and most unlikely hits of the year – “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba. This really was an astonishing hit from a band that had never troubled the chart compilers in their previous 15 years of existence. I’d certainly not heard of the anarcho -punk outfit before around 1992 when I worked with a colleague called Emma who was a bit of a Riot Grrrl and was into them. I’d somehow managed to miss their response to Jason Donovan taking The Face magazine to court for claiming that he was lying by denying he was gay – the band had ‘Jason Donovan – Queer as Fuck’ T-shirts printed which they gave away free with their single “Behave”. Fast forward to 1997 and the band had controversially signed to EMI having left indie label One Little Indian. The decision was viewed with mistrust at best and open hostility at worst from their fanbase and peers with accusations of hypocrisy levelled at them not least because they had recorded songs criticising the conglomerate in the past including contributing to a compilation album called “Fuck EMI”. Hmm. Chumbawamba’s stance was that the move would allow them to take their political messages to a wider audience. That was achieved and then some with “Tubthumping”. It spent three consecutive weeks at No 2 and a further eight inside the Top 10. How did they do it? By coming up with a track that crossed over massively. With its terrace chant chorus and lyrics about drinking, it appealed to the ‘lad culture’ who couldn’t have cared less about the band’s anarcho-communist political views because you could shout it as you stumbled from one bar to another on a pub crawl at the weekend and that was all mattered. Obviously, this move to the mainstream risked alienating their original fanbase but the I guess the band deemed it worth it. It was an irresistible, once heard never forgotten track which had enough going on in it to ensure it wasn’t just a lowest common denominator, appeal to the masses tune. There’s an excerpt from Brassed Off in the intro and a sample of “Trumpet Voluntary” by Jeremiah Clarke in the trumpet solo for a start.

For this performance, the band had to compromise even further by agreeing not to sing the word “Pissin’” in the lyric “Pissin’ the night away” so were left with an uncomfortable gap instead. Talking of the lyrics, I read that it was such a big hit in the US as well (No 6) because American audiences had misheard the words “I get knocked down” as “I get No Doubt” and thought it was some sort of tribute record to the “Don’t Speak” hitmakers. I would say that can’t be true but then America did vote in Donald Trump as their president. Twice. In fact, I’m surprised he didn’t try and use it to soundtrack his campaign. He’s too stupid to understand that the song is actually for and about working class people and their resilience in the face of adversity.

There were some ropey old boy bands in the 90s of which I would include OTT and when I say ‘ropey’, I literally mean ‘money for old rope’. The sheer audacity of their record label Epic to think they could launch this lot to global stardom on the back of some uninspired choices of cover versions. Having had their first hit with a cover of “Let Me In” by The Osmonds (blatantly copying Boyzone’s initial route into the charts), they went there again with a cover of a classic MOR ballad – Air Supply’s “All Out Of Love”. What a lazy, banal and uninventive way to go. In the 2001 film Rock Star, Mark Wahlberg’s character (a singer in a rock tribute band) argues with his brother about their differing musical tastes. Whilst he is into heavy rock, he chastises his brother for liking Air Supply. I think that says it all.

The staging of this performance with the studio audience all sat down on the floor cross-legged, gazing up at the four dullards in front of them reminds me of junior school assemblies. Watching OTT is about as much fun as those assemblies. Only two of the four band members sing solo parts while the other two just do the nerd shuffle on either end of the line up. When there’s the “what are you thinking of?” break down towards the song’s conclusion, one of the ‘singers’ does some weird arm movements like he’s cracking a whip or something. It looks really odd and jarring which is also how I’d describe the decision to call these berks OTT as there is nothing ‘over the top’ about them at all – they couldn’t have been more bland and safe.

Two years on from their No 1 single “Dreamer” and Livin’ Joy were commendably still having Top 20 hits though “Deep In You” would be the last. I’m not sure I would have predicted that continuation of chart success back in 1995 years especially for a dance act when the hits were more about the track than the artist. Tellingly though, despite the presence of five hits on it, Livin’ Joy could not shift significant quantities of their only album “Don’t Stop Movin’” which would peak at No 41 in the charts.

OK, so I have to mention the elephant in the room here which is why is singer Tameko Star wearing what appear to be a pair of marigolds throughout the performance? She looks like she should be cleaning the bathroom rather than singing on TOTP. More ‘Deep In The Loo’ than “Deep In You”.

Here’s a comeback I’m guessing we’d all forgotten about – the return of Dannii Minogue. Or should that be just ‘Dannii’? As part of her relaunch, there seems to have been a deliberate attempt to rebrand her with just her first name in the style of Madonna, Cher and…well…her sister Kylie. I’m not sure Dannii would ever be that famous as to only require her first name although, to be fair, how many other people called Dannii do you know or can think of? Looking back through her discography (which took longer than I would have imagined), it appears that this one name promotion of her had actually started all the way back to her first few single releases judging by their artwork. In Australia, it seems her records were always billed as being by just ‘Dannii’ whereas in the UK she was Dannii Minogue at least initially. However, just a handful of singles in and there was parity between the territories. There seemed to be a definite strategy in place for her return in 1997 to reinforce the Dannii only moniker – the TOTP caption doesn’t include her surname and Sarah Cawood refers to her as just ‘Dannii’.

Nomenclatures aside, her last hit had been the very minor “Get Into You” way back in 1994 so where had she been all this time? Well, she’d got married and subsequently divorced in the space of just two years which had taken its emotional toll on her. She modelled nude for Playboy (I’m sure there were also nude calendars as we were selling them in the Our Price store where I worked) and returned to TV co- hosting Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast show. By 1997, she pursued a return to music and if her name wasn’t any different then her comeback single was. Dannii’s biggest hits in the UK to this point had been covers of disco songs like “Jump To The Beat” and “This Is It” and although “All I Wanna Do” was a dance track, it sure wasn’t disco. This was Hi-NRG with a relentless (if repetitive) chorus that aligned itself well with her new adult and deliberately sexualised image. The TOTP performance plays into that with her movements shown in almost slow motion at some points and a couple of knowing winks to the camera. The single would debut and peak at No 4 but it couldn’t stimulate sales of parent album “Girl” which stalled at No 57. However, she would return in 2003 with gold selling album “Neon Nights”.

Next up are a Welsh band who, like their peers Manic Street Preachers, are still going to this day. In fact, there are a few parallels between the Manics and Stereophonics besides their nationalities – they’ve both released double figures amount of albums, they both play a brand of alternative (for want of a better word) rock music and both are referred to incorrectly using a definite article on occasion though, as I have done, Manic Street Preachers are often referred to as The Manics. On that point, I once worked with someone that insisted that Stereophonics was pronounced phonetically as ‘Steree-off-ernics” but he was a bit of a prat.

Anyway, “A Thousand Trees” was the second Top 40 hit for Stereophonics after “More Life In A Tramp’s Vest” earlier in the year and was another great example of the storytelling ability of Kelly Jones. A tale of how rumours in a small town environment can destroy a person’s reputation, I love the metaphor of matches and trees in the lyrics which Jones cleverly inverts to make his point. Parent album “Word Gets Around” was released the Monday after this TOTP aired and I remember putting it straight back on the shop stereo even though we’d just played it as I wanted to hear it again – I wasn’t disappointed. There’s some great songs on there; not just the singles but album tracks as well like my personal favourite “Check My Eyelids For Holes”. I bought the album and the follow up “Performance And Cocktails” but I’d kind of lost sight of them after third album “Just Enough Education To Perform”. I should probably update my knowledge of the rest of their back catalogue though there is a lot of it to go at with a new album due in April 2025 to boot!

As for this performance, I’m left asking the question of whether there was a problem with security in the TOTP studio around this time. After the crowd invasion of the stage when Oasis were on the other week, this time a lone youth seems to spring from out of the audience to jump around (rather uncooly) behind Kelly Jones before disappearing back into the crowd. Was that planned? If not, where were the floor managers/studio security? The show’s reputation was at stake – I’m surprised that Jones didn’t write a song about that!

And just like that, the first era of Mark Owen’s solo career was over. It took less than a year from the release of his debut single post-Take That for it took come off the rails and was emphatically demonstrated by his solo single “I Am What I Am” (not that one) peaking at a lowly No 29. Now, you could argue that this wasn’t the harbinger of doom that I’m making it out to be given that it was the third track taken from his album “Green Man” that had been out for eight months by this point. However, the album hadn’t sold well peaking at No 33 so the suggestion that punters might not have bought the single because they already had the album doesn’t really hold water. Presumably the diminishing sales caused tension between Owen’s label RCA and their artist as “I Am What I Am” has originally been earmarked to be the fourth single released from “Green Man” but a fourth single never appeared and Mark was subsequently dropped. I said earlier the ‘first era’ of his solo career as Owen would return to it six years later with the interesting single “Four Minute Warning” which peaked at No 4. Although album sales continued to be sparse, his fifth album “Land Of Dreams” released in 2022 would go Top 5 and in any case, his solo career was running in parallel with the second coming of Take That from 2006 onwards.

As for “I Am What I Am” specifically, it’s a decent enough little tune but listening to it feels to me like watching my beloved Chelsea play currently – you think they should be better than they are and you’re constantly waiting for them to make something happen and they never do (you win matches by scoring goals lads not by having loads of possession).

I mentioned earlier the connections between Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers but the former also has one with this band – Suede. Well, sort of. There’s probably a few but the one I’m thinking of is that they both had hits with very similar titles. In 2004, Stereophonics took “Moviestar” to No 5 while back in 1997, Suede went to No 9 with “Filmstar” – ‘movie’ or ‘film’…what’s the difference? This was the fifth and final single from “Coming Up” (who did they think they were? George Michael? Michael Jackson?) and it was another example of that more accessible sound that had run through the album. Built around one of Richard Oakes’s favourite guitar riffs, its chart peak of No 9 meant that all five of the singles from “Coming Up” had gone Top 10 (maybe they were George Michael and Michael Jackson!). In this performance, keyboard player Neil Codling seems to do very little, at some points sitting there with his hands idle looking meaningfully at the camera. Who did he think he was? Brian Jones incarnate?

Will Smith remains at No 1 with “Men In Black” and his intro piece from the other week is recycled with Smith superimposed over the start of the video again. It would stay at the top for four weeks becoming the sixth best selling single in the UK that year. The film of the same name was also a smash hit with opening weekend box office receipts of $51 million making it the third highest grossing opening weekend ever at the time. I caught the movie at the cinema and enjoyed it for what it was though I don’t think I’ve ever watched any of its three sequels. There was also two soundtrack albums released – a score by composer Danny Elfman and a collection of songs by R&B and hip hop artists such as De La Soul, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Alicia Keys and Destiny’s Child as well as two tracks by Smith himself. Despite only the title track actually featuring in the film, the album was a huge success in the US going to No 1 and selling over three million copies. It sold more conservatively over here reaching gold status for 100,000 units shifted.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1ChumbawambaTupthumpingYES!
2OTTAll Out Of LoveAs if
3Livin’ JoyDeep In YouNope
4Dannii MinogueAll I Wanna DoNegative
5StereophonicsA Thousand TreesNo but I had the album
6Mark OwenI Am What I AmNah
7SuedeFilmstarSee 5 above
8Will SmithMen In BlackNo

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/m00293qb/top-of-the-pops-22081997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 15 AUG 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

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 appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Meredith BrooksBitchNo
2Wet Wet WetYesterdayI did not
3Olive OutlawNope
4Mary J. BligeEverythingNah
5The WildheartsAnthemNegative
6RobynDo You Know (What It Takes)Another no
5Kym MazelleYoung Hearts Run FreeDidn’t happen
8Will SmithMen In BlackAnd 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