Billie

TOTP 06 NOV 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

We’ve got through the October TOTP repeats and the end of the year is finally appearing upon the horizon and not a moment too soon – 1998 has been a real slog. Our host is Kate Thornton who seems to have styled her hair on Billie’s barnet but more of her later. We start though with Alanis Morissette whose video for her hit “Thank U” we saw on the previous show. There was no way the BBC would have let her recreate her look from that promo what with her being naked and all so she’s gone for pigtails and…well…clothes for this appearance. I have to say that her song’s lyrics includes some of the most eloquent words ever to appear in a hit record. Look at these:

  • Disillusionment
  • Frailty
  • Consequence
  • Masochistic
  • Divinity
  • Unabashedly

However, my favourite lyric is “transparent dangling carrots” which could also be a description of those pigtails of hers. However, she then spoils it all by wailing the following in the outro…

Yeah, yeah
Oh, oh, oh
Yeah, oh, oh
Yeah, oh, oh, whoa
Yeah, no, oh, oh

No, oh, oh, oh
No, oh, no, oh
No, oh, no, no
No, oh
No, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Ooh

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Glen Ballard / Alanis Nadine Morissette

Thank U lyrics © Universal Music Corp., 1974 Music, Arlovol Music

Oh. And indeed no. Or yeah.

Ah, it’s the aforementioned Billie and she does indeed have hair that looks like Kate Thornton’s or is it the other way around? Billie is here to perform her former No 1 single “Girlfriend” and when I say former I mean literally about a month ago. So why is she back on the show now that she’s at No 10 in the charts? I can only assume it’s because her single has remained at No 10 for two consecutive weeks. “Do you have a minute?” Billie sings. No, not really. Not after all this time. I can’t give you one minute more. Sorry. Next!

If I thought Billie was in overkill territory, how do I describe the decision to feature “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith again?! Excessive? Or just plain ridiculous? By my reckoning, this was its ninth week on the chart and it had just dropped from No 7 to No 8 having been as high as No 4 a month before. In terms of its appearances on TOTP, this was its fourth of five meaning yes, executive producer Chris Cowey wasn’t done with the song yet. Once more it’s that satellite performance that is shown presumably because of all the TOTP branding that can be seen all over the stage – Cowey was trying to sell the show into other territories around this time. As for our theme of female hairstyles, has any male rock star’s locks looked more like a woman’s than Steven Tyler?

What on earth is going on here?! Kate Thornton has just propositioned a young woman to go to bed with her! WTF?! Well, yes, precisely. It’s all to do with the next hit song in the show which is “Would You…?” by Touch And Go. The story behind this one is that Touch And Go were a jazz pop ensemble led by one David Lowe who would go on to forge a career composing music for television, radio and commercials including the theme tune to the BBC News and has worked on such shows as The One Show, Panorama, Cash In The Attic and Grand Designs. In 1998 though, he was behind this almost novelty single which took a Herb Alpert trumpet solo and added the flat toned voice of a woman speaking the lines “I’ve noticed you around / I find you very attractive / Would you go to bed with me?”, hence the intro from Kate Thornton. It’s all rather bizarre but the sort of strange curio that could often flummox the UK record buying public into shelling out its hard earned cash to purchase it. And buy it they did, 200,000 copies worth to send it to No 3. Designed to be the ultimate icebreaker for supposedly reserved and tongue-twisted types in nightclubs (surely not!), its lyrics were inspired by a 1978 psychological study. If that’s piqued your interest, then here’s @TOTPFacts with the story behind the statement:

Those results remind me of an interview with Paddy McGuinness who said of the game show Take Me Out which he presented that they had to have women picking a man as if it had been the other way round, all the men would have just kept their lights on permanently.

It might have escaped your attention with everything else going on in the world (it did mine) but just last month one Prakazrel Samuel Michel was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Well, put like that it might not ring any bells but what if I said Pras of hip hop group the Fugees was sent down on criminal conspiracy charges for alleged illegal donations to President Barack Obama 2012 presidential re-election campaign? Yep, that’s the attention grabbing headline. Back in 1998 though, Pras was onto his second solo hit after the hugely successful “Ghetto Superstar” (That Is What You Are)”. After interpolating “Islands In The Stream” for that track, he once again used some very familiar source material as the basis for “Blue Angels” by sampling “Grease” by Frankie Valli. For me, this didn’t work nearly as well as its predecessor. It just didn’t have that immediate hook that pulled in pop and rap fans alike. There’s some very verbose rapping going in which somehow manages to reference the Bosley character from the Charlie’s Angels TV series which must be a first. However, by the end, as so often happens with these rap performances on the show, it descends into the artist shouting “wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care”. I bet Pras dreams of being so carefree in his current situation.

For me, one of the more surprising success stories of 1998 was Another Level. Yes, you could argue that although we’d had loads of boy bands in the UK during the 90s, we hadn’t had many with an R’n’B slant so maybe there was a gap in the market? On the other hand, there had been many a US R’n’B boy band in our charts and, indeed, we had one British example of the genre in Damage so was there room for another one? There proved to be at least another level needed on the UK R’n’B boy band car park and it was taken by…erm…those Another Level boys. Having already had two big hits this year (including the No 1 “Freak Me” no less), a third was always on the cards and so, just in time for the Christmas market, a ballad was released. Cynical? Maybe. Guaranteed sales? Certainly. Having said that, “Guess I Was A Fool” only spent four weeks on the Top 40 and just one inside the Top 10. Maybe that was because we’d seen the likes of this track all before done much better by groups like Boyz II Men whom Another Level seemed to be doing their best impression of here. A handful of hits would follow in 1999 for the AL boys but the game was up by the new millennium as they failed to progress to the next level (I’ll stop now).

The era of M People is nearly through but unlike the near title of that book by Edgar Rice Burroughs and subsequent 1977 film, I don’t think it has been a case of ‘The M People That Time Forgot’ (ahem). Nineteen charting singles in seven years plus three Top 3 albums is a pretty decent legacy to leave behind. Sure, not every one of those nineteen hits was a top drawer banger (anyone for their cover of “Itchycoo Park”? Thought not) but some of them were the most memorable hits of the whole decade. I’m thinking “One Night In Heaven”, “Moving On Up”, “Search For The Hero” etc but by the end of their run, some of the hits didn’t quite match up to their predecessors. Take “Testify” for example. Released as a new track to promote their first Best Of album, it’s not terrible but it’s not terrific either. My sixteen year old son would describe it as “meh” or “mid” I’m sure. I’m not sure that the title being a legal term and all is particularly suitable for a ballad or maybe it is. After all, a couple getting married to prove their love to each other also creates a legal contract in law between them. Maybe I’m just remembering it being used by Smash Hits magazine to describe the likes of Billy Idol pulling a fist clench move in concert and describing it as “testifying on stage”. “Testify” was the 18th of those 19 hits peaking at No 12 meaning that there might just be one final appearance for the group to come.

P. S. Whilst we’re talking about women’s hairstyles (as we were), mention must go to Heather Small and her various (mostly towering) looks that she has spotted down the years. Quite remarkable.

Cher is No 1 for a second week of seven with “Believe”. So, I guess we should address the issue of her vocals. Much was made in the press at the time that it was due to a vocoder which was a reasonable claim given its previous usage in music production. As far back as 1969, Sly and the Family Stone used it on a song on the album “Strand!” before electronic pioneers Kraftwerk took up the mantle alongside experimental jazz fusionist Herbie Hancock. Come the 90s, French electronic music duo Daft Punk consistently used the vocoder in their work so it didn’t seem too much of a stretch that it could feature on a global smash albeit from an unlikely source in Cher. However, that wasn’t actually true. The vocal effect had been achieved using the extreme settings of Antares Autotune, pitch correction software designed to correct sharp or flat notes in vocal performances. Keen to keep their technological discovery to themselves, the produces made the vocoder claim. However, the manual for subsequent releases of the software refer to that use of it as ‘The Cher Effect’.

After last weeks host Jamie Theakston referred to Cher as being no spring chicken but remaining a game old bird (or something like that), Kate Thornton doubles down on the ageist remarks by pointing out that the singer (no stranger to a variety of hairstyles herself down the years) was still two years older than her Mum. Was there meant to be a compliment in there Kate? If so, I’m not sure that there was.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Alanis Morissette Thank UNo
2BillieGirlfriendIt’s a no
3AerosmithI Don’t Want To Miss A ThingI did not
4Touch And GoWould You…?”No thanks
5PrasBlue AngelsNope
6Another LevelGuess I Was A FoolNever
7M PeopleTestifyNah
8CherBelieveAnd 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/m002ms9d/top-of-the-pops-06111998

TOTP 23 OCT 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

On the day this particular TOTP aired, Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown was sentenced to four months in prison for threatening behaviour towards an air stewardess and banging on the cockpit door on a British Airways flight from Paris. He would serve two months in Strangeways. Manchester. While he was inside, Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield sent Brown a box of Maltesers and a note saying “Hope everything is OK”. It was a typically sweet gesture from Mani who passed away on the 20 November this year aged just 63. Generally regarded as one of the good guys in a sometimes dirty industry, his death was treated with shock and genuine sadness by music fans everywhere. As such, it seems timely to tell this story. For a number of years I worked in Our Price with the Stone Roses original bassist, the late, great Pete Garner and various members of the band would pop in to see Pete including Ian Brown and Mani. One time, one infamous time, Mani, who was always a down to earth gent and never played up to his rock star name, after queuing with the rest of the lunchtime punters, approached the counter with every Primal Scream album we had in stock and, with that wicked smile of his said “Gotta new band init”.* RIP Mani.

*Thanks to Paul Manina who remembers this story better than me and from whom I copied some of the details via his Facebook post.

In TOTP world back in October 1998, Jamie Theakston was out host, introducing the usual mixed bag of pop, rock and dance tunes so I guess I should get on with it. We start with 911 who we last saw on the beach at Cannes performing “More Than A Woman” on the previous show. There they were on a tiny stage with three dancers all jostling for space and screen time but in the TOTP studio, the production had been scaled up big time with a whopping ten dancers on stage with the band – four behind them and six on a lower level right at the front of the stage. It looks a slightly odd arrangement as if there’s a bit too much going on to take it all in at once. Also odd looking is Lee’s spiky hair. Didn’t Boyzone’s Ronan Keating sport that style some four years prior? C’mon Lee, keep up!

The next artist also has a legion of people up there on stage with him (well, seven* anyway). Cliff Richard had started the 90s with a No 1 in “Saviour’s Day” and he would end them with another chart topper in the very decisive “Millennium Prayer”. In between those hits though, this wasn’t his most successful decade. Stats-wise, that would seem to be a churlish statement as he racked up 19 Top 40 hits including seven Top Tenners. However, how many of them can you remember apart from those No 1s? Looking at the list, there a few cover versions, three singles from the poorly received Heathcliff musical all of which underperformed and a completely forgettable theme song from a completely forgettable BBC drama (Trainer anyone?) with lyrics written by Mike Read! We’d all be forgiven for forgetting any of these.

I was about to include this one – “Can’t Keep This Feeling In” – in the above list of forgettable Cliff hits and I’d be justified based on its completely lacklustre, nay positively dull sound but then, when reading up on it, I remembered that there was something else to this particular release, something (whisper it) almost interesting. Fed up of being blacklisted from UK radio stations airplay plans for reasons of perceived ageism, Sir Cliff released a dance version of “Can’t Keep This Feeling In” and distributed it to 240 radio stations under the name Blacklight. Response to the track was very positive and led to it being play-listed by stations such as Choice FM and Kiss 100. When it was revealed to the press who was actually behind the track, the radio stations who had championed it continued to play it and Cliff had made his point. Well played Sir!

*Yes, one of them was that bloke from Modern Romance who had been with Cliff for at least 10 years and whose mane of hair looked exactly the same as it did back then. At least Lee from 911 was only four years out of date.

What was it about 1998 and Swedish pop acts? Look at this lot…

  • Ace Of Base
  • Deetah
  • Eagle-Eye Cherry
  • Robyn
  • The Cardigans

Add to that list Meja who was in the charts with a song that I swear I’ve never heard in my life before. “All ‘Bout The Money” was, however, “one of the catchiest songs in the charts” according to Jamie Theakston and he wasn’t wrong. However, having a catchy hook isn’t always a clear indication of quality especially when said hook consists of the ‘lyrics’ “dum dum da da da dum”! Seriously?! She couldn’t find anything else to fit there?! It’s surely not slang for ‘money’ is it? Was it a Swedish thing? Well, there was a Swedish rapper known as Melodie MC who had a hit over Europe in 1993 called “Dum Da Dum” so maybe it was. Or perhaps Meja was adapting perhaps the most famous ‘da da da DUM’ in musical history for the basis of her song – that of the opening four note motif of Beethoven’s Symphony No 5? Listen again to the intro of “All ‘Bout The Money” – is that actually a clever manipulation of Beethoven’s work? It might just be as it reoccurred throughout the track. After all, Sweden can claim to having given the world the masters of intelligently crafted pop in ABBA…

Ay up, this is new! Theakston casually wanders into the show’s backstage area to give us plebs a look at what the rock and pop royalty get up to either pre or post performance. Surely this was a set up and not natural as we see 911 sharing a sofa with Billie and Cher whilst Phil Collins is shown deep in conversation with Cliff Richard. Now Cher and Phil Collins weren’t actually on this particular show though I’m guessing the latter was there to pre-record a performance of her single “Believe” which would *SPOILER* be at No 1 the following week. As for Collins, I’ve got nothing. He did release a single at the start of the month – a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colours” to promote a Greatest Hits album. That only got to No 26 though and didn’t manage a TOTP appearance. Maybe he’d been recording some sort of Phil Collins special for the BBC? It’s all very unconvincing.

Anyway, someone who wasn’t backstage in person but who delivered an intro to the video for his band’s new single was REM’s Michael Stipe. After riding the peak of their commercial popularity since the dawn of the 90s beginning with “”Out Of Time”, by the middle of the decade their sales had started to wane as had my interest in them. 1996’s “New Adventures In Hi-Fi” had topped charts around the globe but it just didn’t shift the units that its predecessors had especially in the US. Given that scenario, was there a lot riding on the release of “Up”? Not according to the band themselves who said that they didn’t expect anything from sales and that they didn’t judge the quality of a record by them. Probably just as well as “Up” didn’t reverse the trend. The first album recorded without drummer Bill Berry who had left the band after suffering a cerebral aneurysm and the first since 1986’s “Life’s Rich Pageant” not to be produced by Scott Litt, it was generally well received critically but with the caveat that it was a hard listen for those with just a casual interest in the band whereas a more committed REM fan would find reward in it after repeated plays.

The track chosen as the lead single to promote the album (against the band’s wishes) was “Daysleeper”. Written about the plight of night workers and the effect on their body clocks of the hours that they keep, it had that distinctive Peter Buck guitar sound but doesn’t really have that much substance to it to my ears. Still, any song that can get the phrase “circadian rhythm” into its lyrics can’t be completely dismissed. And yes, I did quite like the stop-frame video Michael.

Nothing was going to stop Billie being in the TOTP studio this time. Not the illness that prevented her being there last week (“she’s fitter than a butcher’s dog” a rather un-PC Theakston says of the 16 year old in his intro) and certainly not the fact that she’s dropped from No 1 to No 3 in the charts thanks to executive producer Chris Cowey’s appearance policy.

Now, is it just me or does “Girlfriend” sound a bit like “Party In The U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus? Just me? Then what about that “shooby dooby doop” intro? No, I’m not thinking of that Meja song from earlier. It’s on the top of my tongue but I can’t quite place it….

….got it! It’s this lesser known Betty Boo track…

What do I know about Dru Hill? Barely anything to the point that I thought that this single – “How Deep Is Your Love” – must have been yet another Bee Gees cover to add to the litany of them that littered the charts at this time. However, it isn’t though I’m wishing that it was. This really isn’t/wasn’t my bag and my opinion was not going to be changed by this ludicrous performance by lead singer Mark ‘SisQó’ Andrewsand yes, I didn’t know he was the SisQóof “Thong Song” fame untilIjustreaditonWikipedia. Why is he wearing a leather visor on his head and why does he have it pulled down so far down that it completely obscures his face? Still, it’s nothing compared to his flamboyant appearance of the silver hair and bright red leather jacket and strides outfit of his “Thong Song” era. Watching him here, it’s clear he wanted to be the main man out on his own – he literally leapfrogs over one of his band mates to get to the front of the stage at one point although I get the impression it was rehearsed and he lowered his back deliberately. How deep is your love? More like how low can you go?

And now to one of the more controversial pop moments of the year sparked by perhaps the most controversial moment – the video for “Outside” by George Michael. Directed by Vaughan Arnell, it was a clear retaliation to George’s arrest for engaging in a lewd act in April by an undercover sting operation in a public toilet in Beverly Hills, California. The incident led to Michael’s outing of his sexuality. Featuring various people both gay and straight engaging in kissing, foreplay or having sex all in public places (the titular “Outside”), it also has Michael himself dressed as an LAPD cop dancing in a toilet which becomes a nightclub complete with flashing lights and disco balls. There was no doubt what was going on here nor the point George was making. Just to absolutely make sure he rammed it home, there’s a scene at the video’s end where two male police officers kiss unaware that they have been caught on camera before the very final shot pops the cherry on top with a neon sign saying ‘Jesus Saves’ before the words “…all of us. All” appear on screen. Wow!

I’m surprised that they got away with some of the scenes being shown pre-watershed (there appears to be some cunnilingus going on during one shot and it did feature a couple of porn actresses!) – did Theakston’s words “It’s not quite a blue movie but it will raise a few eyebrows” in his intro have to be very tightly scripted so as to warn but not offend? I’m not sure what the reference to not being able to show the full video last night was all about but it certainly did ruffle a few feathers including those of one Marcelo Rodriguez, the police officer who had arrested Michael as he claimed the video was mocking him and sued for $10 million. Ultimately his claim was dismissed with the judgement stating that Rodriguez, as a public official, could not legally recover damages for emotional distress.

If ever there was a moment that showed the influence dance music had on the charts in the mid to late 90s, surely this was it. 911 had been predicted to be No 1 this week and was in that position in the midweek chart. However, they were overtaken by a track that was essentially the soundtrack of a keep fit class down your local gym. How did this happen and why? I can give you the back story to the first part of that question but as to the second part, I’m at a loss for an answer.

The origins of “Gym And Tonic” by Spacedust lay not with the protagonists who had a hit with the record but with someone else entirely. French record producer and DJ Christophe Le Friant aka Bob Sinclair, together with Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, came up with the track “Gymtonic” that sampled “Arms”, a workout recording by the actress Jane Fonda who forged a second career in the 80s with her Jane Fonda Workout series of keep fit videos. Once aware of the existence of Sinclair’s track, Fonda’s lawyers refused to give clearance for her vocals to be sampled. A deal was eventually reached which allowed for “Gymtonic” to be included on Sinclair’s album “Paradise” but not to be released as a single. The track had been much sought after in the UK after being played in the clubs in Europe in the Summer but the only way to get hold of it was by purchasing an import copy of the “Paradise” album. Enter British production duo Paul Glancy and Duncan Glasson to the story. Sensing there was a big hit to be had if they could only find a way past the legal straightjacket that was restraining distribution of the track, they hit upon the idea of basically doing a cover version of the Bob Sinclair original but with a session vocalist doing the Jane Fonda parts. With the copyright hurdles negotiated, a single release followed under the pseudonym of Spacedust and with a demand for the track already established, a huge hit was assured.

So, that’s the story behind the release but as for the ‘song’…well, it’s not really worthy of being described as such. Keep fit class music at No 1? How on earth did this happen? I think timing might have something to do with it – the single was the lowest selling No 1 of the year with it trailing in position No 109 in the year end chart of 1998. It can’t have been anything to do with the video which, intended as an homage to the exercise workout videos of the 80s, it was made with a budget of just £10,000 and guess what? It just ended up looking cheap. Quite who the dancers are that we see on stage for this TOTP appearance, I haven’t a clue. Specifically hired jobbing dancers? The lead dancer looks a bit like Claire from Steps. Was that intentional? Nothing about this release made any sense except for maybe that 911 were so poor that they lost out to the worst selling No 1 of the year with one of the worst videos of all time. What did that say about them?

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1911More Than A WomanNO!
2Cliff RichardCan’t Keep This Feeling InThere was more chance of me having that year’s Christmas No 1
3MejaAll ‘Bout The MoneyNah
4REMDaysleeperNo
5BillieGirlfriendNope
6Dru HillHow Deep Is Your LoveNot my bag at all
7George MichaelOutsideI did not
8SpacedustGym And TonicNever!

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/m002mggl/top-of-the-pops-23101998

TOTP 16 OCT 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

I ended the last post with the statement that pop was definitely back in 1998 having laid claim to the notion that many of artists who’d had the biggest and most hit singles that year had been almost defiantly of a pop nature. B*Witched, Billie, 911, Cleopatra and Five were just some of the names I mentioned. Well, as if they were forming an orderly queue to prove my point and say “Yes, he’s right”, three of those acts are featured in this show.

Our host is Jayne Middlemiss and we start with what was fast becoming a TOTP tradition let alone a practice – that of starting the show with last week’s No 1 which had now been deposed. I can’t comment about this anymore as I’m boring myself let alone any regular readers of the blog. All I will say is that this means we start the show with “Rollercoaster” by B*Witched who are “staying on for one more ride” says Middlemiss so that explains that executive producer policy decision then. Much is made of the group’s double denim fashion item of choice but for this single, they also employed an unlikely accessory in the form of boxing gloves which are utilised both in the promo video (which we don’t get to see) when they box a strongman in a fair’s boxing ring and on the front cover of the single. Well, they did say they fight like their da’s.

Why are we back in The Riviera again?! After Billie performed in Cannes Beach in the last show, we’re back in the exact same spot with the exact same stage seven days later. Were the BBC trying to sell TOTP to a foreign broadcaster or something at the Cannes TV festival? You know, I don’t think that’s a bad shout actually. On the Top Of The Pops Wikipedia page, it says that executive producer Chris Cowey was actively looking to export the brand overseas with localised versions of the show on air in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Italy by the end of his tenure in 2003.

So if that’s what the Beeb was up to, which artist had they got lined up to promote the show? A big name surely? Oh…911…is that right? 911…the trio of a Dec Donnelly lookalike and two dancers who look like bouncers or extras from Brookside? That’s who they went with? OK then. In their defence, they were in the middle of a run of ten consecutive Top 10 hits which was maintained by their cover of “More Than A Woman” which gave them their then biggest hit when it charted at No 2. Originally recorded for a Bee Gees tribute album, it would also serve as the lead single from the group’s third studio album called “There It Is”. A pretty faithful rendition of a song that was recorded by the Bee Gees and Tavares on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, it did whiff a bit of jumping on the bandwagon when you consider how many other artists had turned to that album for a hit around this time. N-Trance, Adam Garcia, Take That, Kim Wilde and Tina Turner had all gone down that route. Buoyed by the success of their decision to join them, 911 would repeat the trick for their next single which was a cover of Dr. Hook’s “A Little Bit More” which actually got them to No 1.

Watching this Cannes Beach performance, the stage looks a bit overcrowded what with the three lads and three female backing dancers all throwing some shapes in a confined space. Indeed, said backing dancers seem to determined to elbow themselves into camera shot. If the performance was meant to create a buzz around the show then an assembled crowd of eight (presumably paid) women in TOTP T-shirts huddled together in front of the stage didn’t really achieve that.

I’ve said it before but here I am saying it again – are Garbage one of the most underestimated bands of this era? Sure, they had a good run of hit singles including six inside the Top 10 and a No 1, multi platinum album but do they get the credit they deserve? Do they routinely get mentioned as one of the top bands of this era? Maybe I should be directing this question at myself as I did pretty much ignore them apart from the big hits back in the day. I really must investigate their back catalogue more. Take “Special” for example. The third single from “Version 2.0”, I don’t remember it at all but it’s a cracking track that with a retro yet up-to-date sound that even references “Talk Of The Town” by The Pretenders in its outro (they did get personal clearance from Christie Hynde for its use). Then there’s Shirley Manson who is magnificent as the lead singer but is she regularly mentioned when there’s any discussion of the best front people of a rock band? I’m not sure she is. The band themselves are still recording and releasing new material so they possibly don’t welcome being talked about in the past tense but the name of this blog is TOTP Rewind so I’m afraid they’ll have to live with that. I’m a ‘special’ interest blogger as it were.

From one female fronted band to another as The Cardigans return with brand new material and a brand new sound. After the quirky but insanely catchy singalong that was “Lovefool” the previous year, the Swedish indie-pop outfit were back with a much harder style in the form of “My Favourite Game”, lead single from their fourth studio album “Gram Turismo”. Built around a recurring two note guitar riff, it fair stomps along until it stops to draw breath whilst Nina Persson teases out the “I’m losing my favourite game, your losing your mind again” lyrics that create an unlikely hook. It almost shouldn’t work as a track as it shuns established song structure but work it does and then some. Persson looks effortlessly cool up there on stage in this performance with her peroxide blond hair backlit by the studio lights making her look more like Debbie Harry than Debbie Harry did in the late 90s. They would follow “My Favourite Game” with another strong single in “Erase/Rewind”’ paving the way for the album to sell three million copies worldwide.

After Brandy last week, it’s time for her partner in crime Monica to re-establish her solo career this time in the wake of the huge success of their duet “The Boy Is Mine”. I couldn’t be doing with Brandy’s song at all but I’m finding myself a little bit more predisposed to Monica’s. A very little bit. A tiny bit. I believe that is because “The First Night” samples Diana Ross’s marvellous “Love Hangover”. Yes, that must be it as there’s not much else to recommend it although my eyes were drawn to Monica’s two backing dancers. No, not for any salacious reasons but because of the high octane dance moves that they’re busting (or something). Maybe they’re so noticeable because Monica only half joins in with them (sometimes) or maybe it’s because the studio audience, who are crammed together in a semi circle around the small stage area, only have room to perform a half-hearted nerd shuffle behind the dancers.

Unless you’re a superfan (and I’m sure they do exist), for the wider population, Natalie Imbruglia is always going to be predominantly known for one song – “Torn”. It’s really unfair and dismissive but it’s true even though she has released six studio albums and eighteen singles over the course of her music career. One of those singles was “Smoke”, the fourth and final single to be lifted from her debut album “Left Of The Middle”. Now this potentially had a lot going for it – intriguing, dramatic and atmospheric but it takes an age to get going and when it does it has an identity crisis. There’s shades of Tori Amos to it but when the strings kick in, it seems to have Bond theme pretensions. I couldn’t really get on with the “what’s up with that?” lyric either. It strikes me that it’s more of an album track than a single.

In 2007, Natalie released a Best Of album called “Glorious: The Singles 97-07” which would seem to dispute my claim about her only being remembered for one song especially as it went Top 5 and achieved gold sales status. However, of the 15 tracks on the album, five of them were new songs which kind of undermines the point of a Best Of collection no?

The time of Fat Boy Slim is upon us. I purposely didn’t use the name Norman Cook as the time of Norman Cook had been with us since about 1986 in his various guises. The Housemartins, Beats International, Freak Power, Pizzaman, The Mighty Dub Katz and then perhaps his most famous incarnation Fat Boy Slim. Even then, that particular alias had been with us a while. There had already been one Fat Boy Slim album – 1996’s “Better Living Through Chemistry” – although it had failed to make much of an impression chart-wise. Then in June of 1998, the single “Rockefeller Skank” had gone Top 10 though I don’t remember it featuring in any TOTP shows for some reason (Chris Cowey was probably still obsessing with Five or someone). However, when “Gangster Trippin’” came out and went straight to No 3, then we all had to stand up and take note. Parent album “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby” was released the Monday after this TOTP aired and would debut at No 2 which was impressive enough. However, it exploded early in 1999 in the wake of the “Praise You” single going to No 1 and subsequently the album would match that achievement with four consecutive weeks at the top.

Before that though we have “Gangster Trippin’”, a track immediately recognisable as Fat Boy Slim but obviously made up of lots (and lots!) of samples of other people’s work including DJ Shadow and Dust Junkys both of whom were favourites of some of my much hipper than me Our Price work colleagues. Mention must be made of the Norman Cook cameo in the introduction to the video for the track (yes, a rare actual video in the Chris Cowey era). Voicing an intro from behind a cardboard cut out of the kid from the album cover, Cook confirms my earlier suspicion that he hadn’t been on the show before under the Fat Boy Slim moniker by saying it was his first TOTP appearance. That kid from the album cover is a bit of a mystery. The iconic photograph of him was taken at the 1983 Fat People’s Festival in Danville, Virginia and provided by the Rex Features photo library. His identity though remains a mystery despite many attempts by Cook over the years to find him in order to remunerate him for the use of his image. As for the video itself, it’s essentially just a load of furniture being blown up shown from different angles and in slow motion. Well, it was directed by Roman Coppola, son of Francis Ford Coppola whose many film credits include Apocalypse Now. Maybe Roman loved the smell of burning furniture in the morning.

Billie is No 1 this week with her second single release “Girlfriend”. She’s not in the studio because she’s not very well Jayne Middlemiss informs us so instead we get a presumably pre-recorded performance in what looks like a nightclub but without any patrons in it. Was this from her time in Cannes as well? Wasn’t there a video they could have shown? What was Chris Cowey’s aversion to promo videos anyway and why did he make an exception for Fat Boy Slim’s? “Girlfriend” would last just one week at the top but guess what? Billie will be back on the next TOTP performing it because…Cowey wanted her to?

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1 B*Witched RollercoasterNah
2911More Than A WomanAs if
3GarbageSpecialGood song but no
4The CardigansMy Favourite GameSee 3 above
5MonicaThe First NightI did not
6Natalie ImbrugliaSmokeNope
7Fat Boy SlimGangster Trippin’No but my wife had the album
8BillieGirlfriendAnd 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/m002mggj/top-of-the-pops-16101998

TOTP 09 OCT 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

In a truncated show (I think the Fawlty Towers repeats issue was at play again), there’s only seven hits being offered up to the viewing audience but only one of those has been seen before which is last week’s No 1. Our host is Kate Thornton who tells us in her top of the show intro that there’s “a slice of the riviera thrown in for free”. What can she mean? We’ll find out in due course but we start with Ace Of Base who, five years on from their debut hit and No 1 record “All That She Wants”, were still pestering us with their tinny sounding brand of reggae-lite Eurodance. After the sickly sweet but ultimately pointless entity that was their last single “Life Is A Flower”, they were back with a cover version of a Bananarama track. Get that – Bananarama and not fellow Swedes ABBA with whom numerous and completely illegitimate comparisons had been made. “Cruel Summer” was the song chosen supposedly at the demand of their record company. Maybe they thought Steps* had already cornered the market with ABBA soundalikes?

*Steps had themselves had a hit with a cover version of a Bananarama track earlier in 1998. “Last Thing On My Mind” made No 71 in 1992 for the Nanas whereas Steps took it to No 6.

Now this particular song has had quite the prolonged life. Originally a No 8 hit for Bananarama in 1983, it also went Top 10 in America the following year after it was included in the hit movie The Karate Kid. Five years on from that it was remixed and rereleased making it to No 19 in the UK charts. Then came this insipid version from Ace Of Base but get this – they didn’t inflict it upon the world once but three times! A bilingual second version with French boy band Alliage was recorded specifically for the French market and then in 2009, an eight track strong EP of remixes from Rico Bernasconi was released in Germany. Mein gott! Now that is cruel! Mercifully, we only get about 2:15 of the 3:30 total length of the track in this performance presumably as the show had more pressing matters in the Riviera…

…and suddenly were on the beach at Cannes with Jamie Theakston! What the…?! No lead up to it, no proper explanation – Theakston says something about being there for the television festival – and where’s Kate Thornton disappeared to? The camera angle doesn’t impart the sense of glamour and decadence that you’d expect with the French Riviera – it’s just the screen filled with Theakston’s slappable face until we get an aerial shot to show that it’s definitely Cannes beach although it doesn’t look that impressive, just a few palm trees and a tiny stage set up in a corner next to what seems to be a jetty. It’s hardly making the splash that executive producer Chris Cowey must have intended.

So who is the artist in Cannes for this ‘exclusive’ performance? Why it’s Billie of course who is giving us a preview of her second single “Girlfriend”, the follow up to her debut hit “Because We Want To”. Within a week it would follow its predecessor to the top of the charts thereby emulating this week’s No 1 artist B*Witched by having her first two singles not just go to the top but debut there. Pure and simple pop artists were clearly in vogue at this time. Also just like B*Witched, Billie’s second release wasn’t as immediate as her first but I guess it did the job of more than consolidating on that initial success. It does seem a bit basic though and it’s puerile chorus about asking someone if they have a girlfriend doesn’t really sustain but then it was probably perfect for her teenage girl fan base. After all, Billie herself had only just turned 16 a couple of weeks before this TOTP aired. Then we’re back to Theakston who does a link into the next artist back in the studio. So why was he in Cannes anyway? Maybe he was trying to get away from the trauma of having split up with his then girlfriend Natalie Appleton from All Saints? Billie’s song probably didn’t help. Oh, that’s what that exchange between Theakston and Robbie Williams was about the other week when the former introduced the latter onto the TOTP stage and they seemed to be arguing about who had the best girlfriend – Williams was dating Nicole Appleton at the time.

That artist that Theakston links back to in the studio is Bryan Adams who seems to be doing his best impression of Oasis with his new single “On A Day Like Today”. From the acoustic intro to the drenching of strings in the mix, it has a suspicious whiff of “Wonderwall” about it before it eventually goes full soft rock anthem at its climax. It really was a bit of an elephant in the room which was quite apt as the parent album’s cover featured Adams and an elephant’s trunk. After a run of medium sized hits during the mid 90s (including “On A Day Like Today” which peaked at No 13), the end of the decade and the new millennium would herald a string of bigger singles for Bryan. A duet with Mel C made the Top 3 which was followed by two unlikely hits (including a No 1 no less) with ambient/trance DJ Chicane. None of which sounded like Oasis.

After her successful duet with Monica on “The Boy Is Mine”, Brandy is on collab duty again for the follow up, this time with rapper Mase on the track “Top Of The World”. As we’ve seen previously when there’s a rapper/R&B artist get together, the former isn’t available in the studio so his contributions are supplied via the official video on a big screen at the back of the stage behind Brandy. As with her previous hit, the UK record buying public loved this and sent it to No 2 with sales of 200,000 copies. Me? You won’t be surprised to know that:

(a) I don’t remember it

(b) I don’t like it now that I’ve heard it

These types of R&B tracks do nothing for me. I just can’t seem to find any sort of foothold in them that I can grab hold of, no ‘in’ that I can squeeze through to maintain my interest. If I’d been in the studio audience for this performance, Brandy exhorting the assembled crowd to “Come on, sing along if you know the words” would have had zero effect on me not least because she then just sings “sittin’ on top of the world” repeatedly which is basically the title of the song but for the words “sittin’ on”. Even the least observant of us could surely have remembered/known two extra words?!

What on earth is this?! Well, it’s four young people on stage singing Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” in an urban style badly that’s what it is but it could be an audition for Britain’s Got Talent*. This is just horrible. The people behind it were called 4 The Cause although the real culprits of responsibility would have been their record label I suppose for putting this garbage out. Hailing from Illinois originally but having relocated to Germany, they suddenly found themselves successful with this rubbish across Europe and so tried to repeat the trick with more covers of “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers and “Everytime You Go Away” by Hall & Oates but thankfully neither hit pay dirt.

*Tellingly, they got a record contract after winning the Apollo Style talent contest at school in 1995.

Blimey! UB40 were still having hits in 1998? Yes, they were and they were still residents of the UK’s Top 40 as late as 2005 but “Come Back Darling” would be their final Top 10 hit ever. Despite having no doubt reviewed some of them in this blog, I couldn’t have named any of their hits in the 90s after their No 1 cover of “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You”. There were a few though, most of them from their last big selling album “Promises And Lies”. Their next studio album “Guns In The Ghetto” had disappointed commercially and so the band resorted to their reliable fall back position of releasing another volume of their “Labour Of Love” project. The first volume in 1983 and the second from 1990 had both been hugely successful and so I guess it made sense to go there again and “Come Back Darling” was the lead single from it. I have to admit to not knowing the original by Johnny Osbourne and The Sensations but I can only hope it’s better than this dreary, snooze-fest that UB40 dished up. Honestly, I couldn’t make it through to the end of this one – that’s how dull it was. It did strike me though, looking at the band up there on stage, how sad it is that this line up is completely and irreversibly fractured. Brian Travers and Astro have both passed away whilst the split between brothers Robin and Ali Campbell created a fissure so large that there are two versions of the band in existence with seemingly little hope of the two entities being reunified.

B*Witched are No 1 for a second week with “Rollercoaster” bringing to an end a run of six consecutive different chart toppers in six weeks. I mentioned earlier when discussing Billie that pure pop acts were order of the day in 1998 but it’s a claim which stands up when you consider some of the year’s biggest singles artists include Steps, Five, Aqua, Cleopatra and 911 as well as the already established pop big hitters like Boyzone and the Spice Girls. As if to crystallise that sentiment, four of them would appear on a single celebrating the ultimate in pop royalty ABBA with the medley single “Thank ABBA For The Music” that would go to No 4 six months later. Pop was most definitely back.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Ace Of BaseCruel SummerNever
2BillieGirlfriendNah
3Bryan AdamsOn A Day Like TodayI did not
4Brandy / MaseTop Of The WorldNope
54 The CauseStand By MeDear me no
6UB40Come Back DarlingNegative
7B*WitchedRollercoasterAnd 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/m002m4hn/top-of-the-pops-09101998

TOTP 17 JUL 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s mid July 1998 and there’s two trends in evidence within the TOTP running order etiquette, one of which is possibly informing the other. The first is that, after a few records that have bucked the trend of seven days chart toppers by staying at No 1 for more than one week, we are back in a run of weekly changes to the pole position. From now until the end of the year, only four singles will manage more than one week at the top. This sequence seemed to inform the TOTP appearance policy because, as demonstrated in this show, we would get the previous week’s No 1 given another slot despite no longer being the country’s most bought single.

I’ve commented on this before making a case for both sides of the argument and my take on it remains confused. On the one hand, it was jarring that a show whose format historically was to showcase the records making the most strides in the Top 40 would be featuring singles whose sales had, if not dropped, been overtaken by other new releases. On the other, you could argue that none of this was the fault of executive producer Chris Cowey who possibly felt that he couldn’t just toss away a big hit record after just one showing because the record companies were manipulating the charts with their first week of release discount pricing. However, Cowey didn’t help himself by putting last week’s No 1 as the first act on the show the following week making a consecutive appearance segue albeit seven days apart as was the case here with Billie and her hit “Because We Want To”. Now, in my head this one stayed around the charts for ages which I suppose it did – a month inside the Top 10, two on the Top 40 altogether and yet it was constantly going down the charts. Not once did it reverse that descent as we had seen many a sustaining hit do this year. Still, a No 1 with your debut single aged just 15 was still quite the achievement. Ah yes, Billie’s age. In her first TOTP appearance, there was a lot of flesh on display what with her wearing a black singlet top. For this performance, she’s completely covered up. Do you think there had been complaints to the BBC about such a young girl wearing a top that revealed her midriff and bare shoulders? Or was it a decision made by Billie herself or her management team? Whatever the reason, it was a noticeable change of style.

And talking of changes of style…from pop song to schlock song as we get the infernal combination of Celine Dion and the Bee Gees duetting on “Immortality”. Whose idea was this?! Well, it was those dastardly Gibb brothers obviously who wrote the song for the stage musical of Saturday Night Fever and decided that Celine’s vocals were needed to complete the track. It was a terrible idea and an even worse sound though one that could easily have been predicted given the two artists involved. Don’t get me wrong, some of the Bee Gees classic catalogue is…well…classic but the 90s saw them record some desperately overwrought and whiny ballads and “Immortality” was no exception. The lyrics were vapid, rhyming ‘immortality’ with ‘eternity’ and banging on about fulfilling your destiny with the overall effect that, in keeping with its title, it seemed to go on forever. The whole thing was truly reprehensible.

Now there’s some jiggery pokery, some sleight of hand going on here as host Jamie Theakston was clearly superimposed over the Celine Dion/Bee Gees performance for his intro, as if Chris Cowey was trying to convince the watching TV audience that he was actually there but he obviously wasn’t. What was all that about? Couldn’t they have just done a voiceover or was there a clause in Theakston’s contract guaranteeing an agreed amount of screen time? Surely not.

Anyway, he’s definitely in the studio with the next artist (s) who is/are Pras Michel featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard and introducing Mýa. Now there’s a lot to unpack here starting with who were all these people? Well, Pras Michel was, of course, a member of the Fugees who were on hiatus following the mega international success of their album “The Score” allowing its three members to pursue solo careers. Pras was the second of the three to have a hit under their own name when “Ghetto Superstar” made No 2 in the UK. Ol’ Dirty Bastard (or ODB as he was styled for pre-watershed audiences) was part of the Wu-Tang Clan whilst I had to double check who Mýa was as I mistakenly believed her initially to be the woman who had that hit with The Tamperer – I was wrong as that was someone called Maya not Mýa; Maya Days to be precise. No, Mýa, if her discography is anything to go by, is a recording artist with quite the track record – eight studio albums and sixty-three singles. So, how do I neither remember nor know of her? What I do know about her is that she was in a battle with Billie as to who had the most winning smile in pop. Wow!

Erm…anyway, as we all know (even Jamie Theakston did), “Ghetto Superstar” interpolates the 1983 hit “Islands In The Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers that was written by the aforementioned Bee Gees. In my 80s TOTP blog, when reviewing that hit, I said it might as well have been called “Islands In The Mainstream” so middle-of-the-road was it. Turns out I was wrong about that as well as it was identified as the template for a hit by a member of one of the coolest acts of the decade and a man whose chosen professional name included an actual swear word. It shouldn’t work really but it did becoming the ninth best selling single of 1998 in the UK. Mind, we did have a track record for being susceptible to this sort of thing – “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio springs to mind.

My abiding memory of this song though involves a bus driver. Stay with me. I was living in Manchester when it was a hit and one Sunday, my wife and I were heading into town to do something (can’t remember what) so we hopped on a bus to save our legs. Once onboard, we quickly realised that this wasn’t your standard bus. The driver wasn’t wearing a uniform and he didn’t have a machine to issue passengers with any kind of ticket. He also didn’t seem to know what prices he should be charging but rather was making it up as he went/drove along. Who was this guy and how had he got hold of a bus? Had he hired one for the day? Had he stolen it? The clincher though that this wasn’t a regular bus service was that he had music blaring out which he was singing along to. The song that was playing when we boarded? Yep, “Ghetto Superstar”.

It’s Eagle-Eye Cherry again but his third consecutive appearance on the show can be justified I guess as it’s three weeks on the spin at No 6 for “Save Tonight”. This was a remarkably hardy hit spending six weeks inside the Top 10 and just under three months on the Top 40. That’s the power of a very radio friendly single, I guess.

In an attempt to distinguish this performance from his previous two, Eagle-Eye does an acoustic version of the track alongside two other guitarists and two blokes on either end of the line, one adding backing vocals and the other playing the most vigorous and energetic tambourine I think I’ve ever seen. It all hangs together pretty well though and makes for a memorable performance. Maybe Chris Cowey should have looked into doing more of these kind of slots but then not every single on the show would have lent itself to such a version so well. An acoustic “Ghetto Superstar” anyone? I think this guy proves my point..

Another two songs we’ve seen on the show before already now beginning with “Got The Feelin’” by Five. Whilst I could make a case for Eagle-Eye Cherry’s repeated appearances, this was preposterous. After debuting at No 3, this single had slipped every week since to No 5 then No 8 and eventually No 14. However, a rise of a solitary place to No 13 in week five on the charts was enough reason for Chris Cowey to show their initial performance (the one with the football shirts) again. However, according to official charts.com, “Got The Feelin’” is Five’s second biggest selling single ever, shifting half a million copies and clocking up 12 million streams and counting in the UK so does that add some credibility to Cowey’s decision? Oh I don’t know anymore!

Hell’s teeth! Cowey’s done it again with the very next song only this one is worse! I know I’m banging on about this but why are we watching Mousse T featuring Hot N’ Juicy when they are at No 11 in the charts with “Horny” having dropped a place from last week’s No 10? And what on earth is going on with those face-to-face graphics on either side of the screen?! It’s the same technology used to impose Jamie Theakston’s fizzog against a backdrop of the previously shown performance clip but this time features the women from Hot N’ Juicy. Why? Why do that? It looks cheap and nasty and adds very little in terms of impact. Make it make sense somebody. Please!!

No confusion as to why this next hit is on the show – crashing into the charts at No 9 are Garbage with the second single from their sophomore album “Version 2.0” called “I Think I’m Paranoid”. Now this is a tune! A deceptively sparse intro and simplistic verse leads immediately into a crunching power chord and Shirley Manson snarling the song title before coming back with an unexpected second part to the chorus with the “bend me, break me” refrain which would get them into trouble copyright wise with music publisher Helios Music Corporation. They claimed it infringed upon significant elements of the Scott English and Larry Weiss composition “Bend Me, Shape Me” which had been a hit for The American Breed in the US and Amen Corner in the UK. Yes, the words in that phrase are the same but there’s not much else to link the two songs to my ears. As for the performance here, you can’t take your eyes off Shirley who looks fantastic throughout in that polka dot dress. Erm…(again)… time to move on I think…

It’s another new No 1 that will only spend a solitary week at the top. Another Level would never return to the chart summit but they scaled it with “Freak Me”, a cover of an American No 1 by Silk from 1993 which never even cracked the UK Top 40 so it was possible to pass it off as their own song. Maybe. Anyway, it’s pure filth with lyrics about whipped cream and licking their baby up and down! Seriously though, I’m surprised the ‘whipped cream’ line got past the BBC sensors especially as there was a toned down version that the band performed on the promo video and for TV appearances though clearly not this one. I could never see (or hear) the appeal of this lot but judging by the screams from the studio audience, they were hot property for a while. I always get Dane Bowers from the band confused with Anthony Costa from similarly unremarkable outfit Blue. Anybody else have that problem?

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1BillieBecause We Want ToNo
2Celine Dion / Bee Gees ImmortalityHeavens no!
3Pras Michel featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard and introducing MýaGhetto SuperstarNope
4Eagle-Eye CherrySave TonightNo but my wife had his album
5FiveGot The Feelin’Nah
6Mousse T featuring Hot N’ JuicyHornyI did not
7GarbageI Think I’m ParanoidGreat track but no
8Another LevelFreak MeNO!

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/m002k7yz/top-of-the-pops-17071998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 10 JUL 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

The World Cup of 1998 is reaching its climax with the final played two days after this TOTP aired. England have long since been eliminated so it’s a shoot out between hosts France and holders Brazil. History shows that it was the French who triumphed 3-0 in a game overshadowed by the Ronaldo (R9 not R7) intrigue that the BBC labelled ‘the great World Cup final mystery’. Seventy-two minutes before kick-off, Ronaldo was not on the official team sheet submitted to FIFA. Amidst chaotic scenes, half an hour later Brazil’s star striker was back in the line up and the conspiracy theories started. Stories about R9 not being fit but coming under pressure from sponsors to play was the predominant one. The accepted truth though was that R9 had suffered a convulsive fit in the night and spent three hours in hospital before deciding he was fit to play after all. His presence made little difference to the result but he would find redemption four years later scoring both goals in the 2002 final as Brazil beat Germany. I wonder if there are any such redemption arc stories on tonight’s show.

Our host is Zoe Ball and this was the last regular TOTP episode that she ever presented (she reappeared in 2001 for some special anniversary edition). I’m not sure if it was her decision or executive producer Chris Cowey’s for her to leave the roster of presenters but she wasn’t short of work still having her job on Saturday morning kids show Live & Kicking and her breakfast show gig on Radio 1. Maybe it was all getting a bit much for her especially given her reputation at the time as a ‘ladette’. Burning the candle at both ends perhaps? Anyway, her redemption arc is pretty much complete with her being so much a part of the BBC establishment that in 2024 she was named as the second highest earning presenter behind Gary Lineker.

We start with another run out for “C’est La Vie” by B*Witched. Yes, despite having already been at No 1 for two weeks and the appearances that involved, they were back on the show because they’d gone up the charts from No 4 to No 3. Now, I think it’s time that I discuss what some may think the undiscussable – that dreadful fashion faux pas that is the double denim look. Not since Shakin’ Stevens had we seen such quantities of denim adjacent to each other on TOTP. Yes, I know it’s not on display in this performance but it is undoubtedly part of the mental image ingrained in the minds of those of us who lived through the time of B*Witched. Had they already been tipped off by this point what a naff look it was? Maybe but their redemption story has come full circle with the girls back together touring and recording once more and the fans attending their concerts these days are still wearing those double denim outfits as are the band themselves. According to press interviews, everyone is very pleased about it. As for Shaky, he is surely beyond redemption.

In the long list of soap stars turned pop stars, I’m guessing that the name Matthew Marsden doesn’t spring immediately to mind. However, for an 18 month period in the late 90s, this guy was a big deal. Arriving on Coronation Street as mechanic Chris Collins in March 1997, so big was his impact that he won the National Television Award for Most Popular Newcomer that year. After having an affair with Sally Webster, Collins did a midnight flit and was never seen again. In real life, Marsden had embarked on a career as a pop star having signed to Columbia Records for £500,000. His debut single was “The Heart’s Lone Desire” and, in all honesty and knowing some of the garbage other soap actors have released (I’m looking at you Stefan Dennis!), it wasn’t completely dreadful. A decent pop track that wasn’t just about ultra catchy hooks, it would debut and peak at No 13. I’m not sure why Matthew chooses to sit down for the duration of the performance though, delivering the song as if he’s telling his mates a story down the pub whilst looking extremely chuffed with himself at the same time.

Marsden’s pop career would only last one more minor hit – a cover version of Hall & Oates’ “She’s Gone” performed as a duet with Destiny’s Child no less (more of whom later) and an album that did precisely nothing. In the face of that brutal reality, the soap star turned pop star became an acting star with roles in movies such as Black Hawk Down, Resident Evil: Extinction and Atlas Shrugged. So redemption for an aborted pop career then? Hmm. Well, the thing is that Marsden has a hankering for American right wing politics and is an anti-vaccine advocate which, in my book, are not the component parts for a happy ending.

Next an act with a track that was first a hit ten years earlier. Having returned to charts at the back end of 1997 with “Jungle Brother”, the…erm…Jungle Brothers were back again with “I’ll House You ‘98”. Despite making No 22 when originally released, it was never featured on a TOTP show back then. Consequently, I didn’t review it in the 80s version of this blog but I do make mention of it when commenting on Royal House’s “Can You Party” which was the blueprint for “I’ll House You”.

TOTP 27 OCT 1988

That track had been remixed by the legendary Todd Terry who offered the Jungle Brothers the chance to combine their hip-hop sound with house music. The result was a track with a legacy that is up there with Run-D.M.C.’s “Walk This Way”. Group member Baby-Bam has described what the trio attempted to do as to “Hip-hopitise” the original House track which sounds like some process for turning humans into rabbits but you get what he means. “I’ll House You ‘98” would peak at No 26, four places lower than the original.

Karen Ramirez is back in the studio to perform her hit “Looking For Love” and after wearing a conventional all black outfit of trousers and singlet on her previous appearance, she’s turned up this week in an old gold coloured suit and tie combination! Quite extraordinary! If Colonel Mustard had been a pop star! Of course, she wasn’t the first pop star to don a gold suit. ABC’s Martin Fry favoured a gold lame version in his band’s early days and he did famously sing about “The Look Of Love”. As for a redemption arc for Karen, there doesn’t seem to be much of one. After her 15 minutes of fame she disappeared save for releasing one download only album in 2006 and nothing since. No comeback hit. No rerelease of “Looking For Love” nor use of it on a hit film soundtrack. Maybe her withdrawal from the music industry was her redemption arc though. Maybe she didn’t like what she found during her time within it and went looking for…something else. Like somewhere to dispose of that mustard suit. Apparently, Martin Fry tried to flush his original one down a toilet in a Tokyo hotel.

A group with an average age of 16 next – that’s according to Zoe Ball and, having checked, she’s right. It’s hard to reconcile but two of the members of Destiny’s Child were 16 and two were 17 years old at the time of this performance. “With Me” was the follow up to their debut hit “No, No, No” and, although I didn’t remember the song, its sound was pretty much what I was expecting before I watched this episode back. I haven’t got a lot else to say other than it’s interesting to note that when Zoe name checks the band in her outro, Beyoncé’s is the last name to come from her lips as opposed to the first. I’m probably reading far too much into that retrospectively but it did jump out at me. “Say My Name” indeed. In terms of a redemption arc, two of the members here – LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson – would be forced out of the band in early 2000 leading to them bringing lawsuits against their manager (and father of Beyoncé) Matthew Knowles as well as their two former band mates for breach of partnership. Things got heated with disparaging remarks were traded in public between the parties. However, in return for dropping the section of the lawsuit aimed at Beyoncé and Kelly Rowlands, a settlement was made with Luckett and Roberson for the pair to receive royalties for their recordings when part of the group. So they got what they were owed with the redeeming factor being that they could then pay those bills, bills, bills (sorry).

After debut album “Attack Of The Grey Lantern” had topped the charts in 1997, expectations for Mansun’s follow up were sky high. Perhaps rather inevitably, the sophomore collection “Six” didn’t quite meet them. Not that it was a failure unless you count going Top 10 as such but its run of just four weeks on the charts compared to the nearly eight months of its predecessor speaks volumes. The record shop chain I was working for at the time – Our Price – were caught up in the pre-release buzz about “Six” as I’m pretty sure the buying department decreed to the stores that we were not allowed to sell out* of it in its first week of release. Not allowed, mind. I can’t remember what the consequence would have been had a store done so but it really didn’t matter as the massive sales didn’t materialise and there was never any chance of a sell out. Also not selling out were Mansun themselves as they steadfastly refused to record “Attack Of The Grey Lantern Vol 2” but rather went for a more experimental sound with lots of guitar effects using distortion pedals called things like ‘Big Muff’ and ‘Rat fuzz’. Hmm. Jon Garrett of online magazine PopMatters described the album as:

“The sound of a band collectively snubbing its fan base and smashing expectation to spectacular effect”

Garrett, Jon (28 October 2002). “Mansun: Six”. PopMatters.

*Our Price employed a similar tactic for the second album by Ash called “Nu-Clear Sounds” which again failed to live up to the sales projections based on No 1 debut album “1977”. I think they might have dropped the edict after that.

The lead single was “Legacy” which was actually the lead track on “Eight EP” which saw the band continue with their idiosyncrasy of releasing singles as EPs. It’s instantly identifiable as Mansun, retaining their distinctive sound but it does become rather repetitive to my ears as the track progresses. That said, it would achieve the band’s highest ever chart position when it peaked at No 7. I’d loved “Attack Of The Grey Lantern” but my interest in the band waned at this point and there would be no redemption arc between me and them up to their demise in 2003.

OK, let’s be clear. Despite what our failing memories (my failing memory anyway) tells us, Eagle-Eye Cherry was not a ‘one hit wonder’. He had a further two hits in the UK after “Save Tonight” but I couldn’t have named either of them without checking. Could you? Apparently, he still gets people shouting “Save Tonight” at him in public as if it’s his name – you’d think people would remember Eagle-Eye wouldn’t you?! This got me thinking that there should be another sub category for this type of artist. The criteria would be that although your biggest hit wasn’t your only one, it’s your defining one, the only one that anyone but the super-fans remembers, the only one that continues to get radio play to this day, the one that’s your royalties pension. It could be called something like ‘big hit wonder’. Who else might be categorised like this? Kajagoogoo and “Too Shy”? The Boo Radleys and “Wake Up Boo!”? There must be loads more…

A bit of chart history next. By debuting at the very top, Billie became the youngest artist to achieve a No 1 record since Helen Shapiro in 1961. Of course, we now know her as Billie Piper, accomplished and award winning actress synonymous with shows such as Doctor Who, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and I Hate Suzie. Back in 1998 though, she was fresh-faced, 15 year old Billie (she would change to Billie Piper by the time her second album arrived in the new millennium), a fresh-out-of-the-box, immediate pop star. How did she get to such an exalted position at such a young age though? Well, if she looked familiar to pop fans back then, it was probably because she’d been the face chosen to star in a TV commercial to promote Smash Hits magazine so there was already a connection established between her and pop music before she’d even released anything. The next logical step was to rectify that and she did so with “Because We Want To”, a shout-a-long anthem for the Millennials generation. This catchy pop tune allied with Billie’s winning, toothsome smile and some hot-stepping, slick dance moves proved irresistible to the record buying public. The end of the 90s would belong to Billie with another No 1 in follow up single “Girlfriend” plus two more Top 3 hits and a platinum selling album.

Come the new millennium, I, for one, was surprised that she managed to turn up another chart topper with “Day And Night”, the lead single from sophomore album “Walk Of Life”. It was almost up there with Kylie’s triumphant comeback with “Spinning Around” that same year. Unlike Ms Minogue though, Piper’s music career did not sustain. The album sold much less than her debut and the relative failure of its title track single would signify the end of her time as a pop star. Fast forward to 2005 and she would have all the time in the universe as Rose Tyler, the first companion of a reactivated Dr Who taking the role presumably because she wanted to.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1B*WitchedC’est La VieI did not
2Matthew MarsdenThe Heart’s Lone DesireDidn’t happen
3Jungle BrothersI’ll House You’98Nope
4Karen RamirezLooking For LoveNah
5Destiny’s ChildWith MeNegative
6MansunLegacyNo
7Eagle-Eye CherrySave TonightNo but my wife and the album
8BillieBecause We Want ToNo – because I didn’t want to

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/m002k7yx/top-of-the-pops-10071998?seriesId=unsliced