Damage

TOTP 23 MAY 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s the 23rd May 1997 and Channel 4 game show Countdown is celebrating its 2000th edition. Wow! 2000 shows and it only took 14 and a half years! By comparison, this episode of TOTP broadcast on the same day was its 1,773rd show and had been going for over 33 years by this point. To be fair though, Countdown was/is on daily whereas TOTP was only broadcast once a week. Where it does beat the first ever show broadcast on Channel 4 is in its number of presenters – the latter has only ever had seven main presenters (not counting guest presenters nor Carol Vorderman, Rachel Riley or Susie Dent) whilst TOTP had…oh I don’t know and I’m not counting but it must have been more than seven (even excluding the ‘golden mike’ hosts).

And talking of presenters, tonight’s are Mark and Lard again for the second of just two times that they hosted together. Given the chemistry of their double act, you might have expected that they would have done many more than that – they were the breakfast show hosts at this time so their profile was high. On the other hand, they were taken off that slot within five months of this broadcast so maybe their star was in decline? Or maybe they just didn’t like doing it and looking at some of the artists on the show, who could blame them? I mean, introducing opening act No Mercy can’t have been much of a thrill for them. After terrorising us with their first hit “Where Do You Go” which had exactly double the amount of weeks inside the Top 40 as Countdown has had presenters, they had not only the appetite to do it all again but also the audacity to do so with a song that was nearly identical to their first. “Please Don’t Go” was a carbon copy – they must have thought we were as stupid as mud to fall for the same trick again….and so we were having our faces dirtied and our trousers pulled down by buying enough copies to send it to No 4. Thankfully, in Countdown parlance, it was a case of ‘two big ones and one small one’ when it came to hits for the trio as they would only have one more chart entry which peaked at No 16.

After securing a huge hit with previous single “Nancy Boy”, Placebo consolidated on that success by re-releasing their debut single “Bruise Pristine”. I say ‘re-releasing’ but in truth it was a radical re-recording of the track that originally came out on the Fierce Panda label. Singer Brian Molko admits he sounds like Mickey Mouse on the original version and that tonight’s co-host Mark Radcliffe put it on at the wrong speed of 33rpm on its very first radio play because he couldn’t believe that it was meant to sound so fast. The single edit released by Virgin still raced along and to me it made it less accessible than “Nancy Boy”. It also made me wonder if Molko had been listening to this track by The Jam when writing it…

RIP Rick Buckler

Although Placebo would return with higher charting singles the following year, I’m not sure I could tell you how any of them sound – maybe I’ll recognise them if they appear in future TOTP repeats. As for “Bruise Pristine”, I did remember that one if only for its unusual title. You don’t get many songs with the word ‘pristine’ in them – even Countdown’s Dictionary Corner would be impressed by that!

Skunk Anansie were amazingly consistent during the mid to late 90s, not only in terms of their prolific release schedule of singles, nor just in the constancy of their chart positions (seven Top 20 hits between 1995 and 1999) but mostly in the quality of their output. I’ve said it many times during the course of this blog that before rewatching these TOTP episodes, I could only really remember “Weak” from the band’s catalogue of work but with each appearance I’ve liked them more and more. “Brazen (Weep)” keeps my admiration going and my interest piqued. Another epic sounding rock track that soars and swoops with Skin’s immaculate vocals always on point, it would prove to be the highest charting single of Skunk Anansie’s career when it debuted at No 11. Interestingly, it was their third single in a row which featured brackets in its title after “Twisted (Everyday Hurts)” and “Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)” before it. I don’t think you get anything for the use of brackets in Countdown but if I was hosting a pop quiz (and I did do a couple of times when I lived in York), it would be a case of ‘no brackets, no points’.

The new TOTP appearance policy is entering the realms of madness with Katrina And The Waves being on the show for the fourth week in a row and none of the performances being just a previous week’s repeated – four times they been in the studio in person! Even allowing for their Eurovision win and the subsequent rise up the charts of “Love Shine A Light”, this was surely overkill. Even Katrina herself looks bored with the whole thing as she lurks in camera view over Mark and Lard’s shoulders waiting for them to finish their intro. There’s not a flicker of expression on her face even when the hosting duo are being irreverent about her in her presence. I’ve seen more excitement over the Countdown conundrum!

The Rembrandts are back in the charts with “I’ll Be There For You” nearly two years after it was a hit the first time around. Despite going all the way to No 3 back then, it would rise to No 5 this time around. Why was it back in the charts? Because the third season of the US sitcom Friends to which this was the theme tune was due to be broadcast on Channel 4 that Summer and it was time to cash-in again. I say again as the shops had already been flooded with various Friends related merchandise whilst the recently released first two seasons on VHS were flying off the shelves (they’ll all be in landfill now). Anyway, I can’t be bothered to review it all over again so here’s what I said about it as part of the 1995 TOTP repeats:

TOTP 31 AUG 1995

With the show’s only video out of the way (that must have been a directorial decision to go for more in person performances), we’re back in the studio with Damage and their version of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”. For such a well known song, there don’t appear to have been that many covers of the track down the years. Wikipedia lists two by country and western singers David Kersh and Butch Baker whilst I found a version by country legend Kenny Rogers on Spotify. This suggests to me two things – that the song was structured in such a way that naturally lent itself to the country genre and that Damage’s choice to record it as an R&B group was, if not unusual, then certainly not obvious. This could be the last time we see them on TOTP in these 90s repeats as they only had one more minor hit before the end of the decade though they would return in the new millennium with four hit singles and a second album before splitting. They reformed in 2013 and have performed sporadic gigs since but no new material has been forthcoming.

Olive are No 1 for a second week with “You’re Not Alone”. Which dance genre does it belong to? I don’t know do I but if I had to guess I would say it has a trip-hop backing but with a melody that sounds a bit like Everything But The Girl’s output at this time. That’s the best I can do as a pop kid though Wikipedia defines it as ‘breakbeat’ (whatever that is) and who am I to dispute that.

All I know for sure is that if I want to listen to a song called “You’re Not Alone” then this is the one I would choose every time…

Like Placebo earlier, Embrace’s first releases were on the Fierce Panda label

We end with one of those hits that fall into the “Nessun Dorma” category, a song performed by two classical voices with an orchestral backing that nevertheless would crossover massively into the pop charts. “Time To Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman was originally not a duet but performed and recorded solo by blind Italian tenor Bocelli as “Con te partirò” or “With You I Shall Depart” where it became one of the best selling singles of all time in France though curiously was received much less rapturously in Bocelli’s own country. A second, English titled version of the track saw Sarah Brightman come on board and it was a huge hit all over Europe including Germany where it became their biggest selling single ever. In the UK, it would rise to No 2 selling 200,000 copies. You could understand why once viewed through the “Nessun Dorma” filter with members of the public who wouldn’t normally have been near a record shop all year until Christmas being pulled in to buy that ‘lovely song by the blind singer and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wife*’ (including my own Mum I shouldn’t wonder).

*They actually divorced in 1990

Brightman, of course, had her own chart history starting in 1978 with the gloriously over the top, Star Wars influenced hit “I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper” with Hot Gossip. Everything after that was more classical or stage musical based. 1985 saw her teamed with boy soprano Paul Miles-Kingston on “Pie Jesu” which went to No 3 and she followed that with three hits from her husband’s The Phantom Of The Opera show – two were duets with Steve Harley and Cliff Richard respectively and a split double A-side with Michael Crawford giving her three Top 10 hits.

My own personal memory of “Time To Say Goodbye” came in 2013 when my hometown football club Worcester City played their final ever game at their old St George’s Lane ground which had been their home for 108 years before it was sold to property developers. I’d stopped going to see the team around 1984 having been an ever present since 1977 but made the pilgrimage to the old ground for one last time. The music played after the final whistle and as we all filed out of the ground was, of course, “Time To Say Goodbye”. At the final tally, St George’s Lane had hosted 2545 matches in those 108 years. Though Countdown only took just under 15 years to get to a similar number, it couldn’t beat my hometown club for emotional pull – you can only get so attached to a game show about solving word and number puzzles.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1No MercyPlease Don’t GoAs if
2PlaceboBruise PristineNo
3Skunk AnansieBrazen (Weep)Negative
4Katrina And The WavesLove Shine A LightI did not
5The RembrandtsI’ll Be There For YouI did back in 1995 for my wife
6DamageWonderful TonightNope
7OliveYou’re Not AloneNah
8Andrea Bocelli and Sarah BrightmanTime To Say GoodbyeAnd 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/m0028620/top-of-the-pops-23051997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 16 MAY 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s 16th May 1997 and I’m waking up in London after travelling back from my trip to China and stopping over with a friend having missed my last train home the night before. China was mind blowing and at times I struggled with the culture shock but it was also something I’ll never forget. I saw some amazing sights (including The Great Wall of China) and experienced a different way of life I never would have otherwise. I couldn’t get used to locals wanting to have their picture taken with me because I was a Westerner though like I was a tourist attraction! I’d gone to see my mate Rob who was living and studying there and travelled with his brother Chris who stayed on in Beijing after I’d left for the UK. Why didn’t I stay longer? I had an important date with my TV at 3pm on Saturday 17th as my beloved Chelsea were in the FA Cup final for only the second time in my living memory. It sounds kind of sad that I gave up more potential time on a trip of a lifetime for a football match but I couldn’t be sure I would have found anywhere in Beijing showing it and in any case, neither Rob nor Chris were big football fans. However, I did try and convert some Chinese friends of Rob’s in a bar by getting them to chant “Chelsea, Chelsea” (Chris went down the political route and got them to chant “Tony Blair, Tony Blair”). Anyway, I was back home in time to watch the match and it’s a good job I wasn’t scrabbling around trying to find somewhere in Beijing to watch it as we scored after 43 seconds and eventually triumphed 2-0 to win our first major trophy in 26 years. Hurray! My diary entry for that day just says ‘We Won!’ and then stops forever so they’ll be no more posts inspired by that time going forward. Enough of my personal life though. This is meant to be a music blog so hopefully you’re still with me as we dive into what was showing on TOTP way back when….

Dannii Minogue is our host following in the footsteps of sister Kylie (wasn’t it always thus) who presented the show a few weeks back. The first act on tonight is a throwback to The Monkees (or was it an S Club 7 prototype) as North & South make their TOTP debut. These four lads were put together by ‘Pop Svengali’© Tom Watkins who was responsible for East 17 and had managed Pet Shop Boys and Bros. However, this wasn’t just a plain old charge at the pop charts – no, this time it was a double pronged strategy with a TV show starring the boys as well. Named No Sweat, it had the group playing characters rather than themselves (though they reverted to their own names for the second series) who form a band at school and try to make it big. I can’t say I ever saw it but it doesn’t stop me making (potentially) lazy comparisons with The Monkees (that’s twice now). With the show a hit (initially at least), there needed to be some product to sell and so “I’m A Man Not A Boy” was released as their debut single. Now given what I said about who their mentor was, it’s hardly surprising that there’s a whiff of Bros about this one and not just because they had a similar sounding hit in “Drop The Boy”. I mean, at least it wasn’t yet another cover of a 70s ballad by the Bee Gees or The Osmonds which was the go to song choice for boy bands at the time. It chugs along with enough hooks and slots for the screams and sighs of the female teenage audience that they were so clearly put together to woo.

The single would go in at No 7 but that would be the height of their appeal despite the band touring. Three subsequent singles charted lower than the one before, the second series of No Sweat didn’t pull in the same amount of viewers as Series 1 and their album remained unreleased. Within two years, that other ‘Pop Svengali’© Simon Fuller would return to the idea and put together S Club 7 who similarly rose to fame via TV show Miami 7. Oh and by the way, “I’m A Man Not A Boy” was nothing to do with Chesney Hawkes’ other hit of the same name (yes he did have another one chart fact fans). See, listen for yourselves..,

Brownstone are up next in the studio. My knowledge of Brownstone, despite working in record shops for the whole of the 90s, was/is meagre at best…

  • They were (and still are apparently) an all female R&B group
  • Erm…that’s it

Consequently, I haven’t much to say about them or their song “5 Miles To Empty” (which obviously I don’t remember). I couldn’t have even told you how many members were in the group before watching this performance back. Oh yeah, members. Some American all female R&B groups in the 90s seemed to operate a revolving door policy when it came to group line ups. Wikipedia informs me that just like En Vogue, Brownstone had a few members come and go from the original starting line up. In total seven singers have worn the Brownstone shirt over the years and they’re only a trio! And I thought the Sugababes were the queens of members coming and going!

Dannii Minogue describes both the artist and her song as “beautiful” in her next intro and she spot on with both assessments. Sinéad O’Connor was beautiful – she had that timeless beauty like Audrey Hepburn, something that sometimes gets lost in all the controversy that surrounded her, not that she would have considered herself so nor that it was in the least bit important to her I would imagine. As for her song “This Is To Mother You”, it’s an exquisitely beautiful composition taken from a four track EP called “Gospel Oak” that would peak at No 28 in the UK charts. Nobody did affecting vocals like Sinéad and they are what makes this song so haunting, that and its simplicity. So strong is its message and emotional pull that it was remade in 2009 as a duet with Mary J.Blige as part of the Girls Are Not For Sale campaign to bring awareness to the issue of child sex trafficking.

And another studio appearance! Hang on…

*checks running order*

Yes, they’re all studio appearances in this episode (albeit the last artist is just a repeat from a previous show). There are no promo videos featured at all. I wonder what the thinking behind that was? Anyway, Damage are the next act appearing in person and after their last two hits both went Top 10, they reach their commercial peak with this single which is an unlikely cover of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”. I say unlikely as it’s not an obvious choice for an R&B group but they just about make it work, keeping their rendition fairly faithful but injecting it with some subtle soul inflections. Damage’s version would debut at No 3 which was loads higher than Clapton’s original mainly on account of the fact that it was never released as a single in the UK – well, not until a live version came out in 1991 and made No 30 anyway. Now, “Wonderful Tonight” was one of the songs that I learned to play at one of my early guitar classes, largely due to its chords actually being quite basic despite it being an Eric ‘God’ Clapton song. I got pretty good at picking that one.

P.S. After Pottsy with Monaco the other week, this TOTP featured another person that I knew (well, I’d met before at least) – the nearest violinist on the left hand side of the screen was the friend and colleague of one of my wife’s best friends who herself is a classical musician.

Here come Katrina And The Waves now with their third TOTP appearance – clearly the buzz about them winning Eurovision hadn’t dissipated yet. Alternatively, you could say that they were milking their rise from pop’s ashes for all that they were worth. In fairness to them, they had just moved up the charts from No 50 to No 13 so another trip to the TOTP studio could certainly be justified.

Now, is it just me or does “Love Shine A Light” have a faint whiff of “Let The River Run” about it. I’ve listened to both back to back and I still can’t decide if they are similar or I’m just overreaching massively because both choruses feature the word ‘let’ heavily. What do you think?

After mentioning Mary J. Blige earlier, here she is on her first ever appearance on TOTP in person – I love it when a post comes together. Hang on, you don’t suppose this could have been when Mary and Sinéad O’Connor met for the first time which led to a friendship resulting in that collaboration years later on “This Is To Mother You” do you? Or am I overreaching again?

Anyway, the ‘Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’ was in the studio to perform her latest single “Love Is All We Need” making her the third R&B artist on the show tonight following Brownstone and Damage earlier. My word, the running order is testing the limits of my limited knowledge of the genre this week! I do know that she has legendary status in that world and a string of awards to her name but I would struggle to name any of her songs. “What’s The 411?”? Was that one? Or was that the title of one of her albums? Look, I’m trying my best, OK? Listening to this one, it sounds a bit Mariah Carey-ish to me or maybe Janet Jackson-esque but then it was produced by the latter’s long time collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis so maybe that’s not surprising. It was taken from the album “Share My World” which marked the parting of the ways between Mary and her producer, manager and mentor Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Diddy which, with what we now know about him was surely a good move. This led to Mary working instead with the likes of the aforementioned Jam and Lewis, Babyface and…ah…R Kelly…oh dear. I think I’ll just retreat from this one without any further comment.

We have a new No 1 and it’s one of those records that seemed to come out of nowhere but, of course, it had its background story like every other hit. “You’re Not Alone” by Olive had originally been released in August of 1996 when it peaked just outside of the Top 40 at No 42 (they would make a habit of this – follow up “Miracle” peaked at No 41). Despite missing out on mainstream success, it was a hit in the clubs and was given a remix and rereleased and debuted at the very top of the charts staying there for two weeks. It reminds me of the Baby D hit “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” from late 1994, another dance track fronted by a female singer that came from out of left field and which similarly went to the pinnacle of the charts despite the act behind it having had no previous Top 40 hits. These were the crazy 90s where such chart feats were possible.

Olive were put together by someone from trip-hop entity Nightmares On Wax (which made sense) and a fella who used to be in Simply Red (which really didn’t). Vocalist Ruth-Ann Boyle had done some vocal samples for Vini Reilly’s The Durutti Column and once the Simply Red guy heard them and contacted Boyle, Olive were formed. “You Are Not Alone” with its skittering, trip-hop backing, melancholy feel and Boyle’s warm, smooth vocals proved irresistible to record buyers second time around and they would follow it with a No 14 hit in “Outlaw” and a Top 30 album in “Extra Virgin” (see what they did there?). However, that would be the extent of their chart career. A third single – a rerelease of “Miracle” – peaked again at No 41 making it surely one of the most unlucky releases ever. By the way, doesn’t Ruth-Ann Boyle look like Natalie Casey from BBC sitcom Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps?

Natalie, of course, has her own pop star claim to fame story…

Right, this nonsense has gone too far now! I’m talking about this new policy of featuring hits on the show that are going down the charts. Look at this – we end with last week’s No 1 which has fallen five places to No 6! WTF?! I’m not sure who was ultimately responsible for this daft decision, be it producer Mark Wells, executive producer Trevor Dann or show director John L. Spencer but it was baffling. It’s as if they were deliberately trying to run the programme down, making it less and less attractive to its audience and hence causing declining viewing figures. Say what you like about recently departed executive producer Ric Blaxill but he never pulled any shit like this. The lucky recipient of this undeserved exposure this time is Gary Barlow with his single “Love Won’t Wait” but he’ll get his comeuppance soon enough when the Robbie Williams factor kicks in.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1North & SouthI’m A Man Not A BoyNope
2Brownstone5 Miles To EmptyNah
3Sinéad O’ConnorThis Is To Mother YouI did not
4DamageWonderful TonightNo
5Katrina And The WavesLove Shine A LightNegative
6Mary J. BligeLove Is All We NeedDidn’t happen
7OliveYou’re Not AloneNot for me
8Gary BarlowLove Won’t WaitAnd 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/m002861w/top-of-the-pops-16051997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 21 MAR 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

How was your life going in March 1997 (assuming you’re old enough to have any memories of 28 years ago)? If you were Tony Blair, you’d just received an endorsement as the next leader of the country by none other than traditional Tory supporters The Sun. Surely sitting Prime Minister John Major must have known the game was up then. If you were me (and I was), then you were stressed out at work and planning a trip to China. Those two things weren’t related – I was stressed at work as the manager of the Our Price where I worked had left a few weeks before and I was effectively acting manager by default whilst the recruitment process for a replacement was taking an age. I’d reluctantly agreed to put my hat in the ring at the behest of my colleagues (better the devil you know and all that) and we were about to introduce a new electronic stock control system which required a lot of preparation work. On top of that we had a new member of staff who was ruffling a few feathers in the team and apparently, according to my diary, one day a member of the public got stabbed in the shopping precinct where the store was located and I had to ring an ambulance, the police and try and patch him up. I have no recall of this at all so I’m either a complete fantasist or I’ve blocked out the memory of it.

That wasn’t the end of my stress though. One Saturday after work, a few of us went for a drink at a local pub and I took the pack of weekly memos with me as I planned to read them on the Sunday at home as I hadn’t had time at work. The memos were delivered to every store in a blue plastic pouch (‘the blue bag’) containing all the relevant information we needed for the next week including stock prices, charts and promotion details. As I sat down in the pub, I put them on the ledge above a radiator behind me so that they were in view of everyone and wouldn’t be forgotten at the end of the evening. What I hadn’t accounted for was the fact that there was a gap behind the radiator and between the seating and the blue bag slipped down the gap seamlessly once I let go of it. Disaster! Try as we might, we couldn’t retrieve it (and we spent the whole evening trying!) despite fashioning various apparatus using string and hooks (maybe even a coat hanger at one point) to pick it up. Either we gave up or the pub closed and I left memo less. I had to send someone to the Manchester store on Monday morning to photocopy theirs (this was the pre-digital age). As far as I knew, the memos would stay there until the pub had a refit, a time capsule from 1997. Almost 20 years later and long after I’d left Our Price, I went back to the pub and it had indeed had a refit so the memos would have been found (and binned) presumably. I resisted the temptation to ask the bar staff if they could check their lost and found for them!

As for China, my old school friend and best man at my wedding Rob was living and studying in Beijing so I’d arranged with his brother to fly out to visit him in the May. I had to get visas and inoculations and all that sort of thing sorted so there was a lot going on around this time. I’m sure I’ll get onto what went down in China in the next few posts.

Anyway, back to the month of March and if you were Kylie Minogue at that time, then you were hosting this edition of TOTP and had invested in a rather unflattering new, messy, plum coloured hairstyle. I think this was her ‘indie Kylie’ phase when she would collaborate with the likes of James Dean Bradfield of the Manics (he co-wrote her “Some Kind Of Bliss” single of this year) so I’m guessing that a new phase meant a new image. Definitely not having a style remodel was opening act Lisa Stansfield who was still very much attached to her brand of smooth R&B soul/dance that she’d made her name on. By 1997, she was onto her fourth solo album but after releasing the previous three in a four year period, it had been four years since album number three “So Natural”. Lisa had carved out a nice little sideline for herself though in recording songs for soundtrack albums – her contributions to The Bodyguard and Indecent Proposal had given her two Top 10 hits. In addition to that, she’d been back there earlier this year when remix team the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels looked to Lisa’s back catalogue to come up with “People Hold On (The Bootleg Mixes)”. However, taking a holistic approach to Lisa’s career up to this point, it’s surprisingly yet undeniably a case of diminishing returns as sales of her albums from “Affection” onwards decreased. Of course, that’s a very statistical approach – Lisa’s albums were still selling well but the UK figures were as follows:

  • Affection – 900,000 (triple platinum)
  • Real Love – 600,000 (double platinum)
  • So Natural – 300,000 (platinum)
  • Lisa Stansfield – 100,000 (gold)

It’s a definite downwards trend but I guess it’s all relative. Anyway, “The Real Thing” was the lead single from that last eponymous album and, for me, was typical Lisa fare which was fair enough but didn’t show much musical progression. On the other hand, if it ain’t broke and all that. It would return Stansfield to the Top 10 with a song that wasn’t from a film for the first time since 1991’s “Change” though she did feature on the “Five Live EP” alongside Queen and George Michael that would make No 1 off the back of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. However, “The Real Thing” would also be the last time a single of hers would be so high in the charts. I sometimes wonder if Lisa gets the credit she deserves though. You rarely hear her referred to when it comes to naming the UK’s most renowned female singers do you?

Ooh now, might this be a bit awkward? Kylie has to introduce one of her exes as INXS are the second artist on tonight. Ah, it was probably alright – Kylie and Michael Hutchence stopped seeing each other in 1991 so I’m guessing both parties might have moved on. Hutchence certainly had – by 1997 he was two years into a relationship with Paula Yates and they had had a daughter together. However, the relationship was intense and played out under a media spotlight and against a bitter custody battle with Yates’s ex-husband Bob Geldof over the three daughters they had together. Within eight months of this TOTP appearance, Hutchence would be dead, having committed suicide in a Sydney hotel room aged just 37. I remember thinking on hearing the news that “Suicide Blonde” would surely never be played on the radio ever again though it subsequently was resurrected after an appropriate amount of time had passed. One song that was cut in the wake of the news was “So Long Suicide” from the Duran Duran set of the gig they played on the night of Hutchence’s death. The band had already recorded a track about their friend called “Michael, You’ve Got A Lot To Answer For” that featured on their “Medazzaland” album that was released a month before his death.

As for INXS, they would carry on intermittently for the next 15 years with various guest singers including Terence Trent D’Arby at one point and then a permanent vocalist in J.D. Fortune who was recruited via reality television show Rock Star: INXS. Returning to this TOTP performance, I think this would have been their last time on the show in person not only because of Hutchence’s subsequent death but also because “Elegantly Wasted” was their final UK Top 40 hit. The title track of their tenth studio album, it sounded much like everything else they’d ever recorded since the “Kick” album. The winning formula of that record had helped the band become global success and saw Hutchence depicted as a rock god. Fast forward a decade and it was a sound that was starting to feel, if not worn out, then definitely not fresh. As with Lisa Stansfield earlier, it had been a case of diminishing returns for sales of INXS albums since the high point of “Kick” and “Elegantly Wasted” wasn’t about to reverse that trend. It was a sad end to the band’s glory days which had coincided with my time as a student at Sunderland Poly and my early years of marriage and living in Manchester. Thanks for the memories. RIP Michael.

Sometimes I look down the running order for these TOTP repeats and think to myself “what on earth do I have to say about this one?” – “Love Guaranteed” by Damage undoubtedly falls into that category. Needless to say I don’t remember it at all and listening to it in the present day, it made as much impression on me as a feather on a set of scales. It was just more of that one-paced, pedestrian R&B /pop hybrid that was popular back then. What’s that? What about Christopher Lee in the video? What about him? Plot wise, I think he’s meant to be in control of some sort of time portal but he looks as bored with the whole thing as I feel about it. Other than that, he does bugger all except stand around and stare down the lens of the camera. What? It’s the way that he stares though? Ah well, you’ve got me there.

As Kylie says in her intro to the next artist, the Aussies had taken over this particular episode of TOTP what with INXS, Kylie herself of course and now Gina G. Yes, lest we forget, the UK’s 1996 Eurovision entrant was actually Australian*. Despite trailing in eight place on the big night, “Ooh Aah…Just A Little Bit” had gone on to become a No 1 single. More surprising than that though was that Gina managed to sustain a pop career for another year or so and rack up four more hits. “Fresh” was the third of those and also the title track from her debut album. I don’t remember the song at all (for the record it was another ridiculously catchy, disco inflected Eurodance number) but I do recall the album – not for its music but for its dreadful cover art. It looked so amateurish and like it had been designed on the back of a beer mat down the pub. Gina is covered in chocolate icing (hmm…) holding a microphone attached to a stand with the microphone plugged into a socket on a wall. The room it’s set in is all in purple for some reason and Gina’s name and the album title look like they’ve been chucked on randomly at an angle rather than positioned with any resemblance of judgement. Then there’s Gina’s hair which looks like Crystal Tipps from 70s cartoon Crystal Tipps And Alistair. Is that some sort of air blower in the foreground (that might explain Gina’s hair) or is it an amp? You can’t tell because the whole thing has some sort of grainy tint to it that makes it look out of focus. The whole thing is an ugly mess. It was shot by renowned and award winning photographer David LaChapelle whose style has been described as “hyper-real and slyly subversive” – yeah, whatever. Regardless of what it looked like, the album continued her run of success by peaking at No 12 and achieving silver status in the UK in recognition of 60,000 sales.

*This theme was continued in 1997 as the UK entrant was Katrina And The Waves whose lead singer was Katrina Leskanich, an American but well be seeing them in these TOTP repeats soon enough.

Now, this is the song of the night so far for me. The Divine Comedy are probably not everybody’s cup of tea – was ‘wimp rock’ the term that some hack came up with to label them with? – but I’ve always quite liked them. After becoming genuine pop stars with chart hits the previous year, the band didn’t rest on their laurels and released their fifth album “A Short Album About Love” just nine months after their last “Casanova”. Despite containing three hit singles, it hadn’t sold that well so a change of tack was required. Rather than a complete change of sound, a different approach was deemed necessary and that was to record their next album at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire with an orchestra (but no audience). The plan worked in that the album made No 13 in the charts though I think I’m right in saying it was sold at a reduced price on account of only consisting of seven tracks so that may have helped its sales. It also produced another hit single in “Everybody Knows (Except You)” which was another ballad (of sorts) following on from previous hit “Frog Princess” though it was a much more…what’s the word?…agile?…unconventional?…love song but tuneful as hell. As for the performance, there was a lot of talk online about main man Neil Hannon’s cheek bones and beard. They are quite impressive though never really having had cheekbones or been able to grow a beard properly myself, I’m no expert.

By 1997, Wet Wet Wet had been having hits for a whole decade and to commemorate that anniversary, they released an album called “10”. Ironically, they wouldn’t release an album at all in the next ten years after their band splintered due to disputes over royalty payments and Marti Pellow’s hiatus to address his drugs and alcohol addictions. For the moment though, it seemed like business as usual as the band continued to churn out the hits. The phrase ‘business as usual’ could not only be applied to the band’s chart consistency but also to their sound. Lead single “If I Never See You Again” was yet more of their sophisti-pop, blue eyed soul style that they had honed over the years. I’d enjoyed their early hits but ten years in and – a bit like INXS earlier – it had all become a bit stale and predictable. Proving my point, the band’s final hit of the 90s would be with the most predictable cover version they could have chosen, the most covered song in history – “Yesterday” by The Beatles. With that and the whole “Love Is All Around” extended episode, “If I Never See You Again” might well have been the words on the lips of many a disgruntled music fan in 1997.

What’s that? Do I fancy a quick win? What do you mean? “Isn’t It A Wonder” by Boyzone has been on TOTP before on the 8 November 1996 show when it was premiered as an album track from their “A Different Beat” album? So I could just add a link to my review of that episode and I wouldn’t have to listen to/think about/ comment on it a second time? Right then…

TOTP 08 NOV 1996

The Spice Girls are holding at No 1 with the double A-side single “Mama / Who Do You Think You Are” off the back of Comic Relief day that happened the previous week. This time we get a performance of “Mama” and the girls have got some kids on stage with them to make the song even more sickly than it already was. I wonder who the kids were? Competition winners? They’ll be in their mid-30s now – you feel old now don’t you? I’m not sure that Mel B’s outfit was appropriate with her sitting next to that young lad. Still, it’ll have given him a good story to tell for the rest of his life.

The play out video is…wait…what? “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt?! But…but…they weren’t No 1 anymore and were at No 4 in the charts this week. They’d already been on three weeks in the trot whilst they’d topped the charts and yet they were back on again? Why? Well, this was all to do with the new appearance rules that had been brought in following the departure of Ric Blaxill as executive producer when songs no longer had to be new entries nor climbing the charts to be given a slot on the show. If you were going down the Top 40 you might yet get the call to appear one more time. Kylie says that “Don’t Speak” was the biggest selling single of the year to this point in an attempt to legitimise its video being given another showing but it seems a bit of a hollow reason to me. If this was the show’s new direction, I wasn’t sure about where we were heading.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Lisa StansfieldThe Real ThingNegative
2INXSElegantly WastedNah
3DamageLove GuaranteedAs if
4Gina GFreshNope
5The Divine ComedyEverybody Knows (Except You)No but I had their Best Of with it on
6Wet Wet WetIf I Never See You AgainNo
7BoyzoneIsn’t It A WonderNever
8Spice GirlsMama / Who Do You Think You AreI did not
9No DoubtDon’t SpeakAnd 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/m0027pnn/top-of-the-pops-21031997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 13 DEC 1996

Posted on by 80stastic

We’ve skipped a week in these TOTP repeats due to the 6th December show being presented by Gary Glitter. Having checked the running order, I don’t think we missed much. In fact, on a personal level, I’m relieved to not have to review Peter Andre and 3T again. Talking of ‘again’, Toni Braxton was on again and there seemed to be a disconnect between executive producer Ric Blaxill’s perception of the pulling power of (Miss) Diana Ross and her ability to sell records at this time. Slap bang in the middle of the show were Oasis cover band No Way Sis with their version of “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” which might have been of some curiosity value but, like Mike Flowers Pops before them, was hardly the stuff of legend. The only performance I would have liked to have watched was show opener Mansun doing “Wide Open Space”. I’ll have to pick that one up in my review of the year post.

Anyway, that’s what we missed but let’s get on with the show we did get to see. Our host is Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds who doesn’t strike me as the most charismatic of choices but let’s see how he does. It’s a very workmanlike start as he introduces Manic Street Preachers who are performing the fourth and last hit taken from their “Everything Must Go” album called “Australia”. “Everyone’s a classic” says Broudie and I guess he’s not wrong as every one of them went Top 10. To put that into context, up to 1996, the only time the band had scored a Top Tenner was with their cover of “Theme From M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless)” from the NME compilation album “Ruby Trax”. In fact, of the next seven singles they released after that, the highest chart peak achieved was No 15. Is it fair to say that the Manics were better known as an albums band rather than a singles one prior to the disappearance of Richey Edwards? Probably but then who would have foreseen the level of sales the band would enjoy on their reemergence as a trio?

“Australia” pretty much followed the template of the album’s previous singles though that’s not to say they all sounded the same but there was definite evidence of a decision to go in a more commercial direction in these hits, albeit the band didn’t desert all their trademark angular pop/rock and intellectual lyrics origins. The “Everything Must Go” album changed everything for the band – they were back and more successful than ever. Their next single release was “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next” which would give the their first No 1 single. They were bigger than they’d ever been but what did that mean for their fans who had been there since the beginning? I can certainly remember that sixth form phase of not wanting to like anything the masses were into? Was there a similar sentiment amongst the Manics faithful?

With Christmas fast approaching, it’s time to bring out the big ballads as artists jockey for the coveted festive No 1. It’s a trick as old as time but it would often bring about huge results and Damage weren’t immune to its appeal. Only their second hit in and they’d already rolled out the ballad barrel. Now, I don’t remember “Forever” at all but it was actually more than just another single by a boy band. How so? Well, it was co-written by one Steve Mac who had previously been behind dance hits such as “(I Wanna Give You) Devotion” by Nomad and “Hear The Drummer (Get Wicked)” by Chad Jackson. However, his career changed direction with “Forever” as it came to the attention of Simon Cowell who loved it and asked Mac to join his songwriting team for a new group he was putting together. The name of that group? IOYOU. Not familiar with them? You’ll know them by the name they finally settled on – Westlife. Yes, those fresh faced Irish lads with a penchant for singing sugary ballads on stools that dominated the charts in the late 90s. Mac would go on to work with artists of the calibre of Aaron Carter, JLS, The Saturdays, Shayne Ward, O-Town, Olly Murs and Susan Boyle. Yes, I am being facetious – Mac has also worked with artists such as Ed Sheeran Biffy Clyro, London Grammar and Kylie Minogue but there’s still an awful lot of garbage in there that he’s been at least partly responsible for and it all came about because of one song that he wrote called “Forever”. The damage (ahem) that song has done.

Next up is a real stinker which I had forgotten all about until this honking reminder. Elton John loves a collaboration from as far back as 1976 when he teamed up with Kiki Dee on “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” then on into the 80s with the likes of Millie Jackson, George Michael, Jennifer Rush and Cliff Richard. As the 90s dawned, he worked with George Michael (again) and did a whole album of collaborations called “Duets” with the likes of RuPaul, Marcella Detroit and Kiki Dee (again). And then came this – a duet with Luciano Pavarotti called “Live Like Horses”. Host Ian Broudie says it was to raise money for Bosnia and AIDS charities in his intro but then slyly gives his own verdict on the musical worth of the track by saying “Never mind the song, just buy the record”. He’s not wrong as it’s a steaming pile of shite. Basically just another of those plodding, pedestrian ballads that Elton churned out in the 90s, the plan seemed to be to just get Pavarotti to add his esteemed vocals to it so that it would be transformed into something approaching “Miss Sarajevo” by Passengers from the previous year which, of course, Pavarotti had featured on. That track though elicited a genuine emotional reaction whereas “Live Like Horses” provoked a shrug and a “meh”.

There’s a story that when it was performed on The National Lottery Show, host Bob Monkhouse spoke to both Elton and Luciano separately and it transpired that both thought the song was awful but believed that the other loved it and so promoted it together with gusto. If only they’d expressed those views to each other then we might have been spared all of this. The track appears on Elton’s 1997 album “The Big Picture” without Pavarotti’s vocals and no, I’m not going to inflict that on you. It is Christmas after all.

I’m quite liking Ian Broudie as host and the sly little digs that he’s getting in. After dissing “Live Like Horses” in the nicest possible way, he then turns his attention to Phil Collins, accusing him of “still banging on”. However, he’s not banging on his drums but…playing guitar? What was going on here then? Well, the facts were that “It’s In Your Eyes” was the second single taken from the “Dance Into The Light” album and I’m guessing it didn’t live long in anyone’s mind’s eye despite Phil’s turn on the guitar. Its chart peak of No 30 would seem to back me up. Stealing the melody from “Any Time At All” by The Beatles probably didn’t help. That track was from the soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night in which a very young Phil had been in the audience for the concert sequence at the film’s end. However, the song which featured 13 year old Phil in the crowd – “You Can’t Do That” – was cut from the film meaning Phil wasn’t actually in it. So maybe it was a case of Phil’s revenge, him borrowing heavily from “Any Time At All”? As the TOTP caption hinted at, Phil would see out the 90s recording the soundtrack to the Walt Disney version of the Tarzan story. Please God let the promotion for it not have featured Phil in a loincloth.

After Elton John and Phil Collins before him, here’s a third musical heavyweight on the show in the diminutive form of Prince although he was officially known as symbol or The Artist Formerly Known As Prince or TAFKAP or The Artist or something (or nothing) by this point. For two of these artists, their long list of hits was coming to an end and sadly for His Purpleness, he was one of them. His offering to the record buying public this Christmas was a cover of “Betcha By Golly Wow” that was originally a hit for The Stylistics in 1972. It all seems a bit unnecessary in retrospect and I’m glad that his final hit in the UK wasn’t a cover version – that would have seemed a bit perverse given his huge vault of songs that he wrote himself. His final two hits in this country came courtesy of the same song when “1999” was rereleased in 1998 and also the following year to coincide with new year celebrations for both entering 1999 and leaving it for the new millennium. Yes, it was an obvious and possibly cynical move but at least he ended his UK chart story with a classic song.

It’s that song by The Beautiful South next. Yes, the one that Terry Wogan would often threaten to play the album version of (I’m guessing he never did) – it can only be “Don’t Marry Her”. The second single released from their “Blue Is The Colour” album, for me, this was even better than predecessor “Rotterdam” which itself had been made the Top 5 and been a massive radio hit. We all know the background story to this one with the lyrics having to be drastically revised for its release as a single. I like both versions though replacing “sweaty bollocks” with “Sandra Bullocks” was a bit of a stretch. In some ways, “Don’t Marry Her” is the definitive Beautiful South song – a jaunty, catchy melody allied to biting, bitter lyrics that speak of how life really is rather than some sanitised image that pop songs can sometimes present. It’s the first track on the album so it was a hard hitting introduction to their latest work; presumably that was deliberate on behalf of the band.

I was working in the Our Price store in Stockport this Christmas and I recall our Area Manager – the sadly passed away Lorcan Devine – sending a message to stores telling us all to go big on stocking up on “Blue Is The Colour” on the strength of the “Don’t Marry Her” single on account of it being, in his words, a belter and potential chart topper. I didn’t disagree with him but the expected sales of the album didn’t quite pan out as Lorcan had anticipated with the single peaking at No 8 (albeit that the album did go to No 1) and he had to admit to getting it wrong. Probably not being able to play the damned thing in the shop due to the opening track’s use of the “f” word didn’t help!

After a very memorable song comes one I’d forgotten all about. In fact, pressed to name any songs by Snoop Doggy Dogg, I wouldn’t be able to get beyond “What’s My Name?”. There were others though (loads of them actually including a No 1 with Katy Perry) and “Snoop’s Upside Ya Head” was his fourth. Obviously based around the Gap Band hit, it actually featured their vocalist Charlie Wilson as well. As with Prince earlier, it seems rather superfluous and indeed contrived (Snoops/Oops). In fact, of more interest to me is my discovery that “Oops Upside Ya Head” was originally titled “I Don’t Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (Oops)”. Keep that bit of trivia and mark it ‘essential pop music quiz info’.

We have a case of premature chart action at No 1 as Boyzone have gone too early with their attempt at securing the festive chart topper. After narrowly missing out in the previous two years with cover versions of The Osmonds (“Love Me For A Reason”) and Cat Stevens (“Father And Son”), their third tilt at the Christmas bestseller was a song that they co-wrote themselves* in “A Different Beat”.

*Actually, it was all members of the band apart from Mikey Graham. Presumably he was off having his haircut on the day they wrote it judging by his shaved head in this performance.

By releasing the single on 2nd December, Boyzone created a situation where there were too many weeks and too many other big releases to come after it for them to be able to hang on to the top spot until the Christmas chart was announced. Or maybe they knew what was coming (the Dunblane song and the third single from the Spice Girls) and so went early with “A Different Beat” so they wouldn’t be up against either of those releases in week one thereby ensuring themselves another No 1. Perhaps they should have just reversed the order of the first two singles released from the album and put their cover of “Words” by the Bee Gees out as their Christmas hit. I’m thinking it was a stronger song than “A Different Beat” which sounded like it was trying too hard to be on the soundtrack to The Lion King with its “Ee Ay Oh” chorus and African chants.

I mentioned earlier that our Area Manager had misjudged the sales potential of “Don’t Marry Her” but he wasn’t the only one encouraged into ordering too many copies of a single that Christmas. I went over the top on “A Different Beat” having nearly sold out of “Words” before it. Not wanting to do the same with the follow up, I overstocked on it massively. Doh!

There’s no 20th December show as it was hosted by Shaun Ryder who spent the whole time doing Jimmy Saville impressions so obviously BBC4 weren’t going to show that. I’m not doing a post about the Christmas Day TOTP either as I’ve reviewed pretty much everything on there already in the regular shows. I will, however, be writing a review of the whole year before moving into the 1997 repeats.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Manic Street PreachersAustraliaNo but I had the album
2Damage ForeverNo
3Elton John / Luciana PavarottiLive Like HorsesAbsolutely not
4Phil CollinsIt’s In Your EyesBut not in my ears Phil – NO
5PrinceBetcha By Golly WowNah
6The Beautiful SouthDon ‘t Marry HerLiked it, didn’t buy it
7Snoop Doggy DoggSnoops Upside Ya HeadNope
8BoyzoneA Different BeatI ordered loads of it but buy it? Never!

Disclaimer

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

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0025pv8/top-of-the-pops-13121996?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 11 OCT 1996

Posted on by 80stastic

Writing two of these blog posts a week can be quite a drain on the well of creativity. Consequently, I have returned to my 1996 diary for inspiration and it’s certainly thrown a memory up though not one that I’m very proud of. Two days after this TOTP aired, I was out in Manchester with my wife and a coupe of friends. The plan was to have a few drinks and then go to Chinatown first and then for a meal. And we did do all of that so what was the problem? Well, unfortunately I imbibed a few too many alcoholic beverages along the way and by the time I sat down to eat in the Yang Sing restaurant I was completely plastered, off my face, hammered. That would have been bad enough but here’s the real kicker and this was unbelievable. The table next to us had noticed my inebriated state and had engaged in conversation with us along the lines of “dearie me, is he alright?”. In an attempt to prove that I was indeed OK and more than that, not drunk at all, I proceeded to tell them that I had to be at work early the next day as I worked in the Our Price in Stockport and we were having our Christmas merchandising, signage and decorations installed. Back in those days, the company employed outside contractors to come in and do all that sort of stuff. By the end of my time at Our Price, I’m pretty sure the staff were expected to do all that sort of thing. Now we get to the really weird bit. One of the women on the next table the informs me that she works for the company putting up the merchandising and is doing the Stockport store tomorrow. Excellent! So literally in a few hours time when no doubt I will feel as rough as a badger’s arse, I’ll be opening the shop doors to the woman next to me who has witnessed me completely destroyed by drink. So, not embarrassing at all then. My diary doesn’t record what happened at work on the Monday other than it was a quiet day presumably meaning I was hung over and hiding in the stockroom away from the counter and other human beings. I wonder if this TOTP has anyone on it to match my level of humiliation?

Nothing embarrassing about opening act Manic Street Preachers who are in the studio to perform their new single “Kevin Carter”. The third track lifted from their “Everything Must Go” album, it was also their third Top 10 hit on the spin. To give this achievement some context, their previous 13 singles had given them just one. This really was phoenix from the flames stuff given that the band had suffered the loss of main lyricist Richey Edwards. Having said that, “Kevin Carter” was one of the songs demoed for Edwards before his disappearance and which he wrote the lyrics for about the titular Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist who took his own life in 1994 haunted by the images of famine and death that he had taken in Sudan.

It’s a very spiky track with a rhythm that judders and skitters about and not the strongest chorus but then there’s the middle eight trumpet solo by drummer Sean Moore which is actually quite exquisite. I guess it would have been difficult logistically to have him play the solo and be on the drums simultaneously in this performance. Such a striking piece of music was it that it was used as the theme music to the ITV Wales current affairs show Wales This Week. No, really. See…

Ooh now, here’s something that’s truly mortifying! What in the world was this all about?! Well, it’s the obligatory dance tune on tonight’s show and it arrives courtesy of Jeremy Healy & Amos. Jeremy, of course, started his music career as a member of Haysi Fantayzee but went on to carve out a diverse career as a superstar DJ and musical director for fashion house Victoria’s Secret and labels launched by the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani. Amos was that bloke from Emmerdale who ran the Woolpack pub. No, of course he wasn’t but he might have well have been for all the information I can find out about Healy’s partner in crime and let’s have it right, “Stamp!” was a crime of music. This track is all over the place. There’s some record decks scratching, funk style bass lines, some de rigueur dream trance keyboards flourishes and some repeated spoken word Spanish all in the mix. And then there’s the performance which is absolutely bonkers. I guess it’s trying to reflect the mishmash of styles on display with flamenco dancers, a ludicrously moustachioed man on bongos and in the centre of it all is Jeremy Healy gurning away and generally making a total prat of himself. There’s very little online about this hit – Healy’s Wikipedia page doesn’t mention it at all – and quite right too as we should all try and expunge it from our memories. A total embarrassment.

With their repertoire of sardonic, social commentary yet beautifully crafted songs, I don’t think The Beautiful South could be accused of being a national embarrassment. Indeed, Paul Heaton is more of a national treasure. He even offered to nationalise his songs so that every time they are played on radio the state would receive the royalties revenue and could use it to improve living standards. Predictably, the Conservative government of the time refused his generous offer of a gift to the British public.

One of those songs that would have been included in his proposal was “Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)” the lead single from fifth studio album “Blue Is The Colour”. Perhaps one of their most well known songs and one of their biggest hits (it peaked at No 5), it was inspired by the lack of a welcome Paul Heaton received in a snooty bar in Rotterdam which he perceived didn’t want ‘his type’ as part of their clientele. Paul has refuted the idea that it’s a criticism of Rotterdam itself but more of the type of people who consider themselves the beautiful elite whom you see everywhere. Heaton’s experience of this just happened to be in a bar in Rotterdam. There’s something about its barbed lyrics with its references to Liverpool, Rome and pickled people that appealed to the nation. Interesting to note that Heaton is happy to completely take a back seat in this performance and hand all the vocals to Jacqui Abbott. As of a 2020 interview in The Guardian, neither the band nor the duo of Jacqui and Heaton have ever played “Rotterdam” live in that city nor Rome but it always goes down well in Liverpool and anywhere in Ireland for the line “gargoyles dipped long in Irish stout”. It has also taken on a life of its own as a football chant with the chorus being adopted by home fans to taunt their away counterparts with “insert name of opposition get battered everywhere they go”. I must tell my football obsessed son where that chant comes from.

Next up are a band whose name I remember but as for their hits, I couldn’t name you a one. Apparently Damage were marketed as being the British 3T despite the fact that there were five of them (the clue was in the name guys – bit embarrassing) and despite my inability to name any of them, they would rack up nine UK Top 40 hits including four Top Tenners. This really was a boom time for British R&B/pop artists what with the likes of Eternal, Gabrielle and Michelle Gayle representing the women of the genre and MN8, Mark Morrison and Ultimate Kaos showing up for the men (well, boys in the case of Ultimate Kaos). It makes me wonder how there was room for another such act in Damage but their run of hits proves that there was. “Love II Love” was their breakthrough hit and its title has left me wondering if it was inspired by another UK R&B artist, that of Soul II Soul. Anyway, it doesn’t do much for me although the video is at least diverting with the band as puppets being controlled by a mean alien lady. The only other thing to delay us here is to mention that lead singer Jade Jones has been in a relationship with Emma Bunton since 1998 finally marrying her in 2021. The Spice Girls are on later but this can’t be where they met as it was Damage’s promo video that we saw on the show and not the real thing in the studio.

Now I wouldn’t call this next hit embarrassing, not at all. However, despite it being the artist’s biggest ever hit, it’s also one of their weakest to my ears. “Flying” by Cast was a standalone single presumably recorded and released to plug the gap between their debut and sophomore album that wasn’t released until April of 1997. It’s not that it’s an awful song (and I don’t recall having this opinion of it at the time) but there really isn’t much to it. It’s very repetitive – the chorus is also its intro with its lyric sung four times over – and said lyrics are so basic and uninspiring that they sound like they took about the same amount of time to come up with as the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng infamous and disastrous mini budget (now that was something that was truly shameful). Look at these:

It’s like flying through the air, you can make it if you dare

You live your life without a care, you know that love is everywhere

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John T. Williams
Flying lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group

I mean, come on. Was that the best John Power could do? I don’t think so. To be fair to him, I saw Cast live this year as part of a three band open air show along with Embrace and Ocean Colour Scene. We arrived late halfway through the set and only caught a bit of “Flying” which they were playing as we entered the venue but I have to admit it sounded better live.

This week’s ’flashback’ section features Madonna and “True Blue” which was No 1 in the corresponding week ten years previously. Here’s the post from my 80s blog in which I discussed it:

TOTP 09 OCT 1986

Next up is the most misunderstood song since Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The USA”. Babybird was basically a vehicle for songwriter Stephen Jones who had been churning out hundreds of lo-fi demos in his Nottingham flat without being signed to a major label until Echo Records (a division of the Chrysalis Group) offered him a deal. His first single release for them “Goodnight” was a No 28 hit spending just two weeks in the charts but it was second single “You’re Gorgeous” that would become the song that he would forever be remembered for. On first hearing, it may have seemed like a full blown, lush ballad but first impressions can be deceiving. I can’t recall the specific realisation that I (and so many others) must have had that not everything was as it seemed here but clearly the lyrics of the verses were at odds with that joyful chorus. The tale of a sleazy photographer manipulating his model with promises of magazine covers, it was a brilliant example of subverting the established love song narrative. And yet so many people didn’t get it. Even today, if you check out the comments on YouTube against its promo video you’ll find people saying that their Mums used to sing it to them when they were little or that the song makes the commentator’s spirit feel lighter or that the song has such fun, happy vibes. Should those people be embarrassed or is it a case of ignorance is bliss? Who am I to tell people how to consume or enjoy a song?

And for the third time in the TOTP studio we have Donna Lewis performing “I Love You Always Forever”. Seriously? What is there left for me to say about this one? Or should I be the one who’s embarrassed with my lack of creativity? OK, I’m just going to fling some stuff out there and see if any of it sticks or resonates…

  1. The song was inspired by the H.W.Bates 1962 novel Love For Lydia with the lyric of the chorus being lifted directly from the book.
  2. It was originally entitled “Lydia” but Lewis was talked into renaming it by her record label due to there being no reference to a ‘Lydia’ lyrics. Could it also have been to do with the fact that there was already a song out there called “Lydia” by Dean Friedman?
  3. It spent nine weeks at No 2 sat behind Los Del Rio’s “Macarena”. Surely the Ultravox/ Joe Dolce moment of the 90s?
  4. Despite not toppling Los Del Rio’s hit, “I Love You Always Forever” completely trounced it in the airplay chart being heard by 100 million radio listeners in one week compared to 19 million for “Macarena”.

That do ya?

Was this the moment that we all knew that the Spice Girls were here to stay? After the runaway success of almost novelty hit “Wannabe”, the decision on how to follow it up was always going to be crucial. Would they carry on into the extremes of bubblegum pop or go in an altogether different direction? I guess there two ways of reacting to “Say You’ll Be There”:

  1. It was a super smooth and slick pop/dance number with a dash of R&B that was so prevalent and popular around this time. Therefore it showed a maturity to the group that was not apparent in “Wannabe” and was a wise career move aimed at longevity.
  2. It was a safe and boring decision to jump on that pop/dance bandwagon and shows that the surprise of their debut hit had been sacrificed for guaranteed further success.

I’m not embarrassed to say that I was of opinion No 1. It was super radio friendly and the way that they divided up the vocal parts between the five of them promoted that gang mentality and also allowed for fans to pick out a favourite Spice Girl.

It’s another single that’s straight in at No 1 now as The Chemical Brothers top the charts in week one with “Setting Sun”. Working in a record shop, I was aware of Manchester duo Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands via my much hipper than me work colleagues – they had especially liked their debut album “Exit Planet Dust” which was a shop stereo favourite. However, perhaps like many, I didn’t really take that much notice of them until this single the publicity surrounding which was substantially heightened by the presence of the record of one Noel Gallagher. How much the Oasis man’s association affected sales we may never know but regardless, his input helped forge a spectacular dance tune that even I could get on board with. By all measurable criteria, I should have hated this. After all, “Higher State Of Consciousness” by Josh Wink hadn’t so much set my teeth on edge as trigger a full blown nervous breakdown in me every time I heard it and “Setting Sun” wasn’t a million miles away from that with its sprawling, squealing cacophony of sounds that metaphorically slammed you to the wall and kept you pinned there for the duration when it came on. Whether it was the presence of Noel I’m not sure but this track seemed to have more…what?…structure to it? Those sniffy elements of the music press would laud it as the best thing Gallagher ever did which makes for a good line but is a bit embarrassing on their behalf.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Manic Street PreachersKevin CarterNo but I had the album
2Jeremy Healy & AmosStamp!As if
3The Beautiful SouthRotterdam (Or Anywhere)No but I must have had it on something
4DamageLove II LoveDefinitely not
5CastFlyingNah
6MadonnaTrue BlueNope
7BabybirdYou’re GorgeousNegative
8Donna LewisI Love You Always ForeverI did not
9Spice GirlsSay You’ll Be ThereI can’t because I wasn’t – no
10The Chemical Brothers Setting SunAnd 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/m0024s0b/top-of-the-pops-11101996?seriesId=unsliced