Eurythmics

TOTP 15 OCT 1999

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s mid October 1999, I’m 31 years old and have been working for the same record shop retail chain (Our Price) for nine years. The impending Christmas trading period will be my tenth on the trot and the thought of that is exhausting. I’m also wondering if I might be ageing out of the job – was working in a record shop a young person’s game? Most of the songs in the Top 40 I was now not just failing to connect with but openly hating on some cases.

I’d also been living in Manchester for nearly the whole of the 90s and, as much as I loved the place, it could be a harsh city at times. My wife and I started to talk about the possibility of moving away and of doing something else altogether. To this end, I actually started applying for jobs outside of retail. I attended a recruitment exercise with the bank First Direct in Leeds but I didn’t perform very well on the day unfortunately. I then turned my attention to paediatric nursing and, around the time that this TOTP was broadcast, went to a careers day in Harrogate but realised whilst I was there that I didn’t really have the right level of enthusiasm to pursue it. Eventually, I would find a way out of both Manchester and record shops but that’s for a future post. For now, I was at least thinking seriously about starting a new chapter whilst still selling CDs and cassettes of music I mostly disliked to the Great British Public. They probably all ended up in landfill sites.

Our host for this one is Jayne Middlemiss and it’s the final leg of the Top Of The Pops On Tour project which is in the Time & Icon club in Swansea. Just like all other venues on the tour, it no longer exists and neither should it with a name like that. Not quite as bad as that which I frequented in my teenage years in Worcester – Images On Glass – but still very poor.

We start with Eurythmics who, not having been near a TOTP studio since 31st August 1989, are onto their second consecutive appearance with “I Saved The World Today”. What was the reason? Well, they were back, back, BACK (as Smash Hits used to say) with a new album called “Peace”, their first in ten years. This week Annie and Dave have a full band behind them as opposed to the acoustic set up they employed last time. It’s a testament to the quality of the song they both versions work equally as well. The album was toured with all profits going to Greenpeace and Amnesty International with a special promotional concert aboard the former charity’s Rainbow Warrior II. All of this seemed to indicate an agenda behind the duo’s decision to reunite (quite possibly most forcibly coming from Lennox) that if they were going to do it, then some definable good must come from it. Did they save the world? No. Did they achieve their objective? I think so.

In my last post, I rather unnecessarily banged on about who was the first Spice Girl to release a solo single. I’m not sure I came to a definitive answer. Thankfully, there doesn’t exist any such tangled mess about solo careers as far as I can tell when it comes to New Kids On The Block and let’s be fair, we needed five ex-NKOTB solo stars like Nigel Farage needs an enquiry into his receiving of a £5 million gift from a crypto billionaire. Not that none of the five members of that boy band decided to go it alone. Three of them released solo material but only one gathered any traction or success. Jordan Knight was the big heartthrob in NKOTB (well, he was my younger sister’s favourite anyway during her brief dalliance with them) and he is the only one to have a solo hit in the UK which he achieved with “Give It To You” when it went to No 5 in our charts. Now, I thought this was hopeless but it seemed to get mainly favourable reviews at the time. To me, it sounded like a Janet Jackson track that hadn’t been mixed properly or even played at the wrong speed. The fact that it sounded like Janet Jackson at all shouldn’t have been a surprise as it was put together by her erstwhile producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis but surely “Give It To You” doesn’t reside in the pile marked their greatest ever records. It’s that staccato rhythm that niggles rather than intrigues me.

Jordan does his best to sell it in this performance but when he does his little, twirling dance moves for the first time, the reaction of the studio audience feels almost patronising in a “ah, look at that old fella still trying to be down with the kids”. I could be wrong about that of course. Knight’s album failed to sell at all in most territories – presumably it wasn’t helped by the inclusion of a cover of Prince’s “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man”. Who thought that was a good idea?! The other two of his band mates to release solo material were Danny Wood who has seven (SEVEN!) albums listed in his discography though tellingly none have any chart stats listed against them and Joey McIntyre who had one Top 10 hit in America and then a whole bucketful of nothing. So what happened to the rest of them? Do you really want to know? No, nor me.

From one McIntyre to another as we move seamlessly from Danny of NKOTB (or T’KNOB if you will) to Natalie Renée McIntyre aka Macy Gray who, like Eurythmics earlier, was also making her second consecutive TOTP appearance. Now apparently Macy hadn’t been keen on her record company releasing “I Try” as a single because she just couldn’t hear the song’s hit potential. That got me thinking about other cases of artists not appreciating which of their songs were the obvious single choice.

Off the top of my head, The Human League famously didn’t want Virgin to release “Don’t You Want Me” as they thought it would ruin their career – it was the best selling UK single of 1981 and that year’s Christmas No 1. Then there’s Radiohead who objected to the release of “Creep” from their debut album “Pablo Honey” after US College radio play forced Parlophone to rerelease it after it initially flopped. The band feared one-hit wonder status but they had a further 16 Top 40 hits and have been going for 40 years now. Finally, Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross is notoriously poor at selecting singles and when asked for his choice of song to promote the band’s “When The World Knows Your Name” album went for the title track. Their record label Columbia overruled him and released “Real Gone Kid” – it is their highest charting single of original material.

Compared to Eurythmics, it felt like The Charlatans had only been away from the show for a couple of months but in truth it had been almost exactly two years since they’d last been on. Their last album “Tellin’ Stories” had been a huge success hitting the No 1 spot and going platinum to become the band’s biggest seller ever. All of this was achieved against the backdrop of keyboardist Rob Collins dying in a car crash part way through recording.

The album and the loss of their fellow band member drew a line in the sand. Firstly, the group’s contract with Beggar’s Banquet came to an end (it was actually fulfilled by the release of Best Of album “Melting Pot” in 1998) and they subsequently signed with Universal. Secondly, a new direction was pursued with follow up album “Us And Us Only” which had a country/folk/roots slant supposedly influenced by Tim Burgess’s love of Bob Dylan. Although it peaked at No 2 on the charts, it sold a third of both “Tellin’ Stories” and “Melting Pot”. I have to say that I’m not sure that I know “Us And Us Only” at all other than by its cover artwork. Is that because the singles taken from it weren’t big hits compared to those of its predecessor or was it just that we didn’t play it in the Our Price store I was working in? Probably a bit of both. So, 27 years later, what does lead single “Forever” sound like (to me)? My initial thoughts are that it’s good but it’s hardly an obvious single is it? Certainly the double length album version that I listened to makes more sense in all its psychedelic glory. In conclusion, it was a tad confusing. Still, compared to the next song on the show, it’s literally a colossal classic.

1999 had already given us some of the worst hits imaginable, many of which not only tried our patience but also challenged the status quo of whether they could even be defined as music so mind numbing were they. Then came the ultimate “Hold my beer” moment from Ann Lee who pulled off the seemingly impossible by giving us a record that was not just poor but actually a poor man’s Vengaboys. This was a new low on the shit-o-meter. “Two Times” is so infantile, so insubstantial, so inane that it seemed inconceivable that anyone would buy it and yet it was a huge hit all over Europe. Never mind hating yourself for liking it as suggested by Jayne Middlemiss in her intro, an intervention by all friends and family should have been immediately staged for anyone who was even caught just humming along to it. It can’t even make up its mind – is it two times or three times!

Who was this person who wrought havoc across the continent with this vile tune? Surprisingly, Ann Lee was a Sheffield lass born Annerley Emma Gordon (see what she did there?) who’d moved to Italy in the late 80s and released some solo singles to little recognition. Until “Two Times” hit, her biggest claim to fame had been being credited as one of the co-writers for Corona’s huge 1994 Eurodance smash “Rhythm Of The Night”. However, when I googled her, the first result I got was for Ann Lee the 18th century founding leader of the Shakers movement, later changed to the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing after her death. The Shakers worshiped by ecstatic dancing or “shaking” hence their name. They also composed thousands of songs consisting of syllables and words from unknown languages, the musical equivalent of glossolalia or speaking in tongues which were composed of a single melodic line with no harmonisation. Yeah, you can see where I’m going with this can’t you? As alien as all of that sounds, I think I’d rather listen to Ann Lee the Shaker’s music than “Two Times” by Ann Lee from Sheffield.

After his spectacular re-emergence with the six times platinum “Older” album in 1996, George Michael followed it up with the even more successful Best Of “Ladies & Gentlemen” which was the second biggest selling album of 1998. All of that success left one rather obvious question – what to do next? George’s answer wasn’t exactly out of left field. A covers album seemed like a bit of a fudge to me but in fairness to him, the choice of songs on it wasn’t hackneyed. Rather than instantly recognisable songs, George went mostly for old jazz standards for the album “Songs From The Last Century” with the odd, more contemporary track thrown in like “Roxanne” by The Police. The strategy worked well enough with good sales though not stratospheric. It was his only album release of any description not to get to No 1 and sold a quarter of the preceding Best Of. Its fortunes might not have been helped by the fact that the decision was taken not to release any singles from the album whatsoever.

So why were we seeing George perform “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” on this TOTP then? Well, it was all to do with the charity event NetAid which was an anti-poverty initiative with the aim of reducing third world debt. It seems largely forgotten now, wiped from the collective consciousness but it had some huge names behind it from the world of music and there were not many bigger than George Michael. This clip comes from the London NetAid concert at Wembley Stadium on October 9, 1999 where George performed a set including “Father Figure”. “Freedom! 90” and, obviously, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”. One of the most well known songs of the Great Depression of the 1930s , it is based on a Jewish lullaby and has also been recorded by Bing Crosby. As a vehicle to display the maturity and diversity of George’s voice it’s perfect. As a song to listen to over and over, to my ears, it is not. Maybe I’m just a victim of the era I grew up in but it’s very plodding and hard to get through.

What I did notice though is how far George’s image had changed since his Princess Di hair of his peak Wham! days and designer stubble, leather jacket and jeans look of his “Faith” persona. Dressed in slimming black, with sharp cut yet tousled hair, shades and facial hair (but definitely not the aforementioned designer stubble), this was George Michael as authentic artist and no mistake.

From Bing Crosby to Fred Astaire…just like with The Charlatans earlier, James were back with their first studio album for two years with the intervening time punctuated by the release of a Best Of. Also just like The Charlatans, the only thing I can recall about said album (“Millionaires”) is the cover artwork – to be fair, that huge pig was pretty memorable. There’s another Charlatans parallel in that the album was recorded against a backdrop of band uncertainty with infighting and tensions never far from the surface.

The second track released from it was “Just Like Fred Astaire” (lead single “I Know What I’m Here For” didn’t warrant a TOTP appearance) and although it’s not exactly laid back, it’s certainly a less frenetic song than some of their back catalogue. Not one of their best in my opinion but a good song without doubt that craps all over most of its chart peers. I like its lyrical idea that love is a disease though it’s not quite as good as Laurie Anderson’s idea that language is a virus from outer space. Meanwhile, when Tim Booth sings “I’m losing my hair”, he couldn’t have been more prophetic. Talking of prophetic and indeed Laurie Anderson, check out these lyrics from “Language Is A Virus” which foretell the coming of reality TV by well over a decade:

“Well, I dreamed there was an island
That rose up from the sea
And everybody on the island
Was somebody from TV
And there was a beautiful view
But nobody could see
‘Cause everybody on the island was saying:
Look at me!”

Songwriters: Laurie Anderson, 1986

Watching this performance back, I’m struck by the amount of guitarists up there on stage. I counted four which even allowing for a bass player and lead and rhythm guitarists, still leaves one extra. Still, I’m no musician (I can strum a few chords at best) so what do I know?

Eiffel Trifle (or whatever they were called) have been deposed from the top by the latest release from Britney Spears…ha! Well, you could have been forgiven for believing “Genie In A Bottle” was by Britney as you couldn’t talk about the actual artist behind it – Christina Aguilera – without mentioning her Mickey Mouse Club co-star alongside (Jayne Middlemiss certainly couldn’t). It was a fair comparison I think, not just for their shared showbiz backgrounds but also because of their out and out pop sound that was undercut with deliberate sexual overtones in the lyrics. Ah yes, those lyrics – they were certainly suggestive with lines like “My body’s sayin’, “Let’s go” and “You gotta rub me the right way”. Then there’s Christina’s look, all midriff and leather trousers. There seemed little doubt about the angle that was being persued here.

That’s not to say Christina’s success was all about image. Her debut hit was a quality pop song that cut through – its topping of the charts in 21 countries bears witness to that. From this beginning, she carved out a long career that has seen her described as a pop icon, gay icon, diva, sex symbol and “Voice of a Generation” (yeah, not sure about that one). All she was missing was to score a title winning goal that would generate a commentator cry for the ages…”Agulieraaaaaaa!”

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1EurythmicsI Saved The World TodayNo
2Jordan KnightGive It To YouYou can have it back thanks! No!
3Macy GrayI TryLiked it, didn’t buy it
4The CharlatansForeverNope
5Ann LeeTwo TimesNever
6George Michael Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?N/A
7JamesJust Like Fred AstaireNah
8Christina AguileraGenie In A BottleAnd 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/m002w1qy/top-of-the-pops-15101999

TOTP 08 OCT 1999

Posted on by 80stastic

Looking at the running order for this TOTP, I’m struck by the quality of it which is the best it’s been for quite some time. What am I talking about and have I gone mad? Well, there’s the return of the Eurythmics after a decade away for a start plus a cover version that was as unlikely as it was interesting. Added to that the first appearance of a soul singer with a very distinctive voice and the Pet Shop Boys who were usually good value. Usually. However, what is most noticeable is the lack of nasty, 90s dance tunes on the show with only one falling into that category. Granted it is the No 1 record but in these 1999 repeats, I’ll celebrate any small wins I can. Our host is Jamie Theakston and our TOTP On Tour location this week is the Dome II nightclub in Birmingham which is now the O2 Academy.

A quick bit of admin before we start. In previous posts, I’ve been disparaging about the quality of some of the acts that have been in these tour venues which usually numbered around four with the other slots filled by either a promo video or pre-recorded appearances either filmed at the pre-renovation work Elstree studios or some other location. However, all but the No 1 act seem to be in the Dome II nightclub in person this time which include some pretty big names. Lucky Brummies.

We start with the song holding at No 2 this week – “S Club Party” by S Club 7. Now although the group had a squeaky clean image – they had their own kids TV show after all – I did notice a suspect lyric in their hit which is:

“Hoochie mamas, show your nanas”

Songwriters: Hallgeir Rustan / Tor Hermansen / Mikkel Eriksen / Hugh Atkins

Erm…whatever could they mean? Well, AI explains the line like this:

Hoochie mamas: A slang term that originated in hip-hop culture, usually referring to women who dress in a flashy, provocative, or overtly sexy manner.

Show your nanas: “Nanas” is British and Australian slang for grandmothers.

Because it is British pop slang, the phrase isn’t meant to be taken literally. S Club 7 was just trying to rhyme and create a high-energy, party atmosphere by telling the party girls in the crowd to get loud alongside the older, grandmotherly figures. It basically translates to: “Women who want to party, get loud and bring your grandmas, too!

Really?! “Women who want to party, get loud and bring your grandmas, too!” That translation puts me in mind of that scene from Life Of Brian when Brian is caught writing anti-Roman graffiti by a centurion who tells his that Latin grammar is all wrong – “People called Romanes they go the house?”.

The Can’t Stop The Pop website gives a more literal explanation in its article on the song by saying it translates as “Women of low morals, show your vaginas” but explains that can’t have been the intended meaning though the alternative “Women of low morals, show your grandmother” wasn’t much better. Maybe S Club 7 weren’t as innocent as we all thought.

And so to the aforementioned Pet Shop Boys and what would be their final single of the 90s. “New York City Boy” would be their 20th such release of the decade and the second track taken from their “Nightlife” album. The chart fortunes of those 20 singles were a mixed bag. Nine of them went Top 10 (including a No 2) but there were no chart toppers. By comparison, the 80s yielded four No 1s. Of those other eleven 90s hits, eight peaked between Nos 12 and 15 which shows a definite consistency but also a lack of those absolutely huge hits. Neil Tennant infamously said that he knew the duo’s “imperial phase” was over when “Domino Dancing” only entered the charts at No 9 in 1988. Those words would also ring prophetically true into the 90s.

As for “New York City Boy” itself, it’s a completely extravagant disco anthem which was inspired by and written as a tribute to the Village People. In that respect, it fulfilled its brief. However. Its lack of huge chart success (it was one of those ‘consistent’ singles peaking at No 14) was possibly due to the fact that Neil and Chris had already been down this route six years prior when they covered the actual Village People with their version of “Go West” which had delivered their biggest hit of the 90s. So why go there again? Apparently, it had been the idea of producer David Morales (who incidentally had produced the first Pet Shop Boys single of the 90s “So Hard”) and Neil and Chris certainly followed through on that theme with this performance. Sailor-outfitted backing singers, a Native American with traditional headdress, a man with butterfly wings and, bizarrely, a…more mature lady shall we say in a checked dress who doesn’t seem to know why she’s there or what she’s doing. Who was she?

Oh, and there’s a continuation of the “hoochie” theme with this lyric:

“The street is amazing, the hoochies unreal”

Writer(s): Neil Tennant, Christopher Lowe, David Morales

Do you think the Pet Shop Boys intended its usage to have quite the same meaning as S Club 7? Somehow I can’t quite see it.

It’s that soul singer with the distinctive voice next as Macy Gray makes her TOTP bow. Appearing from seemingly nowhere, Macy (real name Natalie Renée McIntyre) went to the same elementary school as another singer who would adopt a stage name – one Brian Warner who would become Marilyn Manson though they didn’t know each other. As Jamie Theakston says in his intro, Macy rarely spoke as a child – she didn’t learn to hold a conversation until her 10th birthday – so embarrassed was she by her voice. However, she took up singing whilst at the University of Southern California after agreeing to write songs for a friend and the intended vocalist failed to show. Signed by Atlantic Records whilst singing in jazz cafes, she was later dropped in the middle of recording her debut album but was subsequently picked up by Epic Records who would release her debut album “On How Life Is”. After her first single “Do Something” failed to make the Top 40, her second release “I Try” was a huge sleeper hit becoming the UK’s 20th best selling single of 1999 despite never getting higher than No 6 in the weekly chart. Look at these numbers for proof of its longevity:

10 – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 7 – 7 – 6 – 9 – 11 -11 – 15 – 13 – 16 – 15 – 22 – 27 – 38

That’s four and a half months on the Top 40. On the back of that profile, her album would achieve huge commercial success going four times platinum in the UK and it was a similar story in the US. “I Try” would win a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (quite the irony given her childhood misgivings about her voice) whilst Macy would collect two BRIT Awards for International Breakthrough Act and International Female Solo Artist. And yet, despite releasing ten albums during her career, I would struggle to name any of her songs other than “I Try” – is it the same for you? Admittedly, those ten albums suffered from diminishing returns sales wise (albeit with some good critical reviews) but even so.

A parallel film career whilst also contributing songs for soundtrack albums kept her profile high but in my head, I can only picture Macy in late 1999. I should perhaps have taken more interest as I really liked “I Try”. Her performance of it here with her stooped physical stance puts me in mind of Ian Dury or John Lyon though both their postures were due to medical reasons – Dury contracted polio and Lydon spinal meningitis when they were both aged seven. When I eventually left my job in record shops after nearly 10 years, I chose three songs to play on the shop stereo to go out on. One was “My Way” by Frank Sinatra for obvious reasons but the other two were “MacArthur Park”* the Richard Harris version (I really can’t explain that choice!) and “I Try” which was probably just because of the timing of when I left but it will always remind me of that life event.

*What links Macy Gray to the Pet Shop Boys? “New York City Boy” samples the Donna Summer version of “MacArthur Park” and that’s possibly the most tenuous connection I’ve ever made in this blog.

So who was the first Spice Girl to go solo? The answer isn’t as straightforward as it could be. Strictly speaking, the first to market was Melanie B with “I Want You Back” which was released in September 1998. However, it also featured Missy ‘Misdemeanour’ Elliott so was that strictly a solo release? Next up was Melanie C but hers was a supporting role on the Bryan Adams song “When You’re Gone” so I don’t think that counts. That leaves “Look At Me” by Geri Halliwell as the first truly solo Spice Girl single in May 1999 but…she wasn’t an actual Spice Girl at this point having already left the group so can she be the answer to the question ‘who was the first Spice Girl to go solo?’? That could be semantics at play but if not her then who? In chronological order that would return us to Melanie B when she released her cover of Cameo’s “Word Up”…except that single was officially credited to Melanie G as she’d recently got married to Jimmy Gulzar and taken his surname but Melanie G only existed for that one release and nobody talks about Mel G when the subject of the Spice Girls is discussed so…that brings us back to Melanie C and her single “Goin’ Down”.

The first track taken from her triple platinum album “Northern Star”, this was no “Wannabe”. In fact, it was nothing like any Spice Girls release ever. A defiantly rock track, it was supposedly inspired by Blur’s “Song 2” but it sounds like Mel’s doing her best Skunk Anansie impression to me. I have to say that it’s not great – all style over content – though it secured a fairly respectable chart peak of No 4. Mel’s sound wasn’t the only thing that was new – she also unveiled her latest look. That blond spiky hair had more than a touch of the aforementioned John Lydon about it (Jamie Theakston even refers to her as “Punky Spice”) and was that gold tooth cap always there? More than that though was her attitude. Gone were the backflips and cheesy smiles – this was a growling, confrontational Melanie C. She could even be said to be courting controversy, The lyrics include the words “bitch” and “whore” (though they’re obviously muted in this performance) and then there’s her video for the song which was banned by some outlets for its violent content though the biggest crime is Mel’s Axl Rose spring tartan skirt.

French and Saunders memorably parodied said video…

Joking aside though, Mel C has some amazing stats to her name:

  • Her album “Northern Star” is the best selling album of any of the Spice Girls’ solo releases
  • She holds the record for the largest attendance of a free concert within a public event
  • She has co-written 11 UK number ones, more than any other female artist in chart history
  • She remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet

Having said all of the above, I heard her latest single “Sweat” on the radio the other day and it’s proper pony.

When did tribute albums become a thing? I suppose it depends on your definition of what a tribute album is. For example, is “Hollies Sing Dylan” a tribute to Bob Dylan by The Hollies or just The Hollies doing a load of Bob Dylan covers? Does a tribute album have to be composed of multiple different acts covering the work of one artist? That would rule out “The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles Hits” which is probably a just as well.

OK, so if we’re going with that rule, the first one I think I was aware of was 1990’s “Red Hot + Blue” which was a compilation of covers of Cole Porter songs by various artists including Annie Lennox, U2, Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop and, best of all, David Byrne’s version of “Don’t Fence Me In”. In 1994, we had The Carpenters tribute album “If I Were A Carpenter” which had a more indie vibe to it with contributions from Sonic Youth, Shonen Knife, Babes In Toyland and my personal favourite Redd Kross. I think there might have been one for The Smiths as well but in 1999 came the big one – well, a big one if, like me, you’d grown up with The Jam. Now, to be clear, it was my elder brother who was a fully paid up member of The Jam Army but I couldn’t help but be exposed to them by osmosis if nothing else. When Britpop came along, Paul Weller found himself positioned as The Godfather of the movement and name checked constantly as an influence for its main protagonists. Was that part of the reason behind the release of their tribute album named “Fire & Skill: The Songs Of The Jam”?

Whatever its origin story, it featured some very contemporary indie rock artists such as Gene, Heavy Stereo and Silver Sun alongside some bigger names like Noel and Liam Gallagher, Garbage and the Beastie Boys. A double A-side single was released to promote it which was “Going Underground / Carnation” by Buffalo Tom / Liam Gallagher and Steve Cradock. Now, “Going Underground” was an obvious choice being The Jam’s first of four No 1 singles but “Carnation”? That was an album track from the band’s sixth and final LP “The Gift” so nowhere near as well known to the uncommitted. It is a fine song though nevertheless.

This 1999 version of it works well enough but I could have done without the overly keen attempt to instil it with a spaced out, trippy vibe with the reverb effects on Liam’s vocals (which suited the track anyway without them) and the backwards tape loops. It was a track from The Jam in 1982 not a psychedelic Beatles song from the late 60s. Anyway, although not credited on the single, that’s clearly Noel Gallagher up there with his brother and Ocean Colour Scene’s Steve Cradock and is that Oasis’s Alan White on the drums as well? Noel added his own individual contribution to the album (“To Be Someone” from 1978’s “All Mod Cons”) and was a regular collaborator with Paul Weller. The whole album doesn’t appear to be on Spotify though Buffalo Tom’s version of “Going Underground” is and it’s worth a listen for a different take on a well known classic.

We hadn’t seen nor heard from Eurythmics for nearly the whole of the 90s. After releasing eight albums in eight years, tensions between Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart were strained and the band disbanded with little fanfare. Lennox would release two successful solo albums whilst Dave Stewart formed The Spiritual Cowboys and released his own underrated solo album. In his intro, Jamie Theakston says that Annie had told him that it had been 10 years since the release of their last single. Well, that was nearly true. Their last single taken from an album of new material came in April 1990 – “Angel” from “We Too Are One” – and I should know as I bought it. After that their was a rerelease of “Love Is A Stranger” and a remix of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” to promote 1991’s six times platinum selling “Greatest Hits” collection so Annie wasn’t 100% correct but she wasn’t far off. Suddenly though, with just a few weeks left of the decade they were back.

So what prompted their return? The popular story is that after receiving a Brit Award For Outstanding Contribution To Music at the start of 1999, they decided to reconvene Eurythmics once more. However, that’s a false narrative as they’d already been writing together since playing at a record company party in 1998 and subsequently at a benefit concert for the family of journalist Ruth Picardie who had died of breast cancer. The result of their endeavours was “Peace”, the eighth and, so far, final Eurythmics album.

The lead single was “I Saved The World Today”, melodic of tune yet sorrowful of mood and possessing that, as ever, crystal clear vocal from Annie. It was a strong comeback and deserved better than missing the Top 10 by one place. The follow up single – “17 Again” – was even better and I especially enjoyed the interpolation of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” in its coda. The album did well commercially though its sales were dwarfed by those of that 1991 “Greatest Hits” which was the second best selling album of that year behind Simply Red’s “Stars”. The only Eurythmics album released since “Peace” was another Best Of called “Ultimate Collection” in 2005 whilst Dave and Annie have performed at one off events in 2014 (a Beatles tribute concert) and at Sting’s 30th We’ll Be Together benefit concert in 2019. They were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Another return now as Gabrielle is back in the charts for the first time in two years with her new single “Sunshine”, the lead track from her third album “Rise”. Had we missed her? I’m sure some had but me? Not so much. I always found her too generic, too samey. Sure, “Dreams” was a memorable tune but for me, the majority of her output conformed to a soul/pop formula that was certainly radio friendly but not very substantial. “Sunshine” was another such song in my book. Conversely, her next single, the title track from her album, would be more of a standout with its Bob Dylan sample taking her back to No 1 for the first time since her debut with the aforementioned “Dreams”. She would perfect her blueprint sound with “Out Of Reach” in 2001 from the soundtrack to Bridget Jones’s Diary.

And so to the No 1 and the only nasty dance track in the show (in my humble opinion). “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by Eiffel 65 was in its third week at the top and by this point, any novelty hook that it might have had long since lost its appeal. They would have one more hit – the No 3 “Move Your Body” – so we’re not done with this lot yet I’m sorry to say.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1S Club 7S Club PartyNo
2Pet Shop BoysNew York City BoyNope
3Macy GrayI TryGood song but no
4Melanie CGoin’ DownNah
5Buffalo Tom / Liam Gallagher and Steve CradockGoing Underground / CarnationDespite my association to The Jam, I did not
6EurythmicsI Saved The World TodaySee 3 above
7GabrielleSunshineNo thanks
8Eiffel 65Blue (Da Ba Dee)And no

Disclaimer

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

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002w1qw/top-of-the-pops-08101999

TOTP 18 MAY 1990

Posted on by 80stastic

Hang on? TOTP on a Friday? What gives? Yes, this particular episode of the show aired on a Friday due to having been bumped off its regular and time enshrined Thursday night slot because of the FA Cup final replay being shown on that day. Having not been a final replay in the competition for seven years, 1990 saw it return after a draw on the Saturday before between Man Utd and Crystal Palace. The whole of that year’s FA Cup had been one to cherish – not for my beloved Chelsea who had gone out in the 4th round to Third Division Bristol City (bah!) – but Semi Final day had seen both games televised live on the BBC one after the other on a glorious Sunday afternoon for football fans who gorged on 13 goals between the the two games. The Final saw the goal fest continue in a thrilling 3-3 contest…

…the thrills couldn’t last though and the replay was a dour affair with Man Utd triumphing 1-0 in a game which saw Crystal Palace in one of the worst kits to ever feature in an FA Cup final.

I watched all of these games in the sitting room of my parents’ house as I was unemployed (still), depressed and skint. My brother on the other hand, an ardent Man Utd fan, had attended all the games (including both at Wembley) as this was his peak period for going to see the red scum (sorry bruv!). Fortunately, it wouldn’t be long before my luck would change and I would find employment in Hull where my girlfriend lived and would spend the Summer there before getting married and I was never to live in the family home again.

So what were the tunes that would see me into this happier period of my life? Well, they seemed to be supplied by acts that had made their name in the previous decade who were letting us know they were still around by returning to the Top 40 in 1990. Let’s see who we’re talking about…

...Hothouse Flowers had not been visitors to the UK Top 40 since their only previous trip in 1988 with their No 11 hit “Don’t Go”. I’d really liked that song and my wife had even gone as far as to buy their album “People” which was also packed full of good songs. However, I must admit that I wasn’t sure there was still a market for their brand of soul infused rock when the new decade rolled around. I was wrong though as they made it back into the charts with “Give It Up”, the lead single from their second album “Home”. The new track didn’t really show much musical progression but it was still a decent tune I thought even if the piano riff in the chorus seems to have been nicked off “Love Is In The Air” by John Paul Young. Furthermore, lead singer Liam Ó Maonlaí displayed that he still had the ability to sing songs that sounded like they had too many lyrics in them to work properly but somehow did. In the two years since I’d seen them live at Sunderland Poly, the band’s guitarist Fiachna Ó Braonáin had grown sprouted some dreadlocks by the look of him which was a bold move that I’m not completely sure worked.

“Give It Up” peaked at No 30 and they followed it up with a cover of Johnny Nash’s ” I Can See Clearly Now’ which did better by going to No 23 but a third single from the album “Movies” didn’t chart at all despite it being the best of the three in my opinion. Hothouse Flowers spilt in 1994 only to reunite in 1998 and sporadically release material and do gigs to this day.

Another 80s band resurfacing at the start of the 90s were The Pasadenas. I have no recall of this single – “Love Thing” – at all. I knew they’d had a big hit in 1992 with a cover of “I’m Doin’ Fine Now” by New York City but I was clueless to the fact that there was also an intervening hit between that and their 1988 heyday when they raced up the charts with the likes of “Tribute (Right On)” and “Riding on a Train”.

I think the reason I can’t recall this song is that the band forgot to include a tune in the damn thing! This is just a backing track to their admittedly very co-ordinated dance moves which seem to take more prominence than the actual music. There’s a definite James Brown sample at the beginning which, given my detest of The Godfather Of Soul, lost me within the first 10 seconds. Not my bag at all.

One final thing, why were this lot obsessed with letter writing when it came to naming their albums? Their debut was called “To Whom It May Concern” whilst their second was called “Yours Sincerely”. What would their next one have been called? “Dear Sir or Madam”?

Ah – a brand new act now albeit one performing a song straight out of the 80s. The Chimes were actually from Edinburgh although I’d assumed at the time that they were American and they found fleeting fame with their cover of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. I seem to recall their version received a lot of plaudits from the music press but in my mind it was more a rejection of Bono and U2 than applause for them – almost as if they were saying this is how the song should really sound now that it’s been done properly. My memory may be playing tricks on me though.

It was certainly a very classy sounding treatment of the song that had originally been a No 6 hit back in 1987 for Bono and the lads. I hadn’t realised until now that the singer was Pauline Henry who went on to have a number of solo hits later in the decade including another cover version – this time of Bad Company’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love”. The bass player went and ruined any critical praise and credibility that his former band ever achieved though by going on to produce the first two albums by The Lighthouse Family.

The Chimes’ version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” matched the chart fortunes of U2’s original by also peaking at No 6.

Back with the 80s bands now as Eurythmics remind us that they had more than one song with the word ‘angel’ in the title. Yes, no doubt often overshadowed by their only No 1 “There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)”, the duo also recorded this track called simply “Angel”. As host Nicky Campbell advises, this was the forth single to be lifted from their “We Too Are One” album and, although none of us knew at the time, it would be Annie and Dave’s last release of ‘new’ material for nine years. I thought this was exceptional at the time and even went as far as to buy it on cassette single. The chorus was just so uplifting even if the subject matter of death (inspired by the death of Annie’s aunt) was hardly joyful.

I also found the video very affecting though the version shown here on TOTP is the one edited for US audiences as MTV refused to play the original promo with its scenes of a seance proving to be a step too near to the dark side for American audiences. To be fair though, I once had a mate who went out with a girl who went to a seance and came out of it believing she was Marie Antoinette reincarnated. Don’t mess with the spirits was the message I took from that incident.

Back to Annie and Dave though and after releasing eight studio albums in eight years and endless touring, it was time for a hiatus. Apparently there were tensions between the two by this point but despite all of that, they still had the abilty to create their magic. In his autobiography Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This, Dave Stewart recalls one such moment even as they were about to go their separate ways…

“When The Day Goes Down”, another of the album’s tracks, slowly became one of my favourites to play with just me on acoustic guitar and Annie singing. We played it on Wogan…while being interviewed by writer / comedian Ben Elton. It was nearing the end of the show when Annie and I just started performing it, right there on the sofa. Ben was visibly moved to tears and the whole audience was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. In the control room the producers knew we were out of time and were getting calls to go to end credits – this was live TV- but the director and cameramen were so into the performance that after they pulled all the way out for the ending, the cameras started to move back in. We continued to play and sing two or three more songs just for the studio audience and the whole place went crazy afterward. There’s something very magical when the two of us play together...”

This is the clip Stewart was referring to:

Eurythmics would not release any new material for nigh on the rest of the decade before returning in late 1999 with the album “Peace”. There was a Greatest Hits package released in 1991 which looked likely to be the biggest selling album of the year for ages until Simply Red beat it at the last moment with “Stars”. Yet another reason to despise Mick Hucknall.

And yet another 80s act back in the 1990 Top 40. To be fair to Sam Brown, she’d only just achieved pop stardom some 12 months before so she was hardly an established 80s act although technically my opening statement is true. Having found fame with the smash hit single and album “Stop!”, Sam moved into the new decade with the task of having to follow up that success. It’s probably not well remembered that she did manage to do that albeit with much smaller commercial returns. “Kissing Gate” was the second single from that follow up album (“April Moon”) and was certainly melodic even if it didn’t have the drama of “Stop!”. It sounded like quite an old -fashioned type of song (for want of a better phrase) to me, especially set against a backdrop of a Top 40 bursting with dance anthems.

I’d actually preferred the first single from the “April Moon” album though which was called “With A Little Love” and which I’m sure I’d had in my hand as a potential purchase at one point but which never made it to the till.

“Kissing Gate” peaked at No 23 and was Sam’s last ever Top 40 single.

Now this next guy definitely qualifies as an established 80s act making a return to the charts in the 90s. Having referred to John Paul Young earlier in the post, we now come to Paul Young who had last been seen in the vicinity of the Top 40 back in 1986 when his single “Wonderland” made it to No 24. Subsequent singles had failed to chart and he hadn’t released a note of music for three years by the time he popped up again with “Softly Whispering I Love You”. This was a cover version (of course it was, this is Paul Young we’re talking about!) but I didn’t know the original which was by The Congregation in 1971. Despite having purchased his previous two albums, this one didn’t appeal to me that much. It sounded a bit lame and insubstantial if I’m honest. Its lack of appeal wasn’t aided by this performance. What the hell had Paul done to his hair?! It’s the 90s Paul, not the mid 70s! Also, the affectation of the guitar prop didn’t work for me at all. Totally unconvincing. I don’t think I’d ever seen him perform with one before so why now? There’s no way that what he’s miming is how you play the middle eight guitar solo.

Still, as a means of getting him back into the charts, “Softly Whispering I Love You” did the trick. He even managed another Top 40 hit later in the year with yet another cover – this time of “Oh Girl” by The Chi-Lites. Both were taken from his “Other Voices” album which despite selling steadily, was nowhere near the units shifted in his 80s heyday.

As with Eurythmics, Paul would release a Greatest Hits compilation in 1991 (“From Time to Time – The Singles Collection”) which would return him to the very top of the album charts and he would also bag an unlikely Top 5 single with Italian singer-songwriter Zucchero but that’s for another year and another post.

“Killer” by Adamski (featuring Seal lest we forget) is still No 1. In the last post, all I talked about was Seal so to redress the balance, let’s have some Adamski chat. Erm…well… his real name is Adam Tinley (supposedly his stage name was inspired by controversial ufologist George Adamski) although he now records under the alter ego of Sonny Eriksson which I’m guessing is a play on the Sony Ericsson Walkman brand name. He’s also released records under the pseudonym of Fleas On Skis and has producer credits for Adam Sky. Blimey! This guy gives Norman Cook a run for his money when it comes to aliases!

The play out video is “Policy Of Truth” by Depeche Mode. This was the third of four singles to be released from their “Violator” album and is the one I least remember. Not sure why that should be as it’s a perfectly good track. Maybe it didn’t get that much airplay? Or maybe I wasn’t listening to the right radio stations back then? It is unique though in the band’s singles discography as it is the only Depeche Mode single to chart higher on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (No 15) than on the UK Singles Chart (No16).

For posterity’s sake, I include the chart run down below:

Order of appearanceArtistSongDid I Buy it?
1Hothouse FlowersGive It UpI did not
2The PasadenasLove ThingA definite no
3The ChimesI Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking ForWhatever it was, it wasn’t this though. No
4EurythmicsAngelYES! Finally a single I bought!
5Sam BrownKissing GateThat euphoria didn’t last long. It’s back to a no
6Paul YoungSoftly Whispering I Love YouNot the single but I did buy that Greatest Hits album with it on
7AdamskiKillerNo but I had the Seal album with his version of it on
8Depeche ModePolicy Of TruthTo be honest, no

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000q5l9/top-of-the-pops-18051990

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.

Some bedtime reading?

https://michaelmouse1967.wixsite.com/smashhits-remembered/1990-issues

TOTP 08 FEB 1990

Posted on by 80stastic

After a raft of new acts and songs in the last couple of TOTP shows, the charts of early 1990 seem to have slowed down a bit with only three of the performances tonight not having featured before. Also, there’s only ten artists in total as opposed to the thirteen that have been crammed into the last couple of broadcasts which means less writing for your truly. Thank f**k for that!

Tonight’s presenter is Gary ‘safe pair of hands’ Davies and opening the show are Yell! with their version of “Instant Replay”. Now these two were definitely not a couple of talentless bimbos. Says who? Erm…those two talentless bimbos up there on stage. Yes in a rather tetchy Smash Hits interview, Yell! rejected all accusations of a dearth of perceivable musical ability in their camp:

“We’re not a couple of talentless bimbos”

Well, that clears that up then. Anything else you want to say for the record:

“People tend to think if you’re doing something like this you don’t have any brains…’cause we lift our arms and go ‘Instant Replay!!!’…’cause we click our fingers at the same time…’cause we’re doing a cover…We’re saying ‘this is for now!’, let’s have a good time and get serious later…”

Hmm… bit of protesting too much going on there I think. So did Yell! ‘get serious later’? Well, they released another cover version of a dance tune (Average White Band’s  “Let’s Go Round Again”) and erm…this. *Does this count as getting serious?

*No, no it really doesn’t.

Right, what’s with the guys in hard hats in the studio audience crowding around Gary Davies? I don’t get it. Bob the Builder wouldn’t become a chart sensation for a further ten years so it can’t be anything to do with that. Just weird.

On with the music though and here’s Janet Jackson with a song I don’t recall at all in “Come Back To Me”. Taken from her “Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814” album, it sounds very much like one of her earlier singles “Let’s Wait A While” to me. Like brother Michael, Janet wasn’t adverse to releasing multiple tracks of her albums as singles. There were seven off this album alone none of which got any higher than No 15 over here. Contrast that to their performance in the US where she clocked up four No1s, two No 2’s (including “Come Back To Me”) and a No 4. Cross-Atlantic differences and all that.

A huge record up now and indeed a future No 1 from the latest incarnation of a post Housemartins Norman Cook. Having already released two singles under his own name the previous year in “Blame It on the Bassline” and “For Spacious Lies” (albeit aided by MC Wildski and Lester respectively), he decided to formalise his collaborations under the banner of Beats International (which on reflection is a pretty crappy name). More of a collective than a stable band including singers, musicians, rappers and dancers, their first single “Dub Be Good to Me” was a huge hit straight off the bat. Mashing up The Clash’s “Guns Of Brixton” and SOS Band’s “Just Be Good To Me” proved to be a genius idea which was then expanded by lacing it with other samples from Ennio Morricone and Johnny Dynell (the “Tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty, you’re listening to the boy from the big bad city, this is jam hot” rap at the start of the track). Featuring the lead vocals of an unknown Lindy Layton, there was just something about this almighty groove that captured the public’s attention and affection and it was soon a chart topper.

Parent album “Let Them Eat Bingo” however was only a moderate seller and generally perceived by the critics as a bit of a curate’s egg (my wife bought it though and second album “Excursion On The Version”). Cook called time on the project after that, moving onto form Freak Power and then assume the FatBoy Slim alter ego before the decade was out.

It’s those deadly serious looking Scottish lads Del Amitri next with their folk pop dirge of tune “Nothing Ever Happens”. Folk pop dirge? Look, they’re not my words but only those of lead singer Justin Currie himself who tweeted along to this performance as the BBC4 TOTP repeat went out. See…

I loved the fact that Currie is very self deprecating in his tweets with this one being my favourite:

Despite this being the second time the band appeared on TOTP, the producers just reused their original performance clip for this show (there’s an abrupt cut away from Gary Davies to the band with no long, lead in shot) so this was their debut. In keeping with the acoustic nature of the song, it’s a very downbeat performance, almost as if they’re busking. It must have been a strange experience for the rest of the band. Finally, after years of trying they have a genuine chart hit and have made it onto the legendary show that was TOTP where careers are made or broken. The next three and a half minutes were vital to their career and what are they doing as the camera turns to them and they beam direct into the watching nation’s sitting rooms? They’re sat down with their arms draped over their guitars, not knowing where to look. After what must have seemed like an age whilst Justin Currie sings the unaccompanied intro, the rest of the song kicks in and they can mime along. Meanwhile, the normally excitable studio audience just sort of stand there, no clapping, no cheering and certainly no dancing.

They did go onto sell six million albums worldwide after this (and got to meet Sinéad O’Connor in the BBC bar afterwards!) so it all turned out alright in the end. Nothing ever happens indeed!

The last of the ‘new’ tunes next as Lisa Stansfield attempts to follow up her huge No 1 hit “All Around The World” with her new single “Live Together”. I was never much of a fan of the former and much preferred this one. The orchestral strings in the mix gave it a fuller, more lush sound that that of its predecessor. However, when you get such a big seller that early in your career, trying to emulate its success is never going to be easy and although achieving a very respectable No 10 peak, “Live Together” never looked likely to bring Lisa the same returns.

Lisa’s image in the video reminded me of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Dick Dastardly but instead of his twirly moustache, she’s got twirly kiss curls. Despite working in the Our Price store in Rochdale (Lisa’s hometown) for a year in the early 90s, I never saw her in the shop once. The one time she finally did come in, I was on my day off! Drat and double drat!

After appearing in last week’s Breakers section, The Beloved have moved up sufficient places in the Top 40 to warrant a studio appearance this time around to perform their single “Hello”. I loved this quirky dance / pop crossover tune and despite being on the dole, purchased the cassette single from my local record emporium.

I really like Jon Marsh’s dancing in this with his finger pointing hand guns and swishing poncho. Sadly, the song gets cut short before we get to the Jeffrey Archer name drop. I would have liked to see if Jon would have incorporated his ‘wanker’ gesture from the promo video into the studio performance. As fate would have it, I write this post on the day after one of the celebrities that we do get to hear name checked in the lyrics, comedian Bobby Ball, died. RIP Bobby and Rock On.

Those hard hat guys are back again as Gary Davies introduces the next act. There are also two young girls with matching Deirdre Barlow spectacles and frizzy perms in shot! Quite extraordinary! Very much the opposite of extraordinary though is the artist that Gary is introducing as it’s Phil Collins who plods his way through latest single “I Wish It Would Rain Down“. I’m sure I’ve told this story before but as Phil is so boring, I have no other recourse than to wheel it out again…

I once attended a wedding where the music that was played in the registry office as we waited for the bride to arrive appeared to be a Phil Collins Greatest Hits CD. As such, the three songs that were played one after the other before she arrived were:

  • “I Wish It Would Rain Down” (surely not on your wedding day?)
  • “Against All Odds” (with its lyric ‘you coming back to me is against all odds’)
  • “Separate Lives” (perhaps not the best song to celebrate the union of two people in matrimony)

“I Wish It Would Rain Down” peaked at No 7.

Skid Row‘s video for their “18 And Life” single is the next thing we get to see on the show despite it only being on just last week. Its rise of 11 places to No 12 though was deemed justification enough by the TOTP production team to reshow it. Written about the plight of an 18 year old who received a life sentence for the murder of his friend with a gun he thought was not loaded, the full version of the video incorporates this element of the song with many scenes showing the use of a firearm. Uncomfortable with this, MTV refused to air the video.

Comparing the full video below with the version shown on TOTP, it’s clear that the BBC had similar concerns and all of the images involving a gun have been edited out. They even removed the scene where the protagonist’s father chucks him out of the house threw a plate glass window. Well, it was before the watershed and Mary Whitehouse was still in post as President of the National Viewers and Listeners Association to be fair.

Sinéad O’Connor is still at No 1 with “Nothing Compares 2 U” and this week it’s the video that TOTP uses rather than her in studio performance. The promo won three Moonmen at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards for Video of the Year (O’Connor became the first female artist to be awarded with it), Best Female Video and Best Post-Modern Video.

With all the accolades though inevitably came the piss takes. This one is courtesy of Gina Riley on Australian comedy show Fast Forward…

The play out song this week is “The King And Queen Of America” by Eurythmics. I’m kind of surprised this video got a second airing considering it peaked at a lowly No 29 and had already been shown last week but it did go up five places in the Top 40 that week which seemed to be the criteria for inclusion on the show at the time (see also Skid Row and The Beloved earlier).

Apparently, the 7″ single was issued in an incorrect sleeve initially and had to be withdrawn on the day it went on sale. Those copies that slipped through the net have become one of the most collectable Eurythmics items and command around £1000 resell price. Sort of their version of the A&M release of The Sex Pistols’ “God Save The Queen” though not quite as desirable – a copy of that collectible sold for £13,000 at auction in 2019.

For posterity’s sake I include the chart rundown below:

Order of appearanceArtistSongDid I Buy it?
1Yell!Instant ReplayNO!
2Janet JacksonCome Back To MeNah
3Beats InternationalDub Be Good To MeNo but my wife had their album
4Del AmitriNothing Ever HappensNo but it’s on a Q magazine compilation album I bought
5Lisa StansfieldLive TogetherNope
6The BelovedHelloYes! I did buy this one! The cassette single no less!
7Phil CollinsI Wish It Would Rain DownAs if
8Skid Row18 And LifeHaddaway and shite
9Sinéad’ O’Connor  Nothing Compares 2 UDon’t think so
10EurythmicsThe King And Queen Of AmericaThat’s a no

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nnyn/top-of-the-pops-08021990

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.

Some bedtime reading?

https://michaelmouse1967.wixsite.com/smashhits-remembered/1990-issues

TOTP 02 FEB 1990

Posted on by 80stastic

We’ve come through January 1990 here at TOTP Rewind and by general consensus that was one shitty month. When BBC4 were showing the TOTP repeats of the tail end of 1989 back in the Summer, there was a clamour on Twitter for the 80s to be consigned to the dustbin and for the sweet release of the 90s to swoop in and rescue us. Yeah, it hasn’t quite worked out like that yet I would wager. So far we’ve had a truck load full of nasty Italo house tunes, the New Kids On The Block phenomenon go into overdrive and ..erm…Fish! OK, that’s not absolutely everyone we’ve seen so far but you get my drift. Surely February will be better?

Well, early signs are not good as tonight’s presenter is well known Tory supporter Bruno Brookes who welcomes us to another “spondicious” TOTP. Spondicious? Is that a word? Well, according to the online Urban Dictionary it is and means awesome, brilliant, amazing, ace and was used in the Midlands in the 80s. Whoa! Hold on there! I’m from the Midlands and grew up there in the 80s and I have never said that word in my life! Wait, where’s Brookes from?

*checks internet*

…hmm. Well he was born in Stoke and went to school in Newcastle-Under- Lyme in Staffordshire so yes, he is a Midlander but in an online list of 51 words and phrases you only know if you are from Stoke-on-Trent, spondicious is nowhere to be seen. I’m not convinced.

On with the music though and here comes Lonnie Gordon to kick off the show with her S/A/W penned hit “Happenin’ All Over Again”. This was Lonnie’s biggest hit by far peaking at No 4 (she had two further Top 40 entries in ’91 and ’95). There was an album as well called “If I Have to Stand Alone” but it only got a limited release in parts of Europe, Japan and Australia but curiously it was never released in the UK. However, as ever, it’s Cherry Red Records to the rescue as they gave it the special edition reissue treatment in 2009! In the promotional blurb for the album, Cherry Red state:

“If I Have To Stand Alone” is one of three sought-after albums from the Stock Aitken Waterman / PWL Hit Factory to be given a simultaneous Special Edition release on Cherry Pop, along with Mandy Smith – “Mandy” and Princess – “Princess”

WTF?! Mandy Smith’s album? Sought after? Why not go the whole hog and call it ‘spondicious’ while you’re at it?!

Back to Bruno who’s up on the studio bridge with a gaggle of young girls from the audience surrounding him as he prepares to do the next link. Bruno opens with:

“I’d just like to say that all these girls are at least six foot tall“

Jeeze! I thought for one, horrifying spilt second he was going to say ‘All these girls at least sixteen’! Thankfully he was only making a comment about his diminutive size and nothing of a more salacious nature. When he does get around to introducing the next act it’s Wreckx-n-Effect with “Juicy”. So what was their name all about? According to band member Aquil (Aquil?) Davidson it means “Making things happen, gettin’ busy”. Of course, over here in the UK, ‘gettin’ busy’ meant something altogether different…

Back to those New Jack Swingers Wreckx-n-Effect though and the lyrics to their hit single were more gettin’ jiggy than gettin’ busy…

Look a there Juicy is a cutie, she has nice legs and a big booty

Have no fear ’cause Juicy is here, she said you can lick me everywhere

Pure filth! You’d never get that sort of smut with Sooty! Actually, what would you get if you crossed New Jack Swing with the Sooty Show? New Jack Sweep? Sue Jack Swing? I’ll stop now.

More dodginess from Brooke’s next as he allows a female member of the studio audience to fondle his frankly vile looking tie! “You should be watching the band not studying my tie” he protests too much.

The next band’s TOTP performance was the source of a full three page feature in Smash Hits magazine. In said article, And Why Not? (for it is they) state that for the record, they think that Stock, Aitken and Waterman are crap. Must have been a bit awkward being on the same show as Lonnie Gordon and her S/A/W produced song then. Apparently they were in dressing room No 24 whilst Lonnie was just down the corridor in No 31. Anyway, despite going through the usual experience of TOTP debutants – admitting that everything is so much smaller than it looks on TV and being bored waiting around for hours before they get their three and a half minutes slot – the boys look like they enjoyed their moment, jumping around and grinning like good ‘uns. Their tune “The Face” isn’t bad either with its jerky bass line and choppy guitar licks – they could have dropped the Bros style grunting in places though. There would be one more very minor Top 40 hit and one flop from And Why Not? before they left the pop music world to it.

The case of US singer Sybil is a curious one. She managed to rack up five Top 40 hits in the UK including three Top Tenners and yet three of those songs were cover versions. Not only that, two of them were written by the same song writing team and then made famous by the same singer! Yes, after she scored a No 19 hit in late ’89 with the Bacharach and David tune “Don’t Make Me Over” originally recorded by Dionne Warwick, she then repeated the trick for her next single when she released a cover of the duo’s “Walk On By” again, a song best known for being sung by Dionne Warwick. There have, of course, been numerous cover versions of the song down the years by artists as disparate as Gloria Gaynor to The Stranglers and indeed, it would be continued to be covered throughout the 90s and into the new millennium by Gabrielle, Cyndi Lauper and Seal. For me, Sybil’s take on it is one of the weakest. It’s not that she couldn’t sing the thing, more a case of a clunky production that lost all the soul of the original and didn’t age well to my ears.

Sybil would return in 1993 with yet another cover and the biggest hit of her career, this time of the old Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes song “The Love I Lost”, which she took to No 3 in the charts. Meanwhile, back in 1990, her treatment of “Walk On By” would peak at No 6.

Three Breakers next starting with Birdland who I had completely forgotten about until now. These Brummie indie kids were given that poisoned chalice of the title of being ‘the next big thing’ by the music press but all that expectation quickly dissolved when they were hamstrung by delays to the release of their debut album. Initially their fiery brand of high octane, post punk noise and chaotic live gigs had the press drooling. Assisted by their strident Andy Warhol homage image, they came over like a peroxide blonde Ramones meets The Jesus And Mary Chain. Despite their first four single releases topping the indie charts between ’89 and ’90 (including this mainstream breakthrough track “Sleep With Me”), a delay that meant the album was not released until ’91 saw all momentum lost and it struggled to a peak of No 44. Their plight is nicely summed up by band members and brothers Ron and Lee Vincent in a recent Von Pip Musical Exptress (VPME) website interview in which they were asked:

What five words would best sum up Birdland’s career in the late 80’s early 90’s?

Their replies were:

ROB : Speed/chaos/pop/blonde/noise

LEE: Well ‘short’ has to be one of them!!

A great track next which shows that quirky pop doesn’t have to mean novelty song. Having finally scored a Top 40 hit the previous year with dance cross over “The Sun Rising”, The Beloved followed it up with “Hello”, a song just about as far removed from its Lionel Richie namesake as it’s possible to be. Essentially a list song, like Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire”, comprising an eclectic mixture of names of both real and fictitious people, it hooked me in immediately. Even now, I like the idea that the names chosen weren’t all mega famous identities and indeed many of them would requite lengthy explanation to today’s youth as to who they actually were/are. Billy Corkhill? Vince Hilaire? I’m guessing your average 18 year old today wouldn’t have a clue. There was also something about the order in which Jon Marsh sang the names that intrigued. I think it was probably just the alliteration and rhyming in retrospect:

“Little Richard, Little Nell, Willy Wonka, William Tell”

“Billy Corkhill, Vince Hilaire, Freddy Flintstone, Fred Astaire“

If you watch the video closely, when Marsh name checks Jeffrey Archer, he sneaks in a ‘wanker’ gesture into his dance moves such was the band’s revulsion at Archer as, in their own words, “the epitome of slimeball Tory liar”. Well played Jon. “Hello” seemed to have much more of a conventional pop song structure to me than “The Sun Rising” which was probably another reason why I was drawn in and ultimately bought it – I was always more of a pop kid than a dance head. “Hello” peaked at No 19 making it the band’s joint second biggest hit ever.

By the start of the new decade, Eurythmics had been around for ten whole years and had released eight albums in that time but they were nearing the end of their time together, at least the first phase of it. This single, “The King and Queen of America”, was the third to be taken from their No 1 album “We Too Are One” but there would be only one more single release (the glorious “Angel”) this year before the duo took just about the rest of the decade off. The constant recording and touring schedule had created tensions between and Annie and Dave and although there was no official split, they went on hiatus until reforming in late 1999 for the “Peace” album.

I hesitate to say this but possibly the video to this one is more interesting than the actual song with Annie and Dave playing multiple characters such as cheerleaders, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, game show hosts and TV evangelists to visualise the song’s message of taking a swipe at the concept of the American Dream. Unsurprisingly, it was never released in the US as a single.

Despite “We Too Are One” being the second No 1 album of their career, the singles from it all under performed:

TitlePeak chart position
Revival26
Don’t Ask Me Why25
The King and Queen of America29
Angel23

Maybe, the timing of that career hiatus was right after all.

Meanwhile, back in the studio, we find another indie guitar band (that’s two on the same show following Birdland in the Breakers before – have that house music!) in House Of Love. I knew of these guys from having bought the incredibly pretentious “The Hit List” compilation album fronted by Mark Goodier with its  ‘for the discerning music lover‘ tagline. It included one of the band’s previous singles “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” in its track listing which had peaked at No 41 in ’89 (one of two successive singles to do so that year for the band – how’s your luck?). “Shine On” would break that particular hoodoo when it crashed into the charts on its way to a peak of No 20. It was actually a new version of their original debut from ’87 having been signed to major label Fontana who didn’t seem to ‘get’ their latest addition to their stable and desperately wanted a hit which was at odds with the creative aspirations of the band.

Lead singer Guy Chadwick, who always seemed to be trying morph into Mark E Smith to me, would come to regard signing with Fontana as the worst mistake in the band’s career. Unbelievably, Chadwick is now 64 meaning he was already 34 at the time of this performance. House Of Love limped on for another couple of years before splitting in ’93 and ultimately reforming in ’03.

Back to the videos now and we find Mantronix with “Got To Have Your Love”. Mr Mantronix’s real name is Kurtis Khaleel but he changed it to Kurtis Mantronik which then became the inspiration for his dance act’s name when he replaced the ‘k’ with an ‘x’. Why? Well, according to Kurtis himself (in a Smash Hits interview) it was because:

“Mantronix just sounds cooler. Man…and er, tronix“.

Hmm. Not sure that we’re dealing with an intellectual heavyweight here. What else did we find out about him in the interview? Well, he had just two hobbies which were:

“Music, music, music. And Girls“

Again I say hmm. Asked if he was a sophisticated type he replied:

“In some ways. Hehe. Ummm, um like when it comes to when you’re in a one-to-one situation with the the opposite sex“

I see…and his ideal woman?

“Someone that understands me, all my moods because I’m a very moody person. Um, she’d be basically independent. If I said ‘naff off she’d leave and come back the next day or whatever because she’d know that I don’t really mean it. Like I said before – music, music and girls…so she’d have to accept that.”

Does he have a girlfriend?

“No”

No further questions m’lud. “Got To Have Your Love” peaked at No 4.

Back to Bruno Brookes now who reveals that the next song is about one of his heroes. Really? Who could that be then? Nelson Mandela perhaps? Martin Luther King maybe? Who is it Bruno? Well it is of course…. Jesse James? Jesse James?! The notorious outlaw and murderer? The Jesse James who took part in a train robbery in a Ku Klux Clan mask? That Jesse James? He’s your hero Brookes? OK, there is a train of thought that depicts James as a hero, an American Robin Hood, standing up against corporations in defence of the small farmer, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. Wikipedia, however, advises though that there is no evidence that he shared the loot of his robberies with anyone other than his gang members. Think your hero worship of Jesse James is shot down in flames Bruno. Oh well, at least he didn’t say Margaret Thatcher.

Anyway, the source of all this Jesse James discussion is of course Cher and her single “Just Like Jesse James”. The second track lifted from her “Heart Of Stone” album, it was very much a reflection of the soft rock direction that Cher had gone in. It was written by AOR songwriters in chief Desmond Child and Diane Warren who had provided huge hits for the likes of Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Starship so you could see why Cher would want to record one of their compositions. After admitting that I had bought Cher’s previous single “If I Could Turn Back Time” in my 80s blog, I am pleased and relieved to announce that I kept my money firmly in my pocket when it came to this one. “Just Like Jesse James” peaked at No 11.

From Mantronix earlier to Technotronic now and their single “Get Up! (Before the Night Is Over)“. The brain child of producer Jo Bogaert, what was the origin behind this band name? Here’s @TOTPFacts with the answer:

Oh, it’s another ‘it sounded cool’ moment as per Mantronix. Look, I’ve never been in a band so have never been through the whole band name saga but I’m guessing the idea is to come up with a cool sounding moniker for your group? What’s that Mr McAloon? Prefab Sprout? Ok – right you are. As I say, I’ve never been through it.

Back to Technotronic and I should point out that this single featured Ya Kid K who wrote the lyrics and sang vocals on their previous mega hit “Pump Up The Jam” although they drafted in some model with ultra-blue lipstick to do the visuals for the video and promotion. This, I believe, is yer actual Ya Kid K in this performance though. Her real name is Manuela Barbara Kamosi Moaso Djogi with the ‘Kamosi’ (meaning ‘the only one’) part informing the ‘K’ bit of her stage name. She is not to be confused with Leila K of Rob’n’Raz featuring Leila K fame. What is it with all the ‘K’s? Someone should have pointed the trend out to Kurtis Mantronik – he really should have stuck with the ‘k’ rather than dropping it for an ‘x’. That trademark Technotronic sound would eat up the charts in 1990 with this single reaching No 2 and a further three singles becoming chart hits including two Top 10s.

The third different No 1 in three weeks now as Sinéad O’Connor makes it to the top with “Nothing Compares 2 U”. Is it fair to say that, despite her clear musical talent, the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Sinéad isn’t actually her music? How many of her songs could you name apart from “Nothing Compares 2 U”? I’ve got “The Emperor’s New Clothes” (which was the follow up), that song she did with Jah Wobble (“Visions of You”) and I think she did a cover of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”. Apart from that….Sadly I think her back catalogue is over shadowed by the controversies that seem to have followed her around for her whole career from tearing up photos of The Pope on Saturday Night Live to Tweets about non-Muslims. It’s certainly been a life lived.

Whilst commenting on Megadeth in a recent post, I stated that I was never not dumbfounded by the amount of useless heavy metal acts that seemed to get so much chart action in these TOTP repeats. I also name checked Anthrax, W.A.S.P and Mötley Crüe. Well add another to the list for here come Skid Row with “18 And Life”. This lot of New Jersey rockers were fronted by Sebastian Bach whose real name was Sebastian Bierk – oh make your own jokes up….

Order of appearanceArtistSongDid I Buy it?
1Lonnie GordonHappenin’ All Over AgainNah
2Wreckx-n-EffectJuicyNope
3And Why Not?The FaceNo but my wife had their album
4SybilWalk On ByNo
5BirdlandSleep With MeI did not
6The BelovedHelloYes! I did buy this one! The cassette single no less!
7EurythmicsThe King And Queen Of AmericaThat’s a no
8House Of LoveShine OnNo but I had their previous single on that Hit List album
9MantronixGot To Have Your LoveDefinitely not
10CherJust Like Jesse JamesNo – phew!
11Technotronic featuring Ya Kid KGet Up! (Before The Night Is Over)Obviously not
12Sinéad’ O’Connor  Nothing Compares 2 UDon’t think so
13Skid Row18 And LifeHadaway and shite

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nnyl/top-of-the-pops-02021990

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.

Some bedtime reading?

https://michaelmouse1967.wixsite.com/smashhits-remembered/1990-issues