And here we go again. I’m beginning my ninth year of blogging about TOTP and 1997 will be the fifteenth (!) year I’ve covered. I’ve committed to carrying on until I’ve completed 1999 so I reckon that’s another 18 months of blogging. The things I do for you people! So, new year, new songs as the majority of the hits in this show we haven’t seen performed before in these BBC4 repeats. However, the opening act I’ve only just talked about in my ‘1996 – the epilogue’ post when I discussed their song “Punka” so not great planning on my behalf. Anyway, this single – “In Your Car” – gave Kenickie their first Top 40 hit – no doubt some canny early January release scheduling helped it get there. It’s a decent track if a little basic – the slightly repetitive ‘yeah, yeah’ chorus being an obvious example. Lyrically, it comes over like an updated version of “Leader Of The Pack” but without the tragic ending with the narrative driven by the band shouting out questions to lead singer Lauren Laverne about how she got a lift off some bloke she knew. Yeah, it’s a bit slight but it had enough punk- pop chops to propel it along nicely. It would prove to be their biggest hit when it peaked at No 24. Why weren’t Kenickie bigger? Was it a case of the right stuff at the wrong time? Maybe they were intelligent enough to understand that the music industry was cutthroat and shallow and they ultimately wanted no part of it? Perhaps. What we do know is that they broke up in 1998 just two albums into their career.

As if Peter Andre wasn’t bad enough, here was the UK’s answer to the oiled up, walking six pack. After the demise of Take That the year before, pop puppet master Nigel Martyn-Smith looked to a solo act to get the teenage girls screaming and the cash registers ringing again. Anthony Gerard Kavanagh of Moston, Greater Manchester aka Kavana was the lucky (?) recipient of Martin-Smith’s focus whose backing garnered two minor UK hits in 1996 and a support slot on the Boyzone tour. However, to breakthrough the chart glass ceiling into the upper echelons of the Top 10 was going to require something else and, of course, that meant a cover version. The track chosen was “I Can Make You Feel Good” which was a No 7 hit in 1982 for Shalamar. It was a good choice, a super smooth R&B/pop number that was recent enough to not sound out of place in the 90s but also long enough ago for many a pop fan to potentially not realise that it was a cover and associate it purely with the new artist. Kavana delivers a pretty faithful version but then a radically different take on it wasn’t what was required here. It needed to be a bigger hit than he’d ever had and that was achieved when it missed equalling the original’s chart peak by just one place. Job done.

Having said all of that, I could never quite work out the appeal of Kavana. Yeah, he had pretty boy looks and that floppy, mid 90s hair but what else? I didn’t see enough star quality in him to think he would be anything more than a fleeting presence in the UK charts and yet he hung around for the rest of the decade racking up eight Top 40 hits including two Top 10s. I could see him as part of a five-piece boy band but out on his own? Not for me. In 2013, Kavana did become a member of a group when he joined forces with Dane Bowers of Another Level, Gareth Gates, Adam Rickitt and Kenzie from Blazin’ Squad to form 5th Story as part of the ITV show The Big Reunion. One of the songs they recorded? Yep, “I Can Make You Feel Good”.

Next to a track that would become one of the oddest No 1s of the decade. “Professional Widow” was a No 20 hit for Tori Amos in the Summer of 1996 when it was paired with “Hey Jupiter” as a double A-side. The third single from her “Boys For Pele” album, it was in and out of the UK Top 40 within three weeks so it was quite likely that, like me, you may have missed it at the time. However, it took a further six weeks to depart the Top 100 and then it reappeared in the November for another two months never getting higher than No 86. What was all that about? Well, the version released in the UK and Europe was a remix by American house DJ and producer Armand Van Helden and it was radically different to the original album version. I’m guessing that it was the 12” format that included the full 8 minutes long ‘Armand’s Star Trunk Funkin’ mix’ that was picking up those latterly sales as DJs played it in the clubs of the UK. Such was the continued buzz about the track that another release was planned by label EastWest but this time they went full on promoting the dance remix and not sharing the bill with another song. And so it came to pass that the track was reissued at the start of 1997 and retitled as “Professional Widow (It’s Got To Be Big)”. This time, released during the post Christmas sales lull, it would debut at No 2 before moving to the top of the charts for one week seven days later.

As I said, the remix didn’t sound anything like the original album version (it did get a release in America alongside the remix) which was typical Tori fare with a tortured vocal and a slow, shuffling tempo that bore no resemblance to the dance release at all. Having listened to the original, it has some appeal but then I have to admit to quite liking Tori’s quirky style anyway.

However, Armand Van Helden’s treatment does rather blow it out of the water. He basically cut it up and stuck it back together to produce something completely different yet standout; like a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces in all the wrong places but fitting together to create something wonderfully abstract and arresting. You certainly couldn’t ignore “Professional Widow (It’s Got To Be Big)” as it leapt out at you from the radio or your stereo. Undoubtedly Tori’s biggest UK hit though she’s hardly on it at at all. Like I said, all a bit odd really.

Right, who’s next? Runrig? Really?! I can’t think of anything to say about this lot! What? The song they’re doing – “The Greatest Flame” – has not only been a hit before but the band have performed on TOTP before?! What? When? May 1993? Right. That’s that sorted then. Here’s what I had to say about it back then. I’m sure my opinion won’t have changed. By the way, it was rereleased to promote the band’s Best Of compilation called “Long Distance” if you were wondering though I doubt you were.

Next up a hit that would have caused the TOTP producers a couple of staging problems I would have thought. Firstly, because it’s a dance act (surely nobody would quibble with me about my description of Orbital as such) and secondly because their hit was called “Satan”. Well, fortunately, an official video had been made for the single for the show to play but unfortunately it was no more than Phil and Paul Hartnoll (who were Orbital) stood miming behind some synths so basically what was effectively a studio performance with all the aforementioned incumbent visual issues on display. Yes, they were wearing some natty eyewear with lights on and there was a nit of black and white film footage thrown into the mix like a submarine and some snarling dogs but it was essentially two bald blokes banging away at some keyboards. The second issue would have been the track’s intro which went:

Daddy, yes, son
Wha-what does-what does regret mean?
Well, son, a funny thing about regret is
That it’s better to regret something you have done
Than regret something you haven’t done
By the way, if you see your mom this weekend
You shouldn’t tell her…

SATAN!

SATAN!

SATAN!….

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Paul Hartnoll / Phillip Hartnoll
Satan lyrics © Sm Publishing Uk Limited, Dlk Music Ltd, Sentric Music Publishing Ltd

The word ‘Satan’ was said almost demonically and repeated on a loop to make it especially disturbing. The fix for the show was relatively easy though – just edit out the intro which they duly did. As with Tori Amos before, I’m sure its chart placing of No 3 was at least partly enabled by its early January release date and also like “Professional Widow”, it had already been a small hit before. Originally released as a track on the “III” EP in 1991, it had peaked at No 31. Six years on, it was repackaged as “Satan Live” with two of the three versions released over three CD singles having been taken from live gigs in New York and the V96 festival in Chelmsford. 1997 would be Orbital’s most commercially successful year as the follow up – “The Saint” taken from the soundtrack to the film of the same name starring Val Kilmer – also peaked at No 3.

Tonight’s host by the way is Nicky Campbell who rather undoes the work of the producers who edited out the “Satan Live” intro by doing a passable impression of Ian Paisley shouting at the studio audience to “Repent! Repent your sins now!”. Hmm. Anyway, next up is a band who had become a model of consistency when it came to racking up chart hits. “Easy” was the tenth Top 40 single for Terrorvision in just over three years. Clearly the Bradford rockers had built up a sizeable, loyal fan base over this period who would buy anything the band put out – “Easy” was the fourth single taken from their album “Regular Urban Survivors” and yet it only just missed debuting inside the Top 10.

I have to say that this isn’t one of theirs that I’m familiar with and on first hearing it seems rather underwhelming and pedestrian. However, forget Orbital earlier as this is where there must have been some dark forces at work as after just one play, it was still in my head hours later. What black magic was this?! We’re still two years away from their chart peak though. All together now…”That’s the curse of Tequila, it makes me happy…”.

The aftermath of ‘The Battle of Britpop’ saw Blur in disarray despite having secured their first No 1 single as a result of it. Oasis did not accept the status of losers and their powers were certainly not vanquished in the skirmish. The sales of “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?” went supernova with the band cast in the role of working class heroes whilst Blur were casually dismissed as spurious, middle class chancers. The band retreated not just to lick their wounds but also from each other. It would take a letter from guitarist Graham Coxon to Damon Albarn outlining the direction that he wanted the band to go in to get the disparate members to reconvene. Having rejected all things American after a disastrous US tour in ‘92 and an aversion to grunge rock that informed second and third albums “Modern Life Is Rubbish” and “Parklife”, the new direction championed by Coxon was exemplified by American artists like indie, lo-fi rock band Pavement and the genre straddling Beck. It may seem like quite the turnaround but Coxon is/was well known for his spare and brittle musical tendencies.

The first result of this new direction was the lead single from the band’s fifth and eponymous album – “Beetlebum”. It was about as far away from the likes of “Country House” as could be – if they were British sitcoms then the former would be Mrs Brown’s Boys and the latter The Office. The drastic change of style had their record label fearing the worst for the band’s commercial fortunes and I have to admit to not being sure about the track myself initially. It seemed slow and ponderous and lacking in structure – there was no bridge from the verse to the chorus; it was almost like it was two separate songs glued together. Like Terrorvision’s “Easy” earlier though, it was a grower, an insidious ear-worm burrowing its way into your brain. Their label should have had more faith in their charges as “Beetlebum” would go straight in at No 1 when finally released a whole ten days after this performance showing the size and loyalty of their fan base. It was also a prime example of the way the charts were heading. At the time, it set a then record for a No 1 single spending the least amount of time inside the Top 40 – just three weeks in total at positions 1, 7 and 29 then out. The writing was on the wall – for the charts not Blur.

For various reasons, this is the first time I’ve commented on the No 1 which wasn’t just any chart topper of course but the Christmas No 1. On reflection, the third single by the Spice Girls was always going to be the best selling hit of the festive period though I’m sure, at the time, the bookies would have had lots of runners and riders in the race. After two uptempo songs, the traditional route of the third being a ballad was followed and “2 Become 1” was certainly that. A lush, smooth production that could have made for a sound that was a tad too sugary, it managed to avoid that trap by working a safe sex message into the lyrics. The memorable video that’s set in Times Square, New York was actually recorded over three thousand miles away in a studio in Old Compton Street, London – it was all just green screen trickery. I always thought that the cover of the single looked a bit cheap and nasty I have to say. The image of the group used surely wasn’t the best that came out of that particular photo session?

Anyway, 1997 would see the Spice Girls juggernaut continue at a pace with a further three No 1 singles (including a second consecutive Christmas one) and another multi-platinum selling album. These TOTP repeats are nowhere near done with Ginger, Posh, Baby, Scary and Sporty yet.

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/m0026cjl/top-of-the-pops-10011997?seriesId=unsliced