LeAnn Rimes

TOTP 15 MAY 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s mid May 1998 and my beloved Chelsea FC have just won another cup! Having won a major trophy for the first time in 26 years the previous season when they lifted the FA Cup, they followed it up with two more in 1998. The League Cup was secured in March and now a European trophy as the Cup Winners’ Cup came back to Stamford Bridge after we beat Stuttgart in the final 1-0 two days before this TOTP aired. I couldn’t believe it! Three trophies in two seasons! My whole youth had had seen us in just one semi-final (which we lost) and then, as I was approaching 30, we were suddenly good! I wonder if any of the artists in this show were experiencing a renaissance period after a significant amount of time being shit?

Tonight’s host is Jo Whiley whom I thought for years was a bit shit but I’ve begrudgingly come round to in later years. The opening act are All Saints who I don’t think went through a crap phase, not commercially anyway, at least in their first incarnation. After two performances of “Under The Bridge”, their third consecutive appearance on the show sees them get to grips with the other A-side of their hit – Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade”. Now, if you judge this by just the chorus, and let’s face it that’s how we judge most songs, it’s a pretty faithful interpretation. However, the lyrics in the verses have been completely rewritten with Shaznay Lewis performing them as a rap. It works OK I’d say – better than their cover of “Under The Bridge” anyway. The girls are still wedded to their cargo pants look which has served them well to be fair in terms of their band image. I will comment though that executive producer Chris Cowey clearly had a great affection for them – All Saints I mean not their cargo pants. After their multiple appearances on the show for the seemingly never ending chart run of “Never Ever”, here they were top and tailing two shows having been the final artist on last week’s show as the No 1 and the first on this week’s despite having dropped a place. And there’s more…next week they return to the top spot and perform both tracks of the single on TOTP!

As Jo Whiley says, we have two songs from the 70s starting the show off as, after “Lady Marmalade” (a UK No 17 hit in 1975), we have Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”. One of the many standout tracks from the legendary “Rumours” album, it made No 24 in 1977. However, that one statistic doesn’t tell the whole tale of its chart history as it has been more successful in the digital age via streaming platforms generating weeks and weeks back in the UK charts. Indeed, it is at No 52 in this week’s chart as I write this post in September 2025! It wasn’t the Fleetwood Mac version that saw it in the charts of 1998 though – we have arrived at the era of The Corrs. Now just as Chelsea weren’t pulling up any trees in the early 80s trundling along in the old Division 2, this family band from Dundalk, Ireland also struggled to make an impression early on in their career, in the UK charts at least.

Beginning their career playing in their Auntie’s bar, they quickly gained recognition via their cameo appearances in The Commitments movie and then via performances on a global stage at the 1994 World Cup, 1996 Summer Olympics and a support slot on the Celine Dion tour. Their debut album “Forgiven, Not Forgotten” sold well in their native Ireland plus Canada, Australia and Japan. However, success in the US and UK remained slight. Follow up album “Talk On Corners” would change all that and then some but not until it was rereleased with the track “Dreams” added to it which the group had recorded for a Fleetwood Mac tribute album and performed live at the Royal Albert Hall alongside Mick Fleetwood. The reaction to that performance convinced the band and their label to release it as a single but with a Tin Tin Out remix to make it more palatable for the dance market. “Dreams” easily became their biggest hit to that point when it peaked at No 6 – none of their previous seven singles had got any higher than No 43. The “Talk On Corners” album would go nine times platinum in the UK alone and become the best selling album of 1998 aided by the release of a ‘special edition’ that included five extra tracks.

Much was made of the group’s image with special attention being given to lead singer Andrea. Now a band’s front person receiving the most press was not unheard of – indeed it was an inevitable occurrence, almost natural especially when you looked like Andrea Corr. However, with her two sisters Sharon and Caroline hardly looking like “a bag of spanners” (as Terry Wogan ironically used to refer to them), it meant that brother Jim would somehow be seen as the weak link, letting the side down as it were which was patently ridiculous but took such a hold in the nation’s collective mind that it led to sketches like the one below. We’ll be seeing lots more of The Corrs in future TOTP repeats. Beautiful!

Ah now, if you ask my mate Robin whether there have been times when Simply Red suffered from, let’s say… ‘not being at the top of their game’, he would probably reply “Yes, of course. Everything they’ve ever released is absolute shit” and many would agree with him. From a purely commercial perspective though, come the end of the 90s, though they were hardly battling relegation to Division 3 as Chelsea did in 1983, they weren’t the title favourites that they used to be either. Gone were the 12 times platinum days of “Stars”. Their 1998 album “Blue” only sold 600,000 copies compared to even previous album “Life”’s 1.5 million and by the time of decade closer “Love And The Russian Winter”, sales were halved again. Now when I used the word ‘only’, it’s relative. Those are still big numbers but Hucknall clearly couldn’t command the sales that he used to. When it comes to singles, Simply Red were never been a big hitter. Out of 26 singles released up to this point, only six had made the Top 10 (although that did include one No 1). Seven didn’t even make the Top 40 at all. Set against those figures, “Say You Love Me” making No 7 was akin to Chelsea having a cup run in the bad old days of my teenage years. Their lead single from the aforementioned “Blue” album, it was hardly anything groundbreaking but it was a perfect daytime playlist track that Hucknall could sell in his sleep. However, he would follow it up with a horrible cover of the old Hollies hit “The Air That I Breathe” and for that alone he should never be forgiven regardless of all his other musical misdemeanours that Robin could list.

It’s LeAnn Rimes next…again. I think this the third time she’s been on the show already with “How Do I Live?”. What else can I say about this one? Well, have I already talked about the fact that two different versions of the song were released on the same day – one by Rimes and another by Trisha Yearwood and that both versions were nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards which was the first time such an occurrence had ever happened? Only one version could be performed at the event and LeAnn was chosen. She belted out the song in a career best turn apparently. As soon as she left the stage though, the award in her category was made and they gave it to Trisha Yearwood! Talk about awkward! It’s the football equivalent of Bayern Munich completely outplaying Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final played at the German team’s own ground and being beaten on penalties. Get In!

P.S. What extremely tenuous connection is there between “How Do I Live?” to this week’s No 1? All will be revealed later.

The links are writing themselves for Jo Whiley tonight. Firstly, she can highlight the connection between two 70s songs opening the show in “Lady Marmalade” and “Dreams” and now she can segue from one teenage singer in LeAnn Rimes to a whole group of them in Cleopatra. Having made No 4 with their debut hit “Cleopatra’s Theme”, they repeated the trick with follow up “Life Ain’t Easy”. It’s a bit smoother on the ear than its predecessor, less jarring somehow though the vocals do have a tendency to grate and why does one of them have a rucksack on their back 3T style? To highlight that they were still school age? Was that good idea? Surely not. Jo Whiley’s comment about “Madonna’s Mancunian mavericks” was a reference to the fact that the group were signed to her label Maverick in America. Just two singles into their career and they had Madonna as a mentor? Maybe life was easy after all…

Next a song I always confuse with “C U When U Get There” by Coolio for no other reason than that they’re both by rappers and the song titles suggest journeys conducted over a period of time. I’m easily confused is my only excuse. “Gone Till November” was the third and joint biggest solo hit by ex-Fugee Wyclef Jean. It starts off all calm and melodic but then when the rapping starts, chaos ensues and it becomes almost unlistenable especially in this performance in which Wyclef’s vocals aren’t the strongest. Maybe the recorded version is better though this single edit is the ‘pop’ version so presumably more mainstream than the album track? Like “The Show” by Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew over a decade earlier, it features an awful interpolation of “Michelle” by The Beatles. Compared to his Fugees output, I would say his solo stuff is the equivalent of Chelsea’s 1978/79 team which finished bottom of the league with just five wins out of 42 games. I really suffered for my team in my childhood!

I still haven’t provided the answer to my previous teaser (it’s really not worth waiting for either) but here’s another one. What links Wyclef Jean with the next act on the show who is Adam Garcia? The Bee Gees of course. Wyclef’s debut solo single was “We Trying To Stay Alive” which sampled the disco classic “Stayin’ Alive” whilst Adam Garcia is on the show to perform “Night Fever” from the soundtrack of the jukebox musical Saturday Night Fever based on the 1977 film of the same name. Garcia was starring as Tony Manero, the character played by John Travolta in the movie during the musical’s run at the London Palladium. He’s clearly got those iconic dance moves down pat judging by this performance but as ever with these jukebox musicals, the question remains of why would you want the soundtrack to the show when you could just have the original tracks in their full glory? That’s especially true with Saturday Night Fever with the show following the film’s plot (albeit with the darker elements removed) as opposed to a completely new story that features the songs of a particular artist.

Ooh, here’s another connections teaser – what’s the link between Adam Garcia and LeAnn Rimes? The 2000 film Coyote Ugly which starred Garcia and the soundtrack of which featured four songs by Rimes including the UK No 1 “Can’t Fight The Moonlight”. I love it when a post comes together!

We have yet another new No 1 and I’m not saying anything perceptive nor insightful by stating that nobody saw this song coming from this artist. Yes, Aqua are back at the head of the pack with their third consecutive chart topper “Turn Back Time”. Now, achieving that feat might well have been seen as completely beyond the Danish group based on the cartoon pop of their first (and admittedly) mega hit “Barbie Girl”. Even when copycat follow up “Dr Jones” replicated that position, many must have believed that a third No 1 was surely beyond them? Well, had they stuck to the formula of those first two hits, maybe the UK record buying public wouldn’t have fallen for it a third time but the truth is that Aqua released a song I certainly didn’t know they were capable of. “Turn Back Time” was nothing like its predecessors. A proper ballad with proper singing from vocalist Lene Nystrøm rather than those squeaky noises we’d come to expect. True, there is a weird, incongruous breakdown near the end but I think we can overlook that. Also (thankfully) overlooked was that bald bloke who’d supplied the unsettling “Come on Barbie, let’s go party” line in “Barbie Girl”. Is he even on stage in this performance? Oh, is that him sat on a stool holding a tambourine with a hoodie and glasses disguising his striking look? Might be. A fourth No 1 was a step too far and Aqua would only return to the Top 10 twice more after this and one of those was a remake of “Barbie Girl” in light of the success of the 2023 Barbie film. Still, “Turn Back Time” allowed Aqua to always be able to say that there was more to them than just that song.

Oh, the link between LeAnn Rimes and Aqua? “How Do I Live?” was written by songwriting legend Dianne Warren who also penned “If I Could Turn Back Time” for Cher and if I really could turn back time, I wouldn’t have tried to make such a tenuous link in the first place.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1All SaintsUnder The Bridge / Lady MarmaladeNo but I think my wife had the album
2The CorrsDreamsIt’s a no
3Simply RedSay You Love MeNever happening
4LeAnn RimesHow Do I Live?Negative
5CleopatraLife Ain’t EasyNah
6Wyclef Jean Gone Till NovemberI did not
7Adam GarciaNight FeverNope
8AquaTurn Back TimeNo

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.

TOTP 08 MAY 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s that time of the year again in 1998 when, as a nation, we outwardly cringed in embarrassment at the very idea of it but, on the night itself, found ourselves at home watching it on our TVs anyway. Yes, it can only be the Eurovision Song Contest and in 1998, the UK was the host nation having won the thing the year before courtesy of Katrina And The Waves. The National Indoor Centre in Birmingham was the chosen venue and our hosts for the evening were Sir Terry Wogan (of course) and Ulrika Jonsson who was very familiar with the location for the contest as it was where she filmed the ITV show Gladiators. She was also one of the resident captains on surreal panel show Shooting Stars with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer so her profile was suitably in the ascendancy to be the go to co-host for such an event. Sadly, just one month later, she was in the headlines again having been assaulted by her then boyfriend, footballer Stan Collymore in a Paris bar during the 1998 World Cup. Let’s concentrate on much lighter events though and some would argue none is more lightweight than Eurovision. However, one person taking it seriously was my record shop colleague Stephen who was so confident in the UK entry that he bet me a fiver that it would win. I didn’t share his faith and took the bet. Who won Eurovision and therefore the bet as well? That’s all to come but for now let’s get back to the charts and TOTP where we find Jamie Theakston on presenting duties for a second consecutive week. Presumably executive producer Chris Cowey must have liked what he saw from Theakston though he didn’t seem to bring anything extra to the show for me.

Talking of not bringing anything extra to the show, despite the new theme tune and titles, Cowey has only brought us three new tunes for this week with five of the eight hits having already been on before including opener “Feel It” by The Tamperer featuring Maya. This one was featured on the show before last and will be on a further two times subsequently. As such, I don’t know what to write about it as I pretty much said it all previously. However, as it’s very heavily based on the 1981 hit “Can You Feel It” by The Jacksons, I did look up whether there were any cover versions of it out there and there are including one by a group I’ve never heard of before. V anyone? I guess I wasn’t really their target audience seeing as they were a boy band and I was 36 years old when this hit was in 2004. Plus, it was four years after I’d left my time in record shops behind me. Anyway, it’s a fairly routine cover that adds literally nothing to the original but got to No 5 as a double A-side with a track called “Hip To Hip”.

Easily beating V in the entertainment stakes though is this version of The Tamperer track by the aforementioned Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer as their Mulligan and O’Hare characters:

Eurovision credentials: None but the Bosnia and Herzegovina entry in 2012 was by an artist called Maya Sar. She finished 18th.

Now for that performance by Boyzone that the band were unable to do last week due to the death of Ronan Keating’s mother. In the intervening seven days, the lads have dropped from No 1 to No 4 but an exclusive performance is an exclusive performance so here they are with “All That I Need”. This must be one of the most forgettable chart toppers of the decade but then, let’s be fair, most of their well known songs are cover versions anyway. I’m thinking “Love Me For A Reason” (The Osmonds), “Father And Son” (Cat Stevens), “Words” (Bee Gees) and “When The Going Gets Tough” (Billy Ocean). Oh, and perhaps their best known song was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I think that says a lot if not everything. Nothing else to see here.

Eurovision credentials: Just 12 months prior to this, Ronan Keating had been the co-host for the contest which took place in Dublin. Boyzone were the interval act performing a song called “Let The Message Run Free”.

Now this next one is interesting on a number of fronts. Firstly, hands up who remembered/knew that Freak Power had more than one hit? Not me for sure but here it is – a No 29 hit called “No Way”. Thankfully nothing to do with that awful novelty hit “No Way, No Way” by Vanilla from earlier in the year, on initial hearing I thought it sounded very similar to their huge hit “Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out” but by the end of the track I’d decided it sounded like something else – this from the multi-talented and much missed Kirsty MacColl…

Of further interest is the staging for this one which shows a sudden burst of creativity that had been missing for a while from the show. The setting of a house party with vocalist Ashley Slater positioned next door and banging against the partition wall as Norman Cook and a host of party goers live it up was…well… interesting as I say. Given that Freak Power seemed to have run their course after the aforementioned “Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out” had been a hit three years prior to “No Way” and that the material they released in between hadn’t generated any hits and that he’d had more commercial success with another vehicle Pizzaman, I wonder why he returned to the Freak Power moniker for this one? Whatever the reason, this would be the last we would hear from Freak Power which is a shame.

Eurovision credentials: Ashley Slater provided the original vocals for the 2015 UK entry “Still In Love With You”. He didn’t want to be involved in promoting it though so he withdrew from the project and duo Electro Velvet fronted the song. It placed 24th out of 27 with just five points.

Next come an act that many would consider perfect for Eurovision. In May 1998, Steps were only at the beginning of a career whose longevity very few of us would have predicted with “Last Thing On My Mind” being just their second single release. After the almost novelty debut single ”5,6,7,8” which had jumped on the bandwagon of the line dancing craze that was sweeping the country, the follow up couldn’t have sounded more like Eurovision giants ABBA if it tried. Actually, it was written to try to sound like the Swedish megastars as part of Pete Waterman’s plan to revive Bananarama’s career by pursuing project ‘ABBA-Banana’. Anyway, listening back to it now, if it had been our Eurovision entry in 1998, it would have been a shoo-in to triumph at the contest and I would not have taken that bet with my work colleague Stephen. They even had a Bucks Fizz style gimmmick with that arm roll move. In fact, given the tacky nature of the contest, it wouldn’t have been beyond the realms of possibility for “5,6,7,8” to have gone close to winning the thing. Apparently, there have been discussions within the group about participating but, although Ian ‘H’ Watkins would do it in a heartbeat, some of the other members aren’t as keen or convinced. I’m sure though that if they could be persuaded, the UK would have its best chance of winning in years.

Eurovision credentials: Apart from everything already mentioned, they won the OGAE Song Contest – Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l’Eurovision or General Organisation of Eurovision Fans – in 2018 with their single “Scared Of The Dark”.

Some hip-hop now courtesy of the Jungle Brothers. You know me, I’m a pop kid at heart so my knowledge of this lot is the equivalent of what Nigel Farage knows about being a decent human being – nothing. Thankfully Wikipedia is there to tell me all about them. They’re from New York and are acknowledged as pioneers of the fusion of the hip-hop, house and jazz genres (oh, so they’re not just hip-hop then – told you I knew nothing about them). They paved the way for A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and founded the Native Tongues collective of hip-hop artists that included Monie Love, Queen Latifah and Busta Rhymes in its membership. Their biggest UK hit up to this point had been 1988’s “I’ll House You” but that was superseded by “Jungle Brother (Urban Takeover Mix)” which made No 18. I have to say it sounds like a lot of shouting to me but the breakdancers supporting them were impressive. They didn’t fall over or go Boom Bang a Bang once.

Eurovision credentials: Absolutely none whatsoever.

“How Do I Live” by LeAnn Rimes was yet another of those songs that lingered on the charts for literally months around this time. I wrote in a recent post how the aforementioned “5,6,7,8” by Steps was, at the time, the biggest selling single in the UK never to make the Top 10. Well, “How Do I Live” has a similar accolade – despite never getting any higher than No 7, its solid 30 (THIRTY!) weeks inside the Top 40 meant that it was the 6th best selling single of 1998 in the UK. It’s quite hard to get your head around – it ranked higher in the end of year chart than at any point during its Top 40 life. I think we must have got caught out by its longevity in the Our Price where I worked a few times thinking its chart run would have to be over soon and therefore running down stock only for it to reverse its sales and go back up the charts which it did on NINE occasions! It seems that the record buying public weren’t any good at making their collective mind up about whether they could live without that particular track.

Eurovision connection: None but LeAnn has appeared on a singing contest – both the Australian and UK versions of The Voice.

So we arrive at the act with genuine Eurovision credentials given that she was the UK’s actual entry this year but who was Imaani? Well, she hailed from Nottingham, her birth name was Melonie Crosdale and she got into the music industry via a chance encounter with a record producer on a train journey. After contributing some vocals to an album by acid jazzers Incognito, she became the UK’s Eurovision entry after a protracted selection process that started in early February and involved a semi final broadcast on Radio 2, appearances by the finalists on The National Lottery Draw and a tele-vote on The Great British Song Contest* broadcast on BBC1 in March.

*Ooh, now here’s a nice little tie-in. The song that came third in that final was by a group called Sapphire (who’d changed their name from Kitt halfway through the process). The singer in Sapphire was one Kate Cameron who worked with Norman Cook under his Pizzaman name and is a backing singer with Freak Power. This really should have gone in the Eurovision credentials section for Freak Power as well.

Imaani’s winning song was “Where Are You?” and she duly embarked on the usual circus of promotional duties including appearances on Blue Peter, Live & Kicking and Fully Booked. In fact, the release of her song as a single came as early as the 21st of March but it spent six weeks bouncing around the very bottom end of the charts between Nos 99 and 76 before the exposure it gained as the contest itself loomed ever closer pushed it into the Top 40 where it would peak at No 15. So, about the song itself. Well, I couldn’t remember how it went but listening to it back, Imaani does a decent impression of Toni Braxton. However, and this is why I didn’t share my colleague Stephen’s faith in it and took his bet, it didn’t sound very Eurovision. Now, I have no idea what the Eurovision sound is anymore with the contest having transcended its legacy definitions and morphed out into all sorts of musical directions but back in 1998, it just didn’t seem to fit the bill to me.

So how did Imaani do on the big night and did I win the bet? Yes I did but only just with “Where Are You?” coming in second to the winner by just six points. By today’s standards, that was a stellar performance but after winning it the year before, was it possibly seen as a disappointment? Surely not. And the winner? Well, this caused many headlines and not all positive as Israel’s Dana International took the crown with the track “Diva” and, in the process, became the first transgender participant in the contest and its first LGBTQ+ winning artist. Twenty-seven years later and the world is still tying itself up in knots over everything transgender. As for Imaani, she returned to working with Incognito and supplied lead vocals on a garage cover of Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me” by Tru Faith and Dub Conspiracy which made No 12 in 2000. She released her first and so far only solo album in 2014 (some 16 years after her Eurovision moment) and as recently as 2023, was part of the Revival Collective that recorded a version of “Best Of My Love” by The Emotions.

Eurovision credentials: I think we’ve covered these in sufficient detail above.

As predicted by Jamie Theakston last week, All Saints are No 1 with “Under The Bridge” / “Lady Marmalade”. We get the former track again this week but it’s a different performance as the group aren’t high up in a gantry like last time but back on Terra Firma. I must say, although I’m not the biggest fan of their treatment of the Red Hot Chili Peppers classic, I am quite taken with how they managed to get maximum impact out of minimal movement in the dance routine they put together for it. Minor hip shakes and small scale footsteps show that sometimes less really is more.

Eurovision credentials: None but the phrase ‘never ever’ is a key lyric in the track “No No Never” by German entry Texas Lightning which came 14th in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1The Tamperer featuring MayaFeel ItI did not
2BoyzoneAll That I NeedNo Way
3Freak PowerNo WayGood song but no
4StepsLast Thing On My MindNope
5Jungle BrothersJungle Brother (Urban Takeover Mix)No
6LeAnn RimesHow Do I Live?Nah
7ImaaniWhere Are You?No but thanks for the fiver
8All SaintsUnder The Bridge / Lady MarmaladeNo but my wife had the album I think

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/m002hqxx/top-of-the-pops-08051998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 10 APR 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

Back in 1998, this TOTP was broadcast two days before my wife’s 30th birthday and as such, we were in our way to New York (baby!) to celebrate. Joined by our friends Robin and Susan, we would be in the Big Apple for a long weekend and so would not have seen this TOTP. So, as I haven’t dipped into my personal life in these posts for a while, I’ll try and interweave some of what happened in New York with my comments about the songs in this particular show. Self indulgent? Possibly but it’s my blog so…OK, before we even got to New York, two huge news stories broke. Firstly, The Good Friday Agreement was signed between the UK and Irish governments that would bring an end to most of the violence of The Troubles. Secondly, George Michael was arrested in a park in Beverly Hills for being caught in “a lewd act” by an undercover police officer operating a sting operation. This would lead to George coming out about his sexuality soon afterwards. I can remember following both stories on the TV screens at Manchester Airport as we waited to board our plane and again when we had a stopover in Dublin to do US customs. Hours later when we arrived in New York’s JFK Airport, they were still dominating the headlines.

Making headlines of his own at this time was the rejuvenated Robbie Williams who is back on the show to promote his single “Let Me Entertain You”. I say back on the show but I think this is just a re-showing of the performance from the other week. In fact, I think hardly any of the artists on the show tonight are actually in the studio with the presenter who is Jayne Middlemiss this week. More of that later.

As such though, I’m going to talk about the video for this one and not what we got to see on TOTP. You know the one, where Robbie does his best Kiss impression? Or is it his best impression of The Prodigy’s Keith Flint doing his best impression of Kiss? In fact, there’s a load of sending up of rock stars (and their cliches) in the video. There’s Robbie pretending to take a bite out of a dove Ozzy Osbourne style, Robbie flying above the stage on wires and a harness like Jon Bon Jovi in the “Livin’ On A Prayer” promo and, of course, the aforementioned Kiss make up. It’s a memorable watch and whoever made the decision to have it all in black and white take a bow – I think it might have been too much in full on Technicolor.

So back in New York, I’d started the holiday by going down with a heavy cold. Brilliant! I could feel myself getting progressively more and more ill as we travelled in the taxi from the airport to Manhattan. I perhaps became germ-infected in the enclosed space of the long flight over. Fortunately our friend Robin had a bottle of Jack Daniels with him and I dosed myself up on that using the only mixer we had available to us at the time – dandelion and burdock. ‘Jack Dandy’ was the name we gave to our newly created concoction I believe. Fortified by Mr JD and Mr DB, we ventured out into New York…

Back in Blighty in the TOTP studio, we find Savage Garden but, once again, as with the Robbie Williams performance, it seems to be just another re-showing of their previous appearance judging by the abrupt cut away from Jayne Middlemiss’s intro. They’d only just been on the week before with their hit “Truly Madly Deeply” but maybe Executive Producer Chris Cowey was making up for lost time on their behalf as they’d been a constant in the Top 10 for weeks but this was only their second appearance on the show.

The band took their name from a phrase in the Anne Rice series of gothic novels The Vampire Chronicles – the character Lestat says that “Beauty was a savage garden” when describing the world as primitive, dangerous and lawless. I didn’t see any savage gardens in New York but we did make a pilgrimage to the garden of peace that is Strawberry Fields in Central Park which was opened in 1985 to commemorate the life of John Lennon five years after his murder. There’s a picture of me somewhere trying to look all sombre and respectful at the Imagine mosaic. Despite the size of their hit, perhaps unsurprisingly there is no memorial to the band Savage Garden. However, the Mark Mills novel Savage Garden is set in a memorial garden in Florence, Italy and in Auckland, New Zealand there is an actual memorial dedicated to the country’s first Labour prime minister Michael Joseph Savage.

Sometimes I think I’m misremembering how the charts worked around this time. In my head, it was all singles in and out of the charts within a fortnight due to heavy week one discounting by the record companies. Clearly there was some of that going on but we’re also encountering plenty of hits that seemed to sell consistently week after week thus maintaining healthy chart positions for prolonged periods. Just this episode we had the example of Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply” and then the very next song on is another long term chart resident. “How Do I Live” may not have hit any higher than No 7 but it would spend 30 weeks inside the Top 40. THIRTY! That’s about seven and a half months! The first 18 of those saw it never leave the Top 20! This song didn’t just have legs – it was a centipede of a hit!

Strangely, its longevity wasn’t the biggest story behind the track though. Back in the 50s and 60s, the simultaneous release of the same song by different artists, if not commonplace, certainly wasn’t a rarity. By the late 90s, it never seemed to happen. However, in 1998 came the chart battle between 15 year old LeAnn Rimes and established country artist Trisha Yearwood who both recorded and released (on the same day) their own versions of “How Do I Live”. How did this come about? It was all to do with the film Con Air starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich. This dumb but fun action thriller is one of those films that I always have to watch if I stumble upon it whilst channel surfing (see also Bridesmaids). The film’s production company Touchstone Pictures wanted a big ballad to end the movie with and Diane Warren’s “How Do I Live” was given the job. Touchstone wanted LeAnn Rimes to record it which she duly did but they weren’t sure about her version deciding it lacked maturity and was too pop sounding. As such, they turned to Yearwood who was twice LeAnn’s age and she provided what Touchstone were looking for and it was her version that featured in Con Air. Now I’ve listened to both takes on the song back to back and there’s not a great deal of difference to my ears. Yes, Trisha’s voice has slightly more depth to it and there’s more instrumentation in the backing including a more prevalent sax sound but to delineate one version as pop and the other as country seems to be splitting hairs to me.

Despite not making the Con Air cut, Rimes’s version was released anyway and would prove to be the ultimate winner spending five weeks at No 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (Yearwood peaked at No 23) and was the fifth best selling song in America in 1998. In the UK, astoundingly given it never got higher than No 7, LeAnn’s version was the sixth best selling song of the year (every song above it had been a chart topper). Trisha’s version never even made our Top 40. In fairness though, Trisha did win a Grammy with her version for Best Female Country Vocal Performance so maybe I was wrong about that pop/country differentiation. Just to make us all feel old. I can confirm that LeAnn will be 43 on the 28th of this month.

As huge a hit as “How Do I Live” was in America, I don’t recall hearing it whilst we were in New York but then we weren’t exactly going out of our way to listen for it. No, we were far too busy having a good time doing all the things you’re meant to when in the Big Apple like a helicopter ride over Manhattan, a dash up the Empire State Building (where a young American child spent the whole time shouting at his parents “I’m freaking! I’m freaking!”) and taking in Grand Central Station. One afternoon, me and my friend Robin got it into our heads that we would go looking for the legendary music venue CBGB which my wife and our friend Susan didn’t fancy doing so our group split up. Being two clueless Brits abroad, Robin and I couldn’t find CBGB. However, we did come across a film crew and a huge audience of people on a sidewalk (sidewalk – maybe we weren’t that clueless after all!) and wondering what was going on we walked over to the amassed throng…just in time to be on the live outside broadcast of the 1000th edition of The Ricky Lake Show! Yes, somewhere out there exists the footage of me and Robin (probably with our faces obscured) at the back of that audience. When we met up with my wife and Susan, they said they had a tale to tell us that we wouldn’t believe. We said we’d had an interesting experience as well but let them go first. They’d been walking past Trump Tower and Donald Trump had walked out! We then told them our story and we all agreed that ours…well…trumped theirs. I’m not sure it still does though.

Enough of that though, back in the TOTP studio we find Sash! performing “La Primavera” again. Actually, we don’t because it’s yet another re-showing of their previous performance and they’re not actually there for a second time. What was going on this week? As this one was also featured in the last post, I’ve little to say about it so, in keeping with this week’s post, I’ve looked for a connection with New York. All I can find is that Sash! the dance act have an Instagram account with the handle SashNY which is not to be confused with S A S H | N Y who are a clothing brand in Brooklyn who sell and rent couture gowns. Gowns with sashes presumably.

Seriously though, what was going on with the studio set up this week. As far as I can tell, so far we’ve had three repeats of previous studio performances and a promo video. None of the artists featured so far seem to have been in the studio at the same time as presenter Jayne Middlemiss nor a studio audience. Now, just a head shot of Jayne appears against a white back drop to introduce the next artist who is Billie Myers. Then there’s a white out fade from Jayne to Billie who is in the studio with an audience! So was Jayne not there? Was her performance recorded separately or was Middlemiss just running late and had to do her links solo and in silo as it were?

Anyway, who was this Billie Myers? On the face of it she seemed to be yet another of those 90s female artists who had one big hit and then not much else at all. I’m thinking Donna Lewis, Paula Cole, Meredith Brooks…and Billie Myers whose big hit was “Kiss The Rain”. However, I always assumed that Billie was an American but she’s actually from Coventry but her song was just about as far from that city’s legendary 2-Tone sound as you could get. A huge, sweeping soft rock ballad with an arresting chorus even if the lyrics don’t make much sense (how does one kiss the rain exactly?), it was a hit both here and in the US. Everything after that was a case of diminishing returns though. Follow up “Tell Me” was a minor hit and her album “Growing Pains” sold modestly. She’s released just the two albums since and has been active in The Mindfull Initiative supporting young people with mental health issues. In many ways, she is the forgotten ‘Billie’ of 1998 as the second half of the year would see the rise of 15 year old Billie Piper (what was it with 1998 and 15 year old female singers?!) who would have two No 1 singles. Both were actually nominated for a BRIT award for Best British Female Solo artist in 1999 though neither won (it went to Des’ree if you’re interested).

For a New York connection, Billie Myers was a featured artist at NYC Pride in 2006. We didn’t see the NYC Pride March whilst we were there though we did attend the Easter Parade which was rather undermined by some disgruntled native New Yorker pushing through the crowds yelling “Europeans – get back to where you came from!”. Oh dear.

OK so Jayne Middlemiss is now within a studio audience for her next link but, yet again, the performance she introduces is another recycled one from the other week. It’s all very confusing. Said performance is from Tin Tin Out featuring Shelley Nelson and their cover of “Here’s Where The Story Ends” by The Sundays. On the Sunday that we were in New York, after we’d done the aforementioned helicopter ride, we spent what seems like hours traipsing up and down the blocks of Manhattan looking for somewhere to eat some lunch. Now you wouldn’t think this would have been such a hard task in New York what with its diners and restaurants and you’d be right but then you haven’t tried to do so with our friend Robin who had some very exacting demands about where he might be OK eating. After multiple suggestions were turned down for various reasons by Robin and with our feet aching and our bellies rumbling, we eventually found a lovely place with a menu to suit all our tastes. We were just about to go in when Robin cocked an ear and stopped us in our tracks stating “We can’t go in there, they’re playing jazz!”. Aaaggghhh!

As for Tin Tin Out, what links them with Duran Duran? As well as remixing tracks for the Brummie New Romantics turned pop megastars, Tin Tin was the name used at various points in his career by the wonderful Stephen Duffy who was their singer in an early incarnation of the band. You all knew that though right?

Next, a seismic event if you were a heavy rock fan back in 1998 – it’s the return of Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, four years on from their original reunion which gave the world “No Quarter”, their live acoustic album of new material and reworking of selected Led Zeppelin tracks. As I never got the boat travelling to Led Zep island, this happening didn’t really register with me though I do recognise the cover art of their second album (and reason for their return) “Walking Into Clarksdale”. However, I have zero recall of its lead single “Most High” which I was expecting to dislike but actually found quite engaging. Despite the size of the Led Zeppelin fanbase though, it wasn’t a huge hit peaking at No 26 though famously, the band were not known for single releases. Jayne Middlemiss makes a jibe about giving your Mam and Dad a shout to come and watch the performance which does seem rather ageist and condescending and also undermines the decision to have Robert and Jimmy on the show which is meant to be representative of the most happening chart sounds around (yes, I know that past line sounds wanky). Plus, they were responsible for the TOTP theme tune back in the day courtesy of CCS’s version of “Whole Lotta Love” so you’d think that there would have been a bit more respect shown.

The cover of the second Led Zeppelin album “Physical Graffiti” shows two four story buildings which were based on a photo of two actual five story buildings located at 96 and 98 St. Mark’s Place in NYC. Now, I certainly didn’t make any pilgrimage to witness that location like I did with Strawberry Fields but not far from there is the wonderful bar McSorley’s Old Ale House which we did visit. A real spit and sawdust place where the only drinks available were McSorley’s light ale or McSorley’s dark ale. Marvellous!

It’s a fourth of six weeks at the top for “It’s Like That” by Run–D.M.C. versus Jason Nevins. This really was becoming quite the phenomenon. I’m still not completely sure why it was so popular. It’s a hard-hitting, ultra-pounding, dance floor-filling track for sure but I’m still kind of surprised that it crossed over into daytime radio play and the mainstream pop charts in such a big way. Was it a lack of competition that enabled its long run at No 1? Celine Dion was right there pretty much all the time waiting in the shadows and I would maybe have expected her to pip them to the top spot at least once in the that six week run. After all, she’d already dropped from the peak once and then retuned there later in her chart run. Of course, Run-D.M.C. couldn’t be more New York – or rather more Queens. A visit to the Hollis neighbourhood of that borough was never going to be on our to do list though I’m afraid.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Robbie WilliamsLet Me Entertain YouNo but I had a promo copy of the album
2Savage GardenTruly Madly DeeplyDidn’t happen
3LeAnn RimesHow Do I Live?Without this record? Quite easily.
4Sash!La PrimaveraNope
5Billie MyersKiss The RainNegative
6Tin Tin Out featuring Shelley NelsonHere’s Where The Story EndsNah
7Jimmy Page & Robert PlantMost HighNo
8Run-D.M.C. versus Jason NevinsIt’s Like ThatI did not

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/m002h46h/top-of-the-pops-10041998?seriesId=unsliced