New Radicals

TOTP 16 APR 1999

In the previous show, Jamie Theakston made a reference to Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs in his intro to Catatonia as the Welsh international had scored an important equaliser for his club in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final versus Juventus. His goal scoring form continued into another huge game – the FA Cup semi-final replay against title rivals Arsenal two days before this TOTP aired. Whilst the goal itself was pretty special, it was his celebration of it that remains uppermost in the memory. Removing his shirt and twirling it around his head, the full extent of the hairiness of the Giggs chest was revealed. Many gagging reflexes were put into operation at the sight. I think it was the shock factor more than anything else. Fancy that lath-thin, whippet-like Ryan Giggs having a big, manly, hairy chest like that. I wonder if any of tonight’s acts had hairy chests or failing that a connection to hair (other than the obvious one on their heads)?

Our host is Jayne Middlemiss (pretty sure she didn’t have a hairy chest) and the first artist on tonight is Phats & Small with their dance anthem hit “Turn Around”. This was only just on the previous show so I’m struggling to find anything else to say about it. I’ve said about vocalist Ben Ofoedu being engaged to TV broadcaster Vanessa Feltz, I’ve referenced their amusingly named album “Now Phats What I Small Music”…what else is there? Oh, the track itself. Well, yeah there is that I suppose. Well, I can hear why it was a success. It was a very accessible tune which crossed over from the dance floor to daytime radio which presumably helped prolong its chart life which clocked in at seven consecutive weeks inside the Top 10. Its legacy includes being voted in at No 38 in MTV Dance’s 2011 list of ‘The 100 Biggest 90’s Dance Anthems of All Time’. That do?

Hairy connection: DHT (a byproduct of testosterone) causes body hair to grow and head hair to shrink sometimes leading to the paradox of hairy men being bald on their heads. Testosterone is sometimes nicknamed ‘phat’.

Meatloaf was still having hits in 1999?! I know the 90s had been a renaissance decade for him what with “Bat Out Of Hell II” being a humongous sales phenomenon but that had been back in 1993. What’s that? He also had a big seller with the follow up “Welcome To The Neighbourhood” two years later? Well, yes he did and yes it delivered him three hit singles including the No 2 hit “I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth)” but that was still years prior. By the end of the 90s, he (or his record company) had resorted to yet another Best Of album (the 13th of 20 according to his discography) which was released the previous November just in time for the Christmas sales rush. How convenient/cynical. Ah, so that’s where this song comes from. The practice of releasing a Greatest Hits album but trailing it with a new track was well established by this point and Meatloaf wasn’t going to buck the trend. “Is Nothing Sacred” had originally been recorded for the “Welcome To The Neighbourhood” album but hadn’t made the cut at the time. It was recycled though for “The Very Best Of Meatloaf” when it was re-recorded as a duet with his go to female singer Patti Russo. It was, in fact, not originally scheduled for that role though as there was another song on that Greatest Hits album that was earmarked for that job which was “A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste” which had been The Loaf’s contribution to the Jim Steinman penned Whistle Down The Wind soundtrack. Indeed, Meat had been rumoured to be locked in as the artist to record “No Matter What” but that particular golden egg landed up in Boyzone’s laps. Had it gone the other way, I wouldn’t have been asking the question I posed at the start of this paragraph.

As for “Is Nothing Sacred”, despite its place in that Greatest Hits album, it certainly wasn’t one of his very best, being a piss poor imitation of some of those classic hits. There would be a few more charting singles into the new millennium but Meatloaf’s death in 2022 aged 74 meant that 2016’s “Braver Than We Are” would be his last ever album and there would be no more and that’s the truth.

Hairy connection: Well, apart from the obvious long hair he sported in the “Bat Out Of Hell” era, Meatloaf also appeared in the musical Hair on and off Broadway.

It’s a repeat of that satellite performance by TLC of “No Scrubs” next. This was another of those remarkably hardy hits that enjoyed an extended chart life, spending two months inside the Top 10 eventually peaking at No 3. However, looking in more detail at its chart stats, there was a moment when things might have panned out differently. After debuting at No 7 it actually dropped to No 13 the following week and at that point you would have been forgiven for thinking that it would continue to spiral down the charts. Not so though as a third week reversal of fortunes saw it climb back into the Top 10 where it would remain for seven consecutive weeks. Even then, there were undulations within that period with the single moving to No 6 then dropping to No 9 before vaulting back to No 3 and spending two weeks at No 5. What was all that about? Well, it would be featured on TOTP twice more so maybe that exposure helped propel it up the charts? I’m not sure but what I do know is that I’m going to have to find something to write about it at least twice more in this blog for which my creativity might require some tender loving care.

Hairy connection: The follow up hit to “No Scrubs” was “Unpretty” which featured a lyric about hair extensions – “You can buy your hair if it won’t grow”.

In the three years since they’d last released an album, The Cranberries had found themselves rather usurped in the rock band fronted by a charismatic female lead singer with a strong, Celtic influenced accent stakes. Catatonia had ripped up the charts with hits like “Mulder And Scully” and “Road Rage” going Top 5, eclipsing the highest peaking singles of their Irish contemporaries who rather unbelievably and certainly unjustly would never have a Top 10 hit. Come 1999, after Dolores O’Riordan had given birth to her first child, The Cranberries were back with fourth album “Bury The Hatchet” preceded by lead single “Promises”. It was a strong, aggressive sounding comeback (though there was a lot of reliance on lyrics like “Oh-woah, oh, oh” and “Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo”) but the truth was that five years on from their commercial heyday, the band’s sales were in decline. “Bury The Hatchet” sold a tenth of the copies which debut “Everybody Else Is Doing It, Why Can’t We?” did. The album’s cover artwork probably didn’t help. Whilst the first three featured standard but effective poses of the band, their fourth went in an altogether more arty direction. It was designed by Storm Thorgerson who was school mates with most of Pink Floyd and would go on to design the iconic cover for their legendary “The Dark Side Of The Moon” album. However, “Bury The Hatchet” would not garner such an illustrious reputation. You could see glimpses of Thorgerson’s work on, for example, “Wish You Were Here” in the concept but a naked man being observed by a suspended giant eye against a desert background looked outlandish rather than creative.

A fifth album followed within two years but its perceived lack of promotion by their record label pushed the band to split from MCA and ushered in an eight year hiatus. Three more albums would arrive (one posthumously) but the death of O’Riordan in 2018 brought a permanent end to the band’s story.

Hairy connection: Consuming dried cranberries is associated with promoting hair growth due to their vitamin C and antioxidant content.

Now I remember the name Glamma Kid but can I tell you anything about the artist behind that name? No I can’t. Not without the aid of the internet anyway.

*checks internet*

OK, well that’s not his real name obviously. That would be Iyael Lyases Tafari Constable…yeah, not as snappy as Glamma Kid is it? Anyway, he was/is a toaster – of the musical kind obviously not a relative of the artificially intelligent electric bread toaster variety that was a recurring character in Red Dwarf with an obsession with making small talk exclusively about toast. Of course not. Hailing from Hackney, he initially made a name for himself by appearing on Tim Westwood’s Radio 1 rap show in 1996. By the following year, he was being awarded a MOBO Award for Best Reggae Act and by 1999 he had two Top 10 hits. The first of those was “Taboo” which interpolated the 1985 Sade hit “The Sweetest Taboo” and was a duet (of sorts) with Shola Ama.

I was never the biggest fan of the original but what they’ve done to it with this treatment is nothing short of criminal and when I say they I mean Glamma Kid. What is he doing here? Bent down on his haunches, stalking the stage in an all white suit? I think he was going for a Mark Morrison vibe but he actually looks like Vic Reeves during one of his rubbing his thighs, over excited by a female guest episodes of Shooting Stars. Then there’s the noise that he’s making. It’s just horrible caterwauling! It’s even worse than Shaggy! Who could possibly want to listen to it more than once or am I missing something?! You know what, I don’t think I am.

Hairy connection: Glamma is presumably short for ‘glamour’ which conjures up images of luxuriously coiffured hair plus Glamma Kid featured on a 1998 remix of David Bowie’s “Fashion” which again has connections with hairstyles.

Yay! It’s the New Radicals again! This was the third time in the show for Gregg Alexander’s band and their hit “You Get What You Give” but you won’t find me moaning about repeat performances in the Chris Cowey era as I have done for month after month, post after post as I’m a complete hypocrite and I liked this one so the more the merrier for me!

However, it does leave me with the problem of what else I’m going to say about it. Well, this appears to be a live vocal performance as Gregg does seem to be straining somewhat with his singing in places. Actually, there also appear to be some technical issues as well with echoing vocals and a definite bit of feedback towards the end of the song. We just about have time for the infamous “Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson” line but not for the word “ass” right at the death though I think the BBC censors might have blanked it out. Hard to tell.

Hairy connection: Although Gregg Alexander wore his trademark hat to cover his face to hide the fact that he was not enjoying promoting a hit record via the rules of the music industry, it also concealed the fact that he was bald that was only revealed in the video that accompanied the song.

Talk about creating a buzz about a forthcoming release! There was always going to be great deal of interest in the debut solo single by ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell but the promotion around “Look At Me” really went into overdrive. Look at this TOTP exclusive showing of its promo video a whole month before it was actually released! And that was just part of the marketing story. Halliwell embarked on a short promotional tour in support of the single visiting cities such as Rio de Janeiro, New York, Tokyo, Sydney and Milan. Remember, she only had the one song at this point that you could actually buy (even the extra tracks on the CD single were just remixes of “Look At Me”) yet she was straddling the globe to sell it! Was it all worth it? Yes and no. A No 2 hit is nothing to be sneered at but surely after all that promotion a chart topping debut would have been expected. In the end, Geri was beaten by Boyzone doing yet another cover version. That must have stung a bit.

So what about her actual song – was it any good? Well, I give Geri credit for not doing an obvious big ballad (I’m not sure she had the vocal chops for that anyway) or indeed, going the Boyzone route and releasing a cover version. However, “Look At Me” was accused of sounding very similar to another late 90s hit – “History Repeating” by Propellerheads featuring Shirley Bassey and you can hear why though I’m not sure I made that connection myself at the time. The structure of “Look At Me” does work with as opposed to against Geri’s rather limited vocals enabling her to sing in snatches or phrases rather than seamlessly not that there’s anything wrong with that but then what the hell was that middle eight breakdown?! Were the Spice Girls fanbase ready for that or was Geri looking for a new, more mature audience?

I guess I should comment on the video. First off, the fact that it’s nearly all shot in black and white was a bold move from someone who once sang “Colours of the world, Spice up your life”. Again, was that designed to show she was now a serious artist in search of a new type of fan? If that wasn’t a clue then the funeral scene killing of her ‘Ginger Spice’ persona couldn’t be see as anything but a desire to leave behind her former group. This was backed up by the caption at the start of the promo asking “Who is…Geri Halliwell?” suggesting that we perhaps had not seen the real version of her yet. The rest of the video has Halliwell playing around with female stereotypes which she nominated as vamp, bitch, virgin and sister. I’m not quite sure if she succeeded in her observations of said stereotypes nor indeed what those observations might have been.

Whatever you thought of her debut single, and on reflection my judgement would be ‘could’ve been worse’ or even “not without merit”, it paved the way for a run of four consecutive No 1 hits three of which came from her debut album “Schizophonic” and that could in no way be seen as a disappointing return.

Hairy connection: You mean apart from the whole ‘Ginger Spice’ persona being based on her red hair colour and apart from Geri referring to her look as “hair power” and apart from her hair being considered to have altered the course of 1990s beauty history, with fans often emulating her look? Nah, nothing really.

You’d have thought that as the new millennium dawned, we’d have gotten a bit bored with the whole soap star to pop star schtick but here was Tiffany from EastEnders to prove that we still had room for more. I think it’s fair to say that Martine McCuthcheon has moved on from that role not in the least part because of her much loved turn in Love Actually but back then she was Tiffany so big and well liked had her character become. Only a few short months prior, Tiffany Mitchell was written out of the soap when she was killed off on New Year’s Eve after being knocked down by a car driven by Frank Butcher (hence Jayne Middlemiss’s quip about her not being very good at road safety). Twenty-two million people watched that episode and a book about the character of Tiffany was a bestseller!

Given all of that, it’s perhaps no surprise that McCutcheon’s debut single went to No 1. What people did seem to be surprised about though was shown in their reaction to “Perfect Moment” which went along the lines of “It’s quite good innit”. I guess it was a similar response to that which another soap star’s debut single had received not so long before – “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. However, whereas the ex-Neighbours star had gone for a shimmering piece of pop perfection, Martine gave us the full, dramatic big ballad treatment. Just as Geri Halliwell surprised us with her almost jazz-pop first solo song, perhaps we might have expected a bit of pop fluff from Martine or a cover version like previous EastEnders star Sophie Lawrence had and Sid Owen would go on to do. Not a bit of it…or rather a little bit of it as “Perfect Moment” was a cover but I’m pretty sure most people were completely unaware of the original. Recorded in 1997 by Polish singer Edyta Górniak, that version was little known outside of Poland and so, again as with Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”, most of us thought it was, if not Martine’s song, then it had been written specifically for her. It starts off sounding a bit like “A Different Corner” by George Michael with a some serene strings being plucked before Martine delivers a perfectly adequate vocal. There’s no doubting that she could sing a bit but then she had been in little known, mid 90s girl group Milan who spent one week at No 82 with a single called “Lead Me On” – I did say they were little known! Anyway, “Perfect Moment” came over as quite a classy tune in the style of Barbra Streisand or at least Celine Dion and great things were predicted for Martine McCutcheon the pop star. A No 2 album duly followed and a pair of No 6 singles but by 2000, diminishing returns kicked in and her next two albums didn’t produce anywhere near the same numbers. Then came a return to acting and the role of Natalie in Love Actually though I have to say I can’t think of much else I e seen her in recently and Love Actually is now 23 years old.

*checks her filmography*

Martine’s most recent TV appearances have been as herself in shows like Loose Women, Celebrity Gogglebox and The Masked Singer in which she came 10th dressed as a swan. Probably not her perfect moment then.

Hairy connection: Martine has openly discussed her struggles with scalp sensitivity and dandruff endorsing Polytar medicinal shampoo to treat these issues and has become a scalp health advocate using her platform to discuss the impact of stress and health issues on her hair.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Phats & Small	Turn Around	Negative
2	Meatloaf	Is Nothing Sacred	I did not
3	TLC	No Scrubs	Nah
4	The Cranberries	Promises	Nope
5	Glamma Kid / Shola Ama	Taboo	No chance
6	New Radicals	You Get What You Give	YES!
7	Geri Halliwell	Look At Me	I did not
8	Martine McCuthcheon	Perfect Moment	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 agre

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002rlpd/top-of-the-pops-16041999

TOTP 09 APR 1999

Posted on February 23 by 80stastic

As usual, this episode of TOTP is a complete hotchpotch of musical styles and artists. There’s new acts, established ones, returning former Britpop luminaries, the debut of a soon to be rap superstar, a dance track and an almost novelty No 1. Utter chaos. Our host is Jamie Theakston and we start with a hit going down the charts – of course we do. However, I like this one so no Chris Cowey bashing from me this time! Indeed, “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals would prove to be a long term Top 40 resident spending a month in the Top 10, ten weeks inside the Top 20 and over three months on the Top 40 as a whole. I mean, it’s not quite up there with the Steps version of “Tragedy” or “How Will I Live” by LeAnn Rimes but even so.

By way of contrast, what would be the band’s second and final single, the rather excellent “Someday We’ll Know”, spent a meagre two weeks within the Top 100, peaking at No 48. Why the disparity? Well, firstly it took over five months for it to be released. Presumably, this was because of the extended chart life of “You Get What You Give” meaning the band’s record label MCA had to wait for its sales to dissipate before any follow up could be made available. An understandable decision but the consequence of which was that much of the momentum behind the band was lost. Secondly and most impactful though was the press release issued by Gregg Alexander on July 12th informing the world that the New Radicals were breaking up. I’m guessing MCA couldn’t see the point in spending much time or money promoting the single after that although a video was made to accompany it (albeit quite a lacklustre one). So, the New Radicals – they came, they saw, they conquered and then turned their back on it all. A missed opportunity creatively and commercially or an artist who stood proud and firm by his principles and rejected the machinations of the music industry? You decide.

After an exclusive pre-release performance last week (the like of which the show’s captions were just terming as ‘NEW’), Mariah Carey entered the charts at No 16 with “I Still Believe”. It turns out that this was actually a cover version of a song originally recorded by one Brenda K. Starr who had an early career as an R&B singer and a role in the hip-hop film Beat Street but who would go on to be better known as a Latin pop artist. Here’s the real kicker though – Mariah Carey used to be her backing singer. Described by the five-octave vocal ranged one as being her ‘mentrix’, Starr initiated Mariah’s solo career by giving her demo tape to Columbia Records executive (and future Mr Carey) Tommy Mottola. Perhaps as some sort of tribute to Starr, Carey would record her own version of “I Still Believe” 10 years after the original was released.

This story got me thinking…are they any other examples of a former backing singer recording one of the main attraction’s songs? There are plenty of examples of backing singers going into have their own solo careers – Sheryl Crow performed that role for Michael Jackson whilst Luther Vandross did the same for David Bowie for example – but did anyone go that step further and cut their own version of a song they presumably did backing vocals for? The closest I can come up with is Whitney Houston who provided backing vocals for Chaka Khan aged just 15 and then went on to record her own version of the latter’s “I’m Every Woman”. However, she didn’t originally sing on the Chaka original. So unless, Julia Fordham did a version of “Just What I Always Wanted” by Mari Wilson or Eddie Reader gave her take on a Eurythmics number, I’m at a loss.

A curious release next. After racking up three hits over the previous twelve months including a No 1, Another Level’s next move was a double A-side single featuring a cover version and, bizarrely, a remix of their debut hit. What was all this about then? Well, from what I can work out, the strategy behind the release of “Holding Back The Years” / “Be Alone No More” was two pronged. Their take on the Simply Red classic was a charity record with the profits from it going to the Help A London Child project (hence one of the band shouting “Yeah, c’mon…help a London child y’all” during this performance) whilst the revisiting of their debut hit was part of the promotion of a remix album that presumably was to…well, I’m not sure why they felt the need to release a remix album just five months after their debut studio album. To maintain their profile until the second album came out? Seems unlikely given that said album (“Nexus”) arrived five months after the remix album. Was it to showcase their R&B credentials? Whatever the reason, its release was a non event with it peaking at No 76.

As for their take on “Holding Back The Years”, the guy doing lead vocals can certainly sing but it isn’t a patch on the Hucknall original and I say that as someone who for ages couldn’t bear to listen to the Simply Red version. I might have lessened my resolve on that one as time has passed. We’ll be seeing Another Level three more times during these TOTP repeats as said second album would yield a trio of hit singles. Oh great. I think I’ve got the fear. Can someone help me with holding back the fear?

Here’s that dance hit I mentioned at the top of the post. As Jamie Theakston referenced in his intro to this one, Phats & Small were from Brighton and “Turn Around” was the first and biggest of their four UK hits. Now, I think it’s probably quite apparent from the fact that there’s two blokes at the back of the stage spinning the decks behind two huge stacks, one labelled ‘Phats’ and the other ‘Small’ that the bloke up front doing the singing wasn’t, in fact, either Phats or Small. No, he was Ben Ofoedu whose biggest claim to fame might not be his involvement with this track (and subsequent hits) but the fact that he was engaged to broadcaster Vanessa Feltz for 17 years. Their ultimate split was very public with Feltz describing it in detail in her autobiography Vanessa Bares All so I don’t propose to go into that any further. After all this is a music blog not a celebrity gossip column so let’s get back to the music.

“Turn Around” pretty much hit the mark in following the same blueprint that Daft Punk used for side project Stardust’s 1998 hit “Music Sounds Better With You”. Or, to put it another way, it was very repetitive. That didn’t stop it getting to No 2 in the UK charts and becoming a hit all around Europe though. Despite the single’s success and that of subsequent releases, like many dance acts of the time, Phats & Small couldn’t generate much in the way of album sales despite it having one of the best titles ever. A few weeks later in 1999, another duo would take another dance track right up the charts to No 1 but Shanks & Bigfoot couldn’t rival Phats & Small when it came to album titles – “Swings And Roundabouts” was no “Now Phats What I Small Music”.

Time for a returning Britpop luminary now but, in truth, Reef weren’t really Britpop were they? They were a British rock band that happened to be successful in the era of Britpop. And successful they were. A No 1 album and a string of hit singles and yet all I can remember of them is “Place Your Hands” (which I bought) and its follow up “Come Back Brighter”. Oh, and this…

Anyway, I certainly don’t remember “I’ve Got Something To Say” which was the lead single from their third album “Rides”. The two years since last album “Glow” had seen trends change though. For one, Britpop was over and although Reef probably didn’t perceive themselves as being part of it, did that movement’s demise have any effect on their popularity? That proposition is probably a bit of a stretch I have to admit but what is true is that their commercial fortunes did decrease. Sure, “Rides” went Top 3 but it only achieved a fifth of the sales of “Glow”. Listening to “I’ve Got Something To Say” in 2026, I quite like it in a not having to be too engaged type of way but it doesn’t seem to have advanced their sound at all in the time they’d been away and maybe that was the problem? It would prove to be their penultimate UK Top 40 hit. The band are still together today albeit after a seven year hiatus between 2003 and 2010 having last released an album in 2022 which went Top 20. Echoing Jamie Theakston’s comment, I can confirm that they are still hairy. Very hairy.

In case you were wondering, Jamie Theakston’s comments about “Welsh gigs” and “scoring a last minute equaliser” were referencing the fact that Welsh footballer Ryan Giggs had scored in the 92nd minute to grab a 1-1 draw for Manchester United in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Juventus two days before this TOTP aired. United would, of course, go into win the Champions League and complete an historic treble that season. I wonder if Theakston nearly said Cantona instead of Catatonia when introducing the Welsh band as the next artist on the show?

Anyway, unlike with Reef, I think I’m safe describing Cerys and co as returning Britpop luminaries (or should that be Cool Cymru stars?). They hadn’t been away as long as Reef – indeed, there was barely 14 months between the albums “International Velvet” and “Equally Cursed And Blessed” – and yet, seen through the perspective of time passed, just like Reef, Catatonia did experience a fall off in commercial success. It didn’t seem like it at the time, of course, as “Equally Cursed And Blessed” followed “International Velvet” to the top of the charts but the plain truth is that the former sold a third of what the latter did despite its lead single “Dead From The Waist Down” becoming the band’s third Top 10 hit. Unlike Reef who sounded pretty similar to how they did two years prior, the new track was quite a departure from previous hits such as “Mulder And Scully” and “Road Rage”. A country tinged ballad, it was almost a sweet song by comparison. It also strikes me, listening to it back, that it’s quite a simple song with some basic chord structures but is embellished with some string flourishes which, alongside Cerys’s distinctive vocal phrasing, make the track.

Despite debuting at No 1 and at one point all three of the band’s albums being in the Top 40, “Equally Cursed And Blessed” didn’t stick around the charts as long as its predecessor though it did record five weeks in the Top 10. “International Velvet”, by comparison, remained there for 18 weeks. Had they rush released a follow up to their best known work too soon? If so, they didn’t make that same mistake again by taking nearly two and a half years to come up with their fourth and final album “Paper Scissors Stone”. The strategy of taking a longer gestation period didn’t work either as it only spent four weeks in the charts before the band split up for good.

And so to the debut of that soon-to-be rap superstar. Twenty seven years on fromhis debut hit, could any of us who were around back then honestly say that they knew that this kid was going to go down in music history as a legend? I’m pretty sure I can’t. A legend he is though and that can’t be denied, regardless of what you think of his music. Just a quick scan of his Wikipedia page is enough to appreciate how big a name and influence this guy is. His discography shows cross-Atlantic No 1 albums with every release helping to make him the best selling music artist in America during the 2000s with global sales exceeding 220 million. The roll call of artists who have cited him as an influence includes Usher, 50 Cent, Ed Sheeran, Drake, Lana Del Ray…the list goes on and on. He’s won 15 Grammy Awards and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His song writing has been compared to that of John Lennon whilst his stage presence has been lauded by the likes of Elton John whom he calls a friend. He has been nicknamed the Elvis of hip-hop and is widely recognized for breaking racial barriers for the acceptance of white rappers in popular music. He is…Vanilla Ice! I’M JOKING!!it’s Eminem of course and we see him here at the start of his mega career with “My Name Is”.

Now, I wasn’t sure about this track initially. Firstly, I’m not a rap enthusiast so it would have to be quite something to have taken me with it immediately. It felt a bit…gimmicky? Not authentic? Even Eminem himself is on record as describing it as ‘tongue-in-cheek’ and ‘kitschy’ and that, ultimately, he got tired of performing it. I was also a bit dumb when it came to understanding the ‘Slim Shady’ persona. The opening lines of “Hi, my name is, what? My name is, who? My name is chka-chka, Slim Shady” confused me. Wasn’t his name Eminem? Like I said, I was a bit dumb on that front. However, in the end, I couldn’t resist its catchiness nor ignore its provocative lyrics, so provocative in fact that Eminem’s mother Debbie Mathers filed a $10 million slander lawsuit against her son for insinuating that she did drugs in the line “99% of my life I was lied to, I just found out my mom does more dope than I do”. Even in this sanitised version of the song*, the BBC censors had to make some changes with certain word deemed to be offensive being muffled and even the subtitles are scrambled just to ensure nothing got through the net. Talking of censorship, record label Interscope released a ‘clean’ version of parent album “The Slim Shady LP” but guess what? None of the white , middle class lads shopping at the Our Price in Altrincham where I was working wanted to buy that. Not very street was it? Not very ‘in the hood’.

*Labbi Siffre whose track “I Got The…” is interpolated for “My Name Is” insisted that Eminem change the original lyrics that were sexist and homophobic.

It’s a second week at the top for Mr. Oizo and “Flat Beat” and I don’t know what else to say about this one. Just bizarre. OK, what I will say is that the ‘Flat Eric’ puppet would briefly look as if it was going to be the next huge merchandising opportunity. Certainly HMV chain’s Simon Winter said at the time that the little yellow puppet was creating demand for anything with its image reproduced on it and that it had the potential to rival South Park as that year’s big seller. I have to say that I don’t recall ‘Flat Eric Fever’ happening in any significant way and certainly don’t remember the Our Price store in Altrincham selling any such merchandise. Was it a licensing issue? If so, somebody holds the rights now as a quick search of the internet shows ‘Flat Eric’ T-shirts, hoodies, mugs and socks. However, it seems that a toy or puppet of the little yellow fella is only available via vintage websites or as pre-owned items suggesting that nobody is manufacturing them anymore and that somebody indeed did have the licence to produce and sell them back in the day. Now I come to think of it, wasn’t there one in an episode of The Office? I think there was when David Brent was showing someone new around. So there you go. The sharp, cultural impact of Flat Eric writ large.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	New Radicals	You Get What You Give	YES!
2	Mariah Carey	I still Believe	No thanks
3	Another Level	Holding Back The Years” / “Be Alone No More	Never
4	Phats & Small	Turn Around	Nah
5	Reef	I’ve Got Something To Say	Negative
6	Catatonia	Dead From The Waist Down	Nope
7	Eminem	My Name Is	No
8	Mr. Oizo	Flat Beat	I 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/m002r8hl/top-of-the-pops-09041999

TOTP 02 APR 1999

Posted on February 19 by 80stastic

We have a new host on display in this TOTP, one who seemed to buck the trend of presenters being recruited by executive producer Chris Cowey from a non-radio background. Jamie Theakston and Jayne Middlemiss were from youth TV programme The O-Zone whilst Kate Thornton had a journalism background and Gail Porter came from Children’s BBC Scotland. However, Scott Mills was a radio person, a good, old fashioned DJ, the likes of whom you don’t get on the airwaves much these days apart from…well, Scott Mills. With Radio 2’s schedules populated by celebrities rather than professional disc jockeys including such names as Paddy McGuinness, Romesh Ranganathan, Michael Ball and Rylan Clark, Mills still carry the torch for time served DJs who haven’t just adopted radio as another string to their bow off the back of existing fame. Mills began his career at 16 working for commercial radio until, in 1999 at the age of 26 he was presenting the early breakfast show (4-7 am) on Radio 1. Cowey obviously thought this qualified Mills for a shot at hosting TOTP and so here he was with his face on our TVs in full technicolour rather than just a disembodied voice on our radios. All power to him and his continued high profile career which has taken him to the coveted position of presenting the breakfast show on Radio 2.

Having said all of that, I’m not the biggest Scott Mills fan. I just don’t warm to him. When I have seen him on TV such as on the celebrity version of Race Across The World, I found him almost unlikeable. He seems to me to have been very lucky to have reached the heights he has in his chosen career. Maybe I’ve misjudged him though. Let’s see how he did all those years ago as a debutant TOTP host…

Well, you’ve got to feel for the guy here. His debut on the BBC’s legendary pop music show and the first act on that he has to comment on are this pile of shite! I’ve had executive producer Chris Cowey pegged as many things but cruel wasn’t one of them…until now. I must have blanked this lot from my memory as an act of mental self-defence and to save my mortal soul from torment. “Witch Doctor” by Cartoons must be up there as one of the worst hits of the decade if not of all time. Originally a hit in the 50s for Ross Bagdasarian under the stage name of David Seville, the song was given an extra dimension when Bagdasarian created a trio of singing chipmunks who would become Alvin And The Chipmunks and inflict their squeaking voices on the world. If that wasn’t enough, novelty Danish band Cartoons whose USP was to update 50s songs with their self-styled ‘technobilly’ sound (basically adding a Eurodance backing) and wear ridiculously OTT stage costumes based on the old ‘Teddy Boy’ look, got their hands on “Witch Doctor” in the late 90s. Sensing that the track’s nonsensical “oo-ee-oo-ah-ah, ting-tang, walla-walla, bing-bang” chorus would fit perfectly with their outlandish image and brand of cartoonish pop music, the band recorded a version and released it to huge success in the UK where it landed at No 2. What were we thinking?! Was anybody who bought this thinking at all?! Who was buying this slop and why?! Was it all just tiny kids and weeny boppers?! If so, where were the parents and why didn’t they stop them?! The single really should have come with ‘Parental Advisory’ warning stickers that stated ‘Allowing your young child to buy this record will rot their brains and significantly damage their credibility rating once they grow up’. Talking of which, Devo did a version of this which featured on the soundtrack to The Rugrats Movie which I based the whole of my last post on. I don’t think either Devo or myself should ever mention that again.

I’m no Des’ree expert but I’m sure that this single – “You Gotta Be” – had been a hit before 1999.

*checks official charts website*

I was right! Not only had it been a hit before but it had been a hit twice before! Look at this:

April 1994 – No 20
March 1995 – No 14

and now this

April 1999 – No 10

What was all this about then? Well, it was originally released as the lead single from Des’ree’s second album “I Ain’t Movin’” but after being a modest hit, it was given a second chance after it became a Top 5 hit in America resulting in an improved chart position of six places. Then five years, five singles and one album later, it was back again, this time making the Top 10. So what happened in 1999 that made it a hit for the third time? Do I really have to tell you? I do? OK, it was used in an advert of course and yet again it was a car advert:

Off the back of that exposure, record label Sony decided to strike while the iron was hot and rerelease “You Gotta Be” for a quick cash in and fair enough. However, the decision to the add the track to Des’ree’s current album “Supernatural” was cynical in the extreme. As a means of maintaining Des’ree’s momentum following the success of its lead single “Life” it made sense but to blatantly tack a five year old song onto to an artist’s new album? Nah, that, as the kids today would say, was stinky. There’s probably loads more to say about the song itself so I will refer you to my earlier comments from when it was a hit in 1995:

TOTP 09 MAR 1995

Next up is one of the few songs that I ever bought on day one of its release. This means it must have had loads of pre-sale airplay for me to have been aware of it so early I’m guessing. That promotion clearly worked on me as I love “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals. In many ways it is the crystallisation of what appeals to me in a pop/rock song – a synthesis of a hook laden melody, a propelling rhythm and intriguing lyrics (more of which later). This one was a winner from the off for me and I was always going to fall for its charms. If this debut single was anything to go by then the band, centred around the songwriting duo of Greg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois, seemed destined for greatness. It didn’t turn out that way. One album and one follow up single was all that they released prior to splitting before 1999 was up.

Alexander is an interesting character. Raised in a conservative Jehovah’s Witness household, he joined his first band aged just 14 before signing to A&M Records two years later and released two solo albums to little acclaim or profile. However, the formation of New Radicals, which was essentially a vehicle to platform his and Brisebois’s songwriting, proved to be a stars-aligning moment. Their album “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too” would go platinum in the US and reach the Top 10 over here. Some of the song titles within it indicated that the Alexander/Brisebois partnership operated outside of the norms of musical composition. Look at these:

“Mother We Just Can’t Get Enough”
“I Hope I Didn’t Just Give Away the Ending”
“Jehovah Made This Whole Joint for You”
“Crying Like a Church on Monday”

Music press reviews of the album were overwhelmingly positive and cited a host of musical influences including Hall & Oates, Phil Spector, Style Council, Prince, Todd Rundgren and even Chumbawamba whilst noting lyrics that challenged the commercialisation of the Western world and the influence of the media and religion. None of this seemed to mean much to Alexander though who, within three months of this TOTP appearance, called time on the New Radicals in favour of concentrating on songwriting and production for other artists. It proved to be a financially beneficial decision with Alexander going on to work with the likes of Geri Halliwell, Rod Stewart, Enrique Iglesias and Texas. Some of his most notable co-authored hits include Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder On The Dance Floor” and Ronan Keating’s “Life Is A Rollercoaster”. Artists definitely not on his list of collaborations would be Beck, Hanson, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson whom he infamously called fakes and threatened to kick their asses in the closing lyrics to “You Get What You Give”. Here are those lyrics in full:

“Health insurance, rip off lying
FDA, big bankers buying
Fake computer crashes dining
Cloning while they’re multiplying
Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson
Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson
You’re all fakes
Run to your mansions
Come around, we’ll kick your ass in”

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Gregg Alexander / Rick Nowels

You Get What You Give lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Spirit Music Group

Alexander wrote those words to test whether the media would concern themselves with the serious political issues of the opening lines or the faux celebrity bashing that followed. Predictably, it was the latter which captured the headlines proving Alexander’s suspicion about media manipulation and priorities. Supposedly the celebrities mentioned in those lyrics didn’t take permanent umbrage though Marilyn Manson reportedly commented that he didn’t mind that Alexander said he’d kick his ass in but objected to being named in the same sentence as Courtney Love!

In the end, despite all his pushback against the media and music industry operations, Alexander found himself jumping through the same hoops to promote his hit that he’d rallied against and lost any remaining faith in the project. His adoption of a low worn hat to cover his face whilst performing (as per this TOTP appearance) was to hide his lack of enthusiasm for what he was doing. Ultimately, he’d gotten back what he’d given to the New Radicals and chose another path leaving us with one memorable hit and an album that deserved more recognition.

After three uptempo, dance-pop tunes on the spin, it was time for Billie to stop revolving and deliver a more mature sounding, slower song. Partly to mix things up a bit but also because, you know, she wanted to. Probably. Anyway, the almost* title track from her album was chosen for the job and so “Honey To The Bee” became her fourth consecutive hit.

*The album was actually called “Honey To The B”.

Now, perhaps the obvious thing to do here was release a big, string laden ballad to showcase Billie’s range and diversity but what we actually got was her best impression of All Saints as, and there’s no getting away from this, “Honey To The Bee” is essentially “Never Ever Pt II”. I suppose it wasn’t the worst idea in the world to copy one of the most successful singles of the past 18 months but when even Scott Mills described Billie as having gone “all saintly” in his intro, well, it can’t have been any more obvious. Ms Piper pulls off the steal/homage (delete as appropriate) competently but it’s peak of No 3 and subsequent spiral down the charts and out of the Top 40 within a month suggests it was never destined to have the enduring appeal of “Never Ever”. I guess you just can’t beat the original sometimes.

We’re at the midway point of the show so let’s do a half-term report on Scott Mills and his performance so far. Well, he hasn’t done anything wrong but he’s hardly got a scintillating screen presence has he? Must do better in the second half. A grade of C minus I think is appropriate. Back to the music and a song that was very popular with the staff at the Our Price in Altrincham where I was working at the time and when I say the staff I mean the female staff. Having reached commercial and critical mass with second album “CrazySexyCool” and its attendant hits “Creep” and “Waterfalls”, TLC were faced with the task of making good on that success and they gave it decent shot with third album “Fanmail”. Though it only achieved half of what its predecessor sold, 10 million copies shifted worldwide is not to be sniffed at.

Its lead single was “No Scrubs”. An American No 1 and double Grammy winner, the song’s lyrics seemed to describe the position of a woman who wasn’t going to just settle for any man just to avoid being single which sounds fair enough to me. However, the term ‘scrub’ and the perceived demonising of men with limited money and romantic vocabulary sparked a divisive response and even triggered a series of answer records , most notably by Sporty Thievz and their hit “No Pigeons”. Personally, I think that strand of reaction is a bit rich considering the misogyny that persisted in some R&B and rap music. “No Scrubs” was the first time that Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas sang lead vocals on a TLC single and its tone, rightly or wrongly, brought comparisons with Madonna’s “Material Girl” and Gwen Guthrie’s “Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ On But The Rent”. It’s also the second song on this particular TOTP that my wife really liked alongside Billie’s “Honey To The Bee”. I’m not sure if anything should be read into that.

An ‘exclusive’ performance now from Mariah Carey who is still plugging her Best Of album “#1’s” with another new track called “I Still Believe”. Her last single, a duet with Whitney Houston from the soundtrack to The Prince Of Egypt movie, was called “When You Believe” – it’s like she was constructing a conversation between two people about their belief systems. Anyway, Mariah was still going through an identity crisis by this point in terms of whether she was a power balladeer or an R&B dance diva which is reflected in the fact that the album version of the track conforms to the former whilst the performance of it she gives here is definitely of the latter persuasion. Having listened to both, I’d have to say I’m not arsed about either construct.

The video for the ballad version sees Mariah recreate Marilyn Monroe’s 1953 performance for US troops stationed in Korea. It’s not very convincing despite Mariah being styled to look like Marilyn. However, I did note one detail that completely dates it which is someone in the crowd trying to take a picture of Mariah with a disposable camera. Remember them? Are they still a thing? They seemed to be predominantly used at weddings where one would be put on each table at the meal for guests themselves to take photos which would then go into the the happy couple’s photo album of the day. Of course today, everyone at that Mariah video shoot would just have their mobile phones out. They were simpler times back then.

I have moaned and criticised, criticised and moaned in this blog about the Chris Cowey era and the practice of repeatedly reshowing hits that were coming down the charts. It’s maybe because I grew up watching TOTP in the late 70s and 80s when the rules were that you couldn’t secure a place on the show’s running order if your song was going down the charts. I have tried to see the arguments for it – week one record company discounting subverting the charts and creating false peaks and troughs – but this example of the exercise really is unfathomable and inexcusable. “Blame It On The Weatherman” by B*Witched was No 1 last week and so rightly featured on the show. This week, it’s been torpedoed from its reign at the top and resides at No 9. Quite the fall down the charts. So why was a performance of it on our TVs again?! Come on Cowey? Explain yourself! Talk your way out of this one! From No 1 to No 9! Surely such a downward motion did not deserve more exposure?! It equalled the decade’s biggest fall from the top previously held by Iron Maiden’s “Bring Your Daughter… To The Slaughter” in January 1991. Even if it was some sort of quid pro quo arrangement, said promotion didn’t stop the single’s slide down the Top 40. These were its next four chart positions:

14 – 19 – 24 – 35

Neither did its parent album benefit much in terms of a resurgence up the charts so what was it all about? Well, looking at the new entries this week, maybe there weren’t that many viable other options. Of the other four entries in the chart (not counting the new No 1), three were dance acts – System F, Sash! and Aphex Twin – which the show had historically struggled to get the staging right for whilst the fourth was a bit niche – the Brian Setzer Orchestra with their swing revival hit “Jump Jive N’ Wail”. Furthermore, given the…erm…unusual nature of the new No 1 and the fact that there’s already been a novelty hit opening the show, perhaps that topping and tailing required something a bit more mainstream in the middle. Hang on…am I making an excuse for Cowey here when I should actually blame it on him?

Having worked in record shops since late 1990, by April of 1999, I was less than 12 months away from leaving it all behind me and becoming a civil servant (what was I thinking?!). I was nearly 32 by the time I finally left but I really should have read the signs much earlier that it was time for me to go. One of those signs was “Flat Beat” by Mr. Oizo. I just didn’t get it. How could a track that was basically anti-music inspire such adoration and sales, enough to take it to No 1?! Yes, of course there was the fact that this sparse track, which was basically a repeated bass loop and drum sample, was backed by the weight of the huge promotion machine that was a Levi’s ad campaign (to promote their new range of Sta-Press clothing) and yes, it was fronted by a yellow puppet (put together by Muppets creator Jim Henson) which added to its novelty value but the track itself was almost unlistenable wasn’t it? Well wasn’t it?! Was it being played in clubs? Did it make more sense in that environment? How could anyone listen to it in the privacy of their own home for enjoyment? As I said, I just didn’t get it.

So who was Mr. Oizo? He was Quentin* Dupieux, a French electronic musician, record producer, songwriter and filmmaker who used the pseudonym of Mr. Oizo to promote his musical output. Apparently, it only took him two hours to come up with “Flat Beat”, a claim I can well believe.

*Hence the only ‘lyric’ in it being “Oh yeah, I used to know Quentin…He’s a real…he’s a real jerk”

The one thing I did like about this whole nonsense was that Scott Mills managed to raise his debut TOTP performance up a notch by re-enacting one of those Levi’s ads and featuring alongside Flat Eric. Worthy of a B grade I think.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Cartoons	Witch Doctor	I’d rather eat my own arm
2	Des’ree	You Gotta Be	No
3	New Radicals	You Get What You Give	YES! On day one too!
4	Billie	Honey To The Bee	Nope
5	TLC	No Scrubs	I didn’t
6	Mariah Carey	I Still Believe	I don’t though – no
7	B*Witched	Blame It On The Weatherman	Nah
8	Mr. Oizo	Flat Beat	Never

Disclaimer

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

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002r8hj/top-of-the-pops-02041999

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