TOTP 15 AUG 1997
We’ve lost another month to the Puff Daddy/P Diddy issue as “I’ll Be Missing You”, having spent three weeks at No 1 and then slipping a place to No 2 to accommodate Oasis for seven days, went back to the top of the charts for another three weeks! Bloody hell! Who did we miss? Nobody I was that bothered about to be honest – I’m actually very relieved to have missed reviewing Gary Barlow, Boyzone, Backstreet Boys and Peter Andre. Maybe Paul Weller and Morrissey would have been interesting but hey ho!
We pick the TOTP story back up in the middle of August and this one is actually quite an important episode. Not for the artists on it who are quite underwhelming but because this was the week that the decision was taken (presumably by new executive producer Chris Cowey) to do away with any sort of theme music at all. From early February 1995 we’d had the Vince Clarke composition “Red Hot Pop” which had replaced “Now Get Out Of That” by Tony Gibber which had ushered in the ‘Year Zero’ revamp. Prior to that, the show had been soundtracked by Paul Hardcastle’s “The Wizard” stretching back to 1986. Come 15th August 1997, we had nothing except an intro from the host – Denise van Outen this week – and then the opening of the first song played under the titles.
Said first song is “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks. Yeah, that one. Meredith was one of a number of female solo artists in the 90s who would be known for one hit and one hit only (see also Alannah Myles, Paula Cole, Donna Lewis) but what a hit it was – No 2 in the US and No 6 over here. Co-written with songwriter Shelly Peiken who was frustrated at having had album cuts for the past 10 years but never a huge hit single, her vexation spilled over into the lyrics of “Bitch” and a worldwide smash was born. It nearly never happened though as her record label Capitol baulked at some of the lyrics and the song’s title. One of those unsure about the song’s potential was producer Geza X who expressed concern that the lyrics might have a negative effect on its chances of commercial success. That’s infamous punk producer Geza X who produced the Dead Kennedys classic “Too Drunk To Fuck”! Unbelievable!
Despite those misgivings, it was released and the rest is history. Its success would lead to a spate of covers and parodies including this one by Australian comedian Chris Franklin and yes, it’s as bad as you might be imagining.
As with Michael Jackson the other week, I think it’s the final TOTP appearance that I’ll have to comment on in my blog (which I’m calling time on at the end of the 1999 repeats) by Wet Wet Wet. And what a crummy way to go out – with a version of one of the most recorded songs in the history of popular music. Why were they covering “Yesterday” by The Beatles? Was it just to ensure a hit? Unlikely. The first phase of their career might have been winding down but was it in need of a reviving, shot-in-the-arm smash? No, it was just another case of the band having recorded a 60s song for the soundtrack of a film. Panic not though. This wasn’t a repeat of their 15 week spell at No 1 with “Love Is All Around” from Four Weddings And A Funeral. Their version of “Yesterday” was taken from the soundtrack to Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie and would peak at No 4. Despite how many times the song has been covered, its chart statistics aren’t that impressive. Famously never released by the Fab Four as a single whilst they were together, it was taken into the charts by Matt Monro and Marianne Faithfull in 1965 within a month of each other with ‘The Man with the Golden Voice’ winning out with a high of No 8 compared to Marianne’s No 36. Ray Charles would have a go at making it a hit two years later but he wouldn’t crack the Top 40. In 1976, The Beatles original was finally released and it scampered up the charts to match Matt Monro’s placing. 21 years later Wet Wet Wet, whether deserved or not, would have the biggest UK hit with it. So was their version any good? Well, I think Marti Pellow’s voice suited the song well enough but it’s a fairly unremarkable take on it and the pedal steel guitar interlude is particularly incongruous. On the plus side, Marti’s lost his peroxide blonde hair at last. So, farewell Wet Wet Wet. There was some good stuff, some not so good stuff and some downright annoying stuff but it was undoubtedly a chart life well lived.
No, Olive weren’t a classic one hit wonder (a No 1 record then nothing) but could I have told you what their other hit was without checking? Absolutely not. Turns out it was called “Outlaw” and, for what it’s worth, having listened back to it, I much prefer it to “You’re Not Alone”. Why? I guess because it sounds like a proper song rather than a dance track. Although it retains a shifting, skittering drum ‘n’ bass backbeat, it’s got a defined structure to it – there’s a genuine song in there. I could imagine it reconfigured in a pure pop style and it would work.
In an act that seemed to confirm their pop sensibilities, Olive would release a cover version of one of the classic pop songs of the 70s when they chose 10cc’s “I’m Not In Love” as the lead single from their second album “Trickle”. It wouldn’t reverse their chart fortunes but there remains a lot of love online for Olive. It seems they remain ‘not alone’.
There’s three female solo artists on tonight’s show starting with Mary J Blige who is enjoying her biggest ever UK chart hit* with “Everything”. Based around “You Are Everything” by The Stylistics, it was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – of course it was. It was a good vehicle for Blige’s vocals though I’m still surprised that it was as big a hit as it was with it peaking at No 6. With her huge, tinted wrap-a-round glasses and long hair, Mary seems to have modelled her look on ex-Dutch international footballer Edgar Davids but that can’t have been the case surely?
*She would also have a No 4 hit in 1999 with a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “As” but that was a duet with George Michael
“You Are Everything” was also a hit for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross in the early 80s but my research tells me that there was another version of it that was never actually released but was surely one of the oddest collaborations in pop history. There are only snippets of the track that have been leaked online but I give you heavy metal band Judas Priest doing a cover of a soul song produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman…
Judging by what I’d read about this one beforehand, I wasn’t expecting much but it was actually better than predicted. The Wildhearts had established themselves as a consistent chart band and by this point in the decade had amassed seven consecutive Top 40 hits (though none bigger than No 14). Hit number eight came courtesy of the lead single from their fourth studio album “Endless, Nameless” entitled “Anthem”. Having made their name with a brand of melodic rock, 1997 saw them spurn that for an industrial rock style that was more about distortion and feedback than riffs and hooks. The album was not well received by their fanbase and it failed to make the Top 40 of the album chart. The band’s lead vocalist Ginger though has proclaimed it as his favourite Wildhearts album and retrospectively, it has come to be seen as a strong rock statement.
As for “Anthem”, as I said, I had feared the worst, a grungey mess akin to *Nirvana’s infamous TOTP appearance in 1991 when Kurt Cobain sang live on “Smells Like Teen Spirit” deliberately badly. However, despite vocal duties being undertaken not by regular singer Ginger but by bassist Danny McCormack, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it’s a heavy sound but far from a noise. It does get a bit repetitive towards the end with the constant chanting of its chorus but I wasn’t completely put off. One person who was far from put off was the topless guy in the studio audience who was having it large down the front. Do you think he was a superfan? There’s always one and he was probably it. He’s probably approaching his 50s now. I wonder if he’s kept the faith?
*The title “Endless, Nameless” is also that of a Nirvana song apparently
I think I was expecting the next turn to be an out and out diva house artist but that’s possibly because I was confusing Robyn with Robin S though, in my defence, they both had hits with songs called “Show Me Love”. This wasn’t the American singer Ms S though but Swedish singer Robin Miriam Carlsson (aka Robyn) who would rack up eight UK Top 40 hits over a 13 year period including a No 1. I don’t know/remember any of them I have to say. That run started with “Do You Know (What It Takes)” and, having listened to it, my impression is that this was a blueprint for the sound that would make Britney Spears a global superstar. It’s not a surprising reaction on my behalf when I tell you that the co-writer and producer of the track was one Max Martin* who would go on to write “…Baby One More Time”. So, given all of this, maybe we should be asking ourselves why Robyn didn’t become Britney Spears before Britney did? She had the looks and the sound after all. On reflection though, given what would happen to the ‘Princess of Pop’, maybe Robyn was quite happy with the pop career she had?
*Martin would go on to write/co-write an incredible 27 Billboard No 1s including Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” and Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” so he clearly knew what he was doing when it came to penning hits for female pop stars!
Our third female solo artist on the show tonight is Kym Mazelle who despite not having a large collection of huge hits, does have a huge reputation – not for nothing is she known as ‘The First Lady of House Music’. Having worked with the likes of Dr.Robert of The Blow Monkeys, house legend Marshall Jefferson, Norman Cook, Soul II Soul and Jocelyn Brown, here she was stepping out on her own with her version of Candi Staton’s “Young Hearts Run Free” from the soundtrack to Romeo + Juliet. It’s a fairly faithful cover of the disco classic albeit with a nod towards the genre on which Kym made her name which makes me wonder why the film’s director Baz Luhrmann didn’t just use the original* in his film?
*Staton’s version was eventually rereleased in 1999 when it made No 29.
Despite all that she achieved in her long career, I have to say that the first thing I think of when I hear her name is this song in which she gets a name check…
We’re stuck with this Top 20 countdown business and we’re onto our third person doing the voiceover for it after Jayne Middlemiss and some random anonymous bloke. This week’s it’s Mark Goodier and he will keep the gig for the next five years.
The first No 1 that Goodier has to announce comes from Will Smith and it’s yet another song from a film and yet another hit that is based around a sample of an older song. “Men In Black” was, of course, from the movie of the same name and was the second chart topper this year to be built around Patrice Rushen’s “Forget Me Nots” following George Michael’s “Fastlove” in April. What were the chances?! It was also the second UK No 1 for Smith though the first hit (of any size) under his own name – “Boom! Shake The Room” was as The Fresh Prince with DJ Jazzy Jeff.
With the film a box office smash, its theme tune was almost assured massive hit status and so it proved to be with it topping charts around the world (though curiously not in America where it wasn’t given a physical release). It was the UK’s sixth best selling single of 1997 and would kick off a string of chart successes in this country for Smith up to 2005. As for me, it was one of those songs that you could appreciate for what it was but after one or two listens it became rather annoying. The appearance mid-video here of a superimposed Smith apologising to the TOTP viewers for not being there in person is similarly irritating but I’m sure executive producer Chris Cowey would have been pleased with himself for the coup.
| Order of appearance | Artist | Title | Did I buy it? |
| 1 | Meredith Brooks | Bitch | No |
| 2 | Wet Wet Wet | Yesterday | I did not |
| 3 | Olive | Outlaw | Nope |
| 4 | Mary J. Blige | Everything | Nah |
| 5 | The Wildhearts | Anthem | Negative |
| 6 | Robyn | Do You Know (What It Takes) | Another no |
| 5 | Kym Mazelle | Young Hearts Run Free | Didn’t happen |
| 8 | Will Smith | Men In Black | And no |
Disclaimer
I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).
All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0028x68/top-of-the-pops-15081997?seriesId=unsliced
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