Rayvon

TOTP 20 JUL 1995

Posted on by 80stastic

One of the interesting things about these TOTP repeats is that they’re a great snapshot of cultural tastes of the time, shining a spotlight on sounds, artists and personalities that were popular and prominent at a specific moment. Obviously, some names transverse any particular juncture; U2 first example who are on this show later can’t be put into a time capsule but then there are people like the presenter of this show. Does the name Gayle Tuesday ring any bells? No? How about Brenda Gilhooly? Nothing? OK. Maybe if you saw a clip…

…anything now? Got her? Yep, Gayle Tuesday was nothing to do with a song by The Rolling Stones (Ruby Tuesday) nor the new Doctor Who’s latest companion (Ruby Sunday) but was a character created by comedian Brenda Gilhooly who briefly rose to fame in the mid 90s. A send up of the traditional image of and persona allocated to Page 3 models, the character appeared on programmes such as !Viva Cabaret! and The Jack Dee Show as well as forming a partnership of sorts with Paul O’Grady’s Lily Savage character. A TV show of her own called Gayle’s World arrived in 1996 but both Gilhooly and her creation seemed to disappear after that. A relaunch in 2010 called Gayle Tuesday: The Comeback appeared on the Living channel in 2010 but Brenda makes her living these days as a writer having penned and starred in the 2019 Radio 4 sit com Madam Mayor. In July 1995 though, she was Gayle Tuesday and a ‘golden mic’ slot on TOTP beckoned…

We start with Corona who were infeasibly onto their third hit single with “Try Me Out”. As the UK went dance music crazy in the 90s, the number of different genres and sub genres of that generic term was bewildering. The scariest part of the Our Price store where I was working at the time was always the Dance Collections section. You really had to have someone who knew their stuff when it came to dance music to sort it out and keep it maintained. Anyway, what would Corona’s music be categorised as? I’ve seen it described online as Euro-NRG, Nu-NRG and, of course, the catch-all term Eurodance. Never having been even remotely qualified to have sorted out the Dance Collections section, I couldn’t possibly give any insight into the discussion other than to say it sounded crap to me. This one comes across like it was written to order, or perhaps formulated by AI if it had existed then. All the essentials are there but it just sounds so cynical and calculated. However it gestated, it worked becoming the band’s third consecutive Top 10 hit.

Next a song and artist I don’t believe I’ve thought about since 1995. Dana Dawson was from Queens, New York but she was more popular in Europe than the US. Not an official one hit wonder (she had two minor follow ups) but “3 Is Family” was by far her biggest. A fluffy but enjoyable bit of dance pop, the online reviews of it I’ve found made comparisons with the output of Eternal and Dina Carroll but it reminds me more of “I Love Your Smile” by Shanice. My comparison wasn’t all the two singers shared – they both released their first ever recordings at the age of just 14 – Shanice brought out her debut album “Discovery” in 1987 whilst Dana entered the world of pop with her single “Ready To Follow You” in 1988.

The latter initially found success just in France as her records were only available there so she signed with EMI in 1993 to open up more territories for her including the UK. The plan worked straight off the bat as she struck big with her first EMI single “3 Is Family” peaking at No 9 over here. A tale of the impending arrival of a first born child, its catchy chorus about a couple becoming a family of three employs some basic maths to great effect. A year later, the Spice Girls would bag the Christmas No 1 with a similarly titled song but in reverse with “2 Become 1” reportedly about the act of lovemaking though the line “Be a little wiser baby, put it on, put it on” suggested that, unlike in Dana’s song, the protagonists weren’t planning on starting a family!

Dana Dawson sadly passed away in 2010 aged just 36 from cancer.

There’s time for a quick boobs gag from Gayle before she introduces Paul Weller whom she describes as “gorgeous, funky, fab” before rounding off with a “phwoar!”. The Modfather as a hunk? Really? Look, I know he has a super loyal fanbase who swear by him (my elder brother is one of them) but I always thought it was about his music not his looks, no?

*watches video for “You Do Something To Me”*

Hmm. Well, he certainly looked better than he does these days but who doesn’t? I guess he has a certain beanpole charm to him. In fact, in the shots in the back of the van with those shades on and that loose, shaggy hair, he has a whiff of Liam Gallagher about him. Anyway, we really should talk about the music and this track was the third single to be taken from his “Stanley Road” album and it would peak at No 9. Not his biggest ever hit but perhaps his most well known solo song? To the casual listener at least maybe. It’s a very charismatic, evocative ballad with a lyric about unattainable love though apparently it’s very popular at weddings. Another one of those totally misunderstood songs that gets played inappropriately like stalker anthem “Every Breath You Take” by The Police. As I remember, this was the point where the ‘godfather of Britpop’ tag really started to circulate in conjunction with the rise of the movement that Weller was supposedly the originator of. I’m not sure if he welcomed it or not but he certainly collaborated with some of its purported proponents on “Stanley Road” including Liam’s brother Noel and Steve Craddock of Ocean Colour Scene. It remains easily his best selling solo album.

The next four songs have all been on the show before so I might just whip through them pretty quickly if that’s alright by you. The first is “Love Enuff” by Soul II Soul. I didn’t have much to say about this one when it was on as the play out track recently and my cupboard is still pretty bare now. I guess I could say that some of the backing singer harmonies remind me a bit of En Vogue or that main vocalist Penny Ford did the singing on Snap!’s early hits. Is that enough? Sorry, enuff?

Gayle gets a gag in about the rude name of the next act before we get another airing of the studio performance from the other week by Shaggy (ooerr!) and Rayvon. As with Soul II Soul, I’m at a loss as to what to say about these two. We all know that “In The Summertime” was originally a No 1 hit for Mungo Jerry in 1970 so that won’t do.

*checks Shaggy’s Wikipedia entry*

Oh, his son is a music artist as well. He’s a rapper and goes by the name of Robb Banks (or sometimes styled as Robb Bank$ inevitably). His influences include Biggie Smalls and…is this right?…Sade?! The list also includes some names I’ve never heard of like SpaceGhostPurrp and Slug. Does his Dad get a mention? Oh yeah, he’s in there (just referred to literally as ‘his Dad’). Now I might regret this but I wonder what Robb Banks sounds like?

*listens to his single “You Kno It”*

Oh God. Why did I bother? What did I think was going to happen? It’s dreadful. I didn’t think I would ever say this but I actually prefer Shaggy!

It’s the video for U2’s “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” next back for what I believe is a third outing on the show as it is going back up the charts having seemingly peaked at No 2 a month previously. The reason for its reversal of fortunes is pretty obvious – the film it was taken from – Batman Forever – had been released to UK cinemas six days before this TOTP was broadcast. Its eleven week run in the Top 40 (in itself definitely not a regular occurrence in the mid 90s) would yield the following chart positions:

2 – 2 – 3 – 6 – 10 – 6 – 4 – 7 -13 – 17 – 26

The power of a blockbuster film promoting a single on display right there. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good song of course. I always quite liked it and certainly enjoyed it more than the big hits from the other Batman films up to this point. If you’ve forgotten what they were, there was “Batdance” by Prince (where was the song in this track?) and “Face To Face” by Siouxsie and the Banshees (seriously, who does remember that one?).

Another song in the charts enjoying a helping hand from being on a hit film’s soundtrack is “Shy Guy” by Diana King which was featured in Bad Boys. Now, she may really only be known for this one song in the UK but Diana is quite the trailblazer both musically and culturally in her home country of Jamaica. Whilst her blend of reggae, dancehall and R&B pushed back musical boundaries, in her personal life, Diana came out as a lesbian in 2012 making her one of the first and only LGBTQ+ Jamaican artists in the music industry. So it turned out that as well as not wanting no fly guy, she didn’t want a shy guy either really.

And so to the climax of the show and yes, I’m not counting another week at No 1 for The Outhere Brothers – this was a much more seismic event in the world of pop music. It’s not just an exclusive performance of the new Take That single “Never Forget” but our first look at the group in a post Robbie Williams world! Eek! Yes, just three days before this TOTP went out, Williams had officially announced that he was leaving Take That. The fall out, rumours and accusations surrounding this were huge. Did he resign or was he asked to leave by the rest of the band? Would they continue without him or replace him? Would they split up? Double eek! Whatever the truth, there were some very immediate logistical consequences for the band to deal with. Take That were in the middle of a world tour and just about to begin the UK leg of it. How would they accommodate a Robbie-shaped hole? Well, as I recall they offered a refund to anyone who had bought a ticket for one of their concerts if they felt short-changed that they wouldn’t be seeing Williams. As I recall, maybe one person cashed in on the refund for that reason. My wife went to see them with a friend on that tour and said it was a great show and that she didn’t even notice Robbie wasn’t there.

So, tour troubles resolved but what to do about the new single? “Never Forget” didn’t have Gary Barlow on lead vocals for once but Howard Donald. A surprise it may have been but a problem? No, Howard wasn’t going anywhere. However, the song did feature Robbie singing prominently in the middle eight and the bridge part before the final chorus. Well, they didn’t re-record the single that was released to shops because promo copies featuring Robbie had been made available to radio stations weeks before. However, for the purpose of promoting the song on TV shows, they performed a version with the Williams vocals edited out. Watch this TOTP appearance. I’m pretty sure you can’t hear Robbie on it anywhere.

Talking of different versions of the song, the edit that was released as a single is quite different from the album version. It was remixed by Meatloaf producer Jim Steinman who added a boys choir part to the intro and coda and a steal from Verdi’s Requiem right at the very start of the song. These enhancements made for a very crowded stage for this TOTP performance with the lads sharing it with eight choristers and a gospel choir. Who knew it would take so many people to replace Robbie Williams?! Maybe they wanted to make a statement that they weren’t going anywhere and they didn’t need Robbie to put on a show? If so, it certainly worked – the four of them look highly delighted. Nothing forced about their smiling faces; maybe there was an element of (dare I say it) relief in there? Image-wise, Howard has toned down his attempt to turn into the musical version of Chewbacca by tying his hair back and he’s also pre-dated David Beckham by at least a couple of years by his choice to wear a sarong. Mark and Jason look like 70s pin ups with their grown out hair dos that Black Lace would probably describe as ‘girly-curly hair’ whilst Gary just looks like he’s counting the dance steps in his head like he always does. Those dance moves include, of course, that “Radio Ga Ga” style hands aloft move which is actually pretty effective and inclusive (even the two left footed amongst us can pull that off).

Overall, I think they do a pretty good job of displaying a band united despite the potential for derailment caused by the departure of a popular member of the group. The lyrics and theme of the song also help with Robbie’s leaving somehow imbuing them with more significance. There’s also an element of grounded-ness in there as if they’re saying “Look, we’re just a pop group at the end of the day. You’ll move on as we will”. It puts me in mind of John Lennon saying to the fans that they couldn’t stay those lovable moptops forever when The Beatles decided to concentrate on recording and stop touring. He reminded them that those early records were still there and that if they really couldn’t let go of the band’s previous image and style then there was always The Monkees anyway. “Some day soon this will all be someone else’s dream” indeed. “Never Forget” has become possibly Take That’s biggest song – not in sales maybe (though it will go to No 1 for three weeks) but in terms of its profile to the point that the 2023 version of the band chose to sing it at the Coronation Concert for King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

After quite a lengthy dissection of Take That, I’m going to give short shrift to these two berks. The Outhere Brothers are No1 for a third week with “Boom Boom Boom”. There you go. That’s it. That’s the comment.

And that’s nearly it. There’s just time for Gayle Tuesday to say goodbye and advise the watching female audience to remember to stick their chests out and giggle a lot before the play out track kicks in. I’ve never heard of Tecknicolor nor their track “Take 5 In The Jungle” though, of course, I was aware of “Take 5” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. I’m not sure that this dance version of the jazz standard made the Top 40 and there’s precious little information about it online that I can find. For what it’s worth, my opinion on it would be that with all the dance music around at the time, did we really need to bring jazz into the equation?

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1CoronaTry Me OutNo
2Dana Dawson 3 Is FamilyI did not
3Paul WellerYou Do Something To MeNot but I had the Stanley Road album
4Soul II SoulLove Enuff Nah
5Shaggy and RayvonIn The SummertimeAs if
6U2Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill MeLiked it, didn’t buy it
7Diana KingShy GuyNope
8Take ThatNever ForgetIt’s a no from me
9The Outhere BrothersBom Boom BoomHa! Away with you!
10TecknicolorTake 5 In The JungleAnd 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/m001t61l/top-of-the-pops-20071995

TOTP 06 JUL 1995

Posted on by 80stastic

Sometimes these TOTP repeats throw up some names that I haven’t thought about for ages but that are lodged in the recesses of my brain somewhere. On other occasions though, there’s a person on screen in front of my eyes that I literally have no idea who they are. This is the case with tonight’s show. Who the hell was / is Wendy Lloyd?! Well, it turns out that she was briefly a Radio 1 DJ who joined from Virgin Radio but who moved on to Talk Radio within a year or so. She now works as a voice over artist and podcast host. Mind you, just about every other person in the country is a podcaster these days. OK, well let’s see how I go on with remembering the names of the actual acts on the show tonight…

Well, I’m one for one as I certainly recall Diana King and her No 2 single “Shy Guy” as we sold shed loads of it in the Our Price store in Stockport where I was working at the time. Not quite a one hit wonder in the UK – she had two further medium sized chart entries with covers of “Ain’t Nobody” and “I Say A Little Prayer” – but this was certainly her crowning glory outside of her home country of Jamaica. Fusing dancehall reggae with swingbeat to produce an ultra commercial sound, this song was also aided by being included on the soundtrack to the successful film Bad Boys. I’ve never seen the movie or either of its sequels but my wife caught the first one and said that it was one of the loudest films she’s ever watched in a cinema. I think there were lots of scenes featuring explosions and stuff being blown up. Despite the soundtrack predominantly featuring hip-hop and R&B artists and despite the film starring Will Smith, the Fresh Prince himself didn’t contribute a track to the album. He was in a fallow phase following the end of him being part of a duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff and the start of him recording under his own name in 1997. If these TOTP repeats make it that far, we’ll be seeing a lot more of Mr. Smith.

For now though, let’s concern ourselves with Diana King. I’m guessing that “Shy Guy” must have had a lot of airplay pre-release as it crashed straight into our charts at No 4 and would spend seven consecutive weeks inside the Top 10. Like I said, we sold shed loads of it. It sounded to me like it was a close relative of “Here Comes The Hotstepper” by Ini Kamoze from the year before, an association which was never going to make me a fan I’m afraid but it certainly rode the zeitgeist back then. It would go on to sell 400,000 copies in the UK alone and become our 25th best selling song of the year. “Shy Guy” it may have been called but it was no shrinking violet when it came to racking up those sales.

Who couldn’t remember Shaggy eh? Certainly not me but I wish I could forget him. After achieving a UK No 1 in 1993 with “Oh Carolina”, we hadn’t seen or heard much from the Shagster since. The follow up to that huge hit had failed to make the Top 40 and for a while it seemed like he would be that classic version of a one hit wonder – one chart topper from out of nowhere and then nothing ever again. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. OK, there’s a lot to unpack here so let’s start with the song. Shaggy needed another hit to avoid the aforementioned one hit wonder status and the best way to do that is…all together…”DO A COVER VERSION!”. Yes, of course he came back with a cover and chose “In The Summertime”, originally a huge hit back in 1970 for Mungo Jerry. This being Shaggy though, it was never going to be a straight remake and before long we get the inevitable patois rapping and him banging on about ‘sexy little women’ or something. Seeing as Shaggy can’t carry a tune, he’s brought a pal with him to do the heavy lifting singing wise. So first things first, Rayvon is not this guy…

Ah, if only it was. No, Shaggy’s mate Rayvon is a Barbadian singer whose real name is Bruce Brewster – no, really that was his name. He should have just stuck with that; much better than his stage name. Talking of names, you know what Shaggy’s true moniker is? Orville Burrell. And you know what the real name of the Shaggy character in Scooby Doo is? Norville Rogers! Norville and Orville?! That can’t be a coincidence can it? Is that why Shaggy is called Shaggy? Because his real name sounded like that of Scooby Doo’s best pal? Anyway, aside from Shaggy’s toasting interventions, the lyric “Have a drink have a drive” has been altered to “I’m gonna drive and ride” presumably after the Mungo Jerry original had been used in a public information film series about the dangers of drink-driving in 1992.

The cover version strategy worked and took Shaggy (and Rayvon) to No 5 paving the way for the second of his four UK No 1s later in the year with “Boombastic”. Looking at the track listing of the CD single there’s a remix of it called the Sting vs Shaggy remix. That’s not Mr Sumner is it who Shaggy would make an album with years later?

*checks Discogs website*

No it isn’t. It’s someone called Shaun Pizzonia who went by the name of Sting International. Sting, Shaggy, Norville, Orville…it’s all very confusing.

Now of course I remember the artist in the next video. Bobby Brown had a notorious profile especially in 1995 when he was charged with the assault of a nightclub patron, accused of urinating in a police car and cited for kicking a hotel security guard. Even Wendy Lloyd refers to his misdemeanours in her intro by saying he was giving his wife Whitney (Houston) a few headaches. However, when it comes to his discography, it’s me that suffers from a Bobby Brown migraine. I think it’s to do with all these K-Klass remixes that cause my perplexed state.

Look at “Humpin’ Around” for example. This had already been released once in 1992 when it made it to No 19. Fast forward three years and in its remixed form it peaked at No 8. This followed a similar rerelease strategy applied to “Two Can Play That Game” when it was a minor No 38 hit in 1994 but a Top 3 smash the following April. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going or indeed Humpin’around or playing a game. The fact that “Humpin’ Around” sounds like “Two Can Play That Game” and vice versa just adds to the confusion. Brown would have two more hits with remixes of his previous singles before the chart entries dried up for good. Just as well. My poor brain can’t stand much more.

There was no way I wasn’t going to remember any of the people involved in this next one. With that said, in the last couple of days, I rejected the chance to reacquaint myself with one lot of them. Over the weekend, I met up with my friends Steve and Robin whom I hadn’t seen since before COVID struck. Meeting at Steve’s gaff, a good catch up fuelled by many, many beers was had. Robin had done a cull of his CD collection and brought the unwanted titles with him to see if Steve or I wanted any of them before they were deposited at his local charity shop. I refused them all as my wife and I have been having our own declutter exercise recently. One of the titles I turned down was “Epsom Mad Funkers: The Best Of EMF”. My reasoning was that I already have a CD of their “Afro King” single which acted as a mini Best Of with the extra tracks being their first three hits. It seemed like good logic but was I right to refuse a double album including a whole CD of remixes? You know what? I think I can live with my decision.

Obviously “I’m A Believer” – the band’s collaboration with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer – is included on said Best Of but the chance to own that track wasn’t going to make me change my mind on Robin’s offer. I’m not sure of the back story surrounding how this pairing came about or why (other than EMF needing a career revitalising hit perhaps) but it would prove to be their final UK Top 40 entry. They released the aforementioned “Afro King” as the follow up but it stalled at No 51. And it’s not even on that Best Of album. I was definitely right to turn it down! The band are not all about the past though. They have a new album coming out called “The Beauty And The Chaos” but if I can’t be arsed to accept a free copy of their Greatest Hits, I’m not sure I’m ready for any new material from them.

Now here we have a case of not remembering the song rather than the artist. Nobody could ever forget about Michael Jackson but this song, “Childhood”? I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it before. Wikipedia tells me that it was the other song on the double A-side single “Scream” but I don’t remember it at all. So why are TOTP showing the video for it when “Scream” is already going down the charts? Clearly, it was an attempt by Jackson’s record label Epic to drum up some sales for his “HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1” album which, despite all the promotion they’d thrown at it, had been toppled from the top of the charts after just one week by Bon Jovi.

And so we get, billed as an album exclusive, the video to “Childhood” and for the love of God, it’s the most puke-inducing, vomit-rendering bucket full of sick you could possibly imagine. Clearly based around Jacko’s obsession with Peter Pan, there’s flying galleons transporting baseball playing kids while Michael himself sits at the base of a tree lamenting his lost childhood – it really is nauseating. Now, if I was a more fair-minded individual, I could maybe make a case in defence of Jackson given his own relationship with an abusive father that he would record a song like this but the whole package is just so overwhelmingly mawkish that I can’t get past it. He would top even this level of self indulgence at the 1996 BRIT awards show and his Christ-like performance of”Earth Song”. I think it’s time to move on…

…to what Wendy Lloyd describes as another exclusive performance but it’s not really is it? D:Ream were in the TOTP studio just the other week performing their new single “Shoot Me With Your Love” before it was in the Top 40. That was the ‘exclusive’ performance. This is just them being on the show again because they have entered the charts at No 7. Surely an ‘exclusive’ relates to something nobody else has so unless D:Ream had signed some sort of contract with the BBC that had an exclusivity clause in it not to perform on any other pop music show than TOTP, could poor old Wendy Lloyd be done under the Trades Description Act?

Anyway, Peter Cunnah does his best to get the studio audience over excited and sells the song like his life depends on it but the writing was on the wall for D:Ream. They would only have two further UK hits (and one of those peaked at No 40) before Cunnah descended into a cocaine addiction and rehab. From then on, all the band had to look forward to was a life of perpetual rereleases of “Things Can Only Get Better” and the perception (wrongly) that it was the only hit they ever had.

I guess you could be forgiven for forgetting about Amy Grant as she only ever had three UK hits, the last of which was this, her version of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”. Now, if ever a single had a chart life span in the 90s that experienced cautious traction, this was it. Bucking the dominant trend of records going straight in and straight out of the charts, its Top 40 run was:

29 – 27 – 27 – 26 – 20 – 21 – 29 – 39

Slower than a taxi ride in the London rush hour. Or displaying remarkable tenacity and durability you could argue. Grant continues to records and release new material though they mostly seem to be either Christmas or Christian music albums.

Although I’ve never really made the time to listen to this next artist, I certainly haven’t forgotten her. For years, I lumped PJ Harvey into the same basket as Björk; not musically but as an artist who I believed I could never get into. As such, I studiously avoided her and her work. She was too weird and dark for my pop sensibilities and, as with the EMF Best Of album earlier, I was happy with my choice. Fast forward nearly 30 years and, just as with Björk, I wonder if I was maybe mistaken. I’ve quite enjoyed some of the Icelandic singer’s appearances in these TOTP repeats and watching PJ Harvey here on her debut on the show, I actually don’t mind “C’mon Billy”. Taken from her third album “To Bring You My Love”, it creeps about menacingly but with a hook that resounds in your head long after the song has finished. Maybe I should investigate some of her back catalogue. Maybe.

I wasn’t the only person who felt like I used to about PJ Harvey MBE back in the day. My aforementioned friend Robin saw her on an episode of Later…with Jools Holland when he was in the studio audience and disliked her performance so much, he gave her the rods at the end of it as the camera panned round. I’m not sure which appearance it was though and haven’t managed to spot him fingers aloft on the ones I’ve found on YouTube yet.

*checks again*

Still nothing. Ah well. As with investigating PJ Harvey’s back catalogue, I’ll keep on checking.

Robson & Jerome have been toppled (for now)! Hurray! Oh shite! They’ve been replaced by The Outhere Brothers! BOO! BOO! Yes, for the second time in 1995, this pair of dolts have secured themselves a UK No 1 record with “Boom Boom Boom”. How?! Why?! Was it anything to do with the track being taken up by other fanbases. For example, Newcastle United fans adopted it as a terrace chant by changing the words to “Toon, Toon, Toon”*. No, surely not.

*Toon is how they refer to themselves and being a reflection of the way the word ‘town’ is pronounced in a Geordie accent despite Newcastle being a city and not a town. Yeah, that’s just mad isn’t it?

Apparently, the duo were the first act to have their first two singles go to No 1 in the UK since New Kids On The Block in 1990. If I remember them correctly, their hits, like The Outhere Brothers, also relied upon nonsensical, shout-a-long choruses, in their case mainly revolving around the word “oh”.

Here’s something we’ve not had for a while on the show. – a single that never made the UK Top 40. That may be the reason why I don’t recall Heavy Stereo. Wikipedia tells me that they never actually had a single that got past No 45 in the charts despite four attempts of which this one, “Sleep Freak”, was the first. Listening to it now, it sounds very derivative with a definite glam rock beat to it. Hang on! There is something familiar about them! Yes, the lead singer is Gem Archer who would later join Oasis and go on to play in both Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye and his brother’s Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. Maybe some things are definitely best left forgotten.

https://youtu.be/5cVJ9qBeHFg?si=ugbAbC1NusK4mi2z
Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Diana KingShy GuyNo
2Shaggy featuring RayvonIn The SummertimeAs if
3Bobby BrownHumpin’ AroundNope
4EMF / Vic Reeves and Bob MortimerI’m A BelieverNah
5Michael JacksonChildhoodGod no!
6D:ReamShoot Me With Your LoveI did not
7Amy GrantBig Yellow TaxiNegative
8PJ HarveyC’mon BillyNo but maybe I was wrong
9The Outhere BrothersBoom Boom Boom Away with you!
10Heavy StereoSleep FreakIt’s a 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/m001sx1m/top-of-the-pops-06071995