Rednex

TOTP 23 MAR 1995

Posted on October 17, 2023 by 80stastic

Ah crap! It’s been a good run but it’s finally come to an end. Simon ‘Smug’ Mayo is back hosting TOTP! He says later in this show that he hasn’t been on presenting duties since the previous October. I haven’t checked to see if that’s true but regardless, I’d have gladly never seen the w****r anchoring the show again. He always seemed to me to treat it as his own personal promotional vehicle, making it all about him with his annoying, cryptic one liners and ridiculous tailoring.

He starts off by saying that there’s no public flogging on tonight’s show. What?! Was this something to do with the sentencing of Eric Cantona for his kung fu style assault of a Crystal Palace fan which took place on the very same day this TOTP went out? Eric got 14 days in prison pending an appeal which he subsequently won and saw his sentence reduced to 120 hours of community service. So, not exactly a public flogging then Simon.

With the first example of Mayo’s inane drivel dispensed with, it’s time for the opening act who is Sean Maguire. He was the ex-EastEnders and Grange Hill actor who had decided that he was wasting his time with all that TV work and what the world really needed was to bear witness to his singing talents while he ‘testified’* on stage. So far, he’d made a decent stab at the transformation with a couple of middling sized hits the previous year and now he was back with his third single “Suddenly”. Nothing to do with the Billy Ocean hit of the same name, this was just more pop-by-numbers stuff designed to appeal to the teen market with an instrumental break written in to allow for the obligatory dance routine to be included. I mean, it’s a catchy little ditty but it’s hardly a pop music masterpiece. Even so, it had more longevity than Sean’s fashion gimmick which saw him with a top tied around his waist even though he was wearing a jacket over his singlet. Why did he need the jacket if he was too warm to wear the top? This didn’t make any sense at all. Maybe it was de rigueur fashion accessorising in 1995? We’ll certainly see more examples of it later on in the show.

Mayo really is a prick. In his second intro, he makes a reference to Peter Tatchell, the human and gay rights campaigner when announcing Tin Tin Out as the next artist. Why? Well, I think that he was referring to a current news story about Tatchell’s involvement with the direct action group OutRage! who ran a campaign to out 20 MPs who publicly supported anti-gay legislation whilst secretly living gay personal lives. One such MP was Sir James Kilfedder who died of a heart attack three days before this TOTP was broadcast just as the Belfast Telegraph ran a story that he was one of the politicians targeted. A sensitive story you would think. Not to Mayo. That’s source material for a cheap line while he presents a pop music programme. Tin Tin Out? Geddit? Like I said, a prick.

Anyway, back to the music and Tin Tin Out were an electronic music duo who mixed hits for some of the biggest names like Erasure and Pet Shop Boys but they also had a sideline in hits under their own name. “Always (Something There To Remind Me)” was their second such hit peaking at No 14. A version of the Bacharach and David song that Sandie Shaw took to the top of the charts in 1964, it was a cover in the loosest sense of the word. Basically they took the song’s distinctive melody, added a house beat to it and roped in vocalist Vanessa Contenay-Quinones of the duo Espiritu to sing (rather badly here I would add) the song’s title repeatedly. It sounds horrible to my ears. Perhaps to offset this infernal racket, there are four half naked backing dancers (with their tops tied around their waists as per Sean Maguire) making the female members of the audience react as if it were The Chippendales they were watching.

Tin Tin Out would find further success later in the decade with covers of The Sundays (“Here’s Where The Story Ends”) and Edie Brickell (“What I Am”). The latter was with ex-Spice Girl Emma Bunton which was released on the same day as Gerri Halliwell’s “Lift Me Up” causing a chart battle to see who would be No 1. In the end, Ginger won out over Baby.

By the way, if I wanted a cover of “Always (Something There To Remind Me)” – which I did apparently in 1983 as I bought this single – then there’s always this…

I may have succumbed to some ropey old synth pop version of a 60s classic in 1983 but there was no way I was falling for this next load of old tosh twelve years later. I know we’ve seen many an act bag themselves a huge hit and basically just repeat the song with a few tweaks for the follow up over the years but this by Rednex really was scandalous. After the horror that was their No 1 single “Cotton Eye Joe”, they almost literally put out the same record again for their next one. As a result, “Old Pop In An Oak” was every bit as dreadful as its predecessor. Despite not making the Top 10, enough poor saps bought it in sufficient quantities to send it to No 12. What the hell happened people?!

In 1993, Duran Duran pulled off the seemingly impossible by escaping the from the box the public had put them in labelled ‘They used to be famous in the 80s’ and coming up with a hit single that put them back into the Top 10 for the first time in four years with “Ordinary World”. Not only that but its parent album was a million seller in the US and went gold in the UK. They were back and had momentum on their side. What they did with that momentum was tantamount to commercial and artistic suicide. Whose idea was it to record an album of cover versions? Or perhaps the question should be ‘whose idea was it to record an album of those cover versions?’.

Take the lead single from the “Thank You” album for example. Wasn’t Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” seen as sacrosanct at the time? What were they boys thinking? However, the phrase ‘at the time’ really should have been in italics for it has been covered by many an artist since and I don’t remember the same amount of cries of heresy as were reserved for the Duran boys? Indeed, just three months after this, Kirsty MacColl released her own version with Evan Dando of The Lemonheads to promote her Best Of album “Galore” and I’m pretty sure there weren’t any cries of “Heresy!” from anyone. By 1997, just about every big name in the music business had covered it (sort of). A BBC promotional video to showcase their musical diversity featuring the likes of David Bowie, Elton John, Bono, Heather Small, Brett Anderson of Suede, Tom Jones, Gabrielle, Evan Dando (again!) and perhaps most memorably Dr John (“such a poyfick day”) was absolutely fêted by the public; so much so that it was released as a single and went to No 1 for three weeks. All of this leads me to believe that it was more about who was doing the cover version and it was a case of everybody else = good, Duran Duran = bad.

Or maybe it wasn’t even about this track? After all, Lou Reed is on record as saying the Duran version was the best recording of any of his songs. Was it the other covers on “Thank You” that offended so? Taking on songs by Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Iggy Pop was ill judged but to navigate “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)” by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel and Public Enemy’s “911 Is A Joke” was clinically insane. The readers of Q magazine were so incensed that in a 2006 poll, they voted “Thank You” the worst album of all time. So was it that bad? Well, I’ve often found myself on the wrong side of popular opinion and I did buy a couple of Duran Duran albums in the 80s but on the whole, even I would say it was a not a clever career move. As so it proved. After the critical backlash “Thank You” received, the band floundered. Follow up album “Medazzaland” didn’t even get released in Europe with the record buying public seemingly only interested in their past glories – a Best Of collection called “Greatest” made No 4 when released in 1998. It would take a reunion of the classic line up in 2004 to return them towards the top of the charts when the “Astronaut” album made No 3.

Talking of the classic line up, that’s Roger Taylor on drums in this TOTP performance which took me by surprise as he hadn’t had anything to do with the band since leaving in 1986. Apparently he played on three tracks for the “Thank You” album and appeared in the video for “Perfect Day”. Meanwhile, bassist John Taylor seems to have taken leave of his fashion senses – a checked shirt matched with stripey trousers?!

Next a band who in many ways replaced Duran Duran in the affections of the teen market as the boys from Birmingham’s popularity dwindled in the late 80s. Wet Wet Wet were on a commercial high come the mid 90s. They’d had that single in 1994 at No 1 for fifteen weeks and now were back with a new hit in the Top 10. Of course, also like Duran Duran, they’d suffered their own decline in approval around 1989-1991 but that was all behind them now.

Following the biggest selling single of the year though was no easy task and “Julia Says” predictably couldn’t get anywhere near the sales of “Love Is All Around”. A high of No 3 was nothing to be sniffed at though even if the track itself wasn’t their strongest by a mile and it did help propel parent album “Picture This” to No 1 and a million sales. The hits kept coming until the end of the decade when Marti Pellow left the band to deal with his addiction issues. Wet Wet Wet are still a going concern but only just. Graeme Clark is the only remaining member of the original four piece line up though they have just announced a co-headlining tour with perennials of the nostalgia circuit Go West.

A case next of an appearance on TOTP not helping the sales of a single. “Original” by Leftfield featuring Tony Halliday was a new entry on the chart this week at No 18 but it would fall to No 35 seven days later despite the exposure of this performance. To be fair, the sound of the track didn’t exactly lend itself to a turn on TV. Its dark, dubby rhythms allied to Halliday’s almost deadpan vocals weren’t a perfect match for the medium of TV. Not that it isn’t a good track – it is but it acts almost as a visual downer in amongst the scream-inducing likes of Sean Maguire and Wet Wet Wet. Yes, there are some shrieks from the studio audience at times during “Original” but I get the impression they were falsely manufactured by the prompting of a floor manager.

Leftfield were, of course, influential production team Neil Barnes and Paul Daley who’d already had a hit under their own steam when they collaborated with John Lydon on the hypnotic “Open Up” in 1994. Toni Halliday was the lead singer with shoe gazing / dance beat hybrid Curve who’d had a handful of minor hit singles and two moderately successful albums to this point but whose legacy was to open the doors for the likes of Garbage to stride through. The album “Original” came from was the Mercury Prize nominated “Leftism” which is widely regarded as a milestone moment in dance music. Listening to this track now, it sounds very like Portishead to me whose album “Dummy” beat “Leftism” to the aforementioned Mercury Prize in 1995.

Next another band who like Wet Wet Wet are trying to follow up the biggest hit of their career. East 17 may not have had the best selling single of the year like the Wets but they did have the Christmas No 1 with all the sales that brings with it. Surely they couldn’t bag another chart topper with their next release? The short answer is no they couldn’t but they did keep their record of consecutive Top 10 hits going with “Let It Rain” taking the tally to five.

After the balladry of “Stay Another Day”, it was back to the sound on which they made their name – a hard-hitting, quick house beats dance floor-filler with a shouty yet catchy chorus. Its intro has Tony Mortimer going all Prince-like in “Let’s Go Crazy” mode, preaching from the pulpit before the beats hit about corridors of creation and colliding comets. Actually, he sounds a bit like Gary Clail of On-U Sound fame.

I’d have to say that apart from that intro, it’s not one of their most memorable tunes, not quite the banger it wants to be. Talking of which, Terry Coldwell (the bloke in the singlet on the left in this performance and only remaining original member still with the group) was in the news recently when he participated in a Counties Radio competition where presenter Justin Dealey would ask people in the street to sing a song and if he judged it good enough, he would buy them a hot dog as a reward. Snappily entitled ‘Sing a banger for a banger’, Coldwell rocked up and sang “Stay Another Day” but was denied his prize on account of sounding too authentic!

Mayo’s back with his crappy jokes now as he name checks the boxer Chris Eubank. As far as I understand it, by saying that Chris’s favourite song was “Hypnotised” by Simple Minds, he was referring to the fact that Eubank had recently lost his WBO super middleweight title to Steve Collins who had employed a guru to help him prepare mentally for the fight leading the press to believe that Collins was hypnotised for the bout. As Eubanks entered the ring before the fight, Collins sat in his corner motionless with headphones on, giving more credence to the rumour. None of this backstory makes Mayo’s quip funny though. Look mate, you’re just there to introduce the acts not perform a stand up routine. Just do your job.

Anyway, this was the second and last single from the “Good News From The Next World” album and it wasn’t very good. Not only was it completely soporific but I’m sure they’d used that bridge part before in a previous hit. In short, poor on quality and lethargic of effort. Must do better.

By the way, what was going on with guitarist Charlie Burchill?! Back in 1984, I’d desperately coveted his look but he just looks weird here. Horrible hair and a jacket that looks like he’d borrowed it from a pearly king. And I thought John Taylor’s wardrobe was suss.

The Comic Relief single “Love Can Build A Bridge” by Cher, Neneh Cherry, Chrissie Hynde and Eric Clapton has, rather predictably, brought an end to Celine Dion’s run at No 1 and to quote Captain Sensible’s 1982 hit “Wot”, ain’t I glad. Beware though. This respite will only last a week before a new menace takes residence in the top spot…

Just before the credits roll, there’s a plug for the BBC’s A Song for Europe show to pick this year’s UK Eurovision entry. It seemed quite an elongated process. There was a Top of the Pops Song for Europe Special show that Mayo mentions where each of the competing songs was showcased but that wasn’t the point where the winner was chosen. No, there was another programme a week later where that decision was made by a public vote. Each artist also had a celebrity champion advocating for them. Some of the entrants were well known – Londonbeat for example (who sounded dreadful in the clip at the end of this TOTP) plus recent chart stars Deuce and Samantha Fox fronting Sox. The rest of them I have no idea about except the actual winner of course who were Love City Groove who trounced everybody with over 140,000 votes. The artist placed second got 81,000 by comparison. Things didn’t work out for Love City Groove on the big day but that’s a story for another post.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Sean Maguire	Suddenly	As if
2	Tin Tin Out featuring Espiritu	Always (Something There To Remind Me)	No
3	Rednex	Old Pop In An Oak	Hell no!
4	Duran Duran	Perfect Day	Nope
5	Wet Wet Wet	Julia Says	Nah
6	Leftfield featuring Tony Halliday	Original	No but my wife might have had the album I think
7	East 17	Let It Rain	Negative
8	Simple Minds	Hypnotised	I did not
9	Cher, Neneh Cherry, Chrissie Hynde and Eric Clapton	Love Can Build A Bridge	Not even for charity

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/m001rb00/top-of-the-pops-23031995

TOTP 26 JAN 1995

Posted on September 19, 2023 by 80stastic

You know in the last post I said that thinking about time too much can seriously mess with your head? I should have taken my own advice. How can it be that one of the most controversial and talked about moments in the history of football is now nearly twenty-nine years old?! The Eric Cantona Kung Fu kick incident was a monumental, seismic event. It was all anyone was talking about back then. The images in the clip below are now scorched into our collective memories but at the time, before I’d seen the footage, I recall thinking it can’t be that bad and then I saw it and it was so much worse. Of course, we now know that the Crystal Palace ‘fan’ he assaulted – one Matthew Simmons – turned out to be a right scrote (he assaulted the prosecutor immediately after he himself was found guilty of offensive behaviour) and somehow Cantona’s popularity, if anything, increased following the incident. His “When the seagulls follow the trawler…” statement at a press conference called later became almost as famous as the Kung Fu kick itself.

Anyway, it all happened the day before this TOTP aired though I doubt it’s referred to in the show as they tended to be recorded on a Wednesday so it probably hadn’t even occurred as the cameras were rolling. I also think guest the presenters were probably far too nice to mention it. Yes, it was time for another golden mic slot and this time it fell to all girl group Eternal to fill the role. By this point in their career, they had a four times platinum album and six hit singles under their belts so they were a fairly big deal. They also had still had Louise Nurding in their ranks but she would leave the group to pursue a solo career well before the year was up. And yes, she was Louise Nurding and not Redknapp in 1995 – she didn’t marry footballer Jamie until three years later. Although he was a part of that group of Liverpool players dubbed ‘The Spice Boys’ in the press, the biggest crime Redknapp ever committed was wearing that cream Armani suit for the 1996 FA Cup final. Mind you, some might say that was a bigger offence than Cantona’s Kung Fu kick.

The first act that Eternal have to introduce tonight are MC Sar & The Real McCoy and “Run Away”. Yes, it may be 1995 – the year of Britpop – but the honking nonsense (in my own humble opinion) that was Eurodance was still lingering about our charts like the shadow of Liz ‘lettuce’ Truss over UK politics. However, there seemed to be a fair bit of love around for this track online after the BBC4 repeat went out and it appears in many a Best Dance Tune of the 90s poll. It was well liked at the time as well, even going to No 3 in the US (and No 6 over here). I mean, it’s not that it isn’t catchy it’s just that I’m surprised about the extended life expectancy of a formula of a male rapper / female vocalist over a generic dance beat. I mean, 2 Unlimited had been playing that particular hand for years by this point. Never mind The Real McCoy, I would have preferred Star Trek’s Dr McCoy turning to Captain Kirk and advising him on the health of Eurodance “It’s dead Jim”.

Right who the deuce is this? Oh, it is…erm…Deuce in fact. Yes, coming on like a prototype Steps were this boy/girl combo peddling a Abba-infused, high octane Eurodance number. “Call It Love” would be the first of four UK Top 40 hits for the group who briefly looked like they could be a force in the world of pop – ‘New UK Talent’ was how the TOTP caption introduced them. Hmm. Despite that run of hits, their career also took in the rather embarrassing episodes of failing to better Love City Groove in the battle to be the UK’s Eurovision entry and singing on a Coronation Street anniversary album with actress Sherrie Hewson. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the band was dealt a further blow when lead vocalist Kelly O’Keefe left and they were dropped by London Records. They resurfaced on Mike Stock’s Love This label for one final hit but by 1997, and following more line up changes, time was called on the project and Deuce were no more.

Possibly the biggest legacy that Deuce left us with was that one of their number – Lisa Armstrong – would end up marrying (and divorcing) Ant McPartlin of Ant & Dec fame. Now, I know a story about them because an old friend from college ended up sharing a flat in London with someone who worked for Smash Hits and Lisa Armstrong herself. Sadly, my wife says I’m not allowed to tell it though but I will say it involves dirty bed sheets!

Next, we have another look at Simple Minds playing their latest single “She’s A River” at the top of the Eiffel Tower. This was an exclusive performance a couple of shows previously but so spectacular was its setting that it’s been given a repeat airing. Either that or the band themselves weren’t available for an in studio appearance. I’m guessing it’s the former though – in a similar move the Bon Jovi performance at Niagara Falls was repeated at least once.

“She’s A River” was the lead single from their “Good News From The Next World” album and would be the band’s final Top 10 hit when it peaked at No 9.

Of course, Simple Minds weren’t the first band to arse about on the Eiffel Tower to promote themselves. “The name’s Bon…Simon Le Bon”.

It’s yet another dance act in the TOTP studio – the third one of this particular show but this was easily the biggest of the three sales wise. “Set You Free” by N–Trance would go all the way to No 2, sell over a million copies and be the 17th best selling single in the UK in 1995.

However, for me personally, I’d rather see the video for this one. Why? Well, because (and I didn’t know this at the time and even if I had it wouldn’t have meant anything to me) but part of the video was shot in front of Cliffords Tower in York. So what you may ask and it would be a reasonable question. Well, five years after “Set You Free” was a hit, I left Our Price after working for the company since 1990 and took a job in the civil service in York. My wife and I lived right in the centre of the city and would often walk past Cliffords Tower, the ruined keep of a medieval Norman castle. Up until now, I had no idea about the scenes in the video that were shot in front of it but now I’m intrigued. Talk amongst yourselves a moment while I check it out on YouTube…

Yep, definitely Clifford’s Tower. OK, it’s maybe not quite as well known as its French counterpart Eiffel but still impressive. Meanwhile, back in the TOTP studio, N-Trance have brought their dancer mate with them again. Whilst the temptation to make the comparison with Bez is strong, I’m drawn to this guy from 90s sit com Spaced. Ladies and gentleman, I give you… Tyres….

Boy bands dominated the 90s with the likes of Take That, Boyzone and Westlife probably in the Premier League of that musical genre whilst Five, 911 and East 17 were probably more Championship level. Once you start dropping even further down the leagues you encounter OTT, Upside Down and Worlds Apart. So where would we find Let Loose? I’m saying mid table mediocrity in League 1. Yes, they had seven hit singles including three Top 10s but they’re only really remembered for “Crazy” aren’t they? Take this hit – “One Night Stand” – for example. Catchy? Yep. Memorable? Hardly.

However, it seems not everyone thinks this way. A recent article in the Metro newspaper about a Let Loose relaunch was positively rapturous about the news despite it being one of the worst ideas ever conceived. Too harsh? Well, consider this. They’re not reforming with lead singer Richie Wermerling but a bloke from the bottom of League 2 in terms of boy bands – Bad Boys Inc! Really?! There’s a demand for this?! Well, according to that Metro piece this Bad Boy Stinker – one Matthew Pateman – is, in their words, a “music icon”! I mean, please! The plan is for a new record and London gig by the end of the year and then a whole tour in 2024. I’m sorry but I can’t imagine their being thousands of people poised at their keyboards for when those tickets go on sale. It’s hardly a Taylor Swift tour is it? Still, they’ve achieved more in terms of a music career than I ever could dream of so I should maybe shut up*

* My version of “Where The Wild Roses Grow” by Nick Cave and Kylie in guitar class back in 2010 was a triumph though.

Right, this, for me, is easily the best song on the show tonight and yet it pretty much passed me by at the time. I knew there was this band called Green Day and that they had an album called “Dookie”. I even knew what the album cover looked like what with working in a record shop and all and that there was a track called “Basket Case” on it as it had one of those “includes the single…” stickers on it. However, what I didn’t know was what it/they sounded like. Yes, that does seem unlikely given the whole record shop thing but then that perception that we spent all our days leaning on the counter, drinking coffee and listening to the latest tunes was never, ever true. Sometimes the days were so busy that I couldn’t have told you the names of any CDs that had been played on the shop’s stereo.

Anyway, the bottom line was that Green Day weren’t massively on my radar. It seems though that they had come to the attention of Kéllé and Vernie from Eternal judging by their rather gushing intro (most of it directed at lead singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong). I used to work with someone in York who was similarly enamoured by BJ though I could never see it. At some point in the intervening 28 years though, I did come to know and love “Basket Case”. Supposedly it’s a seminal track in the pop-punk movement, inspiring a generation of subsequent bands; it may well be but all I know is that it’s a great track full of energy and a driving rhythm. On that, I would never have made the connection but said rhythm and chord progression is based on Pachelbel’s Cannon. I think there’s a more obvious example in “All Together Now” by The Farm but if you need convincing, here’s a mash up video:

What I did notice is that the BBC censors failed to pick up on the word ‘whore’ in the lyrics. Or maybe it was that new TOTP executive producer Ric Blaxill was aware of it but didn’t make a fuss as it fitted in with his ethos of trying to make the show more edgy. However, I’m not sure this ‘exclusive’ performance from San Francisco fits that bill. We’re back to a (probably) empty concert hall for this one – the Eiffel Tower it is not.

By the way, as well as “Where The Wild Roses Grow”, my guitar prowess also extends to finger picking Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”. Eric Clapton? Pah!

Next another band who, similar to Green Day, I was aware of but had little idea what they sounded like. The Wildhearts were a rock band who, unsurprisingly given the title of the song they perform here, hailed from Newcastle. Having listened to “Geordie In Wonderland”, my impression is that they wouldn’t be out of place mixing in the same social circles as the likes of The Quireboys, Little Angels and Dogs D’Amour. Indeed, The Wildhearts formed when lead singer Ginger was sacked from The Quireboys and at one point they had the drummer from Dogs D’Amour in their ranks. However, there’s also something of The Pogues about this particular track as well – it’s got that drunken sing-a-long quality to it. Unlike Green Day’s use of the word ‘whore’ in their lyrics slipping past the censors, Ginger has to fudge singing the word ‘shit’ from the line “some of the shit has sprouted in roses” presumably at the behest of some BBC suits.

I have to say I don’t mind the song – it’s sort of like a lairy version of “Run For Home” by fellow Geordies Lindisfarne. Unsurprisingly, given the band member in full football kit and the Toon Army banner on display, the song was offered to then Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan as a potential club anthem but Kev wasn’t ‘head over heels in love’ with the idea and politely declined.

As for The Wildhearts, they reached a commercial peak four months on from this performance when their album “P.H.U.Q” made No 6 in the charts. Years of drug problems and record company wrangling though meant that they were never able to maintain that high. The band have been on and off for years but released their last album as recently as 2021.

In a show that’s already had it’s fair share of distinctly average at best dance acts, the TOTP producers have left the worst till last and indeed second last. I got some grief off a reader the last time I discussed Nicki French who objected to my description of her cover of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” as one of the worst records of the 90s. Apparently, said reader knew Nicki personally and therefore took criticism of her personally as well. OK look, I’m sure Nicki is a lovely person and the five million global sales of TEOTH (it was a No 2 in the US) are certainly not to be sniffed at plus the fact that she has maintained a career in music all these years should be respected but…I just think it’s an awful cover and a dreadful record. I refer anyone who disagrees to my disclaimer at the bottom of the post.

And so to the No 1 and it’s the final week at the top for “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex. Dear oh dear. Quite how did this happen? Well, it wasn’t just the UK that couldn’t resist this techno/hoedown hybrid – it went to No 1 in eleven different countries globally. I guess the success of Rednex was the logical peak of a very niche musical sub genre that flared up briefly in the mid 90s. Back in ‘94 we had “Swamp Thing” by The Grid with its banjo-picking house beats and the square dance disco of “Everybody Gonfi-Gon” by Two Cowboys which were both big hits. Maybe the only way to burst this particularly pustular chart pimple was to let it go full term and wait for it to pop by itself. A No 1 record was surely the apex of the arc and there would be nowhere else for it to go? Well, nearly. There was a mini revival in 1997 when Steps took “5,6,7,8” boot scootin’ up the charts but even they ditched that idea after one single to pursue a career of pop cheese.

Rednex themselves didn’t give up the ghost though. A follow up hit called “Old Pop In An Oak” followed but couldn’t match its predecessor’s sales. An album called “Sex And Violins” (heh) did nothing at all. It was as if we all understood that this was a one-trick pony. The b(r)and name is still going though and in 2018 they started a live stream channel on Twitch. What a time to be alive!

Dgjm

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	MC Sar & The Real McCoy	Run Away	No
2	Deuce	Call It Love	Alternatively, call it crap – no
3	Simple Minds	She’s A River	I did not
4	N-Trance	Set You Free	Nope
5	Let Loose	One Night Stand	Nah
6	Green Day	Basket Case	Not at the time but I must have it on something
7	The Wildhearts	Geordie In Wonderland	Why Aye Man! Actually, no
8	Nicki French	Total Eclipse Of The Heart	Hell no!
9	Rednex	Cotton Eye Joe	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/m001qgbm/top-of-the-pops-26011995

TOTP 19 JAN 1995

Posted on September 14, 2023 by 80stastic

Well hello there! It’s been a while hasn’t it? The Summer was one of inactivity at the towers of TOTP Rewind due to the enforced break caused by BBC4’s decision to pause their broadcast schedule for TOTP repeats. Having rampaged through 1994 at breakneck speed, the channel came to an abrupt stop just two shows into 1995 and commenced on a two month sabbatical from the chart hits of that year. Some immovable events took precedent like Glastonbury weekend and then there was The Proms but what seemed odd was that the programme schedulers found space to re-show TOTP episodes from the archives we’d already seen previously. Why didn’t they just allocate those slots to the 1995 shows? They’d clearly put some thought into it as the shows chosen for another airing were those that were broadcast on or near to the current date in 2023 – sort of like an ‘On this day in TOTP history’ mini series. I didn’t really get it but I was quite glad of the break from writing if I’m honest. All I had to do each week was tweet a link to my blog archive for my corresponding review of said shows. Brilliant!

Now, given the time elapsed since the last post, a quick catch up might be in order to remind myself about what I was up to in January 1995. Well, work wise I was still with Our Price and had spent Xmas ‘94 in the Market Street, Manchester store where I’d begun my retail career four years earlier. However, times they were a-changin’ and that shop had been sold on to a travel agents. Obviously the company had waited until after the busy Xmas sales period to pull the plug but once that had been and gone the countdown until the end was on. We had the ‘everything must go’ sale but I was focused on what would happen to the staff. As I recall, every full time member was offered alternative employment in another store (probably the Piccadilly shop) but my own future had yet to be decided. A return to Piccadilly wasn’t the most attractive option for me as I’d hated my five months there and to be fair to the company management, they didn’t send me back. All portents seemed to advise that another stint at the Stockport branch was on the cards for me and so it proved when I returned there to spend the next three and a half years in the Cheshire shop.

Before all of that though was the task of closing down the store. Once the shop had shut its doors for the last time, most people moved onto their new locations leaving just a skeleton staff to deal with the remaining stock etc. Come the very end, there were just two of us left – myself and the manager. It was a weird feeling turning up to work in those final few days with the shop basically a hollowed out carcass. My main memory of this period though involved the store’s fire alarm system. I can’t remember exactly why but there was a need for it to be turned off while some work by the shopfitters was carried out. The manager and I believed this had been done successfully but as soon as the work began, the alarm sprang into life. The realisation then hit us that the alarm was linked to the fire station and that a team of firefighters would have been immediately deployed to attend the scene. This wasn’t a pre-planned fire drill exercise after all. As the store was part of the Manchester Arndale shopping centre, we legged it down to the loading bay area below us so that we could be there to head off the firemen and reassure them that the shop was not ablaze. They duly arrived to find me and the manager looking very sheepish and apologetic. They were NOT amused and rightly so though we firmly believed the whole incident wasn’t our fault per se. Once again though, I apologise to the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

Back to the music though and it’s time for the nose to become reacquainted with the grindstone so let’s crack on with 1995. Here’s hoping there were some hot tunes burning up the charts! Before the titles roll though we’re reminded that the show still has that direct to camera piece from an artist appearing that week advertising their forthcoming presence. This week it’s ‘The Walrus of Love’ himself Barry White who is back on the show for the first time in eight years. I can’t think of Barry White without thinking of this which I know is very disrespectful to his legacy but I can’t help how my brain works…

However, we start with those little scamps Ultimate Kaos who are back with their second hit single “Hoochie Booty”. Yes, despite having an average band age of 14 as detailed in the TOTP caption, Simon Cowell’s protégés were considered old enough to be singing a song about a sexually promiscuous woman’s bottom. At least I think that’s what the title refers to. I’m not completely clear on the lyrics but at one point they seem to be singing “she’s hangin’ out wit Judy Judy with the big ol booty” and then banging on about taking her home. Blimey! I didn’t know my arse from my elbow sexually speaking when I was 14 and certainly nothing about women’s bottoms! Maybe Ultimate Kaos were trail blazers though, paving the way for All Saints to have a No 1 in 1998 with “Bootie Call” and Destiny’s Child to score big with the track “Bootylicious” in 2001, a phrase that is now so immeshed in popular culture and language that it is listed in all the English language dictionaries and didn’t show up on spellcheck when I typed it earlier in this sentence.

As for the song itself, the newly adopted swing beat direction was clearly an attempt to extend the appeal of Ultimate Kaos to a wider (more mature) audience but it just comes across as inappropriate to me. I think the youth of today might describe it as “giving me the ick”.

Come 1995, the UK trip hop scene appeared to have a new poster group to spearhead it in the form of Bristol’s Portishead who’s debut album “Dummy” would climb to No 2 in our charts. However, anybody writing off OG act Massive Attack were hugely wide of the mark*.

*As a numerical demonstration of this, Massive Attack are at No 14 in this particular chart whilst Portishead are below them at No 15.

Although it had taken the band three and a half years to release a follow up to their iconic debut album “Blue Lines”, sophomore effort “Protection” was worth the wait. Sure, lead single “Sly” hadn’t set the charts alight but when the title track was released it couldn’t be ignored. As with their classic tune “Unfinished Sympathy”, “Protection” benefitted from the talents of a guest vocalist. In 1995, for Shara Nelson read Tracey Thorn from Everything But The Girl. In many ways, Tracey wasn’t an obvious choice. Despite realising a string of great material over the previous decade, their only charting singles since 1984’s “Each And Everyone” had been cover versions – “I Don’t Want To Talk About it” (No 3 in 1988) and their “Covers EP” (No 13 in 1992). However, despite the record buying public collectively cockn’ a deaf ‘un, Tracey’s voice remained and indeed remains to this day both beautiful and immediately recognisable. The song itself is effortlessly and elegantly melancholy yet has a stunning, haunting melody. Tracey herself contributed to the lyrics using her experience of caring for partner Ben Watt through his rare autoimmune condition Churg–Strauss syndrome as inspiration. I read Ben’s account of his recovery from the condition in his auto biography Patient many years ago and it’s a wonderful book. It was out of print for a while but is now available again via Bloomsbury. Worth seeking out. I wasn’t expecting to see Tracey with a guitar strapped to her for this performance and it seems to accentuate her tiny frame but then it does help with the song’s themes and she even sings at one point “Sometimes you look so small, you need some shelter”. Indeed.

“Protection” the single would make No 13 whilst the album peaked at No 4 and would go double platinum. Possibly off the back of this collaboration, Everything But The Girl would be reborn as electronic dance maestros after the Todd Terry remix of “Missing” sold over a million copies in the UK alone. The original version had peaked at No 69 when released six months prior to this TOTP performance.

The problem with having this massive gap time wise between 1995 episodes is that when you return to them, it creates the false impression that the songs featured must have been hanging around the charts for ages when in reality they haven’t. Take “Here Comes The Hotstepper” by Ini Kamoze for example. Even though it was only in its third week on the UK Top 40, it feels like it must be into double figures by now. Something about the progression of time in the present bleeding into the past maybe? Time really can bend your head if you think about it too hard. Having said all that, “Here Comes The Hotstepper” did plant its soles in the charts for weeks including nine within the Top 10 and four consecutively at No 4.

Famously, the track’s lyrics refer to a “lyrical gangster” but what exactly was/is a lyrical gangster? Well, the Songfacts website suggests that although the Jamaican term ‘Hotstepper’ signifies someone on the run from the law, in the case of Ini’s protagonist, he’s guilty of metaphorical murder as opposed to the literal stories of murder contained within the material released by gangsta rapper artists at the time. So that’s metaphorical not literal – got that? Good. Presumably the distinction between the spelling of gangster and gangsta was important too. Well, we’re back to dictionaries again as the Oxford English Dictionary does distinguish between them with the former referring to membership of organised crime groups and the latter as belonging to an urban territorial gang. Not sure that distinction supports the Songfacts metaphor argument to be honest. I think that’s enough of the semantics for now to be honest. One thing I am in no doubt about though is that the film that the song featured in – Prêt–à–Porter– was absolute garbage.

Somebody who definitely has been hanging around for ages is tonight’s host Bruno Brookes who was one of the Radio 1 DJs brought back into the fold at the beginning of 1994 by new TOTP executive producer Ric Blaxill when the ‘year zero’ revamp of 1991 was consigned to the dustbin. Don’t fret though, his charmed run on the show will be over soon. Before then though, he advises us about the new TOTP magazine that was due to appear on the shelves of your local newsagents imminently. Initially earmarked for the spot left vacant by the demise of No 1 magazine (of which I was a reader in the mid 80s and which BBC Magazines took over in 1990), its biggest claim to fame was surely coming up with the nicknames for a then fledgling Spice Girls in 1996.

Anyway, back to the music and here come a band that were inextricably connected to the Britpop movement whether they liked it or not. It could be argued that Sleeper only had themselves to blame having opened for Blur on their Parklife tour but the origins of the band lay way before that when guitarist Jon Stewart met Louise Wener at Manchester University in 1987. Following the familiar route of playing in various bands they finally morphed into Sleeper and were signed to Indolent Records (a subsidiary of RCA) in 1993. A handful of singles were released to critical acclaim but underwhelming sales before they broke through with “Inbetweener”. You can understand why as it’s a real ear worm with some great hooks. Watching Louise up there on stage for this performance she looks so confident and, well, powerful. Inevitably, as with Blondie in the late 70s / early 80s, Elastica rather more recently just twelve months prior and No Doubt three years later, the focus on the band centred around the female lead vocalist, certainly in terms of the media anyway. Louise had that girl next door look but with a glint in her eye and it worked for many a young male fan – I may have even been a bit taken myself. Erm…anyway, Wener was suddenly everywhere; NME front covers (and placing high in the publication’s rather laddish ‘Sexiest Woman’ poll, TV appearances on TFI Friday and The Word and even a turn in the ‘golden mic’ presenter slot on TOTP. All this attention was taken in good humour by the guys in the band who, unlike the aforementioned Blondie, didn’t seem too put out even when the music press coined the term ‘sleeperbloke’ to describe the anonymous other group members who faded into the background when faced with the harsh lights surrounding their more photogenic (and therefore deemed sometimes incorrectly more important lead singer).

As Britpop raged, Sleeper’s profile rose in parallel. 1996 brought a platinum album in the shape of “The It Girl” and four hit singles. They were an undoubted success. I caught them live around this time at the Manchester Academy. They were pretty good too as I remember. However, just as Britpop faded away, so too did Sleeper (thus adding to the perception of the band’s connection to the movement). 1997’s difficult third album “Pleased To Meet You” failed to hit the commercial highs of its predecessor and the band would split in 1998. Wener carved herself a successful career as a writer having four novels and an autobiography published and the band reconvened in 2017 playing live gigs and releasing new material for the first time in two decades.

By the way, if you Google the term ‘inbetweener’, once you’ve got past all the results for the antics of Will, Simon, Neil and Jay, you might see the Urban Dictionary definition of the term which refers to a sub group of people who are not cool enough to be popular but are not nerdy enough to be geeks. That’s a perfect description of my schooldays right there.

R Kelly’s misdemeanours mean that he’s been edited out of this show so it’s straight on to The Human League and their surprise comeback hit “Tell Me When”. The last time they were in the show I remarked on their curious decision to perform in a line rather than in the classic band formation and damn me if they haven’t done it again here! However, this time I’m more drawn to the idea that James frontman Tim Booth has seemingly invented a Time Machine and travelled back from present day to 1995 to be The Human League’s bass player. Complete dead ringer.

“Tell Me When” came from the band’s seventh album “Octopus” which gave them their highest chart position since “Hysteria” in 1984. Despite being around in one form or another for forty-five years, there have only ever been nine Human League albums or rather nine studio albums. There have however been thirteen greatest hits collections. Given the legacy left by 1981’s “Dare”, that hardly seems right but Phil, Joanne and Susan are much more of a live act these days regularly playing gigs and festivals. I caught them myself a few years ago at an open air venue in Hull. They were fine but the audience were not – too many people old enough to know better off their heads and being loud and lairy. In short, I didn’t like the sound of the crowd. I’ll get me coat.

And so to Barry White and I have to admit that, unlike Bruno Brookes who admits to owning all his records in his intro, I never really got his appeal but then I don’t think I was his optimum target audience. Was it just the unfathomably deep voice? Anyway, I don’t recall “Practice What You Preach” at all but it seems to be in keeping with his usual come-to-bed-and-make-sweet-music style. In fact, he actually seems to be in rather a hurry, exhorting his sexual partner to quit with the claims of how pleasure inducing the experience will be and to just get on with it. Heavens! I was rather surprised to discover that the single got as far as No 20 in the UK but then it was a No 1 record on the US R&B chart.

Now according to Bruno Brookes in his next intro, TOTP was a very important show to all the big stars, so much so that the next artist cut short her honeymoon to appear on it. Said star was Celine Dion who is on the verge of bagging herself a No 1 with her hit single “Think Twice” which is currently just one place off the chart summit. Was this true? Well, it could be I suppose – the chance of a No 1 and all that. I can imagine her record company stressing the importance of another bit of promotion on the UK’s premier music show to give the single that extra push. However, one thing doesn’t ring true – I checked the date when Celine got married. It was the 17th December 1994. Now given that this TOTP aired on 19th January 1995, that meant she’d been on honeymoon for over a month by this point! Really?! Well, she did marry one René Angélil who was her manager so I guess nobody was better placed to authorise an extended holiday for her than him!

And so to this week’s No 1 and it’s the same record as the last time I posted on this blog – “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex.

Look, I’ve got nothing left for this one so here’s Beavis and Butt-head’s take on it…

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	Ultimate KAOS	Hoochie Booty	Nah
2	Massive Attack	Protection	Negative
3	Ini Kamoze	Here Comes The Hotstepper	No but I think my wife may have
4	Sleeper	Inbetweener	Liked it, didn’t buy it
5	The Human League	Tell Me When	Nope
6	Barry White	Practice What You Preach	No
7	Celine Dion	Think Twice	No thought required – no
8	Rednex	Cotton Eye Joe	As if

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/m001qgbk/top-of-the-pops-19011995

TOTP 1995 – the epilogue

Posted on August 7, 2023 by 80stastic

And there goes 1995. I said in the prologue post for this year that it could be one of the best years for revisiting for some time. Was it? I’m not so sure now. It was the year Britpop overflowed into the mainstream and onto the nation’s radar with the Oasis v Blur chart battle and the success of high profile hits like Pulp’s “Common People”, “Alright” by Supergrass and “Wake Up Boo!” by The Boo Radleys. But how big really was the reach of the movement? A quick glance at the Top 10 best selling singles of the year reveals just one hit that would be categorised as ‘Britpop’ with “Wonderwall” sneaking in at No 10. Most of the remaining names on that list couldn’t be more mainstream – Michael Jackson (twice), Celine Dion, Take That, Simply Red and Robson & Jerome (twice); only Coolio and Everything But The Girl buck that trend. Was it any different in the list of Top 10 albums? Slightly, Oasis, Blur and Pulp all feature but the other occupants are grimly familiar – Jacko, Hucknall, Celine, those two actor berks…Queen, Wet Wet Wet and Paul Weller fill the other places. Only the Modfather was a slight surprise with his “Stanley Road” album completing a remarkable comeback from the washed up Style Councillor that he was at the end of the 80s. This trend of the massive names garnering the massive sales wasn’t anything new of course but in the year of Britpop, were we entitled to expect something different?

Some people wouldn’t have wanted to see that movement proliferate any more than it did – not everyone was a fan and it would be disingenuous to suggest that the Top 40 was jam packed with Britpop tunes every week. This was the mid 90s so dance music was still more than well represented in all its many and varied forms. This year, there was a fashion for rereleasing dance tracks that had been smallish hits fairly recently but which were much bigger smashes second time around. Bobby Brown, Strike, JX, Nightcrawlers, Livin’ Joy, Felix and Happy Clappers were just some of the artists to benefit from this trend.

The tradition of singles slowly climbing the Top 40 to a peak position weeks into their chart life started to disappear this year. I can’t recall if the first week discounting policies by record companies were in full operation by this point or whether it was improved distribution services or bigger promotional budgets for new releases that was the cause but singles were in and out of the charts before you could say ‘Here’s another new entry…’ especially amongst the more niche artists with loyal fan bases. Of the eighteen No 1 singles this year, eleven went straight in at No 1. The exception that proved the rule was “Think Twice” by Celine Dion which hit No 1 in the UK on its 16th week on the chart, a then record climb. If we take a closer look at that list of No 1 singles, we can see that four artists (Michael Jackson, Robson & Jerome, The Outhere Brothers and Take That) had two each accounting for nearly half of those chart toppers. Of the rest, only Britpop heavyweights Blur and Oasis, rapper Coolio and dance act Livin’ Joy could have been categorised as being outside of the established order of artists (at that time anyway). A charity record, a novelty song, a huge ballad and bloody Shaggy made up the rest. I bought one on that list (Oasis). As ever, shite not cream had risen to the top it seemed.

Chart date (week ending)	Song	Artist(s)	Sales
7 January	“Stay Another Day“	East 17
14 January	“Cotton Eye Joe“	Rednex	60,000
21 January			85,000
28 January			70,000
4 February	“Think Twice“	Celine Dion	74,000
11 February			80,000
18 February			86,000
25 February			154,000
4 March			141,000
11 March			120,000
18 March			50,000
25 March	“Love Can Build a Bridge“	Cher, Chrissie Hynde & Neneh Cherry with Eric Clapton	150,000
1 April	“Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)“	The Outhere Brothers	90,000
8 April	“Back for Good“	Take That	346,000
15 April			185,000
22 April			140,000
29 April			85,000
6 May	“Some Might Say“	Oasis	138,000
13 May	“Dreamer“	Livin’ Joy	106,000
20 May	“Unchained Melody” / “White Cliffs of Dover“	Robson & Jerome	314,000
27 May			460,000
3 June			320,000
10 June			210,000
17 June			145,000
24 June			90,000
1 July			73,000
8 July	“Boom Boom Boom“	The Outhere Brothers	62,000
15 July			74,000
22 July			77,000
29 July			65,000
5 August	“Never Forget“	Take That	115,000
12 August			86,000
19 August			54,000
26 August	“Country House“	Blur	274,000
2 September	“Country House“	Blur	135,000
9 September	“You Are Not Alone“	Michael Jackson	83,000
16 September	“You Are Not Alone“	Michael Jackson	100,000
23 September	“Boombastic“	Shaggy	93,000
30 September	“Fairground“	Simply Red	211,000
7 October			142,000
14 October			129,000
21 October			96,000
28 October	“Gangsta’s Paradise“	Coolio featuring LV	107,000
4 November	“Gangsta’s Paradise“	Coolio featuring LV	166,000
11 November	“I Believe” / “Up on the Roof“	Robson & Jerome	258,000
18 November			224,000
25 November			118,000
2 December			80,000
9 December	“Earth Song“	Michael Jackson	116,467
16 December			149,549
23 December			150,739

TOTP increased its use of the ‘golden mic’ celebrity host slot introduced by executive producer Ric Blaxill the year before with guest presenters seemingly in the studio every other week. This year also saw the grand old programme (then in its 32nd year) introduce a new logo, theme tune and title sequence as well as a new set that saw the last remnants of the ‘year zero’ revamp removed forever. As for me, I was into my fifth year of working for Our Price and after multiple store moves in the preceding three years, saw myself ensconced in the Stockport branch for the second time. I would stay there until 1998 when things started to go wrong both professionally and health wise but that’s a while off yet.

Hits That Never Were

Hootie And The Blowfish – “Hold My Hand“

Released: Feb ‘95

Chart peak: No 50

Here we have that not unique but not everyday either phenomenon of an artist that was huge in America but whom we didn’t really take to over here. Hootie & The Blowfish exploded across the States in 1995 with their debut album “Cracked Rear View” which would top the charts there on five different occasions, selling seven million copies in the process and being the best selling album of the year. It went twelve times platinum in the twelve month period January ‘95 to January ‘96. The band had landed a monster. Over in the UK, the album managed much more moderate sales – 100,000 copies in total. Not an amount to be sniffed at but well short of its impact in the States. Why the disparity? Well, if I knew that then I’d be a music mogul millionaire instead of unemployed of Hull. However, perceived wisdom seems to be that America was ready to embrace some good, old fashioned melodic rock (with a hint of blues) after the extremes of grunge that dominated the start of the decade. Here in the UK, our alternative of choice seemed to be Britpop if the music press were to be believed.

“Hold My Hand” was the lead single from the album and made No 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 whilst it failed to make the UK Top 40 at all. Despite that, I would suggest that’s what the band are most known for over here; that and the episode of Friends where Ross, Chandler and Monica go to one of their concerts.

EMF – “Afro King”

Released: Oct ‘95

Chart peak: No 51

By 1995, EMF had resorted to doing a cover of a Monkees song with comedy duo Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer to get a hit record and it worked when “I’m A Believer” went to No 3. That couldn’t be the way forward for the band though so a brand new song was released as a what would turn out to be a standalone single in October. “Afro King” was a great return to form, prompting memories of the excitement of their debut hit “Unbelievable” five years previously. Somehow though, nobody noticed it (except me) and it petered out at a lowly chart peak of No 51. That was despite the safety net of one of the CD singles featuring the band’s first three hits.

With the failure of “Afro King” to make the Top 40, the band’s gambit had failed and they split. There have been numerous reunions and hiatuses over the years but they are currently together and released an album of new material in April 2022. One last thing, my wife and I used the intro sample (“Long live the king! It isn’t a king, just a queen with a moustache!”) for our answer machine message for a while. I never have worked out what it’s a sample of.

Ash – “Kung Fu”

Released: Mar ‘95

Chart peak: No 57

To the uninitiated like me, “Girl From Mars” was the first time I became aware of Ash but in fact they’d released four singles before that first Top 40 hit including this one – “Kung Fu” – the lead single from their debut studio album “1977”. A typical Ash thrash through two minutes and seventeen seconds of glorious pop-punk, its lyrics name check the obvious (Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan) the malappropriate (Daniel-san and Mr. Mirage from The Karate Kid*) and The Ramones (‘teenage lobotomy’ is a reference to their 1977 song of the same name).

*Karate and Kung Fu are entirely different martial arts with the former originating in Japan and the latter in China.

The cover of the single featured Eric Cantona’s assaulting that bloke in the Crystal Palace crowd with what the press described as a ‘Kung fu kick’. That incident occurred on 25 January with the resulting court case occurring three days after the Ash single was released. They couldn’t have synchronised the two events any better in terms of promotion for the single and yet it still couldn’t get them their first chart hit. “Girl From Mars” would get that particular job done a few months later. I wonder if there was any consideration given to rereleasing “Kung Fu” in the light of that breakthrough success? I guess it mattered not as “Girl From Mars” was the first of thirteen consecutive Top 40 singles for the band over the next seven years. “Kung Fu” got its own bit of spotlight though. In a case of life imitating art, it was featured in the film Rumble In The Bronx starring Jackie Chan.

Scarlet – “Love Hangover”

Released: Aug ‘’95

Chart peak: No 54

Not quite one hit wonders but almost certainly remembered for a single song, Scarlet really should have had a bigger legacy. “Independent Love Song” is rightly held up as a scorching example of how to write a startling track in the sphere of what we call pop music but there was more to them. “I Wanna Be Free (To Be With Him)” made No 21 in the charts and then there was this. “Love Hangover” was the third single released from their debut album and it’s another well crafted, accomplished composition full of melody and hooks. Somehow though, the UK record buying public saw fit to ignore the song, buying the likes of The Outhere Brothers and Shaggy in huge quantities instead.

*Tuts*

Cheryl Parker and Jo Youle went their separate ways after their second album bombed and are now only ‘Facebook friends’. Both continued to write songs initially but Jo is now chief executive of the “Missing People” charity and received an OBE in 2022 for her work with them.

Nick Heyward – “The World”

Released: Sep ‘95

Chart peak: No 47

As ever with these epilogue pieces, it’s time for me to check in on what Mr Nicholas Heyward (the greatest living Englishman) was up to this year as he’ll have not been in either the Top 40 or, by extension, on TOTP having been cruelly ignored by the record buying public once again. In 1995, Nick released his fifth solo studio album entitled “Tangled” which managed to do something his previous three releases hadn’t done, it charted. Admittedly, it was only at No 93 but I guess that was progress. The lead single from it was “The World” which would suffer the same fate as most of his singles – it peaked just outside the Top 40 at No 47. As usual, Nick was probably seen as not being hip enough for these Britpop times and yet, ironically, both “Tangled” and previous album “From Monday To Sunday” were almost blueprints for quintessentially British pop songwriting at its best. That progress I talked about earlier would be extended in early 1996 when Nick actually managed to get a single into the Top 40 with the second release off the album “Rollerblade” peaking at No 37 making it his first such hit since “Warning Sign” in 1984. No doubt I’ll end up talking about that song in the epilogue post for 1996 in the Hits We Missed section.

Hits We Missed

The Boo Radleys – Find The Answer Within

Released: May ‘95

Chart peak: No 37

I didn’t really know The Boo Radleys before “Wake Up Boo!” and its parent album “Wake Up!” and, in all honesty, I didn’t follow their career that closely after it but I loved this era of the band. And it wasn’t all about that single, the staple of breakfast radio shows. “Find The Answer Within” was the follow up and, for me, it was vastly superior but it seemed most people disagreed with me judging by its chart peak.

The case of The Boo Radleys is a classic example of an artist’s biggest hit dwarfing everything else they ever did. Even just within this one album, there’s some great songs like “Twinside” and “Wilder” but aside from individual tracks, it hangs together as a whole entity with design and purpose. 1996’s “C’mon Kids” sustained some of the momentum that “Wake Up!” had brought the band though by the end of the decade they were relegated to the outermost fringes of the charts. They split in 1999 but a twenty-five year anniversary reunion prompted them to release two albums in two years though without original songwriter and guitarist Martin Carr. I really should check in again with them and check out what they’ve been doing and who knows, I might find the answer within.

The Stone Roses – Ten Storey Love Song

Released: Feb ‘95

Chart peak: No 11

The fuss surrounding the release of The Stone Roses’ sophomore album “Second Coming” on 5th December 1994 fell away pretty quickly once people had actually heard it. In a way, it was doomed to fail to meet expectations given the mythical status that had been bestowed upon it by the music press and fans during its five and a half year gestation period. A combination of a release date right up against Christmas and mixed reviews with accusations of over indulgence and criticism of the length of its tracks diluted its impact significantly. However, in amongst those overly long songs was one of a more traditional length despite the claims of its title. “Ten Storey Love Song” was the second single released from the album as the follow up to the rather bloated “Love Spreads” and always felt like a leaner, cleaner track than its predecessor despite its elongated, rather mystic intro – much more radio friendly and yet it only made it to No 11 in the charts. It always seemed rather unappreciated to me. Aside from the album’s third single “Begging You” and a couple of remixes of “Fool’s Gold”, it would be the final release by the band for twenty-one years until “All For One” in 2016.

Gigolo Aunts – Where I Find My Heaven

Released : May ‘95

Chart peak: No 29

Nearly 30 years have passed since “Where I Find My Heaven” by Gigolo Aunts was a hit and I still get it confused with “Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms. My perplexity can maybe be explained and forgiven by the following mitigating circumstances:

Both bands were American
Both bands played a brand of power pop/rock
Both bands had two word names with the first word beginning with ‘G’
Both bands had their biggest hit within a year or so of each other in the mid 90s.

Perhaps I should use the following details to distinguish between them:

“Where I Find My Heaven” was used as the theme tune to the BBC sitcom Game On about the lives of three flatmates in Battersea, south-west London which I quite enjoyed.
The track was also included on the soundtrack to the film Dumb And Dumber.

Gigolo Aunts would never have another UK Top 40 hit whereas Gin Blossons would have four in total (another difference) though you’d probably have to be a bit of a superfan to name them.

Crash Test Dummies – The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead

Released: Jan ‘95

Chart peak: No 30

Canadian band Crash Test Dummies are pretty much mostly known in this country for their 1994 No 2 hit “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” but they’ve actually had three UK Top 40 records. Follow up single “Afternoons & Coffeespoons” made No 23 and then there was this – their version of “The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead”. Now I did talk about the XTC original in my review of 1992 under the Hits That Never Were section so I probably didn’t need to cover it again here but there’s a nice little link with Gin Blossoms so I’m including it again here. Released as the second single from XTC’s “Nonsuch” album, it was cruelly ignored by the public causing it to peak at No 71. It was reactivated three years later by Crash Test Dummies for the soundtrack of…yep…Dumb & Dumber. It’s not a bad version either but compared to the original, it just sounds like a diluted facsimile. The video features actor Jeff Daniels reprising his role from the film as Harry Dunne in a story that apes the narrative from the song’s lyrics with a rather disturbing scene of his character almost being hung to death, a fate he escapes courtesy of the pumpkin on his head.

Alanis Morissette – You Oughta Know

Released: Jul ‘95

Chart peak: No 22

From one Canadian artist to another. Alanis Morissette created quite the controversy with this expletive laden, snarling rock track at the time. “You Oughta Know” was just so aggressive sounding that you couldn’t ignore it. Those lyrics! I mean…

Is she perverted like me?

Would she go down on you in a theatre?…

…And are you thinking of me when you fuck her?

Songwriters: Glen Ballard / Alanis Nadine Morissette
You Oughta Know lyrics © Vanhurst Place Music, Arlovol Music, Songs Of Universal Inc.

Gulp! The album it came from – “Jagged Little Pill” had to receive the treatment usually reserved for rap artists – a parental warning sticker and the availability of a ‘clean’ version of the album with the offending lyrics muted. The track was picked up by Modern Rock radio station KROQ-FM in America which led to heavy rotation for its video on MTV. Having spent the early years of her career being promoted and received as the Canadian Debbie Gibson or Tiffany, the transformation of her music and image was enormous. “Jagged Little Pill” would furnish six hit singles and sell 33 million copies worldwide (mine was one of them). Alanis Morissette was officially huge…until an Irish comedian called Ed Byrne realised that the lyrics to one of those hits – “Ironic” – weren’t actually examples of irony but rather bad luck and built a routine around it which took lumps out of her reputation as a songwriter. Not that Alanis just disappeared. Follow up album “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie” was also a US chart topper but it sold a quarter of the numbers its predecessor achieved. She continues to record and release albums to this day but it’s the “Jagged Little Pill” era that she remains best known for and it started with this sweary, angry rant of a song. Lovely stuff.

Their season in the sun

MN8

One big hit with a single that some cruelly mocked as being about their penis size (“I’ve Got A Little Something For You”), and then an oft seen case of diminishing returns. A second album released the year after was as popular as as the Tories. Apparently still together, there has been no new material from them since November 1996.

Possibly benefitting from the post Christmas sales slump, this oddball collective combined folk, techno and bluegrass to bring the world “Cotton Eye Joe” and like idiots we lapped it up making it the first new No 1 of the year. An identikit follow up…erm…followed but then nothing and thank the lord for that. The Rednex brand lives on with a pool of band members to rival The Fall and a 24/7 live streaming channel on Twitch. Mind boggling.

Scatman John

In the same vein as Rednex came this guy, a jazz pianist who would overcome his stutter to become a scat singer. Combining that with rap and house beats, he hit big with “Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)” going to No 3 in the UK. A further Top 10 hit followed before we all got sick of the joke and he disappeared from whence he came. Sadly, Scatman John died in 1999 aged just 57 from lung cancer.

The Mike Flowers Pops

Novelty records were all the rage in 1995, even if they didn’t know they were novelty records. Rednex, Scatman John and now this easy listening take on “Wonderwall” by Oasis. Almost the surprise Christmas No 1 when arriving late on chart from nowhere, the bewigged Mr Flowers (no relation to tuba playing, member of Sky Herbie) and his pals enjoyed brief fame in the wake of the success of “Wonderwall” but have not been near the charts since 1996 when a cover of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” took them to No 30.

The Outhere Brothers

Of all the shite that 1995 delivered to the charts this year (and there was a lot of it), I think these two prats annoyed me the most. What was it about this duo and their call and response moronic chant records that engaged our nation so much. Two consecutive No 1s and two other Top 10 hits in a calendar year suggests either a nationwide dereliction of taste or that I was missing something. I wasn’t though.

Last Words

Well, it wasn’t the worst of years but it also wasn’t the best. History will no doubt forever view it through the filter of ‘The Battle of Britpop’ which felt seismic at the time, an event that not only dominated the musical landscape but also that shook the cultural one too. In retrospect, does it all seem a bit daft now? Maybe. I still didn’t seem to be buying many singles from within the Top 40 though my albums collection expanded this year. A sobering thought is that for all of Britpop’s posturing, for all the media frenzy of Oasis v Blur, for all those bangin’ dance tunes crossing over from the clubs to the charts, the act that had the ability to sell the most singles and albums this year were two actors in their thirties from a TV military drama.

TOTP 12 JAN 1995

Posted on July 25, 2023 by 80stastic

Christmas and New Year have disappeared from view and we are well into January 1995 with the Top 40 singles chart ringing the changes. The bloat which saw festive hits lingering like left over turkey has dissipated as some brand new hits appear. I say brand new but the first song on tonight was onto its third attempt at chart glory. N–Trance were sound engineering students Kevin O’Toole and Dale Longworth who met at Oldham college and teamed up with a then 16 year old Kelly Llorenna on vocals to record “Set You Free” in 1992. It failed to make the Top 40 when released the following year but a second go saw it secure a chart peak of No 39 in 1994. That still wasn’t deemed satisfactory so a third release was commissioned with a shiny new remix and it would finally power up the charts all the way to No 2. I think it would probably be described as a ‘dance floor banger’ by those knowledgeable about such things but it sounds a bit like “Insanity” by Oceanic to me and I sometimes conflate the two. Despite both having euphoric, anthemic choruses though, “Set You Free” also features a break beat which is reminiscent of early Prodigy material.

I’m guessing the obligatory two anonymous blokes on keyboards here are O’Toole and Longworth but they also have a Bez type geezer dancing in the background in a boiler suit and sporting an oh so mid 90s curtains haircut. Excellent! One of the keyboard guys comes to the front of the stage to mess about with a guitar near the end of the performance but it’s not very convincing. Maybe he was setting his inner axe hero persona free.

I didn’t catch that much of Glastonbury 2023, just the headline acts each night and this year’s festival winner Rick Astley mainly. One band I did seek out though were The Lightning Seeds. I’ve always been a sucker for well crafted pop songs and Ian Broudie certainly knows his way around a good tune. I first became aware of his songwriting in 1983 via the nearly-hit single “Flaming Sword” by one of his early bands Care (though I didn’t actually know that Broudie was one of the band members). Then when “Pure” came out in 1989 by his new vehicle The Lightning Seeds, it shone out of the darkness of the late 80s house dominated charts like a lighthouse to me – a cracking pop single. By 1992, Broudie had teamed up with Terry Hall for the “Sense” album and single whilst “Life Of Riley” (written for his son) would become synonymous with Match Of The Day in the 90s when it was used to soundtrack the ‘Goal of the Month’ section.

However, it would be the band’s third studio album “Jollification” that would see them become chart regulars producing four Top 40 hit singles. However, the album got off to a faltering start with lead single “Lucky You” failing to make the Top 40 in the August of 1994 (it would peak at No 15 when rereleased in 1995). As such, there must have been a lot riding on the album’s second single “Change”. As it turned out, it would prove to be the band’s biggest hit (at the time) when it progressed to No 13. I think record label Epic pushed it (and the album) hard promotionally – there were strawberry scented promo copies of “Jollification” sent out as I recall. That success lit the blue touch paper on the band’s career heralding a run of nine consecutive Top 40 hits including a No 1.

Ah yes, that No 1 single. Both a huge money spinner if we’re being cynical (it’s been a hit four times) and the killer blow of any credibility the band might have had for many but there’s no denying the cultural impact of “Three Lions”. Originally released for the 1996 Euros, it’s resurfaced for just about every subsequent football tournament England have competed in since – it returned to No 1 in 1998 and 2018. Its appeal might just be on the wane finally though having seemingly been usurped by Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” for some unfathomable reason. With that huge commercial success though came accusations of sellout and naffness similar to the fate that befell Level 42 (maybe there was a curse for bands whose name began with an ‘L’?). Some of the people I worked with at Our Price hated The Lightning Seeds for being too mainstream and the default safe choice of artist for the shop stereo. I could see their point but I still quite liked the songs.

That’s all to come though. Back in early 1995, “Change” was charging up the charts and although not really part of the scene, the band were probably helped in their commercial fortunes by the parallel emergence of Britpop. Fast forward 28 years and the aforementioned Riley Broudie is now a member of the band playing on a stage at Glastonbury alongside his Dad. However, ultimately I was a bit disappointed with their set. Maybe those catchy pop tunes didn’t really suit a massive outdoor music festival. Still, they seemed to be having a jolly old time of it, one might even say they were living the life of Riley (ahem).

So after my claim about the show being littered with new hits at the top of the post, here’s a song that had been on the nation’s collective consciousness for nearly 9 months. To be fair to me, it was a new ‘hit’ if not a new ‘track’. The interval during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest had unwittingly unleashed a cultural phenomenon upon an unsuspecting global audience. The spectacular that was “Riverdance” combining Irish folk music with modern dance and featuring principal dancers Jean Butler and Michael Flatley had wowed the watching TV hordes and would totally eclipse the winning song that year (it was “Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids” by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan for Ireland once more for all you pedants out there).

The song from the performance by composer Bill Whelan was rush released in Ireland due to the public response and would top the charts there for 18 weeks (keeping Wet Wet Wet off No 1). It was a different story in the UK where it loitered around the edges of the Top 100 for months until it was reactivated by an appearance at the Royal Variety Performance sending it crashing into the Top 10 where it would peak at No 9. By this point, the whole phenomenon had been turned into a stage show opening in February 1995 with a soundtrack album from it also released. The show has visited over 450 venues and been seen by over 25 million people since its opening. In retrospect, its success rather makes host Mar Goodier’s comment in his intro “just watch the footwork” seem rather trite and silly.

The whole Riverdance happening didn’t really make my feet tap though. Indeed, if we’re talking Irish interval acts at Eurovision then there’s only one for me…

I used the words ‘totally eclipse’ earlier whilst discussing Riverdance and if I’m using them again about a song title then that can only mean one thing…Bonnie Tyler. Well, actually it doesn’t but it does mean “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” or rather the nastiest cover version of it you could ever imagine. Everything about this is wrong. The idea in the first place, its execution, the TOTP performance – this is just pure karaoke nonsense. A hi-NRG version of a Jim Steinman power ballad? What?! How?! Why?! It wasn’t even a totally new concept – Rage had produced a danced up take of “Run To You” by Bryan Adams which went Top 3 in 1992. Hadn’t we all realised what a terrible, useless mistake that mess had been by 1995?! The vocalist tasked with bringing the record into being was one Nicki French who had previously been a cruise ship singer just four years before. This sounds really awful but her performance here has definite cruise cabaret vibes. You can almost see the look of disbelief and melancholy on the faces of her band that their careers as musicians had come to this.

As with N-Trance earlier, Nicki’s single had been out before in 1993 and had peaked at No 54 but the rerelease would take her all the way to No 5. In a bizarre turn of events both Nicki and Bonnie Tyler would end up representing the UK at Eurovision – Nicki in 2000 and Bonnie in 2013. Neither won obviously.

Some proper music at last! Contrary to popular opinion (including my own probably), Britpop wasn’t the only game in town in 1995. There was also the emergence of trip hop. The name was first coined in an article in Mixmag magazine in 1994 about DJ Shadow (an artist my aforementioned Our Price colleagues did love) but its origins lay at the start of the decade in Bristol. Fusing hip hop with electronica into a downbeat yet affecting sound, the main protagonists of the genre were Tricky, Massive Attack and of course Portishead, according to the music press anyway. “Glory Box” was the latter’s third single and second chart hit after “Sour Times” the Summer before and it was, let’s be fair, a tune. Haunting, shimmering, hypnotic we’re just some of the descriptors used to give expression to its sound. Singer Beth Gibbons unique voice was a main ingredient in the recipe I think. Their debut album “Dummy” which housed all three singles would go to No 2 and three times platinum in the UK and would win the Mercury Music Prize in 1995 beating the likes of Britpop heavyweights Oasis and Supergrass.

My ever more fashionable wife was into Portishead from the get go and bought the album whilst I didn’t even know quite how to pronounce their name thinking initially it was ‘Porti-shed’. Clearly geography hadn’t been my strongest subject at school as the band took their name from a North Somerset town 8 miles to the west of Bristol. This from a guy who was working in a mainstream record shop at the time! The band were never devotees of fame and celebrity though and took 3 years to follow up “Dummy” with their eponymous second album which performed well but nowhere near the numbers of its predecessor. To date, the band have still only released three albums with the last coming in 2008. Theor active status has been on and off since 1999 but they are currently an ongoing entity and performed a benefit concert in 2022 for refugees and children affected by the war in Ukraine.

Who the hell are this lot? Well, they might not have registered on my radar but The Almighty were briefly a big deal. Scottish heavy rockers from a punk background, their third album “”Powertrippin’” made No 5 on the UK charts in 1993. This track “Jonestown Mind” was from the follow up “Crank” and would be their highest charting single when it peaked at No 26.

It’s not really my thing at all so I haven’t got much to say about The Almighty other than the band’s name puts me in mind of this clip from Life Of Brian:

And the title of the song of this from Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters series:

Go to 3:00

Now if we’re talking Scottish rockers, here’s a band who I feel much more qualified to comment on. Like many I’m guessing, I first became aware of Simple Minds in 1982 with their breakthrough chart hit “Promised You A Miracle” – I’d been blissfully unaware of their first four studio albums – and by 1984 was impressed enough to buy their “Sparkle In The Rain” album (on white vinyl no less!). I also didn’t mind their much maligned ‘stadium rock’ era and even bought “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”. They ended the 80s with a No 1 single and album in “Belfast Child” and “Street Fighting Years” respectively. The 90s though were more of a struggle. 1991’s “Real Life” sold well enough but was poorly received by the critics and a rethink was required with a gap of four years to the next album filled by an albeit very successful retread of past glories in Best Of “Glittering Prize 81/92”. 1995 saw the release of “Good News From The Next World” and lead single “She’s A River” and guess what? It sounded just like Simple Minds. As I say, no bad thing in my book but it was hardly a new direction to reignite their career. Still, maybe they didn’t need to do that and this new material was flame enough to keep the home fires burning a little longer yet. After all, the single did make the Top 10. However, it would be the last time the band were ever so high in the charts. A second single from the album called “Hypnotised” made the Top 20 but the writing was on the wall for their commercial fortunes. They continue to record and tour however and the nucleus of Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill remains in place.

Now about this live by satellite performance. A few weeks back Jamiroquai played from a building from which you could see the Eiffel Tower in the background. Enter Simple Minds to run with that concept but take it up 1000 notches. Never mind seeing one of the planet’s most recognisable landmarks in the background, we want to play at the top of the damn thing! It makes for quite a vista and is certainly up there with Bon Jovi’s Niagara Falls performance. It also brings to mind the video for Duran Duran’s James Bond song “A View To A Kill” which was filmed at the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully there’s no repeat of that video’s ending here. No, I don’t mean the Eiffel Tower blowing up but rather that there’s no awful breaking of the fourth wall moment when a fan approaches Simon Le Bon and asks “Excuse me…aren’t you?” to which the singer replies “Bon. Simon Le Bon”. I suppose “Kerr. Jim Kerr” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it anyway.

Before the new No 1, host Mark Goodier introduces us to new Radio 1 DJ Lisa I’Anson who had taken over the station’s weekday lunchtime show and I’m pretty sure would go on to present a few TOTPs.

As to said No 1 by Rednex, I asked a Facebook group recently if “Cotton Eye Joe” was the worst song of the 90s? I was roundly scolded in the replies with respondents quoting the likes of Mr Blobby, Teletubbies, Flat Eric, Spice Girls, Westlife and even The Fugees at me. Fair enough I guess though my favourite reply came from someone who simply asked me “Are you on drugs?”.

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	N-Trance	Set You Free	Nope
2	The Lightning Seeds	Change	I thought I had the Jollification album but can’t find it
3	Bill Whelan	Riverdance	No
4	Nicki French	Total Eclipse Of The Heart	As if
5	Portishead	Glory Box	No but my wife had the album
6	The Almighty	Jonestown Mind	Nah
7	Simple Minds	She’s A River	Think I might have it on a Best of somewhere
8	Rednex	Cotton Eye Joe	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/m001nq1p/top-of-the-pops-12011995

TOTP 05 JAN 1995

Posted on July 17, 2023 by 80stastic

It’s time to welcome in the New Year…of 1995. As I recall I was in a curry house in Rusholme, Manchester with my wife and a friend as the midnight struck on New Year’s Eve. The head waiter announced to everyone in the restaurant the following:

“Ladies and gentlemen; we have just slipped into 1995”

…with a very salacious emphasis on the word ‘slipped’. It was all very unsavoury. Anyway, 1995 it was and what a year it would turn out to be. Britpop exploded, the unfashionable Blackburn Rovers win the Premier League (try telling your kids that) and pubs are allowed to stay open throughout Sunday afternoons for the first time.

Meanwhile, over at TOTP, the first new show of the year is hosted by comedian Jack Dee for the second time and who does he introduce as the first artist as we enter the mid point of the 90s? A synth band from the early 80s. Yep, for all its Britpop associations, 1995 opens with The Human League. If you ignore the single “Heart Like A Wheel” which made a lowly No 29 in 1990 (and I am), this was the band’s first major hit since “Human” made the Top 10 in 1986. That song had been a US chart topper with American audiences unable to resist the band’s attempt at a soul ballad, aided by Janet Jackson producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. However, their 1995 offering “Tell Me When” was nothing like “Human” and was instead a return to their early 80s synth sound on which they’d made their name. The lead single from seventh studio album “Octopus” (terrible title), it really did sound like an anachronism – a pleasant anachronism but an anachronism all the same. Quite why it cut through with the record buying public of early 1995 I’m not quite sure although it did top the airplay charts so obviously that will have boosted its chances.

Phil Oakey’s distinctive vocals sound ever so slightly wobbly in this TOTP performance, not helped by the amount of words in the lyrics of the verses; there seem to be too many causing him to almost stumble. Still, the chorus is an absolute winner recalling the glories of “(Keep Feeling) Fascination” and “Don’t You Want Me”. The band were being promoted as a trio of Phil, Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall by this point and I have to say I don’t recognise the other three guys up their on stage with them. I think most of the classic line up had departed by then. The sight of all six just standing in a straight line like a New Romantic chorus line is a bit jarring but they just about get away with it with Susan’s Sally Bowles from Cabaret vibe the standout. And Phil still had hair!

The album was their first for new label eastwest since being released by Virgin Records and performed solidly going to No 6 and producing another hit single in the Susan Sulley sung “One Man In My Heart”. Heartened by their success, the band went back out on tour whilst Virgin decided to cash in on their former charges by rereleasing their 1988 Greatest Hits album but with “Tell Me When” tacked onto it. A challenge this year from Pulp to the title of the biggest band from Sheffield not withstanding, The Human League were back.

Despite a new song to start a new year (albeit from an old artist), the charts around this time were usually stagnated after the Christmas rush and the next song is the first of four that we’ve already seen not that long ago on the show. In fact this one, “Eternal Love” by PJ & Duncan, had already peaked at No 12 and started descending the charts but the slow sales after the Christmas rush had created a rather false scenario which saw the record go back up the Top 40 from No 16 to No 14.

I’ve recently been binge watching the Channel 4 sit com Derry Girls (I know, where have I been?!) and there’s an episode where the gang go to see a Take That concert in Belfast. Inevitably, various events delay them on their journey including an escaped polar bear and a bomb scare. When they realise that they are running late, one of the characters points out that they’ve already missed the support act who are PJ & Duncan. Expressions of crushing disappointment ensue amongst the group. This got me thinking – was that based on fact or a work of fiction courtesy of the script writers? So I checked. As Derry Girls is set in the 90s and the episode concerned occurs at a time when Robbie Williams was still in the band, I checked for concerts between 1992 and 1995 and as far as I can tell, PJ & Duncan did not support Take That. The support acts that I found listed were Eternal, Ultimate Kaos and an act called Overlord X.

Just in case my Take That concert research hasn’t made me look sad enough, I think that I should say, in the spirit of full disclosure, that I have actively attended a Take That concert myself! It was in 2009 and I went because my younger sister (a big fan) had been let down by a friend who was meant to be going with her so I stepped into the breach. And you know what, they were great fun making the crowd forget all about the terrible weather (it was at Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester). Oh and the support that day? It was meant to be a young Lady Ga Ga and some bloke called Gary Go but Ga Ga went doolally and didn’t turn up so we got an extended set from Mr Go. It could have been worse I suppose – it could have been PJ & Duncan.

A future No 1 incoming. For now though, “Think Twice” by Celine Dion is up to No 4 on its 9th week inside the Top 40. It would get held up at No 2 for a further three weeks before finally getting to the chart summit. Its thirteen consecutive weeks rise to the top was a chart record and when it got there it stayed for nearly two months. Why was it so enduring? Well, the UK record buying public had already shown in spectacular fashion in the 90s that it was an utter sucker for big ballads with the towering stretches at the top of the charts of “Love Is All Around” and “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” and “Think Twice” was certainly a big ballad so maybe we shouldn’t have been too surprised by its success. Plus, Celine had already put us on notice of her penchant for a huge love song with her cover of Jennifer Rush’s “The Power Of Love” so she had it in her armoury to inflict some major damage on the charts. Added to all of that, “Think Twice” was written by Andy Hill and Peter Sinfield who had a history when it came to writing UK chart toppers having been responsible for “The Land Of Make Believe” for Bucks Fizz. Even so, the song’s tenure in the charts and slow gestation to becoming a No 1 did seem like an anomaly. I think I’ll leave it at that for now. Seven weeks at No 1? Sheesh!

Becoming more regular than Rishi Sunak reciting his five pledges, here comes another future No 1 and unbelievably it’s worse than Celine Dion’s chart topper. Much worse. We have reached a definite low point in 90s music. The time of Rednex is upon us. Who were these people that were responsible for one of the rottenest singles of the decade? Well, they were a trio of Swedish producers who hit upon the idea / dastardly plot to fuse Eurodance and American country folk music into a diabolical hybrid. The first result of this experiment of the devil was “Cotton Eye Joe”, a bastardised version of “Cotton Eyed Joe”, a 19th century song that possibly had its origins in the slave communities working on plantations in the Deep South. It’s a ridiculous notion cheaply executed.

They needed some stooges to front the single so they recruited this ragtag collection of…well…ragtags. To make the whole project look more authentic, they were given rustic stage names which only made the debacle look more risible. Ace Ratclaw, Boneduster Crock, Ken Tacky and my personal favourite Jiggie McClagganahan were just some of the pseudonyms used. With depressing predictability, “Cotton Eye Joe” went to No 1 all around Europe including the UK where it remained in pole position for three weeks. In fact, it would get to the top of the charts before Celine Dion and would be the record they kept her at No 2 for three consecutive weeks. So, let me get this straight; we are looking at ten weeks at No 1 spilt between records by Rednex and Celine Dion. Yeah, 1995, the year of Britpop my arse!

It’s purveyors of melodic UK rock Thunder next who had been having consistent yet decidedly average sized hits since the start of the decade. Albums wise it was a different story though. Their second album “Laughing On Judgement Day” had gone straight in at No 2 and sold 100,000 copies in 1992/3. This single – “Stand Up” – was the lead single from follow up “Behind Closed Doors” which itself went silver and peaked at No 5. However, “Stand Up” couldn’t disrupt the pattern of middling success for Thunder singles when it peaked at No 23. Of the eighteen UK Top 40 hits the band achieved, none went higher than No 18.

I don’t recall “Stand Up” at all but listening back to it, there’s a definite whiff of “Crazy Horses” by The Osmonds to it. No really, listen to that chugging guitar backing. Well, I guess as a rock band they couldn’t really have done a cover of “Love Me For A Reason” could they?! Ahem.

A true one hit wonder next – one huge, mega smash and then zip, nada, nothing although to be fair to Ini Kamoze, he had been around for years making reggae/dancehall material with the likes of Sly and Robbie before his big commercial breakthrough with “Here Comes The Hotstepper”. I didn’t know any of that at the time though. Like most of us I’m guessing, he was the man with the song that went “naaa na na na naaa etc” who also described himself as a “lyrical gangster” as mentioned by Jack Dee in his intro. You had to give it to Ini, his dancehall/hip-hop/ pop fusion tune was damned catchy but then he had lifted said “naaa” hook from “Land Of 1000 Dances” made most famous by Wilson Pickett.

Two other things spring to my mind when talking about “Here Comes The Hotstepper”. Firstly, its use in one of the worst films I’ve ever had the misfortune to see – Prêt–à–Porter. A satirical-comedy (supposedly) on the circus that is Paris Fashion Week, it is one of only two films I have ever considered walking out of. The other was Young Einstein starring Yahoo Serious which I did leave before the end and whilst I made it to the end of Prêt–à-Porter, it turned out that the two people I went to see it with had spent the entire movie on the verge of leaving as well.

Secondly, and I can find no evidence of this online but I’m sure that it happened, when one of those hit compilations came out around this time that included “Here Comes The Hotstepper”, the track listing didn’t show Ini Kamoze but ‘I’m A Kamikaze’. I swear this happened but 29 years later I can’t remember which hits album it was on. My first thought was the relevant entry in the Now series but all the images online of the track listing for Now 31 show the correct spelling. Maybe it was an error on initial copies and any reorders were corrected? I don’t know but I’m convinced that it happened. “Here Comes The Hotstepper” made No 4 in the UK and was a No 1 record the US.

And so to a band who did feel able to do a cover of The Osmonds’ “Love Me For A Reason” but then Boyzone were hardly Thunder. With Take That still at the height of their commercial appeal at this point, was there really a need or indeed gap in the market for another boy band? Apparently there was as the five, fresh faced Irish lads were up to No 2 with their debut UK hit. Before the 90s were said and done, they would have accrued a further 15 none of which peaked lower than No 4 and included 6 chart toppers. Admittedly, two thirds of them (and all of those No 1s) came after Take That had called it a day (or so we thought) in 1996 and there definitely was an opening down the boy band Job Centre. Even so, despite their obvious credentials for the position, you’d have to say they took full advantage of the opportunity.

The band set out their stall early on with this performance. Ronan Keating was clearly the main guy with his gold coloured jacket while the rest of them are in black but, as co-vocalist, Stephen Gateley gets to share the spotlight alongside Ronan. The other three guys are relegated to the back to spend most of their time doing what can only be described as ‘arm dancing’ – seriously, they hardly move their feet at all during the whole thing. Westlife would take this inaction to a new level when they turned up as the decade was ending and seemed to spend most of their time singing sickly ballads whilst sat on stools.

We end with another boy band (of sorts) as East 17 remain at the top with Christmas No 1 “Stay Another Day”. This was literally the moment when the band were at their peak. A week later they were deposed from their throne by Rednex and they would never return to the chart summit. That’s not to say they weren’t heard of again. 1995 would bring two more hit singles from their “Steam” album plus a third studio album in “Up All Night” with the lead single from it going to No 4. By early 1997 though, Brian Harvey had given that radio interview and things would start to unravel…

Order of appearance	Artist	Title	Did I buy it?
1	The Human League	Tell Me When	Nope
2	PJ & Duncan	Eternal Love	Nah
3	Celine Dion	Think Twice	As if
4	Rednex	Cotton Eye Joe	NO!!!
5	Thunder	Stand Up	Nah
6	~~I’m A Kamikaze~~ Ini Kamoze	Here Comes The Hotstepper	No but I think my wife did
7	Boyzone	Love Me For A Reason	Never happening
8	East 17	Stay Another Day	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/m001nq1m/top-of-the-pops-05011995