Reef

TOTP 24 JAN 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

Two days before this TOTP aired, Billy Mackenzie committed suicide and the world lost one of its truly unique voices. Like most people I’m guessing, I first became aware of Billy in 1982 when the band he formed with Alan Rankine, The Associates, burst into the charts with “Party Fears Two”. I didn’t realise that they’d been going for three years before that. All I knew was that they made the most beguilingly wonderful sound. They followed it up with the similarly marvellous “Club Country” and “18 Carat Love Affair” but the runaway success train got derailed by Rankine’s decision to leave the band. There would be no more new music from The Associates until 1985 when the album “Perhaps” was released. Although none of the singles release from it made the Top 40, they were still quality tunes especially the stunning “Breakfast”. Billy continued to write and record under The Associates banner until 1990 when he struck out as a solo artist. However, any further chart success would prove elusive. A couple of years after his death, his biography, The Glamour Chase, was published which I read and it was a fascinating book. Billy really was an original – one of my favourite anecdotes was when he was let go by his record label, he hailed a cab in London and travelled back to his home city of Dundee charging the fare back to the label. He is truly missed. The Associates are stated to have influenced the likes of Björk, U2 and Ladytron. I wonder if any of the acts on tonight will have left such a legacy?

Before proceeding, I should acknowledge that the host tonight is Phil Daniels who’d had a few connections with music down the years. From fronting new wave band The Cross to his iconic role as Jimmy Cooper in Quadrophenia to his cameo in Blur’s “Parklife”, Daniels was an almost logical choice of TOTP guest presenter. So first on tonight are…you have to be kidding me?! The Outhere Brothers?!They were still having hits in 1997?! How and more importantly why?! You’ll remember this pointless duo from having consecutive No 1s in 1995 with “Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)” and “Boom Boom Boom” which were horrible, lowest common denominator, call and response chants. Their success was unexplainable to me but as we move into 1997 with these TOTP repeats, I was fairly sure that particular shameful episode in UK chart history was over. I was wrong, so sadly wrong. This final hit was called “Let Me Hear You Say ‘Ole ‘Ole” (of course it was) and it was garbage. It just sounds like a load of drunks at a football match. Who the hell bought this?! No, seriously who?!

Legacy rating: Zero. Nothing. Nada.

In January 1997, Suede were in the middle of the most commercial era of their career. Their third album “Coming Up” had been out for about five months and they were promoting it hard with a tour and five singles taken from it. “Saturday Night” was the third of those and its release conformed to that well worn path of two fast ones followed by a slow one. A ballad written to glorify the beauty to be found in the everyday, it continued the band’s run of Top 10 hits by debuting at a very respectable No 6. Not bad for a third single from an album. As it’s a ballad, Brett Anderson is sat down on a chair for this performance – perhaps he took inspiration from this lyric from the song:

Today she’s been sat there, sat there in a black chair

Office furniture

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Brett Anderson / Richard Oakes
Saturday Night lyrics © BMG Rights Management

I caught Suede on that aforementioned tour a few weeks after this TOTP appearance in Blackburn when they were supported by Mansun. That was a good gig.

Legacy rating: For a band that could have buckled under the weight of expectation of that ‘The most important band in Britain’ headline early in their career, Suede have sustained remarkably well. A solid 7/10

You know me, I’m a pop kid. R&B isn’t my go to choice on Spotify but if I had to choose an artist of that genre then En Vogue would be up there. It might be the harmonies or the genre-bending tunes like “Free Your Mind” but they just seemed to have an edge to them that made them stand out. “Don’t Let Go (Love)” was another such track. The word seductive’ doesn’t really cover this one. It’s a great track that would end up being the lead single from the group’s third album “EV3” although it was originally recorded for the soundtrack of the heist drama Set It Off . It would also usher in a huge change in the group’s line up as lead vocalist on this track Dawn Robinson decided to leave En Vogue to pursue a solo career rather than record “EV3”. That would trigger a host of changes personnel-wise that would make the band’s members timeline more bitty than “It Keeps Rainin’” singer Mr McLean. Despite all the comings and goings, En Vogue are still together to this day although they are now a trio and haven’t released any new material since the “Electric Cafe” album in 2018.

Legacy rating: They’ve had more US R&B No 1s than any other female group other than The Supremes but the revolving door line up policy undermines their reputation rather. 6/10

In music history, there haven’t been many Byrons have there? In fact, there haven’t been many Byrons full stop. The most famous one is surely Romantic poet Lord Byron but there’s also this bloke – Byron Stingily who not only ticks the Byron box but also the music one too. I’d forgotten about this guy but reading up on him revealed that he wasn’t alone in Byron world. Let’s start with the facts though. Stingily (another unusual name to be honest) hails from Chicago and was a prominent figure in the rise of house music that emanated from that city. Working with another house music legend, Marshall Jefferson, as producer they formed Ten City who you may remember from having a hit in 1989 with “That’s The Way Love Is”. And get this – one of the members of the band was called Byron as well! What are the chances! And…Stingily’s son* is called Byron Jnr! Maybe I was wrong about the paucity of people called Byron!

*Byron Jnr would become an American football player for the New York Giants in the position of offensive tackle (make your own jokes up!).

Anyway, branching out solo, Stingily’s first UK hit was “Get Up (Everybody)” which sampled disco legend Sylvester’s “Dance (Disco Heat)”. Incidentally, Byron would do a full blown cover of Sylvester’s finest moment “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” the following year. I’m sure “Get Up (Everybody)” meant something in Chicago House circles but the only thing I could remember about it before watching this TOTP repeat was the generic Manifesto Records cover it came in. Byron’s final UK chart entry was his own cover of that Ten City hit in 1999 and although he is still involved in music he is also a part time principal at a school in…yep…Chicago.

Legacy rating: I’m sure he remains a big name in the history of house music but, if I’m being stingy about Stingily, he doesn’t mean much to me 5/10

And now for something truly stomach churning. I remember the name Ginuwine (I think Phil Daniels mispronounces it in his intro as ‘Genuine’) but thank god I couldn’t recall how any of his music went because it’s god awful. The lyrics to his debut hit “Pony” are clearly just a metaphor for his penis. That’s it. That’s his angle. It’s schoolboy humour tripe. There’s lots of mentions of ‘riding’ his pony and the things he would do to some poor woman, juices flowing down thighs and lurking all over and through her until he reaches her stream. Oh god, I feel dirty just typing those words. It’s just horrific. All of this machismo bullshit was set to an R&B, bump’n’ grind backbeat while Ginuwine smooches about the stage exhorting the studio audience to make some noise. It’s genuinely disturbing. It’s clear though why this berk created an alter ego for himself as his real name is Elgin Baylor Lumpkin which sounds like a character from The Hobbit. And we thought Byron Stingily was unusual! Begone foul, three-legged warg!

Legacy rating: Do me a favour! 0/10

New U2 material was a huge deal back in 1997 so they were always going to get the big build up exclusive treatment on the show. However, despite “Discothèque” going to No 1, history has not been kind to it and, for many, it ultimately disappointed. Since the beginning of the 90s, U2 had been on a mission of reinvention starting with “Achtung Baby” and progressing via “Zooropa” so that by the time they arrived in 1997 and the “Pop” album, was it possible that we’d all had enough of it? Certainly, it was one of the band’s poorest performing albums commercially and Bono himself has voiced his dissatisfaction with it, with the band going so far as to re-record or remix tracks from it for their second Best Of compilation released in 2002.

It all sounds pretty damning but was lead single “Discothèque” really that bad? I think that I overestimated its potential when ordering the single for the Our Price store I was working in and was left with egg on my face and a huge overstock on the shelves. That probably informed my negative view of it. However, listening back to it, I can appreciate the song and what the band were trying to do with it. Sure, it was pushing the boundaries of what we expected from a U2 track but we had been primed for that by all those previous experimentations. Accusations of jumping on the bandwagon of the dominant and ubiquitous dance genre abounded but, on reflection, I think “Discothèque” manages to pull together a track that dared to both innovate and yet be commercially viable. As for the ‘mirrorball’ video, I like to think it showed the band retained the ability to send themselves up – The Village People indeed! The single would go straight in at No 1 but, as was the increasing trend, only for a single week until it was knocked off by the next ‘big’ release.

Legacy rating: Hard to knock a band who will have been in existence for 50 years next year. As for the song, I think it’s due a reappraisal. 8/10 for the band, 6/10 for the song

Asked to name two songs by Reef, this one, “Come Back Brighter”, would be my second pick after “Place Your Hands”. Asked to name three songs by Reef…forget it. Still, this was the point when they were starting to look like serious contenders for the title of heavyweight rockers. This was a second Top 10 hit in a row, both tracks coming from No 1 sophomore album “Glow”. It would be their commercial peak though. By the time third album “Rides” was released in 1999, that flush of success had dissipated rather and sold only a fifth of its predecessor and furnished just one hit single. What happened? I don’t know do I? If I knew the secret of what makes music popular, I’d have spent the 90s writing hit songs rather than selling them in a record shop. For me, “Come Back Brighter” wasn’t as immediate as “Place Your Hands” but it was a grower and did a decent job consolidating the band’s profile.

Legacy rating: Early promise didn’t turn into megastardom 5/10

White Town are No 1! You may not remember their name but their one and only hit was unforgettable. I say ‘their’ but White Town was really just one person – Jyoti Prakash Mishra – a British-Indian singer, musician and producer who came up with the global smash “Your Woman” before disappearing again – a true one hit wonder but what a hit! This was one of those tracks that, the first time you heard it, you couldn’t ignore, that made you say “what’s this?!”. Sampling a 1932 (1932!) song by Lew Stone and his Monseigneur Band featuring a vocal from South African-British crooner Al Bowlly*, it sounded ‘other’, ‘alien’ even, like it had come from a different planet. This was no “Spaceman” though – it didn’t deceive like Babylon Zoo had a year earlier. No, this was all killer all the way through. It wasn’t just about the beats though. The song had a subverted narrative with Mishra’s distorted, low-fi vocal delivering a story of a relationship mismatch from the point of view of the woman. It was clever stuff or at least it felt like it at the time.

*My only other reference point for Al Bowlly came early in my Our Price career when my colleague Justin announced at the end of the day that he was meeting a girl after work and that he’d been getting in the mood for his assignation by listening to Al Bowlly’s “Got A Date With An Angel”

Mishra had started by releasing his material on his own, self financed record label but when “Your Town” started getting airplay courtesy of Radio 1’s Mark Radcliffe, EMI came calling with a record deal and the rest is history. It wasn’t a good history though in terms of Mishra’s relationship with EMI. A committed Marxist, he was very outspoken about music industry practices and it would ultimately lead to White Town being dropped before the end of 1997. Mishra returned to releasing music on his own record label and is still active to this day.

Legacy rating: 8/10 for the song, 4/10 for the band

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1The Outhere BrothersLet Me Hear You Say ‘Ole ‘OleF**k off!
2SuedeSaturday NightNo but I had the album Coming Up
3En VogueDon’t Let Go (Love)Liked it, didn’t buy it
4Byron StingilyGet Up (Everybody)Negative
5GinuwinePonyNever
6U2DiscothèqueNope
7ReefCome Back BrighterNah
8White TownYour WomanNo but maybe I should have

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/m0026qwk/top-of-the-pops-24011997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 01 NOV 1996

Posted on by 80stastic

Right, for this post there’ll be no mentions of football or my past drunken escapades like in recent weeks – it’ll just be all about the music and TOTP which is what this blog is meant to be all about after all. So let’s examine what was happening with the grand old show at this point in time. Well, it had been through a number of changes in 1996. An initially temporary but ultimately permanent move from Thursday to Friday was seismic enough but that was added to by the allocation of a new time slot to boot. The there was the whole relaunch of archive show TOTP2 which seems to hijack the parent programme to help with its promotion. We had the ‘flashback’ slot which featured a hit from (mainly) the corresponding week from years back plus the play out video was taken over directly by TOTP2 to preview an old clip that would be on that week’s show. It definitely felt as if the BBC’s iconic music show was being put out to pasture. Whether executive producer Ric Blaxill felt this as well or just thought it was time for a new career, he would bring about another huge change by leaving the show at the start of 1997. Yes, the Blaxill era was coming to an end. On the whole, I think he did a decent job of resurrecting TOTP after the ‘year zero’ revamp experiment ultimately failed. The ‘golden mic’ presenter idea worked for the most part and if nothing else, he consigned the dreadful Simon Mayo to history as a host. Inevitably, I think the ‘golden mic’ feature got used to promote other BBC programmes and projects. Falling into this category were the likes of Dennis Pennis (Paul Kaye), The Fast Show cast and in this week’s episode Julian Clary who had recovered from the fall out of his infamous appearance at the British Comedy Awards in 1993 where he made that joke about Norman Lamont to have his own BBC series All Rise For Julian Clary that was on air at this time.

Anyway, whatever the reason for his filling the slot (he’d make a joke out of that wouldn’t he?), Clary’s first job is to introduce a song called “Place Your Hands” which prompts the first wry smile of the night from Julian. Now the first line of Reef’s biggest ever hit is “place your hands on my hope” but if you have subtitles turned on in your settings whilst watching it on iPlayer (like I did), then they will tell you that the first line is “place your hands on my hole”! Just as well that isn’t the actual lyric – Julian would have had a field day. My crack about ‘filling the slot’ is tame in comparison. What? ‘My crack’? Oh that’s enough now! Just stop it! Let’s get back to the music please! Right – well, “Place Your Hands” was quite the rousing tune, combining a funk feel with some rock riffs, coming on like the UK’s answer to Red Hot Chili Peppers – singer Gary Stringer even had Anthony Kiedis style long hair. However, the bass player looked very un-rock ‘n’ roll with his glasses, sensible haircut and roll up sweater – at one point he seems to do a choreographed stroll on the spot akin to the famous walk like The Shadows used to do. I have to say though that I liked the song even the weird bit in the middle where Stringer takes an age to get out the line “ooh it’s a celebration”. Someone who hated it though was my work colleague Mike who really objected to Stringer’s vocal interjection of “Alright now” which he repeats through the song. I’m not sure why it irked him so much but irk him it did and made the whole ding unlistenable for him.

However, what I’ll always associate “Place Your Hands” with is the parody of it that they recorded as a jingle for a section in the show TFI Friday called ‘It’s Your Letters’…

Is there a better example of a dance act being a great singles artist but lousy at selling albums than Livin’ Joy? Between 1995 and 1997 they had five UK hit singles including a No 1, two that made the Top 10 and two that peaked inside the Top 20 with all of them featuring on their album “Don’t Stop Movin’” and yet said album would only spend two weeks on the charts peaking at No 41. Such statistics would take some explaining for a rock/pop artist and yet for a dance combo it seemed to be industry standard. Was it a case of punters identifying with the song not the singer? Possibly. Would a track that went down a storm in the clubs be all about the bpm rather than any attachment to the actual person singing it? Were dance artists not promoted in the same way as a pop group with less focus on their visual image and more on their sound? I don’t know – maybe I’m just talking b******s. For the record, “Follow The Rules” peaked at No 9 and spent and three weeks inside the Top 40.

Now like me, you may only be able to name one song by Alisha’s Attic without looking at their Wikipedia page but they actually had eight in total. I know – eight! “I Am, I Feel” was the first (which is the one I know) which peaked at No 14 and started a peculiar run of chart positions up until their last Top 40 entry in 2001. Look at these numbers:

14 – 12 – 12 – 12 – 13 – 29 – 34 – 24

Adding to that, their first two albums peaked at Nos 14 and 15. These girls weee nothing if not consistent. “Alisha Rules The World” was the first of that run of three consecutive No 12 hits and on first hearing seemed quite insubstantial and yet it stuck in my mind for hours afterwards. How did they do that? Maybe it was in their genes – they are the daughters of Brian Poole as in Brian Poole and The Tremeloes fame after all so perhaps they were always destined to be able to craft catchy tunes. Both sisters have gone onto have successful careers as songwriters – Shelley has worked with the likes of Janet Jackson, Boyzone and Westlife whilst Karen has written songs for all sorts of people including Sugababes, Kylie Minogue and Will Young. In 2021, she was honoured with the Best Music Creative Award at the Music Week Women In Music Awards. Together as Alisha’s Attic they received an Ivor Novello nomination for best lyrical and melodic composition. Meanwhile, Shelley extended the rock family tree by marrying Texas guitarist Ally McErlaine in 2001.

The careers of Madonna and Jimmy Nail had the rather unlikely habit of running into each other since the mid 80s when they both recorded a cover of the Rose Royce classic “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”. Nail took his version to No 3 in the UK off the back of his success in the role of Oz in ITV comedy/drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. Madonna’s cover was in included on her 1984 album “Like A Virgin” and also made its way onto her 1995 ballads collection “Something To Remember”. They then crossed paths again on the film version of Evita with Madonna in the title role and Nail playing Argentine singer Agustín Magaldi. Finally, would you believe it, they’re on the same edition of TOTP though Madonna isn’t in the studio in person as Jimmy is. Madge’s appearance comes courtesy of the video for “You Must Love Me” from the Evita soundtrack whilst Nail is here to promote the soundtrack from his latest TV series Crocodile Shoes II but more of that later.

Nail’s role in Evita wasn’t the first time he’d played a character who had a connection to Argentina. The aforementioned Oz was shown working in the Falkland Islands at the start of the second series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet whilst episode eight of said series is based around Oz’s marriage to his wife Marjorie and is called Marjorie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore – I love a bit of intertextuality me.

Julian Clary almost crosses the line into Lamont territory in his next intro by saying that he’d been searching for the hero inside himself for ages but couldn’t find him. However, he did find a couple of lorry drivers. Ooh err and, indeed, missus. Ric Blaxill must have known what he was getting when he booked Julian for the gig so he shouldn’t have been surprised.

Anyway, back to the music and after two consecutive chart hits, Space (or their label) decided that a rerelease of an earlier single that failed to make the grade was in order. “Neighbourhood” originally made No 56 on the UK charts in March of 1996, just a couple of months before their Top 40 breakthrough with “Female Of The Species”. The revisit to “Neighbourhood” would peak at No 11. It’s possibly my favourite tune of theirs just because it’s entrancing in a beguiling sort of way – I can’t help but be drawn to it even though I know it shouldn’t really work. It’s basically one of those ‘list’ songs which in this case is a roll call of residents of a fictional neighbourhood which was based upon the real life area of the Cantril Farm Estate that singer Tommy Scott grew up in. There’s just something very intriguing about the song’s sound, be it the twangy guitar punctuations or Mariachi style vibe that runs throughout it which gives it the feel of a spaghetti western soundtrack.

Then there’s the characters in the lyrics which reference transvestites, “big butch queens” and the “local vicar” who’s a “serial killer “. That last one puts me in mind of another song with a narrative about a vicar who isn’t all he seems to be…

As I write this, this week sees the 40th anniversary of the release of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and so it seems rather apt that the ‘flashback’ slot features one of its protagonists in all his mid 80s, big hair glory. Here’s what I had to say about “Freedom” by Wham! in my 80s blog…

TOTP 11 OCT 1984

In an era when singles could be in and out of the chart within a fortnight, “Un-Break My Heart” by Toni Braxton was one of those hits that bucked the trend. It would spend 11 consecutive weeks inside the UK Top 5 peaking at No 2 on two separate occasions matching the high of her other big hit “Breathe Again”. I say ‘other’ big hit but she did have more than those two. Indeed, “You’re Makin’ Me High” had been as high as No 7 back in July but I don’t remember that one at all. There are a few other hits but “Un-Break My Heart” and “Breathe Again” are surely what Toni Braxton will be remembered for. Indeed, the former is also the title of a TV film biography made about the singer that premiered in 2016. I was genuinely shocked that she was considered a big enough name to receive that level of attention. Maybe I shouldn’t have been as “Un-Break My Heart” would spend 11 weeks at No 1 in America and has sold over two million copies over there whilst also going double platinum in the UK. Did I like it? Well, R&B ballads aren’t really my thing so I was fairly immune to its appeal but I can appreciate that Toni has a fine set of pipes and gives Whitney Houston a run for her money with her vocal performance with this type of track. If I recall correctly, there was also a dance version of the song which may have helped to extend its chart life, covering all bases as it were. Given its longevity in our Top 5, I’m guessing we’ll be seeing this one on a TOTP repeat coming soon so I’ll leave it there for now.

And so back to the aforementioned Jimmy Nail who is this week’s ’exclusive performance’ with the lead single from the soundtrack to Crocodile Shoes II called “Country Boy”. My mate Robin tipped me off that this was all kinds of wrong and that the last two syllables of the title of his song were redundant. Ouch! Is Robin right? Well, certainly the choice of stage costumes is a bit dodgy. What was with the schoolboy outfits and the fake black eye? Was it some sort of homage to AC/DC’s Angus Young? Was it something to do with the TV show? I’ve never watched either series but I’m guessing not seeing as it was about a Country & Western club singer who makes it big in Nashville. However, I don’t actually mind the song. It kind of reminds me of this by The Big Dish which is a great track…

The line about the “devil’s daughter” though always reminds me of another example of alliteration featuring El Diablo…

I’m on record in this blog as saying that there are worst things you could do with some free time on your hands than listen to Jimmy’s Best Of album called “The Nail File” (see what he did there?). There’s some decent tunes on there including three written by the wonderful Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout fame and you can’t go wrong with a bit of Paddy. Robin though will be relieved to know that this was Jimmy’s final ever UK Top 40 hit though he will be back on a TOTP repeat one last time soon for another performance of “Country Boy”. Leave those last two syllables alone Robin!

Now to a collaboration between two acts that came about by a circumstance of scheduling but which would give both artists one of their biggest ever hits (though not the biggest in either case). Booked to appear on the same French pop music show, East 17 and Gabrielle were asked to do a song together to fulfil a regular feature of said show and picked a track that had been massive in America but which had hardly registered over here. “If You Ever” had been a No 2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for R&B quartet Shai in 1992 but audience reaction to the boys from Walthamstow and the girl from Hackney’s version was so positive that it was decided that they should record their own version together. The resulting track would make No 2 in the UK charts just falling short of matching the feat of both Gabrielle’s “Dreams” and East 17’s “Stay Another Day”. In the case of the latter, it was used to spearhead their Greatest Hits album that was released three days after this TOTP aired. Its release prompted stories that the bad were about to split which were vehemently denied but Brian Harvey would be sacked within months after a late night radio interview in which he admitted to taking the drug ecstasy. As for Gabrielle, “If You Ever” would become her fourth and biggest hit of 1996.

As with Toni Braxton earlier, the song was an R&B ballad that featured a flourish of Spanish guitar in the middle eight – it must have been a thing back then – and is actually better than I remember (though that’s not saying much). It’s billed as East 17 featuring Gabrielle though in truth it might as well have been promoted as Brian Harvey and Gabrielle as it’s basically a duet between the two. Tony Mortimer plays some keyboards in this performance whilst ‘the other two’ are relegated not only to doing some swaying and backing vocals but physically as well as they are positioned some distance behind Brian and Gabrielle on stage though you could probably make a case that this happened on pretty much every East 17 release. Also like “Un-Break My Heart”, “If You Ever” was also remarkably durable charts wise staying in the Top 10 for five consecutive weeks including three inside the Top 3. We’ll surely be seeing this one again as well.

It’s a second and final week at the top for “Say You’ll Be There” by the Spice Girls. Interestingly, the A&R people at Virgin had wanted this to be the debut single for the group instead of “Wannabe”. Their manager Simon Fuller agreed with the label with both of the opinion that it was a much cooler song but the group got their way and the rest is history. Would it have made any difference to the Spice Girls story if Virgin/Fuller had won out instead? I’m not sure and I guess we’ll never know but I’m thinking that the juggernaut of their success would have been “Too Much” to “Stop” (ahem).

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1ReefPlace Your HandsIt’s in the singles box – it’s a yes!
2Livin’ JoyFollow The RulesNegative
3Alisha’s AtticAlisha Rules The WorldI did not
4MadonnaYou Must Love MeNo I mustn’t
5SpaceNeighbourhoodNo but my wife had the album
6Wham!FreedomNo but we all had a Wham! Best Of didn’t we?
7Toni BraxtonUn-Break My HeartNah
8Jimmy NailCountry BoyNope
9East 17 / GabrielleIf You EverDidn’t happen
10Spice GirlsSay You’ll Be ThereAnd 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/m0024zk8/top-of-the-pops-01111996?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 01 JUN 1995

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s June 1995 and I’ll be 27 years old in five days time. Where does the time go? Well, I’ve been writing this blog for the last 8 years for a start! Seriously though, time and the passing of it can really bend your head if you think about it for too long. Do you reckon these BBC4 TOTP repeats have a similar effect on the acts who actually appeared on the show? Being reminded of your glory days that have now faded and of a time when you were young and beautiful as opposed to the person ravaged by middle age that they are now?

Take opening act Reef for example. I wonder if lead singer Gary Stringer still has all that hair?

*googles Gary Stringer*

Yes he does! It has gone grey though and he’s grown a huge beard but still. Not a bad effort. I tried convincing myself a few years back that I didn’t look much different from when I was in my 20s. It was complete tosh of course and I was clearly lying to myself.

Anyway, Reef. This lot were pretty big for a while in the mid 90s, somehow benefitting from the rise of Britpop even though they weren’t your archetypal Britpop band. Nothing of the sort really. I think it may have had something to do with them doing a jingle for TFI Friday. Remember “It’s your letters” based around their biggest hit “Place Your Hands”? Somehow Britpop, lad culture and Chris Evans all seemed to mesh with each other, in my mind anyway. I’m getting ahead of myself though. That’s all a year or so away. Back in 1995, “Naked” was the band’s second Top 40 hit from their debut album “Replenish”. It’s not bad either. Hardly revolutionary and highly derivative but a pretty good blues rock work out. I’m sure that descending guitar riff is nicked off something else but I can’t put my finger on what. Somebody else who was having trouble putting his fingers somewhere was Reef’s bass player – what was the deal with those loose strings flapping all over the place. Tighten your tuning heads man! One last thing about this performance – was the stage invasion by members of the studio audience pre-arranged or impulsive do you think? Can’t make my mind up.

Next a man who I was convinced only had two hits (both back in 1992) but here he is again three years later with another one. Curtis Stigers is said man and helpfully he has joined in with my ‘time’ intro by releasing a single called “This Time” from an album called “Time Was”. Nicely timed Curtis. And talking of the passing of time, in those intervening three years since his last hit, he’s lost his flowing locks that he had when he was in the charts with “You’re All That Matters To Me” and “I Wonder Why”. In fact, if you take Reef’s Gary Stringer with all his hair and stood him next to Curtis, it would be like a ‘before and after’ picture. As for the song itself, it’s a radio friendly little ditty but it doesn’t live long in the memory as was illustrated by its No 28 chart peak.

https://youtu.be/2dO_mDKnWlM?si=-eNSO_-8IAMYbhYq

Another song with the word ‘time’ in the title now. Baby D scored a No 1 in late 1994 with “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” but it took them six months to come up with a follow up and when they did it was just yet another dance version of a classic pop song. “(Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your Loving” was basically a straight cover version of The Korgis’ 1980 Top 5 hit but with a skittering jungle dance beat added to it. As if that wasn’t enough to differentiate it from the original, they messed around with the song title by adding a line from the lyrics and putting the original title in brackets. What was all that about? I couldn’t get onboard with this at all. It just seemed lazy and pointless to me. As ever, the record buying public disagreed with me and sent it to No 3. Ah, what did they know eh?

Next a band that I always find hard to write about; not because I don’t like them – it would be easy to crank out a few derogatory words accusing an act of being the shittiest of the shitty – but because I don’t actually have any feelings about them one way or the other. I think my state of mind concerning Therapy? is partly due to the fact that they mostly passed me by at the time. I mean, I knew of them – I worked in a record shop for heaven’s sake – it’s just that my knowledge of them pretty much ended with what their album covers looked like. Somehow I never really heard how they sounded. Or maybe I did hear them but it made no impression on me and so I didn’t retain them in my head? Either way, needless to say, I don’t remember this hit “Stories” at all. Listening to it now, it’s more of their brand of driving rock but this one has a sax thrown in for good measure. Singer Andy Cairns is a supporter of my beloved Chelsea and I’ve heard him interviewed on the Chelsea fancast that I listen to and he seems like a lovely guy but somehow his music just hasn’t cut through to me. Sorry Andy.

Two huge songs of this era coming up now starting with “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead. What a tune this is!*

*Makes that awful T-shaped hand signal*

For me, this could be their best ever song though to be honest my knowledge of their material past “OK Computer” is nearly nonexistent so if you’re a Radiohead super fan reading this and snorting in derision at my suggestion then obviously you have more material to pick from than me. The third single to be released from “The Bends”, it’s a slowly building banger dripping with aura and imagery and Thom Yorke’s vocal that almost sounds like it was recorded under duress, it’s almost unignorable (if that’s a word). Maybe ‘striking’ would be a better one. I think it was probably this track that convinced me that I must own a copy of “The Bends”.

Others weren’t quite as convinced albeit the most famous example was a fictional character in a movie. Alicia Silverstone played Cher in Clueless who describes “Fake Plastic Trees” which features in the film as “crybaby music”. Asked if he was bothered about that line, Yorke said in an interview in Vox magazine that the character of Cher wasn’t the type of person he’d want to like Radiohead anyway as she was a two dimensional Beverly Hills kid and he was all about 3D people. Fair comment I think and it put me in mind of another music artist who felt the need to publicly distance himself from someone famous. In 2006, former Prime Minister and renowned dead pig f****r David Cameron appeared on Desert Island Discs and chose as one of his songs “This Charming Man” by The Smiths. When Johnny Marr became aware of this, he issued a statement that said Cameron was banned from liking The Smiths and rightly so. Also on Cameron’s list of songs? Yep, “Fake Plastic Trees”. Cameron also famously declared that one of his favourite songs ever was “Eton Rifles” by The Jam. In response, Paul Weller said “Which bit didn’t you get?”. David Cameron ladies and gentlemen…a complete bellend of the highest order.

That second huge song now and it’s another appearance by Pulp to perform “Common People”. This was a genuinely a career pivoting time for the band. After being together for sixteen years (most of them in obscurity) the stars were now aligning and fame and fortune beckoned. Not only had “Common People” crashed into the charts at No 2 (NO 2!) but this month they would also headline the aforementioned Reef’s hometown of Glastonbury after the Stone Roses pulled out following John Squires suffering a broken collarbone in a mountain biking accident. Success was now definitely coming at Pulp and fast.

Apparently the band learned of that chart position whilst appearing at a Radio 1 Roadshow in Birmingham. As the chart rundown was announced, the various acts at the event were paraded on the back of an articulated lorry as their chart position was called. By the end, there was only Pulp left to learn their fate and, by now, Jarvis Cocker was pissed. Taking to the stage, he slipped and fell leaving bass player Steve Mackey to observe the irony of finally getting to where you wanted to be after years of trying only to end up on your arse in the rain in Birmingham at the moment of triumph. Just perfect.

What’s this? A rugby song?! Yes, we’d only just suffered the trauma of two football songs in the chart thanks to FA Cup finalists Everton and Manchester United and now we had another sporting related hit. The 1995 Rugby Union World Cup was only the third time the competition had taken place since its inaugural event in 1987 but already we were starting to get used to it being commemorated / promoted by the medium of song. More specifically two songs in particular. The 1991 World Cup had brought us “World In Union” by Dame Kiri te Kanawa based on Holst’s “Jupiter” or “I Vow To Thee My Country” as it is more commonly known. That year also saw the England Rugby Squad release a version of the African-American spiritual song and subsequent Christian hymn “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” which had been sung by rugby crowds as early as the 60s though it was adopted as an anthem by the England team supporters around 1988. The song has been recorded on multiple occasions for the Rugby World Cup by the likes of Russel Watson, UB40 and Blake.

In 1995, it was the turn of the unlikely pairing of “Searching” hitmakers China Black and South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mamboza. Quite how this pairing came about I’m not sure but I guess it was advantageous to both artists. China Black had failed to build on the success of “Searching” and so “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” provided them with another vehicle to the charts. Ladysmith Black Mamboza were prolific album makers but had never had a UK Top 40 single to this point. Their famous collaboration with Paul Simon on “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes” from the celebrated “Graceland” album inexplicably peaked at No 77 though they would team up with B*Witched in 1999 for No 13 hit “I Shall Be There”. Ladysmith Black Mamboza were one of those artists that would get a regular airing when Our Price did their specialist music mornings where the shop would only play music from a particular genre that wasn’t rock/pop. Easy Listening morning meant you were guaranteed to hear The Carpenters Greatest Hits whilst Ladysmith Black Mamboza would get a spin on the store stereo when it was the turn of World Music.

This version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is not impressive I have to say. The addition of that ubiquitous, nasty dance beat pretty much ruins it for me. It was nice though to see some of England’s Rugby stars of yesteryear in the video like Rob Andrew, Will Carling, Rory Underwood and Jeremy Guscott. China Black would never return to the UK Top 40 singles chart whilst Ladysmith Black Mamboza would achieve a No 2 placing in our album chart for 1998’s Best Of collection.

I said earlier about there being two huge songs of this era being on the show tonight in “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Common People” but how could I have forgotten about this one?! They’re not everyone’s cup of tea but I loved Black Grape. Rising from the ashes of Happy Mondays and the Ruthless Rap Assassins, I remember there being a huge buzz about this second coming of Madchester. OK, it wasn’t really quite like that but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to indulge in some Manchester related hyperbole. “Reverend Black Grape” was their debut single and calling card and what a fabulous shake up of the charts it was. Sample heavy and funky, big beats-tastic, this was Shaun Ryder back to his twisted genius best after the demise of the Happy Mondays and the nadir of their 1992 album “Yes Please!”. Ably aided by Kermit, it would crash straight into the Top 10 at No 9. What? Bez? Oh yeah, he was there as well doing his usual Bez schtick. The “Talking bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit” lyric is obviously edited out for this TOTP performance but like “Yes” by McAlmont & Butler, “Reverend Black Grape” would become one of my go to songs I would play on my way to work if I really didn’t fancy it that day.

The band’s debut album “It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah” would top the charts for two weeks and achieve platinum sales. Packed with great tunes like “Tramazi Parti”, “Shake Your Money” and “Kelly’s Heroes”, it became an essential purchase for me. Sadly, their success would fail off dramatically. Second album “Stupid Stupid Stupid” would underperform commercially and attract criticism in the US for its golliwog and google eyes cover art. It was one of those albums that the buying department at Our Price Head Office had invested heavily in but which failed to sell. We had massive overstocks of it. The band would dissolve in 1998 after Shaun fired the rest of its members. They reformed to release a third album in 2017 called “Pop Voodoo” which I quite liked but which received mixed reviews.

It’s a third week at the top for Robson & Jerome with their double A-side “Unchained Melody” / “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover”. My amazement at what happened here has not diluted in the 28 years since. What was going on? Why did these two actors appeal so much? It wasn’t just a one off either. They had three No 1 singles and two No 1 albums over a period of 18 months despite the fact that all they ever did was cover versions. I bet Simon Cowell who convinced the pair to record material couldn’t believe his luck. Ladies and gentlemen…Simon Cowell the David Cameron of the music world.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1ReefNakedNo
2Curtis StigersThis TimeNah
3Baby D(Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime) I Need Your LovingI did not
4Therapy?StoriesNope
5RadioheadFake Plastic TreesNo but I bought the album The Bends
6PulpCommon PeopleNo but I had the album Different Class
7China Black with Ladysmith Black MambozaSwing Low, Sweet ChariotNegative
8Black GrapeReverend Black GrapeNo but I had the album It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah
9Robson & JeromeUnchained Melody” / “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs Of DoverAs 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 agree

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001sfvr/top-of-the-pops-01061995