S Club 7

TOTP 25 JUN 1999

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s Glastonbury time again in these TOTP repeats with the host of this show – Gail Porter – making reference to it in her opening intro. In fact, the festival began on the very same day that this TOTP aired with REM being the headliners on the Friday night followed by Manic Street Preachers on the Saturday and Skunk Anansie closing the whole shebang on the Sunday night. Unlike in previous years, the weather was glorious with a sun drenched three days making the £150,000 spent on downpour precautions redundant. As this is the Glastonbury TOTP Rewind post, it’s that time again when I see if any of the acts on this particular episode ever got to play the festival…

We start with last week’s No 1 “Bring It All Back” by S Club 7 which has dropped to No 2. It was the first of four chart toppers for the group though checking their discography, I’m surprised at the gaps between the first one and the other three. I would have presumed all their first few singles went to No 1 but not so. Their second single to achieve that feat came 18 months later in December 2000 with “Never Had A Dream Come True” which was followed by two more successive No 1s in “Don’t Stop Movin’” in May 2001 and “Have You Ever” in December of the same year. That means that those hits you immediately associate with S Club 7 like “S Club Party” and “Reach” didn’t actually make it to the top which I’m quite shocked by. I mean, I say ‘shocked’ but I probably should say ‘mildly surprised’. The word ‘shocked’ shows a level of engagement in the group which I just don’t have. And yet, their story of success, decline, tragedy and redemption really would make a good film or a decent biopic at least.

Did they ever play Glastonbury? No, they never had that particular dream come true despite expressing a desire to do so following their 25th anniversary reunion announcement in 2023.

Some A grade bullshit from executive producer Chris Cowey next as he recycles a performance by Jamiroquai from three weeks ago for their hit “Canned Heat” which is currently languishing at No 21 in this week’s Top 40 having consistently fallen down the chart from its No 4 debut peak. How has he the brass neck to do this? Easy, just repackage the appearance as being shown to mark the band being at No 1 in the album chart with “Synkronized” (check out the caption graphic) even though there was no regular album chart feature at this point. I get that there were no records going up the charts at all that week but there were seven new entries into the Top 40 that could have been shown instead that weren’t (albeit in the lower reaches of the chart). This stinks of fudging the issue with some disdain for the show’s audience thrown in for good measure.

Did they ever play Glastonbury? Yes. In 1993 on the NME stage and the Pyramid stage in 1995.

There were many things to dislike about the fag end of the 90s charts but one which irked me and confused me in equal measure was the UK’s adoption of US boybands. Didn’t we have enough of our own to contend with?! Did we really need the likes of the Backstreet Boys and this lot – NSYNC – clogging up our Top 40 as well?! I’m sorry, I know all the stats and figures will tell me about how big they were sales wise but they were both terrible. Awful songs, whiny vocals and they weren’t even good looking (Justin Timberlake definitely had problem hair) so how do you explain their popularity then? On top of all that, they were almost interchangeable. Take this hit for example. “Tearin’ Up My Heart” could easily have been a Backstreet Boys song. In fact, if you look at the latter’s discography, they released numerous singles about the ‘heart’.

  • “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” 
  • “Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)”
  • “Shape Of My Heart”
  • “Straight Through My Heart”
  • “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”

Come on! It was money for old rope territory. Just to put the final QED touches to my point, “Tearin’ Up My Heart” was originally pitched to the Backstreet Boys to record but NSYNC ended up doing it. Presumably they were with the same record company but I don’t care enough to check. Be gone with you both!

Did they ever play Glastonbury? No, obviously.

Talking of record companies, clearly Britney Spears’ couldn’t wait any longer to release her follow up to “…Baby One More Time” despite the fact that the monster hit was still at No 31 in the UK Top 40 as “Sometimes” rocketed into the charts at No 3. However, what a disappointment it was compared to its predecessor. A mid-tempo ballad was perhaps the obvious choice but it was also predictable (even down to its key change) and when the song was as weak as “Sometimes” then it couldn’t hope to climb as high as her debut. It didn’t help that Britney couldn’t quite reach the notes to sing it but a hit is a hit and it did a job of consolidation especially over here though it would stall at No 21 in America. A return to the “…Baby One More Time” formula would be sought out for subsequent releases on tracks like “(You Drive Me) Crazy” and “Oops!…I Did It Again”. All of those tracks were written and produced by Swede Max Martin who also supplied songs for the aforementioned Backstreet Boys and NSYNC but, perhaps tellingly, “Sometimes” wasn’t*. Martin would go on to write and produce material for Taylor Swift drawing a nice line between female singer superstars from different eras.

*”Sometimes” was written by another Swede in Jörgen Elofsson who would also work with Westlife. Oh God, it was like a Scandinavian version of Stock, Aitken and Waterman!

Did they ever play Glastonbury? No although there were heavy rumours that she would make a surprise appearance during Elton John’s headline set in 2023 following their collaboration on “Hold Me Closer”. The rumours proved to be false.

Think of American pop-punk bands and who comes to mind? Sum 41? Blink-182? Fountains Of Wayne? Third Eye Blind? Weezer? Yep, all good examples but how about Lit? I’d certainly forgotten them (if I even knew them in the first place) but here they are on TOTP with their biggest hit “Own Worst Enemy”. It does sound kind of familiar or maybe I’m just confusing it with all those other bands mentioned above. My fuzzy recall of it though seems to be out of step with the rest of the world though as, according to Wikipedia, it is a huge karaoke favourite and is described in American Songwriter magazine as being:

“among the most broadcasted, karaoked, and covered songs in music history.”

Crone, Madeline (June 1, 2020). “Behind the song: Lit “My Own Worse Enemy”American Songwriter

Wow! Really?! Well it beats “Angels” by Robbie Williams I guess. Lit are still together based around the nucleus of the Popoff brothers Jeremy and A. Jay with their last album being released in 2022.

Did they ever play Glastonbury? That would be a no.

Following ex-EastEnders star Martine McCutcheon into the charts this year was, as host Gail Porter points out, someone from the ‘other side’ meaning from ITV’s Coronation Street. Adam Rickitt had become a pin up before his attempt at pop stardom with his youthful good looks and ripped abdomen building him a fanbase among the nation’s female teenage population via his portrayal of Nick Tilsley. With that following in place, the move into music was a no-brainer and lo, a Top 5 hit was secured with his debut single “I Breathe Again”. Unlike Martine’s No 1 song “Perfect Moment” to which the general public’s reaction was along the lines of “it’s not bad is it?”, Adam’s effort was as anonymous as it was obvious. A Hi-NRG dance track with a deliberately engineered breathy singing style that required very little in the way of vocal chops from Rickitt, it would possibly have sunk without trace without his six pack and that video via which to display them. Featuring a naked Adam in a booth in a lab, it was literally a very steamy promo. We don’t get to see that here though as it was possibly too risqué for the BBC censors. Instead, we get this so obviously mimed performance in which Rickitt actually does very little apart from some upper torso posturing. Seriously, his feet hardly move. There’s a lot of smoke and mirrors going on with his backing dancers doing their best to make him look like he’s even vaguely co-ordinated. On top of everything, he can’t even mine convincingly.

Adam would have two further UK Top 40 hits though surely only his Mum and his superfans (bordering on stalkers) can remember them. He released just the one album called “Good Times” which failed to chart in any meaningful way but here’s the thing – he was signed to a six album deal. WHY?! I may be looking at this all wrong and that this was/is an industry standard practice but who in their right mind thought that Adam Rickitt would last long enough as a pop star to be able to sell SIX albums?! However, Adam did make a comeback 15 years later as part of the ITV manufactured pop group 5th Story who were put together to promote the second series of The Big Reunion. Who were his band mates? Only some of the biggest names in pop! No, of course they weren’t. It was a collection of desperate, famous for 15 minutes chancers including someone from Blazin’ Squad, Kavana and Dane Bowers from Another Level who would light his own farts live on stage if he thought it would keep him in the limelight. Amazingly, according to Wikipedia, 5th Story did play a live gig at the Hammersmith Apollo (presumably as part of The Big Reunion TV show). I can’t believe that the ticket touts were busy for that one.

Did they ever play Glastonbury? I asked AI if Adam Rickitt had ever played the festival and it replied yes in 2023 on the Avalon stage. Flabbergasted, I double checked and it seems it had confused Adam with Will Young. And we’re all worried about AI taking our jobs off us!

If I asked you to name a cover version of Cameo’s “Word Up”, would you immediately turn to Gun’s rock workout of the track or would choose this…well, whatever this is by Mel B, sorry Mel G*? After rather unexpectedly (in my humble opinion) topping the charts with her first single outside of the Spice Girls – her collaboration with Missy Elliott on “I Want You Back” – Mel’s second attempt was recorded as part of the soundtrack to the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. However, unlike Madonna’s “Beautiful Stranger” also from that soundtrack which just missed the top spot, “Word Up” would peak at a presumably disappointing for all concerned No 13. That’s probably more than it deserved (again, in my humble opinion) with Mel’s rendition not retaining any of the original’s spark and bite and instead delivering a lacklustre version that even has the audacity to include that horrible ‘I’ve got a little something for you’ sample that was everywhere around the mid point of the 90s. Gun’s take on it was infinitely better to my ears.

Then there’s Mel’s performance here which she conducts whilst sat down on some sort of throne with just two backing dancers for company. What was that about? Did she have a Dave Grohl style injury that restricted her movements? And why was she made up to look like an extra from a Mad Max movie? Was she channeling her inner Tina Turner? At least she didn’t try to recreate the black and white animated promo video for this performance which was very creepy and dark with sexually suggestive material in it. So ‘scary’ (ahem) was it seemed to be that they had to make another video for the track with Mel wearing a sci-fi style metallic costume with what appeared to be bits of Meccano attached to it.

*”Word Up” would be the only single released under the Mel G moniker after Brown’s marriage to dancer Jimmy Gulzar proved to be short lived. Her insistence on changing it in the first place must have caused a few headaches at her record label.

Did they ever play Glastonbury? Despite persistent rumours, Mel B has never played Glastonbury either as a solo artist or as part of the Spice Girls. Mel C, however, played a DJ set there in 2022 and with her own band in 2023.

Though it was never really in doubt, it’s now officially confirmed – chart music in 1999 was utter shite. How can you arrive at any other conclusion when you have tripe like “Boom Boom Boom Boom” by Vengaboys at No 1?! I mean, it’s barely music. It’s more like a demented nursery rhyme. Who was buying this? Pre-school kids? No, it must have been adults as I would no doubt have sold lots of the single as I was working for Our Price at the time and I don’t remember a bunch of five year olds forming an orderly queue to purchase the single. As for their performance here, they look and sound like a hybrid of 2 Unlimited and The Village People. What on earth was happening?

Did they ever play Glastonbury? Hell no!

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1S Club 7Bring It All BackNope
2JamiroquaiCanned HeatNegative
3NSYNCTearin’ Up My HeartOf course not
4Britney SpearsSometimesNah
5LitOwn Worst EnemyI did not
6Adam RickittI Breathe AgainI’d rather hold my breath forever
7Mel B/GWord UpNo
8VengaboysBoom Boom Boom BoomNEVER EVER!

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/m002t693/top-of-the-pops-25061999

TOTP 18 JUN 1999

Posted on by 80stastic

I’ve just checked and this is the 750th TOTP Rewind post! Yes, over both the 80s and 90s sites, the combined number of posts has reached 750. I couldn’t have believed I’d get anywhere near that number when I started this nine years ago. In fairness, I couldn’t have imagined keeping this up for nine years but here I am. However, all good things (and distinctly average ones) must come to an end and I’m declaring when I get to the end of the 1999 BBC4 repeats. As Jude Law says in that Uber Eats ad – “It’s exhausting!”. As such I don’t think I’ll quite make the 800 milestone post so I’m celebrating this one. Let’s hope there are some suitable performances on this TOTP show to commemorate this historic post…

Our host is Jamie Theakston (again!) and we start with…oh no…this can’t be right! Why were The Wiseguys back in the show with “Ooh La La”? After debuting at No 2 a fortnight previously, it began a constant descent down the charts going to No 5 and then No 9 in this particular week. That decline was never reversed once. To show it again was just nonsensical. Had it been kicking around the Top 5 for weeks on end or gone back up the charts at some point then maybe I could have understood another airing but this just defies logic. Presumably the final decision on this came from executive producer Chris Cowey – the definitive opposite of a wise guy.

Hmm. This 750th post hasn’t started well and now it’s taken an even bigger turn for the worse. A definite nosedive in quality. It’s only bloody Shania Twain with “That Don’t Impress Me Much”. This was the third time on the show for this one and as much as it annoys me, it had spent three weeks at No 2 and two at No 4 since its debut appearance so Chris Cowey could make a decent stab at defending making room for it in the running order again. I really can’t be arsed to vent about this one anymore so I’ll just ask the question of why Shania had the actor, presenter and writer Stephen Mangan playing bass for her in this performance? Seriously, complete doppelgänger. Even if it was him, big deal. Okay, so you’re Stephen Mangan…that don’t impress me much.

Finally a new song which was also the final single release of the 90s for one of the biggest artists on the planet (at the time). I always thought that “Beautiful Stranger” was a curious Madonna hit. Maybe it’s because it was a one-off release being part of a movie soundtrack rather than a Madge studio album that added to that feeling. Or maybe it’s that it sounds like it could so easily have been included on her last album “Ray Of Light” but wasn’t. Or maybe it’s the peculiar song structure it has where it seems to build to a payoff chorus but we never really get one but just a rather flat “Da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-dum” refrain. Or maybe it’s just that I never got the appeal of the whole Austin Powers thing which “Beautiful Stranger” was a part of being the lead single from the soundtrack of the second film in the franchise – Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Seriously though, it can’t be just me that doesn’t get the humour of that character surely? Even the title of the film is completely puerile. I get it’s meant to be satirical, sending up the whole James Bond phenomenon and TV spy series like Jason King but I just find the Austin Powers character intensely stupid and annoying. All that sexual innuendo and those inane catchphrases just leave me cold. Maybe it’s Mike Myers himself I just can’t be doing with as I never found Wayne’s World that humorous either.

Anyway, back to Madonna and “Beautiful Stranger” and it’s no wonder that it sounds like it could have been included the “Ray Of Light” album as it was written and produced with William Orbit who was also Madonna’s collaborative partner for said album. I’m guessing that the 60s styles and cultural references within the film also influenced the sound of the track which delivers a pop song with psychedelic leanings and an almost ethereal quality. It’s not bad but it’s just doesn’t have much substance to it. In various ‘Madonna’s Best Singles’ polls, whilst it appears in the rankings, it’s mostly a pretty lowly position (e.g. in March 2023, Billboard ranked the song as Madonna’s 88th greatest ever).

As for the video, it’s obviously based around the portrayal of the Austin Powers character with him fantasising about scenarios of him and Madonna together but there’s not a lot to it compared to some of the singer’s iconic promos from her past (“Like A Virgin”, “Like A Prayer”, “Vogue” etc). We do get a little bit extra with Madge giving us a personal intro nicely woven into the scene where Powers receives a message from his boss Basil Exposition via a screen in his car. It’s a nice touch but Madonna performing the track in the TOTP studio would have been a much bigger coup. Ultimately, “Beautiful Stranger” would lose out on another UK No 1 to a bunch of British kids with an insanely catchy pure pop number and a hit TV show. The times they were-a-changin’.

Oh come on! This is meant to be a celebratory, milestone post and the artists in this TOTP are making a mockery of it and none more so than this lot! Of all the shit that these 1999 repeats have flung at us so far, surely Cartoons stink the most? Did we just accept this crap at the time? We should have been out on the streets protesting shouldn’t we?! How do we explain this to our children?! Watching them perform “DooDah” is like suddenly finding yourself in an alternate universe where all the norms and practices of pop music have been replaced by a honking clown car. Actually, it’s the musical equivalent of the Trump administration. Their grotesque, oversized wigs make that comparison hold even more water.

For the record, “DooDah” was clearly based on the 1850 folk song “Camptown Races” by American composer Stephen Foster. Introduced into the mainstream by blackface troupe Christy’s Minstrels, it was used as the centrepiece of this excellent satirical scene from Blazing Saddles to lampoon its origin.

P.S. Blazing Saddles also gives us the most accurate description of what is going on in the White House currently…

Tatyana Ali’s pop career was a bit blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. Three singles in and this was already her final hit. “Everytime” was the smallest of them peaking at No 20. Is it coincidence that it was the first that didn’t seem to have anything to do with Will Smith? “Boy You Knock Me Out” featured a rap from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air whilst her first – “Daydreamin’” – came with a personal endorsement from Smith who did a specially recorded intro for Ali’s debut performance on TOTP. Maybe it didn’t perform as well as its predecessors because it wasn’t that good? It’s very pedestrian never really getting out of first gear. Her album “Kiss The Sky” also failed to sell in huge quantities making little impression on the US or UK charts which would lead to her being dropped by her label by the end of the year. Maybe Ali’s decision to tour with the Backstreet Boys as referenced in Jamie Theakston’s intro wasn’t the right choice after all?

Right, what’s going on here then? Well yes, obviously it’s Cher performing her single “All Or Nothing” for the second week on the spin but there’s something odd occurring that I’ve noticed. Cher has different hair and a different costume from what she was sporting seven days prior but her backing dancers appear to be exactly the same people wearing exactly the same outfits from the last show. Could it be that Cher recorded two performances back to back but did a whole wardrobe and wig change in between to fool us into thinking they were recorded a week apart? I haven’t gone completely forensic by trying to identify if the studio audience is the same but in both appearances, Jamie Theakston is not there in person to do his intro, rather there is a cutaway to clearly prerecorded footage. If I’m right, why would all concerned in this have done it? Would there have been protests outside the BBC if they’d just reshown the first performance? I think not. If the population couldn’t rouse itself to take to the streets about Cartoons then surely there was no chance of any push back against this? Mark it down as another weird happening during the Chris Cowey era.

There’s more strangeness now as we get some unusual symmetry between the next artist and one that we saw earlier. When I said Tatyana Ali had a brief career, I guess you could say the same about Lauryn Hill, in terms of their discographies anyway. One album and three singles lifted from it was the same for both singers with said singles achieving very similar chart peaks:

  • Tatyana Ali – No 6 – No 3 – No 20
  • Lauryn Hill – No 3 – No 4 – No 20

Those No 20 singles even had similar titles. For Tatyana it was “Everytime” and for Lauryn we had “Everything Is Everything”. Despite its moderate UK chart performance, it was well received by the music press and was nominated for a Grammy and a Soul Train Lady Of Soul award. Both Ali and Hill’s music careers would come to a halt as the new millennium dawned; the former as mentioned earlier after being dropped by her label and the latter because she became disillusioned with the trappings of fame and sought solace in religion, attending bible study classes five days a week. Both would also have acting careers alongside their music ones with Tatyana auditioning (unsuccessfully) for Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit which Lauryn starred in. Everything is everything indeed.

We have another new No 1 and it’s from a group who were pure, unadulterated pop. S Club 7 had already been given TOTP exposure six weeks prior to the release of their debut single “Bring It All Back” so they had a very long run up to topping the chart at the first attempt. Not only that but they’d appeared briefly on last week’s show for a ten seconds interview with Jamie Theakston when he basically said “It’s you or Madonna for No 1 next week” to which one of them (Jon?) replied that they were taking nothing for granted because Madge was the Queen of Pop or something like that. I don’t recall Theakston saying he thought S Club 7 would definitely win out as he says he predicted in this intro. Maybe he said it on his Radio 1 show. Anyway, that first appearance was a promo video but this time see get the group hyper-jigging about in the studio. Although Jo O’Meara would be the designated lead vocalist on most of their hits, all four of the girls get a go at singing out front whilst the boys are offered some backing vocals spotlight. Look, we’re going to see this one twice more in these BBC4 repeats so I think I’ll leave it there for now.

It wasn’t quite the line up I’d hoped for to celebrate my 750th post but then again, what did I expect from TOTP in 1999?

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1The WiseguysOoh La LaGet to f**k!
2Shania TwainThat Don’t Impress Me MuchHeavens no!
3Madonna Beautiful StrangerNo
4CartoonsDooDahSeriously?! Of course not
5Tatyana AliEverytime Negative
6CherAll Or NothingNope
7Lauryn HillEverything Is EverythingI did not
8S Club 7Bring It All BackNah

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/m002sw9g/top-of-the-pops-18061999

TOTP 30 APR 1999

Posted on by 80stastic

The day after this TOTP aired, Andrew Motion was announced as the next Poet Laureate in succession to previous incumbent Ted Hughes. His term would last ten years until he handed the baton to Carol Ann Duffy whilst the current Poet Laureate is Simon Armitage. You know what’s coming now…I wonder if the artists on tonight’s show have any connection with that role or poetry in general?

Our host is Jamie Theakston and we begin with last week’s No 1 (of course we do) which has been deposed and is currently No 3 in the charts. There was clearly a lot of belief, willingness and capacity from the management people behind Martine McCutcheon when it came to ensuring her transition from soap darling to pop star. From signing a significant record deal with Virgin, being given the song “Perfect Moment” as her debut single (a song A&R person Cheryl Robson had been sat on for three years) to having an hour-long television documentary about her journey from EastEnders actress to a singer, all the stops were being pulled out to make sure the project was a success. And a success it was. A No 2, platinum selling album, the 14th best selling single of the year and a pair of No 6 hits to follow.

It couldn’t sustain though. Two more albums quickly followed but failed to match the achievements of its predecessor. It seemed that appetite for Marine as a chart frequenter had been satiated. Why? For me, the cause of her commercial decline was that the initial burst of sales came off the back of her association with her EastEnders persona Tiffany. It’s as if people were in some sort of mourning for the death of that character and needed something to buy as a souvenir or keepsake. Then, the strength of her debut hit spilled over into sales for her album and before you knew it, momentum was created and away she went. However, the larger the distance of time that separated Martine from Tiffany, the less the connection between her and the public. That momentum waned until she was just another pop singer. Maybe she should have reactivated her pop career after her star turn in Love Actually when the public fell in love with another of her character portrayals. That didn’t happen and the last album she released came in 2017 which made a respectable No 17 in the charts but there has been nothing from her since…apart from this of course….

Poet Laureate link: “Perfect Moment” was written by Wendy Page and one J. Marr. In his podcast The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed, Simon Armitage spoke to Johnny Marr about his life as a musician. OK, the J. Marr that co-wrote “Perfect Moment” wasn’t the ex-Smiths guitarist but give me a break!

Just like Suede on last week’s show, Texas were also making a bit of a comeback after being away for a couple of years and also like Brett and the boys, they had to make a decision about which musical direction should be part of their return route. Unlike Suede, it seemed to me that they decided to basically just replicate their previous album which had brought them into the mainstream and delivered all that commercial success associated with such a transition. I’m sure the band themselves would be able to point to all sorts of details that spelt out the differential nuances between “White On Blonde” and “The Hush” but to your average pop music consumer, it surely felt like more of the same. Certainly, lead single “In Our Lifetime” retained that radio friendly polish that we’d come to expect from the second coming of the band. What was different though was the fact that this was the first time that the band had not employed an external producer for an album, preferring instead to keep it in house with guitarist Johnny McElhone twiddling the knobs on the mixing desk.

The chart performance of “In Our Lifetime” suggested that the record buying public were more than happy with a healthy helping of what they’d been served up before as its peak of No 4 maintained the band’s run of Top 10 singles by becoming their sixth on the trot. And why not? It’s a perfectly decent rock/pop tune with its strident yet melodic looped guitar hook and ‘wickedy-wick’ sound effect that introduces the chorus plus, of course, Sharleen Spiteri’s smooth vocals. For the moment, Texas were still in the ascendancy and doing nothing wrong at all.

Poet Laureate link: The state of Texas has its own Poet Laureate designation scheme, appointing a new incumbent every one to two years to promote poetry and recognize the literary contributions of Texans.

Fancy a bit of Busta Rhymes? No, me neither but executive producer Chris Cowey did and to be fair, the rapper was at No 5 with his single “What’s It Gonna Be?!” so…At the risk of sounding like my Dad commenting on my musical preferences as a teenager, this was just noise and a horrible one at that. “The mightiest and fastest rapper” ever to appear on the show is how Jamie Theakston describes Rhymes. Well, he perhaps he was but that doesn’t mean he could make a record that was listenable and he didn’t with this track. Even the presence of Janet Jackson couldn’t save it though I’m not sure I could even hear her contribution over all that shouting which seems to be about making his baby’s body wet. Eeuuww! Cowey could at least have shown the video in full (rather than on a big screen in the background) seeing as it was one of the most expensive ever produced at a cost of $2 million. The sound mix was much better on the promo as well with Busta’s rantings toned down more than in this studio performance. Not for me thank you.

Poet Laureate link: Poetry? Busta Rhymes? Yeah, that’s all I’ve got for this one.

Some blatant and shameless self promotion next as the Beeb uses its historic, flagship music show to advertise another of its programmes. If Miami 7 doesn’t ring any bells then the collective noun for its stars certainly will. S Club 7 were put together by pop impresario Simon Fuller when he was left at a loose end after the Spice Girls gave him the boot as their manager and his first action was to put together another pop group but this time he’d recruit more compliant people who he perceived wouldn’t tell him where to get off as his previous charges had.

Despite the fact that the Spice Girls project had turned into a global marketing operation encompassing different media and more merchandising than anyone could possibly want or house, Fuller reckoned there were yet more promotional opportunities to be explored. He envisioned a brand that was cross-media marketable, that could conquer both the music charts and TV ratings. Teaming up with his brother Kim (who wrote the Spice World movie story), they devised the TV show Miami 7 which the BBC picked up and broadcast on their CBBC channel. It was only a month into its run at the point of this TOTP broadcast and so, with show still on our screens, the Beeb indulged in some cross channel promotion and we got to meet the show’s stars in the TOTP backstage area. Although the first S Club 7 single – “Bring It All Back” which also acted as the Miami 7 theme tune – was still a whole five weeks away from release, that didn’t stop us from being given a preview of the video for it which, quelle surprise, also included some clips from the show.

Of course, this whole pop group/TV show wasn’t an original Fuller idea. The Monkees project from the 60s famously got there first but even in the 90s it had been tried with the show No Sweat following the adventures of boy band North & South who would have four Top 40 hits between ‘97 and ‘98. That didn’t stop Miami 7 being a hit though and it would run for four seasons albeit under a different title for each series. Its success is widely acknowledged as being the motivation for bringing the world shows like High School Musical and Glee.

As for “Bring It All Back”, it would top the charts when finally released. An insanely catchy slice of bubblegum pop which inevitably and obviously generated comparisons with The Jackson 5, it also contained one of the greatest key changes in all of pop music history. As we’ll be seeing it another three times in these TOTP repeats I’ll leave it there for now but suffice to say that the S Club story would run for years involving success, heartbreak, solo careers, controversy, a juniors version spin off, splits, reunions and ultimately tragedy. Someone really should make a TV show or movie about it.

Poet Laureate link: Not really though there was a literary club known as Authors‘ Club whose membership included three Poets Laureate – Alfred Austin, John Masefield, and John Betjeman.

From a request to ‘Bring It All Back’ to a plea to “Bring My Family Back” courtesy of Faithless. They did make some dark records didn’t they and this one is no different with Maxi Jazz recounting the tale of a man who grew up in a broken family, whose wife left him with the kids after his infidelity with a work colleague and who slips through the cracks and end up living in a derelict slum and regretting his life decisions. At least, I think that’s what it’s about. Although I wouldn’t describe myself as a fan, I did quite like this. It’s kind of got an hypnotic quality to it which means you can’t help listening despite the grimness and misery of the lyrics. Someone who is a fan is a friend of mine who will become an octogenarian this month proving yet again that age can be just a number when it comes to musical taste.

Poet Laureate link: A genuine connection! Caleb Femi, who was named London’s first Young Poet Laureate (2016–2017), features on the 2020 Faithless album “All Blessed”. He delivers a rap/spoken-word performance on the track “I Need Someone”. The band’s Sister Bliss commented on the collaboration that for the album, they wanted to work with “thoughtful fresh talent” like Femi to honor the high lyrical bar set by their late frontman, Maxi Jazz. 

Right what was going on here then? Watching this back without any prior knowledge/information, it looked like an attempt by TOTP executive producer Chris Cowey to really shake the format up which it was I guess but he couldn’t really lay claim to a totally original idea here. So, the dance music continued with the next two hits also coming firmly from that genre but there was a deliberate decision to tie the two together as Jamie Theakston gives them a combined intro – “This is Armand Van Helden versus Fatboy Slim”. We then get a studio performance by the former (featuring guest vocalist Roland Clark up front) and the video for the latter’s latest hit but the two are interspersed with clips of both of them entering a boxing ring. What gives?

Well, I didn’t have a clue so I looked it up and it turns out that Armand van Helden and Fatboy Slim were connected by their 1999 “A Date With Destiny” DJ battles. These high-profile, head-to-head gigs featured them competing in a boxing ring at venues like Brixton Academy. Ah, so that’s where that boxing imagery footage comes from! Basically Cowey just got permission to use it rather than it being anything that he set up himself. The boxing match theme is backed up by the fact that Van Helden’s last hit “You Don’t Know” knocked Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” off the top spot. There was a rematch when their follow ups (“Flowerz” for Van Helden and “Right Here, Right Now” by Fatboy Slim) were released in the same week. This time it was a knockout victory for the Fatboy with his single landing at No 2 whilst “Flowerz” couldn’t punch its weight and was left floundering at No 18. That’s a pretty decisive result despite Theakston saying in his segue that “Fortunately, there were no judges to pick a winner in this particular heavyweight contest so judge for yourselves”. Well, I think the record buying public were the judges Jamie and they made it very clear who their winner was. To be fair, it was a mismatch as “Flowerz” didn’t pack the same punch as its predecessor and never really gets itself off the canvas and into any sort of rhythm. There was no long lasting grudge held though as the duo reunited for performances at The Warehouse Project in Manchester and Drumsheds in London in November 2024.

Poet Laureate link: Ian Henery, the first ever Poet Laureate for Walsall, hosts a radio show on Black Country Xtra and has specifically named Armand Van Helden as a personal favourite from the golden era of house music.

OK, so. This is actually interesting as we just about see a DJ style fade from the Armand Van Helden tune into the video to “Right Here, Right Now” by Fatboy Slim. Fair play to Chris Cowey whom I’ve given a lot of stick to in this blog but the presentation on these two hits has been clever and effective. This was the fourth single lifted from the album “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby” and it was yet another banger – Norman Cook really was in the groove here. It’s got the usual samples in it from sources I haven’t a clue about but it also has a sense of foreboding, imbuing the listener with the feeling that they’re about to hear something monumental. Then the Big Beats kick in and you’re off on an aural journey signposted by the creativity of Cook’s imagination.

The video hooks into that idea of a journey by depicting the course of human evolution from a single celled amoeba via a jellyfish, an amphibian, a primate an homo erectus before finally becoming a human. It was supposedly inspired by the 70s French animated educational television series Once Upon A Time…Man which I remember from reruns in the 80s, typically shown mid morning during the Summer holidays. It was a clever way of engaging kids in history and tracked the development of humans from the creation of the Earth through to a prediction up to the year 2150. I liked it as I recall though I’m not sure that I caught all 26 episodes.

Anyway, not long before the end of the “Right Here, Right Now” video, Cook himself pops up in a burger van with a message apologising for not being on the show in person before we return to the promo. I get that Cowey wouldn’t have turned down the chance of using such a piece of VT but it does come across as incongruous and doesn’t really add anything which is a shame. The final transformation sees the now fully developed human being turn into the kid on the cover of the “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby” album but it must be a lookalike or CGI as Cook was never able to track that person down to pay him some royalties for the use of his image.

Poet Laureate link: As a member of The Housemartins, Cook had a connection to the city of Hull (where I have lived for the past 22 years). The poet Philip Larkin was the Librarian at the University of Hull and he was offered the position of Poet Laureate in 1984 which he declined.

Some things in life are just inexplicable. The Bermuda Triangle, the Great Pyramids of Giza, the England football team’s inability to win a trophy since 1966…and the appeal and success of Westlife. Yes, we’ve arrived at that point I’m afraid. The point where somehow the UK decided that far from having had enough of boy bands littering the charts throughout the 90s, that despite the sea change to the popularity of girl groups in the second half of the decade, and never minding that we’d already had years of one Irish boy band dominating everything…we needed another one! Why for chrissakes? WHY?! I just didn’t get it with this lot. They were so dull and, it seemed to me, inherently a one trick pony. How could anyone distinguish between one overwrought, schmaltzy ballad from another?! They all sounded the same! And not just that, they were all performed the same with those grinning berks sat in a line on stools, sometimes getting up if they had a solo. And yet, they were successful. Incredibly so, breaking chart records at will whilst racking up No 1 after No 1. They had four just in 1999 despite the first one “Swear It Again” – coming with four months of the year gone already. They weren’t even that good looking were they? Given the amount of times they will no doubt appear in these TOTP repeats, I’m leaving it here. For now.

Poet Laureate link: W.B. Yeats who was a Nobel Laureate (an Irish equivalent of a poet laureate) and Westlife share a connection with Sligo with the former famously associated with the town and its landscapes and the latter having grown up there (well, three of them anyway). Because of this shared hometown, Sligo’s tourism and cultural boards often promote the “poetry of Yeats and the music of Westlife”!

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Martine McCutcheonPerfect MomentNo
2TexasIn Our LifetimeNope
3Busta Rhymes / Janet JacksonWhat’s It Gonna Be?!Never
4S Club 7Bring It All BackNot likely
5FaithlessBring My Family BackI did not
6Armand van HeldenFlowerzNah
7Fatboy SlimRight Here, Right NowNo but I had the album
8WestlifeSwear It AgainNo – I swear!

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/m002rxqf/top-of-the-pops-30041999