Sade

TOTP 10 JUN 1993

Posted on by 80stastic

June 1993 saw the demise of two big names in the world of comedy – one a performer and one a TV show. The former was comedian Les Dawson who died on the same day this TOTP aired aged just 62. The latter was US sitcom Cheers which ended this year after 275 episodes over 11 seasons. Channel 4 broadcast the final three shows over the weekend following this TOTP. Both had a musical element to them. Dawson included his wonky piano playing in his act whilst Cheers had one of the greatest theme tunes of all time…

Let’s see if any of the tunes on this TOTP are anywhere near as good as Gary Portnoy’s famous song…

Certainly not this one! As I said in the last post when confronted by Eurodance merchant Haddaway opening the show, I’d totally had enough of that particular genre of music by this point. This time it’s the turn of Snap! to be the first act on with their new single “Do You See The Light (Looking For)”. The TOTP producers often seemed to top the show’s running order with a dance act. In recent weeks we’ve had Stereo MCs, Felix and 2 Unlimited in addition to Haddaway. I guess it made sense to try and begin proceedings with a bang. The year zero revamp hadn’t quite let go of the party atmosphere era of Michael Hurll. Having said that, the performance here of Snap! featuring Niki Harris seems to suggest a soirée rather than a massive rave-up. I have to say that as objectionable as his views were, the group seemed to lose something when rapper Turbo B left. The performance here seems very lacklustre. Maybe if the set hadn’t been so sparse it might have sparked things into life a bit. And why do the backing singers resemble water nymphs?

This track was taken from “The Madman’s Return” album and the album version of it is quite different with vocals by Thea Austin instead of Niki Harris, a rap by the aforementioned Turbo B and even a (slightly) different title in “See The Light”. The single version peaked at No 10 and No 14 in 2002 when it was remixed and rereleased.

Spin Doctors are still going up the charts? Checking its stats, “Two Princes” remained on the chart for 18 weeks so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s a pretty nifty tune all said and done and there was a brief moment in time when the band seemed to be the next big thing. Parent album “Pocketful Of Kryptonite” went to No 2 and achieved platinum sales in Europe and yet somehow it all seemed to stall and fall away on both sides of the Atlantic.

If I’m honest, the follow up singles just weren’t as good. “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” just didn’t capture the imagination in the same way as “Two Princes” although in the case of the latter, in a three way race of Superman themed singles, they definitely finish above Laurie Anderson and Black Lace.

“Two Princes” peaked at No 3 in the UK.

A proper pop moment next as TOTP brings us the return of Pet Shop Boys. Neil and Chris had been away for only 18 months or so but their last release had been their first official Best Of album “Discography” which on reflection felt like a line in the sand drawing to a close the first part of their career. What would the first material of their next phase be like? Well, not too dissimilar to their previous work to be fair. “Can You Forgive Her” didn’t feel like a massive departure from what had gone before but then Neil Tennant’s voice is so distinctive that it overrides sometimes any potential musical deviation on their behalf. Not always of course. For example, something like “Jealousy” or “Se A Vida É” sound nothing like “West End Girls” but in the case of “Can You Forgive Her”, it didn’t seem, to me anyway, like a radical new sound. Not that it wasn’t any good either though. It had a strident feel to it, enabled by a punchy chorus that demanded to be heard. And heard it was as it gave the duo their first Top 10 hit in two years after their previous three singles all failed to make that achievement.

Somehow though it always feels overshadowed by the second single to be lifted from parent album “Very” which was the enormous hit that was the cover of Village People’s “Go West”. Initial copies of the album came in an orange CD jewel case featuring raised bumps which resembled Lego. In those days, the Our Price chain I worked for didn’t use security tagging and so the CDs we sold weren’t ‘live’ on the shelves as it were. The actual CDs were filed away behind the counter so the cases were empty. However, the manager of the store I was working in when the album came out thought the Lego case so nickable that we kept those behind the counter as well and had a dummy case on display that used the inner back sleeve to say what it was. Genius! Except it was a pain in the arse to put together when selling it to a customer and we also had a few people ask if our dummy sleeve was somehow a different version of the album. It would be another five years before I worked in an Our Price that displayed CDs live.

Anyway, back to the show and this performance really does give us the pop moment I referred to earlier. There’s so much to unpack here. The over exaggerated pointy dunce hats, Neil Tennant in a high chair, the cricket bat wielding space cadet backing dancers, a huge egg on stage for no reason but most of all there was Chris Lowe. The perennially motionless man moved more in that one performance than in all his previous ones added together. What had got into him? There were even what passed for dance moves! Maybe I was wrong. Perhaps this really was a different Pet Shop Boys to what had gone before.

1993 really was the year ragga/dancehall took over the charts. After Shaggy, Shabba and Snow came the ludicrously named Chaka Demus And Pliers. Opening themselves up to all sorts of tool related jibes, this pair of toasters joined forces in 1991 and released “Murder She Wrote” the following year in America to great acclaim. The follow up was “Tease Me” and the hordes lapped it up sending it to No 3 in the UK Top 40. The lyrics were fairly clear about the song’s subject matter with references to ‘reaching climax’ and its title of course. There’s also that shout out line which seemed to encapsulate the whole movement – “Number One In The World”. I’m sure that seemed to feature on every song of this type after that.

Chaka Demus and Pliers have bought all their mates with them to the TOTP studio for a jolly up whilst the camera man seemed very intent on giving us multiple views of the gyrating female backing dancers. Ahem. We’ll also be seeing lots more of CD and P before 1993 is out.

And the fascination with all things erotic thriller continues. I’m guessing Indecent Proposal must have been performing well at the box office to generate this much of a profile. It’s another outing for “Ordinary Love” by Sade which was featured heavily in the film but was not actually on the soundtrack. After last week’s glimpse of the mermaid promo video, we get a live by satellite performance from New York this time. Sade Adu looks stunning as ever but it’s the two guitarists in the background who have caught my eye. They spend the first half of the performance not even bothering to mime playing their instruments but doing the nerd shuffle together whilst clicking their fingers in unison. It doesn’t really seem appropriate for an artist as sophisticated as Sade. Bet they got a bollocking when the cameras were turned off.

Therapy? were enjoying a huge breakthrough year in 1993. After the “Shortsharpshock EP” featuring lead track “Screamager” made the Irish rockers bona fide Top 10 artists in March, the follow up was also an EP. “Face The Strange” featured four tracks of which “Turn” was chosen to promote it. Clearly the EP’s title is a David Bowie reference being a lyric from his song “Changes”. I learned recently that I know someone who met Bowie and not just met but took him out for a drink around about 1972 just as he was launching his Ziggy Stardust era. I know! There’s a few Bowie super fans that I know who would be blown away by my friend’s recollections. What’s that? The Therapy? song? Oh, I didn’t like it much. Sorry.

The Breakers are their usual eclectic/bonkers mix of artists starting with the evergreen Cliff Richard. Despite being 52 at the time and having had his first hit 25 years ago, Cliff was showing no signs of slowing down in 1993. In fact, the decade was going pretty well for him so far. He’d already clocked up a No 1 in “Saviour’s Day” and four other Top 10 hits. Also having a fine old time of it around now was Maxi Priest who’d had a hit twice with Shabba Ranks (albeit with the same song in both cases) and who’d supplied the ‘Shabba!’ sample for the massive selling “Mr Loverman” single. To add to his collection of chart connections came “Human Work Of Art”. You see, Maxi had released this as a single from his “Bonafide” album three years prior but it had failed to chart.

It was recycled for Cliff’s 1993 album called…erm…”The Album” and this time made No 24. It sounds every inch a Cliff record and you’d be hard pressed to guess at its reggae-fied earlier incarnation. It’s also utterly awful under his guardianship. Yes, it’s a polished production but then you can polish a turd of course.

I can’t find the official video online so here’s it being performed on Surprise Surprise.

From the despair of another banal Cliff record to…where? Well, fortunately it’s Manic Street Preachers with their new single “From Despair To Where” (ahem). OK, firstly weren’t they have meant to have split up by now? Wasn’t that their mission statement to make one blow your socks off, anarchistic album then dissolve the band? Clearly that was just bravado then. What they actually did was to record second album “Gold Against The Soul” which I liked enough to buy but which the fan base has always dissed as the worst album in their back catalogue. I’m sure I heard an interview with James Dean Bradfield once where he was asked to rank the band’s albums in order of merit and even he put it bottom of the list.

Maybe debut “Generation Terrorists” had raised the bar and expectations too high but the music press gave it mixed reviews at best. Maybe fan favourite and third album “The Holy Bible” would have been a more acceptable choice with its themes of human suffering and bleakness. Was “Gold Against The Soul” seen as too radio friendly, too (gulp) corporate rock? It sounded alright to my ears with the lead single ticking all my aural boxes. It swoops and soars but bites as well with lines like ‘there’s nothing nice in my head’. It had all of that and yet wasn’t even the best track on the album for me. I liked this version of the band a lot but then I’m not a paid up member of the Manics army who could shoot my opinion down in flames I’m sure.

What I’m not sure about is the video which is basically some moody shots of the band (Richie looks especially cool) intertwined with some sepia tinted clips which seem to suggest a sci-fi /horror film but it’s all a bit blurry to make a clear judgement although that look like an alien autopsy in the thumbnail below.

The Manics of course did do a TV show theme tune when they covered “Suicide Is Painless” – the theme tune from M*A*S*H. Better than the theme to Cheers? It’s a tough call but yes possibly.

The Sister Sledge revival bandwagon continues apace with a rerelease of their 1984 hit “Thinking Of You”. Remixed as the (RAMP Radio Mix), it was the last of three singles taken from the Greatest Hits compilation “The Very Best Of Sister Sledge 1973-93” following “We Are Family” and “Lost In Music”. It would peak at No 17 just six places lower than its 1984 counterpart. However the song dated back to 1979 when it was a track on the “We Are Family” album and issued as the B-side to the initial release of “Lost In Music”.

Reading that paragraph back it seems like the group made a 40+ year career based around just three songs that have been recycled over and over again. Lead singer Kathy Sledge even did her own cover version of “Thinking Of You” with house duo Aristofreeks in 2015. OK look, I know there’s also “He’s The Greatest Dancer” and “Frankie” in their repertoire but the former is very similar to the “Family/Lost/Thinking” trilogy and the latter is one of the worst recordings of all time (and I’ve just had to listen to Cliff Richard’s “Human Work Of Art”). I doubt even the Sledge sisters want to be remembered for that one.

Sister Sledge have only released one more single since this. And guess what? It was a rerelease of “We Are Family” in 2004 which made No 93 on our charts.

Who? The Time Frequency? Sounds like a phrase Dr Who might say. Have we seen this lot before? Can’t remember now. So many of these dance acts about. Anyway, “The Ultimate High” was a track off their “Power Zone EP” and sounds very much like a knock off version of “Insanity” by Oceanic to me but then, as I’ve said many times before, I’m no dance music aficionado.

The Time Frequency were from Scotland so I wonder if they knew fellow Scottish dance acts Primal Scream and The Shamen or is that a bit like an American, who on meeting someone from London, asks them if they know their cousin who lives in Notting Hill?

Lisa Stansfield? Again? It can’t be! She seems to be on every week at the moment. Given the high level of exposure it got, I’m surprised that “In All The Right Places” didn’t get higher than its No 8 peak. She’s back in the studio this time and has gone full on Louise Brooks with her haircut. No messing about like the other week with that half hearted Brett Anderson-esque wedge style. The way the stage has been set up with her first name and first name only in lights gives it a feel of a residency at Las Vegas. In fact, I could just imagine Liza Minnelli up there belting this one out.

Lisa will be back in October with her “So Natural” album and single.

UB40 have made it to the top spot deposing Ace Of Base in the process. Were they on tour at this time as it’s the video for “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You” yet again this week? I’m guessing that the director got the band to perform emerging into a tight corridor to link in with the themes of claustrophobia and paranoia that the film it was taken from (Sliver) clearly was based around. Ironically, a few years down the line, the band fractured into two different identities due to internal arguments and there’s no way that Ali and Robin Campbell would ever be in such close proximity to each other like that again.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Snap!Do You See The Light (Looking For)Never happening
2Spin DoctorsTwo PrincesLiked it, didn’t buy it
3Pet Shop BoysCan You Forgive HerNo but I have it on their Pop Art Best Of
4Chaka Demus And PliersTease MeAs if
5SadeNo Ordinary LoveNope
6Therapy?Face The Strange EPNah
7Cliff RichardHuman Work Of ArtOf course not
8Manic Street PreachersFrom Despair To WhereNo but I bought the album
9Sister SledgeThinking Of YouNo
10The Time FrequencyPower Zone EPNot likely
11Lisa StansfieldIn All The Right PlacesNegative
12UB40(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With YouAnd 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/m001bdx3/top-of-the-pops-10061993

TOTP 03 JUN 1993

Posted on by 80stastic

In a recent post I made a reference to the ex-footballer Chris Waddle who had just been voted the 1993 sports writers’ Player of the Year. As this is a music blog, I obviously had to mention Waddle’s almost surreal attempt at pop superstardom in 1987. I even inserted a clip of him performing on TOTP. Unfortunately that seemed to cause the misapprehension amongst some that I was mixing up my TOTP years. As such, I need to be careful in this intro as I am going to talk about his partner in crime, Glenn Hoddle. You see, the day after this TOTP aired, Glenn was appointed as the new manager of my beloved Chelsea. Back in 1993, this was big news for Chelsea fans. Growing up, I’d seen my team managed by a succession of useless gaffers like Ken Shellito, Danny Blanchflower and Geoff Hurst. The latest incumbent Ian Porterfield had been similarly challenged. Hoddle, by contrast, was in demand after taking unfashionable Swindon Town into the Premier League. Plus, he brought some glamour with him. At 36 years of age, he was young for a manager and of course he had been a pop star (of sorts) in the 80s. Let’s see if there’s anyone in this show who can hold a light to Glenn in his “Diamond Lights” pomp…

…oh God no! Not him! I knew it must be coming as it’s one of the big hits of 1993 but I always, always hated it. I talk of Haddaway and his Eurodance song “What Is Love”. This guy was like a German Sydney Youngblood in that both served in the forces before deciding they’d give this pop star lark a go – Haddaway was in the Navy (you can sail the seven seas) and Youngblood the US Army. His debut single was pretty much No 1 in every country in Europe apart from the UK where he had to be satisfied with a No 2. Yes, it was catchy but all those Eurodance hits were catchy – it didn’t guarantee any measure of quality though. It’s not even that Haddaway couldn’t sing as the guy clearly had some pipes on him. It’s just that there seems to be a never ending conveyor belt of this sort of stuff this year and even by early June I was sick of it all. Yes, I guess it’s got a bit more soul to it than something like “No Limit” but that stabbing synth riff used to make my skin crawl.

The other reason I couldn’t take Haddaway seriously was that, having spent three years in Sunderland as a student, hearing his name immediately sent the synapses in my brain firing to arrive at the North East phrase of ‘hadaway n’ shite’ – a proclamation of negativity or disbelief to put it politely.

Look, if I want a song called “What Is Love” there’s one right here which is infinitely more preferable to me…

Isn’t this No 1 yet? Must surely be next week then. UB40’s version of “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You” has exploded sales wise – we were shifting loads of it in the Our Price store in Rochdale where I was working – though I was never quite sure why. It just sounded so clunky and mechanical and…well…ham-fisted in its production. All the charm of the song seemed to have been sucked out of it. Nothing wrong with putting a completely different spin on a song of course but it felt like they put as much love into it as they would have writing a shopping list. Compare their laborious take on the song with this joyous version from 1986 by Lick The Tins…

I know the UB40 version was on the soundtrack to the film Sliver but surely that wasn’t responsible for its popularity was it? I’ve never seen the film but it was an erotic thriller so surely didn’t have that mainstream appeal of something like Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and we all know what that film did for Bryan Adams. Surely the age rating it would have been given would have precluded some potential record buyers from even getting into the cinema? I’m guessing that the promo video for the single is based around CCTV scenes featured in the movie some of which clearly indicate that Sharon Stone’s character has gone further than just crossing her legs as per her Fatal Attraction character. I’m no prude but I’m surprised the BBC didn’t edit them out.

Right here comes Jamiroquai to “Blow Your Mind” except that this track was hardly going to do that. It’s just a watered down version of their first hit “Too Young To Die” isn’t it? A jam session that’s been told it’s a song and believed the messenger. Jay Kay just scats his way through it with a lot of Fast Show jazz club free-styling – the wearing of his trademark silly hat doesn’t convince. Neither does the staging of this performance. Why has the stage been made to look like someone’s living room? There’s two sofas with members of the band sat precariously on arms and a backrest (that’s the sort of thing I’d tell my child off about) plus a fruit bowl on a coffee table possibly featuring plastic fruit. Why? How is that a depiction of blowing your mind? Just nonsense.

“Blow Your Mind” peaked at No 12, a chart position so high that it is the only thing that is mind blowing about the whole release.

Now, host Tony Dortie informs us that the next artist should have been performing live in the studio but she’s unwell so we have to make do with the video for “Lords Of The New Church” by Tasmin Archer. On reflection, surely this track should have been the follow up to her No 1 smash “Sleeping Satellite” rather than the excellent but commercially challenged “In Your Care”? It’s much more up tempo and certainly more radio friendly and, according to Tasmin herself, was written about a new breed of politicians in the early 90s and definitely not the 80s post punk band of the same name.

All of the above theory though is debunked by the chart position the single attained – a lowly high of No 26, ten places lower even than its predecessor. Was Tasmin losing her audience already at this point? If so, could it have been halted if the release order of “In Your Care” and “Lords Of The New Church” had been reversed? We’ll never know but what is a fact is that she suffered from a case of diminished returns when it came to her five hit singles whose chart peaks were:

1 – 16 – 26 – 30 – 40

I’m not sure what’s going on in the video which seems to revolve around a man in a gold lame suit and a Stetson hat travelling through Nevada on his way to Las Vegas. Perhaps a studio performance from Tasmin might have sold the record more. When you consider that she was scheduled to do just that but couldn’t due to ill health, was that single event a sliding doors moment in her career? Yeah, I’m probably reading too much into that aren’t I?

Here come this week’s Breakers starting with Sade and their (Sade are a band not a singer remember) single “No Ordinary Love”. A little bit of a chart curio this one. I’d forgotten this but this was actually the second time it had been a Top 40 hit in under a year. How so? Well, originally released as the lead single to fourth album “Love Deluxe”, it had peaked at No 26. Sade had even performed it in the TOTP studio. However, subsequent singles from the album had failed to chart and sales of the album were less than its predecessor. In fact, much like Tasmin Archer, Sade had suffered from diminished returns as well but with their albums. “Love Deluxe” sold half of what third album “Stronger Than Pride” sold which in turn sold half of sophomore album “Promise”. All of them performed less well than the iconic debut “Diamond Life”.

As such, were Epic Records in a panic about their artist’s commercial value and that’s why they rereleased a single that had proven to be popular (albeit in a small way)? Maybe but it seems more of a case of opportunism as the rerelease* was surely due to the inclusion of the song in the film Indecent Proposal. Yes, if a song was in a film in 1993 it was more than likely to be an erotic thriller and probably this one. Strangely though, despite featuring in the actual film proper, it didn’t make it onto the official soundtrack. Maybe that’s why the promo video doesn’t include any clips from the film in it – probably some complicated licensing issues. Ah yes, the promo video that sees Sade Adu as a mermaid. Hmm. I wonder what angle the director was going for?

The rereleased “No Ordinary Love” peaked at No 14.

*When is a re-release actually a re-entry? Apparently the 1993 version had the same track listing and catalogue number as its 1992 counterpart.

And talking of Indecent Proposal…here’s a song that is on the official soundtrack to the film. We saw Lisa Stansfield on the show in person last week performing “In All The Right Places” and that exposure has helped propel it into the charts at No 13. As she’s in the Breakers section, it’s the video this time which does include scenes from the film. As I mentioned last week, rumours persisted at the time that Lisa had been offered the Demi Moore role in the film. Whether she was or not, what is true is that she did finally get to appear in a film some six years later when she starred in musical comedy Swing opposite Hugo Speer. I’ve never seen it but it gets decent reviews online so it might be worth a watch plus she recorded most of the music for it.

So who remembers this? “Three Little Pigs” by Green Jellÿ? Yeah, I know. You’ve tried to forget it. I really wasn’t excited by the concept of a comedy rock band from America I have to say but that’s what this lot were having been around since 1981. One of their early songs was called “I’ve Got Poo-Poo On My Shoe” so we shouldn’t have been surprised by this god awful retelling of the Three Little Pigs fairytale. They had form.

The musicianship is intentionally bad (that’s part of the joke you see) whilst much was made of the ‘hilarious’ stop motion clay animation video. It was hardly original though was it? We’d already seen this sort of parody single back in the 80s from the likes of Weird Al Yankovic and The Firm, the latter of which had also used the same video technique to great effect on their No 1 single “Star Trekkin’”. I didn’t get why this was so popular (the single went Top 5) unless it was kids buying it thinking they were being rebellious.

They followed this up with a cover of “Anarchy In The UK” that they interlaced with references to The Flintstones. Again, not original as The Screaming Blue Messiahs beat them to it by about five years with their “I Wanna Be A Flintstone” hit.

Ah, some proper music now or as host Tony Dortie describes it “some solid musical nourishment” courtesy of A–ha who are back with new single “Dark Is The Night”. Nothing to do with the Shakatak single of the same name, this was the trio’s first UK Top 40 hit since “Crying In The Rain” three years before and was the lead single from their fifth studio album “Memorial Beach”.

By 1993, A-ha’s days of being teen pin-ups were well behind them but then they’d never really pursued that anyway. It was kind of a byproduct of their Scandinavian good looks. However, they definitely seemed determined to shed that image with a song like “Dark Is The Night” which is such a more mature sound than something like “Touchy” or “Take On Me”. I liked it but not too many others seemed to. Its chart trajectory petered out at No 19 whilst the album got no higher than No 17 and produced no further hits. The commercial failure of the project convinced the band to take a seven year hiatus before returning with the “Minor Earth, Major Sky” album.

That means that this could well be the last time we see A-ha on TOTP which also means one final chance for me to indulge in an activity I had been doing since I was 17 and which I was still doing in 1993 despite it being my 25th birthday three days after this TOTP aired. I am, of course, referring to ‘Morton Harket hair watch’. My fascination with Morton’s barnet had been with me through A Levels, Polytechnic and even getting married. My aim – to get my hair to look like his. Here he seems to have grown it and let it flop with no product aided quiff to be seen. Surely I could achieve that?! Sadly, even if I could, my complete lack of cheekbones meant I would never pull off the Morten look convincingly.

https://youtu.be/Whk9qSC3D-Y

As the Tory party leadership contest draws to a close and we stand at the dawn of a new PM, what better act to mark the event than P.M. Dawn?! You think I’m done with the crappy puns? Hell no! It seems now that it is “More Than Likely” that Liz Truss will be the next UK Prime Minister. Heaven help us all. OK, now I’m done – back to the matter at hand. This was the very last of six UK Top 40 hits for both artists concerned here P.M. Dawn and Boy George though this one only just made it peaking at No 40 despite this TOTP appearance at Disneyworld no less. It’s not quite as bonkers as New Order on the set of Baywatch on Venice Beach but it’s up there. It’s a decidedly odd vista, the two of them togged up in completely inappropriate clothes for the weather, sat down metres apart for the whole performance with the Disney castle towering above them in the background. @TOTPFacts has the story behind the location:

The song itself is another gorgeous P.M. Dawn melody which suits Boy George’s vocals perfectly. It really should have been a bigger hit. I had a promo copy of parent album “The Bliss Album…?” which includes a rather wonderful version of “Norwegian Wood” by The Beatles:

It all ended tragically for the original line up of the group. DJ Minitemix was accused of sexually assaulting a 14 year old relative and was subsequently fired from the band whilst Prince Be died of renal disease in 2016.

This is starting to feel like overkill now as we get the third song on the show from the film Indecent Proposal and a fourth from an erotic thriller if you include UB40’s from Sliver. A Breaker last week, Bryan Ferry is in the studio this week (with everyone’s trusty sidekick bass player alongside, the ubiquitous Gail Ann Dorsey) to perform “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”. As with P.M. Dawn and Boy George earlier, this would be Bryan’s final UK chart single although he would continue to have big selling albums.

As usual, Bryan is effortlessly cool but it all looks a bit too comfy and predictable for me. The reaction he provoked with his debut TOTP appearance in 1972 with Roxy Music performing “Virginia Plain” is a million miles away from what he’s doing here. Maybe it’s unfair to compare them. Maybe.

https://youtu.be/qx9jD87obTA

I’m not sure that I ever knew until now that “All That She Wants” hitmakers Ace Of Base were a family group (well almost). Three of the four members were siblings – they’re basically the Swedish Corrs. It got me thinking about other famous family bands. There’s Oasis obviously plus the Campbell clan of UB40 (pre and post their splintering). The Beach Boys featured three brothers and a cousin and then of course there’s The Osmonds and The Jackson 5. How about Kings Of Leon or the Bee Gees? There’s been a few. Where do Ace Of Base rate in this list? For me, they’re below The Partridge Family* and they weren’t even a real family! I’d almost even have Glenn and Chris before them. Almost.

*Yes, I know Shirley Jones was David Cassidy’s stepmother.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1HaddawayWhat Is LoveHadaway and shite!
2UB40(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With YouNah
3JamiroquaiBlow Your MindNo but my wife had the album
4Tasmin ArcherLords Of The New ChurchNope
5Sade No Ordinary LoveNegative
6Lisa StansfieldIn All The Right PlacesNo
7Green JellÿThree Little PigsPigshit – no
8A-haDark Is The NightNo but I have it on a Best Of CD
9P.M. Dawn / Boy GeorgeMore Than LikelyNo but I had a promo copy of the album
10Bryan Ferry Will You Still Love Me TomorrowI did not
11Ace Of BaseAll That She WantsAnd 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/m001bdx1/top-of-the-pops-03061993

TOTP 08 OCT 1992

Posted on by 80stastic

By 1992, TOTP was into its 29th year. The very first show had been broadcast on New Year’s Day 1964 and was produced in Dickenson Road Studio in Manchester which was just a short walk from where I was living in 1992. Anyway, whilst the show could boast an enduring longevity a new music vehicle debuted on this very day. Yes, a few hours after this TOTP had finished, the very first Later…with Jools Holland hit our screens. Whilst TOTP would eventually peter out and be deemed unwanted in 2006, Later… is still part of the BBC’s broadcasting schedule today albeit that it had undergone some changes of format, times of transmission and even some tinkering with its name in that time. Its remit was vastly different from TOTP in that it was not bound by charts or hit records (mind you those time honoured rules seem to have gone by the by in recent TOTP repeats as well). Showcasing a wide variety of musical genres, its circular arrangement of stages, jam sessions with the host and a studio audience of 300 meant that you couldn’t really mistake Later…for its older sibling. Musical guests on that first show were The Neville Brothers (Gary and Phil!), The Christians, Nu Colours and D’Influence – I’d have maybe been interested in The Christians but nothing else. Over the years it has received accolades and criticism alike both for its choice of artists and its host but whatever your opinion of it, you have to give credit to a show that has lasted that long. I wonder if any of the acts on TOTP tonight ever received an invite from Jools?

We start with M People. They must have been on Later…surely? I’m going to have to check the list of episodes for 59 series to be sure. Hmm. Not sure about this post’s theme all of a sudden.

*checks anyway*

Yes! They first appeared in series 4 nearly two years on from this TOTP broadcast alongside Nick Lowe and an all female Bulgarian state choir. By 1998, they were so successful that they qualified for their own Later…Special with the whole show dedicated to them. Back in 1992 though they were struggling to establish themselves as a consistently successful chart act. They had achieved three consecutive Top 40 hits but diminishing returns had set in and each one peaked at a lower chart position than the one before. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the band returned to the studio to record two new tracks to not only reverse that trend but to add to their debut album “Northern Soul” for a re-release. One of those tracks was “Excited” which was put out as a single. It did what it was designed to do but only just when it peaked at No 29.

In his intro, host Tony Dortie (more on him ‘laterz’) encourages us to jump about to the song which is the exact opposite of what plays out as the band give the most static of performances with certainly no jumping going on. The track is all about the chorus which is perfect for Heather Small’s enormous, swooping vocals. The rest of it is a bit meh – yes, not the most articulate of critiques but then I’m writing 6,000 words a week on this blog so I’m allowing myself the odd bit of lazy writing OK?

The band should probably have just gone straight to Plan B which is what they ended up doing eventually anyway. In the February of the following year they rereleased “How Can I Love You More (Mixes)” which did what it said on the tin and remixed their debut single (including a mix by Sasha) and the combination of radio and club versions was enough to take then into the Top 10 for the first time. Then came the Mercury Music Prize winning “Elegant Slumming” and the rest was history.

It’s the mini chart rundown from 20 – 11 next over the video for “Sentinel” by Mike Oldfield. He’s a big name, he’s surely been on Later…Yes, of course he has on series 12 in 1998 appearing alongside Fun Lovin’ Criminals amongst others. He played the intro from “Tubular Bells” – of course he did. We’ve seen both the video for “Sentinel” and an ‘exclusive’ performance of the song before so do I have to comment on this one again? I do? Erm…well, obviously this was from “Tubular Bells II” and six years later Oldfield released “Tubular Bells III” and then a year later “The Millennium Bell”. It didn’t stop there though as he re-recorded the original album for its 30th anniversary in 2003. And I thought Later… had some longevity.

Next up are Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. Did they ever appear on Later…? What do you reckon? Well, they didn’t as far as I can tell. Their stock was pretty high in 1992 though. They’d headlined the NME stage at Glastonbury in the Summer and had toured extensively in the US where MTV had picked up some of their videos for heavy rotation. Indeed, this single “Not Sleeping Around” topped the Modern Rock / Alternative chart over there. The lead single for second studio album “Are You Normal?”, it peaked at No 19 in the UK making it their second biggest hit ever. Apparently Jools Holland wasn’t a fan though.

As for the song itself, I don’t remember this one but listening back to it now it has hints of EMF, The Wedding Present and Jocks Wa Hey. Who are the last name on that list you say? Only the greatest band that never existed! Still not sure? The Young Person’s Guide To Becoming A Rock Star? Channel 4? Late 90s? Here they are in all their glory…

What a time the next artist was having around now. Not only was Tasmin Archer on her way to No 1 with “Sleeping Satellite” but by the time it got to the top of the charts she was also appearing on the third ever edition of Later…and who was she sharing the bill with for that show? Only Motown legend Smokey Robinson! She must have been pinching herself. Nobody had ever heard of her six weeks before that.

Although her fame was fleeting, she isn’t the one hit wonder many may think. Her album “Great Expectations” provided her with a further three hit singles including the dark but powerful “In Your Care” which was written about child abuse and raised money for the Child Line charity. The song’s subject matter showed that Tasmin wasn’t one for shying away from issues and was a brave choice as a follow up single to a No 1 record.

Two years later she demonstrated her self belief by covering not one but four songs by one of the most respected songwriters of a generation when she released the “Shipbuilding EP” which included four Elvis Costello songs. It took some balls to record her version of the EP’s title track . Not only was it written by Costello but there was already a version in existence that was recognised as the definitive take on the song by Robert Wyatt. My wife is a big Costello fan and she liked Tasmin’s version enough to buy it. There really was more to Archer than just “Sleeping Satellite”.

Now a tricky one to predict for many reasons next but I’m specifically referring to whether they ever appeared on Later… Prince was certainly a big enough name to have done so but did his schedule ever allow it? It didn’t according to Wikipedia and Jools Holland never got to accompany the great man but there is this rather lovely tribute to him by Gregory Porter from the show:

The follow up to “Sexy MF” and the second single from the “Love Symbol” album, “My Name Is Prince” peaked at No 7 on the UK Top 40. Oh the irony of that song title given his battles with his nomenclature! The naming of the song was surely deliberate. It’s a typical, full on Prince funk out of a track and I quite liked it at the time but it’s not up there amongst the very best of his work on reflection. Apparently that is actually Prince in the video behind that chainmail face covering sending fans wild as he performs in an alleyway which is quite appropriate as the full video features Cheers actress Kirstie Alley. I’m guessing that wasn’t deliberate though.

The next artist we last saw on the show as part of Quartz performing their dance version of Carol King’s “It’s Too Late” back in 1991. The following year she was back in her own right, striking out on her own as Dina Carroll (Dina bring short for Geraldine). She’d already clocked up one Top 40 single in 1992 called “Ain’t No Man” but it didn’t make it onto TOTP. She’s made the cut this time though with her second single “Special Kind Of Love”. This was a jaunty little number if a little generic. I could imagine Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey belting this one out – in fact it does sound a bit like the latter’s “Emotions” track come to think of it. There’s even a little bit of vocal dynamics Mariah style in the middle. Not unpleasant though. Dina would go supernova the following year with her Top 3 hit “Don’t Be A Stranger” propelling sales of her “So Close” album through the roof. Said album would eventually furnish Dina with six chart hits.

She looks ever so slightly uncomfortable in this performance up there on her own like she’s not entirely sure where to put herself. At one point she nearly misses her vocal cue and at another seems to look to the side of the stage as if hoping for someone behind the scenes to tell her where to stand. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have noticed anything at the time but writing a blog makes me look for the slightest details now.

As for her Later…credentials, she appeared on the very first Hootenanny in 1993 which would have coincided with the height of her success. Ah yes, Hootenanny, Jools’ annual New Year’s Eve shindig. My wife and I used to watch this religiously but our commitment has waned in recent years. I think it was when we found out it wasn’t live and was in fact recorded some time in October I think. You can’t trust anything or anyone these days can you?

“Special Kind Of Love” peaked at No 16.

Next a bloke who really should have been a none hit wonder rather than the one hit variety but here he is with a second Top 40 entry. Billy Ray Cyrus was responsible for one of the year’s cringiest songs in “Achy Breaky Heart” but here he was trying to prove that he was a proper artist really and not a novelty song singer. “Could’ve Been Me” was his follow up to that turd song and he’s doing his best Merle Haggard impression to convince us of his credibility. That ain’t working for me at all and neither is the fact that his performance is being broadcast live from Nashville, the home of country music. This guy was pure (Dwight) hokum surely?

Cyrus never had another UK hit despite releasing 53 singles and 16 studio albums during his career. The figure for his appearances on Later….? That would be a big, fat zero. Oh and a final quiz question before we’re done with Billy Ray. Can you name another artist who is only known really for one hugely successful song but who had a follow up hit that included the words ‘Could’ve Been’ in the title? Yep, it was the shopping mall princess herself, Tiffany.

Four Breakers this week two of which we’ve already seen in full before. Why did the producers keep doing this? It seems like such a waste especially when you consider that one of those two songs is by Status Quo!

Yes, we’re stuck with the Quo putting in a halfhearted shift at the money for old rope factory. Even Jools Holland couldn’t be doing with them and they were never invited on Later…The video for “Roadhouse Medley (Anniversary Waltz – Part 25)” seems mainly to just be the promo for their 1984 single “The Wanderer” which is one of the tracks in the medley intercut with some live gig footage but really, who gives a s**t?

The second artist who’s already performed in full on the show previously is Sade who, we must remember, are a band not a singer. At least the video for “No Ordinary Love” has singer Sade Adu costumed as a mermaid to…erm…retain our interest (as opposed to some blokes in denim arseing around on a bus as per Quo’s video). And Later…?What do you reckon? Yes, of course they’ve been on but not until November 2000 presumably to promote their “Lovers Rock” album.

Now here’s a real forgotten song – “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough” by Patty Smyth and Don Henley. Hands up who remembers this? Well, if anyone is reading this in the US or Canada they might well have raised an arm as this was a No 2 record in America and the biggest selling single of the year in Canada. Over here though, it petered out at No 22.

So who is/was Patty Smyth? That’s Patty Smyth not Patti Smith the legendary US punk rock icon. Well, Patty was in a band called Scandal (never heard of them) who had one major hit in America in 1984 but it didn’t translate to the UK. By far her biggest hit was this one as discussed above but that shouldn’t define her career. She has written multiple songs for film soundtracks, worked with bands like The Hooters and – get this – she was invited by Eddie Van Halen to join the rock giants as a replacement for singer David Lee Roth but she declined as she was pregnant at the time with her first child. That was with her first husband Richard Hell of Richard Hell & The Voidoids fame. I only really know about this guy through my wife who’s elder brother listened to a lot of Hell’s music when they were growing up. As if that partner wasn’t interesting enough, guess who Patty is married to now? John McEnroe the tennis legend! I know! John is also a musician having been taught to play the guitar by his friend Eric Clapton. And I thought my guitar teacher was good.

Back to the music though and “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough” is a nice enough country rock ballad that you could imagine The Eagles having recorded (no surprise given Henley’s involvement). I could also picture it being on the soundtrack to a romantic drama probably starring Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock.

Neither Don Henley nor Patty Smyth (nor John McEnroe!) have ever appeared on Later…though Patti Smith has.

The final Breaker comes from Simple Minds who are back in the charts but not with new material. Back in 1992, the band were at the start of a four year hiatus between albums. Record label Virgin wisely decided that now would therefore be a good time to raid the band’s back catalogue and release a Best Of album. “Glittering Prize 81/92” was that album but as it was a Virgin endeavour it precluded the inclusion of tracks from the band’s first three non-Virgin albums. Sadly this meant marvellous songs like “I Travel” were missing from the track listing. Still, you couldn’t say it wasn’t jam packed with hits. Sixteen of them were on the album and the appeal of that was enough to send it to No 1 and triple platinum.

To promote it, a double A-side single was released, that being “Love Song/Alive And Kicking” The former was a track from 1981 that had been a minor hit peaking outside of the Top 40 whilst the latter was that well known behemoth of a rock anthem that went to No 7 in 1985. Interesting that Virgin chose the lesser known “Love Song” to promote the album (it’s that song that TOTP play) though in my memory it was “Alive And Kicking” that picked up all the airplay.

We sold loads of this album in the Our Price in Rochdale where I was working whilst the single also sold well peaking at No 6. There’d already been an unofficial Greatest Hits album by the band in the form of live album “Live In The City Of Light” from 1987 – Phil Collins did a similar thing by releasing “Serious Hits Live” before a formal Greatest Hits – plus the “Themes” box sets from 1990. Subsequent years would see the band release multiple Best Of albums including an acoustic one in 2017.

Despite their status and longevity, Simple Minds have never been on Later… though Simply Red have. Where’s the justice?

And so we arrive at the moment that I realised that this Take That thing wasn’t going away anytime soon. Having achieved the status of genuine pop stars with bona fide hits, it was time to consolidate and how do you do that after your first two hits have been uptempo numbers? With a ballad of course and Gary Barlow had just the thing. Written when he was 15 and presumably when he knew little about the whole love thing, “A Million Love Songs” was perfect for cultivating the affection of thousands of teenage girls up and down the country. Tuneful yet simple, there was nothing very complicated going on here although the self referential use of the phrase ‘love songs’ did add an extra layer to it. Kind of like the innocent, wide eyed younger sibling to “Song For Whoever” by The Beautiful South.

It’s not often mentioned but the single wasn’t actually a single at all but an E.P (“The Love Songs E.P.” to be exact). The CD single and vinyl formats all contained three other songs in addition to “A Million Love Songs”. The cassette version only had a different mix of it. There was also a limited edition 7” that came with transfer tattoos that had the same track listing as the cassette. So what were the other songs on the E.P. and were they any good? They were “Still Can’t Get Over You”, “How Can It Be” and “Don’t Take Your Love”. As for their quality, I have no idea (nor wish to find out) as they lay largely redundant and attracted very little radio play. The group themselves can’t have been that enamoured with them as none made the cut for their debut album though one of them was included as a bonus track on a 2006 expanded edition.

This TOTP performance seemed designed to establish two things. One, that the band could do more than just dance about like pop puppets to some disco-lite tracks and two, that Gary Barlow was the talent here. I defy anybody watching this back then to have looked at the group and say that the guy second left in the hat doing backing vocals will have a bigger solo career than the bloke on the piano. The fact that he did also led to Robbie Williams appearing on Later…something that neither Gary Barlow nor Take That managed.

“A Million Love Songs” peaked at No 7.

Before we get to the No 1, a little more on presenter Tony Dortie. Tony has been revisiting his past and tweeting along with some of these TOTP repeats. He seems like a decent sort, quite self deprecating. Anyway, he announced that last week’s repeats would be the last he would engage with but promised to bow out with a story that couldn’t be shown on any of The Story Of…TOTP documentaries. He also promised to reveal the real reason why the much reviled Adrian Rose refused to give consent for his TOTP presenter shows to be aired again. There was much build up to Tony releasing this video and he prefaced it with an explanation that all the legals had been cleared and the story was ready to go. Wow! This was surely going to be explosive and blow the lid on the show’s secrets. Are you ready to hit that play button? Go for it!

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the loss of 10 minutes and 35 seconds of your life that you won’t get back if you do.

Thanks for nothing Tony. Laterz!

It’s a final week at the top for The Shamen and “Ebeneezer Goode”. With the single deleted by the band to clear the release schedule for the next single, they would be back near the top of the charts again soon enough when “Boss Drum” went to No 4. A final trip to the Top 5 was squeezed in when “Phorever People” was released just before Xmas. The Shamen were never anywhere near as big again.

P.S. They never appeared on Later…either.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1M PeopleExcitedNo but I think my wife bought the album
2Mike OldfieldSentinelNah
3Ned’s Atomic DustbinNot Sleeping AroundI did not
4Tasmin ArcherSleeping SatelliteNope
5PrinceMy Name Is PrinceDidn’t mind it, didn’t buy it
6Dina CarrollSpecial Kind Of LoveNo
7Billy Ray CyrusCould’ve Been MeHell no!
8Status QuoRoadhouse Medley (Anniversary Waltz – Part 25)Never!
9SadeNo Ordinary LoveNah
10Patty Smyth and Don HenleySometimes Love Just Ain’t EnoughNegative
11Simple MindsLove Song/Alive And KickingNo but I’ve got one pop those Best Of albums
12Take That A Million Love SongsNever happening
13The ShamenEbeneezer GoodeDon’t think I did

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/m001648s/top-of-the-pops-08101992

TOTP 24 SEP 1992

Posted on by 80stastic

OK, the relentless BBC4 schedule of two TOTP shows a week combined with 14 episodes that we missed due to Adrian Rose’s unwillingness to sign a repeats waiver has delivered us into late September back in 1992. On the day this particular show was broadcast, Conservative MP David Mellor resigned from government in the light of his adulterous affair with actress Antonia De Sancha. Remember that? Can that really be 30 years ago?! I actually find myself longing for the days when a sex scandal dominated the news rather than the utter existential misery that we have these days. What I found must upsetting and shocking about this little tale of sleaze wasn’t the revelation that the wretched Mellor claimed to be a fan of my beloved Chelsea (though the shame of association with this vile man was bad enough) but that he apparently made love in a Chelsea strip. Eeewww! The Sun mocked up a picture of Mellor in said kit with the tag line ‘Night he scored four times with actress’. The whole thing was repulsive! Now of course, those stories of existential misery I mentioned before also apply to Chelsea – life was so much simpler back then David Mellor and all.

We start tonight’s show with an act called Messiah who have covered Donna Summer’s shimmering Giorgio Moroder co-written and produced disco classic “I Feel Love” (one for David Mellor there – eeewww!). Yet again, despite the real possibility that I may have sold this record to an eager punter while working at Our Price in Rochdale, I have zero recall of this track. The Donna Summer original? Obviously. Bronski Beat and Marc Almond’s cover from 1985? Of course. This techno rave up? Not a flicker.

Apparently that’s Precious Wilson doing the vocals who was in Eruption of “I Can’t Stand The Rain” and “One Way Ticket” fame back in the 70s. Backing her up is a man playing a fiddle who seems to be doing an impression of Jerry Sadowitz’s “Ebeneezer Goode” character, a guy on keyboards at the back channelling his inner Chris Lowe of Pet Shop Boys (even down to the very tall hat) and, randomly, two people in Star Wars stormtrooper headgear. It looks a bit of a mess visually. The ‘Hail the Messiah!’ sample is from Life Of Brian.

Messiah’s version of “I Feel Love” peaked at No 19.

Reminder to self: Sade is the name of the band not the singer. Same as Toyah. Do not forget this when writing the next few paragraphs.

Sade is a bit of a mystery isn’t she? DOH!! I mean, Sade are an enigmatic band aren’t they? Making huge waves in 1984 with their BRIT award winning, four times platinum selling debut album “Diamond Life”, their sound seem to be completely fully formed immediately and created the cultural trope of the ‘coffee table album’. Two more albums followed in the next four years peaking at Nos 1 and 3. They played Live Aid. And yet…what do we really know about them and why, given their popularity, have they only ever had one Top 10 hit?

Well, aside from the fact that they are a band not a singer that I addressed before, three of them were from my home of the last 18 years Hull while the band’s singer Sade Adu was from Nigeria originally. They were like the Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars of sophisti-pop. Sade (the individual) had worked as a part-time model and fashion designer before settling on music as her career of choice. I think she was part of the Blitz scene at the start of the 80s hanging out with New Romantic heroes Spandau Ballet who didn’t realise she could sing. By 1983, the buzz about her and her band was enough to attract the attention of Epic Records and contracts were duly signed.

Then came that genre defining first album and the whole world seemed to know their name. Or rather Sade Adu’s name. Could anyone name any other member of the band without googling them? As for their lack of singles success, maybe they’re just an album artist but the truth is that apart from debut single “Your Love Is King” going to No 6, none of their singles got higher than No 14. Which brings us to 1992 and “No Ordinary Love”. As well as having a song title that could make a David Mellor/Antonia De Sancha playlist (eeewww!), this would prove to be their second biggest hit ever (yep that No 14 hit) and was from the band’s fourth album “Love Deluxe”.

The release of that album made it four in eight years giving a rate of one every two years which was pretty consistent. However, it would be eight years before the next long player (2000’s “Lovers Rock”) and a further ten years after that before their sixth and so far last album (2010’s “Soldier Of Love”). Back in 1992 though, the fanbase had little idea that this batch of new songs would have to sustain them throughout the rest of the decade.

Despite having been away for four years during which there had been a dance music explosion, the TOTP producers still believed in Sade’s blend of sophisti-pop / neo soul enough to give them an ‘exclusive’ slot on the show. To be honest though, they did rather dish them out as prolifically as fixed penalty notices to a Conservative government. Sade (the individual) gives her usual sultry performance and doesn’t seem to have aged at all in the eight years since she first burst into the charts.

“No Ordinary Love” was originally a No 26 hit but achieved that No 14 peak when rereleased eight months later in June of 1993. I have no idea why that was.

Right, there’s two ‘what’s going on here then?’ moments in one next. Firstly, there’s a change of format with an extended chart rundown now included which covers places 20 through to 11 – previously we’d had to make do with the Top 10. It’s just a rolling ticker tape display over the top of a video but still. It’s a nod towards the format of old I guess.

Secondly, said video this week is from Omar but it’s for a song that isn’t “There’s Nothing Like This”. Eh? What gives? Omar had more than one Top 40 hit?! Well, he did but one of them wasn’t this single “Music”, the title track from his second album which peaked at No 53! What was going on here?! Singles that weren’t actually hits being given airtime on the show? And then irony of ironies, they play it as the backdrop of a new Top 40 centric feature! To top it all off, the track is only given 40 seconds before it’s yanked off screen. I’m guessing that the producers negotiated with Omar’s label and came up with a way of getting him on the show but the payback was it was for a very small amount of airtime. It’s basically a Breaker slot but they couldn’t call it that as it wasn’t actually in the Top 40 and so technically couldn’t be said to have ‘broken’ into the charts. What a mess!

Ah, that’s unfortunate. It’s Boy George next with “The Crying Game”. Not unfortunate because I didn’t like the record – I didn’t mind it really – but because it was literally the second to last song reviewed in my last post so I’m completely spent when it comes to saying anything else about it. OK well, George’s version of this song that was originally a hit in the 60s for Dave Berry (not that bloke on Absolute Radio in a morning) was taken from the soundtrack to the film of the same name and and was produced by Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant.

I like the nod to George’s past with his twangy guitar player dressed like the Culture Club singer from ten years previous.

This is more like it *TOTP! This is what the kids wanted! In Autumn of 1992, you couldn’t be more achingly hip than Suede were. Lauded as many things including the antidote to grunge and the spearhead of a new wave of British rock music, they rode the zeitgeist hard with Melody Maker dubbing them “The Best New Band in Britain”. They appeared on the publication’s front cover before they even had a recording contract. They weren’t just big news, they were the news.

Inevitably given lead singer Brett Anderson’s androgynous image and the band’s glam rock influences, Bowie comparisons abounded. Impact wise, they were talked of in the same breath as The Smiths. Retrospectively, they have been allocated the status of the John the Baptist of Britpop, paving the way for the likes of Blur, Oasis, Pulp et al to dominate the mid 90s. It’s a role the band don’t sit comfortably with. Not everyone was sold on them initially though. My friend Robin who was living in London at the time caught an early gig of theirs and his three word review was “Suede – I wasn’t”. Clever sod.

“Metal Mickey” was the band’s first Top 40 hit though not their first single released. That’s honour went to “The Drowners” which had come out a few months before but failed to make the Top 40 despite being a great tune. By the time their debut eponymous album was released in March the following year, they had clocked up a Top 10 single in “Animal Nitrate” and the album duly went to No 1 becoming, at the time, the fastest selling debut album in UK history in a decade. It won the very first Mercury Music Prize and went on to sell 300,000 copies in the UK. I can remember playing it very loudly in the Our Price store in Rochdale where I was working before opening.

Four years later I saw the band live myself in Blackburn with my mate Steve on the tour for the “Coming Up” album. They were supported by Mansun. Both bands were good as I recall. We’ll no doubt be seeing lots more of Suede in these TOTP repeats.

“Metal Mickey” peaked at No 17.

*Interesting how in his intro host Mark Franklin actually says “TOTP” rather than “Top Of The Pops”. I just use the acronym to save on typing in my blog. What was Mark’s reason for using it?

Today may have been the end of the road for David Mellor’s political career but it was the start of a journey for one of the biggest selling singles of the year and indeed, one of the biggest selling of the decade in the US. “End Of The Road” by Boyz II Men was No 1 over there for 13 weeks straight and was certified platinum for shifting a million units and won two Grammy awards. It topped the charts in the UK for three weeks and was the sixth best selling single of the year here. In short, it was a monster.

As with Boy George’s hit earlier, it was from a film soundtrack but unlike George’s one I’ve never seen, at least not all the way through. Boomerang was the latest Eddie Murphy in which he plays a character who is an advertising executive, a womaniser and male chauvinist. Hmm. I think made the right choice.

Anyway, so popular was “End Of The Road” that Boyz II Men’s debut album “Cooleyhighharmony” – which didn’t include the song initially – was rereleased with it now on the track listing. Their sound has been described as ‘hip-hop doo wop’ and helped establish R’n’B as the dominant music genre into the new millennium. For me though, “End Of The Road” was quite a straight forward big ballad albeit that unusually it featured all four members taking the lead vocal at various points in the song.

The performance here was from New Orleans and the most striking thing about it was their wardrobe. What were they thinking?! Matching suits and ties is fine but with baseball caps and shirt trousers?! It just looks weird. I mean not disturbing like David Mellor in his Chelsea kit but weird all the same.

“End Of The Road” will be No 1 soon enough so I’ll keep the rest of my powder dry until then.

An artist who is remembered for one song next though she really wasn’t a one hit wonder. The rule of diminishing returns after soaring the highest highs with her debut single was the possibly unfair fate that befell Tasmin Archer. That single was of course “Sleeping Satellite” and I definitely remember the advertising strategy for the single included a bill poster campaign which asked the question ‘Who Is Tasmin Archer?’ with very little other information. Loads of these posters just started appearing overnight. Quite clever in terms of building anticipation I guess.

The single was perfect for daytime radio. A well crafted pop song built around a swirling piano riff and a swooping chorus, the record buying public’s resistance was futile. This was always going to be a hit and a big one. I’m not sure even the most committed of Archer’s record label team could have predicted a No 1 though. Surely Tasmin herself couldn’t have expected that outcome first time out despite her debut album being called “Great Expectations”. In a way, “Sleeping Satellite” flew decidedly in the face of its chart peers with the Top 40 being populated by dance track after dance track but then hadn’t Chesney Hawkes scored a huge No 1 with a decidedly pop record the year before? Was it just a case of history repeating itself?

My wife and I saw Tasmin live years later kind of by accident or at least it wasn’t planned. We were in Glasgow for a birthday weekend away and wandering around the city centre stumbled across the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and saw that she was playing there that night. We decided on a whim to go and bought tickets. Tasmin’s star had fallen a fair way by this point though (1996 I think) and the Strathclyde Suite in the venue was half full. She did her best but the audience reaction to her set suggested that they were just there for one obvious song. She told us punters that she’d been watching Stars In Their Eyes in her hotel room before the gig and let it slip that “I’d just die if someone did me”. I’m pretty sure nobody ever has.

Three Breakers now beginning with Def Leppard and a third single from their “Adrenalize” album called “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad”. I don’t recall any singles from this album after the first two, the execrable duo of “Let’s Get Rocked” and “Make Love Like A Man”. I probably couldn’t handle any more after those two and deliberately avoided them. The soul searching title of this one sounds like it should be a ballad. OK, just for you lot I’ll break the habit of 30 years and give it a listen…

Well, I was right it is a ballad but it’s hardly a thing of delicate beauty is it? It’s all very soft rock by numbers sounding with crunchy guitars and Joe Elliott’s strained vocals. It’s sort of like Nigel Tufnel’s “Lick My Love Pump” in reverse if you get my drift.

“Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” peaked at No 16.

Some proper rockers now as we get the video for “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam. I didn’t know the back story to this one nor about the controversy surrounding the video until now. Written about 15 year old Texas high school kid Jeremy Delle who shot himself in front of his classmates in 1991, it was the third single to be released from the band’s all conquering “Ten” album and peaked at No 15 in the UK.

The video follows the source material pretty graphically and caused MTV to order that the scene showing ‘Jeremy’ with a gun in his mouth to be edited out. The network’s outrage didn’t stop the video from picking up four MTV Video Music Awards including video of the year though. The controversy surrounding the video caused the band to recoil from them and didn’t make another one for six whole years. MTV rarely broadcast the promo after the Columbine High School massacre of 1999 though the uncensored version was released on Pearl Jam’s YouTube channel in 2020 to mark National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

If you asked the average punter to name a tune by The Prodigy that had the word ‘fire’ in it, I’m betting the vast majority would respond with “Firestarter”. There is another possible answer though. “Fire/Jericho” was the band’s third single and paved the way for their debut album “Experience” which was released the Monday after this TOTP aired. A double A-side, it’s “Fire” that gets an airing on the show tonight. Sampling The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown’s “Fire” amongst others, it was written to reflect that not all ravers were off their heads on ecstasy but some were blazing up on weed as well. One in the eye for Mary Whitehouse there.

The band seemed to have disowned the track in that it does not feature on their Best Of album “Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005” and that they hated the video that was made to promote it. Apparently it was the quality of the computer graphics that really irked them. Viewed by 2022 standards then yes, they look prehistoric but we’re they really so bad in 1992? I suppose it depends what you are comparing them to. Alongside the video for “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits then they hold up. Viewed against A-ha’s “Take On Me” or Michael Jackson’s face morphing “Black And White” then they do appear amateurish at best.

“Fire/Jericho” peaked at No 11.

From rave to…Mike Oldfield? Yes, you can criticise the show for many things but you have to admit that TOTP did its best to reflect all musical genres. Oldfield of course had just released “Tubular Bells II” but, inverting the release schedule, hadn’t trailed it with a lead single. This was rectified by the release of “Sentinel” a couple of weeks later.

Was I excited about “Tubular Bells II”? Hardly. Though I did have a dark Mike Oldfield secret – I’d bought his “Moonlight Shadow” single almost 10 years before – I’d never been inspired to seek out his back catalogue. Obviously I knew of the original “Tubular Bells” album from 1973 but my knowledge of it was limited to the introduction theme from it that was used in the film The Exorcist. That brings us nicely back to “Sentinel” which was a re-imagining of that piece. The performance in Edinburgh that Mark Franklin references in his intro was a live concert at Edinburgh castle on 4 September with 6,000 people in attendance. Oldfield’s performance here though really is that of the stereotypical muso even down to his carefully coiffured but meant to look carefree hair. He’s playing guitar and keyboards but still has two other keyboard players with him as well as a guy on piano. Alright we get it Mike! Your art is so elaborate and complex that you need all that entourage with you.

Researching Oldfield’s discography, I had no idea he’d made so many studio albums- 26 and counting! Mind you he does go in for big numbers. He’s been married four times and has seven children. I didn’t know that he wrote the score for The Killing Fields, a film that had a profound effect on me the first time I saw it. Presumably it wasn’t Oldfield’s choice to use John Lennon’s “Imagine” at the film’s denouement? Having said that, there were rumours that the aforementioned “Moonlight Shadow” was written about Lennon’s murder in 1980. Oldfield had arrived in New York on the same day and was staying just a few blocks from the Dakota building so…

“Sentinel” peaked at No 10.

We arrive at the No 1 and it’s still “Ebenezer Goode” by The Shamen. I wonder if there is/was a real person called Ebeneezer Goode? There must be surely? I know someone who has an uncle Ebeneezer but there surname isn’t Goode. When you Google the name, if you scroll down enough you get to a result that talks about a Methodist chapel in Suffolk that has been converted into a weekend retreat and it’s called Ebeneezer Goode! Either the owner used to be a raver in his youth or it’s named after a person who really did exist surely?

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1MessiahI Feel LoveNah
2SadeNo Ordinary LoveNo
3OmarMusicNever happening
4Boy George The Crying GameNope
5SuedeMetal Mickey No but I bought the album
6Boyz II MenEnd Of The RoadI did not
7Tasmin ArcherSleeping SatelliteDidn’t mind it, didn’t buy it
8Def LeppardHave You Ever Needed Someone So BadHell no!
9Pearl JamJeremyIt’s a no
10The Prodigy Fire / JerichoJeri-no
11Mike OldfieldSentinelSent me to sleep more like – no
12The ShamenEbeneezer GoodeHe’s ever so good…but I didn’t buy it

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/m0015x8y/top-of-the-pops-24091992