Strike

TOTP 30 MAY 1997

Posted on by 80stastic

We have arrived at a metaphorical line in the sand episode with these TOTP repeats as we say goodbye to the ‘golden mic’ slot whereby hosting duties were undertaken not by Radio 1 DJs but by pop stars and celebrities from the worlds of comedy, sport and showbiz. Introduced by new executive producer Ric Blaxill in March 1994, the very first incumbents were Take That’s Robbie Williams and Mark Owen heralding in a huge list of non-traditional presenters from Suggs to Skunk Anansie’s Skin and from Dennis Pennis to Gina G. Some choices really worked like the cast of The Fast Show, some really didn’t – Keith Allen as alter ego ‘Keithski’ was just plain annoying. Whether you liked it or not, at least it was an attempt to shake the format up after the ultimate failure of the ‘Year Zero’ revamp. The final ‘golden mic’ hosts are the Spice Girls which, given their profile at this time, was definitely a case of going out at the top. I have to say that, on balance, I was a fan of this particular invention and I’m not convinced that the regular roster of hosts, introduced by incoming executive producer Chris Cowey, that followed (including Jamie Theakston, Zoe Ball and Kate Thornton) will be any sort of improvement but maybe I’ll be proved wrong.

Anyway, we start with Wet Wet Wet and the time of their first incarnation was nearly at an end. It had been a good run – their debut single and hit “Wishing I Was Lucky” had been released just over ten years prior to this point and their subsequent run of 23 Top 40 singles included three No 1s. Even when their career was supposedly in the doldrums – that period between the second and third albums with the 90s in its infancy – they still only had one single that could be considered a flop (“Put The Light On” stalled at No 56 in 1991). Even then, their next release was “Goodnight Girl” which topped the charts. Having said all that, the signs were there that their conveyor belt of success was starting to slow down – three of their last four singles (including this one “Strange”) failed to go Top 10. For me, their sound had become just too safe by this point. “Strange” was perfect daytime radio fodder with its easy on the ear sound and prominent brass parts but ‘fodder’ was the significant word in that description; it was ‘filler’ not ‘killer’.

As well as sonic stagnation, the band was facing internal struggles. After the tour to support the “10” album, drummer Tommy Cunningham left over a dispute about songwriting royalties feeling he was frozen out of what had always been a four way split. Meanwhile, Marti Pellow was in the middle of fighting his alcohol and drug addictions and would also leave the band in 1999. I wonder if his peroxide blonde haircut seen in this performance was a cry for help similar to the style Robbie Williams sported at Glastonbury after leaving Take That where he was clearly under the influence of something stronger than a few light ales. As for the Wets, there was one final hit in the 90s – a cover of “Yesterday” for some reason – and that would be it for seven years until they reunited for a Greatest Hits album. They are currently touring but with bassist Graeme Clark the only* original member in the line up.

*Guitarist Graeme Duffin is also still with the band having been a touring member since the early days. He was previously reluctant to do any promotional work with the other four members partly on account of his suffering from a stammer.

Next a band who were following a similar career trajectory to our opening act but that’s about all they had in common – I’m clearly not saying Faith No More were anything like Wet Wet Wet! However, both bands were approaching hiatuses that would last for years, both were experiencing line up changes (guitarist Dean Menta had recently been fired and replaced by Jon Hudson) and both had recently released albums which seemed to demonstrate a downturn in creativity. In the case of the San Francisco rockers, their optimistically titled “Album Of The Year” proved to be anything but with reviews in the press ranging from lukewarm at best to downright caustic (if funny). Look at this:

“ ‘Album Of The Year’ leaves one feeling like waking up and finding last night’s used condom – sure, the ride was fun while it lasted but what remains is just plain icky. And you definitely don’t want it in your CD player.”

Stomberg, Jeremy. “Faith No More: Album of the Year: Pitchfork Review”. Pitchfork.

Heh and indeed eeeyeww! Anyway, the one track that did get a bit of love from the critics was lead single “Ashes To Ashes”. Absolutely nothing to do with the Bowie classic, it was a described as a “moody rocker” though I think I’d probably go with ‘doom-laden’ rather than ‘moody’. Apparently, the rumour from Ground Control was that this was more like the classic Faith No More sound but as I could only name you three of their tracks (and one of them isn’t actually theirs), I don’t feel qualified to make any sort of judgement.

As Mrs Merton would say, “It’s Hooky and the boys!”. Yes, I’d forgotten this but Monaco, Peter Hook’s side project band away from New Order, had a second hit besides the excellent “What Do You Want From Me” called “Sweet Lips” which made a respectable No 18 in the charts. However, it wasn’t Hooky and the boys in this performance but Pottsy and the boys with Hooky nowhere to be seen. Nobody seems to know why he wasn’t there but I liked the response on X from @DonOftheDead80 who said “He was playing Hooky”. Heh. Anyway, to counter his absence, we get Hooky’s parts in the song covered by the promo video which is intercut with my old Our Price colleague Pottsy doing his thing in the studio. It’s a clunky device but I guess it just about works. As for the song, it’s got much more of a dance vibe to it than its predecessor so did it counter the criticism that the band were just a pop version of New Order? Maybe but for me, it’s nowhere near as strong a single as their debut though it pisses over most of its Top 40 peers which was just as well as it was also the band’s final Top 40 hit. A third single from their debut album “Music For Pleasure” was released but it peaked at No 55. A second album just called “Monaco” was rejected by Polydor though it was eventually released on Papillon Records but lead single “I’ve Got A Feeling” was withdrawn due to sample clearance issues and a second track “See-Saw” only received a limited 12” single release. Relations between Pottsy and Hooky deteriorated to the point of the band splitting but the duo are together again performing as Peter Hook & The Light.

Right, who’s this? Oh, it’s that Rosie Gaines. Who? Yeah, I’d forgotten about her as well but she was a member of Prince’s New Power Generation and duetted with the diminutive one on “Diamonds And Pearls”. Her solo hit “Closer Than Close” is widely regarded by those who know as a club classic and an absolute banger in the cannon of house music. It goes without saying that I’m not one of those in the know. The title track of her album that was released in 1995 became a No 4 hit two years later when it was remixed after bootlegs circulating in the club scene had created an underground buzz. An official release on Big Bang Records saw it crossover into the mainstream. Wikipedia tells me that it got categorised as part of the ‘speed garage’ scene to which my response was “the what?”. Wikipedia, of course, can answer my question and tells me that the genre was characterised by a four-to-the-floor rhythm, breakbeats, warped bass lines and time-stretched vocals. Yeah, I’m still clueless. All I know is that “Closer Than Close” does next to nothing for me and I particularly did not enjoy it when Rosie does some scatting at the end.

It’s “Time To Say Goodbye” – no, not literally – it isn’t a very short, truncated episode of the show but Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman with their No 2 hit. With the crossover appeal it had (non-traditional record shop visitors were buying it), a prolonged stay on the chart was inevitable and it duly spent five weeks inside the Top 10 and eleven on the Top 40 aided by some heavy airplay on Radio 2.

The cover of the single includes the tagline ‘A Tribute To Henry Maske’ which I didn’t notice at the time I would have been selling it in the Our Price store in Stockport so who was/is Henry Maske? Well, he was a five times German boxing champion and one of the country’s most popular sporting figures. Fair enough but what did he have to do with “Time To Say Goodbye”? Good question. The track was performed by Andrea and Sarah at the start of Maske’s last professional fight in 1996 (Brightman had already performed another song at one of Maske’s earlier fights) and it was also played at the end to mark Maske’s exit. The track didn’t bring him any luck as he lost that final bout – the only loss of his professional career. I guess it would have at least been a poignant soundtrack for the boxer much as it was when played at the end of my hometown football club Worcester City’s final match at their St George’s Lane ground that I mentioned in my last post. Of course, there is another goodbye song that can still bring tears to the eyes if the comments on YouTube about this clip are anything to go by. Seriously, check them out…

Now, here’s a thing. This is yer actual George Michael actually in the TOTP studio for the first time since 1986 when he performed “Where Did Your Heart Go?” as part of Wham! Bizarrely though, he isn’t performing but rather has a little stilted chat with Geri Halliwell before introducing the video for “Waltz Away Dreaming”, a track written by himself and one Toby Bourke and performed by the pair as a duet. This must be one of the least remembered George Michael hits not least because it didn’t feature on any of his albums (it eventually made it onto his “Ladies & Gentlemen” Best Of but inexplicably just the cassette version). I can barely recall it and I worked in a record shop and I still couldn’t have told you how it went. As for Toby Bourke, he was/is an Irish songwriter and the first artist signed to the independent record label Aegean that George founded after his split from Sony. Their track was dedicated to George’s Mum who had died in the February of 1997. Right, that’s all the facts out of the way – I’d better listen to the thing now…

…hmm…well, the video is giving me Narnia vibes which I don’t think suits the tone of the song which is meant to be a beautiful ballad but I found it meandering and rather soporific. It just doesn’t go anywhere rather like George’s record label which folded soon after and whose roster of artists included Trigger, Primitiva and Bassey Walker. Anyone? No, me neither. However, it was the first European record label to adopt the Liquid Audio secure electronic music delivery system which allowed music streaming and music downloads. Have that Spotify!

Although extensively used in classical music, there aren’t many pop songs that feature the word ‘waltz’ in its title. “Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda)”? Does that count? Oh, hang on. Hers another by that rascal Malcolm McLaren…

After nearly four years and five Top 5 placings, Eternal are finally No 1 in the singles chart with “I Wanna Be The Only One”. It was a prophetic song title as it was the group’s only chart topper and it was only in pole position for a solitary week. Still, a No 1 record is a No 1 record and not every artist can claim to have had one. This gospel-inflected, joyous pop/soul track was always more likely to do the trick for the girls than one of their more melancholy efforts like previous single “Don’t You Love Me” or their mid-tempo dance tracks like “Save Our Love” as it was another one of those songs that would cut a swathe through people’s perceptions and reach the mainstream. It was and remains a fun track. Aided on vocals by BeBe Winans (of the extended musical Winans family) it was perfect for Summer playlists and was in step with the upbeat, good feeling that the General Election result had ushered in.

I’m pretty sure that I witnessed the announcement that Eternal were No 1 in person as it was made in Albert Square, Manchester where a mini Radio 1 Roadshow was taking place. It was on a Sunday and I think that as the chart countdown got to the No 1 position, Eternal were introduced on stage to perform their hit. Yes, I’m sure that happened and I haven’t made it up. Sadly, I’d given up on my diary a few weeks before so there isn’t any confirmation of events written down. This commercial peak for Eternal was over pretty quickly. Parent album “Before The Rain” had only been out for six months before a Greatest Hits package was released for the Christmas sales rush which seemed a bit odd. Maybe it was a contractual obligation thing. Said album was a hit but within two years, their last eponymously titled album made just as a duo by the Bennett sisters was a flop. The group split soon with the inevitable reunion rumours resurfacing most recently in 2023 with the four members from the original line up but Louise Redknapp and Kéllé Bryan pulled out over the Bennetts’ refusal to appear at LGBTQ Pride events.

The play out video is “I Have Peace” by Strike. Unsurprisingly, I don’t recall this one at all – my only memory of this lot is their 1995 No 4 hit “U Sure Do” though apparently they did have three minor hits after that and before this one. Wikipedia tells me that “I Have Peace” contains a sample of Level 42’s “Leaving Me Now”. Really? Let me have a listen…

…oh yeah – there’s it is. That tinkling piano part. It’s not an obvious steal for a dance track but it just about works. Despite it being their last UK chart hit, they would continue for another ten years supporting the likes of the Backstreet Boys, Jocelyn Brown and in a nice, full circle ending to the show, the Spice Girls.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Wet Wet WetStrangeNah
2Faith No MoreAshes To AshesI did not
3MonacoSweet LipsI bough their first single but not this one
4Rosie GainesCloser Than CloseNo
5Andrea Bocelli and Sarah BrightmanTime To Say GoodbyeNope
6George Michael and Toby BourkeWaltz Away DreamingNegative
7Eternal featuring BeBe WinansI Wanna Be The Only OneI did but for my wife who liked it
8StrikeI Have PeaceAnd 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/m0028dyz/top-of-the-pops-30051997?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 13 APR 1995

Posted on by 80stastic

After Bruno Brookes’ valedictory TOTP appearance last week, we’re back to the ‘golden mic’ slot and this time it’s given to Phill Jupitus. Now quite how big a name Phill was at the time I’m not sure. Wikipedia tells me that he didn’t start his stint as a team captain on Never Mind The Buzzcocks until 1996 but that he had his own radio show on BBC GLR. In the pre-digital world, I’m not sure that the latter post would have cut through that much but I’m wondering if I would have been aware of him thanks to my Weller super fan elder brother and the fact that Phill had been involved with the Red Wedge movement of the mid 80s. Possibly. Anyway, Phill would go onto have a very successful career as a stand up, actor, radio host, performance poet and podcaster. However, Wikipedia informs me that Phill has now retired and is studying art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee.

Back to 1995 though and Phill is doing his best to look excited at the thought of introducing this year’s Eurovision entry which, though the artist didn’t do the business on the night of the contest finishing 10th, is one of the more memorable acts to have represented the UK. Now it may not seem like a big deal to our sophisticated 2023 ears with the hindsight of twenty-nine contests informing our perspective but having a rap / hip-hop group as the Eurovision entry was almost revolutionary. Love City Groove were that group and, as I remember, much was expected of them if not to actually win it then to at least shake the whole competition up a bit. Their 10th place finish wasn’t very glorious but was in line with recent UK form in the competition. Frances Ruffelle had also finished 10th the previous year as had Samantha Janus in 1991. Sure, only Coco in 1978 and Rikki in 1987 had secured a poorer position in the years since the competition’s inception, but given the horrors that were to come for the UK, 10th place would certainly come to be seen as not bad at all. However, Eurovision stalwart Terry Wogan wasn’t that impressed. As the voting played out on the big night and it became apparent that the losing streak that we’d been on since Bucks Fizz were the last UK winners in 1981 was going to continue, Terry grimly stated that “the experiment has failed”.

They may not have brought the bacon home for the UK but “Love City Groove” the single was more successful in winning over the UK record buying public. Its peak of No 7 meant that it was the highest charting UK Eurovision song since Bardo made No 2 in 1982. Indeed, no Eurovision song (UK or otherwise) had made our Top 10 since Johnny Logan’s “Hold Me Now” in 1987.

Watching their performance here, it all looks rather unconvincing like it’s actually a present day parody, sending up mid 90s sounds and styles; even their name sounds like a spoof. I guess that opinion can only exist with 28 years of hindsight though. I’m predicting this won’t be the last time we see Love City Groove on TOTP as Eurovision night was still a month away at this point.

Next an artist who is pretty much known as a one hit wonder over here (although that’s not statistically correct) but is a huge deal in her own country. Tina Arena (not quite her real name but close enough – Filippina Arena isn’t quite as snappy I guess) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musical theatre actress and producer who has sold 10 million records worldwide but how many people in the UK know her just for “Chains”?

A slow building, brooding power ballad with a memorable chorus performed by a strong vocalist with a soprano range, it was always going to do well commercially. And so it did. Going double platinum in Australia, it also crossed over in the UK selling 200,000 copies but then, we’d always been suckers for power ballads. Meatloaf had the biggest selling single of 1993 with “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” and more recently Celine Dion’s “Think Twice” had been our No 1 single for seven weeks. “Chains” didn’t quite match the feats of those two records but a No 6 hit was highly respectable.

Tina did have four more UK chart entries but none made the Top 20. Her final hit was called “Whistle Down The Wind” from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name based on the Hayley Mills film. I thought at the time she must have covered the greatest living Englishman Nick Heyward’s debut solo hit but thankfully she hadn’t. A quick thought on the staging of the performance here. What was the deal with having the backing singers positioned on a separate stage away from Tina? There was plenty of space behind her which Phill Jupitus occupies when he walks on behind her to do the next intro. Odd.

I saw a post on Twitter (I refuse to call it X) on a #TOTP thread the other day saying that everyone had lost interest in REM by 1995. I’m not sure that’s true as most of their post ‘95 albums went to No 1 both here and in the US but I have to admit personally to not following their output as closely from “Monster” onwards. I think a case could be made that those four albums “Green”, “Out Of Time”, “Automatic For The People” and the aforementioned “Monster” represented their imperial phase. “Strange Currencies” was the third single to be lifted from that album but it could easily have been called “Everybody Hurts 2.0” so close is its sound to that previous 1993 hit. It doesn’t mean it isn’t a good song (it is) but I guess maybe I expected more from a band like REM than song recycling.

The video features Norman Reedus who would go on to play Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead franchise but it’s another US TV show that has a more current link to “Strange Currencies”. If you haven’t caught FX’s The Bear (you can watch it on Disney Plus in the UK), you’ve missed out. A comedy drama about an award winning chef who returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his dead brother’s sandwich shop…yeah, I know that description isn’t really selling it but trust me, it’s great. Anyway, the show has a fine soundtrack featuring the likes of Wilco, Radiohead, The Breeders, Van Morrison and “Strange Currencies”. Such was the show’s impact that a second video for the song was released in June of this year featuring footage of REM’s documentary Road Movie and clips from The Bear.

It’s another outing for the latest incarnation of Snap! now with their hit “The First The Last Eternity (Till The End)”. I haven’t got much else on this one seeing as this is its second studio appearance recently other than to say the staging of it looks very simplistic with just vocalist Summer and two backing dancers for company. I know there was always an issue with presenting dance acts on the show effectively but this does seem overly sparse.

Also looking on the scant side were the band’s album sales. Generating big numbers from a dance act’s albums as opposed to their singles was always a difficult trick to pull off but Snap! had been one of the more successful proponents of the art. Debut album “World Power” went Top 10 and achieved gold status as did the 1992 follow up “The Madman’s Return” but their third effort “Welcome To Tomorrow” bombed out at No 69. To be fair, it didn’t feature a No 1 single like its predecessors did (“The Power” and “Rhythm Is A Dancer” respectively). That kind of makes sense but then how do you explain how 1996’s Greatest Hits collection “Snap! Attack: The Best Of Snap!” could only make a high of No 47? Ah, the vagaries of public approval.

Next, it’s another of those previous ‘exclusive’ performances being wheeled out again once said single has entered the charts. This time it’s for “Doll Parts” by Hole. Did I tell my Hole / Nirvana T-shirt story last time? I think I did meaning I’m struggling for content yet again. Erm…well there’s the influence that Courtney Love has had on inspiring subsequent female performers to embark on a career in rock music but there’s plenty been written about that much better than I could do in my irreverent blog. Instead, here’s an insight to that TOTP appearance from the other week courtesy of @TOTPFacts when Ant & Dec were the hosts:

Wait. What? Another Bruce Springsteen track from his “Greatest Hits” album?! We had “Murder Incorporated” the other week and now we get the second of four new tracks on the collection “Secret Garden”. His label Columbia must have been hitting the phones hard to get him exposure like this. Or maybe The Boss was such a big name that he told TOTP when he would be on the show.

“Murder Incorporated” was never released as a single in the UK but “Secret Garden” was. However, despite the strength of the track, it only made No 44 originally. What do I mean by originally? Well, it was reactivated two years later by its inclusion on the soundtrack to Jerry Maguire which is possibly why it sounds so familiar to me. Either that or the fact that it could be mistaken for “The Big Ones Get Away” by Buffy Sainte-Marie. The 1997 release of “Secret Garden” would make No 17 whilst the “Greatest Hits” album topped the charts just about everywhere on the planet.

And another dance tune that’s back for another TOTP appearance that I’m not sure I have the stamina to comment on. Strike are up to No 4 with “U Sure Do” which is where they will peak. Will that do? No? OK, how about the contrast in performance between them and Snap! earlier? A vocalist and two backing singers on a bare looking stage was all Snap! had but Strike have two keyboard players, two twirling dancers and two backing singers on their own podiums. I get that there’s a difference in tempo between the respective tracks which may have influenced the set ups but it hardly seems fair does it?

The exclusive performance this week features two controversial and irrepressible characters and a song that has a back story that has a connection to one of tonight’s artists that was on earlier. Shane MacGowan (and the Popes) and Sinéad O’Connor were an unlikely duet or were they? In terms of their voices maybe. Sinéad with her pure, angelic vocal and Shane with his drunken growl but in terms of their background and profiles, perhaps their collaboration was inevitable. The track they chose to record together was an old Pogues song called “Haunted” that had originally been on the soundtrack to the Sid Vicious biopic Sid And Nancy which is where the connection with another act on tonight’s show comes in. Courtney Love had a bit part in that film as a friend of Nancy Spungen. “Haunted” failed to make the Top 40 on its original release in 1986 but its re-recording in 1995 and inclusion on the soundtrack to another film (Two If By Sea / Stolen Hearts) propelled it to a high of No 30.

I quite like it I have to say even if the contrast in Shane and Sinéad’s voices is a bit jarring to say the least. The latter, of course, died in July this year at the tragically young age of 56. Back in 1995, I don’t think any of us would have predicted that MacGowan would live longer out of the two of them.

Take That are still secure in top spot with “Back For Good” for a second week. It would eventually sell over a million copies and is the biggest selling single by a boyband ever in the UK.

Such is its influence that it has been used in The Office as the love theme between Tim and Dawn but I think even that is eclipsed by its use in Channel 4 sit com Spaced which also managed to reference the rather wonderful John Cusack film Say Anything.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Love City GrooveLove City GrooveNot likely
2Tina ArenaChainsNot for me
3REMStrange CurrenciesNeative
4Snap!The First The Last Eternity (Till The End)I did not
5HioleDoll PartsNo thanks
6Bruce SpringsteenSecret GardenNah
7StrikeU Sure DoNope
8Shane MacGowan and the Popes / Sinéad O’ConnorHauntedNo
9Take ThatBack For GoodNo but my wife 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/m001rk7c/top-of-the-pops-13041995

TOTP 30 MAR 1995

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s another golden mic episode of TOTP and this week the slot goes to Ant & Dec or Ant & Declan as they introduce themselves. Or is it PJ & Duncan? Ant says that they are in fact them as well in the intro. They were releasing records as PJ & Duncan at this time (that didn’t change to Ant & Dec until 1996) but maybe they (or their management) were starting to think about a more long term brand. Certainly they’d decided on who should stand where by this point with Ant on the viewer’s left and Dec on the right. They had been positioned the other way round when performing on TOTP as opposed to presenting. I was wondering if this was their first such gig but Wikipedia tells me they’d already co-hosted a children’s programme on ITV called Gimme 5 before getting their own show on BBC. Little did we know at the time that they would come to dominate the TV schedules behemoth like for the next three decades.

Back in 1995 though, they were those fresh-faced lads from Byker Grove who sang that song “Let’s Get Ready To Rhumble” (amongst other hits) introducing Strike as the first act of the night. This is one of those occasional moments in chart history when the hit is much more well remembered than the artist. “U Sure Do” was said hit that actually made the UK Top 40 twice. It made No 31 in early January but was a much bigger hit just a few weeks later in the March and April of 1995 when it peaked at No 4. To be fair, although I used the word ‘occasional’, you could make a case that the vast majority of these 90s Eurodance hits were all about the tracks not the people behind them or indeed in front of them. For example, Strike had four further UK Top 40 hits but I defy anybody to name even one of them.

“U Sure Do” was based around the hook from Donna Allen’s 1987 hit “Serious” though I’m not sure I made that connection at the time. I also didn’t know that Strike’s singer – Victoria Newton – went onto record a dance version of All About Eve’s “Martha’s Harbour”. If that sounds like a hideous concept to you, then I urge you not to click on the video below. Trust your gut feeling. If only Victoria Newton hadn’t heard about the idea of making a dance track of All About Eve’s biggest hit, just like Julianne Regan couldn’t hear the the backing track on that infamous TOTP appearance.

Some R&B balladeering now from a new name in Brownstone. Whilst I do remember this group, I couldn’t have told you the name of any of their hits and certainly don’t recall the info shared by Ant & Dec in their intro about them being signed to Michael Jackson’s label MJJ Music. Indeed, the fact that Jacko even had his own record label can’t have registered with me at all. Apparently, it was in existence from 1993 to 2001 and was owned by Sony and distributed by Epic for whom Jackson recorded but was dissolved over disagreements between Sony and the singer over the promotion of his career. Brownstone were one of the label’s few artists to secure any hits with the other being 3T who famously were a trio made up of Jackson’s nephews. Nepotism much?

Brownstone made a splash when this single “If You Love Me” made the Top 10 in the US and UK but their subsequent releases suffered from a dose of diminishing returns and they split in 1998 before reforming in 2007 and 2019 though only Nichole ‘Nicci’ Gilbert remains from the original line up. As for this performance, the lady on the left surely couldn’t see out from under that lowered peaked cap could she? Had she seen Gabrielle with her eye patch look and said “Hold my beer”?

I’d have to say that Ant & Dec’s links weren’t the best at this stage of their career. Rather obvious and unfunny but they were both very young and not as slick the as they would become. The segue into “Two Can Play That Game” is especially lame unlike the song by Bobby Brown. Like “U Sure Do” earlier and many other hits around this time it seemed, this had already been a minor hit before bestriding the charts giant-like later in its life. Originally a No 38 in the Summer of 1994, it would go Top 3 nine months later.

Now usually it took a remix by a de jour producer to make a track a much bigger hit second time around and indeed “Two Can Play That Game” did have such a sprinkle of magic in the form of mixes by K Klass (the album version didn’t) but here’s the thing; as far as I can tell, these remixes were already present on the 1994 original release as well as the 1995 re-issue. Which begs the question why was it given a second chance? I guess either Bobby or his record company had faith in the track and thought it deserved a second chance. You can hear why I think. Steered by a hand-clapping beat with some strident house piano flourishes, it’s also got an uplifting chorus that I can imagine leant itself to much dancing with abandon on many a dance floor throughout the country. Limbs!

The success of the single prompted the release of a whole remix album of the same name later in the year which did what it said on the tin – featured remixes of some of his biggest songs that led to three more recycled tracks becoming UK Top 40 hits.

Finally! After weeks of wondering where all the Britpop artists were in this year of Britpop, here’s one that were really at the heart of it. Or were they? Well, Menswear were a bit of a conundrum. In some quarters, they were very much seen as manufactured to be part of the burgeoning scene rather than growing out of it organically and therefore not genuine nor credible. There was some truth in that of course. First mentioned in a Select magazine article by founding members Johnny Dean and Chris Gentry before the band even existed, the hype surrounding them was huge. Having put the idea out there, Dean and Gentry decided that they should probably form the band for real and lo, Menswear were born to the world in the epicentre of Britpop, namely Camden. A debut gig had the record labels frothing at the mouth, besides themselves with fear at the thought of missing out on the next big thing. In the end, London Records won the race at the cost of £90,000. A £500,000 publishing deal (they only had seven songs in their repertoire at the point of signing!) and an NME front cover followed before this TOTP appearance. They hadn’t even released anything at the time!

As if the buzz around them wasn’t big enough, they made their first single “I’ll Manage Somehow” a limited edition release with, as Dec says in his intro, just 5,000 copies made available. Ant wasn’t the only one asking the question “Why?”. Around this time, I was doing a further education night course about music of the 70s. One of my fellow course members was a guy called Dominic who had heard about this band called Menswear but was mightily pissed off that he couldn’t find their single anywhere to purchase due to its limited release. Knowing I worked in a record shop, he asked me what it was all about. I said I thought it was a marketing strategy to create a clamour for the product at the counter but Dominic wasn’t having it and thought it was daft. He had a point. In the end, “I’ll Manage Somehow” somehow managed a peak of No 49. Wouldn’t it have been better to mass produce it and give them the chance of a bigger debut hit or was I missing something? The follow up single “Daydreamer” made No 14 so clearly that was made more widely available. It was their third single “Stardust” though that did it for me. Hopefully we’ll get to see that one on a future TOTP repeat.

Having said that, watching this performance back some 28 years later, I’m not sure if the profile the band attained is quite so obviously explained. They made a decent sound to my ears but it was hardly revolutionary and indeed left them open to the same accusations of plagiarism that plagued their Britpop contemporaries Elastica. I’d forgotten Johnny Dean’s military style tunic that he wore here. A few short years later, The Libertines would copy the look in their own brief blaze of hype and glory. So was the Menswear ballyhoo that bad? After all, they were hardly the first to go there. Sigue Sigue Sputnik did it much more outrageously and ridiculously back in 1986 and were vilified extensively and that thing about being the pin up band for a musical movement? Wasn’t that what Spandau Ballet were for the New Romantics? Unlike Spandau though, Menswear weren’t able to extend their life beyond their Britpop origins and when that came to an end, so did they. Drummer Matt Everett would become a writer, presenter and sidekick to ex-Radio 6 DJ Shaun Keaveny whilst lead singer Johnny Dean became an advocate for the National Autistic Society after being diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and briefly restarted Menswear with a new line up in 2013. He ditched the project shortly afterwards though following a change of heart.

When you’ve had a name as big as Prince on your show recently, I guess you’re going to make use of his performance more than once even if you couldn’t actually see his face. Yes, it’s that former ‘exclusive’ appearance by New Power Generation promoting their “Get Wild” single where Prince hides his fizzog throughout it behind a veil in protest at the actions of his record company Warners with whom he was in dispute. With the Purple One using NPG as a means of releasing material whilst hamstrung by Warners and the latter retaliating by issuing a single called “Purple Medley”, it set up a chart battle of sorts though it would hardly rival the Blur v Oasis bout later in the year. Prince would finally disentangle himself from Warners around 1996.

He wasn’t the first pop star to use the gimmick of a mask of course. Here’s David Soul pre his Starsky and Hutch days as The Covered Singer…

https://youtu.be/eqLxxaOtl0c?si=Hto3_7TQSlfgg2KT

He wouldn’t be the last either with the advent of the TV show The Masked Singer being syndicated around the world and featuring actual pop stars…

https://youtu.be/1tUy7C6-xGQ?si=gugv6FYkVTNuwjHY

From one music legend to another. After Prince comes The Boss! The reason behind Bruce Springsteen’s appearance here seems to be to promote his recently released No 1 “Greatest Hits” album from which “Murder Incorporated” was one of four new tracks. I say ‘new’ but it was actually a really old song that was written during the “Born In The USA” album sessions but which didn’t make the cut. In fact, “Murder Incorporated” was going to be the album’s title at one point. It got reactivated for Bruce’s first compilation album and fast became a crowd favourite when played live. It’s a good song I think that doesn’t sound out of place next to some of the other more well known and celebrated tracks on the album. It was never released as a single in the UK (in fact it was only released in Canada) hence the big TOTP caption ‘Album Track’.

The “Greatest Hits” would go multi platinum but Bruce chose to follow it up with an album that would be his first to fail to make the Top 10 in the US for two decades. “The Ghost Of Tom Joad” was his second acoustic collection after “Nebraska” and on the one hand didn’t seem like an obvious direction to go in but on the other it made perfect sense. Draw a line under one phase of your career by reminding everyone how great it was with a Best Of and then deliver something unexpected. That’s how you maintain a career that’s lasted over 50 years I guess.

Snap! were still having hits in 1995? Well, yes they were but both visually and sonically you would be forgiven for believing that this wasn’t the same group that exploded onto the charts in 1990 with “The Power”. Rapper Turbo B had long gone and they were on to their fourth singer in Summer after Jackie Harris, Thea Austin and Niki Haris before her. In this performance with Summer and her two backing vocalists/dancers in crimson ball gowns, they look an era away from those early days which I guess they were. Their sound had also transformed over the years to the point that they were now peddling trance flavoured pop with “The First The Last Eternity (Till The End)” a prime example. With a title that seemed to borrow an awful lot from that old Barry White hit, it consisted of Summer repeating the word ‘eternity’ over and over until it sounded like she was singing ‘eternally’. It does, however, have a deeply hypnotic quality to it that kind of draws you in…and in…and…No! Snap out of it! Ahem.

“The First The Last Eternity (Till The End)” would make a respectable No 15 on the UK charts but the majority of their final hits would be remixes of past glories, mainly “Rhythm Is A Dancer” which provided their last Top 40 entry in 2008. It wasn’t their first hit but it was their last meaning Snap!’s success didn’t last an eternity.

Whilst I can appreciate their place in musical history, I was never a massive Nirvana fan. Consequently, by association, I was never that interested in Hole either. The band started by Courtney Love who was, of course, married to Kurt Cobain always seemed to be inextricably linked to Nirvana because of that relationship. Working in record shops throughout the 90s, obviously I was aware of their releases and the names of their albums but I never had that much interest in hearing them. Plenty of people did though. I don’t think I understood quite how many records they sold. Literally millions of copies of their second and third albums in America achieving platinum status. It wasn’t quite the same story in the UK though those two albums “Live Through This” and “Celebrity Skin” did shift 100,000 units each. In terms of singles, Hole had never had a Top 40 hit in this country until “Doll Parts”. Watching this performance doesn’t make me feel I mistakenly deprived myself of their oeuvre I have to say. It’s all a bit too lo-fi and grunge- high for me and I don’t think I could listen to Courtney Love’s voice on repeat that much.

Despite not being a fan, I do have a Hole story. A month after this TOTP aired, the band played a gig at the Manchester Academy venue. A quick search of the internet tells me it was actually Sunday 30th April. I was living in Manchester at the time and my wife and I had been for a walk somewhere and on the way back home, passed by the Academy. The ticket touts were out in force and they seemed to be particularly interested in trying to flog me one. Approach after approach was made to the point where I was getting annoyed. “No mate, I’m not interested”; my reply was almost becoming a chant. I turned to my wife and, exasperated, said “What’s going on? Why do they keep trying to flog a ticket to me?”. My wife looked me up and down and then pointed to my T-shirt. “Maybe that’s got something to do with it?”. I’d completely forgotten that I was wearing a Nirvana T-shirt. Now you would be forgiven for asking the question “Hang on, I thought you said you weren’t that into Nirvana so what gives with the T-shirt?”. Well, there’d been some sort of Nirvana promotion at the Our Price store where I worked whereby customers got a feee T-shirt if they bought the album or something. Anyway, there were loads left over so they were dished out to the staff and I happened to have mine on the day of the Hole gig completely by chance. For the record, I didn’t buy a ticket for David gig.

Ant & Dec finally start to get into their stride with their links with a nice Morecambe and Wise style routine around the No 1 record “Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)” by The Outhere Brothers. That intro is the only good thing about this whole footnote in UK musical history when the public lost their minds not just once but twice (there’s another No 1 coming in a few weeks) over these two dolts. The whole appeal of this record it seems to me was its sexually explicit lyrics which, of course, we don’t hear in this performance. You wouldn’t have heard them on the edit version played on the radio either. It kind of makes this TOTP appearance slightly redundant. Still, the studio audience seem to be having a great time whooping it up in call and response fashion.

We should perhaps be thanking our lucky stars for small mercies. If it weren’t for Take That releasing a new single around this time, “Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)” would surely have stayed at No 1 for longer. In total, it spent six weeks inside the Top 2 with only one of those in the top spot.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1StrikeU Sure DoI sure don’t – no
2BrownstoneIf You Love MeNo
3Bobby BrownTwo Can Play That GameNope
4MenswearI’ll Manage SomehowCouldn’t get a copy despite working in a record shop
5New Power GenerationGet WildNah
6Bruce SpringsteenMurder IncorporatedNot released as a single
7Snap!The First The Last Eternity (Till The End)Negative
8HoleDoll PartsNot my bag really
9The Outhere BrothersDon’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)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/m001rb0b/top-of-the-pops-30031995