Tina Arena

TOTP 25 JUN 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

As host Jamie Theakston acknowledges in his top of the show intro, World Cup fever is still sweeping the nation as the England team remained in France. How much longer though was yet to be decided. Having comfortably overcome Tunisia in their opening game, disaster had befallen with a last minute defeat to Romania in the second match. All hope of progressing now hinged on the last group game against Colombia which was played the day after this TOTP was broadcast (presumably the show was moved to Thursday this week to avoid clashing with the BBC coverage of the game on the Friday).

As I said, Theakston talks about TOTP being the antidote to World Cup fever in his intro but then the first song in the show is a football song – “Vindaloo” by Fat Les. This was just a rerun of the performance from last week that incorporated both the EastEnders set and TOTP studio but in the intervening seven days, the ‘censored’ caption over the lady on stage who has an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction has been edited out. So what do we make of “Vindaloo” 27 years on? Was it an attempt to demonstrate the multiculturalism of England by getting the masses to sing a song that espoused Indian cuisine as an example of Englishness? Or was that message lost on/ignored by those same masses who instead adopted it as what many saw as a rallying call for the anti-social behaviour of the hooligan? Or was it both? Could it be both simultaneously? Certainly Keith Allen is on record as making the case for the former. However, I think we might have strayed into Alf Garnett territory with the infamous character created by Johnny Speight for the sitcom Till Death Do Us Part meant to be a figure of ridicule but for many of the watching TV audience, the satire of his portrayal was lost on them. In the political climate of 2025 and in the wake of flag-gate, who knows how it would be perceived? Rest assured, I’m not going there.

Now, when I saw this next song on the forthcoming new releases information sheet that we used to get on a weekly basis in the Our Price chain for whom I worked, it filled me with dread. My first thought on reading the title of this next song was “Oh god, someone’s doing a cover version of Nick Heyward – the greatest living Englishman!”. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. “Whistle Down The Wind”, as well as being the name of Nick’s debut solo hit from 1983, was also the title of the latest Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with the title song being recorded by “Chains” hitmaker Tina Arena. Based on the rather wonderful 1961 film of the same name starring a very young Haley Mills, it was initially not a success when it opened in the US and a stint on Broadway was cancelled. However, a reworked version that ran in the West End was better received and played solidly until 2001. Subsequent productions have toured the UK and US whilst the most recent incarnation came in 2022 at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, Berkshire. However, I would argue that it remains one of Lloyd Webber’s lesser known and celebrated musicals.

As for the show’s music, Lloyd Webber collaborated with Meatloaf’s writing partner Jim Steinman including on the title track and it’s a suitably overwrought, soaring ballad that I found almost unlistenable to be honest. It’s more like a vocal warm up exercise than a song although Tina seems pleased with her own performance visibly mouthing “Yes!” at its climax and giving herself a double fist clench salute. The single would only make No 24 on the charts but the follow up single was extraordinarily successful. “No Matter What” by Boyzone would spend three weeks at No 1, be the fourth best selling single of 1998 in the UK and was voted the winner of the inaugural Record of the Year award. Despite all of that, I’m sticking by my assertion that Whistle Down The Wind is not one of the best known Lloyd Webber shows and that the Boyzone single is not immediately associated with it, having developed its own identity separate from its source.

I know I say this a lot in this blog but…WHO?! Imajin anyone? Well, back in 1998, according to Jamie Theakston, they were the latest US R&B sensation – like we needed another one of them. Their song was called “Shorty (You Keep Playing With My Mind)” and it’s all fairly routine stuff though the female contingent in the studio audience seem highly excited by the whole thing. Talking of 1983 as I was earlier re: Nick Heyward, watching Imajin (terrible name) I was reminded of another hit from that year – “Candy Girl” by New Edition and guess what? Imajin would feature on a cover version of that hit in 1999 with then 13 year old rapper Baby DC. And that is all my imagination can muster about Imajin.

After considering the patriotism/nationalism/loyalism (choose whichever term you are most comfortable with) angle to Fat Les earlier and quickly deciding not to go there, we have another contentious artist next. There was so many headlines about the fact that Dana International was transgender that it didn’t seem to matter what her song was like. Even host Jamie Theakston can’t resist making reference to her sex reassignment surgery in his intro whilst the pause in his outro whilst describing her as “quite extraordinary” suggests that he feels he should make another comment though he doesn’t really know what that should be. I guess it was a different time back then…or is it any different now? Gender identity remains an issue that generates enormous debate to the extent that it is used as a source of party political point scoring with exhortations to ‘define a woman’ being traded across the House of Commons. Again, I’m not wading into that subject here. What I will say is that, to my ears, Dana International’s song “Diva” doesn’t seem so out there and other worldly as perhaps it was represented as back in 1998. Its peak of No 11 made it the highest charting Eurovision winning song outside of UK or Irish artists since Germany’s Nicole took “A Little Peace” to No 1 in 1982.

Whatever happened to Karen Ramirez? OK, it’s not a question that’s keeping me up at night but it’s one that’s maybe deserves an answer. Appearing from nowhere and disappearing almost as quickly, she scored a Top 10 hit with “Looking For Love”, a dance version of an Everything But The Girl song (originally titled “I Didn’t Know I Was Looking For Love”) but who was the woman singing it and where did she go? Karen was born in North London but moved to Trinidad and Tobago at the age of six before returning to the UK to go to university. With ambitions to sing, her demo tape was picked up by Manifesto Records leading to a debut single release called “Troubled Girl” which just missed the Top 40. However, the follow up was “Looking For Love” and it remained in the Top 10 for four weeks and the Top 40 for eight, totally eclipsing the 1993 Everything But The Girl original which peaked at No 72. And after that…nothing. Well no, not nothing. A minor follow up hit and an album that didn’t make much of a mark and then nothing. Karen reappeared in 2006 with a iTunes only album and then…nothing again. So, we may never know if Karen found the love she was looking for but she left us one hit that basically took an Everything But The Girl song, gave it the “Missing” remix treatment and made herself famous for 15 minutes. It was almost like an artist covering an artist’s song covering an artist. There must be a name for that but I’m not going to spend any time looking for it.

Now in the past, whilst not defending the Lighthouse Family and their music, I’ve defended the right to like them – an ‘each to their own’ approach. However, this song – “Lost In Space” – is almost unforgivable. Firstly, it is one of the most soporific, dull, boring, lifeless, soulless, banal…I could go on…and I will…leaden, anaemic, dreary, grey, insipid tracks ever recorded. It just drones on..and on…and on with no changes of pace, no attention grabbing hooks, not even a jarring breakdown section. It’s just…there. Secondly, looking at its title, I’d assumed it was something to do with the film of the same name that was in the cinemas at this time – the big screen remake of the Irwin Allen 60s TV series. However, I can’t find a single link between the film and it. Certainly, it’s not on the soundtrack album so was this just some shameless band wagon jumping going on here, some manipulative cashing-in practice? And I thought they were nice, clean living boys at least!

Now if it’s a show in the Chris Cowey era, then there must be a repeated performance with very little in the way of justifying arguments for it. Lo and behold, here are B*Witched with “C’est La Vie” who are back on the show because…? Having been at No 1 for two weeks and dropping down to No 4, they’ve stayed at No 4 this week. And that seems to be good enough reason for Cowey, the King of Recycled Performances. And guess what? He’ll have it opening the show in a couple of weeks because it went up a place to No 3 and stayed there. I’ve tried to make a case for his policy in the past but this was just lazy overkill. In the previous week’s chart, the excellent Embrace was a new entry at No 6 but did we see them? No we didn’t. Right. Who said “C’est La Vie” at the back there? Grr! I oughta…

After two references to 1983 earlier this post comes one from 1984. The Kane Gang’s summer hit of that year “Closest Thing To Heaven” was one of the best of the decade to my ears. Sadly, or maybe happily, this was not Lionel Richie doing a cover version of it in 1998. No, this was a Dianne Warren penned yawn-fest that went absolutely nowhere and then stayed there in a circling motion for the duration. How was it possible in the space of three songs on the same show to find two of the most depressing and depressant tracks ever. This was money for old rope for Lionel and, for recording it, he should have taken a long hard look at himself in the mirror. Actually, maybe that’s not the best idea*

*Sorry Lionel!

Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds have resisted the claims and sales of Fat Les and remain at No 1 for a second week with “3 Lions ‘98”. I like the way that Frank Skinner looks so committed to the performance here like it really matters to him – indeed, maybe it did. Both Frank and David have been guests on Desert Island Discs and interestingly, the former didn’t select “Three Lions” as one of his choices as his modesty prevented him so he went with “Back Home” by the 1970 England World Cup squad instead. Baddiel on the other hand had no such issue picking “Three Lions” without compunction. Although it resurfaces at every major international tournament, has it almost been replaced by Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”?

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Fat LesVindalooNo
2Tina ArenaWhistle Down The WindNick Heyward – Yes Tina Arena – No
3Imajin Shorty (You Keep Playing With My Mind)Never
4Dana InternationalDivaNegative
5Karen RamirezLooking For LoveI did not
6Lighthouse FamilyLost In SpaceI wish they were – no
7B*WitchedC’est La VieNope
8Lionel RichieClosest Thing To HeavenNo way
9Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds3 Lions ’98Nah

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/m002jy43/top-of-the-pops-25061998?seriesId=unsliced

TOTP 10 AUG 1995

Posted on by 80stastic

The BBC4 commemorative shows celebrating the 60th anniversary of TOTP are finally over meaning a return to the schedule of the 1995 repeats. If you recall, we’d just entered August of that year with the Blur v Oasis Battle of Britpop rapidly coming into view. However you feel about that time now with nearly 30 years perspective, it was a heady experience for me personally, feeling right at the centre of it working in a record shop in Greater Manchester. However, neither band are on this TOTP with both their singles being released the Monday after it aired. Blur performed “Country House” in an exclusive slot the week before – “Roll With It” will get one in next week’s show.

Anyway, tonight’s host is Lisa I’Anson and we start with…who? Mary Kiani? Well, I should show a little humility after bigging up my record shop credentials earlier as Mary clocked up four solo UK Top 40 hits in the 90s plus three (including a Top Tenner) as the vocalist for dance project The Time Frequency. That’s not a bad career. In comparison, how many chart hits have I ever had? None obviously though my rendition of Nick Cave and Kylie’s “Where The Roses Grow” in guitar class back in the day was pretty special. Back to Mary though and her journey to the UK Top 40 wasn’t via your usual route. As a session singer, she toured with the credibility sapping Donny Osmond. Mary clearly didn’t care about any of that though. Post chart success, she would contribute her vocals to “The Simpsons’ Yellow Album”.

Yet in 1995, she was riding the dance tidal wave. This single – “When I Call Your Name” – went to No 1 in the UK Dance charts. I don’t remember it at all but listening to it now, it’s a pleasant enough ditty which wouldn’t sound out of place on an M People album. That’s either a compliment or an insult depending on your opinion of M People I guess. I’m not sure about the ‘white out’ special effects in this performance though – all a bit too Dr Who in the 70s.

Kiani has continued to release material sporadically over the years but remains a big draw on the gay club circuit and in Australia where she now lives.

Yes! This is what the kids want! Music played by a bunch of teenagers for teenagers! Ash were indeed teenagers having started the band back in 1992 when lead singer Tim Wheeler was only 15 years old. This performance of their first Top 40 hit “Girl From Mars” came just four weeks after the band had sat their final ‘A’ Level exams! Imagine that! I’d love to think that the band sat around saying “What shall we do in the Summer while we’re waiting for our exam results?” and one of them pipes up “Well, we could take a single to No 11 in the charts and appear on TOTP. Anyone fancy that? Or we could get a job fruit picking or even just bum around doing nothing. I’m easy”. Of course, Ash were much more involved in the music industry than that scenario suggests by this point. They’d already released a mini album called “Trailer” on indie label Infectious Records and three singles from it. In March 1995, they put out “Kung Fu”, the lead single from their full debut album “1977” which just missed the Top 40. Momentum was building and with the championing of them by Radio 1’s Steve Lamacq and the station giving major airplay to “Girl From Mars”, the inevitable big hit ensued. And quite right too. It’s a great tune, one of many the band would record. “1977” would go to No 1 but in many ways they are the perfect singles band. Indeed, in 2009/2010, they took The Wedding Present idea of releasing a single every month but upped the ante by making the cycle every two weeks. Over those two years, they released 27 singles.

I caught them live in 2011 in Manchester on the anniversary tour for their “Free All Angels” album (also a No 1) and they were great. However, my abiding association with “Girl From Mars” belongs to someone I was working with at the time. Cara was/is one of the nicest people you could meet but she had a reputation for being…erm…in a world of her own at times I think is the best way to put it. This state of being caused her to be known on the lunch rota as ‘Cara – on loan from Mars’. The description stuck rather and when she left after getting a job with Head Office, we bought her the single as a leaving present. I am always reminded of Cara whenever I hear “Girl From Mars” to this day.

It’s a second outing for the award winning video for “Waterfalls” by TLC next. The song was nominated in two categories at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards in 1996. As I type this, we’ve just had this year’s – the 66th – and there are a couple of parallels between the 1996 and 2024 shows. Both featured performances by Annie Lennox (and both songs she sang were cover versions) and both had Celine Dion presenting an award. Whatever you think of her music (and it all sounds hateful to me), it was a good news story to see her in public after all the reporting of her recent health problems.

Although “Waterfalls” didn’t win the gong for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, they did walk away that year with the award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (blimey what a mouthful!) for “Creep”.

It’s a second song that has been on the show before next and perhaps rather surprisingly it’s another studio outing for Julian Cope with his single “Try Try Try”. Surprisingly? Well, the single only spent three weeks on the chart and only one of those (this week when it debuted at No 24) inside the Top 40. So how did it come to be on the show twice? Well, Julian was afforded an ‘exclusive’ slot a couple of weeks before the single was released. Although that explains the maths of it, a second studio appearance did seem a bit like overkill – Julian was hardly a mainstream pop star in 1995. Indeed, was he ever a mainstream anything? Apart from a brief spell in 1986/87 when Island Records tried to promote him as a more traditional rock star for the “Saint Julian” / “World Shut Your Mouth” era, Cope has always chosen a path less travelled. Conversely, maybe that was why the TOTP producers wanted him back on their show; as an antidote to the more generic, manufactured pop acts of the time. I mean just look at him here! Utterly bonkers with his Gandalf style hat and oversized hi-vis jacket with leopard print lining. Maybe it was just a case of counting though. A chart entry of No 24 was probably a big enough number to justify another go on the show.

A bigger mystery than the appearance of Julian himself on the show though is the person in the studio audience with the giant paper mache head that looks like the Mekon from the 2000 AD and Eagle comics. What was that all about?! Fortunately, @TOTPFacts is here with the answer:

Breaking free from the chains of being a potential one hit wonder comes Tina Arena who clocks up a second Top 40 entry with “Heaven Help My Heart”. Whereas her debut hit was intense and brooding, this one was a paint-by-numbers country ballad that, unlike Julian Cope, went straight down the middle of the road. Indeed, so bland was it that when Radio 1 DJ Chris Evans played it, he took it off air after a minute or so declaring it too easy listening for his zeitgeist riding, lad culture fawning, Britpop following show and despatched a (presumably all too willing) lackey to hand deliver it to Terry Wogan over at Radio 2. What a prick! Evans that is, not Terry. Ironically, within a couple of years, ballads like “Heaven Help My Heart” would become big chart hits in the UK from the likes of Shania Twain and LeeAnn Rimes as the last vestiges of Britpop played out.

Tina’s next single also featured the word ‘heaven’ in the title as she released a cover of Maria McKee’s “Show Me Heaven”. Gulp! Heaven help us all.

There have been some terrible cover versions to besmirch the charts over the years. More specifically, there have been some terrible Beatles covers. I’m thinking “Strawberry Fields Forever” by Candy Flip, Tiffany’s approximation “I Saw Him Standing There” and, of course, Bananarama and Lananeeneenoonoo’s take on “Help!” (no I don’t care that it was for charity, it’s shit). Despite the dreadful stink caused by all of these, this version of “I’m Only Sleeping” by Suggs also reeks to high heaven. Taken from his first solo album “The Lone Ranger”, it somehow went Top 10. As shown in the examples above, covering The Beatles isn’t for everyone and to my ears, Suggs makes a porcine one of it here. Did he really think he could just add his usual layer of ska pop over the original and get away with it. He doubles down on the error in the performance by doing his Suggs shtick of juddery movements (even doing a staged fall at one point) just to make sure we all knew that we were residents of Suggsworld for three minutes.

Incredibly, he managed to out-shite himself with another cover taken from the album the following year when he took on “Cecilia” by Simon & Garfunkel which led to the infamous Chris Eubank intro but that’s for a future post.

Another year and another controversial Madonna video. After the press backlash she received following the release of her “Erotica” album and coffee-table book Sex, in 1992 when she was deemed by some to have gone too far with her sexual explicit material, Madge seems initially to have decided to tone things down a bit. “I’ll Remember” was an unthreatening big ballad from the film With Honors with a more classic looking and dare I say it tasteful video. Her next studio album “Bedtime Stories” addressed subjects that were more about love than sex but then came the fourth and final single to be released from it. “Human Nature” was a direct response to the criticism she had received for “Erotica” and Sex – an answer song, a musical middle finger. Look at some of these lyrics:

“Oops, I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about sex…You punished me for telling you my fantasies…I’m not your bitch, don’t hang your shit on me”


Songwriters: Dave Hall / Madonna Ciccone / Kevin Harold Mc Kenzie / Shawn Mc Kenzie / Michael Deering
Human Nature lyrics © Wb Music Corp., Emi April Music Inc., Webo Girl Publishing Inc., Stone Jam Music, Wize Men Music Publishing, Webo Girl Publishing, In

Blimey! Then there’s the aforementioned video with Madonna and her dancers decked out in S&M gear (hell, even her pet chihuahua is dressed in leather!) and cavorting in small boxes which on reflection looks like a kinky version of Celebrity Squares! Clearly it’s about Madonna retaking control of the narrative but hadn’t we seen all this before and in a more provocative way? Remember the X-rated promo for “Justify My Love”? Talking of that track, the intro of “Human Nature” seems to mirror it with its hypnotic trip-hop beat opening with Madonna repeating the line “Express yourself, don’t repress yourself” over and over. All in all, I found the whole thing rather tiresome but what did I know? The single still made No 8 in the UK though it was notably not a big hit in America.

A week before the Battle of Britpop, we had another contest of the charts though not with the same levels of rivalry nor media attention. The Battle of the Boybands (which nobody called it at the time) saw the pretenders to the throne Boyzone on the same show as current kings Take That though I don’t think the latter were in the studio together as the clip is just a previous appearance re-shown. First up though are those nice Irish lads with their third hit single “So Good” which is up to No 3. Whilst Take That’s “Never Forget” lived up to its name as being one of the group’s most memorable songs even being performed at the Coronation Concert for King Charles III, “So Good” really didn’t fulfil the claim of its title being one of the band’s least remembered hits – in short, it’s so bad.

And so to the boyband winners. Take That are at No 1 for a second week with “Never Forget”. Although Boyzone would eventually amass a comparable amount of chart topping singles themselves, to my mind they always came up short when in a straight competition with Gary, Mark, Howard, Jason (and never forgetting Robbie of course!) for the title as the nation’s favourite 90s boyband. Maybe not the gulf in popularity that we saw in the 80s between Bros and Brother Beyond but a clear distance nonetheless. Just my personal view of course. Other opinions are available. What’s that? What about those other Irish lads Westlife? Oh feck off!

The play out track is “Don’t You Want Me” by Felix and if it sounds familiar then that’s probably because it was a hit three times in the UK during the 90s. This was its second incarnation making No 10. The original release was a No 6 hit in 1992 and in 1996 it returned to the charts peaking at No 17. Obviously, each release had a different mix but this practice of recycling dance tracks that had already been a chart success before was really prevalent around this time. “Don’t You Want Me” was on the Deconstruction Records label but given its release history, Reconstruction Records might have been a more apt name (chortle).

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Mary KianiWhen I Call Your NameNope
2AshGirl From MarsNo but I have theirBest Of album Intergalactic Sonic 7″s with it on
3TLCWaterfallsI did not
4Julian CopeTry Try TryNo No No
5Tina ArenaHeaven Help My HeartNah
6SuggsI’m Only SleepingDear me no
7MadonnaHuman NatureNegative
8BoyzoneSo GoodSo bad – no
9Take ThatNever ForgetIt’s a no
10FelixDon’t You Want MeNo I don’t

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/m001vvzc/top-of-the-pops-10081995

TOTP 27 APR 1995

Posted on by 80stastic

This post is dedicated in its entirety to Pete Garner who passed away recently. Known to many as the original bass player with The Stone Roses, I got to know Pete in the mid 90s when I worked with him at Our Price the record retailer. He was the sweetest, soundest, funniest person you could ever hope to meet. I learned so much about life from him. RIP Pete.

In my review of the previous show, I spent some time discussing the rise of Chris Evans as he was about to start his two year stint on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show. In order to promote their new boy, the BBC have got him in to host TOTP straight off the bat. Evans wasn’t the only debut happening around this time. Three days before this show broadcast, Channel 4 aired the first episode of one of the best sit coms ever in Father Ted. A week later, the channel was at it again but this time with a show from across the pond with the ratings sensation Friends. It’s a sobering realisation that two of the stars from those shows are no longer with us. Father Ted himself Dermot Morgan would pass away less than three years on from here whilst Matthew Perry who played Chandler Bing in Friends sadly died just a week or so ago. Back in 1995 though, I’m guessing that Chris Evans would be full to the brim of brio as he brings his presenting style to TOTP. Let’s see how he did…

He starts off in a fairly uncontroversial manner with a lame set up about the studio lights not working before a short intro for opening act MN8. After just missing out on the top spot with debut single “I’ve Got A Little Something For You”, this lot of R&B wannabes were hot news. They consolidated on that success with follow up “If You Only Let Me In” which was a No 6 hit. Quite different in style from its predecessor, it had a much more pure pop boyband vibe that would become ubiquitous as the decade progressed and the throng of such acts became ever larger. I mean, it’s actually one of the better examples of that sound; well constructed with plenty of hooks though it also seems to have been written with one eye on accommodating the obligatory dance moves for the three guys in the band playing second fiddle to the singer. Still, it was probably a sensible choice at that point in their career; a catchy tune to maintain their chart presence and guarantee airplay. For the moment, MN8 were playing the game well.

https://youtu.be/xGokWi0I7N0?si=SElGVW7FmU_fzOBD

Whilst MN8 were in the ascendancy, another boyband were desperately trying to stay afloat in some choppy teenage audience waters. Let Loose were trying to do exactly the opposite of what their band name suggested; they didn’t want to be let loose in a sea of faded boybands but rather wanted to be tied steadfastly to the chart dock. This single – “Best Of Me” – did indeed act as a decent life belt giving them a Top 10 hit though I can’t work out why as it’s as dull as dishwasher. The verses sound like a Bread song (they would record an actual Bread song in “Make It With You” the following year) whilst the chorus goes a bit “See The Day” by Dee C. Lee complete with added string section. And why on earth is there a double necked guitar on show here? Let Loose? More like obtuse.

If MN8 were playing the R&B pop stars game well, then here’s Bobby Brown to show them that “Two Can Play That Game”. In the segue into this one, Chris Evans starts reverting to type and his ‘lads mags’ persona by banging on about a naked Pamela Anderson and Liz Hurley bouncing up and down on a space hopper. What? Bobby Brown, of course, had a few image problems of his own with a list of charges against him including drink driving, defaulting on child care payments and battery of his wife Whitney Houston. If his personal life was chaotic and full of misdemeanours, in 1995 his career was at a high point. “Two Can Play That Game” gave him his biggest ever UK hit when it peaked at No 3.

Evans completely lays bare his ‘lad culture’ credentials once more by referring to an upcoming performance by Oasis as being his “personal heroes”. Before that though we have yet another appearance for our Eurovision entry Love City Groove. I make this their third time on the show with the song contest still two weeks away. What with plugging the BBC’s coverage of Eurovision and the showcasing of Radio 1’s Breakfast Show host, TOTP was in danger of becoming just a promotional tool for the corporation’s output rather than a platform for the most popular music of the day.

As for “Love City Groove”, it still stands up and out I think in the long history of UK Eurovision acts. It didn’t completely convince the watching panels on the night of the contest finishing 10th out of 23 countries receiving 76 points, almost half the amount the winners Secret Garden from Norway did with their song “Nocturne”. That victory seemed to give credence to the idea that Eurovision was ready for a different musical genre to take centre stage over the more traditional acts witnessed down the years. Sadly for the UK, that genre was haunting, violin led and almost instrumental rather than sing -a-long rap. Bugger!

It’s time for “the best song around” now as endorsed by Chris Evans in his intro for Oasis. On reflection, it wasn’t even the best song on the CD single – that honour goes to “Acquiesce” in my opinion. However, “Some Might Say” was certainly better than most residents of the Top 40 and, as expected, gave the band their first of eight No 1 singles. At the time, I was in agreement with Evans and loved this though I’m not sure it stands up as well through the perspective of 28 years distance. Back then though, I didn’t care that, just as “Cigarettes And Alcohol” had done, it had more than a whiff of a T-Rex riff about it. Nor did I care that the lyrics weren’t the best (rhyming ‘fishes’ with ‘dirty dishes’ indeed!). I didn’t even mind Liam’s pronunciation of ‘Shine’ as “Sh-i-iiine”. To me it sounded…well…powerful I guess. Powerful and hopeful that something different might be about to happen.

This was pretty much the last public appearance of drummer Tony McCarroll with the band. The next time they appeared on TOTP, his replacement Alan White was on the drummer’s stool. McCarroll being buried alive by the rest of the band in the “Live Forever” video probably should have given us all a big clue as to his impending fate.

Creation boss Alan McGee had wanted to release the track as a double A-side with the aforementioned “Acquiesce” but Noel Gallagher stood firm saying the latter was the B-side. Legend has it that the conversation went something like this:

McGee: “Acquiesce” is too good. Knock something average out for the B-side.

Noel: Sorry Alan but I don’t write shit songs.

As for the performance here, Liam seems to have perfected his motionless, thousand yard stare act by this point while the rest of the band (Noel excepted) look like they can’t quite comprehend how they got here from where they started. By the way, Liam’s Manchester City coat would not have been seen as bandwagon jumping. At the time City were not the winning machine they are today; that would have been their rivals United.

The third boyband on tonight now and the second trying to follow up a No 2 hit single. Like MN8 before them, Boyzone had gone as close as possible to a chart topper without actually getting one with previous single “Love Me For A Reason” but, despite that success, a lot must have been riding on their next release in terms of their potential longevity. A bunch of pretty Irish boys getting a Christmas hit with a cover of a well known sloppy ballad was one thing but repeating the trick with a composition of their own? Well, that was another matter.

As it turned out, “Key To My Life” was also the key to the band’s consolidation. A very encouraging chart peak of No 3 would surely have given the group confidence that they could compete with Take That (especially when, a few weeks later, the departure of Robbie Williams would cause the future of the band to be put in doubt). A saccharine drenched ballad, it seems to me that “Key To My Life” is a largely forgotten Boyzone single despite its strategic importance to their career.

Watching this performance back, I’m struck by how washed out the group look with all those grey colours and pastel shades on display in their outfits. Their stylist should have been given the keys to a better wardrobe.

It’s another studio appearance by Tina Arena performing her hit “Chains” now. Her song was universally seen as being about being trapped in a relationship that was no longer working though Tina herself attributes its meaning to her trying to escape from her past as a child star when she was dubbed ‘Tiny Tina” aged 8 on a talent show. Fast forward over 40 years and a modern day restriction that Tina struggled with was the whole issue of ‘selfies’. In 2019 she made the decision not to allow people to take ‘selfies’ as she felt trapped by them and instead would rather have a good old chat with the person. That revelation somehow put me in mind of that famous Boy George quote who, when at the height of his fame, was asked about the act of sex. “I’d rather have a nice cup of tea” he replied though I’m pretty sure he had his fingers crossed when he said it.

It’s that band again whose name I remember but whose music I don’t. Chris Evans does his best to create some buzz around them by bigging them up in his intro but even the man of the moment’s endorsement didn’t cut through with me. I refer to The Wildhearts who we last saw on the show doing their minor hit “Geordie In Wonderland”. They’re back with the lead single from their second album “P.H.U.Q” called “I Wanna Go Where The People Go”.

Listening to it now, it’s not bad though even if I’d cottoned on to it back in 1995, I’m not sure I’d have been bowled over by its sound. I’m sure they had and still have a hardcore fanbase but for me, they blur into one a bit with all those other early 90s UK blues rock revival bands like The Dogs D’Amour and The Quireboys though that’s not surprising as main Wildheart Ginger used to be a member of the latter.

It’s the fourth and final week at No 1 for Take That with “Back For Good”. It’s often said (including by me) that the mark of a good song is how often it’s covered by other artists and especially if it’s done in a completely different style and it still works. Well, here are just a few varied takes on “Back For Good”. Firstly, a slinky, muscular version courtesy of McAlmont & Butler from 2002 for the War Child charity album in association with the NME:

Here it’s turned into an indie classic by The Wedding Present on their “How The West Was Won” album:

How about a lo-fi anthem from Swedish band The Concretes on covers compilation album “Guilt By Association”:

And finally a punk rendering courtesy of Robbie Williams himself; a live version included as an extra track on his “Angels” single:

The “wash it off” ad lib line has its origins in an adopted reaction from Take That fans when the song was performed live. When Gary Barlow would sing “Got your lipstick mark still in my cup”, the crowd would apparently sing back to him “Ooh wash it off!”. So now you know.

Punk covers of your own songs were all the rage back then. Here’s Duran Duran on The Word from 1995 doing “Hungry Like The Wolf”:

The play out track is back after disappearing for a while and tonight’s is a goodie from Weezer. This power pop, pop-punk, geek rock (call it what you will) anthem named after rock ‘n’ roll legend “Buddy Holly” would make it all the way to No 12. If the song wasn’t memorable enough, you can’t forget the video once seen, especially if , like me, you grew up in the 70s. Back then, the US sitcom Happy Days was huge with its main character Fonzie assuming almost legendary status with his cool persona and catch phrases “Ayyyy” and “Sit On It”. I remember they’re being some TV awards show on when Happy Days was at its peak and it somehow losing out to Blue Peter in one category. Even the wide eyed innocent child that I was thought that was a fix.

Anyway, the idea to incorporate footage from Happy Days with Weezer performing “Buddy Holly” in Arnold’s Drive-In was inspired. Director Spike Jonze did an incredible job. The actor who played drive-in owner Al did a cameo to introduce the band and a lookalike did the Fonzie dance scene but apparently the rest was all done without computer graphics and instead used clever editing. It looked amazing in 1995 and still looks great today I think.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1MN8If You Let Me InNo
2Let LooseBest Of MeDefinitely not
3Bobby BrownTwo Can Play That GameNope
4Love City GrooveLove City GrooveI did not
5OasisSome Might SayYES!
6BoyzoneKey To My LifeNever happening
7Tina ArenaChainsNegative
8The WildheartsI Wanna Go Where The People GoNah
9Take ThatBack For GoodNo but my wife did
10WeezerBuddy HollyLiked it, 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/m001rrzv/top-of-the-pops-27041995

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