Hello and welcome to TOTP Rewind where I, a man rapidly approaching his 50th birthday, try to relive my youth by reviewing each of the TOTP repeats being aired on BBC4. I try to be as honest as I can and add some personal recollections of my life as a teenager growing up in the 80s. It is Sep ’85 and I am 17 years old.
First up is Depeche Mode with “It’s Called A Heart” which is a single that I’ve always thought of as the ending of the first chapter of the band’s story. How so? Well, for a start it was written as a brand new track to promote their first singles retrospective “The Singles 81→85”. Secondly, their work subsequent to this moment always seemed so much darker to me beginning with their next album “Black Celebration”. It was as if they were drawing a line under their synth pop beginnings and sending a clear message that they wanted to mature as artists. Normally this is a very risky career move but you have to say that with the band now in their 38th year and still as relevant as ever – no nostalgia circuit for these guys – that they pulled it off and then some.
Having said all of that, “It’s Called A Heart” is and always has been pretty weak in my book. It has the feel of a track specifically written for a commercial angle – to sell their greatest hits collection in this case – and despite bearing all the trademark Depeche hooks and sounds, it felt mechanical and calculated. It didn’t stop me from asking my brother to get the greatest hits LP for me for Xmas though!
Supposedly band member Alan Wilder fought to release the B-side as the single instead so much did he not like “It’s Called A Heart” which was a track called “Fly on the Windscreen”. Wonder what that sounded like? Let’s find out….
Well that was hardly a barrel of laughs was it? With lyrics like…
Death is everywhere
There are lambs for the slaughter
Waiting to die
…it’s not hard to see why it finally made it onto the “Black Celebration” album alongside tracks such as “Stripped”, “A Question Of Lust” and “Dressed In Black”. Alan, you needed to get out more mate.
“It’s Called A Heart” made it to No 18 in the singles chart.
It’s that man of the moment Billy Idol up next with the re-released and suddenly popular “Rebel Yell”. It’s a no show in the studio from Billy so it’s the video again that we saw in last week’s Breakers section. “Rebel Yell” was definitely played at The Barn (my hometown nightclub of choice) and I’m pretty sure that I would have ‘testified’ on the club’s stage area Billy style to the song more than once. Thankfully for everyone concerned mobile phones with cameras had not been invented back then so there is no video footage floating around. Some 18 years later I was at a party for my sister’s 30th birthday and, reinforced by drink, I decided to cut some rug on the dance floor. Little did I know that there was a video being made which I was made to sit through the next time I visited home which included me ‘dancing’. I always thought I was a pretty nifty mover back in the day. Clearly, video evidence would suggest, I wasn’t.
Ok – so now we have a gigantic hit that would turn out to be the biggest selling single of the year in the UK. It can only be Jennifer Rush with “The Power Of Love”. This epic sounding behemoth of a ballad swept all before it as the UK record buying public were reduced to quivering teary wrecks in the face of its force. OK – that may be overstating it slightly but it has sold 1.45 million copies in the UK alone and was a No 1 in 8 other countries and made the Guinness Book of World Records as “the best-selling single by a female solo artist in the history of the British music industry” until it was overtaken by “I WIll Always Love You by Whitney Houston in 1992. In short, it was a monster.
Jennifer was born Heidi Stern in Queens, New York and yet, despite her US roots, the single only reached No 57 on the Billboard Hot 100. So why did the UK go so overboard for the song? Well, 1985 had been the year of massive power ballads with No1s already that year for Foreigner with “I Want To Know What Love Is” and Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige with “I Know Him So Well” and “The Power Of Love” certainly fell into that bracket.
There’s something so definitively 80s about Jennifer’s performance here. Maybe it’s the massive back combed hair or the leather skirt and top outfit. Watching it back I’m struck by her curious stage moves. They’re sort of jerky but in slow motion. At one point there’s an involuntary raising of her right leg for no apparent reason.
Much of course was made of the fact that this was the third hit in the space of 12 months by three different artists with three different songs that all shared the same title after Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Huey Lewis and the News. Jennifer would out sell them all and spend 5 whole weeks at the top spot. As such, we’ll be seeing plenty of Jennifer Rush in the weeks to come so let’s move on…
…to the Breakers. Oh dear. First up are Five Star with “Love Take Over”. Romford’s answer to the Jackson 5 are just on the cusp of what would be their year of chart glory in which they would rack up six Top 10 singles. …but not this one. “Love Take Over” would only make No 25 and when follow up single “R.S.V.P’ failed to chart at all, they may have disappeared without trace. Luckily for them (but not for us) they were redeemed by last chance saloon release “System Addict” which took them all the way to No 3 and the rest is yadder yadder yadder. I don’t mean to be unkind but Five Star were dreadful (in my humble opinion of course).
An act enjoying their third rather unexpected Top 40 hit of 1985 are The Damned with “Is It A Dream”. Like previous hits “Grimly Fiendish” and “The Shadow Of Love”, this was also taken from their album “Phantasmagoria” and of the three, this was always my favourite. Not to be confused with the song of the same name by one hit wonder new romantics Classix Nouveaux, “Is It A Dream” is actually a rather good pop song but delivered with that extra bit of menace that you would expect from The Damned. The piano intro that then runs throughout the song puts me in mind of “Shades Of Grey” by The Monkees.
The single would prove to be the smallest of their hits that year only making No 34 but they would be back with a bang in the new year with their cover of “Eloise” which would go Top 3. And yes Dave Vanian still looks ridiculous.
From a band enjoying their third hit of the year to one enjoying their fourth! This is Dead Or Alive with “My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me To The Doctor)”. Like The Damned, this would also be the smallest of Pete and the gang’s hits that year reaching just No 23. In truth, it’s by far the weakest of the quartet and was probably a single too far taken from the album. That album was of course “Youthquake” which brought us “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” and “In Too Deep” and next to those, “My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me To The Doctor)” really is the runt of the litter. There’s not even a song in there really. It’s all scratched vocals and Pete B doesn’t lay off on the operatics at all. It’s all a bit much really and a poor end to what would forever be the band’s year in the sun.
After the Depeche Mode watershed moment comes another definite end of an era moment, behold the last truly decent Style Council single “The Lodgers”. Like The Damned and Dead Or Alive before them, Weller’s record label (Polydor) was happy to pull multiple tracks off the accompanying album (“Our Favourite Shop”) and stick them out as singles knowing that his loyal fan base (including my elder brother) would buy them anyway. It’s a good song though and an improvement in quality on previous single “Come to Milton Keynes”. The title had been shortened from the album version which was called “The Lodgers (Or She was Only A Shopkeeper’s Daughter)”. Given that bit in brackets, unsurprisingly it was another attack on Thatcherite politics. Good lad Paul.
Weller is still in his “internationalist’ phase judging by his choice of outfit which Dee C. Lee has chosen to replicate with the addition of a hat which gives the whole thing a rather nautical feel. To think that just 3 years prior to this, The Jam were still a going concern. Whilst early Style Council singles like “Speak Like A Child” and “Solid Bond In Your Heart” were logical extensions of The Jam sound, it’s hard to imagine Weller’s former band releasing anything like “The Lodgers” and shows how far his musical leanings had moved on.
After this though, it all started going a bit weird. A fourth track from “Our Favourite Shop” called “Everything To Lose” was re-recorded and renamed as “Have You Ever Had It Blue” and released as part of the Absolute Beginners film soundtrack early the following year but then the band hit hard times. Sales started to drop off and it was as if they started to seem like an anachronism as the decade progressed and dance music took a hold. Indeed, the band’s collapse came about following an ill judged attempt to keep up with the zeitgeist. They recorded a house influenced album which was rejected by Polydor and the band dissolved. Although clearly not as revered as The Jam by the Weller army (a view with which I concur), The Style Council will always have a small place in my affections.
Right it’s Top 10 time…
10. Mai Tai – “Body And Soul”: Really?! Still in the Top 10?! And like that though, they were gone….
9. Baltimora – “Tarzan Boy”: Ditto
8. Amii Stewart – “Knock On Wood”: She’s still knocking but the door to the top of the charts is now firmly shut
7. Marillion – “Lavender”: On its way down and therefore not quite replicating the success of “Kayleigh”
6. Red Box – “Lean On Me”: Is it on its way to No 1 asks Janice Long? No – it peaked at No 3
5. Madonna – “Angel”: Into the Top 5 for Madge but “Angel” would go no further
4. Midge Ure – “If I Was”: The public have fallen for this simple synth pop love song and Midge’s Dad dancing. It will be No 1 soon enough
3. Stevie Wonder – “Part Time Lover”: Still at No 3. Why?
2. Bonnie Tyler – “Holding Out For A Hero”: Unlike Billy Idol, Bonnie can be arsed to get down to the TOTP studio and who can blame her if she thinks it might get her to No 1 (it didn’t). Looking like she’s borrowed Midge Ure’s jacket from the other week, she belts it out whilst her band of hardened session musicians throw some serious rock moves in for good measure. Bonnie has never breached the UK Top 40 since.
1. David Bowie /Mick Jagger – “Dancing In The Street”: Still cavorting shamelessly in that video. If you’re going to Dad dance Midge Ure, then at least do it with some gusto like these two did.
The play out music this week is Maria Vidal with “Body Rock”
For posterity’s sake, I include the chart run down below:
| Order of appearance | Artist | Song | Did I Buy it? |
|
1 | Depeche Mode | It’s Called A Heart | No but I had the Greatest Hits LP that it was on |
|
2 | Billy Idol | Rebel Yell | Turns out I didn’t but I have his Greatest Hits on CD somewhere |
|
3 | Jennifer Rush | The Power Of Love | I think somebody in our house bought this for my Dad. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it |
|
4 | Five Star | Love Take Over | Hell no |
|
5 | The Damned | Is It A Dream | No but I think my wife may have had the LP |
|
6 | Dead Or Alive | My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me To The Doctor) | I’m surprised anyone did |
|
7 | The Style Council | The Lodgers | No but no doubt my brother did |
|
8 | Mai Tai | Body and Soul | Nope |
|
9 | Baltimora | Tarzan Boy | It wouldn’t have been a street credible purchase |
|
10 | Amii Stewart | Knock On Wood | Didn’t really see the need to |
|
11 | Marillion | Lavender | No but always quite liked it |
|
12 | Red Box | Lean On Me | Don’t think I did |
|
13 | Madonna | Angel | No – not one of her best |
|
14 | Midge Ure | If I Was | Glad to say I didn’t |
|
15 | Stevie Wonder | Part Time Lover | It’s a no from me |
|
16 | Bonnie Tyler | Holding out For A Hero | No |
|
17 | David Bowie and Mick Jagger | Dancing In The Street | Charity or not, I was never buying this |
|
18 | Maria Vidal | Body Rock | Nah |
Disclaimer
OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show as I can’t find the full programme on YouTube.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0b3lnml/top-of-the-pops-26091985
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.
Some bed time reading?
http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2015/09/september-25-october-8-1985.html
TOTP Rewind - the 80s 