What the Hell is that?! I’m referring of course to Bruno Brookes’ jacket. Wow! That is hideous even for the 80s! I don’t know why the camera man seems to be having trouble finding Brookes and fellow presenter Susie Mathis in the opening tracking shot – how could you miss that thing he’s wearing?! In fact, Brookes’ diminutive stature gives the impression that the jacket is actually wearing him.
The first act on tonight’s show were also renowned for some rather oddball sartorial choices. S’Xpress had a penchant for loud and garish 70s gear but none of what any of them is wearing for this performance can out do Brookes in the tasteless stakes. The ‘black furry horrible thing’ (as Smash Hits described it) that Mark Moore is wearing was made by someone called Rosie for about £50 and is definitely not made of real fur fact fans.
They are here are of course to promote their latest single “Hey Music Lover”, their third hit on the bounce. Quite why S’Xpress seemed to fade away after this run of hits I’m not sure. Maybe Moore got bored with the project but given that an act like Dee-Lite (who weren’t a million miles away from the S’Xpress sound and style) would be having huge success 18 months after “Hey Music Lover”, it makes their demise seem even stranger.
Another Michael Jackson track pulled from the “Bad”album next…or is it? I never knew until now that “Leave Me Alone” wasn’t on the original LP and was just included as an additional track on the CD version of the album, I guess as an added incentive to purchase that format which was still in its early days at the time. I knew maybe two people that had a CD player back then. Subsequent re-releases of the album have included “Leave Me Alone ” as standard although weirdly it wasn’t released as a single in the US.
I couldn’t really be doing with the song at all. It sounded far too hysterical for my liking and quite formulaic of Jackson’s material at this time. The video was kind of interesting though – not its style which we had seen before from the director Jim Blashfield on his collaborations with Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel etc and who would go down the same route again later in ’89 for “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” by Tears For Fears. No, it was the content more than the visual style with Jacko taking a swipe at some of the press and its more ludicrous claims about his personal life such as his chimp Bubbles, plastic surgery rumours and the claim that he had tried to buy the Elephant Man’s bones.
Were some of Jackson’s vocal ad libs on “Leave Me Alone” the inspiration for his lampooning by surreal TV sketch show Bo Selecta? I’m thinking of all the shrieks, yelps, ‘hee hees’ and ‘owww’s…
“Leave Me Alone” peaked at No 2 in the UK.
And now here’s Paul Simon’s missus. I think I’d forgotten that Edie Brickell is married to Art Garfunkel’s mate but they are still together to this day. Apparently they met on the US TV show Saturday Night Live in Nov ’88 so they would have been together at the time of this TOTP performance. No sign of him on this show though as Edie takes centre stage with her band. On that, apparently the band existed as The New Bohemians before she was a member but after she joined and signed a recording contract, the label (Geffen) changed the name, of the band to Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. I wonder how that went down with the rest of the band? They can’t have minded too much as they are still together and releasing albums to this day but they have never managed to eclipse the success of their debut album “Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars” from which “What I Am” was lifted.
I quite liked the song with its was-wah guitar effect but I think I preferred its follow up “Circle” which failed to crack the Top 40.
And just for the sake of completeness , here’s the Tin Tin Out version featuring Emma Bunton which made No 2 in 1999…
Next it’s Rick Astley again with his last chart hit of the 80s (in the UK anyway) “Hold Me In Your Arms”. I think it’s just the same studio performance clip from the other week so not an awful else to see here. Indeed, we wouldn’t see anything else of Rick for the next two years when he returned with his gospel tinged ballad “Cry For Help” before he promptly disappeared again and basically retired for the rest of the ’90s.
As the new century dawned, Astley’s re-emergence as a major recording artist and live performer seemed as likely as him turning into an internet phenomenon but with a No 1 album to his name and the popularity to sell out tours, Rick has rolled back into the music world. Hell, he’s even got a credibility to him these days….
Some Breakers now and I have to admit I don’t remember Tyree featuring Kool Rock Steady at all. I mean, the sound of their hit “Turn Up The Bass” is familiar but only in that it sounds to me like a lot of other Hip Hop / House records of the time. As I didn’t recall it at all, I googled them and apparently they were very well thought of in the dance world and ascribed by some as being responsible for kicking off the whole Hip-House movement. Was that an actual thing? Hip- House?
Tyree´s Scratch It Up Mix (not sure if this is the version that TOTP played) was mixed by one DJ Fast Eddie? Wasn’t he the guitarist in Motorhead? Either that or the main character in that Paul Newman film The Hustler. Clearly I’m well out of my depth here so I’ll move on…
As I type this, Storm Ciara is still in the vicinity so what more an apt song to be up next than “Blow The House Down” by Living In A Box. As with Then Jericho who also recently returned to the Top 40 after a two year absence, this lot similarly had issues following up on their debut hit and after a couple of very low ranking singles and a complete flop they disappeared and at the time, I for one, thought it was terminal.
Not so though as they came storming (ahem) back in this year with two Top 10 singles and a Top 30 album. “Blow The House Down” wasn’t a million miles away from the sound of their previous material and it was perfect Radio 1 playlist fodder with its very urgent rhythm track and almost frenetic chorus. Richard Derbyshire’s histrionic vocals were the prefect accompaniment. There’s even some squealing guitars thrown in for good measure.
Listening back to it now, it seems to me that glam rockers Slade may have taken lyrical inspiration from “Blow The House Down” for their 1991 single “Radio Wall Of Sound” single with their “Radio Wall Of Sound, comin’ up from my tower; Radio Wall Of Sound, twenty-four hours of power” seemingly aping The Box’s “We have got the power to build the highest tower”. Or perhaps both band’s just realized that ‘tower’ rhymes with ‘power’.
I recently got into a debate on Twitter about this track with an Absolute Radio DJ. Even Living In A Box themselves were amused.
“Blow The House Down” peaked at No 10.
Tone Lōc is probably as well known for his acting and voice over work as he is for his musical output but for as while there back in ’89 he was a very big deal in the US. This single “Wild Thing” was a No 2 hit over there whilst its parent album “Lōc-ed After Dark” hit the top spot eventually going double platinum. We were a little more cautious in our acceptance of old Tone with this single peaking at No 21 in the UK.
I mistakenly thought it was something to do with The Troggs song of the same name but it actually samples a Van Halen track for which Mr Lōc $180,000 in an out of court settlement with the Californian rockers. I always quite liked this one and its follow up “Funky Cold Medina” but not enough to actually buy either single you understand.
Despite her stellar 60s career, Dusty Springfield began the 80s in the middle of an already decade long commercial drought. None of her recordings from 1971 to 1986 charted on the UK Top 40 or Billboard Hot 100. That all changed once the Pet Shop Boys entered her life of course. Their collaboration on the 1987 No 2 hit single “What Have I Done To Deserve This” brought Dusty back from the dead.
Two years later that partnership was further expanded by the single “Nothing Has Been Proved” which Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe wrote for the soundtrack of the film Scandal. I don’t think I’ve ever watched the film which depicts the Profumo affair but if its cast is anything to go by, maybe I should. John Hurt, Sir Ian McKellen, Britt Ekland and not forgetting Hilda Ogden herself Jean Alexander. Then of course there was the face of the film Joanne Whalley Kilmer who I definitely had a thing for. There’s even an appearance by Fine Young Cannibals’ Roland Gift who seemed to be everywhere at this time. Why didn’t I see this film?
As for the song, its lyrics make some very specific references to the story’s protagonists including Mandy Rice -Davis, Christine Keeler and Stephen Ward but I’d never picked up on the Beatles reference (“Please Please Me’s number one”) before although it seems pretty obvious to me now. I thought it was a pretty decent tune but it certainly didn’t inspire me to go and and buy it (nor see the film seemingly). Yet another Dusty / PSB collaboration would grace the charts before the year was out (“In Private”) whilst “Nothing Has Been Proved” itself would peak at No 16.
So well did their last live performance go down on the show that the TOTP producers have invited Hue And Cry back to do the whole thing all over again this week! It’s another accomplished rendition of “Looking For Linda” with Pat Kane in good voice still. Apparently, when the single went Top 40, Greg Kane stayed out for 36 hours non stop and ended up in the bar of a Holiday Inn hotel! Rock ‘n’ roll!
I wonder why they chose the name Hue And Cry for their band? Well, the obvious choice would have been The Kane Gang but that had already been taken so instead they went for a legal phrase that refers to a common law process where bystanders are summoned to help apprehend a criminal?! That can’t be right surely? More likely is perhaps they were named after the Ealing comedy film starring Alastair Sim. That film starts with a young boy reading aloud from a comic about the adventures of fictional detective Selwyn Pike. That would tie in with Pat Kane’s revelation in Smash Hits that he once wrote to Esther Rantzen’s Big Time TV show (which launched Sheena Easton) saying he wanted to start his own comic magazine. That must be it surely? Not according to @TOTPFacts though…
Oh come on! Really?!
Also singing live on the show tonight is Michael Ball performing “Love Changes Everything”. It turns out that Michael grew up in a small Dartmoor village called Crapstone (no sniggering at the back!) and nearly became an estate agent but instead became an actor and singer with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Company. As for his time as a chart star and appearing on TOTP, Ball reckoned that he “stuck out like a sore thumb” compared to his contemporaries but to be fair to him, nobody stood out more than Bruno Brookes and his sick inducing multi coloured jacket in this particular show.
“Love Changes Everything” was at its No 2 peak.
Top 10
10. Rick Astley – “Hold Me In Your Arms”
9. Yazz – “Fine Time”
8. Holly Johnson – “Love Train”
7. Mike And The Mechanics – ” The Living Years”
6. Bobby Brown – “My Prerogative”
5. Sam Brown – “Stop!”
4. Michael Jackson – “Leave Me Alone”
3. Marc Almond and Gene Pitney – Somethings Gotten Hold Of My Heart”
2. Michael Ball – “Love Changes Everything”
1. Simple Minds – “Belfast Child”: And there it is, Simple Minds’ first and so far only No 1 single. Is it their best song? Not by a country mile in my book but as No 1 records of the 80s go, I can think of many a less deserving track / act who have topped the charts so it remains OK in my book.
Interesting that Susie Mathis introduces it as a cameo of “Belfast Child” – she’s right of course as we get a very truncated 2:26 worth of the song which clocks in at a whopping 6:39 in total. I wouldn’t have expected the TOTP producers to honour the song in its entirety but surely it would have been fairer to give it at least the standard three minutes that most songs would get?
The tradition of the Comic Relief single was still in its infancy by the time Bananarama took their turn at producing one. Of course thy had some… err…help in this from Lananeeneenoonoo aka Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Kathy Burke. Their irreverent cover of The Beatles track “Help” was only the third official Comic Relief single after “Living Doll” by Cliff Richard and The Young Ones in ’86 and “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Mel Smith and Kim Wilde (Mel And Kim) a year later.
French and Saunders had already spoofed Bananarama in their ’88 Xmas Special show hence this collaboration but it wasn’t the first time that the band had been sent up on national TV as they had already been given the Tracey Ullman treatment on Three Of A Kind…
A lot was made of the comedic video and interjections on the record at the time but I always found the whole thing a bit lame I have to say. Still it was all for a good cause and the single made No 3 on the charts and a lot of money for charity.
| Order of appearance | Artist | Song | Did I Buy it? |
|
1 |
S’Xpress | Hey Music Lover | No but my wife had their album on cassette |
|
2 |
Michael Jackson | Leave Me Alone | Nah |
|
3 |
Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians | What I Am | Liked it but didn’t buy it |
|
4 |
Rick Astley | Hold Me In Your Arms | That would be a no |
|
5 |
Tyree featuring Kool Rock Steady | Turn Up The Bass | No chance |
|
6 |
Living In A Box | Blow The House Down | Don’t think so |
|
7 |
Tone Loc | Wild Thing | No |
|
8 |
Dusty Springfield | Nothing Has Been Proved | Nope |
|
9 |
Hue And Cry | Looking For Linda | No but again my wife had the album |
|
10 |
Michael Ball | Love Changes Everything | Not a prayer |
|
11 |
Simple Minds | Belfast Child | Not the single but I have it on one of their collection CDs |
|
12 |
Bananarama and Lananeeneenoonoo | Help | Not even being for a good cause could make me buy this one |
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.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000dt76/top-of-the-pops-23021989
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/2019/02/february-22-march-7-1989.html
TOTP Rewind - the 80s 