Yet again there was only one presenter for our weekly dose of TOTP back in May ’89 and furthermore, once more, there was no Breakers section. What had happened to all those ‘happening’ records? Bruno Brookes is the host for this particular show which starts with the return of Swing Out Sister. Not seen in our charts for nigh on two years, some may have presumed that we would never see them again but rumours of their demise proved to be premature for here they were back in our lives with their single “You On My Mind”, the lead single from new album “Kaleidoscope World”.
Someone definitely not on their minds was Martin Jackson, the band’s drummer, who left during the recording of the album due to that old chestnut ‘musical differences’ or as singer Corrine Drewery put it “It became apparent that he didn’t really like the direction things were going so we parted company”. Definitely ‘musical differences’ then. And which direction was that exactly? Well, it was a more retro easy listening direction than previous album “It’s Better To Travel” according to Wikipedia anyway. I’m not sure that I arrived at the same conclusion back in ’89 but listening to it now I can hear those influences.
“You On My Mind” has a definite feel of something like “Up, Up And Away” by The 5th Dimension which wasn’t a surprise as its composer Jimmy Webb had been brought in to help out on arrangement duties on a coupe of tracks on the album. It’s a very polished sound which seemed quite the anachronism up against all those house records in the charts. Corinne looks every inch the stylish pop star in this performance with that immaculate bob of hers.
Whilst the album was a success (reaching No 9) and “You On My Mind” a Top 40 hit, they never quite managed to scale the commercial heights of their debut album again although they are still together to this day last releasing a crowd funded album called “Almost Persuaded” in 2017.
Heeeere’s Chaka! Yes it’s the ‘Queen of Funk’ herself Chaka Khan back in the charts with a re-mixed version of “I’m Every Woman” which apparently was her debut solo single back in 1978 released as a side project to her work with Rufus.
It of course re-appeared in our charts some four years later when Whitney Houston released her version of the song (taken from The Bodyguard soundtrack) as the follow up to the all conquering “I Will Always Love You”. Contrary to popular belief, a 14 year old Whitney did not sing backing vocals on the original Chaka Khan recording (presumably that was a myth concocted by her record label to help promote the single) but Whitney pays her dues to Chaka by giving her a shout out on the outro of her version…which was nice.
Was this the last time that we saw Yazz on TOTP in the 80s? I believe it was. Although she did have a couple more Top 40 hits into the 90s which may have resulted in further appearances (I haven’t checked), “Where Has All The Love Gone” was pretty much it for Yazz.
So what are we to make of her musical legacy? Well, “The Only Way Is Up” continues to stand the test of time in terms of airplay and of course was introduced to a whole new generation of listeners via its use as the theme tune to long running reality TV series The Only Way Is Essex. As for the rest of her material, well you rarely hear anything still played on radio that isn’t “The Only Way Is Up” but if you’re really interested there is a three (three!) CD deluxe edition of her debut album “Wanted” available and a greatest hits collection called “At Her Very Best” of which there is a quite funny (if cruel) review of on Amazon by a card calling himself Mr Hardy. He writes:
“Few female singles have had the major impact on the international pop charts that Yazz has. Since her smash hit “The Only Way Is Up” (a cover of the George Formby classic) with the `Plastic Population’ back in 1988 she has rivaled the likes of Gina G, Aneka and Tasmin Archer and continues to tour selling out venues to literally 10’s of people night after night”
Ouch! There’s more…
“It was a hard choice to pick out Yazz’s career’s highlights, a task which took seconds, but here they are – all 19 tracks sequenced in chronological order. All the favourites are present and correct; `Love Hangover’ tells the tale of Yazz’s 207th one night stand where she woke up in an alley way in Croydon, `Stand Up For Your Love Rights’ dedicated to frustrated wheelchair bound lotharios across the world and `One on One’ see’s Yazz recalling her days as bare knuckle fighter on the underground fight club scene.”
Deary me!
One of music’s heavyweights returned in May ’89 with their first new material for three years. Queen had been on hiatus since 1986’s “It’s A Kind Of Magic” project with the only material released to appease their fans in the meantime being Freddie Mercury’s solo output “The Great Pretender” single, his “Barcelona” collaboration with Montserrat Caballé and Roger Taylor’s poorly received side project band The Cross. Now though they were back with a new album “The Miracle” and lead single “I Want It All”.
Although there had been rumours in the press for a couple of years about the state of Freddie Mercury’s deteriorating health, presumably only the Queen inner sanctum really knew the true picture. As far as the public were concerned this seemed like a muscular return with “I Want It All” and its rock anthem sound.
As for my personal response to it, I thought it packed a punch when I first heard it and Brian May’s guitar solo was almost Guns N’ Roses-esque. I much preferred it to the likes of “A Kind of Magic”. Subsequent singles that were released from the album though all suffered from a case of diminishing returns in terms of quality in my opinion.
“I Want It All” peaked at No 3 in the UK but at only No 50 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
A song that really should have been a bigger hit in my opinion up next. At this point, Hue And Cry were ‘doing well for themselves’ as Bruno Brookes rather understates in his intro. This was the band’s commercial peak with a second Top 40 hit on the bounce and an album that would rack up sales of 300,000 in the UK. “Violently (Your Words Hit Me)” was taken from that album (“Remote”) and was actually an EP that included their rather wonderful version of Kate Bush’s “The Man With The Child In His Eyes”.
I love the lilting quality this song has and Pat Kane’s vocals are at once both controlled and joyful. I could do without the clod hopping hand clapping that the studio audience have clearly been encouraged to do by a TOTP floor manager though. While we’re at it, they could also have lost the nausea inducing special effects graphics that whirl the drummer and trumpet player around and around. Who wanted to see them anyway?!
I had a friend at Poly called Bev who had been on at her then boyfriend as to why he never bought her any flowers. To try and appease her he bought her a bag of flour (geddit) but buried in it was the CD single of “Violently”. The 20 year old me was very impressed by this sharp practice but I have never tried the same trick on my wife.
Natalie Cole again now with her biggest UK hit “Miss You Like Crazy”. If you look up the Wikipedia entry for this track it says this:
“The song is a moving ballad in which the singer describes how she is feeling lonely and is longing for the one she misses “like crazy” (or, in other words, very much).”
Err…OK. I don’t think we really needed the meaning of the phrase ‘like crazy’ explaining to us!
I had no idea at the time but Natalie had been releasing albums since 1975 with “Good To Be Back” (the album “Miss You Like Crazy” was taken from) being her 12th at that point. In my defence, she hadn’t had a UK hit in the 80s until “Pink Cadillac” in the previous year so my lack of knowledge of her was excusable. She would not be seen in our charts until the new decade dawned and she took “Wild Women Do” from the Pretty Woman soundtrack to No 16 in 1990.
An incredibly famous artist next but one whose UK chart record is surprisingly nothing to write home about. Stevie Nicks is of course part of the legendary classic Fleetwood Mac line up but her solo career, whilst substantial in the US, never pulled up any trees over here. Indeed, “Rooms On Fire” was her first ever entry into the UK Top 40 peaking at No 16.
I’d quite liked some of her previous solo material specifically “Talk To Me”, “I Can’t Wait” and “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?” from her “Rock A Little” album in ’85 but none of them had charted over here. From there she returned to her band’s fold to record and promote their monster album “Tango In The Night” before releasing “The Other Side Of The Mirror” album in her own right. I have to say, although “Rooms On Fire” is instantly recognizable and still an AOR playlist staple today, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you which year it was released.
The Songfacts website’s review of this song also has some reader comments one of which from Christopher L in Texas states:
“I’ve always been a Stevie fan including her years with Fleetwood Mac…I don’t however care for that bitch Christine Mcvie”
Wow! And I thought that Amazon review of Yazz was harsh!
OK – London Boys continue to rise the charts with “Requiem” which is now at its No 4 peak. Before their big chart break, they had been called The Roxy Rollers which wasn’t some heinous hybrid of Roxy Music and Bay City Rollers but the lads as a roller skating duo who toured all over Britain and Europe. They even turned up on Blue Peter…
Unsurprisingly, the duo were linked to Pete Waterman in that they appeared on the Hitman And Her show which I admit to having caught a few times after a drunken night out (so did you!) but isn’t something that I made a habit of.
Top 10
10. Holly Johnson -“Americanos”
9. Transvision Vamp – “Baby I Don’t Care”
8. Chaka Khan – “I’m Every Woman”
7. Edelweiss – “Bring Me Edelweiss”
6. Midnight Oil – “Beds Are Burning”
5. Natalie Cole – “Miss You Like Crazy”
4. London Boys- “Requiem”
3. Queen – “I Want It All”
2. The Bangles – “Eternal Flame”
1. Kylie Minogue – “Hand On Your Heart”: Well that escalated quickly. Two weeks in and Kylie is No 1 again, this time in her own right without any help from then beau Jason Donovan. We get the official video this week which was the usual mix of Kylie wondering about a set in some gaudy coloured dresses with some pretty basic special effects for company. Literally nothing of aesthetic interest going on here apart from Kyile herself.
“Hand On Your Heart” would end up being the 10th best selling single of the year in the UK.
If ever there was a time when the expression ‘What fresh Hell is this ?!’ was invented for then this was it. In the year of our Lord 1989, we saw fit to allow Stefan Dennis to become a pop star. What the actual fuck?! This guy of course played Paul Robinson (Jason Donovan’s character’s brother in Aussie soap Neighbours) and he shamelessly (though he denied it) cashed in on the UK’s obsession with the programme to follow Kylie and Jason into our charts with the execrable “Don’t It Make You Feel Good”. This was just completely rank – the song was shit, he couldn’t sing and to top it off he takes himself so seriously throughout the whole debacle with his George Michael rip off leather jacket. Apparently his character is still in Neighbours – a UK equivalent would have been William Roache (Ken Barlow) having released a pop single that wasn’t a novelty record that he wanted us to take seriously! Just ludicrous.
Somehow, and this really does defy explanation, “Don’t It Make You Feel Good”was a No 16 hit in our charts.
| Order of appearance | Artist | Song | Did I buy it? |
|
1 |
Swing Out Sister | You On My Mind | Nope |
|
2 |
Chaka Khan | I’m Every Woman (’89 Remix) | I did not |
|
3 |
Yazz | Where Has All The Love Gone | Nah |
|
4 |
Queen | I Want It All | That’s a no |
|
5 |
Hue And Cry | Violently | No but my wife had their album “Remote” |
|
6 |
Natalie Cole | Miss You Like Crazy | Nope |
|
7 |
Stevie Nicks | Rooms On Fire | Negative |
|
8 |
London Boys | Requiem | Of course not |
|
9 |
Kylie Minogue | Hand On Your Heart | No |
|
10 |
Stefan Dennis | Don’t It Make You Feel Good | No Stefan it really doesn’t! NO! |
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/m000g6ll/top-of-the-pops-11051989
I
http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/05/may-3-16-1989.html
TOTP Rewind - the 80s 