Donna Allen

TOTP 29 JUN 1989

Posted on by 80stastic

Tim Smith anyone? I don’t remember this guy at all. He’s (sort of) co-hosting this TOTP with the dependably over excited Anthea Turner and has got the gig presumably to introduce him to the UK’s pop fans as he’s just joined the Radio 1 roster of DJs as their latest recruit. I say ‘sort of’ because Anthea proceeds to do all the links after Smith is formally introduced at the top of the show. He’s finally given something to do when he runs through this week’s Breakers for us. A quick search of the internet reveals that he presented the weekend early show from 5 to 7 am on Radio 1 for about a year before hosting the UK Top 20 Chart Show on the BBC World Service for nearly 14 years! He’s co hosted the Steve Wright In The Afternoon show as well apparently. I wouldn’t know as I can’t stand Steve Wright and haven’t listened to him on the radio since about 1987. Let’s see how Tim’s TOTP debut went then….

Now I know that there was a third hit from Holly Johnson in 1989 and I also remember it being called “Atomic City”. Could I tell you anything about what it sounded like without watching this latest TOTP repeat first? Not a chance. Time to correct that then. See you in about three minutes…

…hmm. Well, it ain’t no “Love Train” (nor “Americanos” for that matter). Where was that easy flowing, lush pop production of those first two singles? It’s all a bit frenetic and desperate sounding to my ears and, dare I say it, comes over like a poor man’s Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The bass line (written by Dan “Instant Replay” Hartman apparently) seems to borrow very heavily from “Livin’ In America” by James Brown whilst Holly’s lyrics are still very preoccupied with game shows although I think the song’s main theme is some sort of anti-pollution, pro -environment message so probably ahead of its time. Presumably that’s why the guy on keytar is wearing a bio-hazard hazmat suit. Noble sentiments but the whole thing just comes across as a bit of a mess to me.

Also in a bit of a mess were Holly’s chart fortunes. After the double No 4 salvo that were his first two singles, “Atomic City” only made it to No 18. Worse was to follow. a fourth single from his “Blast” album called “Heaven’s Here” failed to make the Top 40 at all and Holly’s solo career was pretty much dead in the water. He would return to the UK charts once more time in 2012 as part of the Justice Collective single “”He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” which was a Xmas No1.

Queen are back in the charts with a second track pulled from their “The Miracle” album. Whereas previous single “I Want It All” had been of a much more traditional rock sound, to me, “Breakthru” was much more like the Queen style that the band had been pedalling since “The Works” in 1984. In fact, it reminded me of the “It’s A Hard Life” single from said album in that both start with a slow vocal harmony before the rest of the track kicks in. In the case of “Breakthru”,  that intro was actually from a different song altogether called “A New Life Is Born,” an unreleased piece written by Freddie Mercury whilst the rest of the song is a Roger Taylor composition.

I recall a lot of fuss about the video at the time and I suppose it is quite memorable with the steam engine bursting through that brick wall with the band onboard atop it. According to Wikipedia:

‘The group was dissatisfied with this part because polystyrene could not stand the enormous air pressure buildup in the tunnel from the incoming train and the wall started breaking before the physical impact’.

If you watch it closely you can see why the band were miffed with the effect but I don’t recall anybody pointing it out at the time.

For me though, the band seemed to be treading water with “Breakthru” (which peaked at No 8) but then, in retrospect, it was astonishing that the band were releasing any new material let alone putting the effort into making visually memorable videos given the deteriorating state of Freddie Mercury’s health.

“Well we like these guys. It’s their third time on TOTP…” warbles  Anthea as she introduces Double Trouble And The Rebel MC next and their single “Just Keep Rockin”. A third time?! And the song still hadn’t even made it into the Top 10?! Something doesn’t seem right about that. Their record plugger must have been very persistent. “And the single is still climbing..” protests Anthea just a little bit too much methinks. They should have been renamed ‘Triple Trouble And The Treble MC’.

Despite this over exposure, “Just Keep Rockin” failed to improve on its No 11 position where it found itself this week and never did crash the Top 10. I blame the white guy on keyboards who looks ridiculous with his pieces to camera*. I assumed he was saying ‘riddim’ but the official lyrics have it as ‘breathed in’. Hmm. Not sure about that. Undeterred, they did breach the Top 10 when follow up single “Street Tuff” did the business for them by peaking at No 3.

*This, from @TOTPFacts, explains everything…

Talking of three-peats, is this the third time that Donna Allen has been on the show? I think it is if you include her spot in the Breakers. Unlike Double Trouble, Donna’s appearances did the trick in terms of bagging her a Top 10 hit although it was a close run thing as “Joy And Pain” peaked at No 10.

I’ve got nothing left to say about this one except that it was heavily sampled by nineties electronic dancesters Strike for their 1995 No 4 hit “U Sure Do” …which I despised.

Finally it’s time for Tim Smith to have his moment in the spotlight as he introduces the Breakers starting with Monie Love and “Grandpa’s Party”. This then 18 year old was briefly a rap / hip hop sensation when she racked up a handful of Top 40 singles as the decade closed and the 90s opened. The ‘Grandpa’ of her single was apparently Afrika Bambaataa, “The Godfather” of hip hop…err…so not actually a grandfather but a godfather and I’m guessing not strictly speaking her grandfather either. Genealogy aside, was it any good? Well, I quite liked it but it wasn’t really my thang thing.

Monie described hip -hop at the time in a Smash Hits article as being “a school  – the teachers are Public Enemy, my classmates are the likes of The Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, Boogie Down Productions, MC Lyte, MC Mellow…”. Nah, you’ve lost me now Monie.

“Grandpa’s Party” peaked at No 16.

Now I would have sworn that this lot were just a couple of ‘here today gone tomorrow’ purveyors of limp, anodyne pop like but it turns out that Waterfront were a much bigger deal than that but mainly in the US. This Welsh duo had been knocking on the door of the charts for a while with a couple of single releases that the likes of Smash Hits magazine had carried adverts for but which had failed to dent the Top 40. The release of “Cry” hit paydirt for them though. It was a respectable but medium sized No 17 hit in the UK but over the water (front) it was a much bigger deal. The single went Top 10 there and they became the first Welsh duo to achieve this feat in the US. At performing rights organization Broadcast Music Inc’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations, “Cry” was recognised as one of the ‘most played singles on US radio’ with nearly one million plays clocked up. And I just thought it was a pretty feeble, soppy pop song.

After Stock, Aitken and Waterman had done the seemingly impossible by making certified chart stars out of two unknown teenagers in The Reynolds Girls, we might have been forgiven for thinking that the whole Hit Factory phenomenon couldn’t get any more ridiculous but then we hadn’t bargained on Sonia. Appearing from nowhere, this diminutive Liverpudlian took the whole ludicrous story onto another chapter and this one included yet another No 1 single. The story of how she got her big break is well known  – rocking up unannounced at a Radio City show at the Liverpool Hippodrome and insisting that Pete Waterman hear her sing and then being invited onto his radio show and given the chance to perform live. She did though already have an Equity card and had appeared in the sitcom Bread which she informed Waterman of according to Sonia so “he knew I wasn’t messing or a lunatic or anything like that…”. Well, quite.

As was their way, her debut single was written and recorded in a matter of hours and then before we could process who this bouncing, red haired, giggling Scouse lass was, “You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You” was bounding its way up the charts on its way to No 1. More (but less successful) hits followed and Sonia became the first female UK artist to achieve five top 20 hit singles from one album. These were very strange times indeed.

Next up is yet another re-release of an old song that I don’t remember being in back in the charts nor why. I remember the song “Pop Muzik” by M of course as it was played constantly on the radio it seemed when it was originally a No 2 hit back in 1979. I would have been 11 or so and not fully converted to the weekly ritual of TOTP and therefore couldn’t have told you exactly what Mr M (or Robin Scott to give him his real name) looked like before his return to the TOTP studio 10 years on. On reflection, he looked a bit like John Waite  but I’m guessing the “Missing You” singer never performed in a suit made of CDs. It probably seemed very decadent back in ’89 as I’m not sure what CD penetration levels were like in UK households at the time. Seen through 2020 eyes it all looks a bit naff with the then cutting edge format now reduced to an historical artefact almost.

The whole performance is a bit naff actually. Not sure what the deal with the woman in the day-glo pink and yellow swim suit and tutu skirt was all about whilst the giggling backing singers seem to be doing their own thing entirely somewhere left of stage. As for the song itself, I’m not sure that this ’89 remix sounded much different to the original and in any case, the latter was am almost perfectly formed illustration of how pop music could be. I think it still stands up as a marker in the timeline of pop.

“Pop Muzik ’89 Remix” peaked at No 15.

A confusing link from Anthea Turner now as she introduces Guns N’ Roses by saying       “They’ve managed the hat trick. They’ve got two singles in the charts in the same week…”. Eh? A hat trick with two songs? How does that work then? I’m assuming she means that this is the band’s third hit single in a row after “Paradise City” and “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” had both made No 6 but even then, to be strictly accurate, “Patience” was their fifth hit single on the spin if you include “Welcome To The Jungle” and the original release of “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” back in ’88. Or does she mean their third in ’89? Oh FFS Anthea, you could have made your links clearer for the pedantically inflicted amongst us.

As for “Patience” itself, this was quite a departure after the all out ‘rawk ‘n’ roll’ sound of their previous hits. Taken from the mini album “G N’ R Lies”, its acoustic nature showed that the band had a sensitive side (sort of!) as well. I found this all a bit confusing, not just this softer sound but also the band’s release timeline.I’m guessing that the record company wanted to capitalise on their huge profile at the time and were keen to get any product into the market place but I’m not sure I was aware of the “G N’ R Lies” album so wondered where this track had come from. To add to my disorientation, they then went back to the “Appetite For Destruction” album for one final single release (“Night Train”) before the calendar year was up. Two years later they kept up the release schedule shenanigans by putting out two albums on the same day!

Apparently “Patience” is a karaoke favourite but maybe shouldn’t be. Here’s the songfacts.com website:

“Kimberly Starling of The Karaoke Informer says it’s one of the top 5 songs that tends to bomb: “It just eludes the average ear and when you get off key on this one it sounds to the ear like a turd in a punch bowl looks to the eye.”

How do you follow up an unexpected Hi-NRG Euro disco hit? Well if you’re London Boys you just put out the same song out again with a different title and bingo! Seriously though, “London Nights” was just about exactly the same as their first hit “Requiem” wasn’t it? Not content with recreating their formula sound, the duo then rocked up at the TOTP studio and did a near identical performance from the outfits to the dance steps. What a swizz as Smash Hits might have commented. Inevitably the UK record buying public fell for this shit all over again in their droves despite the fact that “Requiem” had only just fallen out of the Top 40 and it did even better than its predecessor by peaking at No 2. For the love of God!

Top 10

10. Donna Allen – “Joy And Pain”

9. D-Mob – “It Is Time To Get Funky”

8. Gladys Knight – “Licence To Kill”

7. Cyndi Lauper – “I Drove All Night”

6. Sinitta – “Right Back Where We Started From”

5. Jason Donovan – “Sealed With A Kiss”

4. U2 – “All I Want”

3. The Beautiful South – “Song For Whoever”

2. Prince – “Batdance”

1. Soul II Soul – “Back To Life”: In a bizarre quirk of fate, the band at No 3 in the charts this week would go on to have female vocalist in their line up with the surname Wheeler just as Soul II Soul owe a massive debt to the uncredited Caron Wheeler on this track. Alison Wheeler joined The Beautiful South in 2003 after the departure of Jacqui Abbott and stayed with them until they disbanded in 2007. She is currently a member of “The South” (formerly “The New Beautiful South”).

Caron Wheeler on the other hand left Soul II Soul in 1990 to pursue a solo career and released her LP “UK Blak” and semi successful single “Livin’ In The Light”  in 1990. However, she returned to the fold in 2007 just as her namesake Alison’s time in The Beautiful South (original version) was coming to an end. None of this is especially interesting but I’m running out of things to write about “Back To Life”!

The play out video is by Monie Love’s teachers otherwise known as Public Enemy with “Fight The Power (Do The Right Thing)”. Have I already used my Flavor Flav story up? Damn I think I have. OK, different tact then…

I was a white UK kid just finishing three years of higher education at the time of its release so I’m not going to try and make out that Public Enemy spoke to or for me at the time but there is no denying the irresistible force that they were and continue to be. “Fight The Power (Do The Right Thing)” was as it sounds from the soundtrack to the film Do The Right Thing and indeed features prominently in the film. Written at the request of director Spike Lee who wanted an anthem to reflect the racial tensions of the time in the US, it is publicly acknowledged by Chuck D as “the most important record that Public Enemy have done”. And you have to say its power is blistering. An incredible song in any age.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Holly Johnson Atomic City No but my wife had his album

2

 Queen Breakthru Nope

3

 Double Trouble and the Rebel MC Just Keep Rockin’ Nah

4

 Donna Allen Joy And Pain No

5

 Monie Love Grandpa’s Party Negative

6

 Waterfront Cry No but I think it was on some Radio 1 Mark Goddier compilation album that I had.

7

 Sonia You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You Of course not

8

 M Pop Muzik I did not

9

 Guns N’ Roses Patience Not the single but I think I’ve got it on CD somewhere

10

 London Boys London Nights Hell no

11

 Soul II Soul Back To Life No but I think my wife had their album

12

 Public Enemy Fight The Power (Do The Right Thing) 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/m000h3d6/top-of-the-pops-29061989

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?

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http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/06/june-28-july-11-1989.html

TOTP 15 JUN 1989

Posted on by 80stastic

The middle of June 1989 saw me cacking my pants about what I was going to do when I finally left the life of a student I’d blissfully been living for the past three years. The end was now very nigh. Someone else possibly cacking his pants was Simon Parkin as he made his TOTP presenting debut alongside Mark Goodier. Simon Parkin….was he one of the ‘broom cupboard’ people on Children’s BBC alongside the likes of Philip Schofield, Andy Crane and Andi Peters? I think he was. The only thing I really remember him for though was being the brunt of a jokey Steve Wright jingle that went “I wanted to be Simon Parkin but I wasn’t Simon Parkin enough” in a deranged mid Atlantic drawl. It wasn’t that funny but then neither is Steve Wright.

Back to the music though and first up are Fuzzbox riding the crest of their own personal wave with “Pink Sunshine”. Lead singer Vix has decided that what she really needs to make a point on tonight’s performance is a massive fucking pin that she’s wields around the stage. You could mistake it for a mike stand at first glance but it definitely has a point to it. Ahem. And….they did release a single called “What’s The Point” earlier in their career….oh this is pointless….

At the end of the song, Goodier says that there is a rumour that there will be a cartoon series based on the band. I have trawled the net but cannot find any reference to this anywhere. It reminded me that there was a story that Haircut 100 were going to have their own Monkees style TV show when they were the latest pop sensation but that never happened either although they did get their own comic strip in Look-In magazine which my younger sister used to buy. Bizarrely though, years later there was a BBC3 show called Fuzzbox which featured a cast of delinquent puppets voiced by real teenagers.

“Pink Sunshine” peaked at No 14.

Quite a moment next as REM make their TOTP debut with their first ever UK Top 40 hit “Orange Crush”. My chart obsessed ways of the early to mid 80s had meant that REM had not been on my radar at all before I came to Polytechnic. However, once there, I was introduced to them by a guy on my course called Roy who I would go onto share a house with when he played me “Fall On Me” from their “Lifes Rich Pageant” album and their 1983 debut single “Radio Free Europe”. By the time “Orange Crush” was out, I was also aware of the trio of intermediate near miss singles – “The One I Love”, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and “Finest Worksong” – all taken from their fifth studio album “Document”.

The release of sixth album “Green” saw the band fulfil their contact with I.R.S. Records and decamp to major label Warner Bros amid accusations of selling out from their fan base. The sales of the album seemed to justify their decision though as it went platinum in the UK easily beating the numbers of previous album “Document”. “Orange Crush” was the only Top 40 hit to be taken from it though in this country. I actually liked follow up single “Stand” better but then I’d  become very familiar with it as my girlfriend (now wife)’s flat mate used to play it very loudly whenever she was annoyed about something.

And what was “Orange Crush” all about?  Well it wasn’t about an orange flavored soft drink as the hapless Simon Parkin would have us believe (“Mmm, great on a summer’s day. That’s Orange Crush.”). No it was about the Agent Orange, a chemical used by the US to defoliate the Vietnamese jungle during the Vietnam War. I had no idea but Roy knew. He always was more of a deep thinker than me.

“Green’ would pave the way for REM to become the biggest band on the planet for a while when 1991 follow up album “Out Of Time” went five times platinum shifting a million and a half copies in the UK alone. “Orange Crush” peaked at No 28.

Parkin’s not having the best of TOTP debuts. At the end of the next song “Joy And Pain” by Donna Allen, he says “great song and a nice hat too… that’s Donna S…Allen!”. Clearly he was going to say Summer but caught himself at the last moment. As for Allen herself, I haven’t got a lot to say about her really. I barely remember the song and it sounds pretty soporific to me. Apparently it was actually a cover of a 1980 track by the confusingly titled soul group Maze. Confusingly? How? Well, they are known as Maze but also Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly and sometimes even Frankie Beverly & Maze. Good job they weren’t on the show. Simon Parkin couldn’t distinguish between Donna Allen and Donna Summer – imagine the mess he would have made of Maze / Frankie Beverly!

Three Breakers this week starting with The Bangles and the follow up to their monster hit “Eternal Flame”. It was always going to be hard to eclipse such a huge smash but “Be With You” made a particularly poor fist of it being a No 23 and No 30 placed song in the UK and US charts respectively. It’s a serviceable mid tempo pop song but for me it doesn’t have any of the stardust of say “Manic Monday” nor the kookiness of “Walk Like An Egyptian”. The middle eight bit sounds a bit like Madonna’s “Dear Jessie” and therefore like it doesn’t really belong in the same song at all.

It was co-written by drummer Debbi Peterson who also takes on the lead vocals, only the second time this ever happened on a single release (the other being their cover of “Going Down To Liverpool” by Katrina and the Waves). “Be With You” was also their last single release of the 80s as the band split soon after before reforming  in 1998.

Hang on. Wasn’t this one out in 1986 or something like that? What was it doing back in the charts in 1989? Well, it’s a pretty simple explanation as “In A Lifetime” by Clannad and Bono had indeed been a hit in early ’86 (I was right!) when it was originally released from the album “Macalla” peaking at No 20. However , it was re-released three years later to promote Clannad’s first Best Of collection called “Pastpresent”. when it made it to a peak three places higher at No 17. Simples.

According to Clannad’s vocalist Maire Brennan, Bono “just walked in the studio and improvised his vocal in two takes, making up a lot of lyrics on the spot. The whole thing took about ten minutes. It was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen in a studio.”

I always quite liked this (although I don’t remember it being a hit all over gain in ’89). When I worked in Our Price a few years later we would have specialist music mornings during weekdays so one day it would be jazz, the next easy listening etc. The times “Pastpresent” would get routinely shoved on when it was folk morning….

Right, what the devil is going on here? Jennifer Rush and Plácido Domingo? Together? On the same record? What the..? Yes, this unlikely duo recorded “Till I Loved You” for a musical about the life of Spanish artist Francisco Goya called Goya: A Life in Song though it was never staged. That probably explains the artist and live model set up for the video concept  I guess. The part where it looks like Plácido appears to be about to get down and dirty with Ms Rush prompts one of the few semi-funny lines Mark Goodier ever made on TOTP when he quips “Well, lucky old Jennifer eh?”.

It turns out that Plácido also recorded this with Dione Warwick and a Spanish-language version with Gloria Estefan – the old dog.

Here comes trouble….Double Trouble and the Rebel MC to be precise with their hit “Just Keep Rockin”.  Actually, apart from that rather lame intro, I haven’t got much else to say about this one. However, check out Mark Goodier’s energetic moves as the camera cuts back to him as the song finishes! Parkin on the other hand looks totally furtive. ‘Should I be dancing? What if I dance and I look like a git?’ you can almost hear him thinking.

“Just Keep Rockin” peaked at No 11.

Parkin then attempts to make himself appear interesting by starting a debate about how to pronounce Cyndi Lauper‘s surname correctly, advising us that it used to be ‘Lawper’ but now it’s ‘Lowper’ (as in ‘Ow! That f*****g hurt!). What?! I don’t recall there being any big debate about this. I mean, it’s hardly up there with the the whole David Bowie argument* of “Boh-wee”(to rhyme with Joey) or “Bow-ee” (to rhyme with Towie) is it? Or is it? I found this on YouTube….

…well now you know. Anyway, Cyndi was up to No 8 in the charts with “I Drove All Night” which would also be her last UK chart hit of the decade. She would return to our Top 10 one final time in 1994 with “Hey Now” which was an alternate version of her debut hit “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”.

*We all know the answer to this one don’t we but if not watch this…

This next performance by Sinitta of “Right Back Where We Started From” is pure pantomime. That ridiculous sombrero style hat and those over eager, cut off denim wearing backing singers doing the Brotherhood Of Man thumbs in the waistline dance…it looked retro even back then in that it seemed more appropriate for the mid 80s era of the show when a party atmosphere was promoted by the TOTP producers.

A Smash Hits interview with Sinitta ran around this time with the headline ‘I’m bigger than Kylie’ and she was right. Sinitta is 5’4” while Kylie is 5’0”.

Top 10

10. Neneh Cherry – “Manchild”

9. Donna Summer – “I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt”

8. Cyndi Lauper – “I Drove All Night”

7. Natalie Cole – “Miss You Like Crazy”

6. Guns N’ Roses – “Sweet Child O’ Mine”

5. Madonna – “Express Yourself”

4. Sinitta – “Right Back Where We Started From”

3. Soull II Soul – “Back To Life”

2. Cliff Richard – “The Best Of Me”

1. Jason Donovan – “Sealed With A Kiss”: A second and final week at the top for Jase. This was peak era Donovan in that I don’t think he was ever bigger in the UK than at this moment….and then he left Neighbours and the spell was broken. Without the daily exposure that the soap brought him it all started to fade. Sure, the hits kept coming for a while (including an unlikely No 1 two years later with “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat) but really his popularity started to drift as the last days of the decade played out. His hits into 1990 were far smaller with his final Top 40 hit limping to No 26 in 1992. But for now…

The play out video is “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty. Almost unbelievably this was Tom’s biggest ever UK hit despite only just piercing the Top 30 at a peak of No 28. Did I find it quite so unbelievable at the time? Probably not as I didn’t actually know that much about Tom Petty. I knew his 1985 single “Don’t Come Around Here No More” from listening to the American chart show on a Saturday afternoon with Paul Gambaccini which I learnt years later after reading his autobiography was co-written by Dave Stewart form Eurythmics. I also knew that he was one of The Travelling Wilburys but of Tom’s 70s career with his band The Heartbreakers I knew virtually nothing though I have since discovered it.

“I Won’t Back Down” was from nominally his first solo album “Full Moon Fever” although many of The Heartbreakers played on it and indeed this track was co-written with fellow Wilbury Jeff Lynne. The song was in the news again in 2015 when it was revealed that a royalties agreement had been reached between Petty and Lynne with the singer Sam Smith over the similarities between “I Won’t Back Down” and Smith’s massive hit “Stay With Me”. Apparently it was all very amicable but you can hear the influence of Petty’s song on Smith’s I think.

The Sam Smith case could easily have been proceeded by a much earlier one in my book…. One of Tom’s best known songs must be his 1976 release “American Girl” (despite only peaking at No 40 in the UK). Years later, one of my musical heroes Pete Wylie recorded a song called “Spare A Thought” which appeared as the B-side of his single “Diamond Girl”. I was struck by the similarities between the two. Have a reminder of Tom’s tune…

…then listen to Pete’s…

What do you think?

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Fuzzbox Pink Sunshine No but I easily could have

2

 REM Orange Crush No but my friend Roy had the “Green” album

3

 Donna Allen Joy And Pain Nope

4

 The Bangles Be With You No but I assume it’s on their Best Of album which I have

5

 Clannad and Bono In A Lifetime No but I think my wife bought it first time around in 1986

6

 Placido Domingo and Jennifer Rush ‘Till I Loved You NO

7

 Double Trouble and the Rebel MC Just Keep Rockin’ Nah

8

 Cyndi Lauper I Drove All Night I did not

9

 Sinitta Right Back Where We Started From Of course not

10

 Jason Donovan Sealed With A Kiss No but my younger sister was obsessed and had his album

11

 Tom Petty I Won’t Back Down No but it’s on his Best Of album which I have

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/m000gx1r/top-of-the-pops-15061989

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?

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http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/06/june-14-27-1989.html

TOTP 08 JUN 1989

Posted on by 80stastic

I am 21 years old! I’m not obviously (I’m a very middle aged 51) but back in 1989 I had just obtained the key of the door when this TOTP aired with my birthday having been two days earlier. Those intervening 30 odd years have taken their toll on my memory banks so I’m not entirely sure now how I celebrated the day although I do have an image in my mind’s eye of my housemate Ian crafting a makeshift canopy out of plastic shopping bags in our student house’s back garden so I think a barbecue was involved. As for the songs that were in the charts around my 21st? Let’s have a look see….

First up tonight are Transvision Vamp with their new single “The Only One”. After really enjoying the brattish, cartoon punk pop of “Baby I Don’t Care”, I found myself being completely underwhelmed by this one. I wasn’t…err… the only one (ahem). Smash Hits magazine’s review of the single said:

“To me, it sounds very much like their last single except that there’s less of a tune”

I knew what the reviewer meant. It was full of bluster and posturing with Wendy James yet again proving herself to be a bit of a ‘growler'(!) when it came to the vocals but it was all very repetitive and just didn’t seem to go anywhere to me. Ah yes, Ms James. Quite what was going on with her delayed entrance in this performance. The rest of the band are frugging away like good ‘uns for a fair few seconds before Wendy walks on stage triumphantly with arms loft. And what had she been doing just before arriving as she’s absolutely glistening from head to toe in sweat?! Had she been for a run? A session down the gym? Or …err…some other strenuous activity? Best not dwell on that any longer.

“The Only One” peaked at No 15.

For all the fuss about “The Best Of Me” being Cliff RIchard‘s 100th single, I don’t recall it at all. All the promotion for it must have passed me by though to be fair I probably wasn’t the target market. This was Sir Cliff’s first single since ’88’s Xmas No 1 “Mistletoe And Wine” and it’s No 2 peak (it went straight in at that position) was probably seen as a decent return for a follow up but I’m guessing I’m not alone in it having passed me by. From the title I assumed it had been released to promote some sort of Greatest Hits album but Wikipedia tells me that wasn’t the case and it was just a track from his latest studio album “Stronger”.

Listening to it now it reminds me of another ballad that was a big hit a couple of years later. Maybe it’s just that it also has a similar title but does it not sound a bit like “Save The Best For Last” by Vanessa Williams? “Best Of Me” was a cover and had originally been written and recorded by someone called David Foster (no idea) while Richard Marx (I do remember him) also had a hand in it. Apparently neither had anything to do with Vanessa’s tune though.

Guns N’ Roses have been promoted from the play out video slot in last week’s TOTP to a place in the main body of the show this time around with their rock classic “Sweet Child O’ Mine“. Presenter Nicky Campbell describes the track as being from their “brand new album” but as that album was actually “Appetite For Destruction”  which had been released on July 21, 1987 I’m not sure that’s the best use of the phrase that there’s ever been. Yes, it had taken UK audiences a while to catch onto the band’s appeal (hence “Sweet Child O’ Mine” having to be released twice for it to become a Top 10 hit over here) but even so.

On October 15, 2019 this became the first music video from the ’80s to reach one billion views on YouTube. The previous year, the band’s “November Rain” promo also became the first ’90s video to reach the one billion mark on that platform.

A first TOTP appearance now from a band who would become a fixture of the UK charts for the next 20 years and indeed so entrenched in the nations’s psyche that its reported that one in seven UK households own a copy of their 1994 Greatest Hits compilation “Carry On Up The Charts”. They are , of course, The Beautiful South who as Campbell rather grandly advises “rose like a phoenix out of the ashes of The Housemartins” after the latter split in 1988. Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway were the members of that band that remained together and alongside Dave Rotheray, Dave Stead and Sean Welch formed a new venture who would specialise in thoughtful, melodic and often bittersweet pop perfection.

Debut single “Song For Whoever” was a calling card for their sound and a sublime statement of their intent. Written from the view point of a cynical songwriter using the names of past conquests to inform his PRS cheque bringing compositions, it was a subversive kick in the eye for the charts stagnating with Aussie soap stars and the already stale sound of house music. I was in from the opening line “I love you from the bottom, of my pencil case”.

This early band line up was yet to feature what would become a succession of female vocalists but the unusual double lead singer structure still made them stand out, as if the music wasn’t enough itself.

“Song For Whoever” peaked at No 2 in the UK charts.

The Breakers are back! Having been missing for the past few shows, those ‘happening’ records are back! Not sure if Vixen really fall into that category though. Described in the music press as ‘the female Bon Jovi”, this glam metal outfit had achieved a minor chart hit in the UK earlier in the year with “Cryin” but they were a bigger deal in the US where there was more of an appetite for their brand of soft rock anthems. “Love Made Me” was the follow up and was more of the same. I’m guessing that their record plugger had to do a lot of pushing to secure the a slot on TOTP given that they were hardly a household name over here. If The Bangles were genetically merged with the Wilson sisters from Heart then Vixen would have been the result of the experiment.

In a curious little TOTP footnote, Richard Marx, responsible for Cliff RIchard’s “Best Of Me” song earlier in the show, also co-wrote one of Vixen’s most well known songs (in the US anyway) “Edge Of A Broken Heart”.

“Love Made Me” peaked at No 36 in the UK.

Donna Allen next with the second of her two hit singles “Joy And Pain”. The chorus to this one sounds familiar but it’s not really my cup of tea at all and Donna’s Wikipedia page doesn’t have much of interest on it at all. So I think I’ll move on….

…oh…hang on….it does say that in 2013 she attempted a career comeback (after having pretty much given up on music by the end of the 90s) by appearing on talent show The Voice. Didn’t the UK version of the show have a similar story of an ex pop star relaunching themselves as well?

*checks Wikipedia*

Yes! That bloke from Liberty X (remember them?). He went on The Voice and won it. Using that springboard, he became the lead singer of Wet Wet Wet replacing Marti Pellow when he left the band. Rather less successfully, Jay Aston of Bucks Fizz also auditioned on the show in the same year. None of the judges turned their chairs round for her. There’s probably a joke to be found in there that ties in with her also less than successful attempt to be an MP when she stood as a Brexit Party candidate in the 2019 General Election (oh the irony of someone who owes their whole career to The Eurovision Song Contest supporting the Brexit Party) but I won’t go there. Or maybe I just did.

Back to Donna Allen though. “Joy And Pain” peaked at No 10 in the UK charts.

The final Breaker is…what? New Model Army? Again? This lot seem to constantly be on the Breakers section. Right, I’m checking their discography to clear this up…

…OK so I was right. “Green And Grey” was the band’s third Top 40 single of the calendar year all from the album “Thunder And Consolation” though none of them made the Top 30. I recognise the title of this one at least. Let’s have a listen to it again…

…no don’t remember this one either. Quite good though. Unlikely as it sounds, as genuine chart stars, they sneaked their way into Smash Hits magazine under an article called ‘Ten Really Interesting Facts About New Model Army’ one of which was ‘They’ve got a great new single in the charts called Green And Grey” and the last one was ‘sounds interesting eh?’. Not what you would call top quality investigative journalism then.

As MC Skat Kat once rapped, ‘It’s my home girl, Paula Abdul‘! Yes, it’s one of the breakout phenomenons of the year back with a follow up to “Straight Up” and it’s the title track from her album “Forever Your Girl”. Whilst its predecessor had been quite an accomplished and well produced dance /pop crossover, this one just sounded like twee nonsense sung in a high pitched caterwaul to me. Paula would admit herself that she wasn’t he strongest vocalist out there but then neither was Madonna to be fair. Even so, this track sounded so inconsequential as to hardly be there at all. The use of young girls in the promo to parody the notorious “Addicted To Love” video seems ill judged at best, especially viewed through 2020 eyes.

Unlike over here where the song only made No 24, our American counterparts were much more enthralled by Ms Abdul and sent this to No 1 (the second of four from her album). I think we got this one right.

Possibly a fact dulled by the passage of time but a reminder here that there was more to D-Mob than just “We Call It Acieed”. The rather belated follow up to that tabloid baiting single was “It Is Time To Get Funky” this time with the London Rhyme Syndicate (LRS) and DC Sarome. Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t be doing with this nonsense. There didn’t seem to be anything original going on here at all. A load of rapping and then a cliched slogan of a chorus. No thanks.

After this No 9 hit, D -Mob or Dancin’ Danny D as he was sometimes known decided to turn his attentions to launching the career of Cathy Dennis who would very briefly become a chart sensation at the start of the next decade before developing into a songwriter for other artists. Her pretty impressive track record includes eight UK number ones including “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” for Kylie Minogue and”I Kissed A Girl” by Katy Perry and five Ivor Novello awards.

A big moment in 1989 next as Soul II Soul go big time. Yes they had already had a Top 5 hit with “Keep On Movin” but if that song lit the the blue touch paper on their career, then “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)” blew the doors off. Not only was it a UK No 1 but it also made No 4 in the US.

The original album version was an a cappella track but the single release which we all know had that crucial shuffling, reggae / hip hop hybrid backing that made it so distinctive. That and of course Caron Wheeler’s vocals.

The video, though essentially just a basic performance promo also became iconic. There was something about that jungle setting (actually Epping Forest) and the carefree dancing that just worked.

Mention should also go to Claudia Fontaine (prominent in the video) who was Wheeler’s band mate in Afrodiziak who provided backing vocals for many an act throughout the 80s including The Jam, Elvis Costello, Special AKA , Heaven 17 and Howard Jones. Claudia sadly passed away in 2018 aged just 57.

 

Top 10

10. Donna Summer – “I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt”

9. Neneh Cherry – “Manchild”

8. Guns N’ Roses – “Sweet Child O’ Mine”

7. Lynne Hamilton – “On The Inside”

6. Sinitta – “Right Back Where We Started From”

5. Madonna – “Express Yourself”

4. Natalie Cole – “Miss You Like Crazy”

3. The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney and Gerry Marsden – “Ferry Cross The Mersey”

2. Cliff Richard – “The Best Of Me”

1. Jason Donovan – “Sealed With A Kiss” : Scream! It’s Jason! And the TOTP studio audience certainly do as the nation’s favourite heart throb goes straight in at No 1 with his version of the Brian Hyland hit. You can actually hear some young girl sighing ‘Jason’ in the instrumental break.

I guess it was a clever move on behalf of Stock, Aitken and Waterman to get him to release a cover of a big slushy ballad at this point in his career, capitalising on his teen audience following who could buy the single and listen to it in their bedroom fantasising that it was all about them and Jason. The valedictory blown kiss in his performance here couldn’t have been better scripted. For those of us who weren’t obsessed school girls, it was all a bit toe curlingly awful. There are still two more hits to come from the Aussie boy wonder before 1989 is through. For the love of God….

The play out video is “Cruel Summer ’89” by Bananarama. This was the trio’s last UK release and hit of the entire decade and it’s a strange one for sure. I remember it being out again around this time and certainly remember it being a Top 10 hit on its original release back in ’83 but I cannot recall nor find anywhere on the internet quite why the song was re-released in ’89. Was it featured in a film or advert? Maybe they just wanted to maintain their profile while they were busy doing a world tour. It was a stand alone single and the only album it is on is 2005’s “Really Saying Something: The Platinum Collection” so that supports the theory.

I say the song was  ‘re-released’ but its actually a new version of the song with newbie Jacqui O’Sullivan ‘s vocals replacing Siobhan Fahey. More than that though, it’s got some horrible, clunky production all over it which references to it on the web are calling a New Jack Swing version. I thought New Jack Swing was an early ’90s thing no?

Anyway, the video for it is a compilation of previous promo clips as the girls were too busy with their aforementioned world tour to shoot a specific one themselves. Supposedly Siobhan Fahey is included on the video (albeit just a couple of frames worth) but I’ve sat through it and can’t spot her.

“Cruel Summer ’89” peaked at No 19 whilst the original ’83 release was a No 8 hit.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Transvision Vamp The Only One Not the single but I have it on their Best Of Collection CD

2

 Cliff Richard The Best Of Me Hell no!

3

 Guns N’ Roses Sweet Child O’ Mine No but I have the album somewhere I think

4

 Beautiful South Song For Whoever No but I had the album it was from

5

 Vixen Love Made Me It may have but it didn’t make me buy this

6

 Donna Allen Joy And Pain Nope

7

 New Model Army Green And Grey No

8

 Paula Abdul Forever Your Girl Another no

9

 D-Mob It Is Time To Get Funky Nah

10

 Soul II Soul Back To Life No but I think my wife had their album

11

 Jason Donovan Sealed With A Kiss No but my younger sister was obsessed and had his album

12

 Bananarama Cruel Summer ‘89 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/m000gp1h/top-of-the-pops-08061989

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?

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http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/05/may-31-june-13-1989.html

 

 

TOTP 21 MAY 1987

Posted on by 80stastic

Due to my ever growing back log of shows to post about, TOTP Rewind is still in May ’87 whilst the BBC4 repeats schedule has already done with June. The day before this broadcast, I’d watched the second leg of the UEFA Cup final between IFK Gothenburg and plucky Dundee United who were appearing in their first and so far only European final. I watched it with Bev, my Spurs and Glenn Hoddle loving Poly friend. Bev was very prone to crying at pretty much anything so after her tears over Spurs losing the FA Cup final the week before, there were more when Dundee United lost this final 2-1. A year later she would be weeping inconsolably when the UK came second in the Eurovision song contest after a dramatic final vote …but that’s a tale for another day.

Tonight’s presenters are Simon Bates who as has come dressed in his usual embarrassing uncle togs and Peter Powell who has come dressed as Simon Bates. The first act tonight are Marillion who we didn’t see at all in ’86 but are back with a new single “Incommunicado” which is the lead track for their fourth album “Clutching At Straws”. It’s very 70s prog rock sounding to my ears and pretty much completely out of step with everything else filling the charts at this time. The band must have had a very strong fan base to have sent it straight into the charts at No 6. I never noticed the lyric “currently residing in the where are they now file” before which is an homage to the wonderful film This Is Spinal Tap which I could watch over and over again and frequently do.

Back to Marillion and some more of those lyrics…

“Or currently residing in the where are they now file
A toupee on the cabaret scene
I want to do adverts for American Express cards
Talk shows on prime time TV”

“A toupee on the cabaret scene“? An interesting line given the state of Fish’s hair by this point. He’s still displaying an admirable commitment to long hair despite developing male pattern baldness. As is the keyboard player but then Marillion were never about looks and all about the music.

“Incommunicado” wasn’t really my cup of tea but it was at least an engaging distraction from the rest of the Top 40.

A debut TOTP performance for Wet Wet Wet next. “Wishing I was Lucky” has taken off and the boys are making the most of their chance in the spotlight. Unlike contemporaries Johnny Hates Jazz who approached their debut TOTP as if it was a job interview  – all suits and nervous smiles – the Wets are totally casual. It’s leather jackets and jeans for them apart from Marti Pellow who has gone for a Shakyesque double denim look. Ah yes, Mr Pellow. He flashed that grin and a nation swooned. He has got some curious stage moves though. One moment he’s bobbing around like a a jack in the box, the next he looks like he’s on strings and his movements are totally at the whim of his puppet master. Most of all though he looks to me as if he is playing Dick Whittington in panto and is on his way to London.

Here’s Cameo again with “Back And Forth”, this time in person in the studio, which can only mean one thing…the return of the Larry Blackmon’s red codpiece! If you can manage to avert your eyes from his crotch, the visual look of the whole band is quite arresting. Aside for the clothes and the hairstyles, their stage movements are fascinating. I can’t recall another act ducking out of the way of a gun shot effect on the record.

Blackmon is often credited as the origin of the Hi-top fade haircut to the extent that a song by hip hop act The Ultramagnetic MCs features the lyric:

“cause I’m a real pro, with a cameo, and not an afro”.

Some Breakers for you…when I saw the title of this next song introduced, my first thought was that it was that one that goes “Let’s get serious, let’s get serious let’s get serious and fall in love” but it turns out that was by Jermaine Jackson. This “Serious” song is by Donna Allen and eventually it did start to sound familiar but it was nothing to do with Donna. No, here’s why it rang a bell..

Yes, mid 90s dance act Strike sampled Donna’s hit for their tacky single “U Sure Do” which went all the way to No 4 which was four places higher than the original. Don’t get me started on nasty 90s dance anthems though….

After the non event that was the UK’s entrant in Eurovision ’87 (some bloke called Rikki if you had forgotten), here comes the winning song by Mr Eurovision himself Johnny Logan. You can understand why “Hold Me Now” won. A fairly simple sentimental pop ballad but crucially not too sentimental or mawkish. A clean production to go along side a very clean cut looking singer and one with a history of winning the competition previously to boot (“What’s Another Year” in ’80), how could it fail? Well it couldn’t. Not only did it win the contest but “Hold Me Now” became a hit all over Europe including a No 2 placing here in the UK.

I thought it was a pleasant pop ditty thought obviously not one I would ever buy. Johnny followed up “Hold Me Now” with a version of 10cc’s “”I’m Not In Love” but the least said about that the better.

A genuine music legend up next but why is he back in the charts with a live version of a song from 1975? Well, Bruce Springsteen had just released his much anticipated  “Live 1975-85” five LP box set and “Born To Run” had been shoved out to promote it. Not that it needed much promotion. With advance orders of more than 1.5 million copies, it went straight in at No 1 on the Billboard album chart, the first time that had happened it ten years.

I knew at least two people from Poly that bought the box set straight away partly because they were big Bruce fans but also partly as an investment hoping it would prove to be very collectible and therefore also very valuable in years to come.  A quick check of Amazon  reveals that you can pick up the vinyl version for £45.99 currently so enough for a good night out but not enough to retire on. Sorry guys.

“Born To Run” – the live version – reached No 16 on the UK charts but curiously wasn’t released in the US.

“What can you say about that?” wonders Simon Bates at the end of the next song which is “Hot Shot Tottenham” by Chas & Dave and the Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup Final Squad. Well, given that the final was played five days previous to this broadcast and that Spurs lost that final, you could ask yourself why the song is still in the charts and why TOTP are showing it. Bit embarrassing for everyone concerned surely? The other thing you could say is “Where the Spurs is Chris Waddle in this performance?”. He was on the show doing “Diamond Lights” with Glenn Hoddle the other week but it looks like he’s either :

  1. Had his head turned by the idea of being a pop star in his own right and thinks Cup final songs are beneath him
  2. Been so scarred by the whole “Diamond Lights’ fiasco that he doesn’t want anything to do with TOTP and the charts ever again.

I’m guessing it was No 2.

An iconic TOTP performance next. Whitney Houston was already a mega star both sides of the pond before “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” landed but this song took her success and popularity to anther level. The first single from her second album “Whitney”, it went to No 1 around the world and remained her biggest hit until “I Will Always Love You” five years later. Written by the people who penned “How WIll I Know” for her, it is essentially the same song and indeed was labelled ‘How Will I Know II’ by Rolling Stone magazine. However it does have an irrepressible zest about it and must have been played at every wedding disco I have ever attended.

My aforementioned friend Bev loved this song and would request it at every nightclub she was ever in regardless of whether it was a rock club, goth night or indeed if it had only just been played two songs previously.

Back to Whitney though and her being in the actual TOTP studio must have been a big coup for the BBC. Supposedly singing live according to Simon Bates, she’s just up there completely on her own, no backing band nor singers / dancers, and she is totally captivating. She will be at No 1 soon enough….

The Top 10 was as follows…

10. Whitney Houston – “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”

9. Fleetwood Mac – “Big Love”

8. Kim Widle / Junior – “Another Step”

7. Living In A Box – “Living In A Box”

6. Marillion – “Incommunicado”

5. Johnny Hates Jazz – “Shattered Dreams”

4. Labbi Siffre – “(Something Inside) So Strong”

3. Judy Boucher – “Can’t Be With You Tonight”

2. Tom Jones – “A Boy From Nowhere”

1. Starship – “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”: Still there for a third week running. The female vocalist is of course Grace Slick but who’s the guy singing here? Well, his name is Mickey Thomas. No, not the ex-footballer who was a cult hero at my beloved Chelsea in the mid-80s. Starship’s Mickey Thomas had been with the band since the start of the decade when they were still known as Jefferson Starship. One legal settlement later combined with the departure of Slick in 1988 mean that Thomas was now leader of the band and renamed them as ‘Starship featuring Mickey Thomas’ from the early 90s onwards. You’d never get that in football would you? A team being renamed after the most well known player. Even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, for all their record breaking stats, have never managed that.

From one band with a history dating back to the 60s and a plethora of line up changes that makes The Sugababes look positively stable to another. The play out song is “Big Love” by Fleetwood Mac. Very much a Lindsey Buckingham production, he wrote this originally for a solo project that didn’t come to anything so it got included on the “Tango In The Night” album when he rejoined the group. The ‘uh-ah’ sounds on the record are actually Buckingham’s put through an oscillator and not Stevie Nicks’ as widely believed. He describes them as ‘love grunts’. What a lovely turn of phrase.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Marillion Incommunicado Nah

2

 Wet Wet Wet Wishing I Was Lucky No but my wife had the album

3

 Cameo Back And Forth Intrigued? Yes. Enough to buy it? No

4

 Donna Allen Serious Nope

5

 Johnny Logan Hold Me Now And another no

6

 Bruce Springsteen Born To Run Negative

7

 Chas and Dave with the Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup squad Hot Shot Tottenham Wash your mouth out!

8

 Whitney Houston I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) Not for me

9

 Starship Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now No

10

 Fleetwood Mac Big Love No but again I think my wife had the album

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/m0002tc1/top-of-the-pops-21051987

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?

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http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2017/05/may-20-june-2-1987.html