Double Trouble and the Rebel MC

TOTP 26 OCT 1989

Posted on June 24, 2020 by 80stastic

We arrive at the fag end of October 1989. If I am remembering correctly, my temporary job as an insurance clerk came to an end the day after this TOTP aired and I was once more returned to the ranks of the unemployed. Once again I would be directionless and skint. It wasn’t the best of times. Hope there were some decent tunes to send me off to work on my last day….

….well, I didn’t mind “Street Tuff” by Double Trouble And The Rebel MC to be fair. In many ways it was a surprise hit given the state of the charts at this time. With its reggae rhythms and house beats hybrid attached to those catchy as hell toasted lyrics that burnt their way into your brain, it seemed to be massively at odds with its chart peers.

Rebel MC was actually one Michael West who would go onto be a big name in jungle music in the 90s (under the new pseudonym of Natty Dread) and is actually often referred to as the guy who coined the phrase ‘jungle music’ after adopting the chant ‘all the junglists’ from a Jamaican sound system tape. Ah right; so is that the source of the ‘jungle ist massive’ slogan that seemed to be adopted as a brand when the genre went mainstream and the majors got hold of it? Well, if you google it, “Jungle Is Massive” is a song by ragga deejay General Levy so maybe it was a combination of the two?

West himself (now known as Mikail Tafari after converting to Rastafarianism in the mid 90s) says of jungle music in a 2013 Guardian interview that “It was about breakbeat, reggae, rap and soul all coming into one” and expanded further to say that “Black and white, they should be taken out of the dictionary, in regards to people”. Wise words that have never been more important than in today’s current climate of racism.

As for me, as a dyed in the wool pop kid, jungle wasn’t something that I understood at all so in an effort to improve my appreciaton of it, I went to a jungle night the Hacienda hosted by drum and bass legend LTJ Bukem with some of my Our Price colleagues and had a great time. It all made so much more sense in a nightclub environment than being blasted out of the shop speakers on a cold, wet Tuesday afternoon to a handful of shoppers in Stockport’s Merseyway centre.

“Street Tuff” peaked at No 3.

From an exciting new sound to some total pish by hoary old rockers Queen. OK, a little harsh maybe but “Scandal” really is sub standard. Nothing dynamic or interesting going on here at all. I’m surprised it even got a run out on the show seeing as it had climbed just one place on the chart that week to a peak of No 25.

The video is so laboured as well. Yes we get the paparazzi theme guys! Even the song’s writer Brian May wasn’t sure about it. In 2003 he said this:

“I don’t think it’s totally successful, this video, as a portrayal of what’s in the song. It’s a kind of brave attempt, but it’s a little cold, and you don’t really see the band interacting as a band. It’s a bit stagey. But at least it makes you think of what the song’s really about.”

Hardly a ringing endorsement. I think Roger Taylor sums it up best by saying:

“I think we were going through the motions here.”

Agreed Roger, agreed.

Any chance of finally getting through one of these shows without one of the presenters cocking up somewhere along the line? Bruno Brookes is this week’s guilty party when he refers to Belinda Carlisle’s latest hit single as ‘Turn a light on’ and not just once but twice. Leave A Light On! It’s “Leave A Light On” you dumbo! Sheesh!

Whilst researching this post, I found out that there is another song called “Leave A Light On” which was released by somebody called Tom Walker in 2007. 2007! Blimey, that’s very nearly contemporary in my book! My wife’s always telling me to get out of the 80s and listen to something new so forgive me while I do so….

…hmm…yeah it’s OK. I wouldn’t go overboard about it though. According to Wikipedia, Tom was born in Kilsyth in Scotland but moved to Knutsford in Cheshire aged three. My mate Robin also moved to Knutsford aged 53 and he can’t stand the place. What has any of this got to do with Belinda Carlisle? Err nothing really. Oh, hang on my mate Robin is from Cumbria originally and supports Carlisle United! There you go! I wonder if Belinda has ever been to Carlisle herself?

*checks internet*

It’s a no. Nor Knutsford. I’ll stop now. “Leave A Light On” was at it’s No 4 peak.

Yet another song that we have already seen before in these TOTP repeats. This time it’s Chris Rea with “Road To Hell (Part 2)”. As with his previous outing, Chris is in the studio but unlike his original appearance, bits of the video for the single have been woven into his performance. Why was this done? It couldn’t be that Chris isn’t actually that riveting a watch just stood there on his guitar with his lockdown hair (31 years before lockdown hair was a thing) could it? Yes, I think it could be.

To improve the knowledge of their readership, Smash Hits magazine ran an article that was a guide to the difference between Chris Rea and Chris De Burgh who were obviously lumped together on the basis that they were both old fogeys so what were they doing in the pop charts. In a 1988 interview with Q Magazine whilst on tour in Germany, Rea was asked why he spoke no German to the audience, even though he’s spent so much time out here. He replied:

“You know, you start the tour, you try to be nice to the Dutch, then the Belgians, then it’s the French. In the end you just think, ah, fuck it. I understand Chris de Burgh speaks very good German. Chris De Burgh. Annoying little bastard…”.

The interview went onto say that comparisons to Chris de Burgh baffled and appalled Rea as he regarded the Irish troubador with the scorn accorded to a teacher’s pet. Well, there you have it. The difference between the two was that one one was a gruff, belligerent man from Middlesborough and the other was an annoying little bastard.

“Road To Hell (Part 2)” peaked at No 10 thereby becoming his biggest hit single ever.

Finally a brand new track! Well, brand new in 1989 obviously. Today it is a probably Lisa Stansfield‘s best known song. “All Around The World” would of course go on to be a No 1 record and it didn’t really come as much of a surprise I have to say. The momentum behind Lisa’s career had been building all year since her collaboration with Coldcut on “People Hold On”. Once she broke out in her own right on “This Is The Right Time” the writing was on the wall. Neither of these singles had been Top 10 hits but there was something about her down to earthiness allied with her star quality that made massive commercial success seem inevitable (to me anyway).

Having said all of that, I wasn’t much of a fan of “All Around The World” with its homage to Barry White and nonsensical lyrics (“Been around the world and I, I, I, I can’t find my baby”) but you know, given the choice of this or Sonia or (heaven forbid) Jive Bunny at No 1, I’m Team Lisa every time.

Well, that’s the one and only new track on tonight’s show over with so it’s back to the more familiar hits beginning with “Room In Your Heart” by Living In A Box. A change of tactics from the Sheffield band for this appearance as lead singer Richard Darbyshire elects to be standing for the duration of the song after spending the whole of his last visit to the TOTP studio sat on a stool. Do you think they watched it back X Factor style and analysed what went wrong and what could be improved for the next time?

You know, I don’t mind “Room In Your Heart” at all. The word I would use is accomplished. Yes, a very accomplished ballad. After the band split, Darbyshire pursued a solo career which never quite came off. An album called “How Many Angels” was eventually released in 1994 but didn’t pull up any trees and of his four listed solo singles, the highest charting peaked at No 50. Was one of them used on that coffee advert? You know, the one with the annoying ‘will they won’t they?’ couple (the bloke was in Buffy The Vampire Slayer)? Or am I making that up?

Anyway, in later years Darbyshire became an in demand songwriter penning songs for artists including The Temptations, Level 42 and the preceding act on tonight’s show Lisa Stansfield.

De La Soul are back now with another showing of the video for “Eye Know”. Neither this track nor its follow up “The Magic Number” were released as singles in the US which, seeing as they were No 14 and No 7 hits over here, seems curious to say the least.

Both the song and the video make heavy references to the D.A.I.S.Y. Age (‘da inner sound, y’all’) as does the cover of parent album “3 Feet High And Rising” which features fluorescent flowers in its design. By the time of second album “De La Soul Is Dead” in 1991, the trio had rejected the D.A.I.S.Y. Age concept and produced a more mature body of work with the artwork of a broken flower pot and wilted contents hammering the message home.

I loved their performance at Glastonbury in 2014 where they refused to carry on with their set unless everyone present raised their hands in celebration including the stage security team. One lone member of security (242) refused to join in…

From “Eye Know” to “I Thank You” now as we see Adeva back in the TOTP studio once more. It wasn’t really my thing at all but you can’t deny Adeva’s powerful voice or those pumpin’ basslines. Apparently the track was re-released seven years later as the entirely unoriginal “I Thank You ’96” as part of an “Ultimate Adeva” compilation album . I don’t remember that at all but then it did only make No 37 on the chart.

Top 10

10. Sydney Youngblood – “If Only I Could”

9. Billy Joel – “We Didn’t Start The Fire”

8. Technotronic – “Pump Up The Jam”

7. Living In A Box – “Room In Your Heart”

6. Cher – “If I Could Turn Back Time”

5. Black Box – “Ride On Time”

4. Belinda Carlisle – “Leave A Light On”

3. Double Trouble And The Rebel MC – “Street Tuff”

2. Milli Vanilli – “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You”

1. Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers – “That’s What I Like”: I looked up the Jive Bunny CD on Amazon* to check out the customer reviews on it to try and understand what the appeal of this phenomenon was. I was amazed to find that of 186 ratings, 82% of them were 5 star! Most of the comments seem to suggest that it was a great party CD – if you were at a party and this came on, what would be your reaction?!

* Shit! I’ll get loads of recommendations based around Jive Bunny now won’t I?!

The play out video is those Milli Vanilli boys again with “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You”. What a truly awful song this was. Best thing they could have done would have been to somehow get away with not playing it at all.

Nigel Lawson: Hold My Beer…

The original broadcast of this edition of #TOTP was faded out immediately after Jive Bunny, as BBC One cut to a newsflash announcing the resignation of Nigel Lawson as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) June 19, 2020

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Double Trouble and the Rebel MC	Street Tuff	Nah
2	Queen	Scandal	No it was rubbish
3	Belinda Carlisle	Leave A Light On	Another no
4	Chris Rea	Road To Hell (Part 2)	I did not
5	Lisa Stansfield	All Around The World	Nope
6	Living In A Box	Room In Your Heart	Negative
7	De La Soul	Eye Know	No but my much hipper wife had the album 3 Feet High And Rising
8	Adeva	I Thank You	It’s a no
9	Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers	That’s What I Like	But not what I do – massive NO
10	Milli Vanilli	Girl I’m Gonna Miss You	Huge no

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.

Whole Show

Since we’ve all been on lockdown, there are people out there with time on their hands some of whom have recorded the whole TOTP show from the BBC4 repeat and made it available on YouTube. So if you did want to watch the whole thing over…

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/10/october-18-31-1989.html

TOTP 05 OCT 1989

Posted on June 12, 2020 by 80stastic

80s slang vocabulary could be really cringeworthy at times. I’m sure we all have our own personal recollections of phrases or words that we used to say. I certainly said things like skill and ace and of course there was the never to be forgotten phrase chinny reck-ON (usually accompanied with a gesture of beard stroking). Indeed, I’m pretty sure one of tonight’s TOTP presenters Steve Wright was guilty of saying stuff like wacky and zany. However, I never described anything as wicked like tonight’s other co-host Jakki Brambles does.”We are talking a wicked tune” she says as she introduces Double Trouble and the Rebel MC performing “Street Tuff” and there is not a trace of tongue in cheek about her delivery. She means what she says!

So was “Street Tuff” what passed for ‘wicked’ in 1989? Well, it was certainly catchy with its relentless reggae / house hybrid groove which was basically “54-46 That’s My Number” by Toots and the Maytals at high speed. The call and response type chanting that runs throughout it and Rebel MC’s quirky yet quotable lyrics like ‘Rough like a ninja, stinging like a bee’ and ‘Is he a Yankee? No, I’m a Londoner’ all bring the mix to the boil.

Aided by extensive airplay on the likes of Simon Mayo’s Radio 1 Breakfast Show (Mayo loved this record!), “Street Tuff” went all the way to No 3.

And now. One of the most talked about videos of the year….it’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” by Cher. This was only Cher’s third chart hit in the UK of the entire decade but a sizeable one peaking at No 6. The lead single from her “Heart Of Stone” album, it was written by hitmaker extraordinaire Diane Warren who had composed “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” for Starship two years earlier.

It was definitely of that soft rock genre complete with chugging guitars and simple melody but nobody cared about that. No, we were all mesmerised by the video or rather what Cher was wearing in the video which seemed to be not much at all. The promo was recorded aboard the USS Missouri with permission for shooting given due to its potential for boosting Navy recruitment. However, the delivered cut of the video was not what had been expected by the Navy who received criticism for allowing the shoot especially from World War II veterans who took umbrage that such a historically significant site should be disrespected – the USS Missouri was the site of the Empire of Japan’s surrender in 1945 thus ending World War II.

Amid the furore, a second video was produced which was heavily edited to remove footage of Cher’s buttock flashing fishnet body stocking outfit which seems to be the version TOTP showed. Shockingly, Cher’s son (who was 12 at the time) appears in the video. The cost of the therapy he must have been through to obliterate the scars of seeing his mother dressed so!

And yet, more shocking than any of the above is the revelation that I think I bought this single! What mental stress must I have been under to resort to such an action? I could have simply omitted this heinous detail from the blog but I am nothing if not honest. Please do not judge me.

Hey, how you’re doin’? Yes, years before Joey from Friends made the phrase famous, Curiosity Killed The Cat pioneered it with their No 14 hit single “Name And Number“. One of the stories of 1987, Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot and chums had been absent from the pop world for two years but some things hadn’t changed when they finally returned. For a start, Ben was still hiding his rumoured male pattern baldness under some trademark head gear and he was also still doing that bendy dancing that he had become known for.

There were some new developments though – they had employed a female vocalist to beef up their sound for this performance and bass player Nick Thorp had grown his hair long ( I was still following such trends even so late in the decade).

Sadly for the band, “Name And Number” proved to be their last hit of the 80s as follow up single “First Place” only made No 86 on the charts. Three years later a truncated version of the group – they had lost Thorp from the line up and reduced their moniker to just Curiosity – somehow recorded their joint biggest ever hit when their version of Johnny Bristol’s “Hang On in There Baby” made No 3.

Billy Joel now with his world history list song “We Didn’t Start The Fire”. The video attempts to show the passage of time in parallel with the song’s chronological list of events and personalities by depicting a young couple getting married, having children, grandchildren etc. All of this is set against a backdrop of the family home which shows the passing fashions of the decades via its decoration. Throughout the video, Billy sits there amongst the protagonists unchanging and unseen. It’s a bit creepy and totally unrealistic – he doesn’t even begin to lose any of his now long gone hair!

The song’s legacy has been its universality for being parodied and appropriated for use in many popular culture settings and TV shows including The Simpsons and Parks And Recreation. I think Family Guy is my favourite though…..

Now I knew that Sonia had more hits than just her debut No 1 “You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You” but I would have been hard pressed to name any of them. It turns out that “Can’t Forget You” (oh the irony) was her follow up single but it only rose as high as No 17 in the UK singles chart. Presumably that was seen as a failure compared to its predecessor by her record label but let’s be fair, given the song’s lack of quality, it was hardly a surprise.

For some reason, Sonia is given the Yazz treatment here where she is allowed her own little spotlight when being introduced much like “The Only Way Is Up” hit maker seemed to be granted the previous year.

Although her No 1 can never be taken away from her (as much as some of us would like to), Sonia’s chart career isn’t that impressive. Yes there are eleven Top 40 singles over the course of four years but only twice did she return to the Top 10 after “You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You” (and then only just – both were No 10 hits). To be honest , she always seemed more like a light entertainment star than a pop star to me but maybe I’m being unfair.

Some Breakers next and we start with Living In A Box who have finally released a track that doesn’t sound exactly the same as all their other songs. “Room In Your Heart” was their big ballad moment and when I say ‘big’, I mean f*****g enormous! Its everything but the kitchen sink production allied to Richard Darbyshire’s almost operatic warbling made for a huge sound. There’s even a choir and a wailing guitar solo chucked in for good measure with a final note fade out which goes on and on and on.

Peaking at No 5, it became their joint biggest hit alongside their titular anthem “Living In A Box”.

The return of Belinda Carlisle next. After her massive global success with her “Heaven On Earth” album nearly two years prior, producing an equally commercially well received follow up was probably not a foregone conclusion for Belinda given that her solo career had started slowly rather than spectacularly (certainly in the UK) back in 1986.

“Leave A Light On” was the first single from that follow up album entitled “Runaway Horses” and was a solid Top 10 hit around Europe (No 4 in the UK). Featuring George Harrison on slide guitar (maybe the record label thought some stellar collaborations on the album might improve its chances), it didn’t deviate too much from the “Heaven On Earth” formula.

Whilst not as successful as its predecessor, “Runaway Horses” was still a sizeable hit going platinum in the UK and spawning six singles. However, apart from “Leave A Light On” and bizarrely the final single to be lifted from it (the No 6 hit “(We Want) The Same Thing”) the other singles were relatively small hits with none of them making the Top 20.

When I first started working at Our Price in Manchester just over a year later, there was a huge poster of the album sleeve on the wall of the kitchen area. Some wag had drawn a thought bubble on it coming from Belinda’s head with the words ‘Hmm…did I leave a light on?’ scrawled in it. The wet behind the ears new recruit that I was found it highly amusing.

Ah Milli Vanilli – what’s not to like? Well, pretty much everything I guess seeing as they were a sham and didn’t sing on any of their records which were all pretty cruddy in the first place. “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” was a US No 1 song (their third on the trot over there) but we hadn’t seen much of them since “Girl You Know It’s True” twelve months prior. What was it with them and songs that began with the word ‘girl’? This one was a monumental dirge to my ears and I could not fathom how it managed to make it to No 2 in our charts.

The whole lip synching debacle hadn’t really surfaced by this point but by the end of the year rumours were circulating and the storm was well and truly brewing.

Possibly one of their least remembered hits, “Chocolate Box” was the second Craig-less hit for the now duo Bros. I certainly couldn’t have told you how it went before re-hearing it on this TOTP repeat.

In their documentary When The Screaming Stops, there’s a clip where Matt and Luke are discussing the set list for their upcoming reunion gig with their manager. “Chocolate Box” is mentioned as being out of the set list as things stood at which point Luke says that he never liked it anyway. Matt responds that a lot of the fans do love it though and that it is one of their favourite Bros songs.

“Chocolate Box” was permanently dropped from the set list and not performed at the gig which I think says it all about the song’s quality and legacy. It peaked at No 9 in the UK, their worst chart position since they became huge stars nearly two years prior.

Top 10

10. Madonna – “Cherish”

9. Bros – “Chocolate Box”

8. The Beautiful South – “You Keep It All In”

7. Tina Turner – “The Best”

6. Wet Wet Wet – “Sweet Surrender”

5. Richard Marx – “Right Here Waiting”

4. Erasure – “Drama!”

3. Sydney Youngblood – “If Only I Could”

2. Technotronic – “Pump Up The Jam”

1. Black Box – “Ride On Time”: Week number 5 at the pinnacle of the charts so what else is there left to say about it? OK – how about this…apparently the DJ guys in Black Box were asked to produce an album for Duran Duran but they declined as Le Bon and co had been the biggest band of the decade whilst they had only just learned to use a sampler so they didn’t think they were worthy of being asked!

Just before we play out with S’Express and “Mantra For A State Of Mind”, mention must be made of Steve Wright before we go. Not just because this was his 56th and final TOTP appearance (and thank f**k for that I say) but also to stare in horror at the ponytail that he had adopted for the occasion. At the show’s end, I was struggling to see what that was that he was twirling around in his hand. Was it a glove? When I looked closer it was the bloody ponytail. It had been a fake all along. What a laugh he was right to the end! OK Steve, thanks for all the memories. Now, f**k off over there and when you get there f**k off some more.

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Double Trouble and the Rebel MC	Street Tuff	Nah
2	Cher	If I Could Turn Back Time	Oh Christ I did! If only I could turn back time….
3	Curiosity Killed The Cat	Name And Number	Nope
4	Billy Joel	We Didn’t Start The Fire	No but I bought another single from his album Stormfront which had it as an additional track
5	Sonia	Can’t Forget You	I can and I did – no
6	Living In A Box	Room In Your Heart	Negative
7	Belinda Carlisle	Leave A Light On	Another no
8	Milli Vanilli	Girl I’m Gonna Miss You	Huge no
9	Bros	Chocolate Box	And no
10	Black Box	Ride On Time	I didn’t
11	S’Express	Mantra For A State Of Mind	One last no

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.

Whole Show

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/10/october-4-17-1989.html

TOTP 29 JUN 1989

Posted on April 15, 2020 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…

Double Trouble's Leigh Guest (on the left) previously worked as a children's magic entertainer. Yeah, he looks the type. #TOTP

— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) April 10, 2020

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?

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

TOTP 15 JUN 1989

Posted on April 9, 2020 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

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?

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

TOTP 01 JUN 1989

Posted on April 3, 2020 by 80stastic

June 1989 is amongst us here at TOTP Rewind. By this point I was switching on a daily basis between soiling my pants at the thought of having to leave my student bubble and go out into the real world and become a fully functioning adult and…well… getting pissed most probably. What songs were in the charts during this decidedly odd period of my life I wonder?

Well, Sinitta is still holding on grimly to her time as a genuine pop star, a career that she fashioned from out of pretty much nothing in the second part of the decade. As the 80s finishing line comes into view, she has given her faltering status a shot in the arm of pure chart elixir by doing what any failing pop star always does by releasing a cover version. “Right Back Where We Started From” was originally a hit for Maxine Nightingale some 14 years earlier peaking at No 8. Sinitta managed to top that chart placing by taking her version all the way to No 4 – I had no idea she’d had such a big hit with it.

Clearly thinking she was on to something (“Right Back Where We Started From” was the joint second biggest hit of her career after “So Macho”), she released a further two cover versions from her album “Wicked” in “Love On A Mountain Top” by Robert Knight and Vanity Fare’s “Hitchin’ A Ride” but neither got anywhere near the Top 10. Sinitta’s time as a pop star was coming to an end and “Right Back Where We Started From” was not only a temporary reprieve but its title was also a portent of where she would find herself as the new decade dawned.

Yet another run out for the video to “Miss You Like Crazy” by Natalie Cole now. I think the reason that this song was such a big hit is that the songwriters and the producer absolutely nailed the timings of the key changes to produce the optimum emotional response whilst remaining just the right side of being overwrought.

Apparently there is a Filipino film of the same name which unsurprisingly is a romance and which features not one but two cover versions of “Miss You Like Crazy”. One of them is a pretty faithful run through of the original whilst this one by Aiza Seguerra at least has some nice strings on it…

Fresh from the controversy of the video for her “Like A Prayer” single, Madonna follows it up with “Express Yourself”. Very much an anthem to female empowerment, a lot was made of this song at the time in terms of its message and its Metropolis themed video and that would have been just what the record company wanted given that it had a total budget of $5 million which made it the most expensive music video in history at the time it was made.

I liked it from the first time I heard it with its sonic similarities to “Open Your Heart” which to my ears was no bad thing. Visually, Madonna had creative control over everything we saw in the video including finding the right cat that we see early on in the promo. There’s a line to be had about Madonna’s pussy in there but I’m not going anywhere near it probably because Madonna already beat me to it when exclaiming that the cat represented the concept of “pussy rules the world” in a 1990 Omnibus interview.

Madonna’s muscular physique, pinstripe suit and monocle caused much discussion around notions of gender and subverting traditional roles. Did I pick up on this at the time? Probably not but it’s all too evident watching the video back some 30 years later.

“Express Yourself” was a No 5 hit in the UK and reached No 2 in the US.

I’m hardly the first to comment on this but Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” single of 2011 is a complete rip off of “Express Yourself”.

Ah…Double Trouble and the Rebel MC. This lot were briefly tipped as being the next cool thing to hang your hat on, especially when they followed up “Just Keep Rockin'” with “Street Tuff” that went Top 3. Actually, thinking about it, I’m pretty sure most of the hype came courtesy of Simon Mayo who seemed to bang on relentlessly about them on his Radio 1 show. So, I’m assuming the Rebel MC was the guy doing the rapping out front and Double Trouble were the fellas on the keyboards in the background.

I probably should have liked this one more than I did as it samples “The Liquidator” by The Harry J All Stars which is used as the soundtrack to the players running out at my beloved Chelsea’s home matches but it never really caught my imagination. I preferred “Street Tuff” but neither track was really my bag in truth.

OK – what was the deal here? I’m assuming that one of the TOTP producers was a massive W.A.S.P. fan. How else do you explain how many times this lot were on the show?! “The Real Me” was their take on the classic track by The Who and came from their album “Headless Children”. This was their fourth studio album and the first to not feature overtly sexually explicit songs (according to Wikipedia). Well bully for them! They still called their album “Headless Children” so I’m not entirely sure that they had retreated fully from their shock rock tactics. What?! Wikipedia says that the album displayed “a new level of maturity from the band compared to their previous three albums” with the themes of politics and social issues running throughout. Oh do fuck off!

Here’s an eyeful of Neneh Cherry now (ahem!) with “Manchild”.

I think @TOTPFacts sums this whole performance up quite succinctly…

Bit cold in the #TOTP studio, I see.

— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) March 27, 2020

In a Smash Hits interview, Neneh described the aforementioned Madonna as:

“…one of the few women in the 80s who has taken control of her own sexuality and her own person.”

In the same publication, the also aforementioned Sinitta had a different view:

” I think that Madonna’s video for “Like A Prayer is insulting for people who are deeply religious and who lead a deeply religious life. I think it’s bad”.

I think I’m team Neneh on this one.

Right – Cyndi Lauper next with “I Drove All Night”. I always get confused about this song. I know it has something to do with Roy Orbison and that he also had a hit with it but over the years all the details of the origin of the story have been buried in an inaccessible part of my brain (probably under 30 years worth of football results) and I can’t quite recall what it was all about. So I looked it up….

It turns out that it was written by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg who had already written Cyndi’s last UK hit (1986’s “True Colours”) for her and were also responsible for one of the year’s biggest songs in “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles. It had been written deliberately in the style of something Orbison would have sung and even before Cyndi got her vocal chords around it, a fortunate set of circumstances had led to a meeting with The Big O who had recorded a demo of it in 1987. However he was without a recording contract at the time and his version lay idle for a while and remained so throughout his subsequent phoenix from the flames renaissance with the “Mystery Girl” album. Inevitably the song found its way to Lauper who recorded it for her “A Night To Remember” album and released it as the lead single which became a Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

The video has Cyndi in a number of different looks starting with Madonna circa “Who’s That Girl” before moving onto a cross between Cruella de Vil and Gwen Stefani. By the time she’s just naked with only movie projections to cover her modesty all bets are off.

A few years later, and after his death, Roy Orbison’s version finally surfaced and was given a commercial release as part of the posthumous “King of Hearts” album which was a collection of remastered demos of songs left over from the “Mystery Girl” album. “I Drove All Night” was released as a single from the album and matched Lauper’s chart performance by peaking at No 7.

Which version did I prefer? Probably Orbison’s although it wasn’t my favourite song by either artist by a long way.

Enjoying the most successful year of their career are Fuzzbox who have gone and gotten themselves another bona fide chart hit in “Pink Sunshine”. The follow up to “International Rescue”, this was more of the same in that it was exuberantly silly with a killer chorus hook.

Showing their musical versatility, keyboardist Magz is on guitar for this one thereby giving evidence to the claim that they are the UK’s most successful instrument-playing-all-female band. Not sure if that clam has ever been substantiated but what is certainly true is that they were on the now legendary NME C86 cassette compilation which writer and broadcaster Andrew Collins has described as “the most indie thing to have ever existed” so there was more to them than just lead singer Vickie Perks and her provocative midriff.

For a short while Fuzzbox (or their label’s marketing department at least) seemed to have struck upon a winning formula and were here to stay. Sadly there was only one more Top 40 it after this and the band spilt in 1990 due to that old chestnut ‘musical differences’. They reformed a couple of times and have been a going concern again since 2015. Tragically, founding member Jo Dunne died of cancer in 2012.

Top 10

10. Madonna – “Express Yourself”

9. Bobby Brown – “Every Little Step”

8. Edelweiss – “Bring Me Edelweiss”

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

6. London Boys – “Requiem”

5. Neneh Cherry – “Manchild”

4. Kylie Minogue – “Hand On Your Heart”

3. Lynne Hamilton – “On The Inside”

2. Natalie Cole – “Miss You Like Crazy”

1. The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney and Gerry Marsden – “Ferry Cross The Mersey”: The football season has been and gone but the aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy is still brutally fresh in the conscience of the nation so “Ferry Cross The Mersey” retains its place at the top of the charts.

Twenty three years on from this, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson and Gerry Marsden alongside a huge amount of other artists including Robbie Williams, Melanie C and Paul Heaton (all organised by Peter Hooton of The Farm) released a version of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” by The Hollies to raise money for the various charities associated with the Hillsborough tragedy. It would go on to be the Xmas No 1 of 2012 beating that year’s X Factor winner to the coveted title. For once, all was correct and aligned in the world of pop.

The play out video is “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses. This was one of those unusual cases of a single being re-released despite having been an authentic Top 40 hit already. It was a No 24 hit in the UK when originally released in September of the previous year but was given a second commercial release after the success of “Paradise City”. There are myriad examples of songs being hits the second time around following a re-release after flopping initially but a single being re-released despite having already been a hit just 9 months earlier? I’m saying that there are much fewer examples of that.

There seem to be two videos for the song which are essentially the same depicting the the band rehearsing but one version is filmed entirely in grainy black and white whilst the edit that TOTP show is this one which includes colour shots.

“Sweet Child O’ Mine” (the ’89 re-release) peaked at No 6 in the UK. It had already been a No 1 in the US on its original ’88 release.

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Sinitta	Right Back Where We Started From	Of course not
2	Natalie Cole	Miss You Like Crazy	Nope
3	Madonna	Express Yourself	No but my wife had the album
4	Double Trouble and the Rebel MC	Just Keep Rockin’	Nah
5	W.A.S.P.	The Real Me	And no
6	Neneh Cherry	Manchild	See three above
7	Cyndi Lauper	I Drove All Night	I did not
8	Fuzzbox	Pink Sunshine	No but I easily could have
9	The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney and Gerry Marsden	Ferry Cross The Mersey	Yes! Finally a single that I bought!
10	Guns N’ Roses	Sweet Child O’ Mine	No but I have the album somewhere I think

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000gp1d/top-of-the-pops-01061989

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/2019/05/may-31-june-13-1989.html

TOTP Rewind – the 80s

My memories of 80s chart music

TOTP 26 OCT 1989

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Whole Show

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 05 OCT 1989

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Whole Show

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 29 JUN 1989

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Some bed time reading?

TOTP 15 JUN 1989

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Some bed time reading?

TOTP 01 JUN 1989

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Some bed time reading?