Monie Love

TOTP 20 JUL 1989

Posted on by 80stastic

Back to a solo presenter for this TOTP and it’s old pro Gary Davies who decides to enlist the help of various studio audience members to help him out with the links in the absence of a co-host…including Sonia’s actual sisters one of whom seems to be a Dolly Parton tribute act. The first of those links is to introduce London Boys who are riding high in the charts with “London Nights”. I’m guessing their record pluggers didn’t have to work hard to secure their clients a slot on the programme as those guys were a mini show in themselves. No run of the mill lip syncing for these two as flamboyant dance moves, a strip routine and acrobatics are all featured. None of that could really disguise the fact that the song was shite though. What did I know though as “London Nights” peaked at No 2. As a Smash Hits review of their album remarked ‘London Boys, they’re so crap they’re brilliant!’. No, they really were just crap.

Now here’s a curious collaboration. Bronski Beat had not been in the charts for over three years and since that last hit (“C’mon C’mon”) had lost singer John Foster who himself had been a replacement for the departing Jimmy Somerville. They’d also been dropped by their record label London Records. Despite extensive touring in Europe, they seemed to have been forgotten by their home country which was in the middle of an obsession with all things Stock, Aitken and Waterman so to reverse that trend they released “Cha Cha Heels” with the indomitable legend that was Eartha Kitt. It was an odd choice of partner if the ultimate goal of the project was to secure a chart hit as Eartha’s track record was sparse to say the least with just two UK Top 40 hits to her name the last of which had been five years previous. And yet it worked (sort of) with “Cha Cha Heels” peaking at No 32.

It’s a pretty frantic Hi-NRG run through beefed up with Eartha’s trademark growls and distinctive vocals which was probably a big hit in the gay clubs I’m guessing. Also, that really sounds like Jimmy Somerville on backing vocals but he seems to be uncredited.

Sadly Eartha Kitt died in 2008 whilst Bronski Beat’s Larry Steinbachek passed away in 2017 both from cancer.

Seriously? Again with this one? I think I’m right in saying this is a third time on the show for Monie Love with “Grandpa’s Party” though I think this clip is just a repeat of her previous studio appearance. As such, I thought I didn’t have much else to say about this one but when I googled her debut album called “Down To Earth’, the sleeve looked decidedly familiar and it turns out it was released just as I embarked upon my 10 year career with Our Price so no wonder I recognised it.

When the album was reviewed on Amazon, one fan commented:

“Yo Monie is so dope she can rhyme herself out the Middle Fly”

Well, quite.

Ah shit. Look, I knew this was coming, you knew this was coming but it still feels genuinely shocking that in 1989 the British public could have fallen for this piece of crap in such large numbers. Yes, it’s time for that fucking rabbit…the era of Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers is upon us. Quite how you explain this collective dereliction of senses on such a widespread scale is still beyond me. Who the fuck was buying this shit?! Apparently this was the ‘work’ of a couple of  Rotherham local DJs but I’m not going to name them as they don’t deserve even the tiny amount of recognition that my blog would give them.

Mixing together a load of (mainly) old  rock ‘n’ roll standards around a Glenn Miller motif and using a crappy graphic of a rabbit to front the project, “Swing With Mood” inexplicably went to No 1 for five (!) weeks in the Summer of ’89 and was the second best selling single of the whole year. The UK fell for this cheap garbage not just once, not even twice but three times before the end of the year delivering Jive Bunny and his mates three No 1 records! Even the US market fell for it making it a No 11 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Just barmy.

We’re going to have weeks of this stinking turd so you’d better get used to it….

Quick! We need a decent tune to provide an antidote to Jive Bunny…ah, this will do nicely. We couldn’t be in better hands than with a doctor and here’s Dr. Robert with his Blow Monkeys and “Choice?”. The last time we saw the good doctor on TOTP was earlier in the year with the single “Wait” featuring soul singer Kym Mazelle. I was confused at the time why it had been promoted as a solo single by Dr Robert and not a Blow Monkeys release. This was another collaboration with a featured vocalist in Sylvia Tella and yet this single was officially credited to The Blow Monkeys. All very baffling.

“Choice?” was a previously unreleased track that was put out to promote the band’s first greatest hits collection called “Choices” and it did a good enough job I guess by peaking at No 22 though it isn’t one of my favourites by the band. By this point in their career, they had embraced the the new dance revolution and I wasn’t that keen on their new direction. They would explore that route further in the following year’s “Springtime for the World” album before splitting. They would reunite in 2007 and are still together to this day.

Bobby Brown up now with his Ghostbusters II track “On Our Own”. Brown’s profile at the time made him an obvious choice to contribute to the film’s soundtrack and he was invited to the movie set where he met the cast and the crew. The film’s music supervisor, Kathy Nelson, suggested he record this song for the movie. Brown agreed to record a song as long as he got a small part in the film. Here it is in all its 20 seconds worth of glory….

…real blink and you miss it stuff. “On Our Own” peaked at No 4 in the UK charts but he wouldn’t return to such exalted heights for another six years when “Two Can Play That Game” made No 3.

Who? Doug Lazy anybody? No idea at all about this one. Wikipedia tells me that his track “Let It Roll” was a big deal on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart but I couldn’t really care less. This sounds horrible. Next!

Another airing for “Ain’t Nobody” again now. When this was originally a hit in 1984 for Rufus and Chaka Khan I had no idea who or what Rufus was. Wasn’t there a rufus character in The Dukes Of Hazzard? Rufus the Dufus or something? I could be wrong. Of course, Rufus was actually the name of the funk band that Chaka fronted.

Fast forward three decades and “Ain’t Nobody” has been adopted as a football chant by supporters of many different clubs. No really. Look…

And another….

Somebody even went and recorded a whole song for this Aston Villa player…

Top 10

10. Gladys Knight – “Licence To Kill”

9. Gloria Estefan – “Don’t Wanna Lose You”

8. The Beautiful South – “Song For Whoever”

7. Pet Shop Boys – “It’s Alright”

6. Chaka Khan – “Ain’t Nobody”

5. Bette Midler – Wind Beneath My Wings”

4. Bobby Brown – “On Our Own”

3. Soul II Soul – “Back To Life”

2. London Boys -“London Nights”

1. Sonia – “You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You”: Is it time to tell my ever so tenuous Sonia story? Yes, I think it is. So, four years on from this moment, Sonia was trying to revive her career via the bottom of the barrel route more commonly known as the ‘UK Eurovision Song Contest entrant’. Singing a track called “Better The Devil You Know” (not the Kylie song) she did a pretty good job too coming in second place. It would almost certainly be described as a tide turning moment set against our current dismal record in the contest. And how does any of this relate to me? The song was co-written by one Dean Collinson from Hull where my wife grew up and where I now live. Not just that though, my wife actually knew the bloke back in the day. That’s nearly up there with my ‘I was once in the same room as Chesney Hawkes’ drummer’ story.

This is a cracking tune to play out with. “Edie (Ciao Baby)” by The Cult was inspired by the American socialite, actress, fashion model and Andy Warhol’s muse Edie Sedgwick. The ‘Ciao Baby’ part of the song’s title refers to Ciao Manhattan one of Warhol’s films in which Sedgwick starred. I had no idea about any of that at the time though. I just loved its stirring string build up and grandiose, wide screen epic chorus. Not quite my favourite song by the band (that will always be “She Sells Sanctuary”) but its definitely in the Top 2. It deserved a much higher chart placing than its No 32 peak in my opinion.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 London Boys London Nights Hell no

2

 Bronski Beat with Eartha Kitt Cha Cha Heels Nah

3

 Monie Love Grandpa’s Party I didn’t RSVP for this one – no

4

 Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers Swing The Mood Christ no!

5

 The Blow Monkeys with Sylvia Tella Choice? No but I have their Greatest Hits CD

6

 Bobby Brown On Our Own Nope

7

 Doug Lazy Let It Roll Let it roll? Toilet roll more like. In fact I wouldn’t wipe my arse on it. Just to clarify, that’s a no

8

 Chaka Khan and Rufus Ain’t Nobody No

9

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

10

 The Cult Edie (Ciao Baby) No but its on my Cult Best Of 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.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000hbdz/top-of-the-pops-20071989

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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TOTP 06 JUL 1989

Posted on by 80stastic

Now I can’t be sure of the exact date but I’m pretty certain that by early July 1989 my cosseted life as a student had just about come to an end. I was bereft. I had no idea what I was going to do, no career plan and I certainly wasn’t in any rush to start getting on with the rest of my life. Worst of all I had no firm idea when I would see my girlfriend again. She was heading back to Hull whilst I was Worcester bound. I travelled back to my hometown on a coach with the final lap having to be completed by taxi when the coach broke down. And then there I was. Back in my parents house. Back in my childhood bedroom. How had this happened? How had three years whizzed past so quickly?

My immediate aim was to get some sort of employment so I would at least have some money to pay off my overdraft, give my Mum some for housekeeping and fund travelling the length of the country to see my girlfriend at some point. I nearly got a job as a bin man but backed out at the last minute out off by the early starts and also by the scary man with a spider’s web tattooed all over his face in the employment office who was after the same position. I was directionless, cashless and thoroughly unhappy.

Surely there must have been some decent tunes on TOTP on a Thursday night to cheer me up….

…it’s not a good start. The Stock, Aitken and Waterman version of Cilla Black  – other wise known as Sonia – is first up on this particular show. Her Breakers appearance last week has caused her to move all the way up to No 12 whilst becoming at the same time the week’s biggest climber. We all could see what was going to happen here. “You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You” was bound for the top and those pesky Hit Factory people had inflicted another of their roster of pop puppets upon us  – the UK was seemingly unable to resist. What was her appeal? Was it her perkiness? Was it the catchy piece of pop fluff that was her single? Or was it The Beatles effect of her scouse accent? I never really got it. I could see how Kylie and Jason would appeal to a certain section of the record buying public but Sonia?

And still Stock, Aitken and Waterman weren’t done with manufacturing pop stars. The dreadful Big Fun will be along on these TOTP repeats soon enough. Even worse than that though, they will turn their attention to Cliff Richard and make a dog’s dinner out of the Band Aid record before the year is out.

The next song is decent though. Gladys Knight‘s Bond theme “Licence To Kill” was a worthy addition to the canon I think and of the five Bond songs released in the decade I would rank it probably in the top three and certainly above Rita Coolidge’s “All Time High”  – officially the worst ever UK chart performer of the genre.

It was a different kettle of fish for the film itself though. Unlike Alan Partridge, I’m no Bond aficionado and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Licence To Kill but the perceived wisdom is that it nearly killed off the franchise altogether. Up against that Summer’s blockbusters of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Batman, its gritty realism and the fact that Bond had gone rogue for the first film ever meant that audiences were less than impressed. Whilst UK box office receipts were respectable, across the water it was the least financially successful James Bond film in the US. It would be another six years before the franchise was rebooted with Pierce Brosnan as 007.

From Alan’s Bond party to “Grandpa’s Party” courtesy of Monie Love. Amongst the pretty big names that Monie (real name Simone Johnson) has worked with are Prince, Queen Latifah and Whitney Houston…..

…however, she missed a trick by not hooking up with this fellow. Imagine the mash up they could have made….

There have been a lot of  R’n’B soul singers on these TOTP repeats over the course of the last three and a bit years that I’ve been writing this blog and we haven’t got to the bottom of the barrel yet. Karyn White was only 23 when she hit big with “Superwoman” and was a much bigger deal in the States than over here where she racked up four Top 10 hits including a No 1 in 1991 and won two Grammy awards. In the UK she scored a couple more Top 30 hits but I’m guessing that “Superwoman” is what she is best remembered for on these shores.

Did I like this one? I found it all a bit ‘meh’ to be honest. “Superwoman” peaked at No 11 in the UK.

Some Breakers now beginning with Bette Midler‘s first ever UK Top 40 hit. I didn’t realise until now that “Wind Beneath My Wings” wasn’t actually written for the film Beaches from which Midler’s version is taken but had been composed in 1982 and already been recorded by the likes of Sheena Easton, Lou Rawls, Gladys Knight and the Pips and erm…Roger Whittaker before Bette got her mitts on it.

I caught the film in Newcastle (I think it must have been one of my last trips to the cinema before my time in the North East was up) with my girlfriend and another friend called Bev.  The slightly mawkish tale of two young girls who meet by chance and whose lives are then intertwined over the next 30 or so years to various degrees of relationship and drama was all too much for poor Bev (spoiler alert – there is a sad ending) who cried all the way back to Sunderland on the train.

“Wind Beneath My Wings” has become quite the standard over the years and in a 2002 UK poll was found to be the most-played song at British funerals. It was a No 1 record in the US and a No 5 hit over here.

Ooh this is much better! The return of Danny Wilson! After finally managing to get a hit with “Mary’s Prayer” after three attempts, the trio had lost ground rather when subsequent single releases did diddly squat. After retreating to lick their wounds, they returned a year later with “The Second Summer Of Love” from their sophomore album “Bebop Moptop”. I liked the song immediately but was delighted to find out that the whole album (which I bought on the strength of it) was full of even better tracks. Indeed “The Second Summer Of Love” is probably one of the weaker cuts on it for me. That didn’t detract from it being far better than most of its peers in the Top 40 at the time.

I recall seeing them interviewed about the video and them advising the reporter that they’d had to learn the song backwards so that when the film is shown backwards, they appear to be miming it as normal. A simple trick but quite effective.

“Bebop Moptop” is most likely to be found in charity shops these days I wouldn’t wonder but it really is worth shelling out a couple of quid for if you see it. “The Second Summer Of Love” was the band’s second and last hit peaking at No 23. If there was any justice in the pop world, subsequent singles released from the album “Never Gonna Be the Same” and “I Can’t Wait” would have been massive hits but they weren’t and the band split not long into the next decade with only a couple of brief reunions since.

Another classic song from De La Soul next. “Say No Go” was the follow up to “Me Myself And I” and was taken from the seminal “3 Feet High and Rising” album. A cautionary tale about the use of drugs, it famously samples the Hall and Oates hit “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” as well as a few other tracks. It has maximum ear worm power and sounds as good today as it did back then.

Of course, they weren’t the first to ride on the back of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti drugs campaign though….

Rivalling Danny Wilson for my personal favourite song on this TOTP is “Song For Whoever” by The Beautiful South. Five years on from this debut, the band released a Greatest Hits collection called “Carry On Up The Charts” which was so popular that it was claimed that one in seven British households owned a copy. Somehow I didn’t but over the years I seem to have purchased most of the band’s albums as well as seeing them live. In fact I’ve seen The Beautiful South, their second generation version The South, Dave Rotheray offshoot Homespun and Paul Heaton solo. I never managed to see The Housemartins live but I did  once meet their original drummer Hugh Whittaker.

P.S. What was going on with Paul’s hair in this performance?!

Don’t Panic! “It’s Alright”…Pet Shop Boys are back! It’s amazing the things you learn researching this blog. For instance, I never knew that this wasn’t actually a Tennant / Lowe original but is in fact a cover. The original was by Sterling Void (no idea). To be fair to Neil and Chris though, they did add an extra verse about environmental issues to it.

I’d also forgotten that this was actually a track on their “Introspective” album and remembered it being a stand alone single which it isn’t. To be fair, it isn’t one of my favourite PSB tracks by a long way. I mean, its not terrible or anything but it kind of washed over me back then and still does a bit today. As for the that striking, baby fest video, Neil Tennant recounted to Spin magazine in 2013 that “We got there, and all the babies were asleep — all the 50 babies. And then one of them cried [and] they all fucking woke up!”. What was that old saying about working with children or animals?

“It’s Alright” peaked at No 5.

I’m guessing that this re-release of “Ain’t Nobody” by Chaka Khan and Rufus was part of her “Life Is a Dance: The Remix Project” album that also gave us the re-release of “I’m Every Woman: earlier in 1989. As with a lot of these re-releases, I don’t recall this one being back in the charts  – my go to memory for this song is definitely the original 1984 version. Apparently this ’89 vintage is the Frankie Knuckles re-mix but it sounds very similar to the original to me.

Chaka looks absolutely sweltering in that outfit she’s gone with for this performance. I can’t work out which would have been heavier, the clothes or her hair. To be fair, the sweating may have been for another reason as she doesn’t look fully compos mentis to me here. Maybe she’d had a very nice time pre-show in the green room.

The ’89 version of “Ain’t Nobody” peaked at No 6 thereby eclipsing the chart performance of the original by two places.

Top 10

10. Guns N’ Roses – “Patience”

9. Cyndi Lauper – “I Drove All Night”

8. U2 – “All I Want”

7. Queen – “Breakthru”

6. Gladys Knight – “Licence To Kill”

5. Pet Shop Boys – “It’s Alright”

4. Prince – “Batdance”

3. London Boys – “London Nights”

2. The Beautiful South – “Song For Whoever”

1. Soul II Soul – “Back To Life”: Another week at the top for a song that has enjoyed numerous accolades and a very respected legacy down the years. Q magazine voted it as No 67 in their 2003 poll “100 Songs That Changed the World” and in 2015 it was voted by the British public as No 18 in ITV’s “The Nation’s Favourite 80s Number One”.

Most significantly though, it was one of the songs included in the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. If you ever wanted to learn those dance moves…

“Voodoo Ray” was a hit in the 80s? I could have sworn that it was a 90s track but no A Guy Called Gerald (amazingly he was actually called Gerald) was a certifiable 80s hit and spent a whole 18 weeks in the charts peaking at No 12. Maybe I’m getting confused with “Infinity (1990’s… Time for the Guru)” by Guru Josh which was a hit in early 1990 despite officially being released in the previous decade (18th December).

One of the most recognisable house records ever made, it wasn’t really my thing but I could appreciate its significance which is made abundantly clear in this clip from 24 Hour Party People. 

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

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

2

 Gladys Knight Licence To Kill Don’t think I did

3

 Monie Love Grandpa’s Party Negative

4

 Karyn White Superwoman Nah

5

 Bette Midler Wind Beneath My Wings Nope

6

 Danny Wilson The Second Summer Of Love No but I bought the album Bebop Moptop

7

 De La Soul Say No Go No but my wife had the album 3 Feet High And Rising

8

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

9

 Pet Shop Boys It’s Alright No but I presume it’s on their Pop Art compilation which I have

10

 Chaka Khan and Rufus Ain’t Nobody No

11

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

12

 A Guy Called Gerald Voodoo Ray It’s a no I’m afraid

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?

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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