Pet Shop Boys

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?

31305266964_ca46746da1_n

 

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

 

TOTP 01 DEC 1988

Posted on by 80stastic

And we’re in sync! The world of TOTP repeats has finally coincided with the same month in the real world so it’s December and the run up to Xmas in both universes. It’s the presenters pairing from Hell though as we see a duo of Bruno Brookes and Mike Read! Oh shite! To quote Stingray, anything might happen in the next half hour!

Well, it’s a pretty anonymous start as we are ‘treated’ to Rick Astley and his latest single “Take Me To Your Heart”. Surely one of his least remembered singles, this was the second track to be lifted from his sophomore album “Hold Me In Your Arms” and it’s almost entirely devoid of any memorable moments whatsoever. It just sort of shuffles along anonymously for three minutes causing little offence but without bringing any joy to anyone. Unlike previous single “She Wants To Dance With Me” which Rick penned himself, “Take Me To Your Heart” was all Stock, Aitken and Waterman and you can tell. The backing track sounds very much like another Hit Factory production – “This Time I Know It’s For Real” by Donna Summer. Who would have thought it? Two PWL songs that sounded the same!

Well, nothing else to report here…hang on a minute! That bass payer looks familiar. It isn’t is it? Yes, it is him! That’s Les Nemes from Haircut 100! What’s he doing there?! Well, after the demise of the Haircuts, I guess he had to make a living. Rick Astley though Les? Really?

Keep your eye on the audience member to the right of Bruno Brookes in this next link. She looks like she ‘s been caught snorting a line on camera! Surely not?! Quick, look to see if she has stoned eyes. Don’t ask Bruno to do it though  – he can’t even manage to utter a simple phrase about eyes correctly – who says ‘keep your eyes peeled out’? Surely it’s ‘keep your eyes peeled” or ‘keep an eye out’. Maybe he’s had a little livener too. Well, I did say anything might happen!

Right, almost forgot about the song that was being introduced. We saw the video for “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson as a Breaker on last week’s show but it’s back for some more airtime. As was the case with a lot of his 80s singles, the accompanying video was a huge, lavish production more akin to a short film than a music promo. Indeed, so much footage was shot that there are four versions of the video according to Wikipedia. However, were it not for the ‘anti-gravity lean’ which does look amazing, I would have said that it was all typical Jacko flicks and tricks, pregnant pauses and dramatic effects but it sounds churlish to say that given that move.

For the record the video was inspired by the film noir classic The Third Man and definitely not the tropical gangster himself Kid Creole… or his coconuts.

Four Breakers this week and anything Michael Jackson could do, so could George Michael. Just as Jacko was onto his seventh single release from “Bad” with “Smooth Criminal”, “Kissing A Fool” was the seventh track to be released from his “Faith” album although it was the only (!) the sixth to be released in the UK.

A massive departure from his previous material, this jazz- tinged stripped back ballad had a lot of the press cooing over the diversity of George’s musicality. It’s accomplished enough and the black and white video is clearly meant to hammer home the point that George had long left his Wham! past behind him and was now a serious artist. It was all a bit too laid back for me though.

“Kissing A Fool” made No 18 in the UK and No 5 in the US thereby breaking a run of five consecutive American No 1s for Michael from the “Faith ” album.

We arrive at the point where Neighbours mania went completely into overdrive. The wedding of characters Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell drew an audience of 19.6 million in the UK when it aired in November 1988. We just couldn’t get enough of the travails of the residents of Ramsey Street. The viewing figures alone had made it a phenomenon but allied to that was the fact that two of its leading protagonists had broken through the the fourth wall and had become bona fide pop stars under their own names. By the time the nation’s obsession with the on-off relationship between Scott and Charlene was due for broadcast in the UK (we were about a year behind our Aussie counterparts), the appetite for everything Neighbours/Kylie/Jason Donovan was at critical levels.

The daily dose of Neighbours (twice a day for us students) and the blurring of the images of Scott / Jason and Kylie / Charlene meant that the UK was ripe for any sort of tacked on promotional vehicle. Angry Anderson was the lucky recipient of the UK’s fixation. His track “Suddenly” was supposedly hand picked by Kylie for inclusion in the infamous episode 523 that featured Scott and Charlene’s nuptials. Who was he though? Well he’s been the lead singer of hard rock outfit Rose Tattoo since 1976 (he’s 72 now) and his solo single  “Suddenly” was kept off the top spot in the Australian charts by Kylie’s version of the “Locomotion”. So maybe she felt guilty about that when insisting on offering him the Neighbours gig?

I think most people were shocked when we finally got to see images of Angry and he turned out to be a completely bald Aussie hard rocker with wonky teeth. It didn’t stop the UK record buying public from sending his song to No 3 in our charts though. A small part of 1988 will always belong to Angry Anderson.

Oh bollocks! I’ve been dreading this moment. It’s time for “Mistletoe And Wine”. And we all know who’s to blame for this musical atrocity that has become an unwanted part of our Xmas season  for the past 31 years don’t we? Yes, Twiggy – it’s all her fault! Well, she was partly to blame at least as it was the swinging 60s model and actress who performed the original version of the song in a TV adaptation in 1987 of the play Scraps which itself was an adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson tale The Little Match Girl. Vastly different in meaning to the version we all know and loathe, it was a political condemnation of the middle class’s lack of concern for the poor in the shape of the little match girl being thrown out into the Winter snow homeless. By the time of the TV adaptation, it had morphed into a music hall pub version sung by a good-time-girl character – enter Twiggy.

So what has all this got to do with Sir Cliff Richard? Well, Cliff has caught the TV adaptation and liked the song but wanted to change the lyrics to make it more edifying and respectable. Out with politics and in with religion and hey presto! A bona fide Xmas turkey was born. It’s so nauseatingly worthy especially with that kid doing the solo at the end. The video is just as sick -inducing. The wintry set with laughable snow graphics, the little drummer boy characters, the holding hands and the swaying…oh God the swaying. What was Cliff doing with his arms and his feet rooted to the spot like that? Maybe he’d seen Jacko’s ‘anti gravity lean’ in the “Smooth Criminal” video and tried to do a version of it. He looks so weird. The whole thing is an abomination. I can’t write any more about it and as it’s got a four week run at No 1 to come, I’m saving some of my bile for future posts.

From one old timer to another now. Like it’s predecessor “A Groovy Kind Of Love”, “Two Hearts” was a song on the soundtrack to the film Buster starring Phil Collins. It was written and produced by Phil and Motown songwriting legend Lamont Dozier and it certainly has a Motown feel to it. The video sees Collins playing all four members of fictional 60s beat combo ‘The Four Pound Notes’ and its just a brazen steal of the same concept that was used in his “You Can’t Hurry Love” video.

I always thought it sounded pretty average but people went mad for it. A No 6 hit in the UK, it was a US No 1 and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television in 1989. It would also be the last we would see or hear of Collins for nearly a year before he returned to torture us with his mega successful and extremely naff album “…But Seriously”.

Now here’s the song that should have been the Xmas No 1 of 1988 instead of that evil monstrosity “Mistletoe And Wine”. After a short Breakers appearance in last week’s show, the Pet Shop Boys are up to No 4 and in the TOTP studio with “Left To My Own Devices” . Neil Tennant is hardly singing at all in the verses. It’s not even rapping, it’s speaking in time to the beat but it just works. And that chorus is perfection.

Neil and Chris would have just one more hit single in the 80s – another track from “Introspective”, “It’s Alright” which is currently the Pet Shop Boys’ longest album track clocking in at over nine minutes long although the 7″ version was significantly shorter.

An article discussing the chances of being the Xmas No 1 in Smash Hits had “Left To My Own Devices” as a 10-1 shot but to be fair it’s tip for the top was Bros with “Cat Among The Pigeons” at 2-1 with actual No 1 Sir Cliff Richard at 5-1 so what did they know? Their assessment of “Left To My Own Devices” was:

‘Grannies won’t have clue what they are on about . Neither will anybody else.’

Philistines.

A more cynical attempt at securing the Xmas No 1 spot you are unlikely to see. After four very high tempo singles before this, Bros (or their record label) decided that a slow ballad was the order of the day come the Xmas market rush and so we got “Cat Among The Pigeons” as their tilt at the festive No 1.

On the face of it, it’s not a completely terrible song but it is cynical and calculated. Just to make sure that punters understood that this was their attempt at a Xmas No 1, they did a version of “Silent Night” as the double A-side. I used to work with someone in my Our Price days whose absolute favourite Xmas song ever is “Silent Night ” …but the Bros. version. I don’t know – that’s all I can say.

“Cat Among The Pigeons” didn’t reach it’s intended destination of No 1 falling just short in the No 2 spot and was the last Bros release to feature one of 80s pop’s true enigmas in Craig Logan on bass.

Here’s this week’s Top 10…

10. Bomb the Bass – “Say A Little Prayer”

9. Salt ‘N’ Pepa – “Twist And Shout” 

8. Michael Jackson – “Smooth Criminal”

7. Cliff Richard  – “Mistletoe And Wine”

6. Phil Collins – “Two Hearts”

5. INXS – “Need You Tonight”

4. Pet Shop Boys – “Left To My Own Devices”

3. Chris De Burgh -“Missing You”

2. Bros – “Cat Among The Pigeons”

1. Robin Beck – “First Time”: Look, I have very little left to say about Robin Beck other than I’m amazed that she was still No 1 going into December with Xmas looming to be honest. Given the hordes assembling behind her (Bros, Cliff etc) greedily eyeing her place at the top, she was never going to be able to hold on for a few more weeks to be the Xmas No 1. Shame really – yes it’s a cruddy song but in a straight choice between “First Time” and the actual Xmas No 1 “Mistletoe And Wine”, I would have voted with the former with a peg on my nose #anyonebutcliff #tactical voting

A genuinely intriguing moment next. After the press fury over the acid house craze that was contaminating the consciousness of our youth (according to the tabloids), the BBC had put up the shutters against all things acid house. Even the mere mention of the words in song titles were omitted form the chart countdown. And then, suddenly, this record was front and centre. Stakker Humanoid by Humanoid ‘s journey from white label acid house floor filler to he Top 40 and TOTP was courtesy of some very unlikely endorsements. None were more unlikely than the one that came from one of tonights’s presenters. No, not Mike Read! Do you think the man who banned ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood would have the balls to champion anything this controversial?! It was the pint sized Bruno Brookes who loved the track so much that he played it on his Radio 1 show twice in the same programme! If Brookes and acid house seems an unlikely combination, here’s the former explaining it in a Guardian interview from 2013:

“It just got to me. I remember listening to it and thinking it was one step ahead of everything techno that was coming out. It wasn’t copying anything else; it was just fabulous.”

Fair enough but doesn’t he get the artist and the song title the wrong way round in his intro?

As for the guy behind Stakker Humanoid, Brian Dougans (for that was his name)  would form early 90s electronic act Future Sound of London who had a few chart singles including  “Papua New Guinea” and “Lifeforms”.

And me? Nah, I thought it was a load of techno bollocks.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Rick Astley Take Me To Your Heart Take me to the bin more like – no

2

 Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal Nope

3

 George Michael Kissing A Fool No but my younger sister had the album

4

 Angry Anderson Suddenly Nah

5

 Cliff Richard Mistletoe And Wine Cliff can shove his mistletoe up his arse – NO!

6

 Phil Collins Two Hearts Way too bland for my liking – no

7

 Pet Shop Boys Left To My Own Devices Not the single but it’s on my Pop Art Collection CD

8

 Bros Cat Among The Pigeons / Silent Night Get to fuck with that

9

 Robin Beck First Time And the last time – no

10

 Humanoid Stakker Humanoid Techno bollocks – 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/m000bypm/top-of-the-pops-01121988

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?

31759471080_763ea0d04b_n

 

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2018/11/november-30-december-14-1988.html

TOTP 24 NOV 1988

Posted on by 80stastic

Ooh check out the map graphics on that! Yes, this week’s TOTP is still banging on about its roll out programme of its new FM radio transmitters and presenters Simon Mayo and Andy Crane have to show us the latest regions to be switched on courtesy of a map with some very basic graphics. Still, it was probably all very cutting edge at the time.

Talking of radio here’s a radio themed song by Tiffany. How many singles from her is this now?

*checks wikipedia*

It’s her fourth (fourth!). One in the eye then for those people who have her down as a one hit wonder. In all fairness though, in a parallel universe of justice and equity, “Radio Romance” would never have been a hit. It’s not just that it’s sub standard sugary pop nausea that wouldn’t have been out of place in a High School Musical film; it’s that it’s so cynical.  As the lead single from second album “Hold an Old Friend’s Hand”, the lack of regard shown by the record label for her fan base is clear. The record buying public had already shown that it would accept any old tripe Tiffany flung at us (including one of the worst Beatles covers ever) so why not just serve them up some more totally anonymous bullshit? In an unlikely turn of events the US saw threw this before we did – “Radio Romance” only made No 35 over there whilst we bought enough copies to send it to No 13. However, we did belatedly cotton on – it would be Tiffany’s last ever UK hit.

A third Top 10 hit of the year for Bomb The Bass next. “Say A Little Prayer” would also be Tim Simenon’s last hit of the decade. You don’t need me to tell you the origins of the song (Bacharach and David, Dionne Warwick, Arteha Franklin etc). However, why did Simenon change the title to “Say A Little Prayer” as opposed to “I Say A Little Prayer” and who the devil was this Maureen? In a Smash Hits interview, he explained his choice of covering the song like this:

“…I’ve always liked it and I wanted to do it because it’s something I remember from my childhood. I’ve done it really differently though. I think if you do a cover version then you have to do it really different or else it’s just a rip off of the original. I’ve given it more of a Bomb The Bass dance beat – hip hop I suppose but kept the vocals really smooth and er…sexy heh!”

Did he do it really different? Well, he’s right about the Bomb The Bass dance beat I guess but is it a radical contrast to the Franklin / Warwick versions? Not for me. Doing a cover version three singles in seems a bit lazy as well (see also the aforementioned Tiffany). The concept of adding a dance backing track to an established standard didn’t go away. I’m sure there are lots of examples of it but the only two that spring to mind right now are Carol King’s “It’s Too Late ” by Quartz featuring Dina Carroll in 1991 and the Fresh 4 featuring Lizz E’s treatment of the Rose Royce track “Wishing On A Star” in 1989.

And Maureen? That would be Maureen Walsh who Simenon knew from his DJ slots at The Wag club in London. She went on to record an album in the early 90s but the only time she got anywhere near the charts again was a No 93 placing for her “Don’t Hold Back” single.

Deacon Blue again now with “Real Gone Kid” which I think is a third outing on the show for this one. Its TV exposure was backed up by extensive radio play (certainly on the radio stations I was listening to) which has probably resulted in it being the band’s best known tune. It would be the start of a run of fifteen Top 40 hits for the band out of sixteen single releases over the next six years (although only three of them, including “Real Gone Kid”, would go Top 10).

All of this chart action came off the back of a very slow start. Their first three single releases did nothing at all. However, word about their debut album “Raintown” began to grow and with two of those three early singles re-released and becoming genuine (if small) Top 40 hits, the band suddenly had a national profile. To date, “Raintown” has sold around a million copies and remained in the UK  charts for a year and a half. By the time there was new material to be released in the form of “Real Gone Kid” as the lead single from second album “When The World Knows Your Name”, there was a genuine appetite for the band.  The album went to No 1 and was the host of five Top 40 singles. Deacon Blue were big news and I was on board for the journey.

After last week’s sojourn, the Breakers are back and start with yet another release from Michael Jackson‘s “Bad” album. “Smooth Criminal” was the seventh single taken from it and although it was well down the queue of better chart performing “Bad” tracks , it remains one of his most well known songs. Perhaps that’s to do with the video which includes the famous ‘anti – gravity lean’ move which took moonwalking to the next level. Talking of moonwalking, “Smooth Criminal” was the 42 minute centre piece of his Moonwalker film that was released just weeks before this. I’ve never seen it (and I’m pretty sure I will never correct that) but Wikipedia tells me it was an ‘experimental musical anthology film’ (whatever that is) but it was basically a load of promo videos for songs from the “Bad” album.

The Smash Hits review of  “Smooth Criminal” asked the question:

“Is it bad (i.e. bad) or is it bad (i.e. good)?” 

I went for the former. It was just a bit too ridiculous for my tastes and there was just too much going on it. I was exhausted by the time the song had finished. I could have done with some of the CPR that apparently was the inspiration behind the “Annie, are you OK?” line in the chorus. For years I’d wondered who the fuck this Annie was  but it turns out she was Resusci Annie, the dummy used in CPR training and she was definitely nothing to do with this scare-the-shit-out-of-you final scene from Twin Peaks…

One of the Pet Shop Boys finest ever songs in my opinion next. “Left To My Own Devices’ was the second single from their third album “Introspective” (well third single if you count the house remix of “Always On My Mind/ In My House”) and is a magnificent, overblown, grandiose epic of a tune. The orchestra backing establishes the scope of the recording whilst the violin flourishes at the start set the tone and those at the denouement convince the audience that we have truly heard something exceptional. Neil Tennant’s deadpan delivery never sounded so perfect when in truth they shouldn’t. And then of course there is that line ‘Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat’. The whole thing is ludicrous and shouldn’t make an sense but it is, as Smash Hits described it in their Single of the Fortnight review, ‘pop perfection’. This should have topped the charts over the festive season as they had done the previous year – the missing 1980s Xmas No 1 that never was.

From the sublime to the ridiculous….from pop perfection we move onto some heavy metal old toss. Iron Maiden’s fan base allowed the band to keep on having hit after hit throughout the decade with “The Clairvoyant” being their 17th Top 40 hit of the 80s and their third Top Tenner in a row. As with the previous two singles, it was taken from the “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” album. Another similarity is that it’s complete tosh just like its predecessors. Apparently about the death of psychic Doris Stokes, it came from the mind of the band’s Steve Harris who posed the question ‘if she were truly able to see the future, would not she had foreseen her own death?’. One of the world’s foremost philosophers Steve Harris there ladies and gentlemen. The song’s lyrics include mind blowing food for thought such as:

‘There’s a time to live and a time to die
When it’s time to meet the maker
There’s a time to live but isn’t it strange
That as soon as you’re born you’re dying’

Thinker? Stinker more like! What a load of old shit.

A really odd intro from Simon Mayo next as he refers to both The Supremes and Bananarama as being the biggest ‘woman’s band in the world’. Woman’s band you say Simon? Not ‘girl group’? Surely ‘girl group’ was the established term even back then? Can you say ‘girl group’ in today’s PC world though? You can say ‘boy band’ still can’t you? Oh I don’t know anymore.

Anyway, Sara, Keren and newbie Jacquie O’Sullivan’s cover version of The Supremes classic “Nathan Jones” was their third hit of 1988. As with previous release “Love, Truth And Honesty”, it was lifted from their first “Greatest Hits Collection” album but had also appeared on their “Wow” album featuring former member Siobhan Fahey’s vocals. The single version was re-recorded to with Jacquie’s vocals (as they had done with “I Want You Back”).

It’s all fairly lacklustre and lifeless I have to say and not a patch on some of their earlier singles that seemed so much more…well…fun I guess.  It all seemed a bit too calculated and contrived as if it has been pre-tested against some sort of commercial success barometer. That’s what having Stock, Aitken and Waterman as your producer did for you I guess.

And who was Nathan Jones? Well, if you google him the top  result tells you he was Stoke City’s manager until 1st November this year when he was sacked. Or he could be an Australian powerlifting champion and former professional wrestler. Or is it me? My housemate Ian started calling me Nathaniel briefly around this time on the back of this single. Why? Because Nathan is short for Nathaniel and Nathaniel sounds like Daniel and my nickname at the time was Dan due to my similarity looks wise to the actor Dan Ackroyd. It didn’t make any sense to me at the time and it still doesn’t 31 years later.

“Nathan Jones” peaked at No 15.

One of the most boring videos ever committed to celluloid now. The promo for “Missing You” by Chris De Burgh is just awful. It’s just Chris and his deeply uncool backing band performing the song  intercut with some short clips of a young woman…doing what exactly? Well she rides a bike, mopes about a bit, has some breakfast, writes a shopping list, goes to the beach, gives some creepy bloke the brush off in a cafe then goes to bed. What?! What was meant to be going on here? It’s all so random. Oh, is she meant to be missing someone? Is that who she gets the letter off? Is that all there is to it? What a load of old crap.

Simon Mayo’s remark at the end of the video hasn’t aged well:

“At No 3 it’s Chris De Burgh and he’s missing you because he’s a nice person”.

Clearly this was before the news broke that De Burgh had an affair with his children’s 19-year-old nanny while his wife was recuperating in hospital from a broken neck suffered during a horse-riding accident. Yeah, top bloke Simon.

Top 10:

10. Kylie Minogue – “Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi”

9. Brother Beyond – “He Ain’t No Competition”

8. Deacon Blue – “Real Gone Kid”

7. Pet Shop Boys – “Left To My Own Devices”

6. Iron Maiden – “The Clairvoyant”

5. Yazz – “Stand Up For Your Love Rights”

4. Salt ‘N’ Pepa – “Twist And Shout”

3. Chris De Burgh – “Missing You”

2. INXS – “Need You Tonight”

1. Robin Beck – “First Time”: Still performing live and releasing music to this day, Robin supported Nik Kershaw on a mini tour of Germany last year. It seems an odd bill to be honest and I don’t mean to be unkind but I’m guessing that the reaction to her set went something like this:

Sorry Robin!

The play out video is Hithouse with “Jack To The Sound Of The Underground” and no that isn’t Paul Calf but some bloke called Peter Slaghuis and he was a Dutch DJ, producer and remixer. He remixed artists such as Madonna  and Nu Shooz during the 80s and also a track we’ll be seeing very soon on a future TOTP repeat  – “Downtown ’88” by Petula Clark. “Jack To The Sound Of The Underground” just sounds like a disgraceful cash-in on the house music phenomenon to me although it did contain the very first sample of a Kelly Charles track that might sound familiar  – the ‘You’re No Good For Me’ line was also used by the Prodigy on “No Good (Start The Dance)”. Oh and you may  also remember the track from this as well. Here’s @TOTPFacts:

Peter Slaghuis would die in a car accident just three years on from this.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Tiffany Radio Romance Yuck! No thank you!

2

 Bomb The Bass featuring Maureen Say A Little Prayer Nah

3

 Deacon Blue Real Gone Kid Not the single but I had the album on cassette

4

 Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal Nope

5

 Pet Shop Boys Left Top My Own Devices Not the single but it’s on my Pop Art collection CD of theirs

6

 Iron Maiden The Clairvoyant Let me look into my crystal ball – NO!

7

 Bananarama Nathan Jones No

8

 Chris De Burgh Missing You Missing you? Are you shitting me? NO

9

 Robin Beck First Time And the last time – no

10

 Hithouse Jack To The Sound Of The Underground Hithouse? Shithouse more like (oh come on – it had to be done!) 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/m000bpk9/top-of-the-pops-24111988

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?

31985911912_0a6b2e3c27_n

 

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2018/11/november-16-29-1988.html

 

TOTP 22 SEP 1988

Posted on by 80stastic

I seem to be caught in a perpetual cycle of deja-vu  – all I seem to have done this week is write about old TOTP shows from 1988. The blame for this lies squarely at the feet of BBC4 and their punishing three repeats a week schedule. My head is swimming with the likes of Peter Powell, Simon Mayo, Breakers, Top 40 countdowns Womack and Womack, The Proclaimers and the rest. At least there are some new songs in this instalment. Right, back to it…

We have arrived at that point in time when Pet Shop Boys golden run started to wane. After a run of chart placings that included three No 1s and a No 2 in their previous five singles releases, “Domino Dancing” didn’t quite cut the mustard commercially speaking. The lead single from their forthcoming album ‘Introspective”, it was expected to continue this rich vein of hits but here’s Neil Tennant on what happened:

“…it entered the charts at number nine and I thought, ‘that’s that, then – it’s all over’. I knew then that our imperial phase of number one hits was over.”

It still made No 7 which was hardly a disaster and the hits didn’t dry up completely in any way, shape or form. Indeed, their next ten single releases up to 1993 included five Top 5 placings but Tennant was right about the No 1s. They never had another one again.

As for the sound of “Domino Dancing”, this seemed to be an attempt by Neil and Chris to take a small step in a different direction with more musicians on the record than normal for a Pet Shop Boys release – check out how many people there are up there with them on stage in this performance. The addition of the Spanish guitar seemed especially incongruous. I thought it was OK – it was still immediately identifiable as the Pet Shop Boys despite these changes but it didn’t have the power of something like “It’s A Sin” which was quite startling on first hearing. Ironically, the next single from the album – “Left To My Own Devices” did have that effect on me and remains one of my favourite of the duo’s songs. Maybe that should have been the lead single instead.

Did I say new songs earlier? This is definitely not one of them. How many times is this for “Teardrops” by Womack And Womack on the show? Three? No wonder I’ve got deja vu. And it’s just a repeat of their last studio visit  – not even a new performance clip!

It tuns out that Cecil Womack’s elder brother was Bobby Womack whilst wife Linda was the daughter of soul legend Sam Cooke. After Cooke died, Bobby Womack married Cooke’s widow Barbara making him Linda’s stepfather whilst Cecil got hitched to Supremes singer Mary Wells. Keeping up? Then it get’s really complicated. Here’s @TOTPFacts:

Which means….

Bloody Hell! That old US comedy Soap had nothing on the Womack family tree!

OK – this one we haven’t seen on the show before but it isn’t a new song as such. Following in the steps of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, “Easy” and “Groovy Kind Of Love”, here’s yet another oldie that was back in the charts. Originally a No 7 hit in 1977, Lovely Day” was re-issued as “Lovely Day (Sunshine mix)” in this year and gave its artist Bill Withers an even bigger hit (No 4). I was surprised at how many of Bill’s other songs I knew when I checked. As well as “Lovely Day”, there’s “Lean On Me”, “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Just The Two Of Us” for starters.

Of course you can’t mention “Lovely Day” without referring to that elongated note. Wikipedia informs me that even at 18 seconds long, it is only the second longest sustained note after A-ha’s Morten Harket’s 20 second effort in their song “Summer Moved On”. However, Morten’s was in the falsetto range and Bill’s was in the chest voice. So now you know.

I’m not sure the rather clunky remix treatment courtesy of Ben Liebrand adds anything to the original. All those incongruous ‘hey hey’s and clunky back beat – nowhere near as smooth as the original. And why was “Lovely Day” even re-released in ’88? As ever, I think it was to do with an advert….

Three Breakers this week starting with the inevitable re-release of “Revolution Baby” after Transvision Vamp‘s breakthrough hit ” I Want Your Love”. Originally out in ’87 as their debut single when it only made No 77, it made No 30 this time around. Whilst providing some chart consolidation and maintaining the band’s profile, it was possibly not the massive hit that label MCA anticipated. Still very much inspired by glam rock (it owed much to the hits of T-Rex ), it was nevertheless a decent tune in my book despite some cringeworthy lyrics (‘Lucy’s in the Sky, she got tears in her eyes ’cause we’re all on the same side when the mushroom hits the sky‘).

The band followed this up with a fourth release from their album “Pop Art” called “Sister Moon” but it just missed the Top 40. They should have gone for a re-release of another previous single “Tell That Girl To Shut Up” in my opinion. Undeterred, Wendy and co would be back bigger than ever in 1989.

Whitney Houston next with a future No 1 record. “One Moment In Time” was written for the 1988 Seoul Olympics in South Korea and was included on an Olympics album featuring The Bee Gees and The Four Tops amongst many others. Unusually for Whitney, it failed to top the charts in the US but did over here, a trend which was usually reversed for many of her other releases.

There appear to be two versions of the video, a UK and a US one. Not sure why but the UK one shown on TOTP seems to feature Houston much more than its counterpart although both feature many a sporting clip.

Seventeen years later , the song would be the soundtrack for my own personal sporting memory In 2005, my beloved Chelsea were finally Premier League champions. The title was confirmed by a 2-0 win over Bolton and I watched the game in a pub that had the commentary turned down to allow the jukebox to be played. As Frank Lampard ran through to score the second and deciding goal of the game, “One Moment In Time” was playing. It seemed very apt. Play it over the top of the video below from 2.20 for a faithful reconstruction…

Bon Jovi ahoy! Those New Jersey rockers had not been seen in over a year but were back with a new single and album that would cement their status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. “Bad Medicine” was that single, a punchy, sing-a-long anthem. I remember reading an interview with Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora where they talked about the recording of the album “New Jersey” and how they had taken a few attempts to come up with the songs as many of their initial efforts were just re-writes of “Slippery When Wet”. For me “Bad Medicine” (and indeed follow up single “Born To Be My Baby”) sounded like that’s exactly what they were anyway – and that was just fine by me. To be fair, both those songs were written with Desmond Child who had co-written “Livin’ On A Prayer” and “You Give Love A Bad Name” with the band so that would explain the similarities. The rest of the album was a bit more experimental with tracks featuring flamenco guitars and long, drawn out intros making the cut.

“Bad Medicine” was a No 1 hit in the US but only made No 17 over here.

Oh and I never knew that it inspired this terrace chant about cult 80s footballer Barry Venison….

Blimey! Rick Astley wrote this himself? So says Nicky Campbell and he’s right! If I’d been the tunesmith behind “She Wants To Dance With Me” I don’t think I’d want it announced to the nation thanks very much. The lead single from his second album “Hold Me In Your Arms”, it was pretty much more of the same stuff that we’d come to expect from Rick and despite not being written by Stock, Aitken and Waterman it was produced by them hence the continuity of sound.

A couple of things to note about this performance. Firstly, the female backing singer looks very much like Debbie Gibson. It isn’t her but I’m guessing the lady concerned styled her look on the American popstrel. Secondly, the guy on keyboards, according to Wikipedia, is one David Morris who went onto be a Conservative MP who has received media attention about his expenses claims. Pretty sure nice guy Rick has never been caught up in anything like that and is a law abiding citizen who pays his taxes. Gary Barlow on the other hand….

The Top 10

10. Yazz and the Plastic Population -“The Only Way Is Up”

9. Pet Shop Boys – “Domino Dancing”

8. Inner City – “Big Fun”

7. Yello – “The Race”

6. Bros – “I Quit”

5. Jason Donovan – “Nothing Can Divide Us”

4. Bill Withers -“Lovely Day (Sunshine mix)”

3. Womack and Womack – “Teardrops”

2. Phil Collins – “Groovy Kind Of Love”

1. The Hollies – “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”: No 1 after just two weeks in the charts, the power of a commercial to revitalise a song was truly something to be reckoned with in the late 80s. My mate at poly Robin had been on a trip around Europe with two friends in the Summer holidays. When he returned he couldn’t believe what was happening in the UK charts. I think his exact words were “Why the hell are The fucking Hollies at No 1?”

Final song tonight is “Riding On A Train” from The Pasadenas. I couldn’t really be doing with them but some people were clearly keen as I found an online petition started in 2009 asking for the band to reform and record again. It had 546 signatures when I checked! I didn’t sign it obviously.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Pet Shop Boys Domino Dancing No but I have their PopArt CD with it on

2

 Womack and Womack Teardrops It never really did it for me – no

3

 Bill Withers Lovely Day (Sunshine Mix) Nope

4

 Transvision Vamp Revolution Baby No but I had the album also called Pop Art bizarrely

5

 Whitney Houston One Moment In Time Nah

6

 Bon Jovi Bad Medicine Not the single but I had the album New Jersey

7

 Rick Astley She Wants To Dance With Me As if

8

 The Hollies He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother Not the single but I have their Greatest Hits CD with it on

9

 The Pasadenas Riding On A Train 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 as I can’t find the full programme on YouTube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0009tqf/top-of-the-pops-22091988

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?

32134202675_bcdca0eb58_n

 

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2018/09/september-21-october-4-1988.html

TOTP 21 APR 1988

Posted on by 80stastic

We’re still in April 1988 here at TOTP Rewind. I am in my second year as a student at Sunderland Polytechnic and living in a shared house with four other guys. In the real world outside of my student bubble, two days after this TOTP was broadcast, Liverpool would win the old First Division championship and a day later Luton would beat Arsenal in the League Cup final when that competition was still considered a big deal and not a consolation bauble for the top six clubs. I watched that game  – one of the very few live games shown back then and therefore an event- in my housemate Mark’s room along with the rest of the house as he had a TV. A classic see-saw contest was decided in the last minute by a goal that was set up by, as Brian Moore described it, ‘the cultured left foot of Ashley Grimes’. Always stuck with me that for some reason. Isn’t this supposed to be a blog about 80s pop music and not football though? Indeed, but there is a nice bit of serendipity at play here. Luton’s second goal that day was scored by one Danny Wilson. You see where I’m going with this?

Tonight’s presenters are Simon Bates who turns in a performance worse than Arsenal’s Gus Caesar in that ’88 League Cup final (watch the video for that Danny Wilson goal) and Peter Powell who has done his best to upset my football themed post by turning up dressed as a cricketer. First act tonight are S’Express with “Theme From S’Express” at No 3 on its way to the No 1 spot. Faced with the usual problems of how to make a dance record with lots of samples in it look like a coherent and entertaining performance in the TOTP studio, Mark Moore and pals have gone all 70s funk with leopard print coats, massive winged collars and an impossibly tall black woman (6’2” in her heels according to Bates) with a towering afro…and it just about works.

Huge all over Europe, “Theme From S’Express” was a hit in the dance charts in the US but failed to make any meaningful headway in the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at No 91.

Still promoting his “Faith” album hard is George Michael next. “One More Try” was the fourth of six singles released from it in the UK. A biggish hit over here (No 8) it was huge in the US where it was a No 1. America couldn’t get enough of our George at this time. Four of the singles released from “Faith” went to No 1 over there and his 43 US date “Faith” tour grossed a total of $15 million with Michael performing to over 750,000 fans.

I remember quite liking this one at the time but listening to it today it does seem like quite the plodder and just ever so slightly self indulgent – it’s nearly six minutes in length! The video is all moody lighting and shadowy greyness in keeping with the song’s sombre feel but it just feels a bit laboured to me in comparison to other Michael ballads like “A Different Corner” for example.

A further two singles would be lifted from “Faith” in this country before the year was out.

Oh man! This record! This record!! This will always be with me not least because I used it as a case study for dissertation in my final year at Sunderland Polytechnic. Danny Wilson (that name again) had twice tried to seek a path into the Top 40 with “Mary’s Prayer” prior to this but both previous attempts had fallen short. Their record label Virgin must have had faith in the song though and put it out for a third time when it made it all the way to No 3. I thought this was (and remains) a great record. Just a minute…I’m going to dig out my dissertation and see what I wrote about it…

….blimey there’s loads of it! Hang on again…

…OK, well  my dissertation was about the mechanics of success in the music industry and why sone songs were successful and other’s weren’t. I decided to base my case study of “Mary’s Prayer” around two lines of enquiry:

  • an analysis of the musical composition of the song
  • an analysis of the song’s marketing and promotion

What did I know about musical composition? Nothing at all so I was teamed up with one of the Polytechnic’s music lecturers called Brian who told me all about chord structures, added note chords, song arrangements, key changes and bridge sections. I wrote down everything Brian said and regurgitated it into my dissertation. I actually sound like I know what I’m writing about reading it back. I describe “Mary’s Prayer” as having a ‘basic ballad sound’ with ‘relatively simple chord structure of F, G, G/A and Am…which is always resolved by the calm interval of the perfect 5th.’ Ooh get me! There’s more…

‘The verses are always resolved by the C chord before a major hook is used to lead into the song’s chorus. There is always a piano guitar flourish to denote the end of the verses and start of a chorus and also a slight pause before the voice comes in’

I go on to talk about the song’s lyrics borrowing a lot from Catholic imagery and that deliberate play on the word ‘careless’ (I used to be so careless as if I couldn’t care less).

My conclusion was that this analysis did not define any rigid factors which explain the song’s success. So basically I didn’t know what I was talking about and I hadn’t proved anything. For the record, Brian thought the song was very unremarkable but what did he know.

Analysing the song and the band’s promotion I decided that it was clear that Virgin viewed Danny Wilson as a band with a career ahead of them and that their appeal was definitely in their music rather than their image. Anyone watching their TOTP performance here could have told you that though.

I concluded that I didn’t know why “Mary’s Prayer” was the band’s only success up to that point and that my dissertation had not revealed any radically significant findings. The irony of the whole thing was that a few months after I had submitted my dissertation and left Sunderland Polytechnic, the band finally did have another Top 40 hit single in “The Second Summer Of Love” which reached No 23.

Anyway, all of the above is why this particular single will forever be a part of me which I hope I have demonstrated on this post in a way that I never could prove my point in my dissertation.

This week’s Breakers...

Oh man! This record! This record!! This record…was soooooo bad…and yet its hard to give it the slagging that it so obviously deserves as it was for charity. Even so – it really was the bottom of the shit barrel. Pat & Mick were Capital FM DJs Pat Sharp and Mick Brown but let’s be honest, nobody remembers Mick Brown because he didn’t have Pat Sharp’s ludicrous hair. To be fair, Pat was already known to TOTP audiences as he had appeared as a presenter on the show earlier in the decade but now he was back as a bona fide Top 40 act and God help us all! Now apparently “Let’s All Chant” was originally recorded by the Michael Zager Band and was critically well received on its release in 1978 and was regarded as a classic of the disco era. I wasn’t aware of the original version at the time of Pat & Mick’s abomination and duly dismissed it as absolute crud (and I was right to do so). I just couldn’t stand the ‘Ooh-ah, Ooh-ah’ refrain that ran throughout it and will always associate it with the hordes that assembled down at Lexington Avenue nightclub in Hull which I must have attended back in the day as my wife is from Hull.

I think I obliterated from my memory that Pat & Mick released an annual disco cover version for six years in the name of charity including the likes of “I Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet” and “Use It Up and Wear It Out” – charity singles, as ever, have a lot to answer for.

I could never get along with this single but my housemate Roy loved it. Will Downing was (and still is) an American R&B singer who is, according to his website, known as ‘The Prince of Sophisticated Soul’ although reading that today was the first time I’ve ever heard him referred to as that. “A Love Supreme” was his take on the celebrated John Coltrane piece but it left me cold. Maybe it was the jazz back story to the song that was the cause as I’m left similarly nonplussed by jazz in all its myriad forms. Most of it is just musical wanking to me.

Not quite but not far off a one hit wonder, “A Love Supreme” was by far Will’s biggest hit here reaching No 14. It was from his self titled debut album and in the intervening thirty years since it was released he has recorded a further twenty albums! That’s an awful lot of wanking.

From the ‘The Prince of Sophisticated Soul’ to the ‘Godfather Of Soul” in one move. I’ve said it before in this blog and I’ll say it again – I just don’t get James Brown. Yes I know – musical heresy and all that! I can’t be doing with all that “take it to the bridge” and ‘you know like a sex machine” stuff and don’t get me started on all the stage theatrics! Oh do fuck off!

He was back in our charts in this year with “The Payback Mix 1988” which jumped on the samples bandwagon that every other song released at this time seemed to be doing. As well as a mash up of a load of his own songs, the track also sampled the likes of Otis Redding and Kurtis Blow. However, the only part that I liked was the intro. Isn’t that sound the same as the one used with the logo for Gerry Anderson’s Century 21’s production company that made all those great puppet series like Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet?  You know, this one…

Right,now listen to the intro on “The Payback Mix 1988″…

See? I’m sure someone could tell me the exact source for the James Brown sample but I’m really not interested as I really can’t stand James Brown.

For the love of God Bates! Don’t you ever get anything right It’s “She’s Like the Wind” not “She Likes The Wind”! Just unforgivable incompetence. Anyway, this is of course from the soundtrack to one of the biggest films of the decade Dirty Dancing and as well as singing on it, the film’s male lead Patrick Swayze also co-wrote it. It’s actually credited to ‘Patrick Swayze & Wendy Fraser’ with Fraser being his co-writer Stacy Widelitz’s then girlfriend.

I always found it to be a fairly unremarkable soft rock ballad but it was a huge No 3 hit in the US and a reasonable sized No 17 over here. I also have an issue with the fact that, like its fellow soundtrack hit “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life”, it’s totally out of synch with the rest of the early 60s songs featured in the film. If I was making a film about the 80s, I wouldn’t have some, I dunno, 90s Britpop tracks in it!

“She’s Like The Wind” wasn’t Patrick’s only foray into songwrtiting. His Wikipedia entry lists another song that he wrote called “Sweet June Farts”! Years later and before his untimely death in 2009, I saw Swayze in a production of Guys and Dolls in London’s West End. He got a tremendous reaction from the audience as he came on stage (including some screams) and he was great in it to be fair.

Jermaine Stewart? Again?! Blimey, his record pluggers were doing him proud. For a very ordinary dance pop record in my humble opinion, “Get Lucky” was getting some decent exposure. Specialist re-issue label Cherry Red Records retrospectively increased the song’s life when it released a deluxe edition of parent album “Say It Again” recently which included the original 12 tracks and twenty additional tracks including four different versions of “Get Lucky”. I’m sorry, I know its a posthumous release so I should show some respect but really, does anybody need that in their lives?

More Simon Bates drivel next. What the fuck is he babbling on about in his introduction here?! “There’s a lady who always has a Summer hit…third time lucky it’s Spring into Summer..at No 6 Hazell Dean in Top Of The Pops with “Who’s Leaving Who”. What?! OK – let’s break this down:

  • Hazell Dean didn’t always have a Summer Hit. She had one four years previous to this. She had not had a hit record since then.
  • Third time lucky? What’s third time lucky? If he’s meaning that she’s finally had a hit after two flops then that is untrue. She released six singles between her last hit “Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)” and “Who’s Leaving Who” none of which made the Top 40.
  • Spring into Summer? OK April would certainly count as Spring but Summer was way off so why even mention Summer in the first place?

The unfathomable bollocks that Bates spoke on this programme! If that were not enough we then had to endure Peter Powell getting in on the act at the song’s end. ‘It’s a bright, young, fresh hit single…’ he blathers. With the upmost respect to Hazell Dean, I don’t think anyone would have described her or her sound as bright, young and fresh. She was 35 at the time which, admittedly is 16 years younger than I am now, but was probably the older end of the scale for pop stars in an era when the likes of Tiffany, Debbie Gibson and Bros were all teenagers having huge success.

Hazell didn’t seem put off by any of this tripe though and puts in a solid, committed performance as she always did. She was a bit like the James Milner of 80s pop stars in many ways but better looking and not boring. Hmm…not sure that analogy actually works.

Top 10:

10. Michael Jackson and Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back ’88 Remix

9. Bros – “Drop The Boy”

8. Pebbles – “Girlfriend”

7. Bananarama – “I Want You Back”

6. Hazell Dean -“Who’s Leaving Who”

5. Natalie Cole – “Pink Cadillac”

4. Fleetwood Mac – “Everywhere”

3. S’Express – “Theme From S’Express”

2. Climie Fisher – “Love Changes Everything”

1. Pet Shop Boys – “Heart”: I think this is the first time we’ve seen the Nosferatu themed video for this one. Fine actor though he is, I’m not sure the scenes with Sir Ian McKellen as a vampire figure actually add anything to the visual depiction of the song. It’s possible it looked more affecting back then – maybe our expectations of film and TV have grown so exponentially due to technology ‘s advancements that anything from the past looks  – well… a bit shit by comparison I suppose.

Two songs in the Top 10 with the same title! Not the same song though obviously. Whilst Bananarama were peddling their latest Stock, Aitken and Waterman ditty “I Want You Back”, The Jackson 5 or Michael Jackson with The Jackson 5 as it was packaged were tearing it up with “I Want You Back ’88 Remix”. The original 1969 US No 1 is considered one of the most sampled songs in all of hip-hop history having been used over 60 times by the likes of Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. Indeed in 1988, it had featured heavily in Eric B and Rakim’s “I Know You Got Soul” single. Given the renewed interest in the track, I guess it was no surprise that Motown decided to re-release it with a fashionable remix which incorporates their other copycat hit “ABC”. It was also a tie-in with the 30th anniversary of Motown being founded. As with everything in this year though, there was a SAW connection as the remix was produced by the PWL studio’s Phil Harding who coincidentally did some of the remixes for that Jermaine Stewart album re-issue. This blog isn’t just thrown together you know.

The video features the The Jackson 5ive cartoon which ran from 1971-72 and which I can just about remember from my very early childhood days (along with the The Osmonds cartoon).

You cannot deny the irrepressible joy that bursts from this song so I won’t try to. A deservedly recognised classic.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 S’Express Theme From S’Express No but my wife had their album ‘Original Soundtrack’

2

 George Michael One More Try No but my sister had the Faith album

3

 Danny Wilson Mary’s Prayer Yes! Yes! Yes!

4

 Pat & Mick Let’s All Chant No! No! No!

5

 Will Downing A Love Supreme No but my housemate Roy had the album I think

6

 James Brown The Payback Mix 1988 I took it to the bridge and chucked it over the side – No!

7

 Patrick Swayze She’s Like The Wind No but I think my wife had the Dirty Dancing soundtrack

8

 Jermaine Stewart Get Lucky Not my bag at all

9

 Hazell Dean Who’s Leaving Who No

10

 Pet Shop Boys Heart No but I have it on their “Pop Art” collection CD

11

 Michael Jackson with The Jackson 5 I want You Back ’88 Remix Don’t think so

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show as I can’t find the full programme on YouTube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0007778/top-of-the-pops-21041988

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?

31317890403_d76dcd94cd_n

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2018/04/april-20-may-3-1988.html

TOTP 14 APR 1988

Posted on by 80stastic

imgresThis is my 200th TOTP Rewind post! 200! I have written 427,224 words exactly in the previous 199 posts since the first one in February 2017 and I have covered over five years worth of TOTP repeats starting in Jan 1983 up to April 1988 so far. A big thank you to anyone who has ever looked at my blog and read any of my TOTP reviews! I try to include my recollections of the songs and artists featured as I consumed them at the time. Alongside that I have been known to throw in some of the personal stuff that I can remember. During the years covered in this blog, I have gone from the age of 14 to 19 so quite a lot has changed for me. I started out as a wet behind the ears school kid whose social contact with anyone female outside of my family was zero to a second year Polytechnic student with a girlfriend who would become my wife. I plan to carry on with the blog and see out the decade seeing as I’ve come this far and am not that far away from the end now.

So who are the lucky acts to feature in my milestone post? It’s a curious assortment for sure. Cheesy pop, synth pop, rock, sample heavy dance, boy band, the poppier end of R’N’B and… T’Pau (not sure how to categorise them). Tonight’s presenters are …oh shit….Steve Wright and Bruno Brookes -two massive egos squeezing into our screens then.

First on tonight are Bananarama...or is it? Well yes and no. It is but not the version that we have grown up with. This is Bananarama 2.0 (not that anybody would have used that term back then). Siobhan has gone and been replaced by Jacquie O’Sullivan who was described at the time in Smash Hits magazine as looking ‘a mite spooky’ by which I think they meant a bit of a goth. Having known Jacquie for a number of years before this monumental happening (O’Sullivan had been in rockabilly punksters The Shillelagh Sisters in the early 80s) she was the unanimous choice as a replacement for Siobhan Indeed. Fahey herself even endorsed her. So a couple of questions at this point…why did Siobhan leave and why did they feel they needed a replacement for her at all? Apparently the Stock, Aitken and Waterman studios with whom the girls had thrown their lot in was not the most politically correct work environment and Fahey had grown tired of the constant sexist remarks from the SAW producers and split. As for why they still needed to remain a trio, I’m not sure especially given that they operated as a duo from 1992 to the present day (bar the reunion tour with Fahey of last year).

Initially the change appeared flawless with Jacquie taking up the baton seamlessly as her first single with the ‘nanas – “I Want You Back” – which was re-recorded to include Jacquie’s vocals instead of Siobhan’s – peaking at No 5. However, behind the scenes, it wasn’t so harmonious. In a Guardian interview earlier this year O’Sullivan said:

“I was a feral young girl, I’d come from a band with a punk mentality (girl group the Shillelagh Sisters) and literally didn’t wash, I was so wild, and when I joined this band that felt like a machine, I didn’t deal with it very well. I was self-medicating, not turning up for interviews, and at the end it got so bad that Hillary [Shaw], our manager, would be ringing round hotels to see if I was there, cos we were supposed to be flying off to do a show.”

There were rumours coming out of said machine that O’Sullivan felt like she had never been accepted as a fully fledged member of the group by Keren and Sarah and was more of an employee and, after paying her band dues for three years and still being referred to as the new girl, she left.

Pop music fans seem more accepting of change these days  though – look at the case of The Sugababes and their endless revolving door recruitment policy. Times certainly changed for Jacquie who is now a yoga teacher and massage therapist.

In this TOTP performance, they seem a lot more choreographed and rehearsed than ever before which may have been a deliberate move to show a united front and certainly O’Sullivan doesn’t seem phased up there as a part of the 80s biggest UK all girl act. Wonder if she would have taken part in a show in that reunion tour if asked?

Still cruising on up the charts is Natalie Cole with “Pink Cadillac”. I’ve been thinking what Natalie’s version of the song reminds me of and I’ve finally got there. It could be a companion piece to Aretha Franklin’s 1985 US hit “Freeway Of Love”. No really, listen…

See? Anyway, Natalie would see out the decade with two almost identical big slushy ballads in “I Live For Your Love” and “Miss You Like Crazy” before paying tribute to her father Nat with her “Unforgettable… with Love” covers album in 1991. Sadly she died in 2015 from heart failure following a kidney transplant .

Here’s Climie Fisher next riding the crest of their own particular wave with “Love Changes Everything”. Simon Climie goes a bit creepy right at the start of the song where he kneels down and sings directly to some random member of the TOTP audience and then tousles her hair at the end.

It put me in mind of a scene from the greatest rock movie ever made (in my opinion) Stardust when Paul Nicholas’s character Johnny breaks rank from the band to do a similar thing. Sorry about the gratuitous ‘do you two fancy a grind?’ stuff in the preamble.

Despite that ill advised move, Climie looks a lot more comfortable in his role as lead singer than he did when he first appeared on the show earlier in the year. Also, has the guitarist pinched that silver guitar off Erasure’s Vince Clarke. It looks just like the one he had in the “Sometimes” video.

This week’s Breakers start with Def Leppard who, having finally achieved success in the home country, are milking it for all its worth. “Armageddon It” was the fourth single (of six) taken from their album “Hysteria” and was a creditable No 11 hit over here. Their US fans remained even more infatuated with the band though and they made the song a No 3 smash.

The single’s dumb play on words title is excruciating but they would continue in this vein into the next decade. Early ’90s single “Let’s Get Rocked” with its lyrics about being chastised by a father for not taking out ‘the trash’ nor tidying their room was lame beyond belief – singer Joe Elliot was 32 at the time of recording those lyrics! Follow up “Make Love Like A Man”…well…let’s not even go there.

We arrive at one of the records of the year. S’Express was essentially producer and DJ Mark Moore and he used that vehicle to ride the wave of the UK acid house explosion. We’d already seen a number of dance tracks in the charts even at this early stage in the year many of which plundered heavily the sample culture but Mark Moore was the first I think to take such a track to No 1 in the mainstream national chart.

Relying heavily on samples as diverse as Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Debbie Harry and Rose Royce (there’s even a bit of Yazoo in there apparently), “Theme from S-Express” was a chart sensation. Now I was still very unsure about all this dance music being in the Top 40 but my God this was an irresistible tune and no mistake. I think I even strutted my stuff to it more than once down at some of Sunderland’s nighteries. I distinctly remember being in the queue for one such nightclub (Ku Club I think) and hearing the DJ playing this track and some card  singing ‘I caught the pox off you’ to the “I Got the Hots for You” sample. How we laughed!

An odd release from a band trying to consolidate their recent runaway success next. “Sex Talk (Live)” by T’Pau was the fourth single to be taken from their “Bridge Of Spies” album. So was it a brave or foolhardy decision to promote a song called “Sex Talk”? The stuffy BBC may have banned it  – they had a history of doing so with Frankie’s  “Relax” and George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” – but then that controversy may have raised their profile even more. And why was a live version released as a single? The album version isn’t live. Apparently it was released to give fans a taste of what the band were like live and to stimulate sales of tour tickets. In the end nothing much happened – it wasn’t banned and it was only a very moderate hit and peaked at number 23.

I guess it was an attempt by the band to show that as well as doing epic ballads (“China In Your Hand”) and frothy pop (“Heart And Soul”) they could rock as well. It’s a decent effort and they had similar songs on the album like “Monkey House” but were they in danger of spreading themselves too thin? I come back to my question at the top of the post – how do you categorise T’Pau?

I really never realised how many hits Jermaine Stewart had! Sure, we could all reel off “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”. Some of us could maybe even dredge up “Say It Again” from our memory banks but “Get Lucky”?! Surely even the most ardent 80s pop aficionados would struggle with that one?! And what’s he done with his hair?! In an interview with Smash Hits magazine he said that he achieved this new look by the use of lots of hair clips and lots of blow drying. He also admitted that he’d only just started shaving in the last two weeks and that he had to ask his mate Jeffrey Daniels from Shalamar to show him how! That can’t be right surely? He was 30 at the time! I’m pretty sure I started shaving by the time I was at least 16 if not before.

Not quite as startling a revelation as the shaving story but “Get Lucky” was co-written by Simon Climie of Climie Fisher fame whom we saw earlier. What are the chances?!

Have we ever had a studio performance by Jellybean before? I’m thinking they were all videos previously. He’s here with his latest female vocalist Adele Bertei for the single “Just A Mirage”.Now I’ve got to be honest, I’m not sure I ever knew what Adele Bertei looked like but whatever I was expecting it wasn’t this. She looks a bit like Suzanne Vega doesn’t she? Pretty cool actually in her timeless leather jacket. Jellybean, on the other hand, looks like a proper knacker. Apparently it wasn’t just his clothes that were objectionable though. Here’s @TOTPFacts:

Why am I not surprised?!

Another American act whose made the trip across the pond to our shores is Pebbles. Although her profile in this country is that of an 80s one hit wonder, in the US she was much more of a big deal. Not only did she have three Top 5 hits over there (including “Girlfriend”) but in the 90s she went onto manage R’N’B super group TLC.

I guess Pebbles’s image here was more what I was expecting Adele Bertei to be sporting. Sort of Sheila E’s younger sister. Anyway, listening back to it now, the section of the song with the ‘To believe or not to believe ,that is the question” lyrics and the pronunciation of the word ‘question’ as “kwest-ee-on’  is all a bit shouty and unnecessary it seems to me but then I am 51 now and I was 19 then so maybe that explains that.

The Top 10:

10. Aswad – “Don’t Turn Around”

9. Hazell Dean – “Who’s Leaving Who”

8. Taylor Dayne – “Prove Your Love”

7. Eighth Wonder – “I’m Not Scared”

6. Sinitta – “Cross My Broken Heart”

5. Fleetwood Mac – “Everywhere”

4. Tiffany -“Could’ve Been”

3. Climie Fisher – “Love Changes Everything”

2. Bros – “Drop The Boy”

1. Pet Shop Boys – “Heart”: Like many of their songs that were hits around this time, this one was originally demoed for their first album “Please” but eventually made it onto second album “Actually”. I never liked it that much and I’m not alone in that. Chris Lowe himself is on record as saying “It just shows that chart positions aren’t the be all and end all. ‘Heart’ isn’t in the same league as ‘Being Boring’.  Talking of being boring, isn’t it about time Chris ditched that sailor’s outfit look? How long had he been persisting with that?!

God is this still near the top of the charts? In a Smash Hits interview where they reviewed their own debut album “Push”, Bros described “Drop The Boy” as being “a song about our generation” and that “we’re the only group that write songs about our generation”. Blimey! Don’t tell The Who!

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Bananarama I Want You Back Hideously catchy but hideously uncool at the same time – no

2

 Natalie Cole Pink Cadillac Nope

3

 Climie Fisher Love Changes Everything Yes, yes I did. Deal with it

4

 Def Leppard Armageddon It Definite no

5

 S’Express Theme From S’Express No but my wife had their album ‘Original Soundtrack’

6

 T’Pau Sex Talk (Live) No but I had the album – no I did, really.

7

 Jermaine Stewart Get Lucky Not my bag at all

8

 Jellybean with Adele Bertei Just A Mirage Negative

9

 Pebbles Girlfriend No but I have the Beautiful South album with their version of it

10

 Pet Shop Boys Heart No but I have it on their “Pop Art” collection CD

11

 Bros Drop The Boy No but again my wife had the album

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show as I can’t find the full programme on YouTube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000776j/top-of-the-pops-14041988

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?

31317652763_40f72ca612_n

 

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2018/04/april-6-19-1988.html

 

TOTP 07 APR 1988

Posted on by 80stastic

We’ve missed an episode that was Mike Smith’d so we have landed in April 1988 and with a show that features a whole ten songs that haven’t been seen before on these TOTP repeats. Watching all these shows back now, it got me wondering how I would have seen any of them when originally broadcast? I was in my second year of being a student at Sunderland Polytechnic living in a shared house with four other guys but only one of them had a TV and that was in his room so unless I crashed his space every Thursday at around 7.30 I don’t see how I would have watched any of them. I think at some point we may have had a portable TV in the downstairs kitchen area but I don’t recall watching many shows via that method. So how did I even know what some of these new acts looked like if I wasn’t seeing them on TOTP? We didn’t have YouTube, iPlayer and Netflix back then, we didn’t even have a access to a VHS recorder to tape them. I’m pretty sure I had left my Smash Hits reading days well behind me by then so that wasn’t an option. Saturday morning TV? Possibly – it was a staple of student living back then not like today when terrestrial TV schedules are full of food magazine programmes hosted by the likes of Sara Cox and that bloke who used to be on Soccer AM. Or maybe it was just by seeing their images on album covers down at HMV and Our Price.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I knew who Taylor Dayne was by this point as this was her second Top 40 hit in a matter of weeks. My memory tells me that “Prove Your Love” sounded exactly like previous single “Tell It To My Heart”  – let’s see if I was right – see you in about three minutes time…

…yep, think I was spot on in my initial assessment. It sounds exactly like it was meant to  – a copycat of the first hit to guarantee a second. Probably written in a rush to capitalise on her momentum before the record buying public moved on to somebody else. The Richie Sambora lookalike with the guitar solo in the middle of it is a bit incongruous though. And quite why was she being chased by the press everywhere as presenter Simon Mayo tells us?

*trawls internet*

Well, I’m not sure that I found what she was being hounded for in the press in 1988 but I did find a bizarre website called marriedbio.com which seems to be a foreign language site that has been shoved in its entirety through google translate resulting in some rather odd translations. For example, “Prove Your Love” comes out as “Demonstrate Your Adoration”. There’s more…”Tell It To My Heart” is “Instruct It To My Heart” while flop single “I’ll Always Love you” is re-imaged as “I’ll Generally Cherish You”.

“Demonstrate Your Adoration”  “Prove Your Love” peaked at No 8 in the UK Top 40.

I have said this many, many times in this blog but the UK chart fortunes of the singles released from  Fleetwood Mac‘s “Tango In The Night” made no sense whatsoever – it was almost deranged. The chart placings in chronological order for said singles were:

9 – 56 – 5 – 54 – 4 – 60

Just bonkers. The last of those hits (and indeed their last ever UK Top 40 hit) was “Everywhere”. Why was this one a hit where other releases from the album had failed? I don’t know is my honest answer and believe me I tried to fathom the reasons why some records were chart hits and some weren’t –  I even wrote a dissertation about it for my degree. In the case of this particular song, Time Out magazine went one step further in an article in 2017 where they came up with five reasons why “Everywhere” has become a millennial anthem no less. One of them was that it was, in their words, ‘simply an amazing song’. They went even further (much further) though when they said of it that it ‘is the kind of song a celestial unicorn would listen to before dancing merrily atop a cloud’. Holy shit! I’m not having that. I mean it’s pleasant enough but celestial unicorns? Really?!

Written and sung by Christine McVie rathe than Stevie Nicks for once, it does have a ethereal quality to it with some tinkling synth work and a gently bobbing beat that runs throughout it but a millennial anthem? Apparently it’s all to do with Balearic beats, a 2010 dance remix and a mobile phone advert featuring a moonwalking Shetland pony. Whatever. Sounds like a load of guff to me which incidentally is also what the video they made for it is as well.

Who’s this bloke? Glen Goldsmith? Err? No – sorry – going to have to look him up?

*checks Wikipedia*

Oh OK – he had a few minor hits around this time including “Dreaming” which was actually his biggest (No 12). Apparently he was also on the Band Aid II record but that abomination is not his worst crime against music. No – for Glen did something far more heinous – he helped to write “Mysterious Girl” that gave the world Peter pissing Andre and for that alone he should hang his head in eternal shame. Not content with that though he also inflicted other Andre hits upon us including “I Feel You” and “Natural”. Fuck’s sake man!

Anyway, “Dreaming” was jus the sort of record that I hated back in the day – crappy , plastic soul that was paper thin on any quality. Begone with you sir!

Three Breakers this week. Now I knew that “Pink Cadillac” was a Bruce Springsteen song but I don’t think I knew until now that it’s the B-side to his 1984 hit “Dancing In The Dark”. Natalie Cole‘s version of it gave her a surprise Top 5 UK hit four years later. I wasn’t aware of Natalie Cole before this but she’d been around since the mid 70s doing R&B material that was largely ignored by UK audiences. despite being Nat ‘King’ Cole’s daughter. This out and out pop direction was much more to our tastes though and kick started a small collection of hits throughout the rest of the decade.

“Pink Cadillac” was the Finbar Saunders of 1988 chart hits with its barely veiled sexual innuendos masquerading as car references. Apparently The Boss thought Natalie’s version was pretty cool and was pleased with the way it turned out given that it was being sung by a woman – he had vetoed an earlier attempt by Bette Midler to cover the song. I like the way the video has a Springsteen lookalike in it which indicates Natalie giving credit to the songwriter but also saying ‘yeah I know it’s his song but this is my version’.

A one hit wonder this side of the pond, Perri Arlette Reid  was far more successful in her own country. “Girlfriend” was the only UK chart entry for the woman better known as Pebbles (after the Flintstones character nobody will be surprised to hear) which peaked at No 8.

Sounding like it could have been a Prince cast off (it wasn’t) it had just about enough about it for me not to dismiss it as yet another R&B bore. However, I much prefer The Beautiful South’s version which they recorded for their debut album. An unlikely choice but it works.

Fuck’s sake! Another TOTP and another AC/DC song. I had no recollection of the Aussie rockers being in our charts around this time but they seem to be permanent residents. “That’s The Way I Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll” (could they have come up with a more lame and predictable title?) was another single pulled from their “Blow up Your Video” album and reached No 22. I’m sorry but I just never got the boat to AC/DC island. I just don’t see it.

The video was recorded at a show in the Birmingham NEC where I saw my first ever concert  – Spandau Ballet since you’re asking and probably the reason why I don’t get AC/DC.

Where the Hell did this come from? Hazell Dean hadn’t been anywhere near the TOTP studio for nigh on four years before she returned with “Who’s Leaving Who”. To be fair, she’s been a bit unlucky with two singles in the intervening years peaking at that most unfortunate position of No 41. So how did she manage to regain her place in the nation’s charts and hearts? As ever with 1988, the answer lay with Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Producers of her last chart entry “Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)”, the trio were also responsible for “Who’s Leaving Who” and before we knew it, Hazell was back in the Top 5 once more. It was as if she’s never been away. Even her hairstyle didn’t seemed to have changed. This just seemed to demonstrate to me the power that SAW had at that time. I imagine the conversation between them going something like this:

Aitken: “What we doing this week Pete?’

Waterman: “Dunno – any more Aussie soap stars loitering in the corridor wanting a hit record?”

Stock: “Nah, that was last week.”

Waterman: “What’s Rick Astley up to?”

Aitken: “He’s busy shooting a video”

Waterman: “Oh hang on. What was the name of that girl from Essex we produced years ago? The one who did the Hi-NRG hits? Hazell something?”

Stock: “Hazell Dean? Nobody’s interested in her anymore.”

Waterman: “Hold my beer. I’ve got an idea”

Hazell’s resurrection was short lived – a couple of minor hits followed later in the year and then it was all over (again) almost as soon as it had started. She is still a firm favourite with the LGBT community and she frequently performs at LGBT Pride events.

Unlike the previous year when Eurovision passed me by completely including our UK entry, 1988’s contest will stay with me forever. Why? Ah well, that ‘s for a later post when the TOTP that was broadcast nearer the date of the actual contest airs. For now though we have a preview of the UK entry which is a song called simply “Go” by one Scott Fitzgerald. Not the celebrated American author responsible for The Great Gatsby but a Scottish bloke who had a duet hit back in the 70s with Yvonne Keeley with “If I Had Words”. Yeah, that’s right, this song…

Is it me or does Scott look like David Copperfield from early 80s comedy sketch show Three Of A Kind in that clip? Anyway, fast forward 10 years or so and he’s gone a bit blonde and is doing a Tom Jones impression. How did he get on at Eurovision? All in good time…

The Top 10 was thus:

10. Kylie Minogue – “I Should Be So Lucky”

9. Eigth Wonder – “I’m Not Scared”

8. A-ha – “Stay On These Roads”

7. Climie Fisher – “Love Changes Everything”

6. Sinitta – “Cross My Broken Heart”

5. Iron Maiden – “Can I Play With Madness”

4. Tiffany – “Could’ve Been”

3. Aswad – “Don’t Turn Around”

2. Bros – “Drop The Boy”

1. Pet Shop Boys – “Heart”: Now then – here’s a coincidence. In the same show where Hazell Dean makes her unexpected return to TOTP after a four year hiatus, the new No 1 is a song that was originally going to be offered to her to record. Yep, “Heart’ was originally earmarked for the Hi-NRG priestess herself and also at one point Madonna but in the end Neil and Chris kept it for themselves and what a good decision that turned out to be. As Gary Davies rightly says, this was their third No 1 in the last 12 months (and fourth in total) but it would also mark the end of their imperial phase.

I was never that struck on “Heart’ though. It sounded a bit one dimensional to me compared to the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink extravagance of “It’s A Sin” or “Suburbia”. I found the ‘ah ah uh uh ah’ refrain that runs throughout it a bit annoying if I’m honest. The fact that it made No 1 made me think that they were now operating on a SAW scale where they could release anything and it would be a huge seller. The massive hits would get dialled down a bit from this point in but nobody can deny their longevity as they continue to record and release new music some 31 years after this performance.

Blimey! Never mind it feeling like AC/DC were permanently on the show at this time, here’s Jellybean again with yet another new single. This time it’s “Just A Mirage” featuring another guest singer in Adele Bertei. As with his previous three UK hits, this track was taken from his “Just Visiting This Planet” album and achieved a respectable No 13 chart peak. In fact, all his singles were reasonably sized hits reaching positions 10,13,12 and 13 which is pretty good going to say they were all shite.

Wikipedia tells me that Adele Bertei duetted with Thomas Dolby on his single “Hyperactive!” which I didn’t know before now.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Taylor Dayne Prove Your Love A big fat no from me

2

 Fleetwood Mac Everywhere No but my wife had the ”Tango In The Night” album on cassette

3

 Glen Goldsmith Dreaming Dreaming? More like a nightmare – no

4

 Natalie Cole Pink Cadillac Nope

5

 Pebbles Girlfriend No but I have the Beautiful South album with their version of it

6

 AC/DC That’s The Way I Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll Bah! No!

7

 Hazell Dean Who’s Leaving Who No

8

 Scott Fitzgerald Go I did not

9

 Pet Shop Boys Heart No but I have it on their “Pop Art” collection CD

10

 Jellybean with Adele Bertei Just A Mirage Negative

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show as I can’t find the full programme on YouTube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00071fk/top-of-the-pops-07041988

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?

31317652763_40f72ca612_n

 

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2018/04/april-6-19-1988.html

TOTP 07 JAN 1988

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s very early January in 1988. Xmas has come and gone and despite there being two overtly Xmas themed songs in the Top 10, UK pop fans are eagerly awaiting the next big thing to hit them right between the eyes. Well, of the nine songs on the show tonight, eight are making their debut so spirits are high. Let’ see what wonders await us…

Oh Christ! A new year doesn’t necessarily mean a changing of the guard as tonight’s presenters are Mike Read and Simon Bates who couldn’t be more establishment if they tried. There’s a suitably safe song to start them off as Sinitta bursts onto our screens with her latest SAW penned effort “GTO”. OK – let’s get this straight from the start (as Kevin Rowland once sang) – this is absolute, never to be disputed, 100% shite. As blatant a formula led follow up single as you’re ever likely to hear – it’s basically previous hit “Toy Boy” but instead of focussing on age, the theme to this one is cars – or more specifically a Ferrari 250 GTO. Does Sinitta’s fella love his car or his girl more? God almighty! That we have come to this so early in the year. It didn’t bode well.

This No 15 hit would prove to be one of the lesser PWL efforts in a year when they would dominate the Top 40 more tightly than Juventus and their grip on the Serie A title. Fair play to Sinitta who has just recycled her “Toy Boy” look into something eminently workable for a post Xmas crowd looking to buy anything that is not festively inclined. She would return to the Top 10 twice before the decade was out but for now, she’s just ticking over.

John ‘Jellybean’ Benitez was on a hot streak around this time. Not only did he have a hit at No 16 with Elisa Fiorillo in “Who Found Who” but he was right up his own arse with a follow up hit already with “Jingo” at No 17. My abiding memory of this record is that I knew a guy called Jon who was a housemate of someone on my course. John was quite the alpha male but he was ever so slightly belittled by the rest of his housemates who used to sing “Jongo” at him to the tune of “Jingo”. Look, I never said it was a good story just my memory of the song! That’s pretty much all I’ve got on this one other than it peaked at No 12.

As Mike Read notes in his intro, it had been seven years since the next band’s first appearance on the show and by 1988 Depeche Mode were well into their journey from fluffy little pop puppets to serious purveyors of doom laden synth rock. “Behind The Wheel” was the third single from their “Music For The Masses” album and yes, it was another very heavy release. I’d pretty much lost interest in them by this point I must admit. That sound they were exploring didn’t do a lot for me. Was I missing something? Let me listen again….

…no – it  still just leaves me cold. Sorry. Interesting to note in this performance though that Martin Gore is welding a guitar. Was this a thing by this point in their career?

“Behind The Wheel” made No 21 in the UK charts which must have been starting to feel a pretty familiar tale for the band. In the nine releases since their last Top 10 hit (“Master And Servant”) in 1984, the peak positions achieved were:

16-18-18-15-28-17-16-22-21

This suggests that they had a very loyal fan base but were starting to lose the casual follower (like me). Still, they were probably unconcerned. Six months on from this they would play to 60,000 people at the Pasadena Rose Bowl.

As with the Depeche boys, next act The Stranglers hadn’t been anywhere near the Top 10 for nigh on five whole years when “European Female” made No 9 back in 1983. A procession of single releases after that were either minor hits or missed the charts altogether so they were in need of a big hit as they entered their 15th year in existence. So what to do? Yes of course, you release a cover version. I have lost count of the amount of times that old record company trick has been pulled during the course of the past 189 posts in this blog but here it is once more. The cover version chosen to deliver the goods this time was “All Day And All Of The Night” by The Kinks. Ironic really as you could make a case that The Kinks essentially covered themselves for this one. “All Day And All Of The Night” is basically “You Really Got Me” isn’t it?

Anyway, the record company (CBS in this case) knew their stuff as The Stranglers took their version all the way to No 7. It was to be their last ever Top 10 appearance. If I’d been pressed, I would have said that this had been a hit a couple of year later but I think I’m getting confused with “96 Tears” which they also covered and it was indeed a hit in 1990.

Here come the Breakers…and first up is some prime “Faith” era George Michael. Despite having already released two singles from the album (three in the US), George (or maybe record label Columbia) was nowhere near done as “Father Figure” would be followed by another two singles all pulled from “Faith”. This track was a much fuller and rich sound than the stripped back rockabilly stylings of the album’s title track and always sounded to me like a logical extension to “A Different Corner”. The fact that he chose not to follow what would have been a safe route but instead unleashed “I Want Your Sex’ on his fan base was quite a risk looking back.

For the record, I didn’t mind it. “Father Figure” peaked at No 11 thereby becoming the first record George Michael was involved in to not make the UK Top 10.

By 1988 it had been over three years since Band Aid and we had all grown very accustomed to charity songs being in the charts. In fact, barely a month went by without another one being released. From USA For Africa to Ferry Aid via Comic Relief, Sport Aid and Artists Against Apartheid – the charity single was no longer a one-off. Indeed, before the decade was out we would have another three charity singles that made it all the way to No 1. 1988’s first addition to this particular genre though was from  G.O.S.H. and “The Wishing Well” which was raising money for the redevelopment of the Great Ormond Street Hospital via its (GOSH) Wishing Well appeal. A noble endeavour and worthy cause that nobody could disagree with. The song however was horrible! As with the previous year’s Ferry Aid record, Boy George was once again one of the lead vocalists but many of the other participants were definitely second rate. Dollar?! Seriously?! What?! It gets worse?! Oh yes….how about Andy Crane (he has no brain) or Roland Rat?! Bonnie Langford?! I shit you not!

“The Wishing Well” reached No 22 in the UK singles chart.

You know those songs that you used to like but have heard so many times down the years that they are now completely unlistenable? This is one of mine. “Sign Your Name” was the fourth single from Terence Trent D’Arby and at the time I thought it was easily his best. Smooth and classy, it was as if it was a calling card for his sound and style and a marker for a guy who people assumed was going to be a major part of the musical landscape for quite some time to come. How wrong we all were. For now though, Terence was certainly a figure of desire for many a young woman. I knew a guy called Dipesh whose girlfriend would come over all unnecessary at the very first few bars of “Sign Your Name”.

Over the years though I have heard this song so many times that I cringe every time it comes on the Absolute 80s playlist which is almost a daily occurrence (or at least it feels like it). As such, the revelation to me that there was a cover version of “Sign Your Name” by Sheryl Crow comes as some much needed relief. Right see you in about four minutes….

…hmm. Well, it’s not bad  – a much more funky take on it with a snake like back beat giving it some extra edge. Yeah. Pretty good.

The Terence Trent D’Arby original was a No 2 hit in the UK and a No 4 in the US.

Top 10

10. Mel & Kim – “Rocking Around The Christmas Tree”

9. Cher – “I Found Someone”

8. Morris Minor and the Majors – “Stutter Rap”

7. Krush – “House Arrest”

6. Alison Moyet – “Love Letters”

5. Wet Wet Wet – “Angel Eyes”

4. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl – “Fairytale Of New York”

3. Michael Jackson – “The Way You Make Me Feel”

2. Belinda Carlisle – Heaven Is A Place On Earth”

1. Pet Shop Boys – “Always On My Mind”: The Xmas No 1 is still there on the top of the heap but won’t be for much longer.

The song was recycled for inclusion on their third album “Introspective” which was released in October of 1988. It was remixed with a dance track and came out of the machine as “Always On My Mind / In My House” which never really did anything for me but if it did for you or you don’t know and it and are intrigued by the thought of such a thing, fill your boots…

Some R&B to close the show from Joyce Sims. Having already had a hit on our shores with “All And All” in 1986, she was back with new track “Come Into My Life”. I hated both of them. Sorry Joyce.

Order of appearance Artist Song Did I Buy it?

1

 Sinitta GTO Big, red pile of shit more like. NO!

2

 Jellybean Jingo Jing – no!

3

 Depeche Mode Behind The Wheel Nah

4

 The Stranglers All Day And All Of The Night I did not

5

 George Michael Father Figure No but my sister had the album and played it constantly in the Summer of 1988

6

 G.O.S.H The Wishing Well No

7

 Terence Trent D’Arby Sign Your Name Nope

8

 Pet Shop Boys Always On My Mind No but its on my Pop Art greatest hits CD

9

 Joyce Sims Come into My Life Get out of my life more like!

Disclaimer

OK – here’s the thing – the TOTP episodes are only available on iPlayer for a limited amount of time so the link to the programme below only works for about another month so you’ll have to work fast if you want to catch the whole show as I can’t find the full programme on YouTube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0005wwk/top-of-the-pops-07011988

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?

31314845683_8e416b3499_n

 

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2017/12/december-30-1987-january-12-1988.html

TOTP 31 DEC 1987

Posted on by 80stastic

All of a sudden it’s New Year’s Eve! We missed the Xmas TOTP show due to the Mike Smith issue so here we are at the very end of 1987 with a sprinkling of new tunes and predictably at this time of the year, a few we’ve already seen before. So let’s say goodbye to ’87 (and possibly good riddance)  with the help of presenters Gary Davies in one of the most 80s  looking suits you could ever  imagine and Peter Powell who has gone a much more casual route….

Ushering in the show and also pointing the way as to how 1988 would pan out are Krush with “House Arrest”. The “I know you gonna dig this ” sample at the start of the song would become almost ubiquitous for a while – in fact it features in another completely different song on this very show! As for Krush, I seem to remember that they were very much seen as cutting edge at the time leading the new revolution of British House music that would dominate the tail end of the decade. It’s hard to believe looking at the state of them here – the vocalist looks like she could be one of Kevin & Perry’s mates with her baseball style hat, rapper medallion and hackneyed crossed arms gestures – but their sound was being lauded as the future of music by those in the know. “One of the biggest dance records of the moment” says Peter Powell (I think he must have been one of those ‘in the know’ types). Did I like it? No, of course not. I thought it was awful and wasn’t into this new fangled house music at all as I had prematurely turned into my Dad it seems.

As was the case with a lot of house hits, Krush would be a one hit wonder act albeit a big one as “House Arrest” peaked at No 3.

Here’s the Nat ‘King’ Cole video again for “When I Fall In Love”. Unlike with other artists from a bygone era who had enjoyed posthumous success when an old track was thrust back into the charts (Jackie Wilson for example), there didn’t appear to be any appetite for a re-releases project of Nat’s back catalogue. Indeed, we didn’t see him in our charts again until 1991 when his daughter Natalie took a version of “Unforgettable” to No 19 with a virtual duet with her father. Talking of Natalie, we may well be seeing some more of her in future TOTP repeats as she embarked on a run of five UK Top 40 hits (including two Top 5) over the next two years.

That second song making use of the “I know you gonna dig this ” sample is up next. Climie Fisher were Simon Climie who was a songwriter who had helped pen a No 1 record for George Michael and Aretha Franklin in “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” and Rob Fisher a keyboardist who had tasted success in the US as part of another duo Naked Eyes in 1983 with a cover of “Always Something There to Remind Me” (which I’d actually bought). Despite this history, they always seemed unlikely pop stars to me though. Fisher was obviously the Chris Lowe of the two whilst Climie never seemed totally at ease with being the front man despite looking a bit like actor heart throb Richard Gere. Unlike Neil Tennant who turned being deadpan into an art form, Simon doesn’t seem to quite know how to play it up there on stage whilst performing their debut hit “Rise To The Occasion”. He’s gone for a vest and jeans look which is something Go West were pedalling nearly three years before. He’s also got a denim jacket that he’s holding as a prop – not quite sure why. Maybe it was his security blanket.

“Rise To The Occasion” was on odd little footnote in the story of  80s pop music. The version  performed on TOTP was the hip-hop mix version but the original version that I had heard first on the radio was a gently lilting ballad. The hip hop remix was quite a shock to the ears the first time I heard it. Completely different in style and sound, it was probably a canny marketing ploy to basically release two different versions of the same song. Essentially what the record label did was to plug into two potentially very disparate record buying markets. The ballad version would appeal to the teen crowd whilst the hip -hop remix hoped to ride the new ‘house music’ wave and pick up some sales there too. It worked as well with “Rise To The Occasion” making No 10 in the UK charts.

I have to admit I quite liked both versions in the end although on reflection the ballad sounds a bit like the Lighthouse Family which is no recommendation at all. Peter Powell calls it perfectly at the song’s end when he advocates for a re-release of their earlier single “Love Changes Everything” which would follow “Rise To The Occasion” into the charts and all the way to No 2. I bought the cassette single of that one and I think it had the hip -hop version of “Rise” on there as an added track. Blimey  – I had three songs featuring Rob Fisher (if you include Naked Eyes)?! Makes me sound like some sort of superfan!

Into the Top 5 and No 1 bound is Belinda Carlisle with “Heaven Is A Place On Earth”. After the US TOTP performance recently we get the official promo video this time which, in an unlikely turn of events, was directed by actress Diane Keaton. The children running on the spot with the lit up globes has a feel of the video for New Order’s “True Faith” but really it was just a blatant advert to say how attractive Belinda was. In a year when another female solo artist by the name of Kylie would inspire a host of babies to be christened with the same name, I’m betting that there weren’t many children named Belinda in 1988. The power of Neighbours back in the day eh?

Despite a career that brought her hits well into the 90s and one that is still going to this day, “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” would prove to be Belinda’s only No 1 record in the UK or the US, In 2017, a free weekly London publication described the song has having “one of the greatest key changes in musical history”. If you think that sounds like crap then catch it about 3.25 into the video…

A novelty record next which I thought was mildly entertaining at the time but which would probably be seen as totally un-PC by today’s standards. Morris Minor and the Majors was essentially a vehicle for comic Tony Hawks and “Stutter Rap” was deemed funny enough by UK record buyers to make it a No 4 hit. Parodying the Beastie Boys music (specifically their song “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”) and fashion style of the time, it also referenced Paul Hardcastle’s “19” and Chaka Khan’s “I Feel For You” to enable the stutter joke. I don’t remember any outrage about the song’s making fun of the condition of stuttering. My mate at Poly Pete had a stutter but I don’t recall having any conversations with him about this record. I could be wrong of course  – it is 32 years ago so my memory may have failed me.

There was a follow up single which lampooned the Stock, Aitken and Waterman sound that was eating the singles charts in 1988 called “This Is The Chorus” but it flopped in the UK. It did however feature the lyrics:

“This is the key change, this is the key change
It’s a standard device to stop us sounding mundane
This is the key change, a fabulous key change
But we’ve done it the once, so we won’t do it again”

I’m not sure it was any where near to rivalling the key change in “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” though.

Tony Hawks is still knocking about as a contributor to radio and TV panel games and wrote a series of books about his idiosyncratic adventures such as Round Ireland with a Fridge and Playing the Moldovans at Tennis both of which I read and enjoyed. He even did one called One Hit Wonderland where he attempted to get another Top 40 hit a decade or so after “Stutter Rap” somewhere in the world to win a dinner party bet. He ended up doing so in Albania with a song featuring Norman Wisdom. I’ve no idea if Mr Grimsdale was part of the collaboration.

The 80s had seen the next act prioritising their film career over music but now she was back. Cher‘s only 80s appearance in the UK charts had been on Meatloaf’s “Dead Ringer For Love” hit back in ’81 and even then she was uncredited. We’d seen far more of her on the sliver screen where she had appeared in four films in the last three years. Having signed with a new label though, her return to the music charts was plotted carefully and tracks for her self titled album were written by the likes of Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Michael Bolton and it was the last of these that supplied her comeback song “I Found Someone”. 

Now I never knew this at the time but it was originally written for Laura Branigan of “Gloria” fame and she did record a version if it. Want to hear it? Here you go…

Yeah it’s nothing to write home about is it. Except….what’s that weird noise that punctuates the chorus? The boiiiing noise? It reminds me of that bit in the old theme tune to Grandstand. You know…

Anyway, Cher’s version was a much more beefed up rock sound and it seemed that she had found the genre to put her back into the frame as a credible recording artist. with “I Found Someone” going Top 10 in the US and Top 5 over here. And that video that Peter Powell talks up in his intro? I’m guessing the fuss is all about Cher’s outfit (or lack of one). She would repeat the outfit and musical style trick two years later with the single and video for her song “If I Could Turn Back Time” but that’s all for another day and another post.

Wet Wet Wet were becoming TOTP regulars by this point. “Angel Eyes (Home And Away)” had given their third consecutive Top 10 hit. Still touring in 2019, the band now have a new lead singer – Liberty X’s Kevin Simm. I wonder if audiences catching their current shows feel as it they have actually seen the real Wet Wet Wet. It’s a similar story with Spandau Ballet who replaced Tony Hadley recently with Ross William Wild but he has subsequently left the band so where does that leave them? It’s a hard trick to pull off to continue to have success when a band changes singer. For every Manfred Mann, there’s a Haircut One Hundred. Also, I am fascinated by the story of how The Beatles drafted in Jimmy Nicol to replace Ringo when he had tonsillitis. Did the crowds that saw the shows with Jimmy on the drums actually see The Beatles?

With some nice synchronicity, 1988 would see Wet Wet Wet score their first No 1 with a version of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends”.

The Top 10:

10. Wet Wet Wet – “Angel Eyes (Home And Away)”

9. T’Pau – “China In Your Hand”

8. Michael Jackson – “The Way You Make Me Feel”

7. Rick Astley – “When I Fall In Love”

6. Alison Moyet – “Love Letters”

5. Belinda Carlisle – “Heaven Is A Place On Earth”

4. Nat ‘King’ Cole – “When I Fall In Love”

3. Mel and Kim – “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”

2. The Pogues / Kirsty MacColl – “Fairytale Of New York”

1. Pet Shop Boys – “Always On My Mind”: The Xmas No 1 of 1987 enters the New Year as the top selling single also. We get the video for this show featuring a cameo by actor Joss Ackland. It’s all very dreamlike and in keeping with the duo’s arty pretensions especially when you consider it was a part of their “It Couldn’t Happen Here” musical film which was their very own “Magical Mystery Tour ” moment. The film wasn’t well received by the critics and the fact that it has never been released on DVD and is still only available from third party sellers as a VHS speaks volumes.

Neil and Chris would be back at the top of the charts soon enough but their imperial phase was about to be curtailed.

Quite why we had to end the New Year’s Eve programme with a Christmas song I don’t know but I suppose it was the No 3 song of the week and it was all for Comic Relief so it made its own case. Mel & Kim (how we laughed) was the frankly bizarre pairing of comedian Mel Smith and Kim Wilde who was undergoing a bit of a renaissance at this point. I’ve  never liked “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” –  not even the Brenda Lee original.  I could just about tolerate the video – very possibly due to the charms of Miss Wilde – but to me it just wan’t that funny. Once you’d got past the word play on Mel & Kim, there wasn’t much else bar a cameo by Curiosity Killed The Cat in the video – the door being shut on them by Mel Smith was a metaphorical closure of their pop career it turned out.

Despite my reservations, this song has become a staple of Xmas playlists since and I fully expect to hear it blaring from my radio in approximately six months time.

 

Order of appearanceArtistSongDid I Buy it?

1

KrushHouse ArrestNo – bloody new fangled music!

2

Nat ‘King’ ColeWhen I Fall In LoveNo but I am eternally grateful to it for keeping Rick Astley from the No 1 spot

3

Climie FisherRise To The OccasionThe hip hop remix was on my cassette single of their next release

4

Belinda CarlisleHeaven Is A Place On EarthNo but its on my iTunes

5

Morris Minor And The MajorsStutter RapNah

6

CherI Found SomeoneNope

7

Wet Wet WetAngel Eyes (Home And Away)No but my wife had the album on cassette

8

Pet Shop BoysAlways On My MindNo but its on my Pop Art greatest hits CD

9

Mel & KimRockin’ Around The Christmas TreeAnd 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 as I can’t find the full programme on YouTube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0005j37/top-of-the-pops-31121987

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?

31314845683_8e416b3499_n

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2017/12/december-30-1987-january-12-1988.html