Simply Red

TOTP 27 JUL 1989

Posted on April 30, 2020 by 80stastic

It’s the ultimate pairing of nice but dull co-hosts for this episode of TOTP. Mark Goodier and Simon Parkin – not a shred of personality between them. One of the things I have noticed from reviewing nearly 7 years worth of TOTP 80s repeats is just how appalling the presenters were. From those who thought the show was all about them and whose egos could hardly be contained within the studio like Simon Bates, Steve Wright and serial offender Mike Read through to the sickeningly over enthusiastic like Anthea Turner and onto the thoroughly dull like this pair. And I’m not sure there is one of them that hasn’t cocked up a link somewhere along the line. Look, I’m not saying I could have done it any better (I would have been hopeless) but it was kind of their job wasn’t it, presenting, broadcasting and all that? I’m a bit sick of the lot of them after three and a half years of writing this blog.

Also “Sick Of It” were the night’s opening act The Primitives (see what I did there? Maybe I could have done the links in between acts after all!). Yes, proving that there was way more to them than just “Crash”, this was the band’s fourth and final visit to the Top 40. What has happened to Tracy’s hair though? Where have her peroxide blonde locks gone? Helpfully, here’s @TOTPFacts with the answer…

Obviously the big talking point here is TRACY'S HAIR. Why did 1989-model Tracy dye it? "I've been bleaching my hair on and off for eight years, and I was just sick of it… The condition of my hair was going downhill, so I had to choose – I could either be bald or red." #TOTP

— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) April 24, 2020

“Sick Of It” was pretty standard Primitives fare I thought but that’s not a criticism. Listening back to it now, it could easily have been a massive BritPop anthem by the likes of Echobelly (again not a bad thing at all – I loved Echobelly). As it was, in 1989, it peaked at No 24.

Here’s Gloria Estefan with her latest hit “Don’t Wanna Lose You”. Taken from her “Cuts Both Ways” album, its ten tracks were split between the only two types of song that Gloria ever produced – the huge ballad and the Latin influenced uptempo dance number. “Don’t Wanna Lose You” was definitely in the former category. Estefan earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance with this track but lost out to Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time.” You can make up your own minds whether the judges made the right decision. Bonnie….

Or Gloria…

There then follows a very weird link shot of Goodier and Parkin from the legs up (nobody needed to see that) before going into the first part of the chart rundown before Parkin gets the title of Inner City‘s latest hit single wrong. What did I say about there’s always a cocked uplink somewhere in the show?! For the record Simon, it was called “Do You Love What You Feel” and Not “Do You Love The Way You Feel”. I’m not surprised he couldn’t recall the title though as the song is instantly forgettable. I certainly didn’t remember this one either.

Wikipedia advises me that another of this week’s chart acts also released a song called “Do You Love What You Feel” namely Rufus and Chaka Khan but I don’t know their song either.

Inner City peaked at No 16 with this one.

There’s a woman stood next to Mark Goodier in the next link into Kirsty MacColl who seems to have been the inspiration for the Kathy Burke character in Gimme Gimme Gimme. I really shouldn’t be making such comments about looks but it really is a striking image that the lady in question went for. Anyway, back to Kirsty and her Kinks cover “Days”. Seeing her perform in the TOTP studio reminds me how infrequently she was actually on the show. Yes there are the evergreen performances of “A Fairytale Of New York” with The Pogues and memorable cameos with the likes of Happy Mondays and Jona Lewie but performances in her own right? Not that many I would suggest. Her voice sounds brilliant here and the track was a canny choice of cover version fitting in with her own cannon of caustic, melody heavy songs.

Kirsty was a long time sufferer of stage fright and tried many different solutions to combat it including hypnotism but the best remedy she found? Touring with Shane Magowan and the lads!

“Days” peaked at No 12.

It’s the Breakers now and I have realised something truly shocking. There was a choice to be made here about the acts featured in this section that was seismic and I got it wrong. I made a bogus decision. I could have nailed my colours to the flag post of a band that would become iconic in terms of the impact that they had on the UK music scene with a legacy that would still be discussed some 30 years later. And me? I plumped for the wrong act entirely. Given the choice of Gun or The Stone Roses, it seems to me that I chose the former. Jesus what was I thinking?! In my mind’s eye, The Stone Roses were a phenomenon that occurred much later in 1989 but here we are in late July and they are on the BBC’ s flagship music show. It should have been my moment. I’d already chosen to ignore The Smiths some 6 years earlier but here was my shot at redemption. The Stone Roses! I was ripe for their influence. This was their time. This was my time but no. I chose to overlook them in favour of Gun, some Glasgow rockers whose fame was as fleeting as their band name was ordinary.

And yet “Better Days” sounded like a quality song to me. Smash Hits (albeit rather tongue-in -cheek) described them as ‘new rock sensations’. They even toured with the The Rolling Stones! These guys could be big I thought.

Their sound was definitely rock with strident guitars and heavy drums aplenty but there was a lot of melody in there as well. The lead singer’s vocals sounded authentic and seemed perfectly matched to the music (it turns out that his cousin is Sharleen Spiteri of Texas so singing was in the family genes). Somehow though it didn’t really happen for them. “Better Days” was a Top 40 hit (peaking at No 33) and did its job as a calling card for the band but subsequent single releases from their album “Taking On The World” failed to really consolidate on that initial success. The band drifted on for a bit before scoring a surprise comeback Top 10 hit in 1994 with a hard rock cover of (seemingly every artist’s favourite go to song when in search of a hit cover) “Cameo’s “Word Up!”.

Despite numerous line up changes along the way, the band celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2019 with a new best-of album titled “R3L0ADED”.

In the middle of my Gun v The Stone Roses sandwich comes Paul McCartney who was then enjoying a late 80s renaissance after some pretty poor output earlier in the decade with the critically well received album “Flowers In The Dirt”. The second single to be lifted from it, “This One” was OK and I preferred it to the rather more urgent sounding “My Brave Face” but it’s fairly unremarkable as well. I mean its got a nice, lilting melody and flows over you with a nice feel to it but….it’s that word nice that’s the problem here I think. McCartney will always (perhaps unfairly) lose out in the John Lennon comparisons with accusations that he was comfortable and erm…nice compared to Lennon’s edgy rock spirit.

The video is quite fun though with Macca’s simple yet effective painted on eyes trick. Do you think it was a gentle retaliation against his portrayal by Spitting Image?

I fell like I’ve already written about this one (and I don’t mean McCartney!) but I guess I haven’t really – not fully anyway. Where do you start with The Stone Roses? So much has been written about them over the last 30 or so years that what insight could I possibly have to add to the discussion? I didn’t even ‘get them’ initially for heaven’s sake! Well, all of that is true but I have certainly come to appreciate them much more in the intervening three decades to the point of even owning their albums – well the only two that really matter anyway (i.e the two studio albums). More than that though, I’m going to wheel out my personal Stone Roses story early doors and probably keep referring to it every time they are on TOTP from now on…back in the 90s, I used to work alongside the band’s original bass player. An absolutely top bloke called Pete who was my manager for a couple of years during my Our Price days. Pete wasn’t keen on talking about his time with the band that much but every now and then (usually on a staff night out) he would let slip some little snippets….

…anyway, as for the music, “She Bangs The Drums” was the band’s first ever Top 40 hit peaking at No 36 but was re-released early the following year as part of the Madchester explosion which the band were firmly at the forefront of topping out just two places higher. It was never really about chart placings with them though was it?

Still enjoying a successful year are Simple Minds with their third Top 40 hit of the calendar year with “Kick It In”. The track was also their third release from their album “Street Fighting Years” after “This Is Your Land” and surprise No 1 single “Belfast Child”. It’s not a great song though to be fair. It’s all a bit half hearted and sounds like something they cooked up at a loose jamming session or in a soundcheck before a show. It was reviewed in Smash Hits magazine at the time by all three members of Danny Wilson and they didn’t like it either….

Gary: That’s the weirdest record I’ve ever heard in my life – that weird jerky rhythm.

Kit: It actually sounds like it was jumping all the way through. I would take it back to the shop if I’d bought that.

Ged: I used to love Simple Minds but this…er…

Gary: It sounded like a Billy Idol record that somebody had spilt their tea on.

Ged: That record makes me feel uncomfortable.

OK – so they really didn’t like it. So what? Well, the Ged responsible for the above comments is Ged Grimes who is currently ,and has been for the last 10 years, the bass player for Simple Minds! Ha! I wonder if Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill are aware of Ged’s opinion of “Kick It In”? Do the band still perform it in their live sets? If so, does Ged have to grit his teeth while playing it?

“Kick It In” peaked at No 15.

The teen sensation of 1988 finally reappear in 1989 but Bros were a very different beast from the last time that we saw them. At Christmas they were coming to the end of a wild year which had seen them become the biggest pop band in the UK and possibly Europe. Then the rumours about bassist Craig’s health started to circulate and finally a statement from the band’s management company stating that he no longer wishes to be in the band was issued. Was it as big a deal as Robbie Williams leaving Take That? Well, I don’t remember there being any dedicated telephone lines being set up to counsel bereft teenage girls for Craig’s departure, put it that way.

The statement described Logan’s demands as unreasonable and the whole thing went down pretty acrimoniously with Luke Goss stating that “You can take it from us that Craig will never be in Bros again”. Ouch! He continued that Logan didn’t have the sufficient stamina to be a pop star and that “I think Matt and I have always had this in our blood but Craig really was going to be something like a bank clerk. That’s what he would have been if he hadn’t been in Bros”. Just vicious.

Anyway, Craig disappeared to become a songwriter and ultimately set up an artist management company (so not a bank clerk) whilst the Goss twins continued on with new single “Too Much” their first post Craig offering. Would the fans accept the duo as a well…duo? Would the new music be the same as before or would it seer the twins branch out in another direction? I guess the answer to both questions would be ‘sort of’. Yes, they continued to have chart success (“Too Much” itself was a No 2 record) and in August of ’89 they played to 77,000 people (including my wife!) at Wembley stadium at the Bros in 2 Summer concert. But the hits became smaller and smaller and by 1991 their third album only made No 18 in the charts. The game was up.

As for the sound of their new material, I guess “Too Much” had a harder feel to it than their previous releases. Matt Goss described their new direction as ‘FRP’ meaning Funk, Rop, Pop whilst labelling the old stuff as just pop but, for me, they hadn’t re-invented themselves that much. It was hardly a Bowie-esque transformation. That guitar solo sounds suspiciously like Nik Kershaw but that definitely isn’t Nik up there on stage in this TOTP performance!

A weird take on chart positions next from Simon Parkin as he introduces Simply Red. Making reference to the band’s previous hit “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” which peaked at No 2, Parkin reckons that follow up single “A New Flame” is ‘hurtling towards that position’. Eh? It went up three places to No 17 Simon! No 17! That’s 15 away from No 2! And going up 3 places does not count as hurtling in anybody’s book! And guess what! “A New Flame” didn’t even get any higher than this week’s No 17 peak! In fact it was also the band’s last chart hit of the decade (they did release one last single from the album but it failed to make the Top 40). They would reappear two years on though with the commercial zenith that was the “Stars” album.

Top 10

10. Lil Louis – “French Kiss”

9. Soul II Soul – “Back To Life”

8. Bette Midler – “Wind Beneath My Wings”

7. Rufus and Chaka Khan – “Ain’t Nobody”

6. Glori Estefan – “Don’t Wanna Lose You”

5. Bobby Brown – “On Our Own”

4. London Boys – “London Nights”

3. Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers – “Swing The Mood”

2. Bros – “Too Much”

1. Sonia – “You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You”: A second week at No 1 for our Sonia but watching this performance back, was she really tiny or is her male dancer a giant? I think its probably the former.

After her Eurovision exploits and a spell in a stage production of Grease, Sonia was tempted back into the limelight by the ITV show Reborn In The USA in 2003. This was a British reality television show in which ten British pop acts from the past toured the US where they were supposedly unknown in the hope of revitalising their music career. One of the show’s most memorable moments was the feud between Sonia and Dollar…

…all pretty pathetic stuff but if you’re not sure whose side to be on, just remember that David Van Day had previous for feuding given his part in the Bucks Fizz legal wrangles at the turn of the decade and he did dump his girlfriend live on air on the The Wright Stuff...

1989 wasn’t just about sample heavy house music and Stock, Aitken and Waterman though. It also saw some very surprising comebacks from a batch of iconic names from music history. We’d already seen Roy Orbison (posthumously) and Gene Pitney score huge hits earlier in the year and now here was Alice Cooper having a monster smash with “Poison”, his first UK chart entry since 1973.

I didn’t know much about Alice Cooper other than his youth freedom anthem “School’s Out” but suddenly here he was with a pretty decent impression of 80s pop metal that wouldn’t have been out of place being sung by Bon Jovi. In fact, it could be argued that the main motif of the song was just a retread of the Jovi’s recent hit “Bad Medicine”. None of these comparisons are made idly though as “Poison” was written by Desmond Child who also penned “You Give Love A Bad Name” and “Livin’ On A Prayer” for the New Jersey rockers.

Did I like it? Not that much. I never really caught the boat going to Alice Cooper island although I’ve always found his interviews very watchable. Both “Poison” and its parent album “Trash” reached No 2 on the UK charts.

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	The Primitives	Sick Of It	I wasn’t but I didn’t buy it
2	Gloria Estefan	Don’t Wanna Lose You	Nah
3	Inner City	Do You Love What You Feel	Big no
4	Kirsty MacColl	Days	No but its on my Best Of compilation of hers called Galore
5	Gun	Better Days	No but I bought a later single called “Shame On You” which had a live version of Better Days on it
6	Paul McCartney	This One	Nope
7	The Stone Roses	She Bangs The Drums	No but I have the album
8	Simple Minds	Kick It In	No
9	Bros	Too Much	I did not
10	Simply Red	A New Flame	It’s a no from me
11	Sonia	You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You	Of course not
12	Alice Cooper	Poison	And finally…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/m000hjm1/top-of-the-pops-27071989

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

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

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/07/july-26-august-8-1989.html

TOTP 13 JUL 1989

Posted on April 22, 2020 by 80stastic

It’s mid July in the long, hot Summer of 1989 and TOTP has a new co-host making her debut on the show. Jakki Brambles had actually been a Radio 1 DJ for a whole year before she got her shot on TOTP having presented the weekday early evening show initially before progressing to the drivetime show and finally replacing Gary Davies in the lunchtime slot. I also have definite memories of her working with Simon Mayo on his breakfast show after replacing Sybil Ruscoe as the weather and travel reporter.

I wasn’t a fan possibly due to her conscious decision to brand herself as Jakki with two ‘k’s and an ‘i’. Could she have been any more 80s?! At the end of her time at Radio 1, she relocated to San Francisco to try her hand at American broadcasting and decided to adopt the rather more mature and professional looking Jackie spelling of her name. Following a move to Los Angeles, she became GMTV’s showbiz reporter and eventually returned to these shores to become one of the Loose Women.

She’s been paired with Bruno Brookes for her TOTP debut, let’s see how it went….

…ah, the lesser spotted Danny Wilson are in the studio. Probably very much seen as being of the same ilk as The Kane Gang, Love & Money and Deacon Blue (sometimes rather lazily labelled as ‘sophisti-pop’), the Dannys also had a bit of quirkiness about them I always thought which ensured that they didn’t take themselves too seriously. Take for example “The Second Summer Of Love”, written on a short break between promotional interviews by Gary Clark as a joke after some friends of his had gotten into the acid house rave scene that the press had given the label the second summer of love. Originally just a-minute-and-a-half long, the band’s US label bosses heard something in it that they thought would make an airplay hit and asked the trio to expand it. A bridge and harmonica solo were added and suddenly they were back in the charts (though not in the US where ironically it was never released as a single). My point remains though that the track wasn’t consciously composed as a hit single, they were a bit more organic than that.

I stated in my last post that parent album “BeBop Moptop” was most likely to be found in charity shops these days but I’ve just checked and it is now on Spotify (it wasn’t until very recently) so fill your boots. All it requires now is the deluxe re-issue treatment on Cherry Red Records…

As for their performance here, I’m not sure why the other two guys (Kit Clark and Ged Grimes) were instrument less and wearing white gloves but, not for the first time in this blog, it reminded me of this…

Some weird segue shit from Bruno Brookes next as he thanks the audience at home for staying in to watch their ‘favourite rock show and all that’….’favourite rock show’ Bruno? I’m pretty sure to was a pop music show – the clue’s in the title. Yes you could sometimes get rock acts on like Guns N’ Roses and Bon Jovi but the premise of the show was that it was based around the national charts that were a broad church to say the least and certainly not just rock orientated. Ok, well let’s test Bruno’s theory and see how many genuine rock acts are featured on the show then starting with…

…Bette Midler with “Wind Beneath My Wings”! Well, you can’t get much more rock chick than Bette can you?! Apparently ‘The Divine Miss M’ wasn’t too jazzed about the song initially. In a Times interview from 2009 she said:

“It’s really grown on me. When I first heard it, I said, ‘I’m not singing that song,’ but the friend who gave it to me said, ‘If you don’t sing it I’ll never speak to you again’, so of course I had to sing the damned song. Whatever reservations I might have had I certainly don’t have any more.”

Not surprising really as it gave her a US No 1 record and the country’s 7th best selling single of the whole year.

Eighteen years later, some tosser from London’s Burning jumped on the Robson and Jerome bandwagon, released his own version of the song and bagged himself a no 3 hit…

OK, eyes down for a Bruno Brookes rock act….and we have No 22 which is De La Soul with “Say No Go”. Hmm, I’m not sure a hip hop trio who were a driving force behind the jazz rap movement could really be described as rockers do you Bruno? Oh and look at him gurning and saying “Real funkyyyy!” behind Jakki Brambles as she introduces them. Dickhead.

Parent album “3 Feet High and Rising”, with its fluorescent flowers artwork and cartoony text, introduced the world to the group’s concept of ‘D.A.I.S.Y. Age’ which was meant to symbolise a withdrawal from the prevalent gangsta rap image of the times. And what did ‘D.A.I.S.Y. ‘ stand for? According to Wikipedia it was an acronym standing for “da inner sound, y’all” which sounds far more hip than Bruno Brookes’ “Real funkyyyy!” description.

“Say No Go” peaked at No 18.

This is a really bizarre video and probably the wrong side of creepy as well. Unbelievably, Michael Jackson was still releasing tracks from his “Bad” album as singles some two years after it first came out! Indeed, “Liberian Girl” was the ninth to be pulled from it (although it wasn’t released in the US). For me, it was an absolutely nothing song, devoid of any substance or interest. Even the Swahili phrase at the song’s beginning is a load of baloney as Swahili is not spoken in Liberia. The star studded video only substantiated my opinion as, for me, it was just one almighty distraction from what was basically a substandard song.

I’m not going to list all the celebrities included in the video (I’m sure you’ll be able to name most of them yourselves) but there is something distinctly unsettling about the fact that Jacko essentially cast himself in the role of voyeur, especially given everything we now know about him subsequent to 1989. I hate all the sycophantic applauding and “Michael , we love you!” shouts from the ensemble as he reveals himself (as it were) at the denouement. Just excruciating.

“Liberian Girl” was Jackson’s final single of the 80s and peaked at No 13 in the UK.

My friend Robin described the next act to me recently as a ‘quintessential 80s coffee table wankfest’. I make him right on this one. Waterfront were just paint-by-numbers pop pap weren’t they? “Cry” was their only UK chart hit (it was a much bigger deal in the US as Jakki advises in her intro) but thankfully for all our sakes, despite releasing a string of other singles, none of them got anywhere near the Top 40.

Oh and doesn’t the lead singer look like the flashy, male chauvinist Kirk St Moritz character from 80s sitcom Dear John? See him at 0.45 seconds into the clip below and judge for yourself…

The never ending saga of Gloria Estefan’s nomenclature trundles on until the very end of the decade it seems. I’ve written many times about the convoluted tale of quite when and how Gloria lost her Miami Sound Machine without ever really getting to the bottom of it and now another twist. Apparently “Don’t Wanna Lose You” was the first official solo release by Gloria being the lead single from her also debut solo album “Cuts Both Ways”. I’m sure some of her previous recent releases didn’t have the Miami Sound Machine brand attached to them though. Certainly when she performed “Can’t Stay Away From You” on TOTP she did so entirely solo and without backing. Oh whatever. All I do know is that there is no way that Gloria could be considered a rock act therefore denying any grist to Bruno Brookes and his rock mill nonsense.

“Don’t Wanna Lose You” is a nice enough ballad I suppose but for me it didn’t stray too far from the original blueprint of Gloria’s catalogue of romantic love songs. Previous hits “Anything For You” and “Can’t Stay Away From You” sounded just the same to me. They even all included ‘you’ as the last word in the title! Talk about formulaic! Her fans around the world didn’t seem to mind though. “Don’t Wanna Lose You” was a No1 song in the US and a Top 10 hit over here with the album going platinum in both territories.

So we all knew what Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway had been doing since the demise of The Housemartins due to The Beautiful South’s immediate impact on the charts with “Song For Whoever” but what about Norman Cook? The cheeky faced bassist reappeared with one MC Wildski (not to be confused – as I did – with Janet Street Porter’s ex-boyfriend Normski) and a very danceable tune called “Blame It On The Bassline”.

Norman was taking his new career in a totally different direction to his old bandmates with samples a plenty woven into the basic premise of “Blame It On The Boogie” by The Jacksons. For me, it worked pretty well but could any of us have foreseen the career in dance music that would take off for Cook at this point? He would of course go onto huge success under an army of aliases and band names including Beats International, Freak Power and most famously Fatboy Slim. Indeed, it was reported in 2008 that he held the Guinness World Record for the most Top 40 hits under different names! Makes the whole Gloria Estefan / Miami Sound Machine saga look like very small fry indeed. “Blame It On The Bassline” was the only release to be promoted under his own name and yet confusingly, it turned up on the debut album by his collective Beats International called “Let Them Eat Bingo”. It peaked at No 29.

The video was a bit of knockabout fun with some very random famous faces in it including Janice Long, Tom ‘Lofty’ Watt and most bizarrely Arsenal footballer Paul Davis.

Despite her wonderful, critically regarded legacy, Kirsty MacColl only ever had seven Top 40 hits …and three of those were “Fairytale of New York”! “Days” was the fourth of those and was of course a cover of The Kinks 1968 track. I remember being surprised that this was a hit at the time, not because it wasn’t any good (it certainly was) but because, ignoring her Xmas renaissance moment with The Pogues, she hadn’t been anywhere near the charts for over four years. Her lack of commercial success is absolutely criminal – so many good songs, so few sales.

The video is very Mary Poppins but kind of suits her wistful treatment of the song. “Days” peaked at No 12, exactly the same position that the original achieved. A Smash Hits article of the time led with the headline ‘So who is this woman who looks like Madge from Neighbours?!?’. It’s not the first time that the publication had been less than reverential to a huge talent but this really did show a lack of knowledge, if not by the editorial team but at least on behalf of their readership. Not a headline that has aged well.

Right, a check on how Jakki B’s TOTP debut is going. Is it me or does that not seem to be an awful lot of chemistry between her and Bruno? The Kinks reference at the end of Kirsty’s video seems a bit frosty to me. Onwards though and from Jakki B to Jazzi P who is the featured artist on the new LA Mix single“Get Loose”. I’ve got very little to say about this one, mainly because I can’t remember it. Not my thing at all but I did learn the other day that apparently the ‘LA’ part of the act’s name is nothing to do with Los Angeles and is actually the initials of founding member Les Adams. You can see why they didn’t go with Les Adams Mix which sounds like the resident DJ at a working men’s club disco night.

A non sensical intro from Bruno Brookes next….

“All this running around we’re doing here like nobody’s business but there’s a very good reason for it now because we’ve got the best view of the new entry at number 33, here comes Simply Red‘. OK, I’ll go with it Bruno…yet instead of cutting to Hucknall et al in the studio, we get the official video! Eh? Why would you need to run about in the studio to get to the gantry to watch a pre recorded video? Yes, it is essentially a basic performance of the song on a stage but it’s not the TOTP stage. Weird.

“A New Flame” was indeed the title track of the band’s latest album as Jakki Brambles informs us and of all the singles released from it, I thought this was the best for what it’s worth. When I say ‘best’ I of course mean ‘least objectionable’.

I have a distinct memory of this song which involves the first job I finally managed to get having left Polytechnic a few weeks earlier. Having dejectedly gone to the Job Centre one Friday morning expecting very little, there was a job as an insurance clerk for AA Insurance Services going. I asked for details and was told to get myself to their office that afternoon for an interview. To my amazement I got it and was told to start the following Monday. Some time later as I was walking to work one day, my boss pulled up and gave me a lift to the office. The song that he was playing on his tape deck? “A New Flame” of course. In fact he had the whole album as I could see the cassette case on his dashboard. I knew then that a career with the firm was not for me.

“A New Flame” the single peaked at No 17 but the album was a massive success going 7 x platinum in the UK and being the second best selling album of the whole year.

Top 10

10. Prince – “Batdance”

9. Bette Midler – “Wind Beneath My Wings”

8. Bobby Brown – “On Our Own”

7. Gladys Knight – “Licence To Kill”

6. Chaka Khan – “Ain’t Nobody”

5. Pet Shop Boys – “It’s Alright”

4. The Beautiful South – “Song For Whoever”

2. London Boys – “London Nights”

2. Sonia – “You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You”.

1. Soul II Soul – “Back To Life”: A fourth and final week at the top for Jazzie B (any relation to Jazzi P?) and the gang. It tuns out that my aforementioned friend Robin (the Waterfront hater) used to know one of the women dancing in the video. They worked together at the BBC. The one in the red top in the jungle setting maybe? That’s nothing though. I was once in the same room as Chesney Hawkes’ drummer.

The play out video is Bobby Brown‘s fourth consecutive hit of the year. “On Our Own” was taken from the soundtrack to Ghostbusters II and was a No 2 smash in the US and a No 4 hit over here. I’ve been very uncomplimentary about Mr Brown in this blog in the past but I have to say I didn’t actually mind this one. I always quite liked the opening lyric ‘Too hot to handle, too cold to hold’.

As with the Michael Jackson and Norman Cook videos earlier, the promo for “On Our Own” features several guest appearances by celebrities including Donald Trump alongside scenes from the movie and of course it means a second appearance on the same show for Dan Ackroyd. Its his third TOTP outing in total though as he was on the USA For Africa “We Are The World” video in 1985. I spent three years at Polytechnic being called ‘Dan’ due to my resemblance to Mr Ackroyd at the time. I can think of worse people to look like I suppose, like Mick Hucknall for example.

P.S. That final count on rock acts on tonight’s TOTP? I’m saying zero.

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Danny Wilson	The Second Summer Of Love	No but I bought the album Bebop Moptop
2	Bette Midler	Wind Beneath My Wings	Nope
3	De La Soul	Say No Go	No but my wife had the album 3 Feet High And Rising
4	Michael Jackson	Liberian Girl	A big no
5	Waterfront	Cry	No but I think it was on some Radio 1 Mark Goddier compilation album that I had.
6	Gloria Estefan	Don’t Wanna Lose You	Nah
7	Norman Cook and MC Wildski	Blame It On The Bassline	I didn’t but it I had the Beats International album it’s on
8	Kirsty MacColl	Days	No but its on my Best Of compilation of hers called Galore
9	LA Mix featuring Jazzi P	Get Loose	Get real more like. No
10	Simply Red	A New Flame	It’s a no from me
11	Soul II Soul	Back To Life	No but I think my wife had their album
12	Bobby Brown	On Our Own	No

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000hbdw/top-of-the-pops-13071989

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

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

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/10/july-12-25-1989.html

TOTP 06 APR 1989

Posted on March 2, 2020 by 80stastic

download Well here’s a thing. This is the 250th post of my blog. Two hundred and bloody fifty! Three years ago I started this nonsense of reviewing every TOTP show from 1983 onwards. I nearly gave up after the first year but stuck with it and now as the end of these 80s repeats gets ever nearer, I have the resolve to complete this mammoth task. To put some context to this, the number of reviews I have written is now more than the total amount of studio albums, singles and EPs released by Sir Cliff Richard combined! In terms of my 80s self, I was a 14 year old schoolboy back at the start of ’83 and by April ’89, I was a few weeks off my 21st birthday and also from finishing my three year polytechnic degree course. Musically speaking, the blog has covered a lot of musical changes from the rise and demise of the classic pop superstars such as Duran Duran, Culture Club and Spandau Ballet through the Frankie Goes To Hollywood phenomenon and then onto Stock, Aitken and Waterman’s production line pop and the emergence of house music. And that’s just a very simplified overview. Finally in the last year of the decade we have….well what do we have? Let’s see…

….talk about a let down! The first act of my 250th post is bastard Brother Beyond! Of all the swooning girl inducing pop acts that we have seen in these last 250 posts, this lot are surely one of the worst. Horrible, insipid music, dreadful image and at least three of them you wouldn’t have looked twice at if you’d passed them on the street were they not in a band. “Can You Keep A Secret” was typical of their woeful sound. High on pop sheen, non-existent in terms of anything of substance.

The glossy pop press like Smash Hits loved them as they could shove their fizzogs on the front cover and be guaranteed some decent sales as the ‘Yondies would rush to buy anything with their heroes on it. Me, I couldn’t stand anything about them even down to the ridiculous way they mimed on TOTP. Look at them! There’s only the drummer who seems to be on even nodding terms with his instrument. The guitarist and keyboards guy look as convincing as those models in the Robert Palmer “Addicted To Love” video. I’m really hoping this might be the last time we have to endure these berks on the show.

A decent tune next from Kon Kan and their Lynn Anderson sampling hit “I Beg Your Pardon”. This Canadian duo were briefly a pop sensation with a Top 10 hit around Europe and even a Top 15 place in the US. A follow up single called “Harry Houdini” which mashed up “White Lines” by Grandmaster Melle Mel and Blondie’s “The Tide Is High” was released but it pretty much bombed and they never troubled our charts again.

I said in a previous post that I think my Dad had the Lynn Anderson record but thinking back to when I was a tiny child, I believe my first introduction to “Rose Garden” wasn’t via Lynn but by those porcine puppets Pinky and Perky. A quick check of YouTube and my theory was confirmed. That album cover definitely looks familiar and “Rose Garden” kicks in around the 7:40 mark. The kids today really wouldn’t understand!

Proving that “Love Train” was no fluke, here comes Holly Johnson with his second solo hit single “Americanos”. Very much in the same sonic style as its predecessor, it was once more perfect Radio 1 playlist fodder. In a Smash Hits interview, Holly admitted that he had taken to listening to the station to keep a check on how many airplays he was actually receiving and that his promotions team weren’t lying to him about the figures.

Lyrically, the song takes a swipe at consumerism and the American dream and includes the line “everything’s organised, from crime to leisure time” with Holly choosing to use an American emphasis on the word ‘leisure’. That always stuck me as a nice little hook.

Holly does his best US game show host impression in this performance, full of little tics and winks while the song itself mooches along very nicely with its little perky stabs of synth brass and throaty backing vocals doubling up on the chorus.

“Americanos” matched the chart fortunes of “Love Train” by peaking at No 4 but Holly would only have one more Top 40 hit in his own right although he did make two separate appearances on charity records for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.

Paula Abdul is still in the ascendancy with her “Straight Up” single. I don’t think we’ve seen the video before as the show has used the same studio performance on both of her previous appearances. The promo received high rotation on MTV to help propel it up the charts and would go onto win the station’s Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best Dance, Best Choreography and Best Editing. Strange then that TOTP chose to air less than two minutes of it in this show.

To be fair, I’ve watched it back and cannot for the life of me see what all the fuss was about. Yes there are some nifty dance moves on display but seeing as choreographer was Paula’s previous chosen profession, surely that was a given?

“Straight Up” peaked at No 3 in the UK and was the best selling single of the year in the US.

Here’s the Breakers and it turns out that Cookie Crew had more hits than I remember. This one is “Got To Keep On”. Nothing to do with “Keep On Keepin’ On!” by York -based agit-popsters The Redskins but actually a track very heavily based on “Twenty Five Miles” by Edwin Starr although he doesn’t get an official credit despite appearing in the video. Truth be told, I’d rather just listen to the original version. MC Remedee and Susie Q’s tacked on rapping doesn’t do anything for me at all.

“Got To Keep On” peaked at No 17.

A bit of off the wall electro-pop now with Swiss oddballs Yello and their single “Of Course I’m Lying”. I’d forgotten that this track was actually a Top 40 hit and was taken from the same album (“Flag”) as their Top 10 hit of the previous year “The Race”. As was their way, this track was nothing like its predecessor with its slow tempo and breathy, atmospheric vocals.

The video looks like a very cheap version of the BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials to me whilst the spoken word bits in the song sound like “Somewhere Down The River” era Robbie Robertson doing “Ain’t No Doubt” by Jimmy Nail. Wonderfully bonkers, “Of Course I’m Lying” peaked at No 23.

A second posthumous single from Roy Orbison next as “She’s A Mystery To Me” was released as the follow up to “You Got It”. Not quite the title track from his “Mystery Girl” album but clearly inspiring it, I was surprised to find out that this wasn’t a much bigger hit than its No 27 peak. Co-written with U2’s Bono and The Edge, it’s a tender and affecting ballad which I much preferred to its predecessor. I can’t recall if I ever asked him at the time but I always thought that my Dad (a big Orbison fan) must have liked this one.

T’Pau were still having chart hits in 1989? Yes they were. Some nice segueing from the TOTP production team has them coming after Roy Orbison with a track that has the same title as one of his biggest hits. Sadly “Only The Lonely” was not a Big O cover version (which would have been infinitely more interesting) but a Carol Decker / Ronnie Rogers original. This was the final single to be lifted from their sophomore album “Rage” and their only release of 1989. In fact, it was their last release of any kind for two years before they returned in 1991 with “The Promise” album by which point the UK had gone Madchester mad and nobody could remember who T’Pau even were.

Whilst the track was reasonably well received by the music press (especially Carol’s vocals), it always sounded a bit T’Pau by numbers to me. “Only The Lonely” peaked at No 28.

‘Is this woman the new Yazz?’ asked Smash Hits magazine in response to the emergence of Lisa Stansfield and her collaboration with Coldcut “People Hold On”. Understandable after the latter lit the touch paper on Yazz’s career I guess. Lisa still looks like she can’t believe her luck at being in the charts. On her last appearance on the show, she didn’t seem to know where to look as the track started and it’s pretty much the same this time. She almost seems embarrassed until her vocal kicks in and then she’s in the groove.

In that same Smash Hits article it describes Lisa in a fairly patronizing way as being from ‘oop north, like’ and originating from ‘picturesque Rochdale’. I spent a year working in the Our Price store in Rochdale in the early 90s. I loved my time there but I’m not sure I would ever have described the place as picturesque but then I never saw much more of the place than the bus station and the shop itself in all that time so maybe I was missing out. I certainly did miss out on the day that Lisa herself came into the store as it was my day off. She never came back in whilst I was there although I did once serve fellow Rochdale native and renowned actress Ana Friel.

“People Hold On” peaked at No 11.

Fancy some Simply Red? No, neither do I but here’s Hucknall anyway with a cover of the Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes standard “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”. This was the second single to be taken from third album ” A New Flame” following the turgid “It’s Only Love” (itself a Barry White cover version) and I thought this was just lazy, cynical money for old rope stuff from Ginger Mick. Like his version of Cole Porter’s “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” (yet another fucking cover!) at the back end of ’87, it reeked to me of deliberate exploitation of the record buying public to ensure a big hit after the modest success of “It’s Only Love” which failed to make the Top 10. Write some songs of your own Hucknall!

As ever this performance is all about Mr H and it got me thinking – can I name any other member of Simply Red (past or present) other than the ginger one? The best I could come up with was that bloke who was also in the death knell version of The Stone Roses briefly.

There was no way “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” wasn’t going to be a huge commercial success and so it came to pass that it went to No 2 in the UK and was an actual No 1 record in the US.

After last week’s appearance in the Breakers section, teenage boys up and down the country presumably got very excited by this week’s studio performance by Transvision Vamp or more accurately Wendy James. The highest climber on this week’s chart with “Baby I Don’t Care”, the band were about to enter their regal phase with a No 1 album and four hit singles within the calendar year.

If we thought Simply Red’s turn was all about Mick Hucknall, we were a out to get a master class on how to dominate a performance from Ms James. The camera hardly seems to deviate from her throughout the entire duration of the song with just the occasional 2 second cut back to the guys in the band. She does a damned good job of being captivating though, I’d have to say.

Right, let’s apply the Simply Red question to Transvision Vamp – how many other people in the band can I name apart from Wendy? Well, there was the stupidly named Tex Axile (see what he did there?) but I’ve no idea what his real name was and wasn’t her songwriting partner called Christian Sayer or something. Conclusion? Transvision Vamp were more memorable than Simply Red. QED.

Top 10

10. Reynolds Girls – “I’d Rather Jack”

9. Pat and Mick – “I Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet”

8. Kon Kan – “I Beg Your Pardon”

7. Guns N’ Roses – “Paradise City”

6. Soul II Soul – “Keep On Movin”

5. The Bangles – “Eternal Flame”

4. Donna Summer – “This Time I Know It’s For Real”

3. Paula Abdul – “Straight Up”

2. Jason Donovan – “Too Many Broken Hearts”

1. Madonna – “Like A Prayer”: Still there at the top it’s her Madgesty. The video for “Like A Prayer” routinely tops countdowns and critic lists. It was number one on MTV’s “100 Videos That Broke The Rules” in 2005, and MTV viewers voted it as the “Most Groundbreaking Music Video of All Time”. In a 2011 poll by Billboard, “Like a Prayer” was voted the second best music video of the 1980s, behind only “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. Clearly she knew what she was doing when she started down this road of controversy. The song’s legacy is enormous.

The final song on tonight’s show is “Mystify” by INXS. Of all their back catalogue, this track still seems to receive the lion’s share of their airplay to this day despite it being the fifth single to be released from the “Kick” album. It certainly feels like their most played ’80s song at the very least. Quite odd really to say that it was only deemed worthy of a release towards the end of the album’s life and that it only made No 14 on the UK charts. So why is it still played so much? For me it’s that it’s remains a great song although still not my favourite from the album.

The video is just a straight forward concert performance of the track but it is rescued from anonymity by the start and end shots that give a glimpse of Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss in creative mode as they put the song together.

As with T’Pau earlier, this would be the band’s last release of the whole decade.

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I buy it?
1	Brother Beyond	Can You Keep A Secret?	Jeez no!
2	Kon Kan	I Beg Your Pardon	Why didn’t I buy this?!
3	Holly Johnson	Americanos	No but my wife had his album ‘Blast’
4	Paula Abdul	Straight Up	Straight up? No
5	Cookie Crew	Got To Keep On	Nah
6	Yello	Of course I’m Lying	Don’t think I did
7	Roy Orbison	She’s A Mystery To Me	Nope
8	T’Pau	Only The Lonely	And no
9	Coldcut and Lisa Stansfield	People Hold On	Negative
10	Simply Red	If You Don’t Know Me By Now	Simply NO
11	Transvision Vamp	Baby I Don’t Care	It’s on their collection CD that I own
12	Madonna	Like A Prayer	No but it’s on my Immaculate Collection CD
13	INXS	Mystify	Sure it’s on the Greatest Hits CD which I have

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000fjbt/top-of-the-pops-06041989

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

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

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/04/april-5-18-1989.html

TOTP 02 FEB 1989

Posted on January 31, 2020 by 80stastic

We’ve reached February ’89 in these BBC4 TOTP repeats and already we’ve witnessed some changes to the show in terms of presentation and indeed presenters with a whole raft of new faces replacing some of the old guard Radio 1 DJs of yesteryear. Unfortunately, one of them has slipped through the net though and is still inanely grinning his way onto our screens. That person is, of course, the abominable Steve Wright. He’s paired up with Simon Mayo for this one so hold onto your hats, pathetically weak humour incoming….

Talking of hats, check out Holly Johnson‘s! Well, I suppose it’s a crown rather than a hat but you get the point. Simon Mayo does and uses it to make…guess what? Yes, a pathetically weak joke about checking out the hat parade. Hat parade / hit parade – geddit? Awful.

Anyway, Holly’s back to promote his debut single “Love Train” which is turning out to be a very sizeable success indeed. Up to No 5 already (it would peak one place higher), I wonder if Holly and his new label MCA had anticipated such a hit straight off the bat? After all it had been five years since Frankie Goes To Hollywood owned the charts after which their appeal fell away pretty quickly so I’m guessing that nobody was expecting a guaranteed hit. Sensibly I think, Holly decided to go in a different direction from that of his previous band with this all out pop tune as opposed to the cutting edge Frankie sound that cut a swath though the chart fodder in ’84. Of course he didn’t have Trevor Horn at the mixing desk for his solo stuff so it was always going to be a different beast I guess.

There’s some very odd camera work in this performance. As the song goes into the guitar solo in the middle and the guitarist readies herself for her moment in the spotlight, instead of focusing on her, the camera pans away and takes us for a trip around the back of Holly and shows us the rest of the band including the drummer and keyboard player. The close up of the white be-gloved hands of the keyboard player reminded me of this…

Some more issues with the new staging changes next as Simon Mayo appears at the side of the stage in amongst the studio audience to do the next link. Unfortunately for Simon, some yuppie looking herbert has managed to get himself a prime spot right behind Mayo as he starts his intro and as the camera focuses on the presenter it makes them look like, as Mick Convey on Twitter remarked, some sort of terrible pop duo. He’s behind you Simon!

If this was a group, even without hearing their music, you’d know it would be terrible. #totp pic.twitter.com/x6DvtaSs3b

— Mick Convey (@nalaknip) January 24, 2020

Back to the music and it’s Roy Orbison again! He seemed to be on every week back in ’89 with “You Got It”. Whilst Roy has retained his classic look, the rest of his band could not have ever existed in any time period other than the 80s with mullets aplenty. It makes for a quite a jarring visual image as if Roy has time travelled from the 60s and been deposited on stage as the lead singer of a contemporary 80s band.

This footage was actually shot just a few days before the Big O sadly passed away.

Someone who definitely does not have a mullet is Robert Howard (aka Dr Robert of The Blow Monkeys) whose had a very smart short back ‘n’ sides cut that wouldn’t look out of place today. He’s joined by Kym Mazelle for their duet “Wait” which was a bigger hit it seems than I remember. Maybe I’m confusing it with another Dr Robert collaboration with lovers rock singer Sylvia Tella called “Choice?” w hwas included on their first singles collection album. That track only made No 22 whilst “Wait” peaked at No 7.

I like the fact that the good doctor chose to do perform the song sat at a piano the whole time despite it being a dance track. What with his hair and pristine suit and a feather boa prop, it somehow puts me in mind of a performance from a much earlier era as if they were having a good old sing song around the old Joanna as TV hadn’t been invented yet. Kym’s shelf stacking dance moves do rather ruin that image though.

Here comes Sheena Easton with a backing band so large it can hardly fit on the stage. I’m sorry two keytar players on the same stage? There is surely safeguarding legislation in place to stop this sort of thing happening nowadays.

At this point in her career, Sheena still had some of her native Scottish accent intact. See her interview on the Tonight Show from 1989…

…now listen to her interview on This Morning from 2017…

I guess that’s what a two year stint in a Las Vegas residency does to you. None of this though can distract from the fact that “The Lover In Me” was beyond dreary.

Here come the Breakers starting with Michael Ball and “Love Changes Everything”. Not a cover of the Climie Fisher hit but in fact taken from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Aspects Of Love, I hated this. What had this got to do with pop music? Also my Mum loved it and Michael Ball which only strengthened my resolve to despise it. For those like my Mum who may have been expecting a Michael Ball album, it took another three years for it to come out on the back of his turn as the 1992 UK Eurovision entry which included both that song (“One Step Out Of Time” ) and “Love Changes Everything”.

I’ve softened towards Michael Ball in the intervening years – not about his singing but he was good in the TV adaptation of the Victoria Wood musical That Day We Sang and his Radio 2 Sunday show is actually reasonably listenable.

“Love Changes Everything” peaked at No 2 on the UK Top 40.

So there was more to Yazz than just “The Only Way Is Up” it seems. Indeed, there was more to her than “The Only Way Is Up” and its follow up “Stand Up For Your Love Rights” for here was a third hit single (not including her Coldcut collaboration) in “Fine Time”. Perhaps wisely, she deviated from the dance anthem formula of those two previous hits and went for a ballad with a reggae lilt – you know, to show her versatility like.

The video is all arty black and white footage of Yazz walking around London intercut with her performing the song in colour in some sort of jazz club setting. Again, I think it must have been to try and establish her as a credible artist and not a one trick pony. For me though, none of that mattered as the song was interminably dull and I lost interest in it immediately.

“Fine Time” peaked at No 9.

Right, so what exactly did Steve Wright mean by his comment “the new heroes of bedsit land” when introducing Hue and Cry? That they were a student band? I’ve never thought of them as that. I’m really not sure what he means but then the guy seems to know very little about music for someone who was a national DJ so why am I surprised.

That “Looking For Linda” was a hit kind of bucked the band’s trend and was slightly unexpected. Since their breakthrough hit “Labour Of Love” in ’87, they’s released a further three single all of which had stalled outside the Top 40 including the lead single from their new album “Remote” which must have been a concern. Undaunted, a second single was out out into the market place and this time it did the trick peaking at No 15.

Why did “Looking For Linda” make it and not the others? Maybe there was something intriguing in the title. Who was Linda and why was she being looked for? The answer was just about in the lyrics which seemed to tell the tale of a woman fleeing an abusive relationship by saying she was nipping out for a packet of fags and then jumping on the first available train out of town. Yes, it was one of those story songs like “Come Dancing” by The Kinks or “Disco 2000” by Pulp or (gasp) “Copacabana” by Barry Manilow.

I liked it (still do) – it was tuneful with a great chorus and a serious message. Perfect for my student tastes. Oh shit! Maybe Steve Wright was ..err..right about Hue And Cry!

Some three years after her debut single “Touch Me (I Want Your Body)”, somehow, and this defies all known logic and parameters of taste, Samantha Fox was still having hit records. However, the game was nearly up and her cover of the Dusty Springfield classic “I Only Want To Be With You” was her last of the decade and the last of her entire career bar a one off comeback single in 1998 that made No 31 called “Santa Maria” – I’ve no idea.

For some reason, Fox’s version was re-titled “I Only Wanna Be With You” – one in the eye for linguists everywhere. It’s a thoroughly weedy rendition and the Stock, Aitken and Waterman production does it no favours whatsoever. In any case, the definitive cover version had already been made some 10 years previous by The Tourists.

“I Only Wanna Be With You” peaked at No 16 at a stroke becoming Fox’s biggest hit for two years.

Next, the return of Mick Hucknall. Wait! Come back! It’ll be over soon! I think this may have been the point when Simply Red went big league. Yes, they’d had some major chart success before this point (“Holding Back The Years” had been a No 2 hit and their first two albums had been platinum sellers) but this had been tempered with some moderate chart success single releases and even some that flopped altogether.

With the release of third album “A New Flame” – from which “It’s Only Love” was the lead single – it felt like they had moved onto a higher level. For a start, “A New Flame” was their first UK No 1 album and it would eventually go seven times platinum paving the way for the peak of their popularity with the 1991 album “Stars” which eclipsed even that figure by being an incredible twelve times platinum seller.

To my ears though, “It’s Only Love” sounded incredibly dull. One paced and with some distinctly seedy lyrics, it felt like a stinker to me. It turns out (and I never knew this) that it’s actually a cover of a Barry White song (originally titled “It’s Only Love Doing Its Thing”) which kind of explains the sleazy sounding lyrics I guess. Look Mick, the walrus of love can get away with lines like “Don’t be afraid to touch me babe” but you mate, nah. Especially not in that shirt.

“It’s Only Love” peaked at No 13.

Another man making a fashion statement is Roachford who seems to have single handedly invented the ‘man bag’ a good ten years before the rest of the world caught on. Check out what he’s got draped over his right arm in this performance of “Cuddly Toy”. This may have been a southern thing as there definitely were not loads of young men in Sunderland where I was a student at the time sauntering around the Crowtree Leisure Centre with a man bag accessory.

Seven years on from this and possibly inspired by Roachford, one of those dreary 3T lads took it a stage further by wearing a proper back pack for this performance…

Absolutely ludicrous. Another dreaded Steve Wright moment arrives when he can’t resist whooping it up at the end of Roachford’s performance. He looks and sounds like a twat to be blunt.

The Top 10…

10. Robert Howard and Kym Mazelle – “Wait”

9. Erasure – “Crackers International EP”

8. Ten City – “That’s The Way Love Is”

7. Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan – “Especially For You”

6. Fine Young Cannibals – “She Drives Me Crazy”

5. Holly Johnson – “Love Train”

4. Roachford – “Cuddly Toy”

3. Roy Orbison – “You Got It”

2. Mike And The Mechanics – “The Living Years”

1. Marc Almond and Gene Pitney – “Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart”: God I’m bored of this already. Let’s see if the video was any more interesting that their TOTP performance…

…hmm well, I suppose it was a nice concept to film it in the Neon Junkyard in Las Vegas to create an unusual backdrop of discarded neon signs but then Marc and Gene just stroll around the set doing a straight performance of the song. There’s very little narrative or plot and it all seems very underwhelming to me.

The play out video is “My Prerogative” by Bobby Brown. The inclusion of a word like ‘prerogative’ in the lyrics of a pop song was probably pretty out there but there have been a few other examples of unlikely words that have been used similarly. For example we have the wonderful “Juxtaposed with U” by Super Furry Animals. However, you’d have to go a long way to find a more bizarre use of words than in Faith Hill’s “That Kiss” which manages to get ‘centrifugal motion’ in the chorus.

“My Prerogative”peaked at No 6 in the UK charts.

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Holly Johnson	Love Train	No but my wife bought his album
2	Roy Orbison	You Got It	Actually I didn’t get it
3	Robert Howard and Kym Mazelle	Wait	Not the single but I have it on a CD I think
4	Sheena Easton	The Lover In Me	Nope
5	Michael Ball	Love Changes Everything	Not a prayer
6	Yazz	Fine Time	Nah
7	Hue And Cry	Looking For Linda	No but again my wife had the album
8	Samantha Fox	I Only Wanna Be With You	Jesus no!
9	Simply Red	It’s Only Love	It’s only crud more like – no
10	Roachford	Cuddly Toy	No but I think my wife may have. She should probably be writing this blog not me!
11	Marc Almond and Gene Pitney	Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart	But it wasn’t this record – no
12	Bobby Brown	My Prerogative	No

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000dl2d/top-of-the-pops-02021989

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

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

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/01/january-25-february-7-1989.html

TOTP 17 DEC 1987

Posted on June 5, 2019 by 80stastic

It’s nearly Xmas! Well, in 1987 anyway and the race for the festive No 1 is nearly over. We’ve seen some fallers with some heavily backed prospects fading or pulling up and now the runners and riders are jostling for positions as the as the last bend approaches. In the end it would turn out to be a mad dash between two songs – one from a band in the form of their life and one from out of left field that would go onto be one of the biggest Xmas tunes of all time. But for now…

After their last single “Sweet Little Mystery” had necessitated two out of court plagiarism settlements, you would have thought that someone in the Wet Wet Wet camp would have been on their guard when it came to releasing a follow up but no, the choice of “Angel Eyes (Home And Away)” plunged them into another legal battle. After Van Morrison and John Martyn’s cases were upheld and co-writer credits allocated, the next claimant was Chris Difford. Not content with stealing the lyrics from Van the Man, Marti Pellow almost wholesale stole a verse from the Squeeze song “Heartbreaking World”. The evidence m’lud:

Angel Eyes (Home And Away) lyrics:

The saddest thing I’ve ever seen on my tv screen
Was a dying man who died for his dream
Toughest thing I’ve ever heard
Was that new-born scream in this naked world

And some of those “Heartbreaking World” lyrics:

The saddest thing I’ve ever seen

Was a starving face on my TV screen

The saddest thing I’ve ever seen
Was a football fan dying for his team
The toughest thing I have ever known
Was a soldier boy who never made it home

The greatest thing I’ve ever seen
Was a newborn child looking up at me
The greatest sound I’ve ever heard
Was a baby’s cry in this wicked world

Well, that’s pretty conclusive I think. Difford thought so too and sued. Pellow even admitted the theft:

Marti Pellow: "My first dealing with Chris was when he sued me. I stole one of his lyrics from [the album] “Così Fan Tutti Frutti” and used it on “Angel Eyes”. It must have been in my subconscious – that's my story, anyway!” #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) May 30, 2019

Happily, it was a case of all’s well that ends well as Pellow ended up being managed by Difford and even lived in the same house as him for a time. As for the song itself, the 19 year old version of me thought it sounded pretty classy actually – especially after the knockabout fun of “Sweet Little Mystery” – with its interjecting strings and mellow soulfulness.

Could it have been the Xmas No 1? Possibly but looking back I think the record label got the scheduling of the single’s release all wrong. Not officially out in the shops until 30th November, it had less than a month to hit the top and in the 80s that was a big ask. In the late 90s, singles would go straight to No 1 propelled by massive first week discounting but that was years away. Added to that, the band had only been on people’s radar for a matter of months so it wasn’t a given that all their releases would be massive hits. Indeed, it’s first chart position was at No 44 before a gentle rise into the Top 40 at No 32. The week of this TOTP performance it was No 21. Steady but unremarkable progress. It just didn’t have enough time to pull in those massive sales before Xmas. It did however reach No 5 ultimately to become their third consecutive Top 10 hit. They were on their way.

I always hated this next one. Not the original Cole Porter song which is a beautiful song but the Simply Red version of “Everytime We Say Goodbye” always reeked of cynical record company sharp practice to me. The fourth single to be taken from the band’s “Men And Women” album, it was very much a case of using a cover version to halt a reversal of commercial fortunes. How many times have we seen this done during these TOTP repeats? The album’s singles had proven to be a case of diminishing returns:

“The Right Thing” – No 11
“Infidelity” – No 31
“Maybe Someday…” – No 88

That last chart position in particular must have caused palpitations at the record company and so they shoved out “Everytime We Say Goodbye” which returned the band to the Top 20 (No 11). I recall a lot of fuss at the time about how Mick Hucknall was born to sing a standard like this (much like my Mum always says that Rod Stewart was born to sing The Great American Songbook) but I just didn’t like it. Or maybe I just didn’t like Mick. He pulls some odd grimaces while performing here, a bit like Andrew Strong of The Commitments fame, possibly consciously to convince us that he was being sincere and not desperately eyeing the Xmas No 1 spot.

Danger! Mike Read alert! Yes, the eternally unfunny one’s turn in the co-presenter hot seat has come around again. What gems will he have for us this time during his links? His first attempt is so lame it nearly declares itself a duck before sloping off screen. After Simply Red he attempts to tickle our funny bones with the comment “How strange the change from Michael to Gary…” as he hands over to his presenting partner Gary Davies. Do you get it?? Do you see what he did there? He only appropriated a line from “Everytime We Say Goodbye” to form a link!! Did he really think this stuff was in any way humorous?!! Talk about being deluded. He’s almost up there with Donald Trump.

The horse that came from nowhere out of the pack of chasers and nearly caused a photo finish to be required is up next. What else is there to be said about “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl that hasn’t already been said and written? There’s even an hour long documentary dedicated to the story behind the making of the song.

One thing to say about this performance though relates to the lyrics controversy and specifically the lines:

“You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it’s our last”

The BBC insisted that MacColl’s singing of “arse” be replaced with the less offensive “ass” which she dutifully obeys but she does smack her own behind in protest. In December 2007, Radio 1 edited out the words “faggot” and “slut” from the song for fear of offending the nation but relented after listeners, the band and MacColl’s mother claimed it was ridiculous.

History shows that “Fairytale of New York” didn’t quite complete its quest to be Xmas No 1 but the following tweet from @TOTPFacts is testament to the place it holds in the nation’s hearts.

A re-release in 1991 took it back to number 36. It was then absent until 2005 when a second re-release charted at number 3, after which it has re-entered the chart every year due to downloads/streaming – climbing as high as number 4 at Christmas 2018. #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) May 30, 2019

A couple of nearly Xmas Breakers next. Level 42 had been enjoying a strong 1987 with three Top 10 hits prior to this but “Children Say” rather let the side down with its No 22 peak. Maybe it was just a case of one too many singles to be pulled from the same album (“Running In The Family” had already been out for nine months by this point). Or maybe it was because it’s just not a very good song. It kind of drifts along with no purpose before the chorus featuring Mike Lindup’s falsetto vocals meanders by with what sounds like too many words to fit in.

The video doesn’t feature the Gould brothers Phil and Boon as they had recently left the band. We wouldn’t see Level 42 for another year when they returned to the charts with the much more memorable “Heaven In My Hands” single.

Some cynical record company practice that I did approve of next. In an attempt to cash in on the publicity and sales generated by the sensation of the year that was Rick Astley and his attempt at the Xmas No 1 that was his cover of Nat ‘King’ Cole‘s “When I Fall In Love”, EMI did the only thing they could in retaliation and re-released Nat’s version. Rick’s ghastly take on it included a brutally blatant Xmas tie -in video complete with snowy Wintery landscape and log cabin. Utterly shameful.

Happily, Nat came to the nation’s rescue and split the sales with his version peaking at No 4 whilst Astley had to make do with No 2 and in the process was deprived of a very possible Xmas No 1. I recall my housemate John being very chuffed about this eventuality as he detested Rick Astley.

Oh blimey it’s Belinda Carlisle! There was many a young man that I knew around this time that was very taken by Belinda and I certainly wasn’t resistant to her charms either. What? Oh, the song. Yes. OK. Err… “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” was damned catchy and seemed to coincide with a guilty soft rock secret that I seemed to be developing at the time so I thought it was pretty good. It has of course gone onto become a classic of that genre and featured on many a driving compilation.

Did I know of her Go-Gos background back then? I’m not sure I made the connection immediately and to be fair she had certainly changed her image from that earlier new wave era but of course we all soon knew about it. Moreover, she would be joined in the UK charts a few months later by her band mate Jane Wiedlin with her high adrenalin piece of perfect pop “Rush Hour” but that’s all for another day.

When I worked in Our Price in Rochdale in the early 90s my first manager there said he’d been to a Belinda live gig on some freebie record rep tickets and her backing band had been complete soft metal heads who spent the whole time rocking out. I’m guessing it may have been the guitarists in her backing band in this performance. Status Quo had nothing on these guys.

Typically, the cretinous Mike Read has to pretend he has turned down Belinda’s amorous advances towards him. For the love of God man! Couldn’t you just do the links for once?!

The pre-Xmas Top 10….

10. Jellybean and Elisa Fiorillo – “Who Found Who”

9. Madonna – “The Look Of Love”

8. Pogues with Kirsty MacColl – “Fairytale Of New York”

7. Shakin’ Stevens – “What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For”

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

5. T’Pau – “China In Your Hand”

4. Alison Moyet – “Love Letters”

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

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

1. Pet Shop Boys – “Always On My Mind” – The present incumbent at the top of the pops only needed to last another week to bag the ultimate chart crown of the year- the Xmas No 1. It was in doubt right up to the last minute though as a seemingly unstoppable momentum propelled The Pogues to within an inch of glory but Neil and Chris survived the full force of Shane Magowan, Kirsty et al to claim the coveted spot.

Never originally intended for a single release, it was the duo’s contribution to an Elvis tribute programme which had aired back in August to commemorate the 10th anniversary of The King’s death. A compilation of Elvis’ greatest hits had been released to coincide with the event (‘Now That’s What I Call Elvis’ my housemate John had christened it) – suddenly Elvis was back in fashion. The cover of “Always On My Mind” had been scheduled to be the B-side to previous single “Rent” until their manager pulled rank after seeing the cover’s potential.

As the Xmas No 1 race came sown to the wire, I was firmly in the Pet Shop Boys camp although I can see now the true genius of “Fairytale Of New York” and that it would have been a deserved festive chart topper as well. Whatever your preference between the two songs, surely we all agreed that either was preferable to Rick Astley.

History has been kind to both songs.”Always On My Mind” was voted the top cover version of all time in a BBC Music vote back in 2014 whilst “Fairytale Of New York” was voted as Britain’s ‘favourite Christmas song’ in 2012 following a nationwide survey of ITV viewers and is a staple of festive playlists everywhere.

The play out video is Madonna with “The Look Of Love”. This must surely be her least remembered hit of the entire decade and possibly of her whole career. The third single from her “Who’s That Girl” soundtrack, it peaked at No 9 which meant it was her first single not to make the Top 5 since “Lucky Star” in 1984. I’ve just watched it back and just 10 seconds later, I can’t recall how it goes. Give me ABC any day.

It was an ignoble ending to 1987 for her which had included two No 1 records earlier in the year. We would not see her in our charts for the whole of 1988 but she would be back with a bang in 1989…

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Wet Wet Wet	Angel Eyes (Home And Away)	No but my wife had the album on cassette
2	Simply Red	Everytime We Say Goodbye	Simply No
3	The Pogues with Kirtsy MacColl	Fairytale Of New York	Not the 7” but we all have this song on something surely?
4	Level 42	Children Say	Nah
5	Nat ‘King’ Cole	When I Fall In Love	No but I am eternally grateful to it for keeping Rick Astley from the No 1 spot
6	Belinda Carlisle	Heaven Is A Place On Earth	No but its on my iTunes
7	Pet Shop Boys	Always On My Mind	No but its on my Pop Art greatest hits CD
8	Madonna	The Look Of Love	No

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0005hjd/top-of-the-pops-17121987

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

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

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2017/12/december-16-29-1987.html

TOTP 19 FEB 1987

Posted on February 6, 2019 by 80stastic

This TOTP repeat is a mixture of some brand new songs (including four Breakers!) and some songs we have already seen before making a whopping eleven acts in total on the show! Gary Davies, who is racking up some serious appearance figures, is on solo presenting duties and there’s a brand new act opening up the show. Coming on like the cheeky younger sibling of Bow Wow Wow, Westworld were a UK / US hybrid with a line up featuring a former Generation X member and American singer Elizabeth Westwood whose surname was nearly the name of the band. A bit like a pop version of ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. Anyway, the band wasn’t named after her but the sci-fi film of the same name starring Yul Brynner.

They scored an immediate success with debut single “Sonic Boom Boy” which, with its irresistibly catchy chorus, rockabilly stylings and buckets full of pop-whizz energy, raced to No 11. It fair zipped along whilst sounding fresh and exciting. It was like a musical mouthwash for a decaying Top 40 reeking from the stench of cynically re-released 60s standards promoting Levi’s jeans. I thought it was great!

Their brand of high-octane bubble gum punk began to deflate almost immediately though. Follow up “Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo” only just made the Top 40 and by the end of the year they were already consigned to the bargain bins. A shame really because I think they had a lot more to give.

Another outing for Carly Simon‘s video for “Coming Around Again” next and I just can’t see past Carly’s huge 80s perm. Literally I can’t see past it. It fills the screen! On the songfacts.com website I found this comment about the song from Jason in Los Angeles:

“In her video of this song she’s just like an angel telling us not to worry or feel bad. Her exuberance and joy is strickenly transcendental. She tells us of course life is impermanent, but it’s a game and she invites us to dance instead of laying down with sorrow, that we should get up and surf the wave of life and have fun. Then when she spins around with the words “it’s coming around again,” reminds me of Krishna’s dancing women, or Sufi dancers that spin to transcend.”

Err…thanks Jason. Now I like Carly but “strickenly transcendental”? Is ‘strickenly” even a word?

Bloody Hell! TOTP were really hammering this one weren’t they?! How many times were those Curiosity Killed The Cat types on the show with “Down To Earth”?! This is at least the third time. Their debut album “Keep Your Distance” was released a few weeks after this and I remember a girl called Vicky on my course had been badgering the staff at HMV about when the album would be out for most of that time. It entered the charts at No 1 and went platinum in the UK.

Lead singer Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot appeared on the celebrity version of dating show First Dates last year and he looked …well…let’s just say he looked like must have had a very good time in the ’80s. His date for the evening had been a big Curiosity fan back in the day and she didn’t even recognise him for ages! Around 2001 I went to one of those ‘Here And Now’ 80s nostalgia shows and he was on the bill (presumably as ‘Ben from Curiosity Killed The Cat’) and he did three songs which no doubt would have included “Down To Earth”. He was about mid ranking on the bill. Well below the headliners Paul Young and Kim Wilde but criminally above Nick Heyward. That’s just wrong.

What on earth was this?! Man 2 Man meets Man Parrish? I couldn’t even make sense of the act’s name let alone the song! It turns out that Man 2 Man were the Zone brothers (Paul and Miki) and Man Parrish was the song’s producer but I didn’t know that until I just looked it up on Wikipedia two minutes ago. The Zone brothers had been contemporaries of The Ramones back in the day but by the mid 80s had moved onto recording Hi-NRG material and touring with the likes of Divine. “Male Stripper” had been a massive club hit the year before (not in the provincial clubs of my hometown Worcester though) and was a surprise mainstream success in ’87.

What were they singing? It sounded like ‘fuck’ and ‘tits’ the first time I heard it. Surely not?! Of course it wasn’t. The actual lyrics were:

“Built like a truck. I’d bump for a buck
Tips in my G-string, made my living”

Although I certainly wasn’t the target audience for this risque disco workout, I always kind of liked it. That relentless beat and the computerised voice continually repeating “I was a male stripper in go-go bar” that sounded like a coked up Metal Mickey kind of reeled me in. Sort of.

The performance of the song here elicits shrieks and squeals from the studio audience but its all pretty tame stuff although I’m sure Barry Took must have got loads of complaints on Points Of View. “Male Stripper” reached No 4 on the UK single chart.

Some Breakers next and first up is the the song that made Duran Duran realise that the game was up in terms of their dominance of the decade. “Skin Trade” was the second single to be released from their “Notorious” album and supposedly was what the band thought of as their creative peak. The fact that it failed to penetrate the Top 20 on either side of the pond bluntly put everything into perspective for the group who collectively must have thought “well that’s the best we can do and the public have pretty much rejected it”.

Whilst I was still struggling with this new Duran sound at the time, 30 odd years later I can see that it was a well constructed and mature sounding song with lots of little hooks to keep the listener if not enthralled then interested. With its slinky feel and seedy subject matter, was this Duran Duran doing their best Prince impression?

The band’s faith in the song is reflected in the fact that they called their publishing company Skin Trade Music Ltd and that its “strange behaviour” lyric inspired the name of the tour to promote “Notorious”.

When “(Open Up the) Red Box” failed to crack the Top 40 in late ’86, Simply Red seemed like they may be about to be written off as a two hit wonder (if such a thing exists). And of course, many people would have been quite happy with that eventuality. Of their first six single releases, four had failed to trouble the Top 40 countdown graphic makers. They were, at best, erratic chart occupants. 1987 brought a new album though and with it a lead single in “The Right Thing” that would propel them back into the nation’s affections when it made No 11.

It’s quite hard to say anything positive about Mick Hucknall without someone dobbing you into the taste police but I always liked this one. It was funky, catchy and had downright dirty lyrics. Forget “Male Stripper”, get a load of this…

“Feel I’m getting harder now
(Get off your back four, get on top more)
Feel I’m sinking farther down
(Get off your back four, get on top more)”

Of course the combination of the words ‘Mick’, ‘Hucknall’ and ‘sex’ may induce a certain queasy feeling within most of our stomachs but the ginger one certainly seemed to be enjoying himself with this song, spitting the lyrics out and letting out plenty of dirty sounding whelps and ‘ow!’s. OK, I’m going to do “The Right Thing” now and stop this subject right here.

I’ve been waiting for this one to come up. In the second year at Sunderland Poly I shared a house with four other lads including a guy called Mark. It so happened that Mark bore an uncanny resemblance to the lead singer of Mental As Anything, one Greedy Smith. And so it came to pass that Mark would also be known as “Greedy Mental”. He couldn’t see it and still doesn’t to this day but he did!.

Back to the band, and this lot were Australian new wave art rockers having formed way back in the ’70s but “Live It Up” is the song they will always be associated with. Originally released in 1985 and just a hit in their native Australia, it was given a new lease of life when it featured in the Paul Hogan film Crocodile Dundee resulting in it being a hit in places like Ireland, Norway, Germany and indeed the UK where it made No 3.

Aside from forever reminding me of Mark, I always quite liked the track anyway. It has a basic verse/chorus/verse/chorus/ middle eight/chorus structure but includes lots of little nuances that stick in the brain. For example, the ascending, jabbed chords intro, the discordant middle eight and of course the sing along chorus. Throw in Greedy’s err…mental stiff dancing and what’s not to like?

I’d never heard any other Mental As Anything songs until I listened to some of their stuff on Spotify recently. They were a bit like their Antipodean cousins Split Enz from New Zealand. A British equivalent? Squeeze maybe? Sadly Greedy Smith is no longer with us having passed away in December 219 after suffering a heart attack.

This one must have really passed me by. “Crush On You” by The Jets is just nowhere to be found in my memory bank marked 1987. Hardly surprising really as it was bland R’n’B tosh. Apparently all eight members were from the same Wolfgramm family so they were kind of like a US version of Five Star but worse. Imagine that if you can!

I was amazed to find out that this single went Top 5 in the UK. I must have been busy talking pretentious bollocks down the student union bar that week.

The next act gets a big build up from Gary Davies and rightly so as it’s the legendary Eric Clapton with “Behind The Mask”. As Gary advises, not seen at the TOTP studios for over 20 years, he’s here in person tonight after we got his video the other week.

Now I’m trying hard and failing to think of any TOTP acts that would have sported a beard around this time. It probably looked incongruous to say the least but Eric would fit right into today’s facial hair obsessed world.

The Top 10…

10. Level 42 – “Running In The Family”

9. Five star – “Stay Out Of My Life”

8. The Blow Monkeys – It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way”

7. Randy Crawford – “Almaz”

6. Man 2 Man Meets Man Parrish – “Male Stripper”

5. Percy Sledge – “When A Man Loves A Woman”

4. Pepsi And Shirley – “Heartache”

3. Curiosity Killed The Cat – “Down To Earth”

2. George Michael and Aretha Franklin – “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)

1. Ben E King – “Stand By Me”: Leaping 18 places to the No 1 spot, I didn’t really see this coming and would have thought Curiosity Killed The Cat were a safer bet to top the charts. Now I’m not knocking the song which is a great and all that (I really like John Lennon’s version) but it seemed that these re-releases were clogging up the Top 40 by this point and taking up spaces that could have been filled by new contemporary acts. Levi’s domination of the charts would continue throughout the decade and into the ’90s though.

The play out video is “Rock The Night” by Europe. When reviewed in Smash Hits magazine by The Mission’s Wayne Hussey, he described it in these words:

“This is awful. It had no sense of humour which is essential in any heavy metal.”

No sense of humour Wayne? Did you not see their hair?!

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Westworld	Sonic Boom Boy	No but I had the follow up single “Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo” on cassette which featured a version of “Sonic Boom Boy”
2	Carly Simon	Coming Around Again	No
3	Curiosity Killed The Cat	Down To Earth	Yes, yes I did. What of it?
4	Man 2 Man Meets Man Parrish	Male Stripper	Intrigued? Yes. Enough to buy it? No.
5	Duran Duran	Skin Trade	No but I have it on their Greatest Hits CD
6	Simply Red	The Right Thing	No
7	Mental As Anything	Live It Up	No but maybe I should have
8	The Jets	Crush On You	A very solid No
9	Eric Clapton	Behind The Mask	No but I did like it
10	Stand By Me	Ben E. King	Another no
11	Europe	Rock The Night	Give me some credit!

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00029m7/top-of-the-pops-19021987

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?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/with/24029329254/

TOTP 05 JUN 1986

Posted on October 10, 2018 by 80stastic

It’s a milestone week here at TOTP Rewind as the BBC4 repeats have reached the eve of my 18th birthday! I was about to step into adulthood and leave behind my childish ways (I’m sure I’m due a progress report on that). And what do you need if you’re turning 18? A party of course! And this year I was going to have one! A proper one! At a real nightclub! On my 17th birthday, I had spent the day mostly on my own practising darts in the garage with my newly acquired dart board. Not this year though! More of that later though….

No doubt I would have been very excited at the thought of my impending birthday the night this TOTP was broadcast. Sadly, the line up for that show was fairly lame and not conducive to maintaining my state of anticipation at all. I present exhibit one…Ca$hflow with “Mine All Mine”. This lot were featured in the last post as a Breaker and I said then that I couldn’t remember them at all and that having listened to them that my opinion was that they were God awful. They’re in the studio this week – will this second appearance have any influence upon my initial judgement? Nope. “Can they move or what?” asks Gary Davies at the song’s end. Pushed for an answer I would have to say “What”. I heard some whooping and hollering from the TOTP studio audience but the camera was trained on the keyboard player’s hands so nobody at home saw any moves a bustin’. I saw a bit of show pony strutting from the front man and that was it. Very poor.

If 1985 was the year of Phil Collins, 1986 was that year that his band mates decided that they’d had enough of all that and were about to reclaim the limelight. Not only did Mike Rutherford launch his own side project Mike and the Mechanics but he and Tony Banks also got all three of them back together to record some new Genesis stuff. The album was called “Invisible Touch” and the title track was released as the lead single for the project. The album would prove to be the band’s commercial high point. It was certified multi-platinum for over 1.2 million copies sold in the UK and 6 million sold in the US and was home to five hit singles all of which made the Top 5 in the US making them the first band to achieve that feat.

They’d obviously made a decision to go for an all out pop sound and they are unrecognisable as the same group who recorded all those prog rock albums in the 70s (albeit most of those were with Peter Gabriel). Some critics accused it of being a Phil Collins album masquerading as a Genesis LP and certainly the ballads like “In Too Deep” and “Throwing It All Away” could easily have been solo hits for the former.

As for the song “Invisible Touch”, I guess you’d have to say it’s a well crafted pop song and I certainly didn’t hate it but I also found it a bit bland unlike Phil Collins who is on record as saying it’s his favourite ever Genesis track! Well maybe he knew what he was talking about as it went all the way to No 1 in the US (their only chart topper Stateside). Despite radio playing the Hell out of it over here, it only made No 15 on our charts.

Yet more blandness now as Simply Red are back on the show with “Holding Back The Years” which is now at No 2. Mick Hucknall’s image here is surely the one that inspired Viz magazine to lampoon him so hilariously later on in the decade when he appeared in the Billy The Fish strip playing up front for fictional football team Fulchester United.

This is a live version of “Holding Back The Years” and I have to admit that it wasn’t often that a TOTP studio audience joined in with a sing-along like Hucknall gets them to do in this performance so credit due and all that. It’s still sounds so laboured and very much a dirge to me though. Gary Davies’s prediction in his intro that it could be No 1 next week didn’t come true though – it remained at No 2 and never made the summit of the charts.

After a Top 40 run down we delve back into the charts for this week’s Breakers…

First up is Miami Sound Machine with “Bad Boy”. We hadn’t seen this lot since their debut hit “Dr Beat” nearly two years prior but they were back with this little ditty that I always felt was a bit of a nothing song. At this point, Miami Sound Machine was still a thing in its own right as opposed to a couple of years later when they were rebranded as “Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine”. That little marketing trick is still being used today as demonstrated by Culture Club whose series of live dates to promote their forthcoming new album are being advertised as “Boy George and Culture Club”.

Back to Gloria and her pals though. Despite my opinion that it was a pretty weak effort, it still made the Top 20 in the UK and the Top 10 in the US. I much preferred their next single “Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)” which barely made the Top 100 despite Gary Davies playing it constantly on his show and referring to it as the “Uh-Oh” song.

The Cats musical themed video is just plain weird especially the feline jazz mag scene.

Next a song whose title sounds like a something the Austrian jury at the Eurovision Song contest might say whilst delivering their votes. This is “Vienna Calling” by Falco. This guy wasn’t wasting any time in following up on his massive No 1 hit “Rock Me Amadeus” which itself was still in the Top 40 whilst this next single came…err…calling. Very much in the same vein as its predecessor though not quite as ridiculously catchy, it would make a respectable No 10 over here but it wasn’t a No1 in any territory. Did I like it? Not that much and his moves in the accompanying video are so lame – it’s almost Dad dancing. To be fair, he had just become a Dad according to Simon Bates.

However, a few months later he released ‘The Sound Of Musik” which I thought was excellent but by then we’d all pretty much moved on and it only made No 61 in the UK charts. Falco continued to release material to diminishing returns apart from in his native Austria where he remained a big star up to his death in 1998. A tiny part of 1986 will forever be his though.

Finally! A song I actually liked! Pet Shop Boys had released “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)” before back in ’85 when it had made no impression on the charts whatsoever. However, in the wake of the their breakthrough success with “West End Girls” (itself a flop on original release) and the consolidation of “Love Comes Quickly”, it was given another release in ’86 and would become a No 11 hit.

Watching this studio performance back, I was surprised at how animated Chris Lowe is, bashing away furiously at his synth drums throughout the length of the song. My enduring image of Chris is him stood motionless behind a towering stack of keyboards. Just goes to show the tricks your memory can play on you. Neil Tennant, on the other hand, does his well honed Englishman abroad act again.

Much like “West End Girls”, “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)” always seemed to have a lot going on it to me. From that crashing synth backing to the the programmed harmonies in the middle eight to those memorable lyrics, there was a lot crammed into the mix. As for those lyrics, much was made of their meaning at the time and many mistook them as lauding aspiration and materialism – well it was in the middle of Thatcher’s grim yuppie regime – but the other interpretation of them is that it was a satirical tale of a protagonist’s false claims as to his money-making prowess (“You can tell I’m educated, I studied at the Sorbonne, doctored in mathematics, I could have been a don”). I like to believe the latter theory.

No doubt the Pet Shop Boys would have got me more in the mood for my 18th birthday the following day. Ah yes…the party. I think my girlfriend Clare’s birthday must have been close to mine as we decided to celebrate it together and got some complimentary tickets for the “Images On Glass” nightclub (the name never gets any less wanky!) to hand out to our friends. We called it ‘The chocolate éclair’ party – we thought we were being clever with a pun on her name – but all that happened was that we got asked all night where the free chocolate éclairs were.

I recall that the World Cup in Mexico had started and England were playing Morocco in their second group game. Having lost the first to Portugal, they couldn’t afford to lose this game. The nightclub put the game on their big screen (the time difference meant it was on pretty late in England). In a tense encounter, this happened in the 43rd minute…

I watched it unfold on the big screen (without the commentary) probably to a soundtrack of Colonel Abrams or some such tune that the DJ was playing. Isn’t it strange that one of the things that I remember most about my 18th birthday party that I was having in a nightclub alongside my girlfriend was Ray Wilkins getting sent off for England? Ray had been my first footballing hero but even so. Anyway, as far as I’m aware me and Clare had a good night and certainly a better time than Ray was having.

After that interlude, back to TOTP and another song we only saw the other week. So I now know (because Wikipedia tells me) that Nu Shooz were a duo (indeed they were actually husband and wife) but I’m guessing when Gary Davies introduced their video for “I Can’t Wait” after the Pet Shop Boys with the words “Here’s another duo”, I was probably quite confused. A duo? But there’s just the female singer in the video and nobody else? Surely Davies didn’t mean that the dog in the video was the other member of the band? Maybe it was responsible for those sampled yelp noises that run through the song. Now I think of it, they do remind me a bit of another song …..

Sorry about that. Back to Nu Shooz and having crashed the Top 10 this week, they would go all the way to No 2 in a couple of weeks. I was already tired of it by this time though.

The Top 10 on this milestone week for me was….

10. Nu Shooz – “I Can’t Wait”

9. Jaki Graham – “Set Me Free”

8. Robert Palmer – “Addicted To Love”

7. Level 42 – “Lessons In Love”

6. Michael McDonald / Patti LaBelle – “On My Own”

5. Tears For Fears – “Everybody Wants To Run The World”

4. Peter Gabriel – “Sledgehammer”

3. Spitting Image – “The Chicken Song”

2. Simply Red – “Holding Back The Years”

1. Doctor and the Medics – “Spirit In The Sky”: New No 1 time and its the good doctor and his friends. They released an album around this time called “Laughing At The Pieces”. I’m betting quite a few people (I knew at least one girl who fell into this category) were caught out buying it expecting an album full of “Spirit In The Sky” type numbers. With tracks called the like of “No-one Loves You When You’ve Got No Shoes”, “Kettle on a Long Chain” and “Smallness of the Mustard Pot”, it was psychedelic, trippy and well….just a bit out there.

The play out music is Jaki Graham with “Set Me Free”. Watching this video, I could have sworn that two of her backing singers were Mel & Kim. The two women in sailor outfits? On closer inspection it’s not them but it had me fooled for a while.

For posterity’s sake, I include the chart run down below:

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Ca$hflow	Mine All Mine	No – a thousand times No!
2	Genesis	Invisible Touch	Nah
3	Simply Red	Holding Back The Years	Yaaaawn! No!
4	Miami Sound Machine	Bad Boy	Not for me this one
5	Falco	Vienna Calling	Nope
6	Pet Shop Boys	Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots OF Money)	Not the single but I have it on CD somewhere
7	Nu Shooz	I Can’t Wait	I could and I did. The wait goes on. That’s a no by the way.
8	Doctor and the Medics	Spirit In The Sky	No but yet again my Top 10 obsessed younger sister did I believe
9	Jaki Graham	Set Me Free	She’s alright is our Jaki but I’ve never bought any of her stuff

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bm6tdn/top-of-the-pops-05061986

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

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

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2016/06/june-4-17-1986.html

TOTP 22 MAY 1986

Posted on October 4, 2018 by 80stastic

Hello! You are reading TOTP Rewind – a blog where I, a middle aged man, review every TOTP repeat being shown on BBC4 and attempt to recall not only what I thought of the songs and artists featured back then but also what I was up to as a young man 32 years ago. Sometimes the details of that time are tantalisingly out of the reach of my memory recall; other times they are as clear as a glacier mint. So far I have been through ’83,’84,’85 and find myself in May ’86 where I am rapidly approaching my 18th birthday. I’m doing my ‘A’ level exams, the World Cup will begin shortly and more important than any of that, I finally have a girlfriend. Life’s good. For the moment.

As such, I ‘m guessing that I will have a certain affection for most of the stuff in the charts and on TOTP around this time, whether they were actually any good or not. Let’s test my theory out….

The presenters for tonight’s show are Gary Davies who seems to be on most weeks currently and Peter Powell who hasn’t been spotted in this parish for what seems like ages. No idea what he’s been up to but he’s back and on tip-top “Hello Mate” form. Tonight’s first act is Jaki Graham who is slap bang in the middle of a run of six consecutive Top 20 hits including three Top 10s. This latest one is “Set Me free” which will make No 7 on the charts in a couple of weeks. When people talk about successful female solo artists of the 80s, I’m betting Jaki’s name rarely pops up. Whitney Houston? Obviously. Kim Wilde? Tick. Bonnie Tyler? You could make a case. But Jaki Graham? I’m guessing most people would immediately think David Grant at the mention of her name and it does her a disservice. And she wasn’t only popular over here but she was massive in Asia apparently.

OK – “Set Me Free” isn’t her best song maybe and its a little too reliant on the shouty chorus but its got lots of energy to it and Jaki gives it plenty in this performance. The TOTP camera man seems determined to give us plenty of close ups of Jaki to show just how tight her red leather skirt is. We’ll have some more low level casual sexism courtesy of serial offender Gary Davies later in the show.

Here’s one that was a must for any DJ worth his salt down Images On Glass (wanky name) nightclub in Worcester at this time if he/she had any ambitions about filling the dance floor. Here come The B-52s with “Rock Lobster”...

Originally a minor hit in 1979 as Gary Davies advises, I wouldn’t have had a clue about the song back then. As the 80s progressed I was a new pop kid and The B-52s were definitely not on my radar at all but when this was re-released in ’86, I couldn’t help but sit up and take notice of it. It was peculiar, it was bizarre but mostly it was immensely danceable. I’m pretty I would have strut my stuff to this one down Images. The great thing about “Rock Lobster” was that you could pretty much do any moves you liked and wig out to your heart’s content and it didn’t matter or look out of place. So out there was the song that anything went.

The re-release was a double A-side with “Planet Claire” – coincidentally the name of my girlfriend at the time but without the ‘i’ – and made No 12 in the UK charts.

After Band Aid, Live Aid and err..Hear ‘n Aid, we now had Sport Aid which took place this month. Peter Powell and Gary Davies do their bit to plug the event, not by actually running you understand, but by wearing the official ‘I Ran The World’ T-shirts. I have to say I don’t remember anyone I knew taking part in the 10 kilometer run which was christened the ‘Race Against Time’ but I do recall Tears For Fears re-recording “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” as “Everybody Wants To Run The World” for the charity. I think we might get to see / hear it soon in one of the repeats.

OK – an act we only just saw on the last TOTP next – it’s Billy Ocean. Watching this back, I was mostly struck by the inexplicably odd emphasis Peter Powell decides to use in his introduction “There’ll Be Sad Songs…pause…To Make You Cry”. What?! Me? What do you mean Pete? What do you know? Just mad.

Despite a second appearance on the show, Billy would only rise one further place to a high of No 12 with this single which must have been a disappointment to him after the success of his previous single, the chart -topping “When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going”. Billy would stir himself into achieving one final big hit two years later with the ludicrously titled “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” motoring to a high of No 3.

Bloody Hell! Another one we’ve only just seen in the last repeat. There is a nice bit of symmetry with this one at least though. When Michael McDonald was looking for a female vocalist to perform Patti LaBelle‘s side of the duet on their No 2 hit “On My Own” for his UK tour, he turned to tonight’s opening turn Jaki Graham to (ahem) “Step Right Up”. They would form an enduring friendship on the back of this that has included McDonald writing material for Jaki and having her feature as a special guest on his tours.

It’s Breakers time…and we begin with just a brilliant song by a man who has provided a rich soundtrack to my life for many a year. We’d last seen Pete Wylie in the Summer of ’84 when he rode into the Top 40 on the magnificent steed that was “Come Back”. That was under the name of The Mighty Wah! but he was using his own name to front this next gem from his repertwah! (I stole that pun shamelessly from the title of Pete’s compilation album of 2000).

“Sinful” is a huge anthem, a shimmering slice of wonderful pop music that I fell for immediately. Dressed in all black complete with requisite rock ‘n’ roll leather trousers I thought he looked great as well and so wanted to recreate his image for myself. My girlfriend didn’t get my enthusiasm for either the song or Pete’s image but I knew I was right. This was just massive. How the single only got to No 13 I will never know.

Some heavy rock next from big leaguers AC/DC with “Who Made Who”. Although I remember the song, I wouldn’t have been able to confidently state that it had been a hit at this time without this prompt from TOTP. It wasn’t anything that I was into then and still isn’t today. In 1986, I probably knew “For Those About To Rock” but not much else. I’ve never really gotten off on Brian Johnson’s vocals and find Angus Young’s whole schoolboy uniform stage outfit antics tedious. Give me “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” by Aretha over “Who Made Who” anytime.

“Who Made Who” made No 16 on the UK charts.

And now for that second dose of low level casual sexism. The final Breaker is Addicted To Love by Robert Palmer and Gary Davies introduces it by saying “forget about him just have a look at these girls”. He just about refrains from adding a “Phwoaaarh!” at the end.

The “Addicted To Love” video caused such a fuss back then but seems tame in the extreme compared to some of the videos that were on heavy rotation on the MTV Urban channel which was always on whenever I went to the gym at the start of the Millennium. Directed by photographer Terence Donovan, all of the furore surrounded the way the models making up Palmer’s fictional band had been styled. Made up to look like they were clones with their blood red lip gloss, slicked back hair and black sheen dresses, the crux of the whole video was that they remained expressionless throughout whilst strutting along (sometimes not always in time) to the track with Robert doing his thing out front. Was it objectifying women? Was it making them passive elements of an overtly male fantasy? I’m not sure that I allowed myself to be troubled by such ethical questions back in 1986.

I did like the song though and it has gone down in musical history as pretty much an enduring bona fide classic as far as I can see. It’s got a great groove behind it added to the backing of those powerhouse drums and with Robert coming on like a rock star counsellor (“You’re going to have to face to you’re addicted to love”). There’s a bit right at the start of the song on certain edits where he makes a “Hu-cha” sound which was my friend John from Poly’s favourite bit.

And the models that appeared in the video? What became of them? They have been tracked down a number of times by the likes of Q Magazine to update their stories. With careers as diverse as horticulture and children’s education in Thailand, they certainly didn’t let themselves be defined by their appearance in the video although there is a FaceBook page dedicated to them.

“Addicted To Love” would make No 5 on the UK charts and was a No 1 over in the US.

Back to the studio for another song that was a US No1 and is also widely regarded as a classic although it does very little for me. Heeeere’s Mick…it’s Simply Red with “Holding Back The Years”. The success of this song must have been a great relief to Mick Hucknall and indeed his record company as things had slowed down a bit for him after his breakthrough success of “Money’s Too Tight (to Mention)” the previous year. Three follow up singles (including the original release of “Holding Back The Years”) had not made it into the Top 40 so it was squeaky bum time down Mick’s gaff. Who knows what might have happened had this re-release not done the trick? Maybe the band would have folded and there would have been a music world without Mick Hucknall in it. What a thought! OK. OK…sarcasm ends.

This wistful ballad always seemed dull and dreary to me but yet again the British record buying public disagreed with me and bought it in enough amounts to send it all the way to No2. Even my loved up state of being in a relationship couldn’t soften me to like this one much.

The Top 10 for this week was as follows…

10. Madonna – “Live To Tell”

9. Status Quo – “Rollin’ Home”

8. Van Halen – “Why Can’t This Be Love”

7. Falco – “Rock Me Amadeus”

6. Chas and Dave /Match Room Mob – “Snooker Loopy”

5. Dr and the Medics – “Spirit In The Sky”

4. Peter Gabriel – “Sledgehammer”

3. Level 42 – “Lessons In Love”

2. Michael McDonald and Patti LaBelle – “On My Own”

1. Spitting Image – “The Chicken Song”- Now at No 1 and in the studio! How were they going to do this? Quite easily as it happens. Just plonk the Ronald Reagan puppet behind a drum kit and Maggie Thatcher behind a keyboard thereby obscuring any unwanted views of puppeteer hands etc. Reagan’s puppet does look deliriously insane here. I wonder what Black Lace themselves thought of the way they were depicted here?

Just to prove that we had all lost the plot a bit when it came to the charts at this time, the play out music is Chas And Dave with “Snooker Loopy” – so that’s two novelty songs in the Top 10. Having heard this a few times lately for the first time in years, it starting to sound more and more like the British music hall song “Any Old Iron” to me which I think Chas and Dave would have been quite happy with. Which snooker player is the most impressive with their part in the song? For me it has to be Steve Davis who in turns out has hosted a radio show on Phoenix FM since 2007 and features artists as eclectic as Autechre to Ennio Morricone. Interesting.

So do I have an inflated sense of affection for these songs due to my official status of being someone’s actual boyfriend at this time? I’m afraid no amount of warm nostalgia can convince me that “Holding Back The Years ” is a good song.

For posterity’s sake, I include the chart run down below:

And if you really want to watch the whole show over again, here it is but with two tracks edited out for copyright reasons:

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Jaki Graham	Set Me Free	She’s alright is Jackie but I’ve never bought any of her stuff
2	The B-52s	Rock Lobster	No but I think my much cooler wife has it
3	Billy Ocean	There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)	Decent ballad but no
4	Patti LaBelle / Michael McDonald	On My Own	Nah
5	Pete Wylie	Sinful	Yes! Yes! YES!
6	AC/DC	Who Made Who	A big fat NO from me
7	Robert Palmer	Addicted To Love	Not the single but I’m sure I have a Best Of CD with it on somewhere
8	Simply Red	Holding Back The Years	Nope
9	Spitting Image	The Chicken Song	No I did not
10	Chas and Dave	Snooker Loopy	I should cocoa..err…no

Disclaimer

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

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

Some bed time reading?

01-smash-hits-21-may-3-june-1986-225x300

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-21-june-3-1986.html

TOTP 04 JUL 1985

Posted on March 28, 2018 by 80stastic

After a run of seven consecutive shows, the sequence is finally broken as we miss the last week of June and go headlong into July 1985….and what a month for pop music it was! In just 9 days time the world will behold the ‘global jukebox’ that was Live Aid but more of that to come in another post. For now let’s see what was in the UK charts as that historic event loomed….

We start with a band who have taken 1985 by storm and are back for more with their third single of the year. This is Dead Or Alive with “In Too Deep”. By this point we were getting used to Pete Burns and his eyepatch with huge swathes of the population having succumbed to the power of No 1 single “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” and also having sent follow up “Lover Come Back To Me” to No 11. “In Too Deep'” was also taken from their hit LP “Youthquake” and would follow its predecessor into the Top 20. I always quite liked it and thought that it made perfect sense as a single release sounding, as it did, very comfortable next to its contemporaries on the Radio 1 daytime playlists. It had a lighter tone to it than “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” and maybe lacked that killer hook to send it any higher than its final No 14 chart placing though.

And that LP title? You may recall that ‘youthquake’ was voted the word of 2017 and was defined as meaning “a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people”. However to myself and thousands of other pop fans who grew up in the 80s, ‘youthquake’ will forever be associated with the one and only Mr Pete Burns.

A quick word on tonight’s presenters who are Richard Skinner and Simon Bates who have decided to come tonight as each other. They are both wearing the same style of glasses and the same style of hair. It’s most disturbing!

We’re back to the Montreux pop festival for the next act who are Tears For Fears with “Head Over Heels”. The BBC had been showing performances from that year’s festival on a Friday night slot around this time and some of these were recycled for TOTP. In recent weeks we had seen Kool and the Gang doing sickly ballad “Cherish” at Montreux and now we have Curt and Roland. The former is in his now omnipresent bright yellow shirt and wielding his trusty headless bass guitar whilst the latter’s voice sounds strong and clear. In short, it’s a classic mid 80s Tears For Fears performance.

In light of the continued global success the band were enjoying at this time, their record company Phonogram decided to re-release their first ever single “Suffer The Children” just one month after “Head Over Heels” had peaked. It was a strange decision seeing as it was already four years old by this point and the band’s sound had progressed in the intervening time. It was, well, an anachronism I guess. The single had not been a hit on its initial release in 1981 and again failed to convince record buyers in 1985 when it clambered to a peak of No 52 on the charts despite the fact that it’s actually brilliant. The decision to re-release was rendered even more odd when a fifth single from “Songs From The Big Chair” (“I Believe”) was released in September. Record companies eh?

The original punk band are up next. Here are The Damned with “The Shadow Of Love”. My use of the word ‘original’ is intentional as they are widely credited with being the first punk outfit to officially release a single (1976’s “New Rose”). Some eight years on from that and the band’s fortunes are finally taking a turn for the better after some commercial failures and many line up changes. Their return to the charts in 1985 would feature a hit album (“Phantasmagoria”) and three Top 40 singles. “The Shadow Of Love” was the second of those singles (and easily the weakest in my book) following on from “Grimly Fiendish” which was a No 21 hit earlier in the year but which we missed out on seeing in these TOTP repeats presumably due to the Mike Smith legal situation.

Whilst “Grimly Fiendish” came on like a goth version of a Madness song (which I liked), “The Shadow Of Love” was a more pure form of goth rock and none the better for it in my opinion. In its defence, the driving guitar back beat sounds like Prefab Sprout’s excellent “Faron Young” to me and indeed the singles were actually released in the same month. However, I would much rather have seen Paddy McAloon and his pals in the charts than “The Shadow Of Love”. The third of that trio of hit singles for The Damned (“Is It A Dream”) was much better fare but would only make No 34 on the chart.

It should be noted that original bassist Captain Sensible was not in the band at this point having departed to pursue a successful if slightly slapstick solo career and in the absence of his arresting personal appearance (permanent red beret and shades), the band’s visuals became focussed around lead singer Dave Vanian’s vampire schtick. I used to work with a woman in York who had a big thing about Vanian but I could never really see it.

It’s another studio outing for the Fine Young Cannibals next with “Johnny Come Home”. I think this is the third time that this single has been on the show so I’m not going to say to much more about it/the band other than I did once see Roland Gift playing Romeo in a Hull truck Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet and very good he was too!

And with that we’re into the first of four Breakers and it’s the first glimpse for many of us of a band or more specifically an individual who would become a worldwide success but who would also in the process become one of the most reviled names in pop music history. The individual is of course Mick Hucknall and the band is Simply Red here with his/ their debut hit “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)”.

Where to start with Mick? Well firstly there’s his voice which many millions of the earth’s population think is fantastic . Me? Well he can sing no doubt about that but… nah…not really for me. Secondly there’s his music and whether it’s actually any good or not. Widely dismissed by many as being music for people who don’t like music, Hucknall’s smooth blend of sophist -pop is just too bland for many and when you chuck in the fact that, in record company speak, it has shifted massive units in territories all over the world, well, if the masses like it then it can’t be any good can it? I’m sure the pretentious 17 year old me trotted that particular line out whenever possible. And yet….dare I say that there are a few of his songs that I like? I think I just said it. “Open Up The Red Box” from debut album “Picture Book” is a great track and I have a certain fondness for “The Right Thing” from follow up LP “Men And Women”. And “A New Flame” is pretty good actually…right, I’m going to stop there in case any of you get the wrong impression about me.

So if it’s not the music, what is it about Mick that rankles us? Oh yeah, the womanising image. Or as is probably more the case, the fact that he seems to get to date super models whilst not exactly being what you would describe as ‘classically handsome’. Or is it just as simple as that old irrational hatred of red haired people? My friend Robin, who retired by mistake, once played that game in the pub when you have to answer the question ‘if you could go back in time and assassinate someone to change the course of history who would it be?’ After his co-drinkers had done the usual Hitler, Maggie Thatcher types of replies, Robin piped up with his input. The first name on his hit list? Yep…Mick Hucknall. Mind you the second name was ‘the man who put rice in soup’ so I would advise taking his opinions with a pinch of salt.

I met him once. Not Robin (obviously) – no Mick Hucknall. Correction – I didn’t meet him but I did speak to him once…on the phone. I had just started working in Our Price Manchester and one of my work colleagues was a girl called Natalie. Natalie, it has to be said, was an incredibly attractive woman. She came to work one day in a cat suit and asked me if it was a bit too much as a work outfit. The wet-behind-the-ears 22 year old me was understandably lost for words. Anyway, Natalie had met Mick on a night out and had caught his eye and so he rang up the shop to arrange a date with her. I answered the shop phone (there were no mobiles in those days) and when I asked who was ringing he replied “Mick”. We all knew about Natalie’s budding relationship with the Huckster so I skipped off to find her and then tell everyone else I could find that Mick Hucknall was on the phone. Twelve months on from that incident I would be spending most of my time at work selling copy after copy of Simply Red’s “Stars” album to everyone in Manchester seemingly.

Anyway, all that is to come. For now, here he/they are with “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)” and for the record, I wasn’t fussed.

Oh man! What a song up next! This is The Cult with the mighty “She Sells Sanctuary”. This single brings back so many memories though not specifically linked to its time in the charts. These goth-rockers formed from the ashes of previous incarnations Southern Death Cult and Death Cult before finally settling on the shorter and much more manageable ‘The Cult’. The reason this song resonates so much with me? It was a playlist fixture at Worcester night spot ‘The Barn’ and many, many times I would ‘testify’ to this on the club’s small stage at the back of the dance floor come the end of the year when I finally popped my nightclub cherry and became a regular attendee there.

Everything about this song is just great from the swirling intro to the driving guitars to Ian Astbury’s almost screeched vocals. But the greatest thing about it is that tiny triple guitar strum that ends each refrain of the chorus. Just brilliant. The song was guaranteed to fill the floor at ‘The Barn’ with me and my mates every single time it was played which was every time I was ever there…until…until that dreadful moment when it stopped being ‘The Barn’ and was renamed ‘Images On Glass’. Images On Glass! Could it have sounded any more 80s? And with the new name came a new music policy. Goth rock was out as was anything that could be deemed indie and in its place came Luther Vandross and Alexander O’Neal and the like! It was awful. The most alternative that the playlist got was “Sanctify Yourself” by Simple Minds. It was heart breaking.

“She Sells Sanctuary” would make No 15 and the other two singles from the the band’s “Love” album would also be Top 40 hits. The Cult were a cult no more. They were pop stars!

After so much to say about the first two breakers, I haven’t got much to say at all about the next one which is The Style Council with “Come To Milton Keynes”. After the rollicking “Walls Come Tumbling Down” this seemed to be quite an insipid follow up single to me. Surely there were better tracks off the album (“Our Favourite Shop”) they could have released? There were – third single “The Lodgers” was much better for one. And what was it about? As I said, I haven’t got much to say so I’ll let the ever reliable @TOTPFacts tell you via this interview clip:

“Come To Milton Keynes” annoyed residents of the town. Paul Weller and Mick Talbot addressed the “controversy” when they appeared on Breakfast TV on 12 July to review the papers: https://t.co/6yvD4PS7GW #TOTP
— Top Of The Pops Facts (@TOTPFacts) March 22, 2018

The record buying public agreed with me and only sent it to No 23 in the charts.

The final Breaker is this year’s Europop hit. This is Opus with “Live Is Life”. This bunch of Austrian chancers were 1985’s foreign import from the European charts that cracked the UK Top 40. In recent years we had been subjected to Ryan Paris (1983’s “Dolce Vita”) and The Art Company (1984’s “Susanna”) but this was worse than both of them. Pure garbage. Just vile.

Having already written over 2000 words for this post, a quick glance down the Top 10 fortunately gives me some relief as there is nothing there that requires anything but a cursory write up.

10. Marillion – “Kayleigh”: Their final week in the Top 10 but they’ll be back soon enough with similar sounding ballad “Lavender”

9. Mai Tai – “History”: Hang on – am I experiencing deja-vu here? How many weeks has this been at No 9? A quick check of the official charts website shows that the single’s Top 10 placings were as follows: 10 – 9 – 8 – 9 – 9. Is that some sort of record? Probably not

8. Bruce Springsteen – “I’m On Fire / Born In The USA”: Despite it being the 4th of July the TOTP producers chose to show a clip of “I’m On Fire” again rather than “Born In The USA”. They missed a trick there eh?

7. Billy Ocean – “Suddenly”: On its way down the charts. Cheer up though Billy, you’ll be at No 1 in 6 months time…

6. The Crowd – “You’ll Never Walk Alone”: An ex No 1 record but now slipping quickly down the charts. It will be out of the Top 40 completely within 3 weeks.

5. Marti Webb – “Ben”: A second charity record in the Top 10 this week, this would be its peak position.

4. Kool And The Gang – “Cherish”: Up to No 4 but it would be another 18 years until they were in the Top 10 again with a re-release of “Ladies Night” featuring Atomic Kitten. No, I’ve never heard that version before either.

3. Madonna – “Crazy For You”: So no No 1 for Madonna just yet but its coming…

2. Harold Faltermeyer – “Axel F”: Why? Why was this such a big hit?

1. Sister Sledge – “Frankie”: An even bigger turkey than the No 2 record! Just wrong.

The play out music is Glenn Frey with “Smuggler’s Blues”. This was Glenn’s follow up to “The Heat Is On” and although it didn’t perform as well in the charts, it’s a vastly superior song I think. In a case of life imitating art, Glenn would appear in an episode of the hit TV series Miami Vice named after his song.

For posterity’s sake, I include the chart run down below:

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Dead Or Alive	In Too Deep	I didn’t
2	Tears For Fears	Head Over Heels	No but I had the LP “Songs From The Big Chair” with it on
3	The Damned	The Shadow Of Love	Nope
4	Fine Young Cannibals	Johnny Come Home	No but I have the album on CD
5	Simply Red	Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)	I did not!
6	The Cult	She Sells Sanctuary	Where is my copy of this?! I must have bought this! I had their poster on my halls room at Poly so I must have bought this surely?!
7	The Style Council	Come To Milton Keynes	No but I’m guessing my Weller -obsessed elder brother did
8	Opus	Live Is Life	Or ‘Shite is shit’ as I like to call it – NO!
9	Marillion	Kayleigh	No
10	Mai Tai	History	It was OK but not purchase worthy
11	Bruce Springsteen	I’m On Fire / Born In The USA	No but I have the “Born in the USA” LP
12	Billy Ocean	Suddenly	Passable ballad but I was never going to buy it
13	The Crowd	You’ll Never Walk Alone	No –please don’t judge me
14	Marti Webb	Ben	No
15	Kool and the Gang	Cherish	Just awful. No
16	Madonna	Crazy For You	No but it’s on my “Immaculate Collection” CD
17	Harold Faltermeyer	Axel F	Hell no
18	Sister Sledge	Frankie	Bleeeeuuugh! Does that answer your question?
19	Glenn Frey	Smuggler’s Blues	Nope

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09wgscy/top-of-the-pops-04071985

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

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

Some bed time reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-show-must-go-on.html

TOTP Rewind – the 80s

My memories of 80s chart music

TOTP 27 JUL 1989

Disclaimer

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 13 JUL 1989

Disclaimer

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 02 FEB 1989

Disclaimer

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 17 DEC 1987

Disclaimer

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 19 FEB 1987

Disclaimer

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 05 JUN 1986

Disclaimer

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 22 MAY 1986

Disclaimer

Some bed time reading?

TOTP 04 JUL 1985

Disclaimer

Some bed time reading?