Soul II Soul

TOTP 07 DEC 1989

Posted on July 17, 2020 by 80stastic

We’re into December ’89 in these BBC4 TOTP repeats and all thoughts start turning towards Xmas. I myself am certainly very festive focussed as I am working in the toy department at Debenhams in Hull where I am staying with my girlfriend at her parents home. A large percentage of the UK are not thinking about presents, wrapping paper and decorations though as they are consumed by the drama going on down in Coronation Street where perennial nasty Alan Bradley finally gets his comeuppance when he is run over by a Blackpool tram. That particular episode of the long running ITV soap was broadcast the day after this TOTP aired.

Over on BBC though, it’s all about the music and we start with…well, I “Can’t Shake The Feeling” that this isn’t music at all. Yes, it’s those jokers Big Fun who are still (still) doing the exact same dance routine as they have done every time they’ve performed this single. Cue lots of twinkle-toed dance steps, gyrating arms and a bucket load of buttock shaking. They finish off with a show of unity by coming together with their arms around each others shoulders. It’s unwaveringly grim.

Unbeknownst to me at the beginning of this post, it turns out that there was a fourth member of the band who left before they hit the big time called Keith Davies who pursued an acting career after leaving Big Fun and who appeared in…yep…Coronation Street.

Having observed tonight’s TOTP host Mark Goodier over a number of these repeats, it strikes me that he is rather fond of employing the ‘royal we’. “Now an album we really like is the Kate Bush album called ‘The Sensual World’…” he pontificates in his intro to “This Woman’s Work”. Does he mean ‘we’ as in him and his colleagues at Radio 1? So he spoke for everyone employed there back then did he? Was there a poll conducted asking the work force to share their current favourites that can confirm Goodier’s claim?

As for Kate, after taking four years to come up with “The Sensual World” as the follow up to ’85’s “Hounds of Love”, she then took another four years to record her next album “The Red Shoes”. She wasn’t for being rushed was she? Apparently there was a third single released from “The Sensual World” in early 1990 called “Love And Anger” but I have to say I wasn’t even aware of its existence until now. It only reached No 38 so I can perhaps be forgiven.

In between “Love And Anger” and the lead single from “The Red Shoes” called “Rubberband Girl”, Kate released just one other new song which was in fact an old song, her version of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” as part of the “Two Rooms’ tribute project which reached No 12.

Next up are a group who Goodier introduces as “one of the best band’s of the year in my view”. In my view Mark? What happened to the ‘royal we’? Soul II Soul weren’t really a band though according to their founder Jazzie B who described them thus in Smash Hits magazine:

“It’s a way of life, not a group“.

He goes onto expand that he wants Soul II Soul to inspire black people to “fulfill their desires and ambitions and dreams“. A truly noble statement and intention – sadly 31 years on equality is still so out of reach that the Black Lives Matter campaign is necessary.

Having scored a No 1 last time out with “Back To Life”, the ~~band~~ erm…collective have released a new song called “Get A Life” and until this moment, I’d never noticed how similar its title was to its predecessor’s. What is different about it though is that vocalist Caron Wheeler has moved on and has been replaced by Jazzie B’s cousin Marcia Lewis with the man himself more prominent with his (mainly) spoken word vocals well up in the mix. I quite liked this although the children’s chorus of “What’s the meaning of life?” did grate a bit.

“Get A Life” was a No 3 hit and also the lead single from second album “Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade” about which I thought two things at the time. Firstly, ‘Wow this lot are prolific! Two albums in under a year!’ (take note Kate Bush) and secondly, that title will age terribly.

More weirdness from Goodier now as he introduces the next act as “a man who’s a very brilliant musician but also a very funny guy”. Who on earth could he be talking about? Well, it’s that well known stand up comedian Sydney Youngblood of course! Yeah, when I think of Sydney Youngblood I don’t immediately think ‘funny guy’ I have to say. Still, I’ve never met him I suppose.

Laughing boy Syd is here to promote “Sit And Wait” his follow up to No 3 hit “If Only I Could”. I always found this one a bit flat and pedestrian I have to say. Watching this performance back though, I’m struck by a couple of things. In the second line of the lyrics, he uses the phrase ‘hangin’ tough’ thus beating those pesky New Kids On The Block To It by a good few weeks. Secondly, I don’t remember the Vision On style xylophone instrumental break in the middle nor Sydney’s actually quite odd dance moves that he busts to it.

The fact that he follows on from Soul II Soul is actually quite interesting given that he was accused of plagiarising their style. Ever the joker, Sydney responded by releasing a remix of an earlier hit “Feeling Free” called “The Jazzy Who? Remix” in reference to Jazzie B. Wonder if Jazzie saw the funny side?

“Sit And Wait” made No 16 and was the last time we saw Sydney in the UK charts.

I always get a bit confused around Dusty Springfield‘s late 80s resurgence courtesy of the Pet Shop Boys. “In Private” was her third hit on the trot that Neil and Chris had written and produced and like its predecessor “Nothing Has Been Proved” was written for inclusion on the soundtrack to the film Scandal. You can see why with its lyrics about a hidden relationship that one of the protagonists is ashamed to admit to but…and this is where I get confused…it isn’t on the soundtrack as it was rejected for sounding too contemporary. But “Nothing Has Been Proved” written and produced by the same people was fine? I don’t get it. As it happens, both were included on Dusty’s album “Reputation” that appeared the following year selling 60,000 copies in the UK.

Whilst I didn’t mind the song, the video is as dull as you like with its revolving, conveyor belt shots of Dusty performing intercut with models gossiping on the phone. The video does not feature Joanne Whalley who was one of the stars of the film Scandal and guess what? Yes, she also appeared in Coronation Street – twice no less playing someone called Pamela Graham in 1974 and a customer in Sylvia’s Separates in 1976.

“In Private” peaked at No 14.

I just can’t get my head around this one. Firstly, I can’t really remember it being in the charts and secondly, now that I know that it was, I cannot for the life of me see why. “The Eve Of The War (Ben Liebrand Remix) from “Jeff Wayne‘s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds” in 1989 you say? Nope – no idea. Did it get loads of airplay at the time? I can’t imagine that it did. Was it big in the clubs? It’s a really bizarre footnote to the history of 80s pop music. It peaked at No 3 so some people out there clearly dug it but it should have remained buried in 1978 for me.

Three Breakers this week and we start with something called “Deep Heat ’89” by Latino Rave. So it turns out that this release was linked to the popular late 80s/early 90s Deep Heat house music compilation albums series on the Telstar label. I remember this series from my early days at Our Price and this single was basically a marketing tool to promote the latest album in the series called “Deep Heat 89 ~ Fight The Flame”. It featured excerpts of remixed hits such as “Pump Up The Jam” by Technotronic, “Stakker Humanoid” by Stakker and “Numero Uno” by Starlight.

It strikes me now as a nasty, cynical corporate measure to fleece the punters but it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. “Deep Heat ’89” reached No 12 in the UK charts.

Hell’s teeth! How many singles did Queen release from their “The Miracle” album. Well, the title track here was the last of five that were released in the following months in 1989:

May
June
August
October
November

That’s quite the schedule. I hadn’t minded lead single ” I Want It All” but from thereon in each subsequent track released was just the band going through the motions to me. The lyrics for this one were so trite and vapid. Check these out:

‘The one thing we’re all waiting for
Is peace on Earth and end to war’

I could have written better than that in junior school! They also don’t make any sense. Since when were The Golden Gate and the Taj Mahal miracles and as for Jimi Hendrix being a wonder of the world …I could never hear Jimi I’m afraid.

The video with the our mini me band members is just nausea inducing. Apparently the guy playing Freddie Mercury – one Ross McCall – did go onto be a professional actor and starred in Band of Brothers and the football hooligan film Green Street among other projects. He is yet to appear in Coronation Street as far as I can tell. By comparison, the kid who played the part of Brian May is currently a facilities manager at LegoLand in Windsor.

“The Miracle” peaked at No 21 and we would not encounter Queen for another two years when they came back with their last proper studio album (“Innuendo”) before Freddie Mercury’s death.

Simple Minds covered Prince?! I don’t remember this at all! Their version of “Sign O’ The Times” was part of “The Amsterdam EP” which did include a fourth track released from their album “Street Fighting Years” which was “Let It All Come Down”. Why did they feel the need to release an EP instead of the track as a single its own right? Maybe a fourth single from the album was pushing it or maybe the track was considered to weak to stand on its own merits so it was beefed up with an ‘interesting’ cover version? So let’s have a listen to their take on Prince….

…that really wasn’t worth their or my time and effort. The EP peaked at No 18 and, just like Queen, we would not see The Minds again for two years when they returned with their “Real Life” album.

The 80s had been brilliant for Erasure with this single, “You Surround Me”, being their tenth consecutive Top 20 hit. The second single from their “Wild” album, it felt like a bit of a nothing release to me at the time but listening back to it now, I find it quite beguiling with its gently building structure and Andy Bell’s falsetto vocals.

Supposedly Vince Clarke’s attempt at writing a James Bond film theme, it was described by Miranda Sawyer in her Smash Hits singles review as being the first Erasure tune that you could not dance to and I get what she meant. It was also the smallest hit of the four singles released from the album peaking at No 15.

Whilst I seem to have taken my eye off the charts in December ’89 in terms of the amount of songs that I have little to no recall of, sadly I do remember the latest Jason Donovan release “When You Come Back To Me” mainly because it was so ghastly.

This was the lead single from his second album (his first “Ten Good Reasons” was the biggest selling album of the year in the UK) called “Between the Lines” and this really did sound like money for old rope. It was just a piss weak version of all his other hits wasn’t it? An why is Jase wearing a coat that’s at least a size too big for him in this performance and why wasn’t it multi coloured eh?

Donovan’s popularity and profile were still big enough at this point to score him a No 2 hit with “When You Come Back To Me” but the writing was on the wall (and not between the lines – chortle) for his singing career.

Top 10

10. Lisa Stansfield – “All Around The World”

9. The Stone Roses – “Fool’s Gold”

8. Big Fun – “Can’t Shake The Feeling”

7. Jason Donovan – “When You Come Back To Me”

6. UB40 – “Homely Girl”

5. Soul II Soul – “Get A Life”

4. Kaoma – “Lambada”

3. Jeff Wayne – “The Eve Of The War (Ben Liebrand Remix)”

2. Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville – “Don’t Know Much”

1. New Kids On The Block: – “You Got It (The Right Stuff)”: I had no idea that this was No 1 for so long. I would have thought one week (two at a push) tops. This is their third week but it’s the last one. There would be two more No 1 singles before the year was out despite already being into December by this point.

“You Got It (The Right Stuff)” has been referenced in many a TV show and film including Family Guy.…

Did the world really need an Alexander O’Neal megamix single back in ’89? Apparently it did as “Hit Mix (Official Bootleg Mega-Mix)” reached No 19 on the UK Top 40. Yet again I have no memory of this at all. Mixing up six of Alexander’s songs, it was the work of Ben Liebrand’s sister Rita! Strewth! Oh and can a bootleg ever be official?

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Big Fun	Can’t Shake The Feeling	God awful shite -no
2	Kate Bush	This Woman’s Work	No but I think my wife has the album
3	Soul II Soul	Get A Life	Nope
4	Sydney Youngblood	Sit And Wait	I did but nothing of note arrived – no
5	Dusty Springfield	In Private	No
6	Jeff Wayne	The Eve Of The War (Ben Liebrand remix)	Nah
7	Latino Rave	Deep Heat ‘89	Big no
8	Queen	The Miracle	Very poor effort – no
9	Simple Minds	The Amsterdam EP	Buy it? I couldn’t even remember it ever existed!
10	Erasure	You Surround Me	No but I think my wife had the album
11	Jason Donovan	When You Come Back To Me	Of course not but I suspect my younger sister may have
12	New Kids On The Block	You Got It (The Right Stuff)	Hell no!
13	Alexander O’Neal	Hit Mix (Official Bootleg Mega-Mix)	And no

Disclaimer

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

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

Whole Show

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

Some Bed Time Reading?

http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.com/2019/11/november-29-december-12-1989.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

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/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 JUL 1989

Posted on April 17, 2020 by 80stastic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It’s Alright” peaked at No 5.

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

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

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

Top 10

10. Guns N’ Roses – “Patience”

9. Cyndi Lauper – “I Drove All Night”

8. U2 – “All I Want”

7. Queen – “Breakthru”

6. Gladys Knight – “Licence To Kill”

5. Pet Shop Boys – “It’s Alright”

4. Prince – “Batdance”

3. London Boys – “London Nights”

2. The Beautiful South – “Song For Whoever”

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

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

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

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

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Sonia	You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You	Of course not
2	Gladys Knight	Licence To Kill	Don’t think I did
3	Monie Love	Grandpa’s Party	Negative
4	Karyn White	Superwoman	Nah
5	Bette Midler	Wind Beneath My Wings	Nope
6	Danny Wilson	The Second Summer Of Love	No but I bought the album Bebop Moptop
7	De La Soul	Say No Go	No but my wife had the album 3 Feet High And Rising
8	Beautiful South	Song For Whoever	No but I had the album it was from
9	Pet Shop Boys	It’s Alright	No but I presume it’s on their Pop Art compilation which I have
10	Chaka Khan and Rufus	Ain’t Nobody	No
11	Soul II Soul	Back To Life	No but I think my wife had their album
12	A Guy Called Gerald	Voodoo Ray	It’s a no I’m afraid

Disclaimer

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

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

Whole Show

Some bed time reading?

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

TOTP 29 JUN 1989

Posted on April 15, 2020 by 80stastic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*This, from @TOTPFacts, explains everything…

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Grandpa’s Party” peaked at No 16.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 10

10. Donna Allen – “Joy And Pain”

9. D-Mob – “It Is Time To Get Funky”

8. Gladys Knight – “Licence To Kill”

7. Cyndi Lauper – “I Drove All Night”

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

5. Jason Donovan – “Sealed With A Kiss”

4. U2 – “All I Want”

3. The Beautiful South – “Song For Whoever”

2. Prince – “Batdance”

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

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

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

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

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Holly Johnson	Atomic City	No but my wife had his album
2	Queen	Breakthru	Nope
3	Double Trouble and the Rebel MC	Just Keep Rockin’	Nah
4	Donna Allen	Joy And Pain	No
5	Monie Love	Grandpa’s Party	Negative
6	Waterfront	Cry	No but I think it was on some Radio 1 Mark Goddier compilation album that I had.
7	Sonia	You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You	Of course not
8	M	Pop Muzik	I did not
9	Guns N’ Roses	Patience	Not the single but I think I’ve got it on CD somewhere
10	London Boys	London Nights	Hell no
11	Soul II Soul	Back To Life	No but I think my wife had their album
12	Public Enemy	Fight The Power (Do The Right Thing)	No

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000h3d6/top-of-the-pops-29061989

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

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

Some bed time reading?

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

TOTP 22 JUN 1989

Posted on April 10, 2020 by 80stastic

Simon Mayo and Gary Davies are our hosts for tonight’s TOTP and they seem to spend the majority of the show in very close proximity to each other (almost leaning into each other’s necks at one point) and start the show by brandishing their bare legs together. I think it was to make a point that the Summer of 1989 was a hot one but if they were trying to promote themselves as the new Wham! they failed dismally.

Opening the show tonight are Living In A Box with the title track of their second and final album “Gatecrashing”. It must have been a lean week for booking acts as they’d only moved up two places from No 39 to No 37 and yet still managed to bag themselves a studio appearance. The extra exposure made little difference as the single moved up just one place the following week before tumbling out of the Top 40 altogether. In its defence, it was probably doomed from the start. It was initially scheduled for an April release to consolidate on the success of previous Top 10 single “Blow The House Down” but had to be pulled after the Hillsborough disaster (in their hometown of Sheffield) due to its unfortunate title. By the time an acceptable amount of weeks had been deemed to have passed, all momentum had been lost. That’s one theory. Mine is that it wasn’t much cop as a song in the first place.

Undeterred, the band would return with their joint biggest hit ever later in the year, the polished ballad “Room In Your Heart”.

Next the last great Bond theme in my opinion. Licence To Kill was the second and final film to feature Timothy Dalton as 007 and Gladys Knight‘s theme tune has all the classic hallmarks of a Bond song. Yes, that’s probably because it was based on the horn parts from the Goldfinger theme but for me that doesn’t detract from it and it deserves a high place in the list of Best Bond songs ever. I’m assuming there is one….

*checks internet*

…OK, I found this list from Esquire magazine which ranks all 24 James Bond tunes (including the latest by Billie Eilish) and “Licence To Kill” comes in at No 13. Respectable but I would have thought it would be higher. “Live And Let Die” is of course No 1.

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/g26729930/james-bond-theme-songs-ranked/

Maybe I just an old giffer but some of the songs that have been recorded by today’s artists just don’t even sound like Bond themes to me. Even when I was a younger man and the likes of Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Tina Turner and Garbage took on the chalice, I didn’t like any of them either. So that for me is why Gladys Knight (sans pips) remains the last great Bond song. You are free to disagree of course.

“Licence To Kill” peaked at No 6.

Simon Mayo goes all intellectual next when he makes reference to Italian film maker Federico Fellini and his movie La strada whilst introducing the new video from U2. Bloody pseud! Anyway, the video is to promote “All I Want Is You” which was the fourth and final single to be released from their “Rattle And Hum” album and was probably the best of the four in my opinion.

Supposedly written about his wife, the quiet verses are Bono talking to her whilst the guitar refrains (which are archetypal The Edge creations) at the end of the verses are her reactions. Bloody pseud!

The video (which barely features the band) caused some debate amongst the band’s fans as to who is supposed to have died at the culmination of it. The dwarf or the trapeze artist. You’ll have to watch it yourself to form your own opinion*

“All I Want” peaked at No 4 making it the second highest placed single of the four released from the album.

*Spoiler alert! The Edge is quoted as saying it is the trapeze artist who dies.

Ooh! The Bangles are live in the studio! After being on video for every one of their TOTP appearances for “Eternal Flame” of which there were many, they have finally made it to London to perform follow up single “Be With You”. Despite not being on lead vocals for this one, Susannah Hoffs still manages to steal the limelight in her sparkly mini dress.

This was pretty much their last single release as a band first time around (they split in 1989 before a reunion in 1998). Their discography tells me that there was one final single released from the “Everything” album called “I’ll Set You Free” but it did nothing and was not really anything more than a goodbye to the fans. Talking of which, it is now time to say goodbye to The Bangles in this blog as I don’t think we’ll be seeing them again. Thanks for everything!

Clannad and Bono next with “In A Lifetime” and its one of those studio performances intercut with parts of the video appearances. This seemed to be a family thing with Clannad as that format was used previously for sibling and one time band member Enya when they combined her sat at the piano in the studio with her official promo for “Orinoco Flow”. Back then I assume it was either because the show’s producers thought Enya on her own would be too boring or because her record label wanted to get the most for their money out of the rather expensive looking video. Or both.

In the case of Bono and Clannad, I think it was just because Bono was too busy to join the folksters in the studio so they had to shoehorn him in via the video otherwise it would have looked weird. Which raises the question of why didn’t they just show the video again anyway? What did having Clannad in there in person add to the performance? I may be being harsh here but they don’t look the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen on stage. That said, Maire Brennan does have very piercing eyes.

Over the course of this blog, I’ve found many examples where a song taken from a film soundtrack has ended up being far more enduring than the film itself. Off the top of my head there’s “Against All Odds” and “Together In Electric Dreams”. I’m sure there are others. In the case of Prince and the very first Batman film (if you discount the film made out of the Adam West TV series), it’s a case of the opposite I’m afraid. I could never understand the appeal of “Batdance”. It doesn’t even sound like a cohesive song in that it seems to be a load of riffs, grooves and bits of film dialogue all spliced together and just shoved out there to promote the film rather than being a properly composed song. It doesn’t even feature in the film itself.

Oh yes, the film. Starring Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker, the hype around it was enormous but for me it was just about justified and certainly the movie did the business at the box office taking in over $250 million in America alone. It didn’t come out in the UK until August, so long after “Batdance” had been and gone. Given the interpretations of The Joker that have come since (Joaquin Phoenix and Heath Ledger for two), it seems strange now to think that we were all in awe of Nicholson’s rather cartoonish portrayal.

Despite being a No 2 in the UK and a No 1 in the US, I’m guessing that “Batdance” is not one of Prince’s most fondly remembered tunes, not even by diehard fans, and only features on the most comprehensive of his compilation albums.

In the long running serial of rappers with not very ‘in the hood’ real names, we have another entry in Rapper KG Demo of the London Rhyme Syndicate who D-Mob collaborate with on “It Is Time To Get Funky” who are up next. The name he was given at birth? Basil Reynolds.

I hated this track then and I still hate it now. Bloody rubbish as my Dad would say. And yes, I do realise I have actually become my Dad when talking about today’s music as that’s bloody rubbish as well.

“It Is Time To Get Funky” peaked at No 9 (somehow).

The Beautiful South released a total of 34 singles over the course of their career but only achieved one No 1 record – there should have been many more including this their debut “Song For Whoever” that fell just short at No 2. Paul Heaton’s vocals are so distinctive. I can’t imagine anyone could ever have impersonated him on Stars In Their Eyes for example.

*checks to make sure*

WHAT! Someone did in 1997 singing “One Last Love Song”. I can’t find a clip on YouTube but I can only assume it sounded nothing like him!

Someone who rarely gets any accolades for his voice is fellow band member Dave Hemingway whose vocals I have always found to be very pure and perfectly pitched.

There’s a great video compilation of their first ten or so singles called “The Pumpkin” that I used to own on VHS that included some very funny bits in between the songs that’s well worth looking out for. My own personal Beautiful South claim to fame is that I used to work with bassist Sean Welch’s partner up until recently. I think he’s into photography now.

Top 10

10. Madonna – “Express Yourself”

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

8. The Beautiful South – “Song For Whoever”

7. Cyndi Lauper – “I Drove All Night”

6. Cliff Richard – “The Best Of Me”

5. U2 – “All I Want Is You”

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

3. Prince – “Batdance”

2. Jason Donovan – “Sealed With A Kiss”

1. Soul II Soul – “Back To Life”: They’ve knocked Jason Donovan off his perch (no mean feat in 1989) and are set for a long Summer of ‘A happy face, a thumpin’ bass, for a lovin’ race!’.

The iconic ‘Back to life, back to reality’ line was used as the inspiration by the aforementioned Paul Heaton to base one of his songs around, the rather wonderful “My Book” whose lyrics include ‘Back to bed, back to reality’. Sadly it only made No 43 in the charts unlike Soul II Soul’s blockbuster of a tune.

The play out video is that weird combo of Placido Domingo and Jennifer Rush with “Till I Loved You”. I thought I recognised the song title but not the pairing of Domingo and Rush (almost Liverpool’s front line in the 80s there) so I checked it out. I was right! A version was also recorded and released by another bizarre duo, this time Barbara Streisand and Don Johnson (yes Miami Vice‘s Don Johnson).

Hang on…Wikipedia says then girlfriend Barbara Streisand. Don Johnson went out with Barbara Streisand?! I never knew that!

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Living In A Box	Gatecrashing	Nah
2	Gladys Knight	Licence Top Kill	Don’t think I did
3	U2	All I Want	No
4	The Bangles	Be With You	No but I assume it’s on their Best Of album which I have
5	Clannad and Bono	In A Lifetime	No but I think my wife bought it first time around in 1986
6	Prince	Batdance	Nope
7	D-Mob	It Is Time To Get Funky	Negative
8	Beautiful South	Song For Whoever	No but I had the album it was from
9	Soul II Soul	Back To Life	No but I think my wife had their album
10	Placido Domingo and Jennifer Rush	‘Till I Loved You	NO

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000gx1t/top-of-the-pops-22061989

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

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

Some bed time reading?

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

TOTP 08 JUN 1989

Posted on April 5, 2020 by 80stastic

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

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

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

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

“The Only One” peaked at No 15.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*checks Wikipedia*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 10

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

9. Neneh Cherry – “Manchild”

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

7. Lynne Hamilton – “On The Inside”

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

5. Madonna – “Express Yourself”

4. Natalie Cole – “Miss You Like Crazy”

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

2. Cliff Richard – “The Best Of Me”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I Buy it?
1	Transvision Vamp	The Only One	Not the single but I have it on their Best Of Collection CD
2	Cliff Richard	The Best Of Me	Hell no!
3	Guns N’ Roses	Sweet Child O’ Mine	No but I have the album somewhere I think
4	Beautiful South	Song For Whoever	No but I had the album it was from
5	Vixen	Love Made Me	It may have but it didn’t make me buy this
6	Donna Allen	Joy And Pain	Nope
7	New Model Army	Green And Grey	No
8	Paula Abdul	Forever Your Girl	Another no
9	D-Mob	It Is Time To Get Funky	Nah
10	Soul II Soul	Back To Life	No but I think my wife had their album
11	Jason Donovan	Sealed With A Kiss	No but my younger sister was obsessed and had his album
12	Bananarama	Cruel Summer ‘89	No

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000gp1h/top-of-the-pops-08061989

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

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

Some bed time reading?

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

TOTP 16 MAR 1989

Posted on February 19, 2020 by 80stastic

We’re back to the usual format after last weeks Comic Relief special and it’s another outing for the Radio 1 Breakfast Show team of Simon Mayo, Sybil Ruscoe and Rod McKenzie as joint presenters.

First on tonight are New Order whom we find in the middle of their balearic period. Latest single “Round And Round” was not an unlikely cover of the Spandau Ballet track but was taken from their “Technique” album and is supposedly written about the band’s increasingly fragile relationship with Factory Records owner Tony Wilson. Indeed, the band didn’t even want “Round And Round” released as a single; they preferred the track “Vanishing Point” but were overruled by Wilson.

In this performance, we see lots shots of the studio audience which, as mentioned in a previous post, seemed to be part of the new staging and look of the show. It was as if the TOTP producers were trying to create the impression that we were actually witnessing a concert rather than a pop music show.

This period in New Order’s history didn’t so an awful lot for me – maybe because I wasn’t likely to find myself out clubbing in Ibiza till all hours. “Round And Round” has all the New Order sonic trademarks but it just doesn’t seem to go anywhere to me.

Now I never knew this before but “World In Motion” wasn’t the first time that New Order had attempted a football themed song. No, the B-side of “Round And Round” was a song called “Best And Marsh” which was the theme tune to a Granada TV show hosted by the aforementioned Tony Wilson called Best And Marsh – The Perfect Match. The show was pretty much as it sounded with Wilson interviewing ex-footballers George Best and Rodney Marsh about their 1970s glory years. As for the track, it isn’t much kop in my opinion.

“Round And Round” peaked at No 21.

Talk about getting your money’s worth! This is the third time that the show has used the same clip of Gloria Estefan performing “Can’t Stay Away From You” in the TOTP studio. Maybe its usage was linked to the song’s length. Certainly in this version (which may well have been edited for the show) it clocks in at a just under two minutes. No wonder they showed it a few times!

“Can’t Stay Away From You” was at its No 7 peak.

Yet another song (and performer in this case) that I just can’t recall at all. Chanelle? Did she do a couple of singles with Alexander O’Neal?

*checks internet*

Nope – that was Cherrelle apparently. I can’t actually see much about Chanelle online at all. All my searches keep finding Chanelle Hayes from Big Brother who was one half of the ‘Chiggy’ couple and who also confusingly had a go at being a pop star in 2008.

The 1989 Chanelle is in the charts with “One Man” which sounds like it could easily have been a Ce Ce Peniston hit from the early 90s. Apparently it got to No 16 but it clearly passed me by.

The Breakers are back and start off with Alyson Williams and “Sleep Talk” and guess what? I don’t remember this one either! I know her name (probably because of the unusual spelling of her first name) but this track? Nada. Did she have another hit?

*checks internet again*

Yes she did with something called “I Need Your Lovin” in 1990.

*plays “I Need Your Lovin”*

OK – That one sounds familiar but “Sleep Talk”? I must have (ahem) sleep walked through it.

This next one I do remember as my wife (girlfriend in ’89) is a big Elvis Costello fan and she bought the album that “Veronica” is taken from (“Spike”) on the day of release. Now she won’t like me saying it but in my opinion, this was still a period in his career when Elvis wrote proper songs with discernible melodies before it all went a bit too earnest and he forgot to add a tune to his lyrics.

Around this time, there was also a big fuss made about the collaboration between Costello and Paul McCartney who co-wrote a number of tracks on the album including this lead single. In return, Elvis helped write three tracks on McCartney’s next album “Flowers In The Dirt” including his lead single “My Brave Face”. It was a symbiotic relationship that bore fruit for both parties. “Veronica” saw Elvis return to the Top 40 for the first time in three years whilst “Spike” achieved gold status sales. Meanwhile, McCartney’s album did even better going to No 1 in the charts and going platinum with sales of 300,000 units.

I quite liked this era’s material from both these musical giants. In 1994, I saw Elvis live in concert at Manchester (alongside my wife obviously) and he put on a great show I have to say.

Kim Wilde‘s purple patch that had lasted since the Summer of ’88 and included three Top 10 hits and a platinum selling album was just starting to over ripen by this point. It was probably pushing it a bit for label MCA to have released a fifth single from that album (“Close”) and therefore its peak position of No 32 shouldn’t have been a big surprise. “Love In The Natural Way” isn’t a bad pop tune with its almost euphoric chorus but it didn’t have the immediate appeal of something like “You Came” to my ears. Although probably one of Kim’s least remembered hits, it does have its own little unique place in her career as it was her last release and hit of the 80s, the decade that launched her and saw her become the biggest selling British female solo artist.

Another New Model Army single?! Weren’t they in the Breakers just the other week? Well I’ve checked and they were with the “Stupid Questions” single. Like its predecessor, this one (“Vagabonds”) was taken from the “Thunder And Consolation” album and also like its predecessor, it peaked outside the Top 30 (No 37 if you’re counting). In a case of remarkable consistency , the album would spawn one further single release and guess what? That did exactly the same chart wise peaking at No 37 as well (I did say exactly).

As with “Stupid Questions”, I don’t recall “Vagabonds” at all and whilst not really something I would have been listening to back then, it sounds pretty good to me now. I may have mentioned this before but I have a friend who met her husband via a New Model Army fan forum. I’ve also got a friend who met their partner via a shared disliking of ex Man Utd midfielder Paul Scholes. However, I don’t know anybody who loves New Model Army and hates Paul Scholes.

How about this for a transformation?! Not only have this next lot had a complete image overhaul but they’ve even changed their name (well shortened it anyway). I first became aware of Fuzzbox back in ’86 when they went by the name of We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Going To Use It and their single “Rules And Regulations” somehow found its way onto Radio 1’s playlists. I say somehow because it was quite an anarchic sound with its punky guitars and Poly Styrene style vocals. Then there was their image – all day-glo coloured , gravity defying hair and DIY dress sense. They were very unlikely pop stars which may explain why they’d only breached the Top 40 once before this point with their “Love Is The Slug EP”.

Fast forward a couple of years and they looked and sounded unrecognizable in this performance to promote their new single “International Rescue”. Where were the crazy haircuts and what was with the co-ordinated outfits? Yes, I got it that it was in keeping with the Thunderbirds theme but even so. They looked so groomed and stylized. Plus, there had obviously been a deliberate decision to promote singer Vickie Perks as some sort of sex symbol, pushing her out front with a distinct amount of flesh on display. When asked in Smash Hits magazine if the rest of the group got fed up with her getting all the attention, Vickie replied “Um, well, I don’t think so. I think they prefer it” before telling the readers that the rest of them weren’t arsed about having their photos taken and anyway, she wanted to go on and do solo stuff and acting so it was good practice for her. Perhaps an insight here into why the group never lasted.

As for their new sound, it was so polished compared to the rough and readiness of their earlier material. It seemed liked a very conscious decision to finally make them into the proper charts stars that their newly signed to major record label WEA clearly believed that they could be. It all seemed to be panning out swimmingly as well. “International Rescue” missed the Top 10 by just one place and follow up single “Pink Sunshine” went Top 20 as well. One further chart hit and a Top 5 album (“Big Bang!”) were achieved before their time in the (possibly pink) sunshine was over.

Watching this performance back, whilst Vicky seems to have taken to her new role effortlessly, the rest of the band seem a bit bemused by it all and unsure of what they should be doing to me. Eventually though they relax a bit and certainly drummer Tina O’Neill has got her countdown cameo down to a tee.

I liked this new version of the band and thought they probably should have got even more success than they did. The new music was definitely poppier but with an edge to it as well. Sybil Ruscoe describes the band at the song’s end as being “Possibly the best thing to come out of Birmingham since Aston Villa I think”. One in the eye for all Birmingham City fans there then.

After a year’s sabbatical throughout the whole of 1988, Madonna finally re-emerged and brought a shitload of controversy with her. In a previous post I mentioned that the Pepsi sanitized commercial to promote her comeback single “Like A Prayer” had aired around the world one day before the release of the official promo for the track on MTV. The multinational corporation had been pleased with the viewer response and all boded well for their commercial tie in with Madge. Fast forward 24 hours and they found themselves caught up in a worldwide backlash against the singer and were forced to drop their entire association with her. Madonna was accused of blasphemy and looking to sell her music on the back of it. Even the Pope got involved and urged fans to boycott her shows scheduled for Italy.

I’m not sure where I was when I first saw the “Like A Prayer” video (it may have been on this very episode of TOTP) but whenever and however the circumstances, the video itself was unforgettable. That’s not to say it was good but the imagery used in it and the controversy it evoked have stayed with me these past 30 odd years.

Watching it back from that temporal distance, it strikes me as what my old Poly friend John would have described as a ‘confused mess of a film’. Quite what was it trying to say? There’s so much going on in the video that it’s hard to process it all. You’ve got all the religious imagery, racial tension and stereotyping themes and of course possibly the most controversial element of all, the burning crosses.

The song – yes there was an actual song in among all this which tends to get overlooked – indeed it was Madonna’s first new material in nearly three years so should have been a big enough deal anyway – would quickly go to No 1 here and in the US so there’ll be ample more opportunity to dissect it all but for now I’ll let the people at Everything Wrong With give their take on the video…

‘A happy face, a thumpin’ bass, for a lovin’ race!’ Yes! It’s Soul II Soul time. At the forefront of the UK soul funk scene, the band would leave a legacy of ground breaking work that it still revered to this day. I say band but they were more of a collective really with Jazzie B and Caron Wheeler its two most recognizable faces. “Keep On Movin” was actually their second single (though the first I had ever heard) and took them direct into the mainstream with a Top 5 hit. Debut album “Club Classics Vol. One” would become a No 1 seller whilst also achieving critical plaudits as well. Indeed , in 2004 Q Magazine voted the album No 28 in its list of the 50 Greatest British Albums Ever.

I wasn’t a big Soul II Soul fan though I have to admit. I quite liked follow up single and No 1 hit “Back To Life” but I would be lying if I said I was really taken by them. Just being honest.

Top 10

10. Living In A Box – “Blow The House Down”

9. S’Xpress – “Hey Music Lover”

8. Michael Ball – “Love Changes Everything”

7. Gloria Estefan – “Can’t Stay Away From You”

6. Paula Abdul – “Straight Up”

5. Sam Brown – “Stop!”

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

3. Bananarama and Lalaneeneenoonoo – “Help”

2. Madonna – “Like A Prayer”

1. Jason Donovan – “Too Many Broken Hearts”: Right, I’ve double checked the facts with my friend Robin and his/my Jason Donovan story is cleared for take off. So, I’ll begin…

Robin worked for the BBC for many years and in that time came to know the CBBC presenter Andi Peters. When Peters left the BBC to take charge of music and youth programming at LWT, one of the shows that he made in that role was called The Noise which aired in the Autumn of 1996 for 12 episodes in the slot just before ITV’s The Chart Show. The Noise was a pop music show featuring live in-studio performances, interviews and features and Peters invited my mate Robin to help out on the show behind the scenes.

On one show, Robin happened to walk past the green room and saw a guy looking very perplexed at the coffee machine, tapping the sides of it, frustratingly pushing buttons etc. Actually managing to get some coffee out of it seemed beyond him. Robin went over to help him and it turned out that the confused individual was in fact Jason Donovan who had been booked as a guest on the show. Jason was not in the best of states as he’s been out on a ‘bit of a bender’ the night before* and had turned up at the LWT south bank studios with sick still in his beard. Robin decided the best course of action was to escort Donovan to make up where they de-fooded his stubble and made him presentable for national TV. Apparently it wasn’t his finest TV appearance – he couldn’t remember the names of any of his hit singles and didn’t realize when the live broadcast had actually finished. Oh dear.

*On a serious note, Donovan admitted to having had a drug habit in the mid to late 90s but has been drug free since the birth of his first child in 2000.

Fortunately for Jason, there doesn’t seem to be any footage of his appearance available on the internet. Fortunately for Robin, neither is there any footage of him doing the conga with The Spice Girls who also appeared on a later show. Indeed, all I can find is the show’s title sequence below:

Including his duet with Kylie, Jason would notch up four No 1 singles during his pop career whilst his debut album “Ten Good Reasons” was the biggest selling LP of 1989.

For me, “Paradise City” was the point where Guns N’ Roses really became a big deal in the UK. They had already long since achieved this status in the US but over here, we had a been a bit slower on the uptake. Previous singles “Sweet Child O’Mine ” and “Welcome To The Jungle” had both been Top 40 hits but both had only managed a peak of No 24 (with the latter song needing to take two attempts to achieve even that). “Paradise City” changed all of that as it went Top 10 (No 6 to be exact). Supposedly Slash’s favourite Guns N’ Roses song, it would kick start a run of 13 UK Top 20 hits (including 11 Top 10 and 4 Top 5).

Having been previously impervious to the band, I have a memory of seeing the video on ITV’s Chart Show and thinking ‘OK, I get it now. These guys are in it for the long haul’. I think it was the double time finale to the track where it all goes a bit apeshit that finally convinced me.

In the aftermath of the single’s success, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” was duly re-released in the UK and it matched the success of “Paradise City” by also peaking at No 6. Guns N’ Roses were here to stay …until they weren’t but that’s a whole other blog in itself.

Order of appearance	Artist	Song	Did I buy it?
1	New Order	Round And Round	Nope
2	Gloria Estefan	Can’t Stay Away From You	But I could stay away from you Gloria – no
3	Chanelle	One Man	Never heard of it
4	Alyson Williams	Sleep Talk	Yawn – no
5	Elvis Costello	Veronica	No but my wife had the album
6	Kim Wilde	Love In The Natural Way	Nah
7	New Model Army	Vagabonds	No
8	Fuzzbox	International Rescue	Don’t think I did
9	Madonna	Like A Prayer	No but it’s on my Immaculate Collection CD
10	Soul II Soul	Keep On Movin’	That would be another no
11	Jason Donovan	Too Many Broken Hearts	No but my younger sister had his album
12	Guns N’ Roses	Paradise City	Not the single but I think I had the album

Disclaimer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000f8x5/top-of-the-pops-16031989

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/2019/03/march-8-21-1989.html

TOTP Rewind – the 80s

My memories of 80s chart music

TOTP 07 DEC 1989

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TOTP 13 JUL 1989

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TOTP 06 JUL 1989

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TOTP 29 JUN 1989

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TOTP 22 JUN 1989

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TOTP 08 JUN 1989

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TOTP 16 MAR 1989

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