Dancing with a mullet in my ears
31/05/84 (Richard Skinner & Dave Lee Travis)
Hazell Dean – “Searchin’ (I Gotta Find A Man)” (8)
Went up two more places.
Elton John – “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” (22) (video)
The first of two top ten hits for Elton in 1984, this was peaking at number 7.
Ultravox – “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” (6)
Their final top ten hit, went up three more places.
David Sylvian – “Red Guitar” (21) (video)
His final top 30 hit, peaking at number 17.
Madness – “One Better Day” (30)
The top ten hits had dried up, but there was still plenty of top 30 hits to be had, this was making it to number 17.
The Smiths – “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” (19)
Became the first of just three top ten hits for The Smiths, peaking at number 10.
Wham! – “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” (1) (video)
The first of two weeks at the top for Wham!
Deniece Williams – “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” (2) (audience dancing/credits)
At is peak.
Back to BBC4 next for June 7th 1984.
Hazell Dean - it's probably the best type of tune for opening a TOTP show, with its upbeat sound and very dancey rhythm. I remember at the time that I really liked it, and it had top 5 written all over it. I did also like the studio audience female member in the background with the all-white attire and very short shorts, and she appeared again on the playout with Deniece Williams, also an excellent playout type of tune.
ReplyDeleteElton John - still by mid-1984 insisting on covering his bald patch by means of a hat. I figured that this started around 1977, as I recall his video for Part Time love in 1978 was one of the first videos he did with baldness-covering-up-by-hat, whilst his 1976 video for Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word showed his baldness with pride, so I wonder which was the first hit to hide the baldness?
Chart Rundown - Good Lord, Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood is back up into the top 20 at No.17 after over three months since being at No.1 for 5 weeks! And none of this second time resurgence up the charts was influenced by any follow-up hit, which makes it all the more incredible!
It's almost as if record buyers were taunting the BBC by sending Relax back up the charts...
DeleteRelax don't do i....zzzzzzz......
DeleteJust found out it looks like the BBC are skipping 21/6/84 edition due to Gary Glitter opening up the show. The schedules now show 28/6/84 is to be shown on September 7th.
ReplyDeleteIf that is the case, it's utterly ludicrous, given they can just edit GG out (as they have in the past). I wonder if there might be some technical problem with that edition?
Delete21/6/84 was repeated by UK Gold so no technical reasons for it not to be shown other than they can't get around editing out Gary Glitter and leaving a watchable broadcast version. Either way hopefully there will be an upload of it somewhere on the Internet. As to whether or not UK Gold edited out Gary Glitter when they broadcasted it is unknown.
DeleteDear God! have you seen the track listing for 21st June? In my opinion, quite possibly the strongest show of the year featuring such as OMD, Bronski Beat, Cyndi Lauper, The Associates, Elvis Costello, Lloyd Cole, The Pointer Sisters, and the follow-up to "Relax". Can't someone at BBC4 just get the rounded scissors and Gloy out and spare us missing a stellar edition?
DeleteIt could also be that maybe Glitter pops up in the background of the episode at some point much like Madness did when Richard Skinner was introducing his link in the above episode we are commenting on. Maybe he also appears at the end? Who knows? Maybe there was so many edits the BBC just thought let's just skip it. I'm sure we will all find out when we hopefully see it. Not that I'm looking forward to seeing Glitter but I would rather watch there classic shows as uncut as possible. And yes 21/6/84 is a great line up and BBC Four viewers will be missing out with the Beeb skipping it much like they did earlier in the year with them skipping the show with Madonnas debut and Cyndi Laupers wonderful studio performance of Girls Just Want To Have Fun.
DeleteYou may well be correct Wayne that GG appears more than once during the course of the show; after all, BBC4 were able to edit out his last appearance even though it was awkwardly the first up, as will be the case with this show. We'll find out soon enough - I'm sure somebody will be able to provide a copy for us to view.
DeleteIf that show was repeated on Uk Gold, did the Omd video 'freeze' on playback as I have the clip from original transmission & it did so for a couple of seconds.
DeleteWas this originally a live edition?
Yes 21/6/84 is a live broadcast complete with the usual Bates time checks!
DeleteIf this is true then it's incredibly disappointing. Especially as almost every single bloody performance by The Associates seems to be on a show we can't see!
DeleteDickie and DLT make for a solid and likeable pairing this week, even if Dickie messes up his intro to David Sylvian a bit. I liked DLT's gentle dissing of the Sylvian video, and I'm guessing his joke time check was a pot shot at Master Bates...
ReplyDeleteIt's pompoms at the ready for a considerably less shiny Hazell Dean on this occasion. The dancers and the hand movements are still intact, however, and the perils of a live show are demonstrated when the bloke twirling streamers around at the side of the stage gets them wrapped around his neck! One of Elton's better 80s tunes to follow, and he shows off an impressive range of headgear in the video, along with his own bunch of Jacko-style street dancers. It looked as if the female lookalikes were meant to be impersonating Dusty and Billie Holliday, but I'm not so sure about the man - judging by the shades and the subject matter, I'm going for Roy Orbison...
Ultravox are in the studio this time, and happily we get this excellent song in full. Midge's mullet is coming on nicely (or should that be horribly?) and Billy Currie makes various punchable stares into the handheld camera. Like DLT, I haven't the faintest idea what Sylvian is trying to say in this video, but the song itself is dull and listless, and instantly deleted itself from my memory banks.
Suggs was presumably either feeling cold during this Madness performance, or wanted to keep his hands germ-free. The boys were now on the downward slope, and while this is a nice enough effort it doesn't have the hook necessary to have made it a big hit. The Smiths next, Mozza this time sporting a hearing aid in addition to the vegetation sprouting from his arse. This song reminds me why I am not overkeen on this lot, Mozza's droning vocals emphasising what a self-pitying mopefest it is.
Wham are on video as they get to number 1. Initially this looks quite similar to their studio performance the previous week, but the stage is bigger and we get some costume changes part-way through. Did Andrew borrow his foreign legion hat from Alannah Currie, I wonder? Deniece to play us out, with an enthusiastic crowd largely ignored in favour of some prominently placed cheerleaders.
DLT seemed to have lost a bit of weight here and was perhaps trying to make an effort to fit in with the kids as he was pushing 40 at this point. Dickie still looks like someone's dad.
ReplyDeleteA very gay-themed show this week with HiNRG Hazel, Reg, Sylvian, Moz and George Michael all waving their rainbow flags in different ways (and more to come soon with Bronski Beat and Frankie).
Return for Hazel Dean with a slightly improved performance of Searchin', I note they didn't include the strobe light sequence which maybe caused too many epileptic fits last time. But we do get to see the twerp cheerleader wrapping a tinsel streamer round his neck.
Elton John back on top form with a wonderfully catchy song and video to match which is simple but very effective. I like the black and white and colour effect used here. I note that at one point Elton's wearing the weird polo helmet that he wore on the show one time with diamante earrings of course, as you do.
ExcessiveVoice at number 6 this week. Bassist Chris Cross looks like comedian Tim Minchin with his hair that way while Billy Currie looks at the camera (of course!). Meanwhile Midge looks like Fergal Sharkey with his hair like that and the dark glasses. While this is a great song, which should have/could have made number one (if it weren't for Wham and Frankie) I think the video helps sell it better than a studio performance, even if it is v depressing and does alter the message of the song (which is about the realisation of death rather than a nuclear explosion).
Veteran photographer Angus McBean kicks off David Sylvian's brill video for Red Guitar, it was McBean's black and white surreal photographs that influenced the images featured. Brilliant. I had forgotten just how good this song is.
Great to see Madness again even if it was without pianist Mike Barson who played on the track but had left the band by the time this was released. looks odd hearing the piano which drives the song but with no piano player present. I got back into Madness at this point and bought the Keep Moving album. I even applied for a job at Zarjazz Records, their own short-lived label which was based in the Caledonian Road in London, but I didn't get it.
Ah The Smiths are back and everything's right with the world. For me Steven Morrissey could do no wrong back then even if he commits the fashion faux pas of mixing polka dots with checks. Love the fake hearing aid, love the shrub in the back pocket, love the diamante necklace used as a key fob. And the line "why do I give valuable time to people who I'd much rather kick in the eye" was me all over back in 1984.
Wham are a truly welcome replacement for Duran at number one. And the video helps sell the song better than last week's performance. Don't care much for George's Lady Di hair do. The sports reporter Sky TV currently has the same hairstyle and colour and looks hideous. As the lyrics here mention it being "cold outside but warm in bed" my bet is George wrote this during the winter but had to wait until the legal wrangles with his record label were sorted before he could release it.
Playout with Deniece Williams which ends a terrific show which could only have been improved if they'd added Sister Sludge.
i loved george's new lady diana coiffeur (why can't guys have hairstyles like that now? or even women for that matter?), but in contrast i thought that his new mock-motown musical offering (and the one that followed) stank the place out!
DeleteAn instantaneous contraband this week – less than a second to switch on. Thanks vm, D42!
ReplyDeleteDLT on decent form (loved the Peelie dancing and dissing of David Sylvian’s video) as was Speccy Skinner.
Matching zebra tops for Hazell Dean’s boys this time, having obviously checked out Janice Long’s recent clobber and thought they could do better.
Very energetic dancing for Elton’s sad song, complete with a viewing of some of those big headphones which are back in vogue.
“The video’s depressing, Midge, can you and the lads come into the studio? Yes, we’ll let Billy wear weird shades and gaze into the camera all he likes!”
Pretentious vid, perchance, Monsieur Sylvian? Wish you’d spent more effort on the tune. Try dancing to THAT, suckers!
Madness weren’t the same without Barso, and the midtempo contemplative stuff wouldn’t do as well as the fast pace nutty predecessor hits so, sadly, there was only one way to go for them.
Nice bush, Morrissey. Not so sure about the front of jeans medallion. Pardon? Beautiful, beautiful guitar work by Johnny Marr which reminded me why I loved the band so much in their early days.
Andrew, mate, a white guitar would have been better for the early stage set. The multicoloured kit just made me feel hungry for some Battenberg.
And we finish with show-off time for the outro. It isn’t as interesting as Reg Hollis on someone’s shoulders, really, is it?
I've just been watching re-runs of The Bill from 1984 on the Dramna channel and it's hard to believe that Jeff "Reg Hollis" Stewart went directly from TOTP to Sun Hill without passing go.
DeleteHazell Dean returns, only this time with cheerleaders waving nasty pompoms - red and black? That's not very cheery.
ReplyDeleteElton John, oh, had Rumblefish just been released at the pictures? Looks like someone was a fan. The prominent neon sign saying "Joey's" meant something completely different when we were kids at the time, unfortunately. Not a bad little tune, but verging on easy listening.
Ultravox in a radioactive colour scheme as befitting the song. You'd think it was quite jolly if you had the sound down.
David Sylvian, also in black and white but he hasn't seen Rumblefish. All tres moody and atmospheric, but the melody is muted to the point of almost nonexistence.
Madness with one of their later, melancholy tunes, it's rather lovely but takes too long to get to the grand piano-led chorus, which might be why they were in chart fortunes decline at the time.
The Smiths on top trademark pisstaking form, not that DLT gets the joke, speaking for a million disenfranchised everywhere. Agreed the guitar on this is excellent. Percy Thrower would presumably approve of the rose bush sticking out of Mozza's arse. Oh, and that recent biopic? A bit rubbish, apparently - it's no Backbeat!
Wham, with their Go-Go video which is another great concert video that does something creative with the format, although the middle section does feature ill-advised fashion choices.
Deniece to end on, didn't quite make it to the top but a valiant try. In the film the song is about the late Chris Penn getting taught to dance by Kevin Bacon. Sadly we didn't see either of them in the TOTP studio.
It turns out that originally a song called “Victoria Gardens” was going to be the follow-up to “Michael Caine”, but it was decided against because it also had Cathal Smyth on lead vocals and Stiff were wary of a second successive Chas lead vocal track not faring as well as the lads’ previous singles.
ReplyDeleteThe facts that the lyrics are also on the heavy side and they included a mild swear word would probably have weighed against the track as well.
By this stage Mike Barson had left Madness (just as they were being offered their own comedy / music series), and the band were about to set up their own label via Virgin and leave Stiff Records. “One Better Day” was Madness’s last single for Stiff, who refused to stump up the cash for a promo video so the band paid for it themselves.
Just four further singles to come from the Nutty Boys now before their 1986 split and subsequent six year absence. None of those singles would get higher than 18.
DeleteMadness' own label was called Zarjazz. I applied for a job there but didn't get it, I still have the rejection letter somewhere.
Deletearound the time madness started up their own label they decided somewhat posily (and pointlessly) that they were now to be known as "the madness". i wonder how many of their dwindling fanbase then went into the likes our "our price" and said "can i have the new single by the madness please?"?
DeleteThey released one further album in 1985 and a farewell single in 1986 as Madness. Some of them reformed as The Madness in 1988 as they had all remortgaged their houses to fund their own label and it wasn't that successful so they were broke and needed the money. Mark Bedford had gone back to college to study design, Woody had joined Voice of the Beehive and Mike Barson stayed with his family in Holland but the other 4 reformed as The Madness, I'm guessing that was for legal reasons and maybe Barson owned the name as it was originally his band. All The Madness releases were on Virgin though as Zarjazz folded in 1987.
DeleteThanks D42... Here's my view...
ReplyDeleteHazel Dean – Searchin’ – My heart is in a spin my feet don’t touch the ground…. No worse for that though! Good opener.
Elton John – Sad songs say so much – underrated Reg. I think the parent album ‘Breaking Hearts’ may have been his best album for some time. In fact I thought the title track was absolutely brilliant and couldn’t believe when it was released as a single and bombed. Perhaps everyone had the album by then. Who were the other artists shown in the video? Thought the first might be Dusty.
Ultravox – Dancing with tears in my eyes – Their second biggest hit but one of my least favourites. Midge and Chris really have grown their hair long! A very abrupt halt at the end so the band really were rushing off!
David Sylvian – Red Guitar – Dreary song and video which I don’t recall at all.
Madness – One better Day – I recall a short film about the making of the video for this being shown at the time. Nice song from the boys which I much prefer to the lives of ‘Wings of a Dove’. Originally the single was going to be ‘Victoria Gardens’ but they changed their minds and put this out instead (their last single on the Stiff label). Red gloves for Suggs in this appearance for some reason. In the video he is seen dancing with his wife Bette Bright.
The Smiths – Heaven knows – Looks like the guitarist has borrowed Francis Rossi’s green guitar (so that’s where it went to!!).Remind me to stuff a branch down the back of my trousers in future….oh not a bad song really.
Wham! – Wake me up before you go-go –This is a great video which displays fully the joy and energy of the song and the band plus entourage.
Deniece Williams – Let’s hear it for the boy – playout – This single was strange as there was no picture of Deniece on the sleeve at all. Just the title and artist on the front plus the ‘Footloose’ album on the reverse. Kenny Loggins plonked himself on the front for the title track and ‘I’m Free’, Bonnie Tyler was also on the front for ‘Holding out for a Hero’ as were Mike Reno and Ann Wilson for ‘Almost Paradise’ (which was a cracking duet btw). Mind you, Shalamar’s ‘Dancing on the Streets’ was the same as Deniece and who knows about Karla Bonoff’s ‘Somebody’s Eyes’…was it ever properly released in the UK? What a load of singles from one album!!!!!
DLT on the chart rundown says “OMD with The Locomotion”; really? Didn’t recall OMD doing the brand new dance…
"Somebody's Eyes" was definitely released as a single on CBS in June 1984. Mind you, I'd have trouble requesting the song as I'd get the poor woman's name mixed up with Boris Karloff!
Deletedavid sylvian: his first post-japan solo single isn't blowing too many skirts up here, but in my opinion it pisses all over everything else on this show. and there are actually a couple of better tracks on the "brilliant trees" album from whence it came, especially "weathered wall" which is the epitome of desolate beauty. and the next proper solo album "gone to earth" was uniformly brilliant. they might as well not have bothered with making a video for this though what with all the arty non-events going on (was it directed by yoko?). but even though he's now thrown his make-up box away, dave still looks very beautiful at this point
ReplyDeletemadness: one i can't recall at all. it's actually quite good as a sophisticated lounge pastiche - at least until the overly-syupy chorus, anyway. but sadly it's quite clear that suggs is no sinatra. i noticed a slowed-down version of the massive drum roll from "house of fun" about half way through. by the way, i did like the "sprint finish" photo that was on the front cover of the album this came from - was it staged, or a genuine race?
smiths: i thought the last single was a letdown after their promising debut chart hit, and was also turned-off by the hype at this point. so i didn't even really listen to this at all when it was a hit, which was a bit of a shame in retrospect as unusually for me the lyrics were of far more interest than the music - and like bama, it summed up my views on the world at the time (never mind love and all that shit!). did morrissey ever go on to write a song called "i've now got everything i've ever dreamed of in this life, and yet i'm still a miserable bastard"? the answer is probably yes a million times over (or at least something along those lines) as he's a classic case of a one-trick pony. but perhaps his misanthropy has never been so quite so blatant since this?
Wilby I was a miserable git at the time so I identified with Morrissey but luckily love and happiness was just round the corner for me.
DeleteRe Sylvian's arty video, he was/is also a photographer of some merit ans was a big fan of Angus McBean who was famous for his surreal photos of celebrities in the 1940s and 50s and the video is a tribute to those photos (McBean is the old guy with the beard in the video). His also did the photography for many EMI albums and EPs in the 1960s including The Beatles.
Morrissey released 'We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful' in the 90s which was (I think) about Johnny Marr's supposed jealousy of him. Something like that anyway. So that probably meets your criteria, wilberforce!
DeleteI understood that song was about James' lead singer Tim Booth. He was a bit of a bitch was Morrissey.
DeleteHow annoying that another really good edition is one we aren't being allowed to see. Good job on this one, D42 - despite being from UK Gold, the picture quality here is better than one shown on BBC4 last week!
ReplyDeleteHazell Dean - Good song to start the show with, though I preferred the other performance.
Elton John - A good, jaunty tune (ironically enough) and one of his better 80s songs.
Ultravox - Ignoring mulletmungous Midge and the rest of the band's none more mid-80s look and just listening to the music works for me.
David Sylvian - I've mentioned before how I wasn't listening to music so much at this time. When I got NOW 3 as a present this one was a complete mystery to me and I'm afraid to say bored me rigid, whereas....
Madness - This, thanks to that LP is my favourite Madness song. I think it's a beautiful piece of work and even though most people would prefer one of their cheery numbers I really took to this one when I heard it for the first time. Oh, and I think that as the song is about homeless people, that is the reason for the gloves that Suggs is wearing.
The Smiths - Like many of their songs, not to be taken entirely seriously. I probably wouldn't have liked it at the time, but I do now.
2 slightly less exciting songs to finish (both played to death) but I'm guessing that The Smiths and Madness don't get a second airing on a future show, do they?
I wonder if the BBC has a juncture over UK Gold with regard to the Yewtreed episodes, i.e., it was ok to give UK Gold the Saville/DLT/Smith episodes at the time in the 1990's, cos they were still heroes with the British public and the BBC itself, but what happens now since 2012 when all these presenters episodes are banned by the BBC? Do they also ask UK Gold to give back those episodes in a returns can, or just send them a warning letter not to show them again?
DeleteBBC joint-own UKTV anyway Dory, so I suppose the tape from the BBC TOTP archive knocking about when the shows were repeated on UK Gold in the 90's would be returned to the BBC vault once the show had been dropped from their schedules & prior to Yewtree casting its shadow.
Deletehttps://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/record-profits-dave-owner-uktv-gives-bbc-45m-cash-windfall/
Spoiler alert...
DeleteNoax, we get The Smiths again but not madness.