Pete grows a pair
04/07/85 (Simon Bates & Richard Skinner)
Dead Or Alive – “In Too Deep” (19)
This third single from their top ten album Youthquake peaked at number 14.
Tears For Fears – “Head Over Heels” (12) (Montreux clip)
Now at its peak.
The Damned – “The Shadow Of Love” (25)
Performing a kind of gothic cowboy song which did not get any higher up the charts.
Fine Young Cannibals – “Johnny Come Home” (11)
On its way to number 8.
Simply Red – “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)” (33) (breaker)
The first of 32 top 40 hits for the band.
The Cult – “She Sells Sanctuary” (30) (breaker)
Their first of 12 top 40 hits.
The Style Council – “Come To Milton Keynes” (27) (breaker)
Er....... well it somehow made it to number 23.
Opus - "Live Is Life" (26) (breaker)
Oh my word, BBC4 let a mention of Jonathan King slip through the net! Let's pray the world doesn't come to an end! Anyhow, this was the only hit for Opus, and it peaked at number 6.
The Top Ten Videos:
Marillion - "Kayleigh" (10) (video clip)
Mai Tai - "History" (9) (video clip)
Bruce Springsteen - "I'm On Fire" (8) (video clip)
Billy Ocean - "Suddenly" (7) (video clip)
The Crowd - "You'll Never Walk Alone" (6) (video clip)
Marti Webb - "Ben" (5) (video clip)
Kool & The Gang - "Cherish" (4) (Montreux clip)
Madonna - "Crazy For You" (3) (video clip)
Harold Faltermeyer - "Axel F" (2) (video clip)
Sister Sledge – “Frankie” (1) (rpt)
Second of four weeks at number one.
Glenn Frey – “Smuggler's Blues” (28) (audience dancing/credits)
His second and final solo hit, it peaked at number 22.
11th July is next.
“Saturday in the Park, every day’s the 4th of July…”
ReplyDeleteNot the greatest of editions for me…
Dead or Alive – In too Deep – Prefer the songs of the same name from Genesis and Belinda Carlisle.
Tears for Fears – Head over Heels – So Montreux really was live. Not a bad live rendition of the song billed on the sleeve as “A love song from the Big Chair and a Giant Four Leaf Clover for Mankind” whatever that means!
Damned – The Shadow of Love - Pretty ordinary but not nasty nasty nasty.
Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny come Home – getting a little bored with this.
Breakers – Not much cop except for Opus which is certainly a guilty pleasure…and a mention of (shock, horror) Jonathan King!
Chart rubdown – So we finally see a clip of the Crowd with Brucie and Bernie and (second shock, horror) DLT!
Sister Sledge – Frankie – Back to the Fab Four from a few weeks ago. Worth watching for the dance interlude alone!
Glenn Frey – Smuggler’s Blues – More Eagles than the Eagles! Nice way to dance out in a mini skirt! Featured the BBC TV series ‘Miami Vice’ and released on the Beeb’s own label!
The fact that BBC4 allowed the mention of Jonathan King during the Opus 'Breaker' this week, and then included DLT in the Crowd clip on the Top Ten rubdown, is possibly a hint that that BBC4 may finally be over their silly spat with these two, which I must say has been going on far too long, like some spoiled bitter stubborn child.
DeleteI really hope you're right, but I'd say it's more likely that someone in the editing / production team has got their P45 today Dory!
DeleteEven if Dory is right, it has come far too late in the day to make much difference to what we will get to see on BBC4. It's more likely that someone thought they could get away with leaving these particular bits in because they were so brief.
DeleteI think they were left in because they were too difficult to remove without ruining the flow of the breakers and top 10. But then Gary Glitter's caption was left in during his last appearance in the rundown, so maybe BBC4 are mellowing in their old age.
DeleteSmuggler's Blues was originally released on the MCA label, so must have been licensed by the BBC when Miami Vice was so successful...
DeleteA chart rubdown? I'm surprised the Beeb didn't skip this one! :-)
ReplyDeleteNot much to say about this one; although Dickie was clearly out of favour with Michael Hurll. Not only was he paired up with Slimes again, he was forced to wear an old pair of his glasses too.
This was actually Dickie's penultimate TOTP. Just one more to go in August, which seems a bit ironic given that his prominent role at Live Aid that summer meant his profile would have been at its highest ever point. As he was now part of the Whistle Test team, I suppose it's possible that it was felt he couldn't host both shows. Alternatively, he could have just got fed up of being lumbered with Bates all the time...
DeleteProbably the latter John. Fair play to him for putting up with the pairing for so long.
DeleteRichard Skinner after all was regularly hosting the show since 1980. Ok, not as long as Powell, Read, Bates, but still, it was a mighty fine run for 6 years doing his fair share of presenting.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHe had a decent run, though given his obvious interest in music I don't think he was always used as much as he should have been. He did make a very brief comeback to TOTP in 1988/89, but only appeared on two shows.
DeleteLooks like those last two comments were posted almost simultaneously!
DeleteWe can't have too much more of Bates either can we? Didn't he get binned in 86/87?
DeleteI believe that Richard Skinner moved to commercial radio in 1985, hence cessation of TOTP hosting duties since he was no longer a Radio 1 DJ.
DeleteSimon Bates was binned in mid-1988.
DeleteDickie didn't leave Radio 1 until the spring of 1986, so he stopped doing TOTP about 8 months before his departure.
DeleteDickie returned to Radio 1 a few years later to do The Saturday Sequence. I didn't listen to it, but I used to record the Mary Whitehouse Experience which was on afterwards and would usually get his last link and the news.
DeleteThe Damned was one of those curiosity groups that I remember were in the record shops in the late 70s and early 80s, but never regulars in the charts. It was like the very early days of ELO where the group just released records for fun, and did not seem to be bothered about chart success, in a take-it-or-leave-it type of manner.
ReplyDeleteI must say that on this appearance by The Damned this week, they have gone up enormously in my estimation, simply by means of the smart costume/appearance of the lead singer. Well done you, and you're welcome in my living room TV anytime. We are not worthy!
So here, this week, was the arrival of Simply Red, at last, and who was to know at this stage that they would develop into a giant of British pop music for decades to come. However, this was not a great debut single by any means, when you compare it to what was to come from them in the latter part of the 80s!
Third one to comment - must be a Shakey record! Unlike sct and SteveHack I really liked this edition and I think the 1985 Shakey would have liked it even more.
ReplyDeleteDoA up first with, probably, the song that I like the most out of all their hits. Unfortunately Pete Burns seems less enamoured and pretty much just phones in his performance.
Another week - another Montreaux performance. Head Over Heels is my favourite TFF song, so I'm two-for-two so far. And its a good performance as well with Roland nailing the vocals, and Kurt showing his bass-playing chops.
The Damned turn in a good performance as well, but the song is only so-so despite a rather nifty sixties guitar sound.
Possibly the best set of breakers so far with Mick Hucknell still a few years away from being a Bono-like dick, The Cult with their best song, and The Style Council with the weird but rather endearing song that no one remembers. (yeah, yeah I'm ignoring Live is Life which kind of ruins my best-of-breakers claim - so sue me)
The top ten and Frankie are next, before the brilliant Smugglers Blues takes us out.
Scores. Our presenters failed to convince me that they even speak to each other when the cameras stop such was their lack of chemistry - 4
DoA, TFF, the breakers and Glenn Frey were all excellent. The Damned and FYC were okay so all in all its an 8.
Dammit John G and Dory! Way to spoil my opening sentence.
DeleteI liked the Opus song at the time (well I was only 12) but its charms have waned somewhat over the years. I enjoyed TFF and Simply Red but for me there's been better editions.
Deletemr simply red may have been a bit of a dick (in more ways than one) in becoming pop music's equivalent of paul daniels ("so what attracted you to the millionaire mick hucknall?"), but to put him in the same league as a guy who piously preaches about "making poverty history" whilst filling up his offshore bank accounts with money he needs like a hole in the head is somewhat unfair in my book
DeleteWilby. Hucknall was as piously preachy as Bono, but on a more local scale- mouthing socialist statements while driving sports cars, having off-shore accounts and banging models on a yacht.(That last one might have a touch of jealousy about it.) I consider the comparison to be fair.
Deletei can't remember hucknall being a political hypocrite by supposedly banging on behalf of the common man whilst living the life of reilly and shagging everything that he could lay his hands on, i just thought it was all about rubbing people's noses in his jet set lifestyle as a self-made man who came from nothing (and probably would have continued to have nothing, had he not became a successful pop star). but shakey it sounds like you remember more about the guy than i do!
Deletemention of simply red has reminded me that in the early 90's i used to hang out after work in a trendy wine bar (mainly on the basis that it that was right opposite my office) at the end of the piccadilly line near south herts stockbroker country, and the place almost invariably had a sprinkling of spurs and arsenal footballers patronising it. of the spurs contingent i only ever saw gazza once and lineker never, but i remember chris waddle being a semi-regular and paul walsh a virtual fixture. and as for the gooners: i went over there once just after they had won the league title, and had to wait to get in as the entire team filed out of the bar one-by-one as if they were coming out of the tunnel for a match. and what struck me was what huge fuckers they were - only anders limpar was as short as me! oh yes, and and the seemingly constant soundtrack in the place was simply red's "a new flame" CD!
Can anyone actually name another member of Simply Red other than Hucknall?
Deletei remember the black keyboard player who also did backing vocals and i think co-wrote some of their earlier material. but i can't remember his name off-hand (it was something like max). also when hucknall got rid of their "pete best" on drums, they replaced him with some japanese guy. but i have no recall of his name whatsoever. of course true simply red fans would be able to reel off all the personnel details, wouldn't they? actually i don't think they would, any more than sade "fans" could tell you who was in that group other than sade herself. in fact they probably wouldn't even be aware that sade is actually the group name rather than just her... and it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't know her surname either!
Deleteperhaps because i was exposed to it in that wine bar i mentioned above so often, i came to like quite a bit of "a new flame" - particularly stuff that hucknall co-wrote with well-established and highly-respected guys like lamont dozier (of holland-dozier-holland fame) and joe sample (of the crusaders). but sadly it all went to his head as he then thought he could write songs without the help of such guys, with the result being the half-baked "stars" album. mind you, he would say his decision was justified as that sold more copies many times over than all his previous stuff put together!
The keyboardist was on Something Got Me Started as a co vocalist and sung on another track from Stars but I couldn't tell you his name.
DeleteIt may have been 4th July, but the line-up on this edition was overwhelmingly British. Master Bates once again comes along in beige, and Dickie inexplicably dons a pair of specs too - some kind of tribute to his perennial co-host? Anyway, Bates is relatively restrained and they both do a decent job this week.
ReplyDeleteOne of several forgotten hits from Dead or Alive to start with, but this one is actually pretty decent. The vocals on the chorus could have been beefed up a bit more, but the verses build nicely and it's really quite tuneful; Pete, by his standards, looks fairly restrained here. It's off to Montreux yet again to hear Tears For Fears - as Michael Hurll produced the Beeb's coverage of Montreux, it's perhaps not surprising so many performances were finding their way into TOTP at this time. While I would have preferred to have had the original recording and the video in full, this is a very good live version of the best track on Songs From the Big Chair. I love the key change in the middle, and also the drumming over the "la la la" section. Undoubtedly one of the best hits of '85, and it's a shame it didn't make the Top 10.
Dave Vanian looks like a cross in this performance between Dracula and Cruella de Vil. The Damned were now well and truly into their gothic phase, and there is some nice atmospheric guitar on this one, but not enough of a tune to make it memorable. The new FYC performance is again chiefly notable for the antics of Cox and Steele, though Roland Gift has a natural charisma that makes it hard to take your eyes off him.
Some interesting breakers this week, notable for the first glimpse of Mick Hucknall and chums, and BBC4's failure to edit out Bates' JK reference. The selection here will all be on again apart from this self-indulgent Style Council folly, with a video that's presumably meant to be funny and satirical but just seems very pretentious. TOTP cut away before the bit where a topless woman appears with ice cream cones covering her nipples, and the Statue of Liberty cuts her own arm with a credit card! Top 10 videos next, and presumably BBC4 thought that glimpse of DLT was so brief no one would notice? Whatever the reason, we move swiftly on to a repeat of the first Sister Sledge performance, and I can see now that Kim was carefully concealing her pregnancy behind that long yellow coat. Glenn Frey closes the show with another song that's long-forgotten, but I prefer the bluesy sound of this to The Heat is On, and the crowd seem to enjoy it too. The credits reveal that Helen Fielding, future creator of Bridget Jones, was the Production Manager on this show...
Never mind the quality of the Glenn Frey song, but I did like the studio audience performance on the long playout this week, a good three minutes of it, which was unlikely to have been played at that length first time round in 1985. The slender blonde in a white oh-so-mini outfit gyrating from side to side was a real treat, and gave the show a nice ending I thought.
DeleteIncidentally, we may already be halfway through 1985, and likely to finish it by the end of May at the current rate, but I gather the Radio Times has confirmed 1986 will be coming later this year.
ReplyDeleteWe are indeed set to go through two TOTP years, i.e., 1985 and 1986, by the end of 2018 at this rate, when we should really only have been up to March 1983 at this point, with hits like Billie Jean, Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This, and Total Eclipse Of The Heart.
Deletedead or alive: another of theirs that left no impression in my memory. take out mr burns' vocals (that are not as shouty as usual, but in my view the guy still can't sing for toffee) and it wouldn't sound out of place on scritti politti's "cupid and psyche 85" album. and as such quite good - apart from the annoying stuttery sampled bits that are soooooo of their time
ReplyDeletetears for fears: i watched most of this montreux clip, and roland actually sings live over the original studio recording. that is apart from the "la la la's" at the end, where it's noticeable he steps back from the mic - i've tried hitting the high notes at the end of those chants, and i would say it's impossible without studio trickery (for a man, anyway). this has jogged my memory that there is a full-length film of the band on the road from around this time (featuring performances and interviews) that is on my "to see" list
damned: i remember them having a big comeback in the mid-80's with their cover version of the epic "eloise", but not that they'd been trying to get a hit prior to that. there's a rather scary noise at the start before it settles down into a not-bad-at-all dark rockabilly feel that reminds me of stan ridgeway's "camoflage" - plus something else that i count put my finger on. is that the captain on guitar there, or had he jumped ship at this point? dave vanian is another pop star i've seen in the flesh - this time rather appropriately at one of the all-nighters at the legendary scala cinema in king's cross (oh, for something like that now), where among other films they showed the roger corman cult horror classic "a bucket of blood"
glenn frey: for some reason i can't find a copy of this on youtube, although i can make a fair guess as to what it sounds like. looking at another related video it seems frey was one of many pop stars (others i remember being phil collins, sheena easton and frank zappa!) who appeared in "miami vice", the tv series this came from. despite it being seen as really hip (and also despite someone once saying to me that i looked like the show's star don johnson - who was probably the coolest dude on the planet at that point!) i never got the appeal of it at all. it was all style over substance as far as i was concerned, and the intrusive rock soundtrack did it no favours whatsover either
The Damned track also had a slight feel to it of Chris Isaak, whose debut album, Silvertone, had recently been released. His first single, Dancin', failed to chart everywhere except Australia, where it scraped to 46. A great pity, as it's a superb song:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R46hhPu6CRQ
yes, chris isaak did come to mind with the damned track. but i think thx has nailed the comparison with "driving away from home" by it's immaterial, although that was released after the damned effort to my recollection. so if anyone's guilty of copying, then it's certainly not the captain & co
DeleteThe Captain wasn't in The Damned at this point - he'd left the previous year.
Deletei did query if the good captain was involved in this or not in my review, but as no one said anything i assumed he was still on board
DeleteSorry Wilberforce, I did see your original question, but forgot to respond to it initially.
DeleteI was told by an optician that glasses with the extra bar at the bridge of the nose were favoured by the more conservative spectacles-wearer. Guess that suits Si and Dickie.
ReplyDeleteDead or Alive, drawing up to their "big in Japan" phase as they faltered in the UK charts. No recollection of this, and it's disappointingly sedate for a supposed dance band.
Tears for Fears with my favourite of their singles, surprised, looking back, it wasn't Top Ten material but maybe everyone had the album by then. Memorably used in Donnie Darko, of course.
The Damned sounding strangely like It's Immaterial on this country-tinged effort. I can sort of hear them performing Ghost Riders in the Sky on this evidence. Needed a stronger tune, mind you.
Fine Young Cannibals much the same as before, only Roland's been at his mum's makeup box and added eyeliner to his ensemble.
The Breakers we'll see again, apart from The Style Council's end of the pier antics. Does Milton Keynes have a pier? Wasn't it Fast Forward, the kids' sketch show, that had an alien called Milton Keenze? About the same level of wit as this.
Sister Sledge continue their reign of cutesy terror, so move swiftly on to Glenn Frey whose Smuggler's Blues doesn't sound that bluesy, and is pretty unremarkable too.
The makers of Donnie Darko were obviously big TFF fans, including two songs of theirs in one film.
DeleteI think it was more that director Richard Kelly had only so many choices available, as the ones he really wanted he couldn't afford or he was denied. If you watch the director's cut the songs are different, and it makes it a worse film, ironically. His career since indicates he was a wayward talent anyway.
DeleteProbably my fav Tears For Fears track, have I mentioned that I went to the same school as Roland? I have a vague recollection of him performing in the school hall circa 1979 in an early incarnation of Tears For Fears called Graduate.
ReplyDeleteHis younger brother Julian was in my form, nice lad and I see Roland occasionally at my local Sainsburys!
i wonder if anyone else here saw any bands on some kind of regular basis before they were famous? there was a small club in bournemouth in the early 80's that used to put on bands that had just signed with record companies but were still relative unknowns, and thus unable to fill normal concert venues. which meant as a regular punter (and sometime performer myself there) i had the chance to see acts such as blancmange, tears for fears, howard jones and the smiths before they broke through properly. but i spurned all of those in favour of watching local bands there instead!
DeleteI had the pleasure of serving two members of Scarlet Party when I worked in WH Smith, Ilford. They paid with a credit card with the band's name on it. At the time they had recently released their second (excellent) single 'Eyes of Ice' which can be enjoyed here, still featuring my own comments from 8 years ago (sigh!).
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=offrOEV1080
This show peaker very early if you ask me...
ReplyDeleteDead Or Alive - Best song on the show, very catchy although Pete was clearly already bored with the SAW sound at this point. Maybe if he'd sold it a bit better it would've climbed a lot higher?
TFF - Chalk me up as another who was disappointed to see yet another Montreux appearance though I guess this one isn't too bad. I still would've preferred a studio appearance or video though. At least we got to see this one in some form anyway.
The Damned - Here's one that I'd forgotten about, and actually I don't mind it at all.
Breakers - Since we see most of them again apparently I won't say much except that clearly that Style Council song has one of the worst titles in the history of music. Will the tune make up for it? Oh, no.
I can't resist a quick bit of Simply Red trivia at this point though. Appropriately enough, one of their singles was called 'The Montreux EP' (!) and I don't think it's widely known that their debut hit was a cover version of a No.73 song by The Valentine Brothers from 1983.
Weird how my memory from the time is that the always showed the video for 'Frankie' yet they've only actually done that so far when it was a breaker.
Glenn Frey - Average stuff, but some top studio dancing to compensate. Everyone ogling the girl in the white top seems to have missed what's written on it, namely 'Perforation - it's a rip-off'. A Tim Vine pun 30 years ahead of its time there....
Further to my last this Pre Tears For Fears track got a lot of play on Radio 1 back in 1980, but didn't chart.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/vZZtaTVhGAE
And into the second half of 1985 we go with Slimes and Skinner.
ReplyDeleteSkinner missed rehearsals obviously.
A lesser spotted DOA hit up first. Was always under the assumption they were a one-hit wonder for a long time. Their follow ups must have passed me by as a kid.
This one isn't too bad. You can tell it's SAW already can't you.
The studio has had a real makeover again hasn't it. Think it started a couple of weeks ago but really noticed it tonight. One more theme tune change and this will be the TOTP of my childhood memories.
Montreaux AGAIN!
Great to see this TFF track.
"This is one of my favourites" shouts Wifey from the bedroom. Thanks Wifey!!!
This, along with Mad World, Shout and Sowing The Seeds, is probably their finest work. Always been a huge fan but wasn't aware of this song until the early 90s when I bought the cassette of their greatest hits.
11 year old me not paying attention...probably still running around the estate singing "shout, shout..."
A year out from the world conquering "Eloise" another song that passed me by at the time. Songs OK. Not sure I'll remember it after the show though. I assume the Dracula look is deliberate.
I see Simply Red have arrived in the chart. We will be seeing a LOT of them.
Another outing for FYC. Needs to work on his miming. Great tune.
Breakers:
And here they are. Simply Red. Good song, good video. A cover I believe...
The Cult. Surprised no TOTP appearance yet. Hopefully we will get one.
Style Council back again, not familiar with this one. Very odd video. Very odd song. Next....
Opus - la la la la la ...this will be in my head all day now...cheesy Euro-Pop/Rock.
Axel F got to number 2. Crikey.
Frankie...hang on there's four of them again. The magic of TV. Me and Wifey playing "guess which one is pregnant" We've gone for one on the left in the baggie shirt..or it could be the one on the right...we might have been unkind to the one on the left...It's the one in orange Wifey has decided. She has flat shoes....
I want that TOTP book. is it still available??
Glenn Frey a nice enough playout but not a standout song.
Janice and John will have to wait until Wednesday...
morgie are you suggesting that the show presenters actually had rehearsals for their links? i would have thought that highly unlikely going by the amount of gaffes they make. my belief is that the more sensible ones probably worked out what they would say in their own time in advance, with the idiots doing it off the cuff (as they did on their radio shows) and believing nobody would think any the worse of them if and when they did fuck up - as nobody probably did at the time!
Deleteas to whichever sister sledge was pregnant, i'll lay any odds you like it wasn't the one in the rubber mini-dress!
I seem to recall a Peel article about presenting TOTP where he said he worked out and rehearsed what he was going to say before the show. The presenters must have received some guidance ie how long they had to talk for, although judging by the number of times they crash into the start of the chart rundown Hurll can't have been too strict on them!
DeleteWell there was definitely a script of sorts.. 😀
ReplyDeleteSure I remember DJs saying it was almost a criminal offence to crash the vocal on the Radio. Maybe they were rebelling.
These days playout systems usually have a countdown to the start of the vocals on songs - although not at the community station I help out at, so you still have to know the song well enough to risk a vocal crash.
DeleteGood grief, has Dickie turned into a Slimes tribute act with those shades? He’ll be wearing a beige jacket next!
ReplyDeleteAn understated outfit and performance from Pete Burns, but I much preferred this tune to their last one, though the “plane / car” refrain got repeated too often. Seen plenty of ‘Stick’ basses but never a ‘Stick’ guitar before.
I liked “Heads Over Heels” before but love it now. Superb rendition. I must iTune this later.
WE WANT HOWARD JONES! Instead, The Damned give us a goth “Rawhide” and Dave Vanian becomes the second lead singer in recent times to kneel during a song. Talking of which...
Unfortunately, Roland and the lads on next don’t return the favour or re-run the routine. Boo! While we’re at it, stop pissing about doing octaves on that bass!
It’s that Mick Hucknall out of Simply Red. Wanker.
Followed by drummer Mark Unpronouncable moonlighting from Big Country to be in The Cult (previously known as Southern Death Cult, fact fans), complete with a singer who’s a hybrid of Pete Burns and Mick Jagger.
Paul Weller in his underpants? MUUUUUM!!!
If Jonathan King says Opus are great, well then! The lead singer looked like an Austrian version of footballer Dean Saunders.
An energetic single by an Eagle to finish. Surprised this doesn’t get played much if at all on the radio.
The Glenn Frey song is quite good isn't it. Amazed I'd never heard it before.
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