Shaky just doesn't have enough fingers to count all his hits
12/12/85 (Gary Davies & Janice Long)
Bronski Beat – “Hit That Perfect Beat” (26)
Getting the show off to a brand new lead singer start, this became Bronski Beat's 4th and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 3.
Madonna – “Dress You Up” (5) (video)
At its peak.
Cameo – “She’s Strange” (24)
It's a wonder they didn't give themselves whiplash injuries with that opening dance routine, but the song nevertheless went up two more places.
Iron Maiden – “Run To The Hills (Live)” (33) (breaker – live clip)
Very Christmassy! And it peaked at number 26.
Princess – “After The Love Has Gone” (31) (breaker)
Peaked at number 28.
Starship - "We Built This City" (14) (breaker)
Went up two more places.
Shakin’ Stevens – “Merry Christmas Everyone” (10)
He's got his festive jumper on and he's on his way to being the Christmas number one!
The Top Nine:
Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls" (9) (video clip)
Lionel Richie - "Say You Say Me" (8) (video clip)
Feargal Sharkey -"A Good Heart" (7) (video clip)
Band Aid – “Do They Know It’s Christmas” (6) (video clip)
Madonna – “Dress You Up” (5) (video clip)
Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin - "Separate Lives" (4) (video clip)
Dee C. Lee - "See The Day" (3) (video clip)
Wham! – “I’m Your Man” (2) (video clip)
Whitney Houston – “Saving All My Love For You” (1) (video)
First of two weeks at number one.
Wham! – “Last Christmas” (32) (audience dancing/credits)
It got to number 2 last year, this time around it peaked at number 6.
Next up is December 19th but it's yet another Mike Smith edition.
Hey, that's a coup, Bronski Beat have Hughie Green as their new lead singer. This was a bigger hit than I remember it being, and it is catchy and Hi-NRG even with some slightly offputting lyrics. I believe there's a darts player who uses this as his walk-on music.
ReplyDeleteThere was someone who wrote into Annie Nightingale's Request Show and described Madonna in concert as being the size of her deodorant bottle. I wonder if it was this tour she saw? No, I don't know how she's not out of breath either.
Cameo, who it struck me were the American version of Imagination watching them here. Not their strongest track, but good fun nonetheless, and the lyrics are amusing.
Breakers! Iron Maiden with maybe their best known hit, if not their biggest, it's all right as far as it goes with its settlers vs natives theme, but they're never going to be my favourite band like they are with their fans. Princess with, no, not that song, a different one, haven't heard this since '85 and it'll do, but it didn't sustain her career. No idea what the video's about. Starship's video seems to be set in... Las Vegas? Reno? Not the most rock 'n' roll of cities, so maybe not. Some ultra-cheap effects for such a highly polished song.
As I sat there sweltering in summer heat, the last thing I needed to hear was a Christmas song, so thanks for nothing, Shaky. Innocent enough (unlike Aled Jones), but another overplayed seasonal ditty.
Whitney's made it to the top - having heard an interview with Kevin MacDonald about his documentary about her puts a very different slant on seeing her now. Deeply troubled even at this stage, before she'd met Bobby Brown.
Talking of overplayed Christmas hits, here's one of the worst offenders to play us out. At least it wasn't that bloody video.
Starship finally had as clip of their video shown as one of the Breakers this week, as two weeks earlier, we got them as the playout record as a new entry at No.35.
DeleteBut now this week at No.14 already, and already having been at No.1 in the USA, was this all we would get of this great song, with no full play outside of the playout and the breakers? Good Lord, I hope not.
And anyway THX, I quite liked the video for Last Christmas, the best part being the distribution of the paper plates at the lunch party indoors among the rival couples. Bon Appetit!
DeleteI might have liked the video for Last Christmas better if I hadn't seen it a billion times every Yuletide since 1984.
Deletebronski beat: they were always going to be on the fast track to oblivion once jimmy left, despite their best efforts to try and avoid that. all i remember about this was the line "beat boy, beat boy, hit that perfect beat boy" being sung ad nauseum. and i'm not going to bother to go to the lengths of finding out if my memory's playing tricks on me or not in that regard
ReplyDeletemadonna: all i can recall about this was the chorus refrain of "gonna dress you up in my love". and like the above, i have no desire to have my memory refreshed
cameo: i think this was actually re-released in the wake of the success of "single life". which i suppose makes "single life" "she's strange pt 2" rather than the other way around. neither did that much for me, although unlike "word up" at least they didn't make me run for the hills (shouldn't that have been the correct title of the current iron maiden hit by the way?). sadly no sign yet of the fabled red codpiece (that i remember larry blackmon once claiming came about through sheer chance rather than design), although in their wiki pic larry's still got it on 30 years later (and he's now got a whitey in the band too!)
princess: sadly ms heslop seemingly didn't get another invite onto the show to perform this, which sceptics could well accuse of being "say i'm your number one pt ii". but i always thought there was enough difference to like almost as much. especially the instrumental break in the middle that sadly is all too short. my only complaint is why did stock, aitken & waterman call the song that when they would have been perfectly aware of the classic earth, wind & fire tune of the same name?
shakin' stevens: mike wears a bland and homely jumper to match his bland and homely face. i can't believe he's still having hits, but surely not because he still had loyal fans going all the way back to "this ole house"? i don't know if anyone remembers my "name more then three shakin' stevens hit singles" challenge that i mentioned when he first broke through in these re-runs, but this would likely be most people's third pick after the above debut hit and "green door". and yet even though we've been "treated" to all his hits thus far over the last couple of years or so, i'll bet most of you will still struggle to remember too many more?
I had frankfurters in finger rolls with English mustard for dinner tonight and couldn't stop singing Shaky's first big smash "Hot Dog". Staying power, that boy!
Deleteah yes, i had already forgotten that he had scored a modest top 20 hit with that before peppering the top region of the charts with ever-more indistinct efforts from "the ole house" onwards for several years. probably because his stuff was so indistinct, i note he actually managed to avoid the ignominity of appearing in my top 10 turkeys in that time. but in my view he was certainly an anachronistic blight on the era of synth pop that i could have done without!
DeleteJanice and Gazza make for a likeable combination, though neither of them was on top form here, missing cues and both looking slightly ill-at-ease on occasion. Gazza also seemed very hesitant and stumbly when introducing one song (can't quite remember which one it was, now).
ReplyDeleteThe new-look Bronski Beat get us underway, with John Foster making an immediate impression thanks to a blond barnet to which Heinrich Himmler would doubtless have given his seal of approval. Inevitably his voice is less distinctive than Jimmy's, but this is a great slab of hi-NRG which must have been irresistible on dance floors at the time. The Bronskis must have thought that they had got away with changing their lead singer, but in fact they would only scrape a couple more minor hits after this. Madge does appear to be singing live in this video, and makes a good fist of this lesser-heard but very respectable effort. Apparently this was a genuine concert from her first-ever tour, the spectacle appearing distinctly modest compared to what she would later come up with.
Another tightly-choreographed studio performance from Cameo to follow, with that initial bowing-and-scraping routine looking very strange indeed. The song itself isn't especially interesting, but functional enough, I suppose. On to the breakers, and why were Starship featured here when they had already been used for the playout two weeks previously? The video looked surprisingly amateurish, though at least they made an effort, unlike Iron Maiden who give us yet more "in concert" footage; this was their second consecutive release to consist of a live version of an old hit. What we heard of the Princess song sounded decent, though less immediately catchy than her big hit earlier in the year.
Oh no, here's Shaky with his by-the-numbers Christmas song, wearing that horrible jumper that I have seen countless times thanks to this performance being a hardy perennial of the annual TOTP2 festive special. Funnily enough I don't remember it that well from the time, but it's probably just about the only one of Shaky's hits that you are ever likely to hear on the radio these days. I suppose its cheerful evocation of the season helped propel it to the top, even though musically it is bland indeed. Another overfamiliar Christmas record to finish, though as has already been noted at least we get to see the audience dancing rather than a zillionth viewing of the video. Remarkable really that it climbed so high up the chart again just a year after initial release, but the "proceeds to charidee" angle no doubt helped sales.
I'm sure Neil B will make a full version of the 19 December show available shortly, but in the meantime Calvin Henderson has an edited version on YT - it's only missing Band Aid, Whitney and Macca's playout.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI68HCYCmVg
Neil B's full version totp 19th December 1985 is here:https://we.tl/jWsdiTEGVs
DeleteThanks gia!
DeleteI didn't watch the whole of BBC 4's Duran Duran night, but can recommend the middle bit where the boys played clips and commented on how they made them the men they are today. Very entertaining, and they all look annoyingly trim with full heads of hair.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to be under the impression A View to a Kill is a cult movie, though. Well, that's one word for it.
i haven't seen this, but i have noticed that in recent times nick rhodes' hair seems to be extremely carefully styled - as if to try and hide that he's thinning if not balding! it must be due to all that hair dye, spray and god knows what else he subjected his hair to in his younger days...
DeleteI did find it a little strange to hear Nile Rodgers saying that Duran Duran would have been his second band. I think he wrote Notorious for them, as he played on the BBC New Years Eve show just before midnight a few months ago, but I don't see any likenesses between say Chic and Duran Duran.
DeleteIt really irks me to watch a December edition at the height of a heatwave, the program loses something.
ReplyDeleteWith the harbingers of late 80's dross like Doug E Fresh already appearing I think 1986 will be the last year I'll be taking any interest in, for me music died almost on the stroke of midnight 86 into 87.
By the end of the 1986 editions I should have most recordings of the shows 80 - 86 and will watch one edition of each year per week to get the seasonal 'feel'
Can I suggest 'The Promise You Made' as a name for the 86 blog?
Wow, what a humdinger of a song that was called The Promise You Made by Cock Robin. If ever there was a boy-meets-girl song, it was this one. I bet hardly anyone on this blog remembers it at the time, cos it don't do well in the UK charts, but I picked up the video of the single some 10 years ago on iTunes for their nice price of £1.89, and I still love hearing if not watching it regularly. Brilliant suggestion KC, and I hope Angelo gives it some serious consideration for the 1986 blog title!
Delete1985 has been fleeting, probably because Mike Smith hosted almost half the shows which is a shame because he was a dreadful presenter who did nothing for TOTP.
ReplyDeleteJust heard that Alan Longmuir had died aged 70. One of the foundong members of the Bay City Rollers. Shortly afterwards I was in a shop and 'Bye bye Baby' came on the radio.
ReplyDeleteRIP Alan
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteFounding members even...
DeleteAlan was the guy who supposedly left the Rollers in 1976 due to "ill health" but really it was because at 27 he was too old. They replaced him with a 17 year old.
Deletedidn't he finally return to the rollers in their declining years after his replacements turned out to be no-no's? he might well have been the oldest member of the band by some way, but i always thought with the possible exception of les mckeown he was the best-looking one too
Deletealthough i was never a fan, i do think it was a bit of a shame that the "classic" roller line-up never overcame their personal differences to cash-in on the nostalgia circuit in their later years, having seen nary a penny when at the height of their fame thanks to being ripped off by their manager. mckeown still plods around the circuit at a minor level as "les mckeown's bay city rollers", but surprisingly woody has now just started touring under the official name - even though he is the only member from the golden era involved!
The whole Bay City Rollers story is absolutely horrendous, not talking about their music which was basic bubblegum pop, but the way they were treated and the bitterness and anger that resulted. It really was awful. RIP Alan.
DeleteNo.4 this week was as high as Collins/Martin would get with Separate Lives on the top ten video rundown, but what a superb duet if ever I heard one. That Marilyn Martin voice is just something, isn't it, and some looker she is too. Her name should have been MarryMe Martin!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Just didn't sound right on the 'Seriously Live' album with one of the backing singers taking on Marilyn's part. I quite liked her solo minor hit 'Night Moves' too.
DeleteI was bored and decided to blog for the first time in months. Although I picked a real stinker of a show even if Gaz and Janice seem to work well together.
ReplyDeleteWhile I admired the early Bronski Beat singles once Jimmy left it was all over as far as I was concerned. So when they resurfaced with Hit That Perfect Beat I was not impressed, dismissing it as thowaway trash. And it didn't help that they had replaced Somerville with a guy who looked like Ernie Wise with badly bleached hair. I just checked on t'net and was shocked to find out that he (John Foster) was only 24 at this point but looks about 50.
It was easy to fast forward though the Madonna video as I was never a fan. How/why she become so big was a mystery to me as she can't sing, can't dance and has appalling dress sense.
The last time we saw Cameo they were sporting cast offs from Miss Selfridge, this time they have gone down the more obvious glittery spandex route wearing mix and match costumes left over from Prince's last tour. But why the ramshackle head banging penguin dancing at the beginning? Strange indeed. This is not much better than their last single but better was to come.
I spotted a young Danny John Jules in the otherwise forgettable Princes video. The Starship video meanwhile appeared to be filmed in Las Vegas except that city was built on Easy Listening and Swing not Rock and Roll. Can someone explain?
Interestng that Elton John is in the chart this week as a solo artist, a duet with George Michael and as part of an ensemble. Has that ever occured before? Answers on a can of hair thickener.
Hate Shaky. hate christmas, so very easy to fast forward through the next one and indeed the whole Top Ten with the exception of the Pet Shop Boys although the video is too familiar to watch again..
Funny to see the crowd dancing so merrily to Last Christmas. It's a sad, miserable song you idiots. And please don't sing along, you're not George Michael even if you're trying desperately to look like him (you know who I mean, the podgy blond one in the white trousers). One thing I used to do to annoy my mate was to sing the lyrics of Bowie's Rebel Rebel to the tune of Last Christmas. They fit perfectly.
Happy Christmas!
welcome back bama! although you could have picked any of the vast majority of shows in 1985 and still watched a stinker. having said that though, i feel my decision to stay on as a reviewer for a bit longer was justified as the cream of that year has turned out to be far superior to that of 1984
Deleteas i mentioned before, you could sing david cassidy's "daydreamer" over "last christmas" and it would fit pretty well
i think we have a case of "hotel california" syndrome with this blog i.e. you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave! i wonder if i shall be able to reist coming back as bama has done, once i've made my final decision to quit as a reviewer?
DeleteEnd link to Mike Smith is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S160T1NmVlU
ReplyDeleteThanks! Was looking for this :)
DeleteYes,as it appears that Neil B hasn't posted a copy of it.
DeleteIt's now 29 degrees outside so I have come into the cool shade of December 1985.
ReplyDeleteLets hope the neighbours don't get too worried when they hear Merry Xmas Everyone coming out of the windows..
Jancie and Gary getting ready for Xmas. 10 days. Shit. I haven't bought a thing.. 😀
New look Bronski Beat to get us going. Loved this at the time. Not as good as I remember but still a toe tapper.
John has borrowed his wig from Mark King
Concert video time for Madonna. Fairly standards and miles away from the "shows" she will put on. Is that a live vocal? Impressive.
She has had so many hits this year and after a couple of duds this is much much better.
Cameo. Still going. Bit of standard 80s disco. With a very odd opening dance. This is very poor.
What is Janice wearing?. Is it made of Xmas wrap?
Loads of new entries this week. Ales Jones.. Nooooooo
Breakers :
Iron Maiden. One of their well known tunes but nowhere near their best. Another concert video. Yawn
Princess. This is not too bad. Very much a S/A/W record.
Starship... Hooray.. 😀
Shakey! Nice jumper. Best Xmas song ever. 😀 😀 😀
Great to see PSB in the top ten. Nice shot of WHSmith with its old orange and brown logo.
Phil and and Marilyn still climbing! Who bought this mush.
Whitney top of the tree but not getting the man.
Last Christmas. It's 1984 all over again.
December editions of TOTP are just what we want in this sweltering heat, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteBronski Beat - I don't mind this, but it does get a bit repetitive and prefer the Jimmy Somerville helmed songs.
Madonna - Given that this is obviously not a live vocal, why is the sound quality a bit ropey? I don't mind this one, glad to hear it rather than the overplayed singles.
Cameo - Awful, as with all their stuff bar the big hit.
Breakers - Weird how there is no mention of the Iron Maiden track being a live recording. Good song though. The Princess tune is forgettable, and that's definitely Danny John-Jules in the video. Weird how Starship's video hasn't got an airing in full, silly though it is.
Then it's time to fast forward through the Christmas songs and the tedious chart topper...
Restore version of 12/12/85 with the missing part of the final link added back into the BBC4HD version:
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/zIW6zRtwLY
(This is not exactly perfect as the youtube source for the missing link started two or three seconds later than would've been needed to do this properly. But better than nothing I guess, and thanks to brie for the link.)
I’ve decided to be concise and just focus on those aspects I found interesting, which blitzes the last two songs for a start.
ReplyDeleteJanice obviously sponsored by Bacofoil for this show.
“We can carry on with a new singer and they won’t notice and we’ll still be successful” part 26. The wrting was already on the wall in the “I Feel Love” video where Jimi was close to camera and the very serious looking plinkers were way in the distance. Replacing a distinctive high octave vocalist with a mid range and less standout singer would never work, despite the dancey merits of the tune.
Very good live vocals by Madge there. Was she inspired by the huge male appendage mic, I wonder? Talking of which, a very close call for my hero Elvis Costello on that front.
Hope he makes a complete recovery.
More headbanging by Cameo than in the Iron Maiden video. Best part of this below par (c)rap.
Nice purple / pink sepia effect matching Princess’s livery. Quite liked this but not a patch on her biggie.
I liked the way that, just before we hear the line “We built this city on rock and roll” we got a sign for a jazz club. Niiiiice!
Snow is falling, Shaky? Where? Not in Middlesex. Even with a fan on, it’s currently 30.5C in my house at ten past midnight!
I was interested by the top 40 anchor sound, “Mr DJ” by The Concept, which is apparently a DJ listening to callers requesting songs to a funk beat. It went up 13 places the following week to reach its peak of 27 but we never got to see or hear it.
While I agree that replacing Jimi Somerville on Bronski Beat would be difficult, it seemed to pay off for them, as Hit That Perfect Beat peaked at No.3, which Somerville on the group did not do any better himself, so any doubters of the new look Bronski Beat here were left with their tongues hanging out you could say!
DeleteJust listened to Mr DJ on YT, it's a fun little novelty record at best, a one joke effort at worst (if it counted as a joke). Doesn't seem to be a video for it, and it might have been confusing to play on the show as a playout. Here's hoping he and Liz lived happily ever after.
DeleteHaving been away on holiday I have finally got round to watching the backlog….well at least those that I can as the two NeilB transfers have sadly gone
ReplyDeleteI haven’t watched this one yet, but a brief summary of the two BBC4 shows that I could watch:-
28/11/85 – Absolute tosh mainly except for the wonderful ‘Separate Lives’ and the number one by Wham. I also enjoyed Starship’s ‘We built this City’ playout.
12/12/85 – What a treat from Madonna! A genuine live rendition of ‘Dress you up’. Looked and sounded fabulous. Shaky was great although I received funny looks from my family when watching it in hot July!
Looks like I've missed Whitney for one week however!
I guess the two missing shows are gone for good now?
I’ll get on and watch this actual show shortly, but meanwhile I’ll add my two pennyworth to the ‘best of lists’ above.
Any shows that would have been uploaded on WeTransfer, only stay up for 7 days. It is a WeTransfer policy, but on the flipside, it is the cleanest medium to upload videos, and long gone are the days of 4-Shared which carries viruses and worms by the bucketload.
DeleteWith regard to the 28/11/85 show, I must say it was one of my favourite shows of the year, as it was one slushy romantic song after another, right from the start of the show. In fact, only the No.1 by Wham was a deviation from this style, and ok, it could be excused, as it was No.1 after all!
I think you're over-egging it a bit with 4Shared, it has lots of obtrusive advertising (Which can mostly be gotten rid of with AdBlock) but not much malicious I think.) And the fact that uploads stay there for ever is a massive plus. (OK the same is true for Youtube and Vimeo in theory, but with copyrighted material it probably won't last long anyway.)
DeleteAnyway I'd still be using 4Shared if it weren't for the fact that I exceeded my free storage space and can't be bothered to pay for a premium account any longer.
Keep up the good work drykid. My only difficulty is that I cannot download avi. files on a macbook, and yours is always avi. If you can somehow upload as mp4 files like Angelo's WeTransfer uploads on the whole shows of mike smith, then it could be even better.
Delete