Spitting Image perform their rubber one hit
22/05/86 (Gary Davies & Peter Powell)
Jaki Graham – “Set Me Free” (20)
Getting tonight's show off to an energetic start with what became her third and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 7.
The B-52’s – “Rock Lobster” (12) (video)
Originally a number 37 hit in 1979, this time round it did better and clawed its way to number 12.
Billy Ocean – “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” (13)
You just can't keep him away from the studio at the moment, and the song went up one more place.
Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald – “On My Own” (2) (video)
At its peak.
Pete Wylie – “Sinful” (28) (breaker)
Peaked at number 13.
AC/DC – “Who Made Who” (27) (breaker)
Peaked at number 16.
Robert Palmer – “Addicted To Love” (16) (breaker)
Our first glimpse of this controversial video, and the song became Robert's first of five top ten hits when it peaked at number 5.
Simply Red – “Holding Back The Years” (19)
Our 1986 theme tune is performed in the studio on its way up to number 2.
Spitting Image – “The Chicken Song” (1)
A studio performance no less for The Chicken Song's second of three weeks at number one.
Matchroom Mob with Chas & Dave – “Snooker Loopy” (6) (video/audience dancing/credits)
Another chance to see Chas & Dave's final top ten hit which was now at its peak.
Next up is May 29th.
Jaki Graham in a screamingly tight skirt storms into the studio with one of my favourite pop records of the 80s. Yes, it's repetitive, but she truly sells it and it's so full of energy, it's terrific.
ReplyDeleteAw, they cut off the B-52's before they got to the rundown of aquatic life, I always relish Kate Pearson's bloodcurdling reaction to the killer whale. Anyway, no idea why this was back, but it signalled a renaissance for the band. Rather hear this than bloody Love Shack for the millionth time.
Yeah, yeah, sad songs say so much Billy, but you really have done better. And then to add to the grief and misery Mike and Patti are back - "Now we're up to talking divorce and we weren't even married" is a spectacularly stupid lyric.
Presumably we see Pete and Bob again, but this week's movie tune was from AC/DC though they didn't include any clips in the video. The film was Maximum Overdrive, which its director Stephen King (yes, that one) called the new Plan 9 from Outer Space. It's not as enjoyable as that, Steve. But it is very silly. Best thing is the stream of AC/DC tunes on the soundtrack. Like a lot of 80s tat, it could be classed Cocaine: The Movie.
Next, Charlie Drake makes a return to the charts with My Boomerang Won't Come Back - hey, wait a minute, it's a gloopy, soulful slice of regret-o-pop. I suppose Mick can sing, but this is never going to be my kind of thing.
Spitting Image seem to have dressed up their police puppets as Black Lace, but they don't look like "two wet gits", they look like bully boys. An actual gun onstage, too. Thatcher's tongue *shudder*
Then Chas and Dave to end on, but what the hell is Tony Meo's line? "Because I knock me eyeball"?!
I think Tony's line is "Because I pipe me eyeballs", i.e. cry a lot.
DeleteAs for the B52's, my fave is the criminally overlooked "Give Me Back My Man".
Thanks. "Pipe me eyeballs"? That just sounds disgusting.
Deletemaybe having his eyeballs piped was the reason that tony meo wasn't much cop?
DeleteI always thought it was 'bite me eyeballs' but your take makes (marginally) more sense Arthur!
DeleteGood to have PP back in harness after a lengthy break, and he seems far happier here than he did during 1985 - perhaps he had got over Janice by now. The affable Gazza is a well-matched partner, but it is notable - in contrast to the run-up to Christmas 1984 - that the performers do not follow the presenters in donning the charidee t-shirts. The imminence of the Sport Aid run also means that we are close to hearing a certain slightly modified Tears For Fears song once again...
ReplyDeleteJaki Graham returns with trademark big hair and a leather skirt so tight it seems doubtful she could walk in it. An enjoyable performance, and the rather overproduced record is saved by a catchy (if very simple and repetitive) chorus. I am not a fan of the B-52's, and to me Rock Lobster is just an annoying collage of sounds - still, at least it isn't Love Shack. I have no idea, like Smitty last week, why this was reissued at this point in time, but it paid off; in answer to THX's question on the previous thread, YouTube suggests that the video was made in 1986. This song was also apparently responsible for tempting John Lennon back to the recording studio not long before his death, as he thought it sounded like Yoko's screechings.
It is a source of major annoyance to me that we have to suffer Billy, Patti and Michael again on this show and as a result don't see anything of The Bangles, slowly climbing the chart at this point with the excellent If She Knew What She Wants. At least it is a new performance from Billy, though just as forgettable as the first. AC/DC are the only breaker we won't see again. The song, naturally, just sounds like everything else they did, but the multiple Anguses are a nice touch in the video.
Nearly a year on from his first hit, Mick is back with perhaps his finest song, an understated, poignant tune that certainly stood out from the crowd at that time. Having said that, I think I would rather have watched the nostalgic video than this static studio turn. The Spitting Image puppets invade the studio for an amusing performance, even if the Black Lace puppets are not a great likeness - I wonder how long this took to record? Thankfully we just get the video for Snooker Loopy this time, which matches the song for amiability.
Interesting you mention John Lennon pointing out the screechings in the Rock Lobster video. I guess you mean the tall female member of the B52s with the orange hair. I actually liked that bit of the video, and it was quite funny actually!
DeleteThe return of peTER poWELL!
ReplyDeleteJaki Graham there with “Set My Legs Free”. No camera upshots there, methinks. Reminds me of the old joke - “How do you get into that skirt?” “A couple of gin and tonics for starters!”
The B52’s with the very definition of avant garde, followed by Billy Ocean with the very definition of dull. Bill’s turned into the solo version of Showaddywaddy with a trailer in the BBC car park.
Another sloppy record next, Gaz? Nice way of putting it.
It annoyed me how they put Patti’s name first on the song credits but she’s second in the mugshots. One of my big bugbears is seeing a poster for a movie where the actors are standing in a different order to their name credits!
The best rhythmical countdown reading yet from these chaps.
Poor old Pete Wylie gets a cold empty swimming pool for a video shoot. He should have asked to reform Wham! Fo somewhere more exotic.
Why wasn’t Angus Young wearing the same outfit as his hybrids? Poor show.
A very PC intro into Robert Palmer there , Gaz. Obviously overdosed on “On The Buses” and “Mind Your Language” beforehand. What would John Peel say? Ah.
Puckwudgie! Mister Custer! Actually not Charlie Drake (anyone seen the live clip when he was knocked unconscious and had his skull fractured due to a ‘chippie’ admin error?) but That Mick Hucknall Out Of Simply Red as “Viz” would have it, with a re-tread of an A-side he’d put out with the Frantic Elevators.
A brave move by Spitting Image to go in the studio. In a rare sense of humour mood, Genesis asked for “Image” puppets to be made of them and take the band’s place for the video of their hit “Land Of Confusion”.
I don’t have a bucket list, but seeing Chas and Dave live would have been on it if I had one, and luckily I ticked that off. Interesting to see future DJ Steve “Interesting “ Davis here.
Gary had a section in his lunchtime show called The Sloppy Bit, where a sentimental record was played for a listener's request, hence a spot of light cross-promotion in his intro.
DeleteIn his new Sounds of the 80s gig, he's revived the feature, but the word has taken on, er, slightly different connotations now that he seems oblivious to.
arthur regarding actors posing in a different order to their credits on a film poster (something that bugs me too - especially if the genders are reversed), you have reminded me of the cover for the "crosby, stills & nash" album: the trio posed outside a shack for the front sleeve, and then someone pointed out they were not in cs&n order. so they went back to take more photos, but discovered in the meantime that the shack had been flattened! however they loved the look of the pic so much they decided to keep it anyway, and compromised by having them pose in the correct order in the inner gatefold sleeve
Deletealso, was the pete wylie "wham!" reference a mistake or a joke? knowing arthur, i suspect the latter - his old band was actually called "wah!" for a while
Wilby, you took the Pete Wylie aspect into a different corner than I'd meant! See what I did there? George and Andrew got semi-exotic video shoots, while poor Pete got an empty and freezing pool. I suppose he could have formed Whamah!! with George, mind you.
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ReplyDeleteJohn G - I suspect The Bangles' single was deprived of airplay because of his grammatically dubious title. If you remember, Abba's 'Fernando' was regularly faded on TOTP before the final verse, which contained the line "Since many years I haven't seen a rifle in your hand".
ReplyDeleteWhile Billy's effort was pedestrian, Patti's duet with the former Doobie Brother was pure class. Burt Bacharach had experienced a lean period during the disco boom and the early years of new wave, but had lost none of his compositional ability. His lyrical collaborator on this hit was his then wife, Carole Bayer Sager, who also shared writing credits with him on Christopher Cross's 'Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)'.
For a short while, Jaki Graham could do no wrong. Referring back to my previous paragraph, I must mention that at one of Michael McDonald's solo concerts in London that year, Jaki took Patti Labelle's place for a performance of 'On My Own'.
Rarely do two humorous songs appear in the Top 10 simultaneously, but both Spitting Image and Chas & Dave deserved their high placings.
Finally, there was the mighty Mick Hucknall with the song that would make him a household name all over the globe. The introduction aside, 'Holding Back The Years' utilises only 2 chords - and yet it never seems to date.
Typo above: "ITS grammatically dubious title".
Deletei have to disagree with you regarding burt - as far as i'm concerned the last decent tune he wrote was "something big", back in the early 70's when he was already well past his best. the man is still a living legend though, thanks to his phenomenal body of work from the 60's
DeleteInteresting theory there Julie re The Bangles, and the BBC was probably still just about paternalistic and Reithian enough at that time to take umbrage with the title. I can imagine some of the Beeb hierarchy weren't too happy with Slade's deliberate misspelling of many of their 70s hits, though in those cases the BBC could just avoid displaying the titles on screen. In any case, the lack of TOTP exposure for this single probably played a part in it failing to crack the Top 30.
Deletesong titles either deliberately mis-spelt (or is it mis-spelled? i'm never sure on that one ha ha) or grammatically incorrect may have irked the old guard traditionists at the beeb, but surely not to the point where they were discriminated against? in the bangles case that may well be an acceptable line to say or write in the states (remember, this is a country where the double negative seems to be accepted as standard in the language i.e. "i ain't got nothin'"), and ironically slade may have pre-empted the txt generation (maybe they spell "back" as "bak" and "friend" as "frend", etc?)
DeleteIt's anyone's guess Wilberforce, but the Beeb moves in mysterious ways...
Deletejaki graham: having recently really got into "round and around" against my expectations, i was quite looking forward to hearing this which had also slipped my memory. this is pretty good too, if not in the same league. surely that's yet another david sanborn sax solo in the middle (the only bit that lets it down, as i can't stand his hackneyed playing these days)? sadly there's no trace of her totp appearance on yt, although i do remember the absurdly tight pink rubber skirt
ReplyDeleteb-52s: i suspect most here know they were named after a 60's beehive-type hairstyle as opposed to the wwii bomber, but what exactly is a rock lobster? musically it starts off okay, although the wheels start coming off about halfway through. and fred schneider's intoning gets extremely annoying very quickly - fortunately on the much-better "love shack" that was to come in my view, the girls (i say "girls", but kate pierson was already pushing 40 at this point) did most of the vocal work with excellent lead harmonies - unlike here. but what exactly was the reason this was re-released? surely not because one of them had just died of aids?
simply red: a simple but surprisingly effective tune (and not just because of the vocals) so no surprise it took them/him to a different level. sadly though the success allowed him to make a prize prick of himself for the next 10 years ("so what attracted you to the millionaire singer mick hucknall?") whilst churning out material mainly nowhere near as good. i do recommend "turn it up" and "enough" though, that i learned to love after a trendy wine bar i used to frequent kept playing the "a new flame" album over and over again in its entirety
Gary and Peter running the world, sorry…show! A 10K run if I am not mistaken.
ReplyDeleteJackie Graham – Set me free – An energetic start indeed…I hurriedly hit FF
B-52s – Rock Lobster – Wow! One of those wacky records with little tune but an insistent refrain and eye-catching video to go with it. Certainly different.
Billy Ocean – They’ll be sad songs (to make you cry) – Billy’s on tour again and no doubt singing this song. Billy Ocean took this song to no1 across the Atlantic.
Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald – On my own – Nowadays if you say the song ‘On my own’ everyone would immediately think of Eponine’s song from ‘Les Miserables’. That shouldn’t take anything away from this fine effort which really has aged like a fine wine and considering the utter nonsense sitting at no1 this week, is certainly worthy of a second airing on the show.
Breakers – Pete Wylie – Sinful! - continuing the story of the blues from the bottom of an empty swimming pool this is a powerful anthem with an ‘!’ after the title just like Shania Twain would later have a thing about. Josie Jones’ backing vocals enhance the storming melody. Looking at the video on YT, it’s edited with the instrumental break copped out at around 2:32. I wonder why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsWXQ1z-D10
AC/DC – Who made who – Self parody this time rather than the usual ‘performance’ video but same old sound.
Robert Palmer – Addicted to love – We’re reminded of the attractions of this video by PP. Some of the girls in it tell the story in the 1986 ‘Story of…’ show which I’ll have to rewatch now. Great song.
Simply Red – Holding back the Years – Ah, the classic Simply Red line-up. That’s Mick Hucknall and….er whatsishame and ummm….nope can’t think of any other band members! Probably the song of theirs that is the most tolerable for me.
Spitting Image – Chicken Song – Sorry Patti and Michael. FF.
Matchroom Mob – Snooker Loopy – Another profound release, but far less irritating than the puppets and, as the continuity announcer noted, a nice tribute to Chas. Incidentally 1986 was the first appearance in the World Championships for Stephen Hendry aged just 17 who lost in the first round to Willie Thorne (one of the stars of this song’s video) 8 -10.
I remember that first appearance by Stephen Hendry, notably for Willie Thorne clapping his hands at the end of the match applauding Hendry's fine performance in the close match.
Deletei can't say i'm familar with any tunes from "les miserables", as there were no hit singles from it to my recollection (and i certainly wasn't going to go and see it or buy the soundtrack album). yet despite that it was on in the west end for years and years!
DeleteWilby, how about "I Dreamed A Dream", Susan Boyle's breakthrough moment from "Les Mis"?
DeleteI've only seen the film of Les Mis (the musical) and found it unpleasant and relentless, with only one proper song in it. And I didn't like that much. Mind you, my idea of a classic musical is Fred and Ginger, Singin' in the Rain or The Band Wagon.
Deletearthur i haven't listened to contemporary music for many years now. so although i know who susan boyle is (you'd have to live in an underground cave not to!), i have no familiarity whatsoever with her output
DeleteYou got to hand it to Michael McDonald for outstanding lyrics every time. First in 1982 in his new solo career after leaving The Doobie Brothers, his song title was "I keep forgetting I'm not in love any more", and now in his duet with Patti LaBelle, he sings "now we're after taking divorce, when we weren't even married". I would have liked to see Michael McDonald & Pattie LaBelle firmly at No.1 instead of that ruddy Chicken Song!
ReplyDeleteMichael McDonald & Pattie LaBelle inventing same sex civil partnerships there, 32 years ahead of their time!
DeleteWho else HAD missed Peter Powell's relentless emphasising of the WRONG syllable? No me neither, though at least he and Gary did their jobs pefrectly well.
ReplyDeleteJaki Graham - I think this is probably my favourite from her output, maybe because it's a bit more poppy than the likes of 'Round And Around'.
The B-52s I commented on in the previous show thread, then we get 2 dreary ballads and the breakers including one of the most over-rated songs and videos ever by Robert Palmer.
Simply Red - Compared to the other slow songs on this show it's red hair and shoulders above but it still doesn't get me particularly excited.
Spitting Image in the studio is good fun but it's a shame that they didn't have a few more famous names on stage. It would have been nice to see their Lord Lucan puppet who often used to appear in the background of sketches but (because I didn't know he was) I always assumed was supposed to be Freddie Mercury!
I think you have solved for me the riddle of why Freddie Mercury appeared to feature as a barman in the video for I've Never Met a Nice South African...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEweP2TiMk
Yep, that'll be the Lord Lucan puppet. Almost always used as a barman in sketches!
DeleteTurned my back for a week due to work commitments and now I have SEVEN to watch...OMG
ReplyDeleteOooh Gary Davies introduces Jaki Graham with the very upbeat Set Me Free. Another great 80s tune that doesn't get much airplay these days. Great tune. I see she's borrowed Jennifer Rushs' skirt.
I remember those Ran The World T-shirts!!!
B-52's - fabulous but of weirdness for a Thursday evening. They were an odd bunch weren't they. Fabulous.
Billy back again - didn't see a lot of love for this one last time out but I quite like it.
Michael and Patti back again. Just realised we've only had one new song so far and that was at the start of the show. Crazy. Maybe should have consigned this to the playout.
Breakers:
Pete Wylie - this is a great tune. Very simple song and video. Works well. Like but annoyingly not on Spotify so I can't add it to my playlist.
AC/DC - No thanks. Next.
Robert Palmer - Classic video, great song. Amazing stuff. Should have played the whole video.
Simply Red rightfully get their highest chart entry on the show - nice enough song, nowhere near their best but they've found the winning formula and now they are gonna milk it...
That really is a great Top Ten.
Spitting Image (another Spotify missing) still at the top. AND IN THE STUDIO. This must have taken ages to film..poor audience.
Snooker Loopy
Waste opportunity this week - too many repeats.