Max of the pops
03/07/86 (Janice Long)
The Housemartins – “Happy Hour” (3)
Making their studio debut to get tonight's show underway but the song could get no higher.
Gary Numan – “I Can’t Stop” (27) (video)
At its peak.
Samantha Fox – “Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)” (12)
She might have got the thumbs down from Fat Boy Slim but the song went up two more places.
Claire & Friends – “It’s ‘Orrible Being In Love When You’re 8 ½” (19)
Written and produced by Brian & Micheal, of Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs fame, and it peaked at number 13.
Bucks Fizz – “New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)” (8) (video)
At its peak.
Sly Fox – “Let’s Go All The Way” (23)
In the studio to perform their only hit, and it went all the way to number 3.
Wham! – “Where Did Your Heart Go?” (1)
Performing the flip side to Edge o Heaven, in its second and final week at number one.
Art Of Noise & Max Headroom – “Paranoimia” (26) (video/credits)
It looked bizarre then, and if anything it looks even more bizarre now, but it got to number 12.
July 10th is next.
Last time it was Queen, this time it's The Housemartins taking a leaf out of Slade's book with those scarves which make cameo appearances throughout the episode. Hugh goes against the grain and sports a "Frankie Says ARM The Unemployed" T-shirt. Anyway, indie classic, and a deserved hit.
ReplyDeleteGary Numan and... who's that lady? She's doing most of the vocal heavy lifting, anyway. The plane footage demonstrates why Mr Numan had trouble staying in the sky - that looks really dangerous, and why were they in WW2 Japanese planes?! Nothing about this sits right, but it is very Numanoid, I'll give it that.
Samantha Fox plays at being a pop star, or does she want to be a rock star? Watch out, Joan Jett. Just all looks very silly, like a novelty record, which I suppose it kind of was, but at least she's enjoying herself.
Mind you, it's a masterpiece compared to what's up next. Come back St Winifred's, all is forgiven. An absolutely sick-making lump of shite to appeal to... grannies again? I detested this at the time and her stage school pretensions, and it doesn't sound any better now. Three minutes of gritted teeth - that'll teach me to watch it live and not record it!
I fall into the arms of Bucks Fizz as an antidote, with another mid-80s patented "record it in a warehouse with a wind machine going" video. Might have preferred to hear more from the other half of the chart, though, considering there were no Breakers this episode.
Sly Fox, man, there was one seriously overimpressed audience. I'm guessing they were dazzled by the dance moves? I could do about as good as those "put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care" efforts. Anyway, the tune, a catchy enough rock pop thing, though nowhere in the lyrics is there anything as raunchy as the title. Always listen out for the "Wheee!" whether I want to or not.
Didn't think I recalled the Wham other A-side, but once it got to the chorus I was like "Oh yeah, this one". Chorus is the best thing about it, it's very wine bar soul, what with the sax and everything. Sounds like it should be the theme to a Moonlighting rip-off TV show.
Ah, Art of Noise and Max Headroom, loved this back then (did anyone believe Matt Frewer was a real computer graphic?), funky bass workout with non sequitur asides from Max. Well, it's difficult to dance with only your head. This really takes me back to trying to stay up on a school night to watch his chat show - he was very witty. Liked his sci-fi adventure show from the US too, though I had to tape it because Channel 4 put it on at about 2 in the morning. Happy days.
I was just wondering - what if Wham only had one week at No.1? We would then never have seen this pre-recorded flip-side? Was TOTP taking a risk to film both sides of the singles, and banking on Wham being no.1 for at least two weeks? If so, then they only just made it, having a sole week for each of the songs. Perhaps they thought it would hold the No.1 spot for at least a few weeks, hence filming both sides of the single in the TOTP studio.
DeleteDory - yes, I think we have to assume that the Beeb were banking on Wham lasting more than one week at the top. Given their popularity, they probably thought that was a fairly safe bet.
DeleteTHX - Hugh obviously had a thing about weapons...
Anyone see the not-very-glorified clip show on BBC Four after tonight's ep? Ana Matronic and Glenn Gregory lounging on a sofa, shooting the breeze about their favourite disco tracks from the 70s and 80s. Some loose descriptions there, but a few nice clips in amongst the overplayed material.
ReplyDeleteIt's on next week too, with a different duo.
Yes, it's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert on synth pop next week, apparently.
Deleteana matronic had her own bbc radio show a while back where she played mostly obscure disco tracks (a few of which even i hadn't heard before). she appears to be quite knowledgable on the subject, but it still irks me a bit that she more likely got the gig due to her sleb status than her expertise
DeleteAna's very knowledgeable, yes, which counts more as a DJ than her previous claim to fame, I'd say. Mind you, her Disco Devotion show was my friend's favourite - until a few weeks ago she changed the format to include non-1970s stuff, much to his horror. He's vowed never to listen again!
DeleteAna Matronic's music choices are very good but I find her voice and style incredibly grating so can't sit through her radio shows!
DeleteI saw some of the TV show, the most bizarre thing being the mock-up of a Doctor Who title sequence using test footage done for the 1963 titles and a picture of William Hartnell's face. Quite why they didn't show the titles from...erm..an actual episode baffled me.
Into the second half of the year with Janice on her own, and clearly enjoying herself even if she was slightly erratic in places - she seemed to be finding it a bit of a job to hold it together during the Top 40 rundown in particular. The Housemartins evidently had her seal of approval, and here they are in the studio blatantly plugging their album on the drumkit with Janice further assisting the sales push in her link at the end. Thinking about the thread on Hugh Whitaker's subsequent misdemeanours in an earlier post, you could argue we have another BBC double standard in play here where it seems a sexual offence is enough to get you erased from history, while attacking someone with an axe does not. Admittedly most people will never have heard of Hugh, let alone of his crimes, so the Beeb doesn't have to fear the Daily Mail frothing at the mouth if it dares to show him...
ReplyDeleteHaving long assumed that the Numanoid had faded from view after about 1981, with the exception of a Cars reissue in '87, these repeats have been an education in how long his chart career actually lasted. He looks very dapper in this rather old-fashioned looking video, albeit overshadowed by the big-haired brunette who often fills the front of the screen - his enthusiasm for aviation is also on full display. The song is OK, chiefly memorable for the catchy female vocal part and not offering a great deal beyond that. The Housemartins join Janice to incongruously introduce a notably busty Sam Fox, with a real forgettable plodder of a record that fails to live up to her previous hit.
Someone should have jailed Brian and Michael for crimes against music. Claire was another product of the dreaded St Winifred's school, whose girls had of course backed B & M on their Lowry tribute before recording their even more horrific Christmas number 1. This particular abomination came to prominence via a Saturday Superstore talent spotting competition, though despite being a regular watcher of that show at the time I mercifully have no memory of this. The staging of the performance matches the song for tweeness, though I am curious as to what all these kids went on to do, particularly as they are more or less all contemporaries of mine. Claire herself apparently danced in the Broadway production of Riverdance, before becoming a teacher. As previously mentioned, I remember the industrial-looking Bucks Fizz video well, and it still looks impressive today. Much as I like the song, "new beginning has just begun" is not exactly a triumph of the lyricist's art...
Janice was getting very excited over Sly Fox's suggestive song title. I haven't heard this for years, and I thoroughly enjoyed its driving beat and catchy chorus. Great performance too, with both men giving it their all and seemingly sending the audience wild. On to the number 1, and it is perhaps ironic that Wham's final TOTP performance should have been of a song that must rank as one of their most obscure - I certainly can't recall ever hearing it before. It's not as energetic or memorable as The Edge of Heaven, and the performance is much more restrained, but it's still a pretty good song. The sax part reminded me strongly of something else, possibly a TV theme, but I couldn't place it.
My dad liked Max Headroom, and I would watch him sometimes, but I think I was a bit too young to really get it. This weird collaboration falls between two stools for me, being neither funny nor musically memorable enough to justify its existence - the video is quite boring as well.
I think that the well-busomed brunette with the catsuit on Gary Numan video was some sort of tactic by Numan to keep his music career going, and I agree John that these repeats highlight just how long many of these music artists kept going. Certainly I don't recall this track from Numan, nor did I think he was still entering the charts as late as 1986, but with a video like that with a new well-endowed brunette to bolster his presence, why not?
DeleteThe Claire & Friends single was probably the last of the innocent sort of childrens group that appeared on TOTP a la St Winifreds or the like, and you certainly would not have seen such a school group appearance on TOTP in the later 80s or future decades when the pace of pop music increased dramatically, and would have inevitably blown away this sort of intended contribution to the pop charts.
I don't recall Wham doing TOTP for Edge Of Heaven, let alone the flip side single. It was always the video that this song was associated with, especially now that the new Chart Show on Channel 4 launched in early 1986 was on the following day at a more convenient time of the day than TOTP.
john your comment about hugh whitaker reminds me of when i briefly worked in a prison in the early 80's, and the inmates had their own kind of internal "justice system" where it was perfectly okay and respectable among themeselves to be a murderer or have seriously assaulted someone, but not to be a "nonce" (as sexual offenders were known)!
DeleteHeck, radio stations up and down the land still play Phil Spector records, and he murdered someone!
DeleteIndeed they do THX, though I suspect they justify that on the grounds he isn't actually the performer, even though his contribution to the records was far in excess of the credited artists! This whole area is riddled with hypocrisy and inconsistency, and as Wilberforce mentions murder does seem to be a less heinous crime for many than sexual offences. Having said that, I have always suspected that even if Jacko had been convicted of molesting that boy, his star wattage was such that he wouldn't have suffered Gary Glitter's fate and been permanently expunged from the airwaves!
Deletewhat about the teddy bears - are they banned from airplay on the basis of spector being one of them (somewhat ironically, given he was anything but cuddly)?
Deletei think if wacko had been born white (rather than "become" so), then there's a good chance he would have been sent down as a pedo and been (if you'll excuse the pun) whitewashed from the airwaves accordingly. my view on him is (regardless of his race/ethnicity) he truly believed when he did allegedly did sexual things with young children, due to arrested development/living in cloud cuckoo land he thought he was no different to them. whether that makes him guilty or not in the eyes of the law is a different matter of course, but in a way i see it as extenuating if not excusable behaviour
DeleteI don't know if Whackson molested any kids, hell, I don't even know if he ever had sex considering his offspring look nothing like him, but those parents must have been nuts (or very greedy) to let him get so close to their children. His sentimentality over childhood crossed the line to extremely creepy, I'd say.
DeleteThe Teddy Bears are an interesting one, as I don't recall hearing to To Know Him is to Love Him on British radio for many years, though it certainly still gets played on American internet stations. I suspect it would get a pass, though, as the lead singer was Annette Kleinbard rather than Spector - incidentally, she later changed her name to Carol Connors and had a hand in writing the Rocky theme. In retrospect, To Know Him is to Love Him provides an early warning of Spector's weirdness, as he took the title from words on his father's tombstone.
DeleteThe curiosity that my UK Gold copy has Bucks Fizz's 'New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)' was missing coincidentally it was probably due to the extended play-out of 'Paranoia' by Art of Noise and Max Headroom.
ReplyDeleteI won't believe this was a half-hour edition, probably it was the first of the edited 1986 episodes for UK Gold then closely followed by OMD's 'Forever Live and Die' for the 18/09/86 episode, Loose End's 'Slow Down' for the 25/09/86 episode, and lastly with Europe's 'The Final Countdown' from 20/11/86, i'd hate when they had to butcher 30 min shows due to allocate timeslots for adverts or possibly copyright issues that surround them, even with Christmas specials they'd only have to remove one song out.
Hopefully we'd may see OMD, Loose Ends, and Europe in the upcoming repeats in unedited form then... and fingers crossed.
UK Gold used to be the only outlet for old ToTP shows in the 90s. My friend used to kindly record a number of shows for me which I used to devour (I didn't have satellite TV to watch it myself). I guess most of these shows have found their way to YT now.
DeleteMy DVD copy was sent to Pauly21 had one song missing from the 03/07/1986 repeat and it had to be that Bucks Fizz promo, it wasn't until BBC4 are now showing the uncut version.
DeleteI'd reckon it was perhaps it was due to extended play-out tracks that were remained in 25/26 minute repeats from 1986-89 shows and usually UK Gold did edit DJ links and Best British Video segments out from 1985 and 1986 repeats.
gary numan: what, he's still hanging around? i say that in the context of the times as he was considered way-past old-hat by 1986, and yet he's still going strong with his army of numanoids today. apart from the horrible midge ure-style guitar howlings this is actually quite good with a chunky driving rhythm, and even has a decent tune of sorts (with effective female vocal counterpoint - is that his fan-turned-missus in the video?). his loyal lieutenant chris payne is still on board, although his keyboard contributions here are minimal at best
ReplyDeletesamantha fox: if anyone else did this then i would think it just instantly-forgettable pop-rock of the era, but because it's her i can't help but dislike it. i hope she never applied to be a robert palmer girl, as a shortarse with oversized tits was not exactly what they were looking for. the bassist makes me laugh by appearing to be seriously intent on playing what is a simple riff to put it mildly
claire & friends: i have no recollection of this ever being played on radio 1 (or any recall of it at all for that matter), so just how the hell did it become a hit? like nana & su i presume it was through the combined efforts of wigon and the blue rinse brigade? it's bloody awful of course, but it still probably won't make my top 10 turkeys of the year list as there are far more deserving candidates already on the shortlist
sly fox: there's a bit more than a hint of his purpleness about this, which is probably why i thought it was okay at the time but nothing special
wham: george borrows the chord sequence used for "parisenne walkways" for the chorus of this (that in itself was a standard pattern used by many before that). still rather that than mock motown, and his singing is exemplary. all his guitarist chums have now cleared off, leaving just ridgers to pretend to play one
art of noise/max headroom: i loved watching his show (where he did his thing inbetween pop videos to my recollection) which was pretty surreal, even in black & white (quite incredibly i spent the vast majority of the 80's watching the telly on monochrome sets). don't remember this being a hit though (quite a nice funky backing, although max's utterances soon outstay their welcome in this format). although unknown at the time, the man behind max (canadian-raised matt frewer) went on to become a familar face on tv for many years after - even playing sherlock holmes at one point
Tessa Niles was the female vocalist on the Numanoid's record, though I don't know if that is her in the video.
Deletetessa was a blonde, so almost certainly not her. was it mrs numan though?
DeleteDefinitely not Mrs Numan, I think - I checked and they didn't become an item until later on.
DeleteJust Janice rather than the usual Janice and John. She coped well having to introduce some risqué titles!
ReplyDeleteHousemartins – Happy Hour – A happy go lucky, jaunty song to kick off proceedings and nice to see the martins in the house.
Gary Numan – I can’t stop – Showing off Gary’s enthusiasm for flying this is a guitar based up tempo piece of tuneless nothing. I believe that it’s Linda Taylor on backing vocals and not Tessa Niles according to Wikipedia – JohnG – which of us is right? Where did you get the Tessa reference from?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can%27t_Stop_(Gary_Numan_song)
Samantha Fox – Do ya do ya (wanna please me) – Frankly I found this song awful. I don’t know the two big US hits that Dory referred to on the last show’s blog (‘Naughty girls (need love too)’ and ‘I wanna have some fun’) but they made no real impression over here as this one surely shouldn’t have either.
Claire & Friends – It’s ‘orrible being in love – If I found the Sam Fox song awful then I really can’t find a word to describe this. It’s one of the worst records of this era with absolutely no redeeming features I can find except that it ends. A comment on 45cat states that “I still have nightmares remembering this record”.
Bucks Fizz – New Beginning (Mamba seyra) – back to reality with a bang and thank goodness the previous piece of tosh was following by this musical extravaganza. Probably the most drum themed single since Cozy Powell’s ‘Dance with the Devil’ (which I have just found a storming live version of on YT). Love this single.
Sly Fox – Let’s go all the way – Despite the suggestive title I don’t think the lyrics suggest that it means what it might appear. Didn’t this duo go down well with the audience and how they sold this record! It was everywhere in summer 1986 and dammed infectious the tune is. I thought it was Prince when I first heard it (I see Wilberforce has made the connection too). After that, one further single ‘If push comes to shove’ which sank without trace meaning that Sly Fox features on my triple cd set ‘Top of the Pops One Hit Wonders’ along with the likes of Harpo and (hey!) Norman Greenbaum.
Wham! Where did your heart go? – A big improvement on ‘The Edge of Heaven’ this Was (not Was) song which has a real melancholy tinge to it. Nice touch to feature this rather than ‘Edge’ again.
Art of Noise – Paranoimia – More silly noises and weird expressions that I soon got bored with and switched off.
Royal Wedding reality check – With Eugenie marrying Jack this week, let’s remember that in July 1986 her parents embarked on their own big day. I recall that was a week day too. I wonder if the ToTP edition in a couple of weeks’ time will make any reference to it?
Doctor and the Medics aside – is it four different studio appearances? Perhaps we’ll get a fifth on the Christmas show?
There was a comment on the YT version of the Numan video saying Tessa Niles was the singer, and she is credited as a vocalist on this Numan site:
Deletehttp://www.numanme.co.uk/numanme/singles-i-cant-stop-10.htm
However, I had neglected to notice earlier that Linda Taylor is also listed there, so perhaps we are both right!
i remember going back to my hometown for a break during the 1986 world cup, and scouring pubs to watch the games in vain. then i went into one local boozer where they had a telly on the bar, but when i enquired about watching that afternoon's match they told me it was only there to show the royal wedding (and probably more for the benefit of the female staff than the punters)! of course, these days you can't go into a pub without football being shown somewhere inside...
Deletesct353, I just checked on the UK and US charts re: Samantha Fox, and she did in fact get to No.3 in the USA in June 1988 with Naughty Girls (Need Love Too) which only peaked at No.31 around the same time in the UK, and her other big top ten hit in the USA, I Wanna Have Some Fun peaked at No.8 there in Feb 1989, and was released a months before the UK in which peaked at a measly No.63 here in June 1989.
DeleteSo you could say that she was bigger in the US between 1988-1989 than she was here in the UK, so it is unlikely we will see much more of her after 1986 on TOTP, as you would have to go over to the USA for 'Kasey Kasem's American Top Ten' which I remember on late night TV in the late 80s, and seeing Sam Fox on the top ten video countdown on a number of occasions, not to mention Paul Gambaccini's Radio 1 Saturday afternoon show around that time with the US Charts.
A slightly tizzy Janice tonight, but still miles better than some presenters we suffer.
ReplyDeleteShould have had High miming the tubular bells on The Housemartins’ indie epic. Stan Cullimore there wearing a T-shirt promoting label mate and fellow mugshot companion Billy Bragg.
Blimey, Gaz Numan on guitar plus a wonderful hybrid of Cleo Rocos with Olivia Newton-John’s face. Nice twin engines there! Gaz’s next solo single gave its, erm, profits to the RSPCA but it stiffed completely.
The pre-reaction to Sam Fox was not the norm! 38, 24, and 36 – out of 100 respectively for this one-banana(rama) rock karaoke.
Was the cheer during the mugshot mention of Claire and Brats ironic or a ‘well done’ to Janice for fitting all that info in?
Brian and Michael - bastards.
I bet Bucks Fizz got head colds from that huge hair dryer and headaches from all those drums. The lyrics say that the new beginning has both “just begun” and “is on its way”, so which one is it? Time for making your mind up. Boom boom tish!
Ay up, cabaret’s arrived! A jaunty performance from Sly Fox, whose song also had Beatles connotations to my mind - the verses possibly had a tinge of “I Am The Walrus” at the start, and the lyrics mention both ”Eight Days A Week” and “apple core” (The Beatles company Apple Corps perhaps?).
So, Shitty was right that he was the last TOTP host to present Wham! In the studio, but Janice gets final dibs announcing the pre-recording of one of the least convincing double A-sides ever. Great axe work there by Andrew – almost as good as Hugh Whitaker!
The last track reminded me of an event 31 years ago, when the signal for a Chicago TV station was interrupted for about 90 seconds by another signal showing a chap pretending to be Max Headroom who ends the pirate show with a side view of his bare backside being hit with a fly swatter. You can find it on YouTube easily enough if you’re interested.
The Max Headroom piracy is almost more famous than the character now! Still a mystery, too, nobody knows who they were and they've never come forward to own up (presumably because the arrest warrant is still out on them?).
DeleteAlso, when they showed the clip on John Craven's Newsround, they, er, truncated it so as to spare us the sight of the spanking. I didn't see the full thing (so to speak) until the internet came along in the 90s.
DeleteBrian and Michael was really Kevin and Michael. My recollection is that, following recording of Matchstalk Men, which was produced by Kevin, the real Brian quit the duo for personal reasons, leaving Kevin to fill the void as "Brian" when the song became their sole hit. I hadn't realised that alomost a decade later they were still inlflicting misery on the Chart as songwriters.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, am I the only one in hindsight, who finds the new TOTP opening titles far more dated than the flying discs?
I'm with you on the 'new' titles. Nothing makes it look more dated than that early graphic of a cassette!
DeleteGary Numan - Do you know what? I don't think he can stop. Despite the chorus repetition, there's a quite decent tune trying to get out here.
ReplyDeleteSam Fox - Like Amazulu previously, this looks 'filmised' for some reason. This is the one out of her 3 Top 10 hits that everyone forgets about - with good reason. I recognise the guitarist directly on Sam's left though - have we seen him before?
Clare & Friends - Oh dear. I remember this getting pushed incessantly on Saturday Superstore even though she and her 'friends' were extremly slappable.
Sly Fox - This was all over the radio at the time, and I think it's a good pop song though the audience seem much more excited about than some pretty standard dance moves than I am.
Wham - This one's OK, but I much prefer the flip side. And it's another one that's heavily chopped for TOTP.
AON & Max Headroom - Quite amusing at the time, probably less so now. Max was clearly not really created by a computer and I don't know anyone who thought he was.
No breakers this edition which means, I am guessing, that we won't get to see one of the best singles of 86 - 'Brilliant Mind' by Furniture.
Brilliant Minds one of the saddest pop stories of 86 too - on Stiff records, on course for great success, then phft, Stiff stiffed.
DeleteAnother day, another TOTP, wow 86 is fying by..
ReplyDeleteHooray the housemartins are back. This is a great record isn't it, glad to see the scarves are out..trying to read the drummers tshirt. .arm the employed...very political.
Hi Janice. Where's John?
Gary Numan, still going strong today but didn't realise he had hits in 86. Thought his time had long passed. Not sure about this one. Bit shouty and light on synths for me. A bit Meatloaf in places.
Sam Fox back in leather and back in the studio with one of her poorer songs. She looks right at home in a rock band though. Suzi Quattro for the 80s.
Clare and Friends...bye...poor girl looks terrified. Props department clean out of scarves tonight.
Bucks Fizz. Great video. So sad this is the last we see of them..
Sly Fox up next with a superb record. Such a fan of this at the time. Thought Sly was the black dude, no idea who the white guy is. .memory clearly cheats.
No breakers today.
Wham still at the top. The lesser known double a side. No wonder everyone played Edge of Heaven. Without the sax it's a George solo track and an average one at that.
Max Headroom,,funny joke.. enjoying his 15 minutes of fame.
Not the best show tonight but ok.