Friday 14 December 2018

The Top of the Pops Countdown

Five, four, three, two, one ~ it's the 20th November 1986 and time for the 1188th edition of Top of the Pops!

Bon Europe

20/11/86 (Janice Long & John Peel with brief appearance from Gary Davies & Smiley Miley)

Europe – “The Final Countdown” (5)
Bon Jovi in disguise get our final installment of the night underway with what will be number one in two weeks time.

Simple Minds – “Ghostdancing” (13) (video)
At its peak.

Swing Out Sister – “Breakout” (4)
A second studio appearance but the song went up no higher.

Erasure – “Sometimes” (16)
Vince Clarke's fourth group make their studio debut with their first of seventeen top ten hits, this belter peaking at number 2.

Anita Baker – “Sweet Love” (19) (breaker)
Her only top 40 hit, it peaked at number 13.

Nick Kamen – “Each Time You Break My Heart” (12) (breaker)
His only top ten hit, peaking at number 5.

Debbie Harry – “French Kissing In The USA” (11) (breaker)
Became her only solo top ten hit when it peaked at number 8.

Bon Jovi – “Livin’ On A Prayer” (7)
A second studio appearance for this song which consequently went up three more places.

Berlin – “Take My Breath Away” (1) (video)
Third of four weeks at number one.

Red Box – “For America” (10) (video/credits)
At its peak.


27th November is next.

16 comments:

  1. With Europe being the opening act in a intact uncut BBC4 episode (now!) from 20/11/1986 in which UK Gold chopped out back in the mid 90s due to the show being half a hour and timing reasons. The next uncut episodes we will see are Nick Kamen (27/11/86) which will be on next week and Boris Gardiner (25/12/86) which will come eventually at the end of this month, as well with Markjuk's UKGold copy had it uncut and on my DVD copy had it missing.


    With now that appears for the 1987 cuts for UK Gold it lists Black (9/7/87), Def Leppard (13/8/87), and lastly Ray Parker Jr (29/10/87), at least 3 of those will be shown in upcoming unedited repeats next year except for the 'Mike Smith' link removal at the end.

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  2. Janice and John are reunited for what would turn out to be Peel's penultimate show, and he is on good form here with memorably acerbic and double-edged observations on both Simple Minds and Bon Jovi. Janice is obviously pleased to be back in his company, but their interactions are limited and Janice herself seems a bit under-par again, with references to "Eurasure" and a stumbling intro to the Simple Minds video. Had her nasty monkish haircut caused her to lose some confidence?

    It's unfortunate BBC4 chose to show this one back-to-back with the 6 November edition, as they do share many of the same songs. Europe's mega-hit does at least provide one difference between them, the Swedish outfit leaving nobody in any doubt with this performance that the age of poodle rock had well and truly arrived. I must have heard this a million times over the years, but I do actually still quite enjoy it thanks to that propulsive keyboard riff and the impassioned vocals. The band look to be having a great time here as well, and I enjoyed the singer picking up the guitarist during the solo. Jim and co feel like a bit of a comedown after that, with a leaden song lacking in real energy that just sounds like a repackaging of previous hits. I also share Peel's scepticism about the video, a dull live performance interspersed with grim World War II footage.

    Given what Corinne is wearing this time, I assume it must have been raining that evening - her two henchmen look like trainee astronauts in their orange overalls. A major debut next, as Erasure score their first hit. The most enduring and commercially successful of Vince Clarke's projects, I don't think they ever quite reached the same musical heights as Yazoo but they certainly did score some memorable hits. Sometimes demonstrates that Vince had lost none of his knack for writing a memorable pop hit during his three-year absence from the charts, and he found in Andy Bell a flamboyant (if sometimes quite irritating) frontman to sell the records. Odd to see Vince holding a guitar here rather than standing behind a keyboard - the trumpet player looked as if he was a refugee from Modern Romance.

    The breakers are all on again, which leaves us with another Bon Jovi performance without the double-necked guitar this time (I wonder what they made of Peel's comments?), yet another showing for the Berlin video and, to finish, a fun and inventive Red Box promo - I liked the singing Statue of Liberty in particular.

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    1. I would have swapped the Simple Minds and Debbie Harry breaker for a main video play, as Harry's number No.11 song in the charts was a far better video than Simple Minds, and Simple Minds crap video should have been in the Breakers slot instead, and besides, No.11 for Debbie Harry is a bit too high in the charts to be called a Breaker!

      On the subject of the Breakers, I did love the Anita Baker song and video at the time, as one of the 80s masterpiece ballads, with Baker's superb voice in full flow. Just fantastic on this show.

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    2. Yes, I would rather have had Debbie Harry as a main play, but we will get more of her next time. Simple Minds had already been in the breaker slot the week before, but they could have been relegated to the playout instead of Red Box.

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  3. europe: i don't know they were purposefully aping both the sound and look of bon jovi or it was merely a coincidence, but neither did anything for me. a few years later the alternative slovenian band laibach did a storming dance version of this... that actually bore no resemblance whatsoever to the original version!

    simple minds: having been one of my fave acts until selling out with rubbish like "don't forget about me" i promptly did so and took no interest in their consequent career as stadium rockers. so i've never actually heard this before to my recollection. which i might have thought okay by their standards, if not for the previous aberations

    erasure: the last episode was notable for more than one long-term chart act reaching the end. this one is for another one making its debut. like shakin' stevens though, despite the many hits to come most will nowadays struggle to remember more than three of them. this would probably be one if put to the test

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    1. Laibach? I've previously mentioned their storming take on Opus's' "Live is Life"!

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  4. Michael Hurll is back at the production helm for this one in the aftermath of cancellation of Noel Edmonds' Late Late Breakfast Show.

    As John G alludes, this was Peel's penultimate programme with just one further show now to follow in February 1987. He would of course host a final edition of TOTP in 1994 which was the setting for his This Is Your Life "surprise".

    As a presenter, John Peel was synonymous with TOTP's 1980s zenith and I've often heard it intimated he stepped down of his own volition, however he did indicate during his This Is Your Life special it was the first time he'd been invited to host the programme for 7 years. (By the mid-1989s, he'd perhaps become a little too honest about the music).

    Bon Jovi may have appeared on two BBC4 shows in succession (thanks to the Mike Smith dispute), but this is a timeless classic which lends itself visually to a studio performance.

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    1. Peel was definitely becoming more forthright in expressing his views about the music towards the end of his TOTP tenure, which doubtless helps to explain his eventual departure from the show. I think he did say once that he stopped doing TOTP because he was wary of becoming a TV personality and wanted to focus on his radio career, but perhaps that was just a way of saving face? In any case, given the way the charts were moving in the late 80s I don't imagine he was too bothered not to be hosting the show any more.

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  5. I wonder if Europe had seen Bon Jovi's performance from a couple of weeks before? Although superficially alike, somehow you could tell these clowns were European. Another end of the world song, because the 80s, and it still gets played today.

    You know how everyone describes things as "on the nose" now? Well, here's a perfect example - check out those right-on lyrics in this Simple Minds effort. For some reason they had apparently thought emulating U2 was the way to go, and this was just slavish. Somehow worse was to come!

    Thought Corinne from Swing Out Sister was going to give us her full Sally Bowles there. Does this performance mean there were no actual brass instruments on Breakout, and it was all synths?

    Oh, maybe this is SOS's trumpeter, popping up during Erasure's debut? One of the highlights of the pop landscape of the late 80s were their hits, they knew how to craft and deliver a good tune, and what a way to start, terrific electropop with Vince on National guitar and Andy giving us his angelic interjections. Best thing on the show.

    Had to watch By Jovi to see what they'd get up to after Europe had ripped off their act 20 minutes before, and they had toned down the hijinks a tad.

    Of course, there's a Top Gun sequel filming at the moment, and I bet it won't have as indelible a theme song as the original. Probably get Sia to write some of her usual rubbish or something.

    Red Box with their cultural highlights of America as they see them, dollar bills, burgers, Statue of Liberty, car crashes, and so on. Complements the sardonic lyrics nicely. But what does "Every house should have its hat on" mean?

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    1. Chalk me up for another that really liked the Red Box video to end the show at No.10. Just loved the gorgeous girls in the American stars and strips shiny outfits. I would have loved this to go to No.1 after Berlin were done and dusted in that position, but hey, not to be. UralyUralyUralyUraly-Yay, UralyUralyUralyUraly-USA! Go Red Box Go!

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  6. Janice with a haircut that doesn’t really suit her, and Peelie are back together, but JP finds it hard to hide his disdain for the acts that they have to present on this show. Actually, with Europe and Bon Jovi on the line up, Boston would not have seemed out of place here…. I really enjoyed most of this.

    Europe – The Final Countdown – What a record! The band certainly enjoy their ToTP outing and one still hears this song played at numerous occasions giving it a longevity not afforded to other no1 hits of 1986 such as Spitting Image….

    Simple Minds – Ghostdancing – What a tuneless song and depressing video with those (I assume) WW2 images interspersed with on stage band footage. Speaking of depressing songs and videos; in at no40 is the final Ultravox chart entry ‘All fall down’. A sad way to exit the charts (a ‘Vienna’ reissue aside) for a band that produced a consistent run of hits singles and innovative videos. If anyone hasn’t heard this rather downbeat song (with accompaniment by the Chieftans), its video cheers us up even less. The very last Ultravox single release ‘All in one Day’ was a much superior song with a lush orchestral arrangement by George Martin, but really wasn’t single material and failed to trouble the scorers.

    Swing out Sister – Breakout – The band turn out in rain macs for their second appearance to promote this popular song.

    Erasure – Sometimes – great pop song from Vince Clarke with a nice trumpet solo followed by a snatch of ‘Only You’.

    Breakers – Assume these will feature on a later show. Meanwhile, we didn’t get to see Letitia Dean and Paul Medford thank goodness!

    Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer – The irony of Peel’s sarcasm about “these boys sure can rock n’ roll” is that they’re still a huge live draw 32 years later.

    Berlin – Take my breath away – As Dory commented on a previous week, they seemed to cut the video at the same point every week bar one showing. I recall a similar thing happening to Abba’s ‘Fernando’ where they played the first verse and the chorus and then cut it dead. So much so, when I bought the ‘Greatest Hits’ album, I almost expected the ToTP applause to cut in at that point!

    Red Box – For America – Played this right through and it’s vaguely appealing. Certainly much more so than another coloured ‘Box’ that emerged a few years later!

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  7. Sad to see Glass Tiger didn't get at least a Breakers slot with Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone, a great little mid-tempo rocker. Might have been because the band look ridiculous in their overconfident video.

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  8. John Peel's performance on this show is very interesting - I bet he was told to be 'a bit more like a normal DJ' or somesuch by Hurll and therefore decided to emphasise his 'stereotypical Radio 1 DJ' style links!

    Not much to say about the songs since we've either seen them before or evidently will again in the case of the breakers. Which leaves...

    Europe - I think I liked this at the time. I tolerate it now, but I don't enjoy it.

    Erasure - This song competely passed me by at the time. I later became a HUGE fan after hearing 'The Innocents' album and thinking it was a fantastic album. I still do actually, but sadly none of their others quite match up. They were a great singles band though, even if this one is overplayed now.

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  9. Right.. 5 TOTP to get in before next weekend..

    What has Janice done to he hair??

    Speaking of hair....Europe make it to the studio.
    This song is an absolute blast. Great energetic performance. A real crowd pleaser. Nice mix of heavy metal and synth pop. Wonder if any of them still have hair now..

    More of the Simple Minds track next. At No 13. Lacks some of the punch of their other hits. Pass...

    SOS back again. Interesting look with the prison suits and black mac. This is growing on me and found myself enjoying this - mind you that might be the third glass of wine..

    Erasure. Finally they make the charts with this storming pop hit, One of the 80s finest pop songs, Their greatest hits is essential listening.
    Interesting that Vince is on guitar, very unusual.

    Breakers:
    Anita Baker - Nice song, nicely sung. Just nice.
    Nick Kamen - About as much vocal talent as Jason Donovan but also has the looks so gets the sales from the teenage girls. It's not actually a bad song.
    Debbie Harry - A Dad fave here. Not a bad song. Not gonna set the world alight though..

    Bon Jovi back again with more hair.... already professed my love for this song.

    Proper clear out of last weeks Top 10 leaving Belin still at the top.

    Red Box play out. Very odd video. Too much going on but memorable as I claerly remember watching this when I was younger

    Good show.

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  10. I’m sure gonna miss Peelie. I already miss Janice’s old hairstyle.

    It’s BØn JØvi with a bombastic sound and clearly having a ball. Either that guitarist’s lighter than he looks or the singer’s really strong.

    Great, a boring live video interspersed with depressing war footage. Seen that before with Iron Maiden. Nice summing up of Simple Minds by Peelie.

    Swing Out Sister with the ‘brothers’ bringing Howard Jones’s old look out of mothballs. Nice hat chuck, chuck. Great hosts’ interplay afterwards, keeping abreast of proceedings.

    It’s the Erasure Twins. Nice Dobro, Vince. The musical Alf there vocally but not physically, and The Housemartins’ trumpeter finally turns up late.

    Nice smooth tune by Anita Baker serenely sung, though the video’s on the bland side.

    I liked the way Nick Kamen’s mostly undone top made him look like he had a huge stomach from side on.

    I was confused by Janice’s remark about Debbie Harry keeping her clothes on. Wasn’t she a groupie before she made it big? What rude lyrics which alluded to a woman’s, erm, tuppence.

    A slightly toned down Bon Jovi this time, with no unusual bassist mic stand and Jon not putting his hand over the guitarist’s backing vocals.

    Loved Peelie introducing Gary as Barry Davies.

    Originally, I thought Red Box's tune had a kids’ chorus on it but I was wrong. An oh-so-80’s video which was interesting rather than enjoyable.

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