Rock n Rickroll
Big Hits 1987:
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
With the biggest hit of the year and his only number one.
Curiosity Killed the Cat - Down to Earth
Peaked at number 3.
Iggy Pop ~ Real Wild Child (Wild One)
Looking like he doesn't know where he is or even what song he's singing, but it became his only top ten hit peaking at number 10.
Pepsi and Shirlie - Heartache
The Wham girls are looking good and get to number 2.
Bee Gees - You Win Again
Appearing in the studio for the first time since 1972, with their fifth and final number one.
New Order - True Faith.
Performing live in the studio again and the song peaked at number 4.
Belinda Carlisle - Heaven is a Place on Earth
Singing her mega number one power ballad live in the new Top of the Pops LA studio.
Terence Trent D'Arby - If You Let me Stay
This debut of the now Sananda Maitreya peaked at number 7.
T'Pau - China in Your Hand
Another mega number one power ballad.
Mel & Kim - Respectable
Such a tragic story about Mel, and a terrific number one hit.
Wet Wet Wet - Wishing I Was Lucky
Their debut hit, peaking at number 6.
Donna Summer - Dinner With Gershwin
In the studio at long last, and the song peaked at number 13.
Pet Shop Boys - It's a Sin
A big year for the duo, the first of two 1987 number ones.
Boy George - Everything I Own
His solo debut, and his only solo number one hit.
Eric B and Rakim - Paid in Full
Pumping up the volume all the way to number 15.
Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Singing this number one hit live in the studio.
Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York
You've heard it a million times but it always sounds fabulous! And it peaked at number 2.
Next up is January 1st 1987.
i presume this is a compilation related to "the story of top of the pops 1987"? if so then i'll give individual critique when the time comes. but looking at this lot, it's not exactly filling me with excitement thinking about the year ahead. however to be honest if i watched most of the comps of each year's big hits since the re-runs started i would say much the same thing, but thankfully there's always been enough happening beyond that to maintain my interest... thus far that is, anyway!
ReplyDeleteYes that's right, The Story of 1987/Big Hits 1987 launched the new season of repeats last night. Personally, I thought Wet Wet Wet, Boy George and Eric B aside, it was a pretty decent compilation.
Deletei did actually quite like the wet wet wet tune at the time - if only they had disappeared after that, instead of each consequent hit being ever-worse - especially that bloody troggs cover that there was no escape from!
DeleteCompletely agree about Wet Wet Wet - it was all downhill after that first hit.
DeleteAfter a trawl through the internet I found the below site with a bit more info on TOTP USA. Only ran for 26 weeks in the end. Can't find much on You Tube. I wonder if any of the episodes still exist.
Deletehttps://adamnostalgia.wordpress.com/tag/top-of-the-pops-usa/
actually marti pellow and chums did release this pretty good soulful groover (produced by nile rodgers) in 1993, but it was only a minor hit and their star was fading fast by that point. so cue a career-reviving troggs cover at the expense of any musical integrity they may have snatched back:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b0L4k6MWwE
I thought The Story of 1987 did a solid job of reviewing the music scene of the time, though I could have done without the cliched reflections on Thatcherism and the stock footage of yuppies you see in countless 80s documentaries being wheeled out yet again. The clips from the American version of TOTP were interesting to see, and it makes me wonder if BBC4 might show any of them to plug Smitty gaps, though I suspect that is unlikely - at least we weren't trolled by a clip of Smitty hosting the show this time, unlike in previous "Story ofs"! There was a good line-up of interviewees too, and I was pleased to see a segment devoted to Terence Trent D'Arby, as I think he was by some distance the outstanding new artist to emerge in '87; it has to be said, though, that Rick Astley has aged considerably better. The only glaring omission was the way the huge success of U2 and George Michael that year was passed over completely - I don't think U2 even got a mention.
ReplyDelete1987 was probably the strongest year musically in the second half of the 80s, and Big Hits reflected that to a degree, though it ran out of steam in the latter stages. Hopefully a few of these performances came from Smiffed shows, providing BBC4 viewers with a chance to see them.
Nice to see Terry being philosophical about his brief burst of fame before he disappeared in a puff of self-indulgence. I suppose he's had plenty of time to think it over.
DeleteWell I never knew that China In Your Hand was about Mary Shelley...
ReplyDeleteYes, finally I know what that song is about! You'd never guess it from the impenetrable lyrics.
DeleteIt probably would have helped if the single cut had not omitted the second verse:-
Delete"And we could make the monster live again
Oh hands move and heart beat on
Now life will return in this electric storm
A prophecy for a fantasy
The curse of a vivid mind"
I enjoyed the Story of 1987 very much even if some of the acts and records didn't appeal to me personally. I was pleased that no mention was made of 'Jack your Body' although we had to endure a section about the piece of similar nonsense known as 'Pump up the volume'. Looking at the top sellers of 1987, I see that no2 was Starship's magnificent 'Nothing's gonna stop us now' - where was that in this documentary?
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I see my interest in 'Top of the Pops' gradually declining as 1987 kicks in but I'll stay tuned for now and give the 'hit's compilation a miss, waiting to see these performances on the shows when they appear.
They did mention the "old guard" were back with a vengeance in '87, so Starship would have been part of that renaissance.
DeleteI am guessing that section on Pump Up the Volume was there to "make up" for the fact it is Smiffed, but it was comfortably the dullest section of the documentary for me!
DeleteLoved the story of...and raised a glass to Mel from Mel and Kim.
ReplyDeleteCarol Decker seems a lot fun, suprised there was no mention for Steve Silk Hurley who got there well before Pump Up The Volume.
Loved every song on the Big Hits package. Think I am going to enjoy 1987.
I've enjoyed other "Story" editions more but this was still a good watch. Not as eye-opening as that Bros documentary, though. I don't know if it's still on on BBC iPlayer, but it's worth catching for the regular laugh-out-loud David Brent comments said in earnest throughout.
ReplyDeleteThe Bros doc was quite something, wasn't it? The levels of self-importance on display from the twins were off the scale on many occasions, and it was amusing to see Craig Logan virtually airbrushed out of the story. Not long now until they show up on the repeats, of course.
DeleteMy favourite piece of philosophy - “everybody’s got to be on the same page, cos if you’re not on the same page, and you lose a page, you lose each other”- real life Spinal Tap...
DeleteI've yet to watch 'The Story Of..' but 'Big Hits..' was a mixed bag - too many No.1 hits for my liking, and they picked the least interesting PSB hit of 87 too! Also, I know it charted first in 87 but I associate the Belinda Carlisle song more with 88 as that's when it topped the chart.
ReplyDeleteThe Iggy Pop clip was crazy, and I think we see that again this week?
That Bee Gees track really is an excellent pop song, deservedly one of the biggest hits of the year.
As for New Order, why insist on doing it live AGAIN? The result: a performance as dreadful as all the others...
Terence Trent D'Arby + Mel & Kim - both excellent and I was glued to the screen for the latter, I'd forgotten how mesmerising they were to watch.
Good to see Donna Summer in the studio at last with a song you never usually hear with its unusual melody. I like it!
Eric B & Rakim is good musically but not great visually with Rakim reduced to a walk-on part foe the remix, and he still managed to miss his cue!
Ending with Fairytale of New York is an odd decision, as if you're watching this outside of the Christmas period (as I was) then you're just going to fast forward through it. Mind you, NOW 10 has the same problem....
My favourite part of The Story of 1987 was the feature on MAARS with Pump Up The Volume. At the time in 1987, we never got to see the people (or rather DJs) in that group, and it took 32 years until 2019 to see the two genuises, ahem DJs, now in their 50s talking about their success in getting to no.1 with it. Brilliant stuff!
ReplyDeleteAlso to hear that Rick Astley became a milliuonaire on the back of Never Gonna Give You Up, was really saying something. Good luck to him, as certainly had good plenty of good looks for the girls.
And then Donna Summer on the Big Hits of 1987. Well, she was always a good looking gal that as a 19-year old me in 1987 could not get enough of her on the television. Very sad that she passed away in recent years.