Hat-trick man
04/02/88 (Mike Smith)
Billy Ocean – “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” (27)
Became Billy's sixth and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 3.
Kylie Minogue – “I Should Be So Lucky” (16) (video)
Will be number one in two week's time.
The Screaming Blue Messiahs – “I Wanna Be A Flintstone” (28)
Their only hit and it got no higher.
Bros – “When Will I Be Famous?” (2)
A second studio performance but they couldn't quite make it to the top.
Luther Vandross – “Give Me The Reason” (26) (breaker)
This was the third time he'd released this one, and 26 was its peak.
Sinead O’Connor – “Mandinka” (29) (breaker)
Peaked at number 17.
Elton John – “Candle In The Wind” (10)
The original version had peaked at number 11 in 1974. This second offering made it to number 5. The third version will be an even bigger hit nine years later.
Tiffany – “I Think We’re Alone Now” (1) (rpt from 28/01/88)
Second of three weeks at number one.
Jack ‘N’ Chill – “The Jack That House Built” (12) (video/credits)
Went up six more places.
Back to BBC4 next for February 11th.
Here is a new find 15/01/81 was requested a while back https://we.tl/t-ts3Iqniqdx
ReplyDeleteNice one, thanks!
Deletethanks for that Anonymous. There are a few more shows that i was going to request from you but I just found out some of our regular down-loaders are on holidays at the moment and the we transfers would be expired before they get home so if you don't mind I will wait till near the end of the month before requesting them.
Deletescreaming blue messiahs: i suppose you'd call this pyschobilly, but with nothing other than the novelty lyrics to make it stand out. perhaps that was why it just about managed to graze the top 30?
ReplyDeletereg: what could he bring to this snoozefest "live" to make it any more interesting? very little if anything i suspect, although i'm not going to go the effort to find out. by the way, i hope he gave all the windfall he made out of the lady diana version to charity? as for ms monroe: she may well have been a beauty and iconic of her era, but by all accounts she was also apparently a complete and utter pain in the backside. and as a result probably wouldn't last 5 minutes in the film industry if she entered it now
The Flintstones movie with the jaw-dropping Halle Berry was some 6 years in the future in 1994, but the Screaming Blue Messiah's take on the whole Flintstones phenomenon here in 1988 was quite outstanding and funny, with the Wilmaaaa whaling towards the end, but also holding a walkie-talkie instead of a microphone to sing.
DeleteElton John was still wearing a hat in 1988 ever since covering his baldness in 1977. It couldn't have been too long before the new hair would replace the ever changing style of hats through this period stretching to 10 years plus.
Billy Ocean - a worthy opener to the show, but surely he could have been given the main studio stage with the video screen, given the number of people on the stage with all those lovelies as backing singers. I did notice that the last couple of shows have opened with the smaller stages rather than the main stage, so it could be that there was some repair work going on, as Billy ocean struggled to get his whole group on such a small stage.
ReplyDeleteKylie Minogue - first appearance of the cute one on our screens, that is if you were not a regular viewer of Neighbours. The video specially made for TOTP was a lot more fun than the official video which was the one played on the other side on The Chart Show every week, albeit only getting two minutes of the video on this week's show. Let's hope we get a lot more of it when she gets to No.1.
Tiffany - only 16 years old, and gets to No.1 with her first hit. I wonder when the last time a 16-year-old or under made it to No.1 on their debut hit before Tiffany if any anyone knows?
Jack and Chill - The Jack That House Built? Good Lord, whatever next in mind-numbing song titles. One of my earliest rememberances of pop music was in 1978 when Raydio had a song title called Jack & Jill, but this was a superb mild disco number of the late 70s which has a rare video, but a very good one in a time where pop videos were in their earlier and more romantic times:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha1j2Gqj_xg
Little Jimmy Osmond was nine when his debut hit got to number 1.
Deletei would assume that most if not all the kids singing on "there's no one quite like grandma" were younger than tiffany when st winifred's school choir topped the chart with their debut hit? and some may even have been younger than little jimmy o!
DeleteIn France there was a hit single by an actual baby, so consider yourself lucky! Although we did get a toddler Natalie Casey (before acting fame came knocking) with a very minor hit in the 80s.
DeleteFor some reason Smitty presents two shows in a row, and this would be the only 1988 edition to have a solo host. He also seems to be growing a beard here - some kind of tribute to his mentor Noel Edmonds, perhaps? Anyway, thankfully he is still in restrained mode and this is certainly up there as one of his more creditable hosting jobs on TOTP.
ReplyDeleteBilly Ocean, with a loud suit that makes him look a bit like a used car salesman, gets us going with what would actually prove to be his last Top 30 hit. This sudden fall from grace is rather surprising, given this lively, upbeat number is possibly his strongest hit of the 80s, helped along by Robert "Mutt" Lange's excellent production. The saxophonist in this performance looks a bit like Hazel O'Connor's old sidekick Wesley Magoogan, but we didn't get a clear enough look at his face for me to be sure. Kylie makes her debut next, cruising through the streets of Sydney while looking every inch the girl next door. I have always found this song quite irritating, the epitome of the formulaic SAW sound, though it is certainly well-crafted and I can understand why it was such a big hit. I was confused at the time as to why two different videos for this were shown on TOTP, as I didn't realise back then that this was one was specially made for the show.
I don't recall this Screaming Blue Messiahs record, but if you ignore the novelty lyrics it is at heart quite a credible slice of guitar rock. Unfortunately the lyrics are hard to ignore, and the bald singer and his walkie talkie were annoying. Although The Flintstones was a 60s show, the younger generation would still have got the references as it was constantly being repeated by the BBC at the time. Bros, now rapidly hurtling to teen idol status, give a second performance practically identical to the first, before a very slim and sparkly-suited Lucifer Dross makes the breakers with some so-so soul. The other breaker, a much more striking affair, will be on again.
Elt is in the studio once more for this decent live version of one of his best songs, though it has forever been tainted for me by its subsequent Dianafication, always reminding me when I hear it now of that surreal week when this country seemed to completely take leave of its senses. At least we have the original lyrics here, with Mr Dwight still awaiting his hair transplant and adorned in what looks like a cross between an anorak and a monk's habit. Paul Ciani once again indulges his fondness for atmospheric lighting, giving the audience members at the back of the set what appear to be electric candles. Another tedious house record brings the show to an end, making me wonder yet again why anyone would want to buy this stuff, rather than just dancing to it in a club or at a rave. Presumably the builder in the video was called House, then?
it has just occurred to me: why is house music so called? after all, a house is the least likely place where it would have been played. i remember a guy i was acquainted with back then being dismissive of the explosion of late 80's/early 90's dance genres and sub-genres (house, garage etc) by referring to it all as "shed". which i thought was amusing at the time
ReplyDelete"House" is an abbreviation of The Warehouse, which is the Chicago club where the genre began.
Deletethanks thx - i wonder how many others remain unaware of the origins of the name bestowed on the genre?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete(take 2...)
DeleteMe for starters, Wilby. I'd have preferred it to be called patio, but that sounds like the Italian equivalent.
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci nearly went Top 40 in '97 with The Patio Song, if that's any consolation (charming tune!).
DeleteGlossing over Smutty's designer stubble, Billy Ocean takes to the stage with his paean to kerb crawling. Some very dodgy lyrics here. As for the tune, it is one of those records that tries too hard to be in party mood but you can see the strain too much.
ReplyDeleteOh Gawd, Kylie's debut hit, I got truly sick of this at the time, you couldn't get away from it. This is probably the reason so many people developed a loathing for SAW. As for the cobbled together video, did they not have seatbelt laws in Australia in 1988? Car driven by Gary Davies, apparently.
Yay, The Screaming Blue Messiahs! This was all over the Radio 1 evening show, and you have to admit a rock song written from the perspective of Pebbles Flintstone is an original concept. Basically a bit of indie arseing about, but highly entertaining, I imagine someone had their tape recorder held up to the TV speaker during an episode of the Hanna Barbera classic to gather the samples. Gloriously stupid. Alas, the only place you'll hear this occasionally now is on the Gideon Coe show on 6 Music.
Yeah, OK Bros, you're famous now. In the Breakers, a plaintive ditty from Luther, smooth as ever, funny how you don't hear this too often now as it's tailor made for the radio.
Sir Elton, I was never a fan of this mawkish effort when it was about Marilyn Monroe, so you can imagine how I felt about the Diana version. Did he mention the "sexual" line in the 1997 one? If only the production crew had put up a photo of Jocky Wilson behind Reg.
Tiff at the top, but it's not the shopping centre-centric video, so to end on we get Jack and Chill, obviously fond of their puns, with a bog standard dance record, not the worst thing ever, but not very exciting either. More amusing is the video and the high concept dancer's novel solution to builder's bum - high waisted trousers and braces! He really should have been dancing with a mug of tea. Full marks to anyone who can identify the ZX Spectrum game the Star Wars Scout Walker-style computer graphic hails from. I recognise it, but I'll be darned if I can recall the name.
THX, if you think Billy Ocean's song sounds like it's about kerb crawling, you should try Driver 67's sinister follow-up to "Car 67", called "Headlights", a song so creepy Radio 1 banned it after one play.
DeleteI don't know the name of the ZX Spectrum game, but you reminded me we used to have a Richard Packman at our school. Guess what nickname he got given - and it wasn't Space Invader!
Don't tell me - Galaxian?
DeleteCar 67 - wow, that was one of my earliest recollections of pop music in 1978, and when music was in its more romantic phase. Still sounds so good today, about a taxi driver who gets assigned to pick up from an adress that he recognises as the house where his ex-girlfriend lives, and convinces his stationmaster to send another driver to that adress instead. Awwww bless!
DeleteThanks again, Robert.
ReplyDeleteShitty trying to look like his idol here, and failing big time.
How would Earth, Wind and Fire have coped on that intro stage? A fine chart forecast for Billy Ocean by Shitty to be fair. Backing vocalist to our left out of sync with the other two early doors. Poor show.
Kylie debuts with a song high-pitched at the start and almost ear-splittingly higher later on. Next week, Danger Kylie on water-skis!
That Flintstone track was as repetitive and annoying as the singer.
The mugshots. Oo, The Fall! I wonder if Nitro Deluxe was his real name? His track made number 24, but maybe his moniker, the track’s title or (I’m guessing) its imperial shiteness prevented a TOTP outing.
SHITTY, YOU BASTARD! Thanks for telling us before Bros that Tiffany was still number one!
What was the shiniest on Luther Vandross? His suit, shirt or hair? They all outshone the song anyway.
It’s Skinhead O’Connor. HELP!!
From a self-styled smooth head to Old Wiggy and a track which has lost its sheen for me.
Batman being Gary Davies, Shitty? I thought BAT stood for Steve “Born Again Trendy” Wright.
No outro link to the dreadful last track. There must be mortar life than this. Mortar, bricks, get it? Harumph.
there is a giant mural tribute to fall mainman and local hero the late mark e. smith (complete with ever-present fag in his mouth) on a gable of a house quite near where i live. however i suspect the vast majority around here aren't even aware of it (assuming they would know who he was anyway, as there's no reference to him on it), as it's down a side street that would only be used for access!
Deletehttps://confidentials.com/uploads/imager/cb8474cf3efa1a5488a919fa7db39136/749376/c8ba86bafce70f22826c8e110863cf88.jpg
Arthur, I think I have figured out the non-use of the main stage for Billy Ocean, as likely to be renovation of it for some new disco lights, as the future shows on 18th Feb and 25th Feb opening with Bomb The Bass and The Primitives on the main stage had some amazing disco lighting never seen before, so it is likely that in this show of 4th Feb with Billy Ocean opening the show, they were still working on this development of the main stage to roll out the new effects.
DeleteHaving taken the mickey out of Nitro Deluxe, a quick delve on the web shows he was something of a ground breaker who suffered terrible health problems...
ReplyDeletehttp://deadkidsgetlively.com/2015/04/16/throwback-thursdays-nitro-deluxe-protecting-our-pioneers/
The WeTransfer link doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteA so-so edition, this one.
ReplyDeleteBilly Ocean - A passable song, certainly less annoying than most of his 80s singles.
Kylie - I may be the forum's resident SAW fan but even I find this song nothing special. Everyone seems to remember that specially made video though.
Screaming Blue Messiahs - OK if inconsequential stuff, though I wonder if the not very convincing performance and unappealing nature of the band prevented it from climbing higher.
Breakers - I knew that it was unlikely that we'd get Nitro Deluxe (which I love!), Sweet Tee or All About Eve. Sadly we do get one of Luther's so-so efforts.
Elton John - I used to like listening to this version, but the Diana experience ruined that.
Jack 'n' Chill - Best song on the show. Yes, I'm being serious! Extremely silly but great fun. Shame about the headache inducing video though.
I would have agreed with you regarding Jack & Chill, except for the fact that I would be more comfortable with the more conventional title being The House That Jack Built, and not The Jack That House Built, but you got to hand it to them because "Jack" and "House" were now the big phenomena in 1987-88!
DeleteGood evening from a bearded Smithy and a very dark TOTP studio.
ReplyDeleteMr Ocean gets TEN people on stage for what is one fabulous pop song potential Top Ten material for 88. Still sounds fresh and vibrant today and always gets turned up to 11 on the radio chez Morgie.
Also kick starts 88s car obsession (rush hour, joe la taxi, the race, pink caddilac)
HERE COMES KYLIE!
Interestingly after the whole family watched her Glasto performance a couple of weeks ago we now go right back to the start. 12 year old has popped into the room to muse on how different she looked back then and is amazed when I say she is 50 now as apparently she doesn't look it! I agree.
As for this song, after so many years I'm all lucked out this one, 5 weeks a number one and the biggest seller of the year so best get used to hearing this one.
Clearly nobody expected this to be a big hit as they haven't even made a proper video yet (Which explains why she missed the breakers slot last week)
Yabba Dabba Do - it's the flintstones up next. I do remember this SBM song and wasn't really a fan. Nice to hear it again but that will probably be the last time for me. Only the first of tonights bald singers...
Bros. 12 year old has heard of this. Number 2 already as well. I like the slowed down middle bit that builds back up to the final chorus.
Identikit performance though.
Breakers:
Luther with some vanDross in a sparkly suit. Hugely uninspiring stuff. FF
Second baldy of the night the rather striking Sinead O'Connor. So well know for Nothing Compares 2 U that I always forget this was a hit as well. Real rock/punk vibe to it and I like it.
Elton up next and why is he not singing this live, surely the perfect opportunity - he mimes it terribly. It's a nice melody and a clever song but as this came out the year I was born it always seems like he is singing the wrong words.
Third and final baldy of course (not that you'd know..)
Tiff at the Top completely ruining her hit by "singing" it live. It's an excrutiating performance from Little Miss Knitwear
Bit of House to play us out. As I think I said last show this is a bit dull even for house music.
Good solid show. NEXT...