Happy New Top of the Pops! And the show enters its last ever full decade with this live edition from the 4th of January 1990.
Happy New Decade
4-1-90: Presenter: Gary Davies
(24) THE QUIREBOYS – Hey You
Getting the 90's underway in the studio tonight with what became their biggest hit when it peaked at number 14.
(5) MADONNA – Dear Jessie (video)
At its peak.
(18) SILVER BULLET – 20 Seconds To Comply (video)
On its way to number 11.
(12) LATINO RAVE – Deep Heat ’89 (video)
At its peak.
(20) SONIA – Listen To Your Heart
In the studio and dancing her way to number 10.
(8) DE LA SOUL – The Magic Number (video)
Went up one more place.
(23) 49ers – Touch Me (video)
Peaked at number 3.
(9) NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK – Hangin’ Tough (video)
Became their second of two number ones, but what a year 1990 was to be for this band, with no less than seven top ten hits!
(11) ROB ‘N’ RAZ feat. LEILA K – Got To Get (video)
Peaked at number 8.
(1) BAND AID II – Do They Know It’s Christmas? (video)
Third and final week at number one.
(25) F.P.I. PROJECT feat. SHARON DEE CLARKE – Going Back To My Roots (and credits)
Became their only top ten hit when it peaked at number 9. But where was Sharon?
January 11th is next.
Bit of a "will this do?" vibe to this first 90s episode, a real 1989 hangover which was live for some reason, despite being mostly videos.
ReplyDeleteSo not much to say that I haven't already: like Madonna, Silver Bullet, Rob 'n' Raz and Leila K and would have liked De La Soul had it not been the crappy remix. As for The Quireboys, they were obviously hoping for a bright 90s, but already looked out of date with their Axl Rose gear and drawling vocals and guitars. Didn't quite take for them.
Anyway, a throat-clearing episode before we can finally get underway.
Gazza welcomes us to the 90s, but looks a little like he is suffering from a New Year hangover - perhaps it was down to the largely uninspiring fare on offer? Why this was live when there were only two new studio performances is anyone's guess. Incidentally Gaz, sorry to be pedantic, but TOTP had reached its 26th birthday three days earlier...
ReplyDeleteUnsurprisingly 1989's stale leftovers dominate the show, but we get off to a decent start with The Quireboys. They may look like Guns N' Roses, but the sound they make is rather less raucous, and this is a pretty good moderate rocker. Thereafter it's a load of stuff we have heard before, most of which I don't care for, especially Silver Bullet's shouty racket. At least Sonia turns up to the studio for some more awkward dancing, and the Rob/Raz/Leila K video is quite colourful.
The only other new song is NKOTB's middling effort, their attempts to act "tough" in the video utterly laughable. Still, they were in their "can do no wrong" phase and doubtless the all-female crowd were genuinely smitten. The 49ers song isn't too bad, though it sounds as if some Aretha Franklin vocal samples were being used. The shots of classical statuary in their promo were quite nice, but not sure what the point of them was.
Yes, the idea The 49ers auditioned for a singer is laughable seeing as how they had clearly sampled Aretha! Was anybody fooled? I'm guessing the classical Roman statues were included because they were Italian.
DeleteThey were trying to milk the Ride On Time formula for all it was worth, weren't they? I suspect you are right about the statues.
DeleteSo we are back. Starts off ok...
ReplyDeleteQuireboys - don’t remember it, but its ok - GnR lite
Madonna - hang over from Christmas. Pleasant fluff
Silver Bullet - for a dance track it’s... ok
Latino rave - dance bunny...
Sonia - did she really have this many hits? Wow! Must have taken minutes to wrote the lyrics. Kylie lite.
De la soul - This would have ok if it hadn’t been the cr@p remix again...
49ers - ok, the dance stuff is getting monotonous now. If this had been earlier it would have been... yes you guessed it... ok
Breakers
New Kids - like a poor cover of I Love Rock n Roll... rap lite
Rob n Raz - next...
FPI Project - is it ever going to start? Oh, sort of, just before it faded...
Happy New Year! Off to a poor start however despite Gary’s reassuring presence.
ReplyDeleteNot featured – Donald where’s your Troosers. This seemed to get Red Sovine / Lionel Richie (Stuck on you)/Bill Joel (the Longest time) treatment, i.e. no treatment at all. Can’t recall ever hearing it actually, assume it was bad.
Quireboys – Hey You - Ah-ha! I thought, a cover of one of my favourite tracks from ‘The Wall’. Ooops, no, something quite dreadful instead. FF
Madonna – Dear Jessie – Very whimsical but we’re denied the wonderful piccolo trumpet instrumental interlude which really makes the track. Penny Lane is in my ears…
Silver Bullet – 20 seconds to comply – One second to FF.
Latino Rave – Deep Heat – FF
Sonia – Listen to your Heart – An artist really enjoying herself even if she is singing a rehash of her previous hit. A couple of minutes of solid enjoyment however.
49ers – Touch me – FF
New Kids on the Block – Hangin’ Tough- I haven’t heard this since 1990 thank goodness. Thinking of what it reminded me of vaguely I came up with ‘We will rock you’ and ‘I love rock n’roll’ (I note Charlie makes the same comparison above) but not in a good way however.
Rob ‘ Raz featuring Leila K – Got to get – up? Not a patch on Marvin’s 1977 ‘live’ hit.
Band Aid 2 – Do they know it’s Christmas – Oddly enough this was the highlight of the show for me – especially Sonia’s great line.
FPI Project – Going back to my Roots – God this is so boring that even the producer had to insert loads of Dr Who ‘Five Doctors’ ‘time scoop’ effects to liven it up, and I spied the PSB’s computer from Christmas 1987 on one of the keyboards. Just why were there so many on stage for this?
PS After these repeats tonight was a showing of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. Now I really enjoyed that!
Donald Where's Your Troosers? is really good for a novelty song, if only for Andy's fantastic Elvis Presley impersonation (which reputedly impressed The King himself).
Deletesct kudos for soldiering on with what must be an ever-more thankless task for you? i always love your variations on the FF theme btw - the silver bullet one is a corker!
DeleteThanks wilberforce. These editions are really quick to watch! Some song titles enable more amusing spins on 'FF' than others! Not sure how long I will be staying with this now. Looking at the no1s for 1990 there are not that many I really like, and I don't think I watched many of these editions at the time.
DeleteA proper 1989 hangover to start the 90s (records bought between 24th and 30th December 89) and a lot of stuff we've seen already.
ReplyDeleteNice waistcoat Gary. And we get a live show cos everyone was too hungover on Monday 1st to organise anything.
Hey You. .it's The Quireboys. Bon Jovi with a sore throat. Decent enough song but not going to make anyone's best of lists...
After the pink elephants and toy soldiers it's NOT the first chart of the New Year. It's the last one of 1989 Gary!
Next song takes a bullet and then some Deep Heat required after all that dancing.
Happy new year Sonia. Still not earnt enough to afford any dancers. Wonder if she got that hat for Christmas? Amazingly the best tune so far.
De La Soul deservedly cracking the Top Ten. Lots more of these rap/sampled hits to come this year.
Proper dance classic up next. Loved this tune at the time and still sounds great.
NKOTB. These songs really haven't stood the test of time have they? Crap video too.
And yet ANOTHER video. This show is really a hangover. Awesome tune from Leila k. Big fan of this. Got to get a Top ten spot.
So I guess we will never find Donald 's troosers. ..
Band Aid still at the top. Rich in paradise play out and I'm really not sure why they bothered with this edition.
Well, this feels weird, getting back in the saddle again after all this time.
ReplyDeleteA live edition? It’s all miming and videos, Gaz.
The Quireboys raid the heavy metal section of the costume department and give us a track whose chorus jars badly with the verses. An inauspicious start, but it’s virtually all downhill from here for the next half hour.
Next up is probably the one Madonna hit you’ll win big time with on “Pointless”. Nice touch having that Tinkerbell character in the video look like Madge, but this was just too sweet and sickly for me, like eating a whole tin of Quality Street in one go.
Silver Bullet? More like rusty car scrap metal. I gave this the bullet with an FF.
Latino Rave next with their cobbled together cobblers.
The return of the always available Sonia Trousers, dressed like a Scouse matador. I really miss that comedy lanky streak who used to accompany her. This was so dull and formulaic it made my ears SAW… er, sore.
Mid-mughots: Never asked this before, how just how short is the tiny one in Wet Wet Wet? Two of FPI Project mugging it and looking complete tools. A jarring segue from Big Fun to neighbours Bros there.
A nodding dog on the podium with Gaz, followed by that horrendous mix of De La Soul’s hit.
Great, another video and more boom bump shriek muck. 49 out of 1,000 for this.
Oh, Christ, it’s KNOB! Where’s that button gone?
Stop clapping like sealions on the balcony, you idiots! Ah, got to get this next one FF’d.
Band Aid II. Do they know I’ve got an FF button?
No no NO, Davies! How many times do you prawns say “We’ll SEE you on Radio 1 tomorrow”???
We finish with another of those dreadful “yeah wooh” rackets. I dug the roots up and departed early.
I hope this show isn’t a yardstick of the year to come. Bring back 1977!
The Quireboys - I think the lead singer looks more like Ian Astbury of The Cult. It's OK as these type of songs go, and having heard some of their other stuff I can see why this was their biggest hit.
ReplyDeleteThe 49ers - It's mainly Aretha Franklin samples here (from a track called 'Rock-A'Lott' which is very good indeed) but the 'Touch Me' bit is Alisha Warren. Dawn Mitchell isn't even very good at miming the samples so I doubt if she really is the 49th singer they auditioned somehow. As for the tune itself, I don't mind it. Believe it or not, I own their album!!
NKOTB - For a very long time this was the lowest selling No.1 single, and quite rightly too as it sounded cheap and nasty even in 1990.