The long wait is over at last and 1990 is finally upon us, and first up to enjoy is the BBC4 curtain raiser Big Hits compilation.
Adamski featuring Seal - "Killer"
Fabulous track which was a massive number one hit in the spring.
Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
Rapping it live, his only number one hit.
EMF - "Unbelevable"
Became their first of three top ten hits when it made number 3.
Blue Pearl - "Naked in the Rain"
Yum Yum. Peaked at number 4.
Beats International featuring Lindy Layton - "Dub Be Good to Me"
Got to number one early in the year.
En Vogue - "Hold On"
Became their first of four top ten hits when it peaked at number 5.
KLF - "What Time is Love"
This exciting sound peaked at number 5.
Maria McKee - "Show Me Heaven"
Singing her huge number one hit live in the studio.
LondonBeat - "I've Been Thinking About You"
Their only top ten hit and it peaked at number 2.
Sinead O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2 U"
A huge number one hit early in the year.
Betty Boo - "Doin' the Do"
In the studio with the Boo-ettes and the song peaked at number 7.
Primal Scream - "Loaded"
Their debut hit and it peaked at number 16.
Monie Love featuring True Image - "It's a Shame (My Sister)
Peaked at number 12.
Beautiful South - "A Little Time"
Briana and Dave duet on the band's only number one hit.
Elton John - "Sacrifice"
Incredibly, this was Elton's first ever solo number one hit!
Kylie Minogue - "Better the Devil You Know"
Already her tenth top ten hit and it peaked at number 2.
Happy Mondays - "Kinky Afro"
Their second top ten hit of the year and it peaked at number 5.
Tina Turner - "Steamy Windows"
Peaked at number 13.
Snap - "The Power"
With their first of two number ones and nine top ten hits.
The Farm - "Altogether Now"
With their biggest hit and it peaked at number 4.
Next up is January 4th 1990.
Story of 1990: I'll be first to say it, Adamski - bloody Hell! And Lindy Layton looked like Sarah Connor in Terminator 2. But great to see MC Tunes!
ReplyDeleteI must say that Adamski's opener to this show was superb, not so much for the song, but the fantastic stretches by the tall girl in white on stage with him. I thought her balance, posture and synchronisation to the music throughout the performance was a sight to behold, and made the tune a lot more bearable than Adamski alone. Wonder what she is doing now?
DeleteOnly Weak Song For Me Was Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, I thought this one was the big turn-off of the show!
DeleteUnder Pressure it ain't !
DeleteThis is the start of a consecutive run of episodes of 1990 starting this October and ending on St George's Day 2021, even on it's 30th anniversary archive year, with COVID now delaying 'The Story of 1991' to next May with a Rozalla interview that was filmed prior before it.
ReplyDeleteWell things are going to be different at Christmas this year - as they might show a obscured Xmas '80s special from 1984 in which it doesn't have the Radio 1 DJs, it will probably get another showing and the Christmas Eve 1981 fronted episode by Kid Jensen has a classic from Wizzard and the Christmas 1978 episode (will get its fifth repeat showing - as it had to be the popular Xmas episode in which BBC4 have been showing since 2013, the first time they'd repeated it was back in January 2008 as part of the Pop on Trial season in which they had the Saturday Night Fever/Grease video uncut and 2013, copyright issues halted of not showing them again as the BBC couldn't afford to pay the rights to Paramount Pictures for both of their biggest cinematic blockbusters of '77/'78. Well back to 1990, the first episode of the year will see the last number one of the 1980s and 11/1/90 will see the first new chart-topper of the 1990s already NKOTB were at number six on the 4/1/90 episode, we still get a hack of repeat showings of the same songs from 1989 in the first episode of the year and in the second episode, we get new songs such as Deacon Blue with 'Queen of the New Year', Mantronix & Wonderess, and lastly NKOTB.
I thought that the copyright issues of 2013-14 where they were not allowed to show footage from movies, has been resolved soon after, as I'm pretty sure that they can again show the original TOTP shows of 77 & 78 with the original Saturday Night Fever and Grease clips as they appeared on TOTP at the time.
DeleteRemember the Shake Shack at the end of the You're The One That I Want movie clip at No.1 throughout the summer of 1978 holding off Father Abraham & The Smurfs off the top spot, and having to endure about 6 weeks at No.2 in that legendary summer?
Highlights of this show for me were Adamski for the reasons mentioned above, and also:
ReplyDeleteBlue Pearl - I remember buying the 7-inch vinyl of this, as CD singles were not in full flow by then, and were also too expensive relative to 7-inch vinyl, but yeah, I liked the girl singing Naked In The Rain, even though she was not naked on the performance, but I liked her voice and sexy dance moves.
The KLF - their debut year on the music scene, having evolved out of The TimeLords in 1988. I was totally obsessed by their hypnotic sound, like something out of another planet. What Time Is Love? Anytime of the day of course! I must say that I don't recall this TOTP performance, but rather the black & white video on a storm-ridden ship. Suffice to say that the gorgeous hottie on stage with them on this TOTP performance really knows how to move it on the stage!
Betty Boo - interesting that Boo mentioned that she was going to wear matching silver hotpants on stage with that silver top, but was told by TOTP not to show much flesh, so she had to wear unmatching long trousers. Booooooo!
Interesting overall how the new generation born in the 60s & 70s had by now in 1990 swept aside the old guard born in the 40s and 50s, but still Tina Turner and Elton John refused to buckle and kept going, but it must have been a shocker for them to see the new age take apart the traditional family viewing music of the 70s and 80s, and TOTP was as a result changing from a daily show to basically a show for teenagers and young adults only.
The original video for "What time is love" features crop circles. Not sure if this was ever on TOTP but I recall seeing it on ITV's Chart Show.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yADSYAH6jG8
The storm ridden ship video was for the revamped version "America: What time is love" which was KLF's final hit I believe in 1992.
I need to hear both versions, and see both videos then!
DeleteThe Story Of 1990 was good although errors such as using for Madonna's Justify My Love the video For Cherish, Saying That Maria McKee's Performance Came From November, Saying That Unchained Melody Was In The Running For Christmas number one and saying that Deee-Lite's Groove Is In The Heart was a Number One were mistakes that shouldn't have got through.
ReplyDeleteSeeing Betty Boo (Alison Clarkson) Looking just as good if not better than she did thirty years ago and the story about Mc Tunes being on Going Live with Sonia were the highlights for me.
Here we go then, into a new decade. This will be interesting viewing for me, as I pretty much stopped watching TOTP around the start of 1990 and only saw it very sporadically thereafter. Although the 90s were my teenage years, I was far more interested in the music of the 60s and 70s at the time than I was in new stuff. Such new music as I heard I tended to pick up from the radio or from MTV (we had satellite TV) - I therefore anticipate encountering quite a lot of stuff in the forthcoming repeats that would have completely passed me by back then.
ReplyDeleteThe Story of 1990 wasn't as interesting for me as some of the earlier documentaries; I know dance and rap were the dominant sounds of the time, but the programme focused on acts from those genres pretty much to the exclusion of all else, which got a bit tedious by the end. Betty Boo looks very well preserved indeed, Adamski somewhat less so! It was nice to see some clips from The 8.15 From Manchester, a show I have fond memories of, not least for its great Inspiral Carpets theme tune; it was part and parcel of what for me was a memorable summer also punctuated by the World Cup and some very hot weather.
Big Hits was fine, and included a couple of classics, but I will wait until these performances appear in the repeats before commenting. There was some other good stuff that came out in 1990 that wasn't featured, so look forward to catching that as we go through the year.
Thanks for the warning about the story of 1990 John. I think I'll give it a miss!
DeleteLooking ahead at the No1s of 1990, there are a lot I can take or leave. I don't know if the documentary mentioned what was for me, the best no1 of 1990 - 'Sacrifice / Healing Hands' by Elton John. There was also a cracker from the Righteuos Brothers (or brother in reality) - 'Unchained Melody' which knocks the spots off the original by Jimmy Young and certainly is miles better than Robson and Jerome.
No mention of "Sacrifice" or "Healing Hands" in "The Story" at all, sct, but I counted three choice bits of Anglo-Saxon in MC Tunes's video! Adamski looked a complete tool, and Orbital's brothers were chalk and cheese, with one measured and relatively quiet and the other probably still coming off those 90's drugs! By now we all know TOTP slipped in performances which weren't part of the show's recording, so it was good to see a brief clip of Liza Minelli performing a relative non-hit. I'm not a fan of rap and house, so this year's programmes will be a bit like swimming in treacle for me and (he says in hushed tones) I can't see me critiquing episodes to the lengths I have been. 1991 looks different, though!
DeleteOh dear....silly omission given the story behind Elton's deserved no1 (i.e. it was the srtist's first UK solo no1 and the fact that Steve Wright plugged the song after its initial releases were not very successful).
DeleteTop 3 best sellers from 1990 were my three favourite no1s funnily enough; Righteous Brothers, Sinead O'Connor and EJ.
Re Unchained Melody, the first version to be released as a single was by Les Baxter in 1955, but Jimmy Young and Al Hibbler brought out their versions shortly after, and JY won the chart battle, reaching number 1.
DeleteDidn't they mention Elton in the roundup of the MOR stuff in the 1990 charts? Phil Collins, etc? Personally I was happy not to hear from Elt, Kylie, Sinead, and so on for the millionth time, it was nice to hear from someone different.
DeleteUnchained Melody is the theme tune from the film Unchained, which nobody has EVER SEEN...
"A cheap and instantly forgettable American B Movie" apparently...
DeleteFar too much emphasis on the smaller stuff like Mc tunes and 808 state. Not enough emphasis on
ReplyDelete-Sinead o Connor
-New order
-Etc
The orbital segment was amusing as the normal one looked like he was cringing/wanting to punch his brother every time he opened his mouth. Annoying prick.
Hi Anonymous! I'm back to re-request a few more '70's originals that you didn't have before. They're all from 1977 and are 6/01, 31/03, 14/04, 22/09 and 24/11. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHere they all are https://we.tl/t-sNy7IL0C74
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, mate! Many thanks again.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched the 'Story Of..' yet but the factual errors don't surprise me, there were a few in 'Big Hits..' too! The fact that they seem allergic to using commas when listing things really annoys me too.
ReplyDeleteAs for the songs in this edition, I think it was a pretty good selection. En Vogue I can take or leave, and the intro goes on WAY too long. Vanilla Ice I think is rubbish but has to be there if you're doing a review of 1990. The biggest pile of tosh was Tina Turner - no need for that at all given that it wasn't a massive hit.
It has been widely reported that Eddie Van Halen has passed away. More significant, as far as I'm concerned, is that we've also lost the great Johnny Nash - a very underrated artist.
ReplyDeleteHeard about them both on the radio this morning, Eddie wasn't really my kind of music, but there's no denying he was a hugely influential musician. Johnny Nash gave Bob Marley his break, I believe, and was a significant singer in his own right too, wonderful voice. RIP to them both.
DeleteSorry to hear about Johnny Nash. RIP.
DeleteAlways liked his big no1 'Tears on my Pillow' from 1975 (sandwiched between 10cc and the Rollers for one week) more than a certain Australian artist who scored with a different song of the same title very soon in the 1990 reruns...
ReplyDeleteSo onto stage one of 90s TOTP and it's business as usual as the 89 formula continues. A rotation of hosts The Magnificent Seven (Gary, Simon, Nicky, Jakki, Bruno, Anthea and Mark) see us through to the first great shake up of the Nineties as SAW star fades and dance tunes and novelty records take over the CHARTS and TOTP miming policy comes into question which the "Story of" documentary covers well.
Ultimately TOTP will be saved by boy bands, brit pop and girl power but amazingly this will be the last decade the show sees in full!
Great to see Betty Boo (a proper teenage crush), Dr Who fans Orbital, a very blue Adamski and the legend that is MCTunes! Brillant.
As for the Big Bits of 1990, I'll comment more as they appear but
WINNERS:
Adam-an-ski with Seal. Sounded new and fresh in 1990. Still sounds fab today.
EMF. Indie kids go pop with a half naked drummer. Unbelievable!
Blue Pearl. Absolute dance anthem. Beautiful singer as well in a very revealing top.
Beats International. A slightly more polished performance than their first appearance. Such a clever but simple idea for a song and one of 1990s stand out hits. Lindy Layton is cute as hell.
En Vogue. This a classy piece of pop, I was a big fan of this at the time.
KLF. An all time favourite group! Just so damn good and then they were gone.
Maria (she wrote A Good Heart) McKee. Winner due to the brilliant live vocal. Not on a par with Take My Breath Away.
Londonbeat. Happy bouncy pop song. Failed at Song For Europe 95 (they lost out to Love City Groove!).
Sinead O'connor. Why wasn't this sung live? Awesome vocal. Great lyric. Such emotion. One of the highlights of the 1990s for me.
Betty Boo. I love Betty Boo. Birthday money well spent.
Primal Scream. Are they indie? Are they dance? Are they rock? Who cares, this is a great tune.
Monie Love. A simple but effective rap and sample. Decent tune.
Beautiful South. The first song of theirs I actually liked. Huge fan after this.
Kylie Minogue. The song that saved Kylie from obscurity. Years before "Spinning Around" this showed she had so much more to offer than production line pop songs. Possibly SAW finest moment.
The Farm. Another of 1990s best tunes. Has to be the full 5 and a half minute version for me.
LOSERS:
Vanilla Ice. This has aged so badly...and it wasn't cool at the time. Catchy though.
Elton John. He's stolen Chris Lowes baseball cap but it can't save this song which just goes nowhere. The other A-Side "Healing Hands" is a million times better.
Happy Mondays. The epitome of the dire, boring dirge that Indie music could turn out. So far away from "Step On" it's amazing it's the same band.
Tina Turner. Dancing like she needs the loo. Nowt wrong with one, just not a fan.
SNAP! Just because this has aged so badly. Sounded brilliant in 1990. Hasn't stood the test of time. Terrible Rap. He's lyrical as cancer!
I'm off to listen to the chart show with Mark Goodier from this week in 1990. See you all next week...