Take all my body and me soul ~ it's the 10th of June 1993 edition of Top of the Pops!
Eggcentric performance
10-6-93: Presenter: Mark Franklin
(10) SNAP – Do You See The Light (Looking For)
Getting us underway but the song got no higher.
(3) THE SPIN DOCTORS – Two Princes (video) (and charts)
At its peak
(7) PET SHOP BOYS – Can You Forgive Her?
Spectacular studio performance but the song got no higher.
(13) CHAKA DEMUS & PLIERS – Tease Me
In the studio with their first of three top ten hits when it peaked at number 3.
(21) SADE – No Ordinary Love (via satellite)
From the movie Indecent Proposal and it peaked at number 14.
(18) THERAPY? – Turn
Performing in the studio but it got no higher.
(29) CLIFF RICHARD – Human Work Of Art (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 24.
(28) MANIC STREET PREACHERS – From Despair To Where (video) (Breakers)
Went up three more places.
(25) SISTER SLEDGE – Thinking Of You (Remix) (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 17.
(24) THE TIME FREQUENCY – The Ultimate High (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 17.
(9) LISA STANSFIELD – In All The Right Places
A second studio performance and the song went up one more place.
(1) UB40 – (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You (video)
First of two weeks at number one.
17th of June is next.
Not sure why the text has turned out a bit weird this week - just getting used to new laptop!
ReplyDeleteI'm still using the same laptop that I bought new in August 2012, so it's celebrating its 10 birthday this very month. Hope I get another 10 years out of it, as the current (and future) energy bills catastrophe will be taking up a lot of disposable income for laptops, holidays and spending on going out.
DeleteI thought you had decided to take a leaf from PSB and go all visual on us
DeleteSnap - love the hair on Nikki Harris. Must be the longest pleats I've ever seen on TOTP or any other pop show. There would be nothing from Snap for well over a year after, until autumn of 1994 for their next single which also made Top 10, so it's goodbye for now from Snap with this week's show opener.
ReplyDeleteThe Spin Doctors - wonder why they couldn't do the TOTP studio, as they had to wait from their breakers slot a few weeks earlier to this video showing with the Top 40 rundown, despite rising up the charts for the last few weeks.
The Pet Shop Boys - first single since 1991, and a great return to the charts, although not sure about the jumpsuits. I did like the three girls in 70s disco outfits, which reminded me of Sheila B's Spacer video from 1979:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwaIeMDLxI
The Breakers - Cliff Richard's video reminded me of Robert Palmer's video for Addicted To Love by having work of art girl dancers next to him.
UB40 - from the new film Sliver as Mark Franklin points out, but why no studio appearance by UB40? Could be that it was such an obvious cover, and may be as a respect to Elvis Presley who I think did the original but didn't have a chart hit with it.
Pretty good episode this one.
ReplyDeleteSnap - I'd forgotten about this one! I like it even though it's not their strongest hit.
Finally the poor old Spin Doctors get a moment. I've listened to this one quite a bit this year when revisiting music from 93.
PSB - Slightly bonkers performance but memorable and those hats and glasses were pretty iconic at the time.
CDP - Another strong entry to the canon of big 93 reggae/ragga style hits.
Sade - It's not bad but a bit downbeat.
Therapy? - I used to like them a lot but this isn't one of their most memorable.
Breakers - Manics the clear highlight for me. SS still working that remix cash, get your royalties sisters. Time Frequency I remember being everywhere. I always thought the lyrics were 'you take a man to the top' so thanks to the subtitles for telling me it's 'your'e taking me.' Cliff - eh.
Lisa S - see Sade
UB40 - didn't mind it the first time we had it but getting bored of this one now.
Like Haddaway on the last show, the Spin Doctors got so much radio play at the time, that Two Princes was just unlistenable by the following year, but did well to get to No.3.
DeleteI did like the PSB performance when the girl dancers took the time to dance with Neil Tennant's partner on stage with the other jumpsuit, as Tennant was off the floor on a tennis umpire's chair, and so could not dance with the girls himself.
A couple of songs further down the chart at peak position this week, and with no TOTP for them this time round:
ReplyDeleteNo.36 David Bowie featuring Al B Sure - Black Tie White Noise
Bowie's follow-up to Jump They Say which only got a breakers slot when at No.10, and this collaboration with Al B Sure, was a bit surprising, as all I remember of Al B Sure was that he only managed to chart in America with his debut single getting to No.7 with Nite And Day in 1988, when I remember Paul Gambaccini playing it every week on the American chart show on Radio 1 in that year while it was in the Top 30, but only got to No.44 in the UK with it.
No.52 Luke Goss & The Band Of Thieves
Former Bros twin Luke Goss with the first of two consecutive singles in the summer of 1993, both of which failed to make the Top 50, so it was hardly a surprise that he didn't release any more solo singles going into the autumn, and for that matter ever again.
I loved Nite and Day and I was one of the few that bought it over here!
DeleteSNAP! still trying to follow up their massive hit from 1992 and this is quite a good attempt. I "Do See The Light" and love the Nikki Harris vocal but has Turbo B been banned from the county or something?
ReplyDeleteGlad we finally get the rather fun video to "Two Princes". Love this Spin Doctors tune now it's not being played to death everywhere as it was in 93.
Never keeping a straight bat if they can help it, its the Pet Shop Boys and they've gone completely bonkers! "Can You Forgive Her?" one of their best pop songs and "Very" a superb album but they've now become all about the image as well and they'll end up with more looks than Madonna. Mad.
CHAKA DEMUS & PLIERS is my favourite band name ever! More reggae 93 style with "Tease Me" which is rather naughty but the crowd don't seem to be excited by this at all and it all falls a bit flat. Shame.
I know this Sade tune is considered a classic. I know "No Ordinary Love" is beautifully performed. I know the tune has loads of emotion BUT I just can't get over being really bored by it whenever I hear it. No idea why?
Dungarees at the ready as it's Therapy's turn to rock the studio. Thought it was OK actually.
Breakers:
CLIFF RICHARD – Pass the sick bucket.
MANIC STREET PREACHERS – Average from them.
SISTER SLEDGE – We're they not available to open the show?
THE TIME FREQUENCY – Trance Time
"In All The Right Places" is the tune "No Ordinary Love" would love to be. Absolute class and an astonishing vocal from Ms Stansfield. Fantastic stuff. I had a tear in my eye.
A well deserved Number One for UB40 and then everyone is wearing silly cones. Anyone got a flake?
Turbo B's last performance with Snap was Rhythm Is A Dancer which was THE song of 1992, along with Whitney Houston's Christmas No.1. I don't think Turbo B appeared on any more Snap singles post-1992, which is where Nikki Harris took over as the front-person and front-vocalist.
DeleteIn fact wiki mentions that Turbo B left Snap shortly after Rhythm Is A Dancer due to growing dissent with the group and its managers, and so this new second phase of the group in the from 1993 to 1996 didn't include Turbo B, so it seems to be just Nikki Harris from here on in.
Mark starts by mangling another song title. Did I see the light? Not really, this just flashed past me. Mark compounds his previous error by back-announcing Nikki Harris and not Snap. Seriously, I could do this gig better. Any of us on here could!
ReplyDeleteOh so hilarious and self-consciously ‘wacky’ Spin Doctors next. They lost me straight away with the Flowerpot Men style rap at the beginning. The non-mugshots give us the only top 40 week for an act called Mother, with a track apparently written in a bedroom in a suburb of Birmingham.
What the Hell’s next? Have I eaten too much cheese? One of the Pets’ finest slinkier moments and that’s the most animated Chris Lowe has ever been. That big blue stage prop reminded me of an old joke. Why don’t French people have much for breakfast? Because they think one egg is un-oeuf.
Look at that crowd run to the next act! It turns out Chaka Demus (real name John Taylor – yes, really) is the toaster and Pliers (who had been in a duo called Pinchers – again, yes, really) was the singer. Always enjoyed this apart from that daft ‘meeow’ keyboard effect. I didn’t know beforehand that Chaka was a name suitable for both males and females.
Wahay! Sade’s lost her scales and tail and right a right old look on tonight. Shame she couldn’t have given the song a similar lift.
A truck driver’s gear change next to some moody Norn Iron Nirvana musings from Therapy? – very unusual placing of the h-hat cymbal in that kit.
Breakers in turn: WTF is this??? / Richey pretending to play that guitar again / my favourite Sledge song sped up and shat on / yet more anonymous rave accompanied by yet another pence-busting video.
Lisa, dressed like Cruella De Ville but sounding angelic. Peak of the week for a second time with this song.
Akways hated UB40’s Elvis cover but, at least, it wasn’t as bad as that bloody awful chicken-in-a-basket disco version by The Stylistics!
Anyone for a Cornetto at the end? No, Mark, we’re not calling you Neil Tennant. You don’t have a fingernail’s worth of his talent.
Another great episode this one, with the Pet Shop Boys putting in the best TOTP performance of the decade so far by any band (in my opinion at least). Can You Forgive Her? sees the PSBs entering a golden period, encapsulated on their 1994 Disco 2 mix album, still have my Walkman played to death cassette album from the time - a bit wonky admittedly.
ReplyDeleteIn a similar uptempo, over the top vibe were Mother and All Funked Up at number 34 this week. The one (12”) single in the top 40 this week that I purchased. Note that it was released on the brilliantly named Brum label Bosting Records.
Agree regarding the Pet Shop Boys. While I thought they had fairly lame 1989 to 1992 after their superb 1985-1988 first phase, the 1993 to 2003 period for around 10 years was just sublime if not superb. I've been listening all week to Can You Forgive Her, and my pick of the lyrics was:
Delete"You're short of breath, is it a heart attack? Hot and feverish, you face the fact........"
"Remember when you were more easily led, behind the cricket pavilion and the bicycle shed.........."
It just occurred to me that Can You Forgive Her was a comeback single for PSB, as their last single was in 1991, and so now they were back after a year-and-a-half absence to kind of work out how to return effectively to make an impact once again, with the result being a comeback single going straight into the charts as a new entry at No.7 this week, so it kind of worked!
Delete