All I do each night is pray, hoping that I'll be a part of the 15th of July 1993 edition of Top of the Pops!
Holy ones
15-7-93: Presenter: Tony Dortie
(15) DANNII MINOGUE – This Is It
Getting the show underway with this Melba Moore cover and it went up five more places.
(16) PAUL WELLER – Sunflower (video) (and charts)
At its peak.
(5) 4 NON BLONDES – What’s Up?
A second studio performance and it went up three more places.
(21) DEACON BLUE – Hang Your Head
In the studio but it got no higher.
(33) JON SECADA – Do You Really Want Me (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 30.
(30) JESUS JONES – Zeroes And Ones (video) (Breakers)
At its peak.
(28) BLUR – Chemical World (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(26) UTAH SAINTS – I Want You (video) (Breakers)
Went up one more place.
(22) KENNY THOMAS – Stay
Live tonight but it got no higher.
(25) OUI 3 – Break From The Old Routine
Performing their second of four top 40 hits and this was their biggest peaking at number 17.
(NEW) MADONNA – Rain (video)
Peaked at number 7.
(1) TAKE THAT – Pray
Back in the studio for their first of four weeks at number one.
22nd of July is next.
Madonna with a song called 'Rain' I see. Brings to mind two other 'Rain' songs....Status Quo (also reached No7 (in 1976)) and of course, most famous of all, the Beatles. In the case of the Fab Four this was the superb B Side of 'Paperback Writer' with what I consider to be one of the best bits of drumming from Ringo.
ReplyDeleteFurther checks show more songs called 'Rain'. Bruce Ruffin (No19 in 1971), The Cult (No17 in 1985) and Groove Corporation (No71 in 1994).
Jeff Lynne referenced 'rain' many times in ELO songs, even including it in titles such as 'Rain is Falling' and 'Standing in the Rain' but never penning a song called simply 'Rain'.
Darts had a single in 1978 called It's Raining which got to No.2, being held off the No.1 spot by only The Commodores Three Times A Lady. In the same year, Leo Sayer would go on to have a single called Raining In My Heart which only managed No.21.
DeleteI also recall Peter Gabriel having a single called Red Rain in the summer of 1987 which only got to No.46 and failed to reach the TOTP chart rundown.
DANNII MINOGUE – She's back and this time she's brought her Home and Away co-star and hubby to be Julian with her. Unfortunately she's also brought another dodgy 70's cover version, a staging from High School Musical and a bottle of champagne (more of that later)
ReplyDeletePAUL WELLER – Britpop starts right here as Weller goes all Mod for the 90s. Don't think I've heard "Sunflower" for years but it sounds really fresh and up to date even now.
Chief NON BLONDE has been screeching too much that voice is on the way out.
Even an average DEACON BLUE song is a joy to hear. Don't recall "Hang Your Head" but really enjoyed it.
Breakers:
JON SECADA – Do You Really Want Me? Not really no.
JESUS JONES – Binary Rock - Fun as always
BLUR – TREEmendous
UTAH SAINTS – I Want to know what that sample is from
Was expecting to hate this from KENNY THOMAS but the remix saves it along with a strong performance. You can "Stay" Kenny. Nice patronising introduction from Laters...
OUI 3 – "Break From The Old Routine". Well I do like this one. Highlight of the evening I think. Top tune.
MADONNA – Nice tune, Nice video.
TAKE THAT have their "Pray"ers answered with their first Number One. Can't begrudge them as it's a fantastic pop song.
Dortie pretending he's bought them champagne when it was actually from Dannii for his birthday (thanks Twitter for that nugget).
Good show,
Dannii Minogue was looking really good and vibrant on this first single for several months since the end of 1992. I was a tad jealous that she had a husband-to-be who appeared next to Tony Dortie at the end of the song, as Dannii is only three years younger than me and I was dating girls around her age at the time, and never got to meet her.
DeleteAlso like to say that Oui 3 was my favourite track on the show, and one of the standout songs of 1993. I still have it proudly in my iTunes collection and love when it comes on as part of my shuffle. The nice girl backing lead singer on the TOTP stage as part of the group made this song wholly palatable and great sounding, as without her it would have made less of an impact on me.
DeleteDannii - serviceable cover.
ReplyDeleteWeller and Blur bringing us gently into Britpop.
4NB is a great track but as Morgie notes, Linda Perry's voice isn't at its best.
I don't remember this Deacon Blue track at all, but I quite like it. Bit avant garde for them!
Not sure Jesus Jones were singing about money, laters. But I guess your average non computer geek people back then knew less about binary.
Rain is a great track even though it's a pre release and the lyrics are nonsense.
I absolutely HATED Pray with a vengeance back then. Now I can see why people like it. But I still don't.
It is 4.55pm Sunday and still no Dory
ReplyDeleteI hope he is ok?
Thanks, I guess me and Arthur Nibble have been keeping this blog alive and from going to the wall at some point, but I'm still here persevering.
DeleteArthur here. Currently on holiday in Croatia and nowhere near a PC. Back soonish!
DeleteTwo songs lower down the chart at peak position this week, and not reaching the TOTP stage:
ReplyDeleteNo.37 Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
Somewhat surprised that this famous song with catchy chorus only managed No.37. Anyone listening to it would have thought it was at least a Top 10 single, considering the amount of airplay it had on the radio at the time!
No.73 Chaka Khan - Don't Look At Me That Way
Khan was only bringing out occasional singles at this point, and this was her last single until 1995, so it's quite a long time till the next one which at least got to No.28, so it's not quite time up for her in the charts.
Runaway Train will be back later in the year and peak at Number 7.
DeleteJon Pertwee no less also recorded a song callled 'The Runaway Train' backed with Jessie Matthews singing 'The Ugly Duckling'...a song later a No10 chart hit for Mike Reid.
DeleteJust to comment on 'Runaway Train', it seemed to get another lease of life in 1994. I don't think it had a reissue but on Radio 1 on a Sunday I think, there was a period where comedians presented a show and this single got featured more than once.
DeleteA great episode this, not often I enjoy the majority of offerings.
ReplyDeleteAt this point in time I was more in Dannii’s camp than Kylie’s. With Kylie currently morphing behind the scenes into a fully fledged dance diva (looking forward to her return in 1994) it was time for Dannii to shine as the disco covers diva. Never quite happened, shame.
Sorry I’m late! I've got a note.
ReplyDeleteDanni with a blonde Cruella De Ville hairdo and a wallpaper cover. A good re-working? This wasn’t it.
“Sunflower” has aged well, despite having a refrain similar to “Knights In White Satin” leading into the chorus and another hook which sounds remarkably like Free.
Been at the Players Navy Cut, Linda, or buggered your vocal chords yelling this song out at every gig?
Deacon Blue, always up for a studio turn. Not brilliant but nothing to hands their heads about.
I couldn’t hear any of Jon Secada. Dorky waffled right over him.
More waffle over a song which became “Zeroes and Threes”. Well, one three and one zero denoting its chart peak.
Oh, great, a prototype “Country House”. Can’t stand that either.
Utah Saints sounded like Jesus Jones attempting rave.
Kenny’s back! Weird shirt. Identikit soul, to the point I guessed some of the rhyming couplets before he sang them.
Oui 3? But there are five of them. A cross between Rebel MC and The Shamen.
Oo, an exclusive not in the studio. Weren’t Def Leppard available? A so-so effort from Madonna. As for Rain, that was the name of the vocal group Stephanie De Sykes was in. They once sang the theme to “The Golden Shot”. I’ll get my coat.
A quick FF for the number one and then… no “Laters” to finish with. Excellent!
Paul Weller - the sound of brit pop being templated here, as others have stated. Not really listened to Weller much since Wild Wood was released but this sounds great.
ReplyDelete4 Non Blondes - great stuff, good to see them back in the studio.
Deacon Blue - pretty good, a real surprise for a non-fan, had he been watching Brett From Suede or was it vice versa?
Jesus Jones - Zeroes and ones, more a reference to techno and the digitisation of laying down tracks onto floppy disks, than the predicted rise of this new thing called the World Wide Web that might catch on.
Blur. It will be a few more years until I start listening to Blur from choice, although The Pet Shop Boys treatment of Girls & Boys coming up soon was an exception.
I had problems posting my comment(s), looks like it was the title of Madonna's most recent album, maybe, putting on the blocks?
ReplyDeleteUtah Saints thrash metal Slayer sampling apparently, for the guitars. I was hoping that the “I want You” sample would turn out to be Mark E. Smith, although as this is a full year ahead of when that song was recorded, seems unlikely.
ReplyDeleteOui3, another forgotten about (by me) British hip hop classic. Their follow up “For what it’s worth” didn’t make it to TOTP but there is a The Word performance on YouTube.
Yes, the Oui3 single you mentioned was a great one. Mighty rhythm track it had and great use of the Buffalo Springfield song. Very eloquent rap too. I bought that the day after seeing it on 'The Word'.
Delete