Dance for the vibe, dance for the 19th of August 1993 edition of Top of the Pops!
Good vibes
19-8-93: Presenter: Mark Franklin
(21) THE POGUES – Tuesday Morning
Getting the show underway with Spider on lead vocals performing their sixth and final top 40 hit (not including countless re-entries of a certain xmas song) and it peaked at number 18.
(8) UB40 – Higher Ground (video) (and charts)
At its peak.
(3) BITTY McLEAN – It Keeps Rainin’ (Tears From My Eyes)
A second time in the studio and the song went up one more place.
(17) AFTERSHOCK – Slave To The Vibe
Performing their only hit and it peaked at number 11.
(40) THE BREEDERS – Cannonball (video) (Breakers)
Their only top 40 hit and it got no higher.
(14) MARIAH CAREY – Dreamlover (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 9.
(31) TASMIN ARCHER – Arienne
In the studio tonight and the song went up one more place.
(32) THE BEE GEES – Paying The Price Of Love (via satellite)
Peaked at number 23.
(37) SINCLAIR – Ain’t No Casanova
Here with his only top 40 hit and it peaked at number 28.
(1) FREDDIE MERCURY – Living On My Own (video)
Second and final week at number one.
26th of August is next.
Ah, we reach our last sighting of Tasmin (so soon), who suffered the law of diminishing returns, each single peaking llower than the last. Her next single, an EP of four Elvis Costello songs, reached the bottom rung of the top 40 and that was her last chart mention on the show. Maybe a bit too earnest for full-on mainstream success, but I’ll miss her.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous = Arthur Nibble via iPhone
DeleteMark's turn so, as usual, very professional but not much to comment on. He is especially cheerful this week maybe because Tony got the lunatics last week and he gets to introduce Tasmin Archer again.
ReplyDeleteThe Pogues return minus Shane McGowan. I never knew they had a hit without him and Spider does the singing here. It lacks the force of the Shane fronted material but good to see them on the show.
UB40 have a new one so of course they must accompany the charts. This does have a lovely hook in the chorus but the rest is pretty, well, UB40ish. I quite enjoyed the video which seems to show up the band's resolute ordinary-ness by making every scene they're not in very arty and imaginative.
A welcome 2nd time in the studio for Bitty McLean though it's in front of another of those this'll do stage designs. This one appearing to reference the blindingly silvery streamers that The Three Degrees twirled in front of on a Christmas Day edition. Which was fine in 1974 but a little uninspired for 1993. Thanks Arthur for the info on this single. Originally a Fats Domino B side! Very different times these were.
A bunch called Aftershock turn up to perform a very of its time bit of brooding dance. The chorus not meaning very much but sounding frightfully serious.
Breakers; Only 2 this week but fantastic to get a burst of The Breeders' 'Cannonball', a rare alt rock moment on the show. Also great to sneak it on even though it only got as high as No.40. Good work Totp!
Mariah Carey and I must confess I love this one. That reedy hook is so sweet and she does look adorable in the video.
Mark perks up because Tasmin Archer returns to the studio with, I think, her last hit. She's also had an image change, dropping the Patrick Troughton Doctor look and adopting a not very flattering bandana. A mistake perhaps but you can't blame her for trying a different image and 'Arienne' is another lovely tune with yet more intriguing lyrics. A real shame that she never followed up her early success particularly as it was very cool to namedrop Elvis Costello as an influence a couple of years later and she was a very individual songwriter. Been really good to be reminded of her on these repeats.
The Bee Gees get the first of I think 2 satellite appearances this year. This one sees them by a pool in Miami Beach, though take away the palm trees and it could be Worthing. No New Order style irony here though and it's a slick performance of a decent, rather workmanlike song. Robin always a compelling performer.
Sinclair; Not a luxury car of a single.
2nd week at No.1 for Freddie then Mark announces, with a glee that may not be there in several weeks time, a satellite appearance next week for Meat Loaf. I wouldn't do that.
When walking from Kingston station to the polytechnic (that dates it already), I actually overtook a Sinclair C5 by simply walking at my usual pace on the pavement!
DeleteThanks. Mic. I'm on the mend and glad the diagnosis wasn't what was feared, though I'm tired after the 'long weekend' and, naturally, I had a busy day at work which I wanted to avoid!
DeleteCouldn't find anything interesting to comment on this show, but worth mentioning three singles peaking this week outside the Top 40 with no TOTP for them:
ReplyDeleteNo.43 Orbital - Lush
First single in a year since their two EPs in 1992, this one was no pushover, and surprised it didn't make Top 40, as it is up their with their earlier more successful hits since their debut in early 1990.
No.44 Nick Heyward - Kite
First solo single since 1988, so welcome back for this former Haircut 100 frontman, he would go on to release the odd occasional single until 1996 with no further success, as the 90s were less kind to him chartwise than the 80s.
No.68 Luke Goss & The Band Of Thieves
Second of only two solo singles in 1993 for the former Bros man, with both singles misfiring and only managing a best chart position of No.52 between them, so we never got to see Goss on TOTP in this very short solo career in 1993.
This was fairly dull as an episode, with lots of lesser known tracks. The Breeders in the breakers were the best thing here, Bitty McLean was alright too, I don't hate UB40 or Freddie I guess. Not great stuff overall.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe this episode was only 30 minutes long - felt like hours…
ReplyDeletePogues sounding very non-pogueush. Pretty ordinary, but turns out to be the highlight of the show.
Aftershock - another forgettable boy band…
Bee gees “crashing in at 32” - more like wandered in…
Hi folks. Back after 22 hours in hospital since Friday afternoon. Thankfully, a suspected blood clot in my leg turned out to be a soft tissue infection probably caused by a spider or mosquito bite. Back in time for this critique before work again tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteTalking of spiders, why wasn’t professional Irishman (born in Tunbridge Wells) Shane MacGowan on this? Not The Pogues’ best by some way but, at least, I could hear and understand the words for a change.
Mark dressed for a job interview but he probably needs to get that earring out first.
Weird juxtaposition in that UB40 video.
As before, they’re followed immediately by Bitty. Fine turn over a thin sounding backing track.
That pretend rainfall backdrop must have cost pence. You normally see that at working men’s clubs or where there are strippers. Ahem.
Aftershock? Must’ve been a very small tremor. Crystal Waters sounding backing, shallow water rave.
The Breeders! This is brilliant. If only we got the whole song instead of the Bee Gees again.
Oh God no, not that screecher Carey again.
Steady, Mark! Have some bromide. Look up, Tasmin, the camera’s over here, love. Sadly not strong enough to be a big hit. Bye and thanks for shining briefly but brightly.
The Bee Gees “crashed in at 32”, Mark? Sheesh. This track didn’t enter the chart at the deep end despite them pooling their resources. Talking of Miami, I didn’t realise until today that Debbie Harry was Miami-born Angela Trimble who was adopted, relocated and renamed at three months old.
Sinclair give us some of that ‘looking at yourself dancing in the mirror at the disco’ R&B lite.
FF the number one again. Still cowering at the thought of Cilla Black who was threatened, er, promised a few editions back.
Bit of an also-ran feel to the show tonight and very much a slow summer sales week.
ReplyDeleteTHE POGUES start off by replacing one lead who can't sing (Shane) with another (Spider). Not a fan of this type of Irish music and this didn't change my mind.
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UB40 and BITTY McLEAN repeat the back-to-back trick from a few week ago.
Proto-Andre AFTERSHOCK up next. More of a workout than a song. I blame Smash Hits and Just Seventeen
Breakers - just the TWO and even that was a struggle this week
THE BREEDERS – Wrecking ball of a tune (if you can call it that)
MARIAH CAREY – Funky little summer tune and I don't mind this one at all
TASMIN ARCHER desperately in need of a tune with a hook like "Satellite". "Arienne" is a lovely number, well sung but never going to be a big hit. Mark also pleased to see her again I note.
Crashing in a Number 32 (or should that be limping Mark?) it's THE BEE GEES – Catchy chorus ruined by Barry squealing like a pig in parts.
SINCLAIR – Nice beat, odd voice, no tune. Seriously bad.
On a positive note I'm still loving "Living On My Own". Not a show that will last long in the memory though. Think I'll go back to Coronation Street.
Speaking of Coronation Street Morgie, I noticed that tonight’s episode of Corrie was directed by a certain Ian Curtis. Was expecting dark, gloomy Manchester scenery with doom laden characters and occasional spiky dance moves - which is indeed what we got!
DeleteThe Pogues - was a big fan of early Pogues, they used to cause chaos on the alternative dance floors when the DJ was brave enough to play them, but this period of Pogues passed me buy. Surprised to read that this is the Pogues best international selling single. Couldn’t quite pinpoint what this song sounded like, Pulp’s Common People came to mind though, not suggesting an actual link there.
ReplyDeleteBreeders - debut single scraping into the Top 40. A staple on indie disco dance floors ever since. Their recent album 25 years on in 2018 (thought it was more recent than that!) was a very good return.
Freddie - still really enjoying this track. So much so that I have revisited Freddie’s 1985 album, Mr. Bad Guy, from where this originally came. Worth noting on its initial release this single only got to number 50. My favourite Freddie single is 1984’s top ten classic Love Kills. Although this is largely down to it being covered so well by Little Boots a few years ago.
Sidders, The Breeders had released an EP ("Safari") about 18 months previously which just nudged the top 75. They had five UK chart singles entries, of which only "Cannonball" made the top 40.
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