And I say hey yeah yeah hey, hey yeah yeah, I said hey, it's the 1st of July 1993 edition of Top of the Pops!
Take hat
1-7-93: Presenter: Tony Dortie
(16) JOEY LAWRENCE – Nothin’ My Love Can’t Fix
Getting tonight's show underway and the song went up three more places.
(23) DEBORAH HARRY – I Can See Clearly (video) (and charts)
At its peak.
(22) NEW ORDER – Ruined In A Day
In the studio but the song got no higher.
(19) EVOLUTION – Everybody Dance
Here to perform their second and final top 40 hit but it got no higher.
(31) SMASHING PUMPKINS – Cherub Rock (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(30) BILLY IDOL – Shock To The System (video) (Breakers)
His tenth and final top 40 hit and it got no higher.
(29) COVERDALE PAGE – Take Me For A Little While (video) (Breakers)
From their eponymous top four album but it got no higher.
(25) TAYLOR DAYNE – Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 14.
(20) 4 NON BLONDES – What’s Up?
Performing their only top 40 hit and it peaked at number 2.
(13) JADE – I Wanna Love You (via satellite)
Got no higher.
(NEW) TAKE THAT – Pray
Live in the studio with what was soon to become their first of eleven number one hits.
(1) GABRIELLE – Dreams
Second of three weeks at number one.
8th of July is next.
Not laters this week. Early for a change.
ReplyDeleteThat Joey Lawrence track was as saccharine as Shanice’s big hit. My teeth itch.
Deborah with a batty video (see what I did there?) and an unexplained question mark at the end of the song title as shown in the non-mugshots.
New Order sounding like an uptempo Beloved apart from the, erm, unmistakable vocal chords of Barney.
Evolution? Several steps backwards if you ask me. A singer dressed for Royal Ascot with a right old nag of a cover.
Smashing Pumpkins – if Nirvana came from Chicago…
See, Idol, if you’d popped into the studio like you were advertised to previously, this might have charted higher. Not that it deserved to.
Take a well known metal singer and arguably the best known rock guitarist ever and you get a couple of dinosaurs, according to Dorky. How rude.
Oo, finally a breaker which goes up but, sadly, a nondescript cover by Taylor well below Barry White’s definitive version.
4 Non Blondes (or 4 Young Blondes as Dorky seems to introduce them) with quite possibly the shoutiest stadium lighter track ever.
Jade inventing social distancing before lockdown there. Part of that backing track reminded me of “Justified And Ancient”.
Oh dear God. A “Like A Virgin” stage set and a song we’ll sadly hear again.
Either Gabrielle had a thin, soft voice or she was left way down in the mix again.
Lucky old Southend, by the way.
The Deborah Harry video had similar special effects to Blondie's Atomic video from 1980. Apart from that, I couldn't find anything to comment on with regard to this week's show.
DeleteFour songs at peak position this week further down the charts, and missing out on a TOTP appearance:
ReplyDeleteNo.34 Aerosmith - Eat The Rich
This one seemed to pass me by at the time, and a quick look at the video, shows that I didn't miss much, as this one tumbled straight out of the top 40 the following week.
No.36 Gloria Estefan - Mi Tierra
Estefan is back, but would also tumble out of the the Top 40 the following week, and like Aerosmith, was here for the long haul, releasing new singles throughout the 90s.
No.41 Moby - I Feel It
First single for two years since their only hit to date in 1991 called Go which went to No.10, this follow-up which took two years to come about, was a rare flop for Moby.
No.58 Altern-8 - Everybody
Final single for Altern-8, as the curtain comes down on a two-year chart career, which started off in 1991 with Infiltrate 202, followed shortly after by the brilliant Come With Me which got to No.3 shortly after in the same year 1991.
Yeah, fond farewell to my home town’s Altern-8. Leaving Bizarrre Inc to carry the Stafford ravers baton alone. Mark Archer from the “8” had a top 30 hit in 94 with his Slo-Moshun project, Bells of NY, which is worth a listen. There was the attempt to take “Come With me” to number one in 2013 as a two finger salute to Simon Cowell, but that seems to have stalled at only getting to 33 in the charts. (Sidders)
DeleteJOEY LAWRENCE – File under "whatever happened to..." It's not a bad tune actually and he can sing but I was watching the backing dancers.
ReplyDeleteDEBORAH HARRY –This one is seriously growing on me. Smart video even if she's clearly taking off "Belinda Carlisle"
NEW ORDER – "Ruined In A Day" one of those forgotten tunes but I thought it was a decent track and a good performance. Bernard not a very strong vocalist and this plays safe for him so it works live.
EVOLUTION – Amazingly no evolution at all to this cover of "Everybody Dance". They have just stuck a dance beat behind it. The singer looks completely disinterested and her vocal lacks any power or passion.
.
Breakers:
SMASHING PUMPKINS – Some good stuff to come from them later
BILLY IDOL – Liked that
COVERDALE PAGE – Hate AOR.
TAYLOR DAYNE – Still plugging away but very much an "also ran" in the pop stakes
4 NON BLONDES – Now here's a singer that clearly gives a f'**k. "What’s Up?" is a beautifully crafted tune and performed with real passion. Highlight of the show and one of the best sounds of 93.
JADE – Some podium performing with some very poorly staged clips added in. Song is Ok but not very memorable.
TAKE THAT – "Pray" could be the best tune they had in the early days. This is a real leap in quality and polish of performance. They are now seriously a force to be reckoned with. Liked that.
GABRIELLE still at the top and a less passionate performance this week I thought.
Laters...
4 Non Blondes was also a highlight for me of this show and indeed the year so far. I never listened to them at the time so thought I’d give the album a spin on Spotify, didn’t grab me I’m afraid. Suppose this makes them one-hit-wonders, although lead singer has written some of the biggest hits on the planet for other artists (Sidders)
DeleteWho the heck was Joey Lawrence? (Dreadful song)
ReplyDeleteRuined in a Day also sums up this New Order single’s contribution to their previously exemplary run of singles from 1981’s Ceremony to earlier in 1993, Regret. (Mobile Sidders)
ReplyDeleteI loved Blossom, but I couldn't stomach Joey Lawrence's singing career. He went into a sitcom with Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina) called Melissa and Joey which always seems to be on E4 in the afternoon. I've never watched an episode because from the little bits I've seen when channel surfing it looks terrible. He's aged well though.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Dane still having hits, good for her. She turned up on RuPaul's celebrity drag race a few weeks ago and that was the first time I'd thought about her in years.
Smashing Pumpkins and 4 Non Blondes my highlight of the week but it wasn't a bad mix of genres.