Come to my house tonight, we can be together in the 24th of February 1994 edition of Top of the Pops!
The TOTPs orchestra might be starting to show their age a little now
24-2-94: Presenter: Bruno Brookes
(22) LEVEL 42 – Forever Now
Getting the show underway and the song peaked at number 19.
(7) ACE OF BASE – The Sign
Here tonight and the song went up to number 2.
(6) BRYAN ADAMS, ROD STEWART & STING – All For Love (video) (and charts)
Going back up the chart again after already peaking at number 2.
(3) SUEDE – Stay Together
In the studio but the song was now at its peak.
(28) GABRIELLE – Because Of You
Performing here tonight and the song went up four more places.
(13) ELTON JOHN with RuPAUL – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 7.
(20) SOUNDGARDEN – Spoonman (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(16) FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD – Two Tribes (Remix) (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(32) STING – Nothing ‘Bout Me (via satellite)
Performing live from Australia but the song got no higher.
(NEW) BECK – Loser
Making his debut with what became his first of ten top 40 hits when it peaked at number 15.
(1) MARIAH CAREY – Without You
Second of four weeks at number one.
(NEW) DOOP – Doop (studio montage) (and credits)
Soon to become a one hit wonder.
3rd of March is next.
Level 42 - my word I thought, a blast from the past, strengthened by Bruno’s comment, but a quick look at wiki shows they were scoring with singles for 14 years. Impressive longevity, but I never liked them.
ReplyDeleteAce of base - very lack lustre single. Quite surprised that it peaked at 2
Sting - zzzzzzzzz (all that lovely sunshine? It was raining!)
Beck - gosh, wasn't he young? Took me to the chorus to recognise it. Not a great performance.
Superb show this week, with Sting on twice - first in unison with Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams as the chart rundown video called All For Love, and later in the show on his own with his new solo single. We were really being spoiled today if you include the return of Bruno Brookes to TOTP as a further Radio DJ coming back to present TOTP in the latest revamp.
ReplyDeleteLevel 42 - still going in 1994, this early 80s group which first came to the charts in 1980 were back for the first time since 1992, and this new single was the first of three singles for 1994 which was to be their last year in the singles charts, you could say the goodbye year for Level 42.
Ace Of Base - while only peaking at No.2 in the UK, they would end up at No.1 in the US on two separate occasions soon after in 1994, for 4 weeks in March, and then 2 weeks in May, only being split by R Kelly's Bump & Grind who claimed the whole of April at the top spot.
The Breakers - I thought the Elton John & Ru Paul video was like a clip from Eurotrash, and the Frankie Goes To Hollywood video was a newly animated video with a few clips from the original 1984 video which was at No.1 for 9 weeks in the summer of that year.
Welcome back Bruno. Good to see him again. Looking a little disheveled but a good first show back.
ReplyDeleteLevel 42; Not seen this bunch for some time. A decent song and a more than decent coat or something adorning Mark King. Unusually flamboyant by his standards. Looks a little like the green suede cape that the late David Crosby wore in the early days of The Byrds. This tune not so harmonious but with his trusty whack-a-bass thing. Alright start.
Ace Of Base; '93s iciest party act return with something that isn't much more friendly to these ears than 'All That She Wants'. Rather sombre synths and a melody that twists about uncomfortably. Catchy though. More vocals from the dark haired lady this time.
Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting; Bryan Adams contributing to a single with copious historical movie images in the video. Take a creaky rowing boat to the hills!!!!! Or not actually. I really like this one still (never seen the film) and this won't hang around for long. Fine tune and always nice to see some chart heavyweights enjoying themselves.
Suede; Another live performance of 'Stay Together'. Someone's going to have backache the following day. I saw Bernard Butler twice within two weeks. Both times playing with the great Mark Eitzel who he was producing at the time. He wasn't contorting himself on those occasions. Still a brilliant single.
Gabrielle; Because of her I stayed to the end of this but nothing much to say about it.
Breakers; Elton and RuPaul. I also thought of 'Eurotrash' which must've had some influence on this video. RuPaul was very big at the time.
Soundgarden; great to see something from them this year. Frankie Goes To Hollywood; Pointless remix.
Sting; 2nd time on the show and Sting in very Sting attired, um, Stinginess. Average song. Recognised a couple of seconds of it.
Beck; I clearly remember this performance from the time with the ageing gargoyles on sitars and a curtain haired Beck Hansen dancing about. A little underwhelming watching it 2nd time around. He seemed understandably awkward on his debut appearance but the lyrics are still brilliantly barmy.
Mariah Carey; No.1 for 'Without You' of course and you can't really do an anonymous version of this song although this one always leaves me cold.
Doop get the annoying montage. Those poor geese.
RuPaul's very big right now with his "Drag Race" series.
DeleteYou could never call this version of "breaking" under produced
DeleteThree songs at peak position this week for former pop icons:
ReplyDeleteNo.77 Beverley Craven - Winner Takes It All
Not sure if this is an Abba cover, but Craven already had her last top 75 single, prior to this one which tanked at No.77.
No.83 Neil Young - Rockin' In The Free World
Quite a famous song from the 70s, and surprised it wasn't released as a single way back then, but Young was in his third decade in pop music since his first album released in 1970.
No.89 Roberta Flack - Back Together Again
Another familiar song title that was originally a Top 3 single in May 1980, at around the time that Dexys Midnight Runners were No.1 wth their debut single Geno.
Yep Dory, 'The Winner takes it All' was certainly a cover of the Abba classic. Much as I like Beverley Craven's music this was a truly uninspiring version. When you think just how good the original was, you really wonder why anybody would bother covering it. But there again some covers have almost hit the mark with the current No1 being a good case in point.
DeleteI remember a similar situation when Bryan Ferry got to No.1 with his version of Jealous Guy shortly after John Lennon died, but Lennon himself didn't release the original as a single in the early 70s from his solo album at the time.
DeleteYes, Roxy Music's cover of 'Jealous Guy' was released in February 1981 and the plain picture sleeve stated 'A Tribute'. Clocking at over six minutes with an extended instrumental / whistling fade, it annoyed me to buy the compilation 'Best of Roxy Music' only to find it faded at just under five minutes.
DeleteOh no, Trevor’s back hosting. Can’t we have Jakki Brambles instead?
ReplyDeleteLevel 42 return with a song which could easily have been done by Jamiroquai. Poor Mark’s face looked a bit weatherbeaten.
Typical Ace of Base sound and tempo. Brunette Base-ette does more in the first ten seconds than in the last two singles put together.
“Why?” number 1 as we get a single that’s four places lower than its chart peak.
Non-mugshots: One of only two top 40 scraper weeks for Marradona, the second being for a re-release three years later. Oo, both Jam and Spoon and “Spoonman” in the listings.
Sublime Britpop ballad from Suede. Bernard Butler sponsored by Voltarol and Deep Heat.
No wonder Gabrielle’s facsimile of “Dreams” wasn’t a big hit.
Breakers: dreadful row and Elton probably letting his guard down for the first time if you get my drift, a song ever so probably about drugs, and a pointless re-mix.
“Why?” number 2 as we get a second slab of Sting. They all look very fresh for five in the morning, Sadly, the track nearly made me nod off.
Not a great debut for Beck, but a winner of a chorus hook.
FF the chart topper for “Why?” number 3 as yet again TOTP persevere with some non-chart noise twinned with a stupid montage for the playout.
We'll be having more songs played after their peaks for the rest of this year & decade.
DeleteAs Arthur notes, more weird choices this week, especially the Adams/Sting/Stewart being played long after its peak.
ReplyDeleteLevel 42 a weird choice for opening in this allegedly new era. I don't begrudge them appearing, just surprised they were first on.
Ace of Base - this song IS 1994. It was absolutely everywhere at the time. I do have a fondness for it.
Suede are great, the breakers are fine.
I like Beck but how did he manage to get the exclusive as an unknown? Works though, this song is going to be big.
Two bloody Sting tracks in one episode???
Doop might be an unknown at the time of the credits but soon it'll be inescapable.
Doop was the last ever 7-inch single I bought, so bringing down the curtain on my 7-inch singles collection stretching back to 1978 when I bought my first one which was Racey's Lay Your Love On Me towards the end of that year.
DeleteNot sure when 7-inch singles ceased to be produced when CD singles were out from as early as 1991 I think, so the overlap was quite a long one if vinyl singles were still being pressed and sold in the shops in 1994!
The last 7-inch I bought on release was "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies, from our local Woolworths (sigh) also in 1994.
DeleteAlmost sure that 1994 was the last year that vinyl singles were available in the shops before succumbing completely to the CD single.
DeleteA lot of indie bands were putting out vinyl singles in the late 90s to try and give it a bit of a resurgence, I have several in my collection. Mind you the mid-late 90s was a format crazy time, I have so many cd singles with two or three versions (teens these days don't know they're born with their affordable streaming etc)
DeleteNow THIS is the definitive version of "Without You", 'sung' by a Bulgarian woman on a wannabe pop star show, having learnt the words phonetically from a cassette recording!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQt-h753jHI
Brilliant!
DeleteHere is a link to every TOTP Episodes…..Enjoy
ReplyDeleteaHR0cHM6Ly9tZWdhLm56L2ZvbGRlci9oMHNuUUFDYSN1aU5OcW9zZmJkcmZ6T0RIc0UxY2x3
Thank You "The Master".
DeleteGreat link for the ultimate collection of Top Of The Pops!
Bruno Brookes and LEVEL 42? It must be 1987 surely? – Love that Mark hasn't bothered to get out of his dressing gown. Tune not bad, but doesn't really get going until the second chorus.
ReplyDeleteI like ACE OF BASE and I like The Sign. I think it may even be better than All That She Wants. They deserve their US Number One....BUT... the
brunette still can't sing! Shame.
Enigma a non-mover and we haven't seen that video. What? We have to have BRYAN ADAMS, ROD STEWART & STING? Not Number One so gonna stick around the Top ten forever just to annoy us.
SUEDE – Stay Together
Number 3? Crikey this did better than I remember. Also I liked this performance much better. No idea why.
GABRIELLE next. What were people saying last week about if it ain't broke don't fix it. Nice vocal but "Because of You" sounds like all her other hits, which is not a bad thing really.
Breakers:
ELTON JOHN with RuPAUL – Torture me all you like I will never admit to buying this single.
SOUNDGARDEN – No thank you
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD – Two Tribes (Remix) Why?
STING has a jetty and 17 people to fill it. Billy Ocean would have put a whole army on there lightweight! "Nothing ‘Bout Me" a really poppy number and I rather like it. How long will it be before "live via satellite" is not a selling point anymore. How else did it get here? Carrier pigeon? I loved the look Sting gave whilst singing the "income tax" line.
Shake those drumsticks Grandad, BECK has raided the old people's home, I remember how much publicity and interest Beck got at the time. I quite like "Loser" but it was the follow up that made me buy the album so I'm really looking forward to that.
Nice to see the live MARIAH again and then a dollop of DOOP. More to come.....