Friday, 21 April 2023

Trouble of the Pops

 We've been out all night and we haven't been home, and when we get in we're gonna get the 28th of July 1994 edition of Top of the Pops!


Double trouble


28-7-94:   Presenter:  Bruno Brookes

(14) SHAMPOO – Trouble
The original girl power brit poppettes get the show underway and the song peaked at number 11.

(13) EYC – Black Book
In the studio but they got no higher.

(2) ALL-4-ONE – I Swear  (via satellite)  (and charts)
At its peak.

(4) LET LOOSE – Crazy For You
A third studio performance and the song peaked at number 2.

(17) RED DRAGON with BRIAN & TONY GOLD – Compliments On Your Kiss
Performing their only hit and it peaked at number 2.

(21) THE 3 TENORS – Libiamo/La Donna E. Mobile  (video)
Got no higher.

(7) CHINA BLACK – Searching
A second studio performance and the song peaked at number 4.

(6) ERASURE – Run To The Sun
Here tonight but the song got no higher. It would be nine years until their next top ten hit.

(1) WET WET WET – Love Is All Around
Ninth of fifteen weeks.

(NEW) ROBERT PALMER – Who Could Ask For Anything More  (studio montage)  (and credits)
Did not chart.


4th of August is next.

11 comments:

  1. A big comedown this week after last week's non-stop party atmosphere, and a stagnant Top 3 didn't help get the show going at all.

    Shampoo - first and biggest hit for Shampoo, and also most memorable I would say, as the two cuties continued for a couple of years until the arrival of the Spice Girls in 1996 to take over the girl power baton.

    All-4-One - stuck at No.2 for the 5th week in he summer of 1994 behind the same No.1, it reminded me of the summer of 1978 where Father Abraham & The Smurfs were stuck at No.2 for 6 weeks to be denied only by the Grease smash hit by Travolta & ONJ. Nevertheless, All-4-One were at their 11th and final week at No.1 in America while stuck at No.2 in Britain for the 5th week with the same single I Swear.

    Chart rundown - Kate Bush as new entry and peak position of No.27 with The Man I Love got no play this week, and would fall badly to no.56 the following week, so totally missing out on a slot on the show. So too Michael Ball a new entry at No.36 with From Here To Eternity would fall out of the Top 40 the following week, and also missed out on a TOTP placing.

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    1. Not forgetting Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" stuck at number 2 for six weeks behind Bryan Adams.

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    2. Yeah, the summer holidays would often give us much longer stints at No.1, as after 1978, it was 1984 when Two Tribes was at No.1 for 9 weeks, but there were several different No.2's, and then 1991 and 1994 as mentioned here.

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  2. When on earth are Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry going to crack this show? 7 Seconds should really have been on by now and it's eventually going to be massive but still ignored. What an unusual chart trajectory that song has. (Not the only weird chart journey in the near future - Celine Dion's Think Twice is also going to have a prolonged trek to the top).

    Shampoo - bet they wish they'd trademarked the title of their single Girl Power because come 1996 they might have been quids in. Miley Cyrus was recently covering their track Delicious for a perfume ad. As for this one, it annoyed me at the time (read trying to be cool indie teen) but I was wrong, obviously. This remains a classic pop track and a clear foremother of the likes of Icona Pop and Charli XCX's I Love It.

    Boy band boredom three in a row? Really? TBF I don't hate the All 4 One or Let Loose songs but we've had them so often. 11 weeks at number one? That's worse than Wet Wet Wet at this stage.

    Red Dragon - really like this one.

    Three Tenors - really don't get this one.

    China Black - love this one, good to have them back.

    Erasure always give good Pops. Hadn't realised this one got so high! I really like it, this album is very nostalgic for me.

    I don't understand how the British public have forgotten the slog of summer 1991 already, it was only three years ago (or about one year in bbc4 time??). Hurry up Whigfield!!

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    1. Yep, I was eluding to the later single Girl Power by Shampoo released in 1996, same year that the Spice Girls arrived on the scene, and final year for Shampoo. Shampoo may have been the idea for forming the Spice Girls without knowing the story of how the Spice Girls first came about.

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    2. Spoiler alert for Rad - we get "7 Seconds" later this week. It took 7 weeks in the top 40 before TOTP decided to put the song on the show.

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  3. Three songs peaking outside the Top 40 this week for previous chart regulars in the 80s & 90s, but missing out on a TOTP opportunity by not getting into the Top 40 this time round:

    No.43 Dee-Lite - Picnic In The Summertime
    First single in two years from the group who came close to No.1 in 1990 with Groove Is In The Heart. This was no summer 1990 in summer 1994 as Dee-Lite were to bow out with this last fling at the charts, as all their singles in the 1991 to 1994 period peaked outside the Top 40 after an initially promising and successful debut year in 1990.

    No.61 Sonia - Hopelessly Devoted To You
    Not sure if this is a cover of ONJ's 1978 single from the Grease soundtrack, as I always thought that the original should never be covered considering the movie and attention that the movie was associated with at first release. Also surprised that Sonia was still going in 1994, but this was her last ever single, as the curtain falls on a Stock Aitken Waterman prodigy that continued to work on new singles a few years on from the end of that SAW era.

    No.66 The Spin Doctors - You Let Your Heart Go Too Fast
    Having already had their last Top 40 single with Cleopatra's Cat, this new one and the next two final singles would fail to make the Top 40, so by now we had already seen the last of them in terms of TOTP appearances before finally bowing out for good in 1996.


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    1. Sonia's flop was indeed a cover of the Grease song, released on the Cockney label (A Scouser on Cockney?).

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  5. (Proofreading cockup last time, let's try again)

    We endure the crappest band link intro to a show yet.

    Ah. Now. Shampoo marrying plastic punk spoken verses to a killer chorus. Notice the cameraman attempting a lurid periscope shot up the grey skirt at one stage.

    A number one spoiler alert from Trev before the return of those prats with some identikit new R ‘n’ B where you could have had SWV or En Vogue or whoever singing over that generic backing.

    All-4-One become the first of four songs already on a previous edition. I wonder how gently named act House Of Virginism failed to get on with their second and final non-mugshot hit?

    Let Loose get another crack for their hit, the sort of tune Bad Boys Inc could only dream of.

    Red Dragon, with Brian and Tony and thankfully not Brian and Michael, using “Shboom (Life Could be a Dream)” for the melody hook.

    Thirty Quid again, with a lovely view of Pavarotti’s chewing gum. Mmm, nice.

    Another outing for China Black’s ‘waves washing over toes’ summer smash.

    I’d forgotten this Erasure song. Almost punk-like for them and plenty of gumption behind it.

    FFF WWW for a completely pointless re-hash and re-naming of the 1930 Gershwin standard “I Got Rhythm”. Down the dumper with you, Palmer.

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  6. Kiddie Punks SHAMPOO are in "Trouble". I don't recall anyone I knew who liked this. My male friends assumed it was kiddie-pop and my female friends used to laugh at them. I guess a load of tweenies must have got excited about them. Annoying catchy and radio friendly. Happily never hear it again. Speaking of which EYC open their "Black Book" and provide us some very generic r&b/pop vibes.

    I swear ALL-4-ONE have been lost on that Beach for weeks. Someone call the RNLI. In the countdown: I work in the Borough that contains Twyford and I really don't think it deserves a song Gialliano!

    Two crackers in a row from LET LOOSE and RED DRAGON. Glad BRIAN & TONY GOLD got a namecheck at the end. "Compliments On Your Kiss" has a lovely summer vibe and performed really well.

    Must be in a good mood as I even enjoyed the THE 3 TENORS tonight. They were so big in the early nineties, their albums shifted by the bucket load when I worked on the sounds counter at WHS.

    Another helping of the rather excellent "Searching" from CHINA BLACK followed by a rather forgotten ERASURE tune. "Run To The Sun" lacks a killer chorus but is well produced and sounds great.

    I swear one of the Belgian kids behind the Wets was smoking! Not sure about this ROBERT PALMER number.

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