Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur of what is known as the 1st of September 1994 edition of Top of the Pops!
It's got nothing to do with your Vorsprung durch Technik, you know
1-9-94: Presenter: Claire Sturgess
(10) BLUR feat. PHIL DANIELS – Parklife
Getting the show underway with the title track from their mega number one britpop album but it got no higher.
(14) SEAN MAGUIRE – Someone To Love
Fresh outta Eastenders and making his studio debut with his first of eight top 40 hits but it got no higher.
(NEW) LUTHER VANDROSS & MARIAH CAREY – Endless Love (video) (and charts)
Peaked at number 3.
(25) TERRORVISION – Pretend Best Friend
In the studio but number 25 was its peak.
(6) BOYZ II MEN – I’ll Make Love To You (via satellite)
Went up one more place.
(27) LISA LOEB & NINE STORIES – Stay (I Missed You) (via satellite)
Her only top 40 hit and it peaked at number 6.
(4) YOUSSOU N’DOUR feat. NENEH CHERRY – 7 Seconds
Finally making it into the studio and the song went up one more place.
(NEW) CHILDREN FOR RWANDA – Love Can Build A Bridge (video)
Peaked at number 57. Mmm... wonder if Neneh was watching this... ?
(1) WET WET WET – Love Is All Around (via satellite)
Fourteenth week at number one.
(NEW) SUEDE – We Are The Pigs (studio montage) (and credits)
Peaked at number 18.
8th of September is next.
A quick hello for one of only two shows Claire Sturgess presented. Safe pair of hands, solid presenter, shame we didn’t see more editions with her.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. ParkliFF first.
Claire does ruin her carpet, mind you, with two number one spoiler alerts in the show, the first before Sean Maguire’s snoozesome Let Loose C-side.
Sound down for the non-mugshots, featuring the only top 40 showing for Me’Shell Ndegeocello, who was signed to Madonna’s Maverick label and scraped the 75 with “If That’s Your Boyfriend He Wasn’t Last Night”. Also, the only top 40 hit for former London bus conductor Duke Baysee, and the first outing for Livin’ Joy’s track which will be re-issued and do much better the next year.
Breathless rapping by Terrorvision’s Tony Wright. What a set of lungs he must have.
“I’ll make Love To You”… er, no thanks, lads! Boyz II Men’s “End Of The Road” part 2 accompanied by ‘got dressed in the dark’ outfits.
The strangely bespectacled Lisa Loeb and a couple of very old looking strummers with a pleasant and mellow late night drive ballad.
Great spotlight staging for the first verse of “7 Seconds”. Felt like it took eight months for this to finally get played on the show but well worth the wait.
Children For Rwanda certainly wasn’t as twee or cloying as I expected. Certainly better sung than “Just Say No” by the Grange Hill mob. As alluded to, Neneh Cherry joined forces with other artistes and re-recorded this as a Comic Relief number one the next year.
FF WWW again for some proper Britpop from Suede for the montage.
Wasn't Claire Sturgess a Radio 1 DJ at the time? I didn't know what she looked like till now, as I must have missed the two TOTP episodes she presented, and she has a certain Kim Wilde look and feel about her I thought. Wiltshire lass apparently.
DeleteLisa Loeb had just come off three weeks at No.1 in America with this tune to make way for 14 weeks at No.1 for Boyz II Men, and now she was on the trail in the UK to do the same, but only managed No.6 with Stay, as did Boyz II Men with their single, so it seemed the Brits were not so convinced wth these two American singles.
Claire had taken over the Friday Rock Show from Tommy Vance. She's currently on Absolute Radio.
DeleteChart rundown - Good Lord, second show in a row with a number of peaking singles inside the Top 40 for previous chart superstars and not a single second for them on TOTP:
ReplyDeleteNo.36 Dave Stewart - Heart of Stone
Sounds like a Bucks Fizz or Eurythmics song title, but first solo single for Stewart since his 1990 Top 10 single Lily Was Here. The ex-Eurythmics star was back in 1994 for only two solo singles, the second of which, shortly after this one, didn't even make the Top 40, and that was all that was left from Stewart solo.
No.37 The Beautiful South - Prettiest Eyes
No.38 Arrow - Hot Hot Hot
Remix of their 1984 original which only got to No.59 at the time, but still stood out as one of the most famous summer disco dancefloor classics, I guess this was probably remixed for 1994 following the success of Red Dragon and Chaka Demus & Pliers that summer.
No.39 Peter Gabriel - SW Live EP
Last single from Gabriel's long solo career dating back to 1977 with the famous Solsbury Hill which got to No.13, although he did come back briefly in 2003 to release one single called More Than This which I'm not sure if it was a Roxy Music cover, but only got to No.47.
No.37 The Beautiful South - Prettiest Eyes
DeleteNot the most outwardly commercial track the band ever released, but a sweet ballad about a couple together for 60 years and still in love.
One further song of note peaking outside the Top 40 this week at No.50 was Patti Labelle with The Right Kinda Lover. Her last time in the charts was in 1986 with a solo follow-up to her duet with Michael McDonald called On My Own which got to No.2. This new one in 1994 was a one-off single, and was to be her last one in the UK Charts.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Claire Sturgess presenting, wish she'd done more. Initially watched this and forgot that there was a missing ep - thought it strange to see some songs on two weeks in a row until I remembered.
ReplyDeleteGreat opening with Parklife, overplayed since but a cracking tune.
Sean Maguire - Just Say No!
I'm not a video exclusive fan
This cover of Endless Love isn't actively horrible but it's very oversung.
Lisa L with another track from uber 90s film Reality Bites, another good showing for 7 Seconds and a fun Terrorvision slot make for more fun than not, and Suede on the playout after a Blur opener confirms we're well and truly in the Britpop era now.
All together now "PARK LIFE". BLUR featuring the wonderful PHIL DANIELS on vocal duties. Great performance and probably Brit Pops anthem. Loving Damon in his British Rail jacket. A real sense of something new creeping through that will lead to a full on feel-good Britishness, from Radio 1, Chris Evans, TFI Friday and even to the world of Football. Culminating in Labour winning power in 1997 to the sound of D:Ream. Heady days.
ReplyDeleteNext up it's a miming Tegs from Grange Hill (or the lad that's just killed himself in EastEnders). SEAN MAGUIRE pre body builder stage with a tune even the backing singers look embarrassed by. Nothing to love here.
LUTHER & MARIAH with a perfectly fine version of "Endless Love" Does Mariah think upside down headphones make her look cool? Then a blast of TERRORVISION which I really enjoyed. Lots of energy.
Still really liking BOYZ II MEN with "I’ll Make Love To You" and then a "satellite-segue" (c)TOTP1994 into LISA LOEB. A cross between Sheryl Crow and Nana Mouskouri with her rather fine tune "Stay". Nice support from the Nine Stories, even though there is only three of them. Big radio hit this one and it's a cracking little tune.
Great live performance from YOUSSOU N’DOUR and NENEH CHERRY with tune of the year "7 Seconds". Love Can Build A Bridge will get a much better version very soon thank you.
The WETS have been Number One for so long now the building has decayed around them and SUEDE get their non-radio friendly tune on the playout which I can take or leave.
Claire does an OK presenting job but lacks any kind of spark for me.