Are you ready, are you ready for the 13th of October 1994 edition of Top of the Pops!
Snappy dressers
13-10-94: Presenter: Mark Goodier
(15) P.J. & DUNCAN – If I Give You My Number
Getting the show up and running but the song got no higher.
(16) CAPPELLA – Move It Up
In the studio but got no higher.
(23) GLORIA ESTEFAN – Turn The Beat Around (video) (and charts)
Peaked at number 21.
(12) SNAP feat. SUMMER – Welcome To Tomorrow
Performing their what became their ninth and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 6.
(8) LISA LOEB & NINE STORIES – Stay (I Missed You)
This one again. It had already peaked at number 6.
(4) PATO BANTON – Baby Come Back (video)
Still on his way to the top.
(20) 2WO THIRD3 – I Want The World
Performing their first of two top 40 hits, this one being the biggest but it got no higher.
(NEW) STING – When We Dance
With what became his second of three solo top ten hits when it peaked at number 9.
(1) TAKE THAT – Sure (video)
First of two weeks at number one.
(TOTP2) SLADE – My Friend Stan (clip of TOTP 11-10-73) (and credits)
A number 2 hit from October 1973.
20th of October is next.
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ReplyDeleteTOTP2 15-10-1994 https://wetransfer.com/downloads/e46f0cfb9f7905af519d7ec443c92f3f20230525202907/04907a
ReplyDeleteWe got more of the Gloria Estefan video on TOTP2 this week, and Vickie Sue Robinson was indeed acknowledged as the original disco version single in 1976.
DeleteWhat a brilliant Recorded For Recall section paying tribute to 1973, and just loved the ELO performance in the TOTP studio for Showdown, in the days when they were still needing TOTP for exposure until 1976 of course which was their last time in the studio before their huge video provision for TOTP until the end of the original group in 1986. Also the Simon Park Orchestra's Eye Level was just superb in those 1973 days of cold evenings camped up around the television with only three channels as a 5-year old that year.
On Recorded For Recall 1984, Meat Loaf was on his first TOTP studio appearance in the years after the first Jim Steinman split, having to arrange his own musical scores, and strange that Meat agreed to mime in the studio considering his powerful live voice.
Rob - are these being held anywhere else? I missed out on the episodes for 24.9.94 and 1.10.94. Many thanks
ReplyDeletePopscene Mega folder https://mega.nz/folder/h0snQACa#uiNNqosfbdrfzODHsE1clw/folder/sp9BBb7Y
DeleteMany thanks Rob, but these files have no sound, or am I going mad?
DeleteCapella - still going strong with the familiar early 90s techno beat, this could have been a 2-Unlimited single, but considering 2-Unlimited had now slowed down their sound as on their current single No-One, then Capella were flying the flag for the era's heavy dance floor beats.
ReplyDeleteGloria Estefan - ah now this Gloria Estefan number was originally a hit for Vickie Sue Robinson in the original disco era of 1976 in America, and reached a peak No.52 in the UK that year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95eWL8s_wRc
Suffice to say that Robinson sadly died in 2000 at the age of only 45, but this new Gloria Estefan's cover/tribute in 1994 would reach No.21 in the UK.
Chart rundown - Ace of Base trying again with the re-issue of Happy Nation which got to No.42 a year earlier in 1993, only got two places higher on re-issue in 1994 and just sneaking into the Chart rundown at peak of no.40, while The Nightcrawlers as a new entry at No.22 with the original of Push The Feeling also at peak with no TOTP play this week, but would be back a few months later in early 1993 with a remix of it to go Top 3.
Snap ft Summer - a drastically different style and line up to the days of Turbo B in the 1990-1991 era, this new line-up with Summer leading the way in the TOTP studio was something like this Shiela B Devotion video in dance and style:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwaIeMDLxI
All I can say is let's have the Snap video for Welcome To Tomorrow, as it is more like Snap!
Pato Banton ft UB40 - using up the new second video slot on the show, this was hardly worth it, as this lot only got a short piece of their video played, and not given a full play this week climbing to No.4.
PJ and Duncan AKA a very poor man’s House Of Pain. Don’t bother with the number, lads.
ReplyDeleteNo, Mark, the Take That exclusive was in the last show. Duh.
Cappella give us punk rave with filmic effects. Some really heavy lifting there by Bloke On Throne.
Number 23 a smash, Mark? What did you drink before the show?
Another fit inducing video, this time accompanying one of Glo’s midtable second division efforts.
Non-mugshots: 50% of the entire top 40 career of Purple Kings. Me neither.
An end of show spoiler next with Arrogant Prick shaving the chart position onto his head.
Nice hair flick early doors by lead Snapette. She’ll catch a cold in that outfit. Enjoyable bustling rave lite.
Lisa Loeb, again? And a dropper as well. Boooo!
It’s Paxo Banton’s turn on the show this week to stuff an old hit CJ Lewis style.
Punctuation anger alert! T,O,T,P, spelt with commas in the next piece of Letraset. Commas! 2wo Third3 weren’t gr8. I watched 4 a few seconds and wasn’t 10tative at using the FF.
Two more very quick lurches for the remote before some proper music, albeit with a dodgy abuse lyric, from Slade. Note the back to front N’s on the piano’s “Stan” sticker. Not just thrown together, that.
Sting with (dramatic music) the intro because (even more dramatic music) he has a brand new single. I must say I did like that single at the time and still do. Mark Goodier's image change was the big event of this edition. Revisiting his teenage self perhaps? I'd get on a moped to get away from the first act.
ReplyDeletePJ & Duncan; Surprisingly not that abysmal. In fact really quite good but I won't say that out loud.
Cappella; Unmemorable
Gloria Estefan; An eye catching and eye hurting video for the return of Glo who has also had an image change which we see in the few seconds when the searchlights aren't flying around. I hope she got out safely.
Snap feat Summer; Really good to see them in the studio and great to get another bit of set extravagance from Ric and co after Michelle Gayle. It looks like the Planetarium with the controls being accidentally hit all at once and I'd like to take a trip out there. Planets did make up the set for Bowie's famous performance of 'Starman' and good to see something similar here. Great performance from the ladies too.
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories; The studio performance again which is good. Forceful and less mannered than how she sings on the record. Enjoyed revisiting that.
Pato Banton; More of this to come
2wo Third3; Very clunky group name but a very catchy tune that I remembered straightaway. It sounded very '80s to me.
Sting; The moment has arrived..... Actually I do have a fondness for 'When We Dance'. Beautiful tune and that chord that seems to float off on its own before the song pulls it back. Very romantic lyrics and that doesn't readily come to mind with Sting. Yes really enjoyed that.
Take That; I still find 'Sure' extremely underwhelming. No raunch to my ears. Just daytime TV theme lite with some lyrics. 'Sure' in their dance moves at least. Howard certainly could've made a hole in the stage at one point with the stomping around.
The original TOTP2 did look like a really fine series. I don't think I picked up on it until a year or so later. No complaints about seeing Slade 'My Friend Stan' if only for a few moments. From the surviving Kenny Everett edition.
Now then. Suddenly remembered. This is where it all gets hazy for me as I stopped watching TOTP in early October 1994.
ReplyDeleteNot a protest at the show’s quality, I’d jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire by leaving an awful job in London for an even worse one 60 miles away by train.
By the time TOTP was on I was either still commuting home having missed a tight connection at Clapham Junction, or I prioritised sorting out dinner over watching or (for many weekends over the next 15 months) getting home, having something to eat and then driving 60 miles to my new girlfriend who met me at the office and who lived in a rural village near our work.
Two years later I was promoted to London, by which time the relationship was way over and I’d more or less given up on the show. The TOTP editions from hereon in will therefore be seen with ‘new eyes’.
I watched TOTP for about a year after you stopped watching it, so till around end of 1995 which I guess we will reach that point in the reruns at the end of this year, so not long to go before the episodes come new to me too.
DeleteI only just got to watch for the first time the 1975 movie called Tommy over the weekend just gone, as I was curious to see Tina Turner's part in the film as her passing earlier this week has been topical, and I found the film quite hard to watch based on the storyline, despite it being a rock opera classic and box office success across both sides of the Atlantic.
I've just noticed that TOTP is jumping back to April in a couple of weeks. 16th April 1981. Error? Or have they decided to be a bit more flexible with the older repeats.
ReplyDeleteNever mind that, found out tonight that we're losing at least two episodes next week because they can't cleanly remove appearances by, and mentions of, R Kelly and (as the playout Gary Glitter. For fuck's sake!
DeleteI know, it's a shame. Kylie Minogue is the guest presenter on one of them.
DeleteI'm so behind! Sure at number one almost makes me miss WWW. It's one of the worst TT songs and Gary Barlow's voice is like nails on a chalkboard.
ReplyDeleteEverything else tonight was fun though!
Don't worry about being behind Rad. I struggle with 2 a week, let alone 4. Jan 95 has a couple of R Kelly episodes as well I believe so time is about to fly by,
ReplyDeleteGoodybags has had a rather severe hair cut which doesn't suit him.
P.J. & DUNCAN miming this time so they can do their cheesy dance routine. I always thought they only had one good tune, and I was right. This is absolutely terrible.
Always love a CAPPELLA tune and "Move It Up" is a really decent slice of dance/pop. Rapper had a lot to do didn't he?
"Turn The Beat Around" an American top ten from 1976 for Vicki Sue Robinson (me neither) that has been turned into a rather storming piece of latino pop. From GLORIA ESTEFANs rather fine album Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me which I played a lot of in the mid-90s.
SUMMER taking centre stage for "Welcome To Tomorrow" however the backing dancers steal the show here. I thought they were wearing fake boobs to start with but bras on the outside is a new one. I was very distracted. Tune is OK.
Tons of new entries this week and we get a repeat of LISA LOEB and the PATO BANTON video again. Two wasted slots for me.
I hope someone did a risk assessment for that chair. 2WO THIRD3 with their debut "I Want The World" which wasn't bad actually. Not one I recall from the time. Just one question, if they are called 2/3 shouldn't one of them be missing?
STING going through a real purple patch in the 90s. "When We Dance" a beautiful tune. Great performance. Ever so worried for the audience member nearly getting crushed by the cameraman. Hope she was OK.
TAKE THAT with a live version of "Sure" which actually made it sound half-decent.