We'll get wild wild wild for the 22nd of February 1996 edition of Top of the Pops!
Don't britpop in anger
22-2-96: Presenter: Lisa I’Anson
(10) TECHNOHEAD – I Wanna Be A Hippy
Getting the show underway and the song went up four more places.
(3) ROBERT MILES – Children
His first of three dreampop top ten hits and it went up one more place.
(8) BJÖRK – Hyperballad (video) (and charts)
Her third and final top ten hit and it got no higher.
(5) LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY – Lifted
A second studio performance for a song that had already peaked at number 4.
(2) 3T – Anything
A third time on the show but the song was now at its peak.
(7) BLUR – Stereotypes
Performing the third single from their number one album, The Great Escape, but it got no higher.
(NEW) OASIS – Don’t Look Back In Anger
Noel takes over the lead vocal for real this time with his britpop guitar and performs our blog title song, which will be number one next week.
(NEW) OASIS – Cum On Feel The Noize
And now Liam takes back control with this Slade cover.
(1) BABYLON ZOO – Spaceman
Fifth and final week at number one.
(TOTP2) THE MOVE – Fire Brigade (clip of TOTP 15-2-68) (and credits)
Number 3 in 1968.
29th of February is next.
25-5-78: Presenter: Tony Blackburn
ReplyDelete(4) YVONNE ELLIMAN – If I Can’t Have You (and charts)
(NEW) THE REAL THING – Let’s Go Disco
(10) BLONDIE – (I’m Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear (video)
(NEW) HEATWAVE – Mind Blowing Decisions
(21) IZHAR COHEN & THE ALPHA-BETA – A-Ba-Ni-Bi (video)
(51) JAMES GALWAY – Annie’s Song
(29) THIN LIZZY – Rosalie ®
(7) TAVARES – More Than A Woman (video)
(NEW) BLACK SABBATH – Never Say Die
(23) JOHN TRAVOLTA & OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN – You’re The One That I Want (danced to by Legs & Co)
(14) IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS – What A Waste ®
(NEW) CILLA BLACK – Silly Boy
(24) SHAM 69 – Angels With Dirty Faces
(1) BONEY M – Rivers Of Babylon ®
(25) ROD STEWART feat. THE SCOTTISH WORLD CUP SQUAD ’78 – Ole Ola (Mulher Brasileira) (and credits)
Had the pleasure of watching this show, albeit editing out three consecutive singles on the show, but I think James Galway will be back on a future show in that summer of 1978 in and around Father Abraham And The Smurfs and the Travolta/ONJ No.1.
DeleteThe Travolta/ONJ single in fact got its first airing on this show as a new entry at No.23 when they didn't have the movie clip just yet, and had to use the services of Legs & Co and Floyd from Ruby Flipper and The Kenny Everett Video show on the other side, and this Legs & Co clip was later used by BBC4 to paste over the original movie video after 2011 in their reruns of 1978 shows.
When the movie clip did become available for TOTP by the time Travolta/ONJ reached No.1 for 9 weeks in the summer of 1978, the movie was still nowhere near coming to cinemas in the UK which had to wait until mid-September which was already one month after ending their 9 weeks at No.1!
However, the movie was released in America three months before the UK, and on the same week as the song's first week at No.1 in the UK, and so the movie clip of the song was obtainable for the UK for showing on TOTP as soon as the film was released in America on the same week in mid-June.
I don't think I could ever get tired of '78 repeats and this is another brilliant edition. I wouldn't mind a '79 one though. Tony promises a great 40 mins ahead.
DeleteThe Real Thing; The edition couldn't get off to a better start with the absolutely magic 'If I Can't Have You' and the charts. I wish they could have done a top 100 rundown to accommodate the whole single. A fantastic top 30 as well. What is initially an unpromising clapalong with The Real Thing turns into a good bit of UK disco. They get the crowd going as always among whom is a woman with white flares the width of west London and a fellow in a hat almost as cool as Chris Amoo's. Great to see the camera cut to Tony cheerfully mouthing the lyrics.
Blondie; I've never seen the video for (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear before so a good extra. It's very stylish and hasn't really dated apart from Deborah Harry's choice of costume and gloves which looks like she's channelling The Smurfs.
Heatwave; I didn't see this repeat in 2013 so this was another surprise. Very understated single with a beautiful melody. If this wasn't used in a tv ad it certainly should've been.
Tavares; Would've been good to hear the unlikely one two of Thin Lizzy and James Galway but straight to another 'Saturday Night Fever' entry. Beautiful song and the lead singer has one of the great '70s voices though the audio sounded very warped. Still a delightfully of its time video.
Black Sabbath; That sounded good and the audience were into it. The band having a good time and 'Never Say Die' a very hummable bit of pop metal. I can't imagine Bill Ward being ordered about by the studio staff that day.
John Travolta & Olivia Newton John; "...new entry at No.23" sounds almost clinically insane today. So huge a single and repeated so often that I swear I can remember seeing a moment from the film on Top of the Pops when it was No.1 even though I wasn't yet three. OlNo. 23. Crikey. Floyd joining Legs and he takes centre stage. Rosie almost equal billing but mainly because her skirt has a design which makes it look like it's fallen down. Rollicking fun but for me doesn't equal the film clip which is probably my very first tv pop memory.
Ian Dury & The Blockheads; Iconic and riveting and cut off far too quickly.
Cilla Black; A decent move with the times for her. One bloke at the side in a big collar looked absolutely engrossed.
Sham 69; Grit your teeth time for Tone though he seemed happy to introduce the latest shouty bunch. A momentary flash of "if we must" from the eyes just as they start up. No half measures from Jimmy Pursey, flailing about, bellowing the lyrics then falling to the floor. One of the highlights.
Boney M; Always good to hear 'Rivers of Babylon'. No TOTP for 2 weeks so as if to say take that World Cup '78, an unusually dazzling end sequence.The record is crap.
ReplyDeleteQuick dig at Blur and we are off. Lisa back again. Really liking her as a presenter. Techno time. What is it they want to get? It's a right noise this isnt it?
Robert Miles was wonderful. Children probably in the top 10 most played songs on the radio in the 90s. This is a quality tune though. Never heard it called Dream Music before though.
Bjork at her most weird and inaccessible. All of last weeks tunes dropping down the chart. How did we not get London's Burnings John Alford on the pops?
Lighthouse family. Nice.
Backpack Boys up next. Actually quite like this tune. Apparently the second biggest selling group in Europe (after the Spice Girls) in 1996. Second album never came out as MJ fell out with Sony. That was that then.
Blur v Oasis Part Two and Oasis are about to fight back with a huge album. The crowd like Damon and this is a good tune from them. Always a great performance from them.
Oasis at their peak. 3 Brits. 2 songs. Still miming (which is just lazy frankly).
Don't Look is their finest hour. Union flag guitar. Lennon shades. Class. They ruled the UK at this point. Used at the end of the BBC drama “Our Friends Up North” which gave it iconic status.
Come On Feel cover I can take or leave.
Best parts:
DeleteRobert Miles - I could listen to this and follow up (?) song One and One, all day long.
Lighthouse family - lovely smooth radio fodder.
Oasis - Arguably the best Oasis song (Don't look back in anger) and doesn't have John Lennon wannabe knuckle dragger singing.
Fire Brigade - Don't ask me why I enjoyed that song....
Worst Parts:
Technohead - How many copies did the record company buy, to get that in the charts.
Bjork - Never understood how she is famous.
Blur vs Oasis = yawn
Couldn't agree more with both of you on Robert Miles, as this was as good a debut single as ou are likely to see, and as Angelo mentions it would peak at No.2.
DeleteRobert Miles in the 90s was a sort of Successor to John Miles (no relation) in the mid 70's with Music, or Jean Michel Jarre in 1978 with Oxygene, as their music by 1996 was a mere throwback to the good times of the 70s.
Another famous Miles from the 70s was snooker player Graham Miles who did a lot of his winning around 1974-75 on BBC2's Pot Black when most of the public still had black and white televisions and could not see the colours on the table.
Just checked on Wiki, and all three Miles men are no longer with us, with Robert Miles having passed away in 2017 at the age of only 47 with cancer. RIP
DeleteTOTP2 24-02-1996 https://we.tl/t-gXuVoPoPi5
ReplyDelete(please thank Ben Cook & Robert Thompson from the Popscene facebook group)
Audio codec: AAC
Thanks Rob, Ben and Robert!!!
Deletetotp2 = :)
DeleteThis one had sound first time round, so thanks Rob, Ben and Robert.
DeleteIn The Video Stir section, the new Take That video How Deep Is Your Love was not the way I hoped it would be depicted on the video, with four men being tied up and put on the edge of a cliff at the mercy of a woman in red, who after having some interest in one of the men, ended up letting go of him by accident to fall off the cliff. Good Lord, I wonder how the Bee Gees viewed this depiction of their original song from 1977? Indeed TOTP2 was right to put this video in the Video Stir section.
On the Tomorrow's hits section, at last the first David Bowie collaboration with The Pet Shop Boys with Hallo Spaceboy. Bowie really needed the PSB at this point in his fledgling chart career, as in solo mode it was a painful three years since his last Top 10 single in 1993 with Jump They Say, as his next 5 singles up to the end of 1995 could only manage a No.35 as best position between them. Good Lord, I can't wait to see Hallo Spaceboy on next week's TOTP!
"Ground to Major, bye bye Tom (PSB).......this chaos is killing me (Bowie)........."
DeleteJust looking at the BBC4 TOTP schedule for this Friday, and after the two 1996 episodes, there follows the final 1980 spring episode at the end of May 1980, before the two-month TV strike where there was to be no TOTP during the whole of June and July 1980 including when Xanadu was no.1 for two weeks.
ReplyDeleteSuffice to say that there was no goodbyes at the end of that 29th May 1980 episode, as David Jensen presenting the show may not have known that there would be no TOTP the following week at the start of June, but Good Lord how we missed some excellent new music and new No.1's in those two months of the TV strike, and a lot of what if's.