Believe, believe in the 2nd of May 1996 edition of Top of the Pops!
Pumpkin guy
2-5-96: Presenter: Michelle Gayle
(3) GINA G – Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit
Getting tonight's show underway with her first of three top ten hits.
(12) CHANTAY SAVAGE – I Will Survive
With her only top 40 hit but this Gloria Gaynor cover got no higher.
(8) MANCHESTER UNITED FC – Move Move Move (video) (and charts)
Went up two more places.
(11) 3T – 24/7
Here tonight but the song got no higher.
(10) SLEEPER – Sale Of The Century
A second performance for this song but it was now at its peak.
(7) PET SHOP BOYS – Before (video)
At its peak.
(15) THE CURE – The 13th
A second studio performance but the song got no higher.
(NEW) SMASHING PUMPKINS – Tonight Tonight
Performing what will become their first of two top ten hits when it peaks at number 7.
(1) GEORGE MICHAEL – Fastlove (video)
First of three weeks at number one.
(NEW) BLUR – Charmless Man (video) (and credits)
Will peak at number 5.
Gee, we've had a lot of GG lately (and more to come).
ReplyDeleteThe name Chantay Savage meant nothing to me but I do remember this cover. It's alright but the original has so much more power to it.
Mna U - erm, it's better than Pass and Move?
3T - 3 Zs.
Sleeper - Louise dressing and dancing as the most Britpop it's possible to be. Great track though.
PSB - pretty good.
The Cure - love it, but the public really couldn't buy a few more copies to make it number 13?
Ver Pumpkins - Fantastic stuff.
Decent episode overall this one.
Football songs like this Man Utd one date back to 1970 as far as I know in the singles charts, so that is at least 26 years that this phenomenon has continued up until 1996.
DeletePet Shop boys were not done yet on their own, with this new single as the follow up to Hallo Spaceboy with David Bowie. PSB were more about their videos, and still as enthusiastic as when they first came on as a new group in 1985.
Hello. Good to be on here again although I'm finding it less easy to commit to writing something on the blog. I just haven't been as enthused about the repeats lately which is a shame as some great singles were out in 1996. I'm still finding the '76 to '78 repeats very enjoyable and I'll still contribute to those postings but as to '96, I'll probably be an infrequent poster from now on. I still love to read what's posted by others though and I never fail to be entertained and educated by what everyone adds. Thanks as always Angelo for keeping this great blog going.
ReplyDeleteThis edition was a good one and Michelle Gayle is as good as pop star presenters get. Warmth and without irony which is becoming increasingly rare.
Gina G; Well that's an image I remember. Just a bit more leg from our Eurovision entry. She's really sparkling here and that's a brilliant pop song. How on earth did that not win and the Katrina one, which to me always resembles a church strumalong, manage to be the winner. 'Ooh Ah...' still huge fun to listen to.
Chantay Savage; None more mid '90s drift through 'I Will Survive' without any of the original tune. I don't think so. Her outfit looked impressive if you still wished it was 1993. Which I think I did at the time. An embarrassingly early cut off as well. Verse, chorus, applause. Even Bomballurina didn't have their version of a 'classic' treated in that way. Maybe the time was required for every last second of the No.1.
Manchester United FC; Rubbish single obviously but always enjoyable watching footballers in a studio and wondering what they momentarily find so amusing.
3T; The previous hit I thought was a beautiful single but this was totally forgettable. No knapsack chucking this time sadly.
Sleeper; Good one from this band, with a great, almost passionate chorus from her and one of those curious little guitar parts that was a good thing of Britpop. Never a fan of them though.
Pet Shop Boys; Eye catching video as always but not much to listen to.
The Cure; Following PSB who a few years before appeared with Neil perched on a tall step ladder. With a title like that maybe Robert Smith should've performed standing underneath one. Unusually cabaret like from them with ruffled shirts aplenty and extra musicians for some reason all looking like Scatman John. Good song though with that little bit of creepiness that you want from them.
Smashing Pumpkins; Great to see 'Tonight Tonight' performed in the studio. Brilliant single and those changes from frantic to sweeping still sound fabulous. Billy Corgan dressed very soberly and regarding the camera with an entertaining wariness whenever it comes up alongside him. The others don't seem to be performing their roles with the greatest seriousness with James Iha playing his guitar with enigmatic hand gestures where others would just stick with a plectrum. Very cool and performed under a set of lights arranged in a way that curiously resembles Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage which is surely not intentional as the one in question had burned down 2 years before and didn't look like that anyway. Good to see Michelle really appreciate that performance as well.
George Michael; No complaints about the chart topper. 'Fastlove' is a really classy single and the way it suddently blasts off into the part that includes 'Forget Me Nots' is still thrilling. Fabulous video too especially at the end.
Goodbye Michelle. For the final time perhaps? I don't think her pop career went on beyond this point but I've enjoyed her time on the show.
The quick run through a bit of a song then crash ending is oddly not an archive clip this time but the latest single from Blur.