If anyone ever jumps through the tv screen into your front room, it will be Louise
20/10/83 (Janice Long & Andy Peebles)
David Grant – “Love Will Find A Way” (24)
Donned in his headband and best orange boots, David gets the show underway but this song didn't find a way to get any higher in the charts.
The Rocksteady Crew – “(Hey You) The Rocksteady Crew” (6) (video)
My word, don't they look young! But the song went up no further.
Howard Jones – “New Song” (3)
And here's another song that was at its chart peak, and just as well, poor old Jed looks a bit knackered by now.
Billy Joel – “Uptown Girl” (25) (video)
At last, the song that will remove Culture Club, but it was edited out of tonight's 7.30 showing.
Gary Numan – “Sister Surprise” (36)
Another one edited out, and it went up four more places.
Freeez – “Pop Goes My Love” (26)
At is chart peak.
Elton John – “Kiss The Bride” (30) (video)
This third single from his top ten album, Too Low for Zero, went up ten more places.
Depeche Mode – “Love In Itself 2” (21)
Was this a repeat showing, because it seems indistinguishable from last time? Anyway, it went no higher in the charts.
Men Without Hats – “The Safety Dance” (13) (video)
All the way from Canada, with a video shot in Wiltshire! The Safety Dance was their only hit, peaking at number 6.
Culture Club – “Karma Chameleon” (1) (rpt from 22/09/83)
Their fifth and penultimate week at number one.
Meat Loaf – “Midnight At The Lost & Found” (17) (audience dancing/credits)
At its peak.
Next up is October 27th 1983, but DLT is one of the hosts, so BBC4 will skip to November 3rd instead.
The Rocksteady Crew - you're right Angelo, the Rocksteady Crew are younger than I thought, in fact they seem to be around 14-16 years of age, and commanding an audience of 7.35 million viewers of TOTP that evening. Good Lord, were we supposed to be looking up to these teenagers at the time? I mean I was 15 in 1983, and I must have liked the lead girl on the video saying "Hey You." Best of all was the logo/branding of RSC (RockSteadyCrew) on the white t-shirts. Now that is class.
ReplyDeleteFreeez - alas, the last ever appearance by Freeeeez on TOTP and in the UK charts, where they went through a number of line-up changes between 1981-1983, culminating in the brilliant IOU, to be followed up by this dross. It's no wonder they faded away for good on this episode. Goodbye and goodnight Freeeez, and so long!
Elton John - what a video, what a video, what a video. Did I say that three times. Erm yes. Never mind the bride, but I wanted to kiss the redhead girl with the shortish frizzy hair and black miniskirt that even Meat Loaf would have been proud of. More about him shortly, but Elton here is now revelling in his new video work after his last hit I'm Still Standing, which took us by surprise at the time, as he was not known for his video prowess before 1983!
Men Without Hats - along with Elton John, the two best videos on the show, and I loved the way the cute girl in the barn skirt/dress just danced the day away in the outdoors with her fella and the funny leprechaun. Good Lord, the last leprechaun I saw was the Irish one that Fit Finlay from WWE Wrestling used to bring in to the wrestling ring with him around 10 years ago in 2006-2008, some 20 years after Men Without Hats. I also liked the way this trio of Men Without Hats led a troupe of dancers in the outdoors like the pied piper of Hamlyn. Also really liked the costumes and colour, in the style of the Karma Chameleon video, and this typified the 80s superbly.
Culture Club - already 5 weeks at No.1, and only one studio performance which was before they got to No.1! I wonder why they were not invited back like Howard Jones who had his second studio appearance at no.3 this week.
Meat Loaf - it was a little odd to have an edit just after the No.1 and before the playout. I guess Janice was mentioning next week's show would be with DLT. Anyway, did you see how she referred to Meat Loaf for the playout as "THEY'RE at No.17 this week. Is Meat Loaf a number of people Janice? Nooooo, it is one person who was called MEAT at school since the age of 5, cos he was so huge in size by then, and added the surname LOAF when he left school to find a job. Janice, please don't refer to Meat Loaf as "THEY."
Yes, I noticed Janice's little gaffe there - perhaps she Meat was so big, he must be more than one person! The Culture Club performance was from the first week they were at number 1 - I suspect they were too busy touring or recording to return to the studio.
DeleteSorry, that should have been "perhaps she thought Meat was so big."
DeleteThank G-d he wasn't in the TOTP studio, cos he would have given her a good earful!
DeleteA contrasting pair of presenters tonight, with Janice in a glitzy red dress and Andy in a rather unfortunate combination of lumberjack shirt and braces. Nevertheless, both do a good job and seem genuinely interested in the music - just a shame about Janice's little Meat Loaf slip-up at the end.
ReplyDeleteYet another David Grant performance to kick us off, and the first of a large number of songs this week that have been on before. David has no antique BBC mic to play with this time, so settles for a few underwhelming spins instead. Much more entertaining dancing from The Rocksteady Crew follows as they cash in on the breaking craze, which was now around its peak. I was amused by the RSC branding on their shirts - I wonder if you could buy them?
Howard and Jed are back for another lively appearance, and the crowd seem to enjoy it, though Howard should have taken that horrible gum out of his mouth. Then we finally get a new new song, so to speak, with the arrival on the show of Uptown Girl. I really liked this when I was a kid, but I am less keen nowadays; although you can't fault the production, it's just all a little too brash and American for me. The video still has some amusement value however, posing the obvious question - what did glamorous, leggy Christie Brinkley see in millionaire shortarse Billy Joel?
I am guessing this is one of the last times we will see the Numanoid, as his star was now rapidly in the descendant. He persists with the funky bass and turgid vocals of recent releases, but there is a bit of sax to add something different here, and the chorus has some life to it. However, it's still all a long way from the glories of 1979. John Rocca persists with his vile grey cardie as Freeez once more test our patience with this flimsy effort, before we get Elton on video, seemingly rehearsing for his infamous wedding the following year. There is a strong Meat Loaf vibe to this promo, and the song itself is one of Elt's rockier efforts, but it is not in the same league as his previous two singles.
Like Freeez, Depeche Mode turn in a largely identikit performance to last time, though I did spot Martin actually play the guitar on this occasion. The excellent Men without Hats video then gets a proper airing, and this is unquestionably the best song on parade this week. Janice claims that Margaret Trudeau, then the wife of the Canadian PM and now mother to the current one, performed backing vocals on this, though I haven't been able to find any hard evidence that she did. Meat plays us out, as the audience wave and chuck balloons around.
The RSC branding is in a similar style to Roger Federer's RF branding, recently also done similarly by Andy Murray in his AM logo on his gear.
DeleteThe answer to your question about Christie Brinkley is in one word: MONEY.
Your point about Elton John & Meat Loaf is quite poignant here, as I remember in Feb 1994 at the Brit awards, when Elton John was the host and awarded Meat Loaf with recognition for record of the year for 1993 with Meat's massive UK no.1 of 6 weeks, called I'd Do Anything For Love, which Meat performed live on that show. Meat Loaf was awarded by Elton at the end of his performance, and Meat acknowledged by saying "Thanks Elton."
It's a shame that they didn't collaborate to do some records together, as I think Elton John and Meat Loaf would have been one of the most powerful duets in pop music history if it ever came off. It's not too late, as they are both the same age and still performing live across the world, but individually. You can still do it guys! I would come to your concert!
By the way. here's the Meat Loaf Elton John meeting at the Brits:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VthiKY5GdFs
Wilbeforce, this clip may change your mind about Meat Loaf.
Money was the motivation I was suggesting for Christie - my question was a deliberate adaptation of the famous one Mrs Merton asked Debbie McGee about her diminutive husband! I can't quite imagine what an Elton/Meat collaboration would sound like, but it would certainly be intriguing...
DeletePerhaps their first record could be "I'm Gonna Kiss Your Bride", or "Elton John At The Lost And Found", or even better, "Deadringer For Elton".
Deletejohn of course i got the immortal mrs merton reference, but surely christie brinkley was making enough money of her own as the number one american supermodel to have her pick of eligible guys much taller and better-looking than billy? but then again, maybe one bit of him was out of proportion to the rest of his diminutive figure?
Deleteanother sleb "beauty and the beast" match not made in heaven was that between julia roberts and country musician lyle lovett. i don't see the appeal of ms roberts myself. but she has her many admirers, and one would have thought in her position she could have managed a bit better than a guy who looked like an extra from an early david lynch film!
Do you know who the lead girl is in The Safety Dance video? She does look like a movie personality, but I can't quite figure it out.
DeleteSuffice to say, I'm pleased to have picked up the video from iTunes, a diamond gem of a video at £1.89 to download and keep. Certainly agree with John that it is the best song on show this week.
Dory the girl in the Men Without Hats video is Louise Court, who went on to become editor of the UK version of Cosmopolitan from 2007-2015. The woman's voice you hear saying 'dansez' is Margaret Sinclair, mother of the present prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and ex-wife of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau!
DeleteWilberforce - to be fair to Christie, she was married to BJ for nearly a decade, and they did have a child together, so I am guessing there was some genuine attraction there. According to Wikipedia, they are still friends today.
DeleteAngelo, interesting, she does have the looks for Cosmopolitan herself. So if she only finished that post two years ago, she must be coming up to her final work years, cos looking at Wikipedia, her father was the news editor at The Daily Mail and Sunday Mirror, and she is now around 57 herself. Seems like a media family she's born into.
DeleteBeauty is in the eye of the beholder, guys, and I think we can agree Billy Joel was absolutely lovely - er, ahem, OK maybe not. What about sense of humour? Ladies go for that, I'm told. He could be hilarious.
Deleteperhaps the billy/christie liaison was a case of "faint heart never won fair lady"?
Deleteby the way, i wonder how ms court got her break in the media world? as they say: "keep it in the family"... regardless of how untalented that family member might be!
dory i think i'll pass on your invitation to watch mr loaf and reg at the brits, thanks all the same. never mind "bat out of hell" - that sounds like a match made in hell as far as i'm concerned!
DeleteHas anyone got the 27th Oct '83 TOTP edition, but one with all the songs in it, and none missing? Thanks John for the copy you located so far, but too many songs are missing to enjoy the show. However, it is better than nothing I suppose if we cannot find a complete version, but I have a feeling that we will, as someone always comes to the rescue at the last minute. Neil B?
ReplyDeleteNeil's copy 0f 27/10/83 is missing the first song and I don't think he has uploaded it. There is another copy at vimeo.com/216079460
DeleteHmm, yes indeed, the Vimeo copy looks to be a full edition. Nice one Xrayfour, whoever you are!
DeleteWas Janice's hair supposed to be blonde, but the dye turned out ginger? Always a risk. Might have been the lights.
ReplyDeleteWho else felt their heart sink when David Grant was announced as the first act on? look, he has a new dance move, and he can almost do it, too.
Rather cruel to put the Rocksteady Crew on straight after for some proper breakdancing, but no matter, I thought this was great at the time and its exuberance still makes me feel nostalgic. Am I right in saying one of the crew met a terrible fate while spinning on his head and broke his neck, paralysing him for life? Sorry to bring the mood down!
Howard Jones managing to play his keyboards without touching the keys, and Jed who is reminding me more and more of Norman Wisdom. We all know Howard tours to this day, but what happened to the little guy?
Billy Joel with a tune I initially liked, but then got royally sick of when it was never off the TV or radio for months. Did the Kwik Fit Fitters get the idea for their ad from this video?
Gary Numan doing an impression in sound of him and his band falling down some stairs. It's a bit more lively than his other recent stuff, but tiresome in its angular way.
Freeez and their anaemic, tinny follow up to a really good single. At least they seem to be enjoying themselves, beaming away, the keyboard player's dancing in particular was very amusing.
Elton John, does he perform this as "Kiss the Groom" now? About as rockin' as Sir Reg got, and quite bright, though the scrapyard video is curious. I note Elt doesn't kiss anyone in it.
Depeche Mode, the keyboard solo that ends this is one of the most amateurish ever heard, it sounds like a child has broken into the studio and is going plinky plonk on the keyboard.
Men Without Shame, sorry, Hats, in an exercise to see how long you can sing on one note without altering the pitch. The video is like one of those renaissance fayres Americans insist on holding where you get berks dressed up as King Arthur and Guinevere and you can eat a hog roasted on a spit. Only more manic. The lead singer looks like Simon "Manimal" McCorkindale. Infernally catchy, but deeply not sensible.
Culture Club continue their reign, then Meat Loaf to end on. Not the best episode, but it had its highlights. And that was just the hair.
The late night repeat thankfully had the Meat Loaf playout in full, cos the early evening showing had hardly any of it.
DeleteI must admit I only ever watch the late night repeat now.
Deleteis howard jones really still active and touring? i would have thought if there was ever a case of "where are they now"...
Deletethat gives me an opportunity to publicise this feature i put on the internet a few years back (if you don't want to read it all, then just go straight tro the bottom):
http://www.gavinunderhill.co.uk/CSHS.htm
surely "saturday night's alright for fighting" is the nearest reg ever got to rocking out? before i started taking a severe dislike to him as much for him being him (as well as his horrible shouty vocals and dull-as-ditchwater music), it was one of a couple of tunes of his i actually liked (the other being "goodbye yellow brick road")
DeleteHoward's never stopped touring, never underestimate the power of nostalgia! You can see him in Liverpool in a couple of weeks. He has more recognisable tunes than you might expect. Jed? Not so much.
DeleteCaptain Fantastic is Elt's best for me, great album. Not that heavy, though (in guitar terms).
Deletepersonally i wouldn't see howard jones if he was performing next door to me. but it proves the maxim better to be a has-been than a never-was!
Deletethx thanks for reminding me about "manimal" - i've never actually seen it, but it looks like a really cool piece of 80's sci-fi (and mccorkindale was cool as well) so it's on my "to see" list now!
DeleteI'm the proud owner of the Manimal DVD - it's terrible but hilariously entertaining! Everything I've heard about Simon McCorkindale indicates he was a top bloke, so RIP Simon. He was in one time late night STV staple The Sword and the Sorcerer with Matt Houston, too!
DeleteA mostly tedious edition with a couple of highlights (and this is not a reference to Janice's hair)
ReplyDeleteDavid Grant - YOU'RE NOT MICHAEL JACKSON! Next!
Rocksteady Crew - Ah, marvellous. A song that still sounds good today with the moves in the video that I remember cooler / more athletic kids than me having a good go at copying.
Howard Jones - Not surprisingly a more confident studio performance this time, but still chewing the cud. Stop that, it looks horrid.
Billy Joel - One of those 'OK at the time, now a housewife classic' efforts.
Gary Numan - Oh dear, at least the editors went for the right one this time. I do wonder if they felt an obligation to have him on so often because the show helped to break 'Are 'Friends' Electric?'...
Elton John - It's surprising that this didn't get any higher than No.20 as it got plenty of airplay at the time. Nowadays it gets practically none which is a shame as I think it's a good one.
Men Without Hats - A brilliant song with a really fun video that couldn't be anywhere other than the English countryside really!
My dislike, disdain, disgust, and sense of disappointment with the show continues this week. Yes, ToTP, I am proper dissing you.
ReplyDeleteDavid Grant, Depeche Mode and Freeeze. None of these have improved since their last visit. Musically, they are all completely forgettable, and there isn't the faintest whiff of charisma from anyone. At all.
Rocksteady Crew.Never really liked this. Its all a bit lightweight for me. Forgettable, I suppose you could say.
Howard Jones. Godawful. This guy is the absolute nadir of 80s music. I hate the plinky-plonkiness of the music, and the sub-GCSE standard lyrics (throw off your mental chains, my arse). His voice is grating too. And then there is the annoying mime alongside him. No words.
Billy Joel. Loved this when I first heard it, but after just a couple of times it began to pale. That Irish boyband version has done little to help in that regard.
FF as soon as the name Gary Numan is mentioned.
Men Without Hats. Terrible.
Scores. 2 for the show. 5 for Sister Cheggars and whoever was her co-host. THAT is how forgettable this entire show was.
shakey i think you've lost your last chance to spell freeez correctly!
DeleteChallenge accepted Wilby. Somehow, some way, some day I will insert Fureize's name into a review in a natural way and I will spell it correctly.
Deletewith 3 - yes three! of my pet hates on one show and little else of personal interest, i couldn't be bothered to walk the mile to my friend's to watch this edition. and even two out of the three commented on below are personal recollections, rather than remarks on the show itself
ReplyDeletegary numan: when i started watching this on youtube, i was thinking "blimey, the first decent thing the numanoid's done since "we take mystery (to bed)"". well, for the first minute or so anyway with the funky vibe and sinuous sax playing (by veteran jazzer dick morrissey, who was also responsible for that on vangelis's brilliant "love theme" from "blade runner" - i don't know who the blond guy is, but it's definitely not dick!). but then it turns into "music for chameleons pt II"!
billy joel: about 15 years ago i did a stint as musical director for a would-be cabaret act with three singers who were at least 15 years younger than me, and they gave me a load of recordings on cassette for me to listen to in order to work out the backing arrangements. that included "uptown girl", that i hadn't listened to for nigh on 20 years. then whilst we worked on it at rehearsals i mentioned billy joel. "who's that?" one of them asked in puzzlement. "the guy who recorded this song" i replied. "oh no, it's by westlife" they informed me somewhat incredulously. given it was a note-for-note carbon copy of joel's original, it was small wonder i never noticed!
men without hats: back in the early 80's my chums and i used to have a thing about chortling at indie-type bands with silly names that we would read about in the likes of the NME, but would never actually get to hear their recordings - unless we listened to the john peel show, which was certainly not something i was prepared to endure to find out. but then this particular silly name act suddenly came out of nowhere with a hit single, and we were most disappointed that it was mildly pleasant and almost-normal pop music rather than some dreadful shouty and scratchy indie-type noise!
Not a great show although I did like Janice’s fetching sparkling red dress. Really suited her.
ReplyDeleteDavid Grant – Love will find a way – Just what was the appeal of Mr Grant?!! Yep THX, my heart sunk too. FF…
Rocksteady Crew – Hey You – I consider myself a Charisma Records connoisseur with a large collection of singles released on the label…..but not this one. FF
Howard Jones – New Song – FF
Billy Joel – Uptown Girl – This is more like it. Wonderful track and great video with all looking like they’re enjoying themselves. I recall Willie Rushton doing a ‘version’ of this, half spoken and the less said about Boyzone the better.
Gary Numan – Sister Surprise – Boy does this go on!! No tune to discern although everyone gets stuck into their instruments. Definitely on the slide now.
Freez – Pop goes my love – Of interest to me only for Sandy Borne dancing in the right hand ‘cage’ in a black split skirt.
Elton John – Kiss the Bride – One of Reg’s less convincing rockers, but made up for by another good video. Watford had a reasonable season actually finishing 11th in the old First Division.
Depeche Mode – Love in itself – I got bored and FF
Men without Hats – Safety Dance – After JKs plug for this the other week we get the wacky video right through. Deepest Wiltshire indeed. One of those ‘take it or leave it’ tracks for me.
Culture Club – Karma Chameleon – Not surprised it sold a million.
Meatloaf – Midnight at the lost and found – One of the less apt playouts, but all have a good go at dancing to it nevertheless.
In the chart rundown I noticed Paul Young and ‘Come back and stay’ going down; if I’m not mistaken, this was featured just once?
Watford also got to the Cup Final that season, of course.
Deletejust to say as a postscript with regard to the billy joel / christie brinkley liasion: call me old-fashioned / hidebound / sexist or whatever, but even today i find the sight of a guy with a taller female partner somewhat disconcerting...
ReplyDeleteI have to admire David Grant, he did try really hard. But for someone who later became a singing coach and a judge on a talent contest his voice is actually very thin and clearly double tracked. Also his dancing leaves a lot to be desired, he thinks he's Jeffrey Daniel or Joe Tex but he just ain't, he looks too awkward and self conscious. And I see the boots and headband have made a reappearance. Rule 1 - never go back.
ReplyDeleteBreakdance 2: Electric Boogaloo. There is something really funny about seeing Janice Long introducing The Rocksteady Crew, it's like your mum trying to get down with the kids, and they really were kids by the look of it. Not a bad video though of its kind.
Howard Jomes back again. This is a song I never tire of hearing although Jed's antics are a bit annoying. His outfit must have been cheap to buy, just a couple of metres of toilet chain from his local B&Q. Sorted.
Billy Joel finally gets the recognition he deserves Terrific song and equally good video apart from the tagged on body poppers which now dates this.
Like Gary's hair the tunes are getting thinner. This is just a nasty racket. Sister Surprise? Yes the surprise is that this was a hit.
Freeze back again and looking/sounding more dreadful than last time. The band look like they are taking the piss and didn't believe in their own song. Black Lace had more credibility than this.
More motorbikes in the Elton John video. I had forgotten about this one, this is one of the many zillions of videos Reg made where he camps it up a bit but appears in very little of it and lets loads of other people do the work.
Depeche Mode desperately trying to keep up with all the complicated instrumentation and almost tripping themselves up in the process. Good song though, still works for me.
Men Without Hats appear to trying to remake the Wicker Man on a farm in Devon. As you do. I liked this a lot at the time. Never found out what a safety dance is though.
Culture Club have outstayed their welcome now. Meatloaf is the wrong song to play out on as it's not really that dance-friendly, not that that stops the crowd.
bama i don't think b&q had superstores in every town then like they do today? i think for most people it was still a case of visiting your independently-run local hardware shop a la the two ronnies "four candles"...
Delete