Shaky & Bonny are neck and neck in the Top of the Pops 100 meters dash
12/01/84 (Mike Read & Steve Wright)
The Icicle Works – “Love Is A Wonderful Colour” (28)
Getting us underway this week with their debut hit, which was also to be their only top 40 hit when it peaked at number 15.
Howard Jones – “What Is Love?” (2) (video)
Now at its chart peak.
Shaky & Bonnie – “A Rockin’ Good Way” (13)
It's the Welsh Kenny & Dolly with A Rockin Good number five hit.
Roland Rat Superstar – “Rat Rapping (Brilliant Isn’t It)” (14) (video)
Featuring Kevin the Gerbil and Errol the Hamster. It was probably funny at the time ...... and now at its chart peak.
Snowy White – “Bird Of Paradise” (19)
From his top 30 album White Flames, this was Snowy's only top ten hit peaking at number 6. But edited out of tonight's 7.30 showing.
Lionel Richie – “Running With The Night” (22) (video)
This follow up to All Night Long made it to number 9. All the videos were turning into mini movies now weren't they?
Joe Fagin – “That’s Living Alright” (18)
With the theme song of course from the fantastically popular Auf Wiedersehen Pet, it was Joes's only top 40 hit and it reached number three.
Paul McCartney – “Pipes Of Peace” (1) (video)
The first of two weeks at the top for what was not quite the last number one by a Beatle....
Billy Joel – “Tell Her About It” (4) (audience dancing/credits)
Now at its peak.
Tonight's telly
Next up is January 19th 1984.
Gary Davies is on Radio 2's Sounds of the 80s right now - presenting!
ReplyDeletedoes he still use his "woo gary davies on the radio" jingle?
DeleteHe played a 'woo' jingle coming out of the news. It sounded like he was enjoying the show.
DeleteI wasn't a regular listener to his lunchtime programme but for a while in the early nineties he did a really good Sunday night show.
Not only did he play the "Woo Gary Davies" jingle, he played the Kane Gang song it was based on, and interviewed the man behind it! He was never my favourite DJ, but do you know? It was great to hear him again, he sounded just the same, even did a Sloppy Bit and mentioned Willy on the Plonker, both of which would get you banned from the airwaves now. I note he had a more "qualiddy" music playlist than Sara usually does, but I'm not complaining.
DeleteI wish I'd listened - I'd much rather hear a presenter who was actually on-air in the 80s, and who doesn't play blindingly obvious tunes 75% of the time.
DeleteI like Sara, she's friendly, and I think the mix of familiar to obscure is about right, they were never going to play a Gaye Bikers on Acid B-sides special anyway. Enjoyed the Erasure special on the red button last night, Andy Bell is such a nice bloke, and Vince Clarke is, er, well he's Vince Clarke.
DeleteLiverpool is well represented in this edition of TOTP, with Sir Paul at No.1, Joe Fagin heading for No.3 (helped by Britain's original rock chick Val McKenna on lead guitar) and Ian McNabb's Icicle Works on their way to No.15.
ReplyDeleteAlas, Devon's finest rock export Snowy White was overlooked in favour of Roland Rat. 'Bird of Paradise' is one of my favourite power ballads ever.
i don't think there's been a single person from my dorset hometown on totp as yet!
DeleteWhat is your Dorset hometown?
Deleteweymouth, although i've not lived there now for many years (still visit when i can though). i never met her due to going to different schools, but julia fordham was a peer of mine who managed to get on totp in the early 90's. i also once heard my sister say that her work colleague's brother was martin belmont of the rumour (who appeared on the show once or twice in the late 70's), but i can find nothing on the internet to confirm his weymouth links. however it's pretty slim pickings, and that sadly that applies to the south west generally (as opposed to liverpool, where artists from there seemed to be on the show every other week)
Deletea while back i read somewhere that the population of liverpool has actually halved over the last 50 years or so - is that because of all the slebs clearing out of the place as soon as they can once they get famous?
Deletehurrah - we've finally got the dream host pairing of "read & wright"! why did it take so long? that apart, i have to say that 1984's not looking very hopeful so far if this and the previous show are anything to go by - in this case a bit of dull indie guitar rock that for some unfathomable reason really excited one of the hosts, some banal and tedious synth-pop, a rock n roll rehash by a dire duo, an unfunny pastiche by a puppet, some moribund pop-soul, a plodding rock ballad, a pub rock tv theme and a syrupy chart topper. hopefully things will pick up soon?
ReplyDeletei'm quite surprised to see that a beauty contest was still being given prime time on a major tv channel, as i thought that kind of thing had run its course by then. however the somewhat sarcastic tone of the preview indicates its days were numbered. a bit like speedway, i think they are still in existence but are now more-or-less ignored by the media...
ReplyDeleteI remember watching Miss World on TV in the late 80s. I think it was finally dropped from the schedules around 1989, at about the same time Thames dropped the axe on Benny Hill...
DeleteNo strange coincidence that. The Benny Hill Show and Miss World were both ITV audience fillers for the whole decade, and the Head of ITV at the time must have seen these two shows as being of similar out-of-date vilification of women as they were now starting to man-up towards the 90s, and femininity was on the wane, and thirty years later it is still in the doldrums in my opinion, as we wait for it to go full circle, but goodness knows when we will have the return of Miss World and a Benny Hill style show again, but we need that sort of humour back again.
DeleteWhile I am not a great Benny Hill fan, there is no doubt that he was one of the early victims of the rise of political correctness. Apparently he never really got over losing his show, and it may have contributed to his death a few short years later.
DeleteNot really, he was in talks for a return to TV at the time of his death. He was just old and out of shape, is the sad truth.
Deletei was a big benny hill fan in the 70's, and remember always loving his occasional totp pastiches. although he was a very private and almost reclusive person outside of his work, like a certain cigar-smoking DJ he was considered something of an eccentric: among other things keeping his mother's house exactly as it was when she was alive as some sort of shrine!
DeleteTHX - I saw a TV documentary a few years back which claimed that his health went into decline after his show was axed, though it did not mention that he was planning a comeback at the time of his death - according to Wikipedia, a contract from Central arrived in the post for him on the day that he died.
DeleteWikipedia also says that Wacko Jacko was a big fan, and visited Benny towards the end of his life. It also claims (though I have no memory of this story from the time) that thieves tried to dig up his body 6 months after he died in order to steal gold jewellery that was supposedly buried with him. The cemetery apparently responded by covering the coffin with a concrete slab!
I think I saw that documentary, Channel 4, wasn't it? It went into extremely unnecessary detail about the poor guy's private life, so now I know that he never had intercourse with a woman, but did like hand relief from the Hill's Angels in his flat. They even told us what colour his penis was! Basically the sort of thing that can be safely ignored on Channel 5 now. C4's Kenny Everett/Freddie Mercury doc around the same time was equally objectionable.
DeleteYes, I think it was a C4 doc, but can't remember for certain as it was on quite a few years ago now. I can't say I remember the bit about the Hill's Angels or the penis colour, but maybe I deliberately blanked that out of my mind...
DeleteProbably for the best, there's such a thing as too much information.
DeleteI'm surprised TOTP persisted with Wright as a host. He hasn't improved at all since his debut, twitching around like a school teacher with piles. Not a great show Steve!
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame Snowy White was cut from the early showing. One of my favourite songs of 1984.
Apparently Michael Hurll couldn't stand Wrighty, and tried to use him on TOTP as little as possible, but the huge popularity of his radio show led to Hurll being pressured into making him more of a regular from this point on.
DeleteThanks John I didn't know that.
DeleteI quite liked Wright's afternoon show on Radio 1 but I've never warmed to him on Radio 2, too many needless jingles.
Shame Hurll couldn't stand DLT or Smitty so we could enjoy a few more episodes now.
i seem to have a memory of listening to the steve wright show on a sunday morning/early afternoon in 1984 - was it on then, or am i thinking of adrian juste (both were of course kenny everett imitators)?
DeleteI've checked the Genome site, and Wright was indeed on Sunday afternoons at the time; for some reason, his show was running Sunday-Thursday rather than Monday-Friday. Adrian Juste was on Sunday mornings.
Deletethanks john - i'm glad my memory's not playing more tricks on me! i remember listening to it in my kitchen and finding it highly amusing at the time. one of things i liked about it was how he used different kinds of applause sound effects, ranging from a couple of people politely clapping to a football crowd reacting to a goal being scored!
DeleteYay! It's properly 1984. Sexcrime.
ReplyDeleteBut after a really great start with the wonderful Icicle Works and Howard's trip to Paris it all goes a bit off the rails in this particular episode as far as I'm concerned. That said I happily sat through everything except the Shaky & Bonnie number (fast fast forward for that one!) so it wasn't unwatchable, just a real mixed bag of stuff I couldn't really get excited about.
Love Is A Wonderful Colour was a truly great start though, such an excellent baroque indie moment. I checked afterwards and didn't realise I had quite so many Icicle Works CDs but they were a truly fine singles band. Ian McNabb also looks uncannily like that Gary bloke out of Snow Patrol at this point as well....
Are you cold, Ian? Not staying? You'll feel the benefit when you go back out. They start with the best record, The Icicle Works' biggest hit, a soaring, majestic piece of indiepop even if that opening line about the burning wood is a bit suspect lyrically. I guess "bonfire" didn't rhyme? Anyway, great record.
ReplyDeleteSacre bleu! 'oward is in La Belle France for his video, undergoing un crise existentielle! I see the TOTP balloons have been set loose to roam Europe. Kind of a clever conceit with Howard doing the actions, but the point is obscure.
Cheese and onion, salt and vinegar, Shaky and Bonnie, yes, a classic combination, or maybe real chicken in a basket stuff. I can see why Shaky would record this, but this sounds a decade away in the wrong direction from what Bonnie was doing with Steinman.
Roland Rat, now it's called Rat Rapping, but it's more rat rambling as Roly mutters to himself and Kevin interjects. Even at the time he never appealed to me, I just thought he was rude.
Snowy White, at the time I heard he was a bit of a legend in the music industry, but I wondered how it was I had never heard of him like I had David Bowie or Paul McCartney. I also thought his song was really boring, but hearing it again with older ears, it's nice enough, pleasant without being exciting.
Lionel Richie, there were a lot of street gangs in videos (and Cannon action flicks) around this time, Michael Jackson's Bad is probably the most famous, and here's Lionel with another one. As for the song, one of his uptempo numbers, which I kind of prefer to his ballads, though the middle eight is the best part.
Now you're talking, Joe Fagin! Everyone's dad's favourite TV show in 1984, and what a theme tune! Didn't this song start AWP and another, sadder one ended it? That must have been on the B-side. Adrian John had a spoof jingle of this ("Is it Adrian One, here on Radio John? No, that isn't right!"). Best story about this doesn't involve Joe, but the self-sabotaging indie rockers Earl Brutus who when called upon to put on a concert to promote their new album, instead played That's Living All Right a few times then smashed up their instruments on stage. That's why you haven't heard of Earl Brutus.
It struck me that it would be funny if the two officers in the Pipes of Peace video discovered that on looking at the photos of each others' loved ones, they were of the same woman. Then the bombs started again and they couldn't discuss the dilemma. Anyway, loved this at the time, and a worthy number one.
We can't get away from Billy Joel on this show at the moment, can we? Lots of interesting material in the chart from 40-30, I note. Presumably our hosts were donning the single white glove as a Whacko tribute? That they never refer to? And he's not on the show?
The show had some excellent videos this week, and Howard Jones was no exception. I really thought this had the makings of No.1, but was thwarted at the last by Paul McCartney and his Pipes of Peace.
DeleteShaky and Bonnie I thought made a great pairing with excellent chemistry on the stage, moving together well and miming perfectly to the song, (unlike Joe Fagin). I wonder how their pairing came about, as I must admit that I did find it surprising in 1984 to see them on a record together, with this being Shaky's first pairing with anyone.
I suspect the pairing with Shaky's fellow South Walian Bonnie Tyler - who had scored a British and American No.1 with 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' - was part of Epic Records' plan to translate his British and European stardom into American sales. He had by this time switched producers from the faithfully retrospective Stuart Colman to the decidedly corporate Christopher Neil, who had already produced an American No.1 for Sheena Easton ('Morning Train', aka '9 to 5'). The Neil-helmed 'Cry Just A Little Bit' proved to be Shaky's only foray into the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No.67.
DeleteWhat's odd about the pairing of Shaky and Bonnie is that while A Rocin' Good Way fits in perfectly with his rota of rock and roll, it's a long way from the image she portrayed with Total Eclipse Of The Heart, a definite step backwards in fact.
DeleteJust checked out the video for A Rockin' Good Way on You Tube and it's not bad, Bonnie is dressed in a man's suit and tie not unlike the look Victoria Wood adopted that year.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBwfCB5OYvU
The call-and-answer aspect of the song is very similar to Joe Fagin's That's Livin' Alright. Coincidentally it was written by Australian David MacKay who also produced it's a Heartache for Bonnie Tyler.
let us not forget christopher neil's pre-record producer stint as a star of 70's soft porn films!
DeleteBreakin' Away was the song that actually opened each edition of Auf Pet ~ and That's Living Alright was played over the end credits.
DeleteAnd yes THX it would have been brilliant if if was the same woman in each photo!
Ah, I was getting AWP mixed up with the credits themes of The Sweeney (the previous holder of everyone's dad's favourite TV show), that started with the dynamic version and ended with the reflective one.
Deletethe same "alternate versions of the same theme" happened with "crossroads", when for some strange reason macca recorded it for one of his albums and then offered it to the show's producers for use. who of course felt flattered by the attention of one of the world's premier pop stars, and thus grabbed it with both hands. however the audience didn't feel likewise, complaining his version wasn't as good as the original tony hatch recording. so they struck a compromise, whereby macca's arrangement was only used when there was a particularly sad end to a show!
Deletecan anyone think of other tv shows that open and end with either different pieces of music, or a different version of the theme?
Didn't Bullseye have two different themes? One for if the finalists one and another if it was a case of 'come and see what could you have won'?
DeleteEastenders does it of course whenever a main character leaves the show, usually looking sadly through the window of a taxi
DeleteOr through the window of a tube carriage, if recent episodes are anything to go by
DeleteNeighbours used to have an alternative end theme as well for sad occasions. And I think we get a rockier version of the TOTP theme for the chart rundown as 1984 progresses.
DeleteHowards Way?
DeleteI can't believe that no-one has mentioned 'Howards Way' yet!
DeleteThe TV show started with a slow tune and ended with a fast one and on the single version (a Top 21 hit!) by the Simon May orchestra managed to merge the two. I love it but suspect I may be alone in that one.
Somehow you just managed to beat me to it, Westy!!
DeleteI seem to remember that for at least one series of Howards Way the closing version of the theme came with lyrics (Always There), sung by Marti Webb. Simon May pulled the same trick around the same time with the EastEnders theme, getting Anita Dobson to sing the lyrics and getting a hit single out of it, as we shall see if the repeats continue into 1986 - thankfully, that version was never used on the show itself. Don Black, no less, was the lyricist for both themes.
DeleteIn sitcoms, Only Fools and Horses had a different theme at the start and end, and Red Dwarf has always had an instrumental version of the theme at the start (which itself was rearranged after the first two series) and a vocal version at the end. The same "instrumental to open, vocals to close" arrangement also applies to the first three series of Blackadder, and of course in that case the theme also got completely rearranged for each new series!
Top Of The Pops of course always starts and ends with different music, then there's Dad's Army which ends with the brass band arrangement of the song, Citizen Smith had different start and end theme songs as did It Ain't Half Hot Mum.
DeleteAll I remember of Howards Way is a bald womaniser (Ken Masters?) and a drunk boatyard owner, both of whom had been in episodes of Blakes 7.
DeleteJACK ROLFE! (You have to put his name in caps, as he was always shouting)
DeleteA picture of JACK in action on this page... ://www.zetaminor.com/cult/howards_way/howards_s6_guide.htm
DeleteGoing back to John's post, 1986 is a vintage (if you can call it that) year for TV related tracks on TOTP. As well as the aforementioned treats from Anita Dobson and Marti Caine we'll be 'enjoying' Su Pollard, Nick Berry, the cast of Grange Hill and the delights of Clare & Friends off Saturday Superstore.
Deletei can't wait - not! certainly a few good reasons to have "retired" from this blog by then...
DeleteThe Incredible Hulk had an exciting version of the theme at the beginning and a sad, walking away version for the end credits. I nominate we all go to YouTube and play that latter tune when Wilberforce finally decides to leave us.
Deletethanks thx - i always liked the sad ending music for "the incredible hulk" with dr banner having to once again move on due to his raging alter ego, and it would certainly be an appropriate note to leave on. but the likelyhood is that having been on board for so long now i shall almost certainly still retain an interest in the show (and the blog) even after 1984. however, it's highly unlikely i'll be posting reviews of each and every edition as i have since more-or-less the beginning of these re-runs, rather just respond to others making the effort to do so plus adding anything else i think might be of interest...
DeleteGlad to hear it, there's always YT clips for bits that sound interesting to you instead of watching whole shows.
DeletePleased to say that a couple of years ago I purchased the DVD box set of The Incredible Hulk, with all the episodes from the five or so series from 1977 to 1982. There was one particular double episode from 1981 called "The First" which was very moving, where The Hulk met another Hulk from another town, who had also got subjected to radiation some 20 years before David Banner's Hulk, and the two came face to face in a titanic struggle and fight of two beasts from two generations, in episodes 69 and 70 from the full list of 82 episodes from 1977 to 1982. It was definitely the greatest episode of the whole box set. The series also gets aired on The Horror Channel from time to time, but thoroughly recommended.
Deletei did get to watch the first season of "the incredible hulk" on dvd recently. but although it was quite enjoyable as a piece of retro hokum, perhaps the most incredible thing about it was that it lasted as long as it did given that it was essentially the same plot every week i.e. bruce banner pitches up somewhere new, meets and falls in love with a woman, gets antagonised by local creeps, turns into the hulk a couple of times (which is never witnessed by anyone, but inevitably gets reported and comes to the attention of the journalist pursuing him), and ends up leaving town!
Deletesorry - that should of course have read david banner, as they changed the character's name from that in the original marvel comic strip (apparently the series creator/developer kenneth johnson didn't share marvel mainman stan lee's fondness for alliterative names)
DeleteThe Marvel comic of The Incredible Hulk I remember from the mid to late 70s going to my local newsagent to buy it every week, while my older brother would buy Conan The Barbarian, so we had different preferences for comics, but they both came under the Marvel name.
DeleteI remember the character 'Bruce Banner' from the comics, and when the TV series came out, you could see in the intro every week, the coffin saying 'David Bruce Banner', and so this must have been Kenneth Johnson's only recognition of the name 'Bruce' in the TV series, but the rest of the time it was 'David' of course.
yes, that was the series creator's one nod to the original character name
Deletei remember buying an american import marvel magazine when i was about 10 years old in the early 70's for a badge (which i still have by the way!) for my collection, and being fascinated by the hash (#) sign that indicated what edition it was. but shortly after that marvel launched a version for the british market, that was different from the american comics in that there were three different sets of superhero stories in it (the hulk / spider man / fantastic four) rather than being dedicated to one in particular. plus there was no shiny cover, and it was the size of other british comics of the era such as the dandy:
https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/909587.jpg
i used to buy this every week for two or three years and collect/keep them. but inevitably after i lost interest and (probably) stashed them in our loft, my parents threw them all out!
also: i have to say that when i saw the tv series for the first time, i was quite disappointed in that the hulk's hair had transformed from what was actually quite a neat and cool style in the comics into a fuzzy mess!
DeleteWith Christmas well and truly over, and 20th birthday celebrations also complete, it's back to business as usual this week. The begloved duo of Read and Wrighty provide a notably chalk 'n' cheese partnership, one laid back, the other hyperactive and annoying as usual. Thankfully Mike does the greater amount of the work, including the invitation to vote for best British video at the Rock & Pop Awards (I think this was the forerunner of the Brits). This section was actually a bit of a mess, with only some of the candidate videos actually shown - anyone know which one was the winner? Amusing also to hear Mike announce Frankie in the chart rundown, as this was the very week in which he banned it...
ReplyDeleteThe Icicle Works get us underway, dressed predominantly in black. A nicely melodic, understated song, but not all that memorable. We head to Paris next, with Howard Jones looking pensive and showing off his magic powers against scenic autumnal backdrops. Back in the studio, Shaky and Bonnie make for rather odd singing partners, and this was certainly a bit of a strange move for Bonnie, given that she was enjoying big international success at the time. Still, it's a decent enough version of a sturdy oldie, and they seem to have a good stage chemistry.
Rat Rapping still raises a smile, though the gaudy backdrop in the video starts hurting the eyes after a while! Next we have ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Snowy White, whose pretty name isn't exactly matched by his looks. I'm afraid the tedious Bird of Paradise does nothing for me at all, and this performance seemed to go on forever. Lionel Richie also has a habit of boring me to tears, but on this occasion he manages to conjure up a song with a bit of edge to it, and indeed it probably stands as his best solo effort. The video is appropriately moody, but Lionel ends up looking a bit fat in his gangster suit...
The first series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was being shown at the time, and given the pop pedigrees of both Gary Holton and Jimmy Nail, it is perhaps ironic that neither of them did a Dennis Waterman and sang the theme tune. Instead we get the unprepossessing Joe Fagin, who looks like he has been brought to the studio with his band from the nearest working men's club. I would assume that the popularity of the show accounts for the success of the song, as musically it is repetitive and banal. After another outing for the now chart-topping Macca video, Billy Joel plays us out, although the only people who seem to be really dancing in the studio are the strategically placed cheerleaders.
The Roland Rat effort reminded me of the 1976 hit for Rick Dees And His Cast Of Idiots with the song Disco Duck, where the duck in the video was blabbering in a similar way to Roland Rat:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctEIQYu2n6I
Lionel Richie's video I thought was just superb, and pop videos by now had matured and peaked in the 1983/84 winter with the trend being to do movie-style videos, and on this show alone we saw this movie style effect with Lionel Richie and Paul McCartney's videos.
One word to sum up this edition… ‘Guitarists’.
ReplyDeleteA great pairing of hosts as some people have observed.
Icicle Works – Love is a wonderful Colour – Don’t remember this….but it’s really good. Yep a good start to the show.
Howard Jones – What is love – We saw a snatch of the Parisian video last week and impressive it is too. Better than Howard stuck on his own in the studio twiddling knobs etc.
Shakey and Bonnie – Tongue in cheek, name checking duet that’s easy on the ears and the two stars are clearly enjoying themselves.
Roland Rat – Rat Rapping – We had the dire Ant Rap a year or so ago and this isn’t much better despite the puppets.
Snowy White – Bird of Paradise – From Thin Lizzy we get another great guitarist in this excellent ballad that, to quote one contributor on 45cat, “I would seriously render this as a “should have got to no1 in Britain”. Indeed.
Lionel Richie – Running with the Night – Highlight for me! Another great guitarist hot on the heels of Snowy. This song really should have been credited to Lionel Richie and Steve Lukather (of Toto (and Jeff Porcaro is on drums too)). So good is the guitar work on here, although on the single cut at 4:07 compared with the sumptuous album cut of 6:00, we’re seriously short-changed. Even worse, some video sound effects drown out most of what we get to hear of Steve’s guitar solo. I wonder what a lot of folks thought when they settled down to listen to ‘Can’t Slow Down’ with the likes of ‘All Night long’, ‘Penny Lover’ and ‘Stuck on you’ when Steve’s guitar kicked in?! Anyway if you haven’t heard the full version, nor seen the video right through, then treat yourself here:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PnhlXLHKAE
Joe Fagin – That’s livin’ all right – Jaunty and catchy I really enjoyed hearing this again and the audience join in enthusiastically. So you kiss the dames yes its auf wiedersehn….oh damn I’ll be singing this all night now!!
Chart rundown – Down TEN places from no1 to no10 were the Pickets – when has such a massive fall from grace occurred prior to this (not counting more contemporary charts)?
My vote in the video competition would have gone to Ultravox’s ‘Visions in Blue’ which TOTP never showed right through.
Paul McCartney - Pipes of Peace - Worthy number one and great Christmas ad inspiration years later for Sainsbury's.
Billy Joel – Tell her about it – Extended dance out to the track’s conclusion mainly showcasing the girl in the black split skirt and the guy with the headband. No doubt never broadcast right through before.
I see ‘Diana’ was on later that evening. I recall watching that period drama with my Mum and a good series it was too.
In my opinion The Pickets deserved to go straight down from No.1 to No.10. It must have been quite shock to the group to see that happen, but I think most people were quite grateful for such a big fall from grace as you describe it.
DeleteThe audience participation on Joe Fagin reminded me of The Barron Knights which this track sounded a lot like in all its glamour. Fagin however mimed badly on this track, and the show was too slow to show him at the start of the song, that they were still focusing on the presenters once the lyrics began!
Yes indeed sct353, the Billy Joel playout on the late night version of the show was the record in full, i.e., all three-and-a-half minutes of it to the last balloon pop with studio audience dancing. TOTP once again in fine form to give a playout song a longer play than even some of the songs on the main playlist. Love it!
DeleteIt wasn't uncommon to see big post Christmas chart climbs and drops in the pre digital era, and the two weeks after Christmas were traditionally the weakest for singles sales of the year. This made it a good time of the year for acts with a loyal fanbase to take a punt at number one - Iron Maiden being a good example with 'Bring Your Daughter...' in 1991.
Deletei remember maiden copping a bit of flak for taking advantage of the post-xmas lull and scoring a "cheap" chart topper, although i don't suppose they cared. the only real surprise is why acts/record companies didn't leap at the opportunity sooner?
DeleteI don't suppose they did, they got two weeks at number one out of it. Iron Maiden were the sort of act this ploy would work well with - a loyal fanbase who'd buy the single in its first week over several formats.
DeleteI suspect Macca timed Pipes Of Peace so it would peak post Christmas. I was reading Mark Ellen's recent book the other week and he mentions an interview he did in the early eighties where Macca said he avoided putting his singles out in the same week as ABC and the Human League.
of course it was alleged that the beatles and the rolling stones alternated single releases so they wouldn't be in competition for the no. 1 spot. ironically though it was the stones' label (with an englebert humperdinck single) that denied the fab four what would surely otherwise have been an unrivalled run in the history of pop music (but they now have to share the record with some crappy boyband or other, that had a mere fraction of the sales!)
DeleteI used to work in a record shop in the mid nineties when the record labels were obsessed with getting a high chart position in the first week. It wasn't uncommon for the reps to offer '3 for the price of 1' deals to the shop so they'd sell the single at 49p. Blur's Charmless Man and the follow up to Babylon Zoo's Spaceman were both subject to this.
DeleteI also had to visit the other record shops in town to see what price they were selling key singles at, which our shop would then undercut.
Steve - when I worked for Sour Price (as we called it) I also had the unenviable task on spying on WH Smith, Boots and Woolies to check out their prices so we could undercut them.
DeleteBama - I worked at an independent in Leicester. Our spying was usually HMV, Virgin, Our Price and a couple of other indies, one of which was a bit awkward as the owner knew exactly what I was up to.
DeleteGood Lord, I see that there is no TOTP all next week, as BBC4 will be showing the Proms instead, and so it will be all quiet on the blog for two weeks Angelo!
ReplyDeleteMaybe next week Angelo can do a post about the Story of 1984 and the Big Hits show.
DeleteI used to blog the Story Of/Big Hits shows but since they started showing two editions per week I haven't done ~ need to conserve my energy :-)
DeleteAnother great start to the show with another Liverpool band. I loved the icicle Works song at the time and the album that followed. Lead singer Ian McNabb made some superb solo albums as well in the 1990s.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see the Howard Jones video in full which was partly inspired by the 1950s French short film The Red Balloon.
I like the Shaky and Bonnie song as I am now familiar with the original.
Not a great fan of the Snowy White song at the time but it doesn't seem so bad hearing today. Very much influenced by Dire Straits of course.
Things drag a bit with the video awards nonsense. What was the point of reminding people of the videos with clips? If you couldn't remember the video then why the hell would you vote for it? My vote would go to Tracy Ullman's They Don't Know.
Lionel Richie looks more like Kid Creole in that hat (at first glance I thought it was him making a cameo appearance) but this is a worthy follow up to All Night Long even if he has used the word Night in the title twice in a row. This video is influenced by Michael Jackson's Beat It as is the inclusion of the gutsy guitar solo.
Feel a bit sorry for Joe Fagin who's not good at avoiding the clearly-aimed balloons and streamers. One hits him straight in the fizzog. His band look like they've read a book on how to dress like a pop star - and fail.
Interesting chart this week. A lot of songs dropping drastically including The Flying Pickets and Slade both falling a massive ten places. There are no less than five number ones in the Top 40 including Karma Chameleon which has been on the chart since September. Whoop-di-do.
I forgot that Pipes of Peace didn't make number one until mid January but it still works. Is that a photo of Linda he has in his wallet?
Good playout with Billy Joel, I like the hand jive dancing. They seem to have got a whole new gang of cheerleaders. Presumably Jeff Stewart was busy getting ready to play Reg Hollis in The Bill.
My vote for video of 1983 from the choices given in the competition, would be Total Eclipse of The Heart and Wings Of A Dove by Madness, as I couldn't choose between them, but they stood out a mile from the rest of the list in my opinion.
DeleteI don't think that is a photograph of Linda McCartney, doesn't look like her, but I wonder who it is?
DeleteMaybe Lionel Richie should have covered Spinal Tap's Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight.
Wings Of A Dove is a good choice. I remember reading that the director found the footage of the van falling from a plane and built the whole video around that.
DeleteIf I remember rightly the video competition was won by Pipes of Peaces ~ perhaps helped because it was the most recent! I think Puss N Boots was runner up, and that one would have got my vote, though Pipes of Peace to be fair is very good indeed.
DeleteFifty Something here
ReplyDeleteAs nobody else seems to have noticed I'll point out that Steve Wright got it wrong when saying that Paul McCartney had had a number one as a duo with Michael Jackson. he should have said Stevie Wonder and, for pedants, they could have extended the sequence to quintets as "Get Back" credited Billy Preston alongside the fab Four.
What a shame Radio 1 didn’t have a DJ with the surname Arithmetic!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant, brilliant start to the show with The Icicle Works’ beautifully poetic tune, though Ian should simply have moved one inch further back to avoid all that mic fiddling.
When did Shakin’ Stevens lose his apostrophe, then?
I remember Roland Rat released an album called “The Cassette” and the cassette version was titled “The Album”. Oh, my sides. His mate Kevin The Gerbil stormed up to number 50 with his take on “Summer Holiday”.
Both Snowy White (who also performed with Pink Floyd) and Joe Fagin were on Towerbell, the label which also had “Iko Iko” Natasha amongst their roster. The sleeve of Joe’s single showed “That’s Living Alright” as a double A-side with “Breaking Away”, but the record label depicted “That’s Living Alright” as the B-side.
Mike was much better than that nodding dog presenter, but he still made a mistake by announcing the rundown from 11 to 2 then going into number 10. Tsk.
apologies in advance for this one, but was arithmetic record producer arif mardin's brother? (variation on the lame old joke Q: "who was orson welles's brother? A: orson cart!")
DeleteArthur - my manager at the Brent Cross branch of Our Price I worked at would be very annoyed with Roland Rat. I recall him putting a customer right when they asked for a particular title and he said "on cassette or vinyl?" and they answered "album". He pedantically explained that an album was a collection of songs and both vinyl and cassette versions were albums so he forced them to specify which they wanted.
DeleteNot the Nine O'Clock News did a really funny sketch based on this theme:-
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXDK3x5lAYI
Brilliant, I haven't seen that for years.
DeleteI forgot to mention we saw the first shoots of the high energy boom in this show, not just with Frankie high in the charts but also Eartha Kitt and Gloria Gaynor just inside the top 40.
ReplyDeleteOh yes the Hi NRG boom - we have the likes of Divine, Hazel Dean, Miquel Brown and Evelyn Thomas to look forward to. The latter last made the chart with two northern soul hits in 1976 which we just missed out on at the start of the TOTO re-runs.
DeleteAnd don't forget the Stock-Aitken-Waterman-produced blatant FGTH rip-off, The Upstroke by Agents Aren't Aeroplanes:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzEGgkQnmVA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzEGgkQnmVA
i've never heard of this before (or the act in question - surely a contender for worst band name ever?), but it sounds like "relax" if it was written for the eurovision song contest! and even the sleeve is a direct rip-off of the fgth one...
DeleteI think that song was the very first SAW production, wasn't it?
DeleteThis show was certainly more enjoyable than the previous one, despite not because of the presenters naturally.
ReplyDeleteIcicle Works - What a great show opener, this is a truly brilliant pop classic and it's a shame that it was their only Top 40. The single before AND after this one (!) 'Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)' is great too but never even broke into the Top 50.
Shaky & Bonnie - It's a bit tragic but I do like this tune, and it's a fairly straight cover as Brook Benton & Dinah Washington had a bit of a chat during their version too.
Roland Rat - Ah well, considering I bought the first 2 Roland Rat singles and my brother bought the Kevin one AND I got the album at Christmas 1984 I sincerely apologise. I thought he was great at the time...
Snowy White - Nearly everyone I know has a sneaking admiration for this one. Not me.
Lionel Richie - I suppose you can at least say that this doesn't get as much airplay as his other hits from the same era but I can't get excited by it.
Joe Fagin - For some reason I can't quite recall, from University Radio onwards, whenever I've played this man's hit I've always introduced him as 'Bearded troubadour Joe Fagin'. It's a feelgood tune for sure.
Macca's video, like all of them on this edition looks pristine. I'm guessing this one was kept in a 'special' vault due to the presenting duo.
Oh dear. A few Fast Forwards in this one, after a cracking start. Icicle Works are one of my guilty pleasures - I love 'Understanding Jane'.
ReplyDelete