Own up! Who overwound the clockwork Amii?
17/01/85 (Gary Davies & Peter Powell)
The Limit – “Say Yeah” (19)
We get underway with a tune that certainly passed my by at the time, it peaked at number 17 and that was then the end for The Limit.
Prince – “1999” (13) (video)
This song had peaked at number 25 two years earlier, but wasn't featured on the show then, now it was back and this time it went all the way to number 2.
Amii Stewart – “Friends” (17)
Looks like Amii was trying to replace Legs & Co all by herself here, with some quite individual dance shapes, and the song went up five more places.
Jonathan King – US chart rundown: edited out.
Pat Benatar – “We Belong” (video clip)
Bryan Adams – “Run To You” (video clip)
Philip Bailey & Phil Collins – “Easy Lover” (video clip)
Chicago – “You’re The Inspiration” (video clip)
Smiley Culture – “Police Officer” (12)
At his peak now and also edited out of tonight's 7.30 showing.
Russ Abbot – “Atmosphere” (18) (video)
This really should have been in the Christmas chart, but as it was it still made it to number7, but was Russ's only top ten hit.
Time for the ten ten videos:
Strawberry Switchblade - "Since Yesterday" (10) (video clip)
At least we get to see a little bit of it on BBC4!
Paul Young -"Everything Must Change" (9) (video clip)
Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five – “Step Off” (8)
Live in the studio to mime their rap, but it got no higher.
Ray Parker Jr - "Ghostbusters" (7) (video clip)
Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson - "I Know Him So Well" (6) (TOTP clip)
Tears For Fears - "Shout" (5) (video clip)
Madonna - "Like A Virgin" (4) (video clip)
Wham! - "Last Christmas" (3) (video clip)
Band Aid - "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (2) (video clip)
Foreigner – “I Want To Know What Love Is” (1) (video)
The first of three weeks at number one.
Bruce Springsteen – “Dancing In The Dark” (36) (audience dancing/credits)
Like 1999, this song had also previously been in the top 30, reaching number 28 in 1984. Second time around it did much better and peaked at number 4.
Its January 24th next, but its a Mike Smith so won't be shown on BBC4.
Powell had a shocker tonight. Suggesting Prince was a band and relocating Strawberry Switchblade from Glasgow to Liverpool, not to mention his choice of sweater. Still, at least he correctly predicted the next number one.
ReplyDeletelimit: unlike angelo i remember this one quite well. a reasonably good if not top drawer dance track by a dutch production team, who like their italian counterparts change obviously hired in some american talent - including what sounded to my ears surely had to be the distinctive (if not unique) and soon-to-come ubiquitious sound of david sanborn on saxophone (confirmed via discogs)
ReplyDeleteprince: the jury's still out on the guy after all these years as far as i'm concerned - had he a: focused more on soul/dance stuff instead of trying to be a hendrix for the 80's, and b: got himself a producer (or at least a sounding board to stop him from going up his own backside) i might have had a bit more liking for him. but alas that was not to be
amii stewart: i don't remember this at all, and thought the ridiculously-named ms stewart (why two "i"'s?) had long since had her 15 minutes. i'm not sure who this drivel is aimed at, as it's too turgid for for the dancefloor and too melody-free for the radio
melle mel: another one forgotten about. and having listened again, obviously with good reason. presumably the bass line from "for the love of money" was copied rather than sampled, as the technology hadn't yet become cheap enough for those without any musical talent to acquire (unless by illegal means of course - at the risk of stereotyping, i wonder how many c-rap "artists" actually did so?), but the writing was already on the wall
russ abbott: i have a vague memory of thinking before i heard this that he maybe he had covered the joy division song? although of course it's utter crap, given the choice i'd still rather listen to this than the melle mel thing any day of the week!
Full show with JK now available, courtesy of Neil B:
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/m7caBljVZg
The good thing about having the full show from Neil B, is not only for seeing the JK section, but also seeing all the intros snipped out by BBC4, such as the intro to Smiley Culture, and the intro to the playout, so rudely cut off by BBC4 because their poxy issues with JK and Mike Smith.
DeletePat Benatar I remember thinking at the time that she was stunning, and certainly in the good looks league of Amii Stewart, and the song We Belong did not do as well in Britain as it did Top 5 in the US, and a little disappointing that the British public did not take to her as much as the Americans.
DeleteBryan Adams as JK mentions, was a new face to both British and American viewers at this point in 1985. It certainly was for me, and this 6 years before his record-breaking 12 weeks at No.1 in 1991 with Anything I Do (I Do It For you). The song Run To You I guess is a good debut hit by any stretch, but I thinker better was to come in the latter part of the 80s.
Bryan Adams had been enjoying American success for a couple of years by this point - Straight From the Heart featured on a JK segment in 1983 - but Run to You was his British breakthrough.
DeleteYou've done Bryan out of 4 weeks there Dory... 😀 16
DeleteGood Lord, was it really as much as 16 weeks?Shouldn't be allowed!
DeletePP was incredibly listless at the start of this show, making the errors already listed by Steve Hack and introducing The Limit with all the enthusiasm of a man inspecting his toenail clippings. He perked up a bit later on, but was still stumbling over his words when talking about the Best British Video award - was he pining for Janice? Gazza was a model of professionalism by contrast, and with performances like this you do wonder how PP survived on the show for another three years.
ReplyDeleteTo the music, and The Limit's instantly forgettable song sounded like a totally textbook mid-80s production. What was memorable about this performance were the incredibly ugly band members, including Art Garfunkel's evil twin on sax, a groovy geography teacher on keyboards and a singer modelling the lank hair later adopted by Rik Mayall for Bottom. At least ex-Hill's Angel and Zoo member Sidney Haywoode, who would enjoy a Top 20 hit of her own with Roses in 1986, provides a little bit of glamour. Cashing in on Prince's Purple Rain success, 1999 gets reissued and climbs much higher in the chart than first time around. Though it became all too ubiquitous 19 years ago, it still ranks as one of his better efforts, though I've always thought the chorus was a bit underpowered. The video is functional, but nothing more.
An unexpected return to the limelight for Amii Stewart next, with a reasonably slinky pop-soul effort that nevertheless does not linger long in the mind. Her sound and look are more sophisticated than they were in her days as a disco diva, but her roots are betrayed by her bizarre repertoire of body-bending moves, which seem completely inappropriate for the song! For one of his final US chart slots, JK turns up in the studio. The featured tunes will all be on again in due course, but nice to hear Pat Benatar's We Belong, which I think is a great record. The two Phils would hit number 1 in the UK two months after this show.
Smiley Culture is back, with his backing band this time dressed as undercover detectives. Russ Abbot then provides a total contrast, looking completely out of place in his video among all those young clubbers. Although I often saw his largely mirthless TV show when I was a kid, his pop career completely passed me by at the time - perhaps his record company hoped he would be the male Tracey Ullman? Anyway, it's not terrible, and the chorus is kind of catchy, so that I suppose is something.
After that very long bit about the video awards (Ultravox was the hands down winner from that selection for me), it was nice to get a little snatch of Strawberry Switchblade's promo, and at least as Angelo says they did make it on to BBC4. Melle Mel is in the studio, though the Furious Five appear to have been reduced to the Tetchy Two, one of whom is clad in a snazzy zebra coat - that long reprise from I Feel For You is utterly shameless. We play out with one of Springsteen's best songs, and I see that "Duncan Norvelle" is still going strong as a cheerleader - couldn't he find any other work?
to be lumbered with the name sid(ney) at birth is bad enough for a man in my view, never mind a woman - even though inexplicably it has gained some popularity in more recent years for females. perhaps not surprisingly it seems ms haywoode herself wasn't that enamoured with the monicker, as her hit solo recordings over the next couple of years were credited to just her surname. i remember the likes of "smash hits" making reference to her as "sid", and always assumed it was some kind of jokey nickname - not her actual given one!
DeleteI don't agree about the Amii Stewart dance moves. The song is about the expressive vocal and the synergy of that with the backing. A delicate melody with some long expressive notes. Emphasising that melodic flow rather than the rhythm makes sense to me.
DeleteThere's a bit of a robotic break in the middle which is a change of pace (and she changes the dance for that) but otherwise I think it's all appropriately smooth.
DeleteStarry - each to their own, but for me the various moves seemed a bit excessive for a relatively gentle song.
DeleteWilberforce - I wonder if Sidney has become more popular as a girls' name owing to the Scream series of films? The heroine's name in those was Sidney Prescott.
you may well be right there john, but i haven't seen any of the "scream" franchise so wasn't even aware the lead female's name was sidney. i was hoping it was a another case of synchronicity on this blog whereby the character was played by courtney cox (who i know is one of the stars, and is shortly to make her "debut" in the boss's video for "dancing in the dark") but alas i've discovered it's actually neve campbell (whose name i always assumed to be pronounced "neev", although i've just had to check to make sure!)
Deletewith regard to these re-runs another name for a baby girl is just about to be become popular out of the blue, thanks to the forthcoming efforts of fish & co - i wonder what percentage of british women in their early/mid 30's are called kayleigh?
Can't think of any famous Kayleighs off the top of my head... anyone?
Deletei certinly don't know any famous kayleighs - i'm just pointing out that thanks to marillion there are a lot more of them around than there were before their hit of that name. i've just found out that wiki actually has several of that name listed - all of course born either in or after 1985 (although some of them are actually fictional characters in soap operas). what i also discovered was that apparently living and breathing ladies of that name are nowadays being discriminated against when it comes to getting jobs!
DeleteI agree with John G regarding the inappropriate dance moves by Amii Stewart for the song at hand, so sorry Starry, I also have to disagree with you on this occasion. However her stunning looks made up for the ridiculous dance moves, so on the whole she still gets a big thumbs up for this effort.
DeleteHard to believe it was her first release since 1979 with the brilliant Light My Fire and Nock On Wood, the former at least mentioned by Gary Davies in the intro for her. It seems she improves with age, like a fine wine, so I'll drink to that.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete...and the next chart entry from Amii after 'Friends' was...
DeleteYou guessed, 'Knock on Wood / Light my Fire'.
Where I work now is someone called Kayleigh, and I would hazard a guess (without asking a Lady's age of course) that she is about 30.
I guess there was a big upsurge in 1985 Britain of the naming of new-born new babies as Kayleigh, following Marillion's monster success with their hit, and so all these lovely girls will now be around 30 as you rightly mention. In 1985 before Marilion, I doubt that the average person on the street had ever heard of this name before that point in 1985.
DeleteFor any Kayleigh fans (the song that is), here is the original version (before the single release (which also edited the superb Steve Rothery guitar solo )). The YT notes also explain the Genesis of 'Kayeleigh' if you pardon the slight pun!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vJThZqd6iA
Hey...how did we digress onto 'Kayleigh' anyway? Not due to chart until May!
Now that it is over a decade since Footballers' Wives "graced" our screens, I wonder if we will be seeing any Chardonnays enter public life in the next few years?
DeleteA blundering Pete and a terrified Gary, not the best combination. On with the music...
ReplyDeleteThe Limit made no impression on me whatsoever, the only one I recognised was Haywoode and it wasn't for this. You could have guessed the others were Dutch, couldn't you? No idea how this made the Top 20, maybe the slick production appealed?
Prince, to make a mint on royalties fourteen years later, which may or may not have been his intention. Overplayed now, it's still a pretty great pop song with typically 80s apocalyptic lyrics. Think the keyboard's overmanned. Over overwomanned. Mike Flowers did something amusing with the "lion" line on his cover.
Amii Stewart, looking highly polished and sounding it too as she went through her pre-marathon aerobics routine. A nice, mellow, laidback tune, sweet melody well-delivered, good show all round.
Smiley returns with his trenchcoat brigade (did the Plod have a word about his last appearance?) then we're into a trademark awkward TOTP gear change with Russ Abbott strutting his funky stuff. He was much better on ITV, of course. Did they sample Holly Johnson for the "Frankie's got his band" line? An excellent "heurgh!" impersonation if they didn't.
Still sticking with the videos, which when you see the rest of the 40 and wonder, hmm, what's that like now? but don't hear it is a bit frustrating.
Anyway, Melle Mel finally makes it to the studio with his mildest rap yet, and sartorial choices apparently decided by one too many viewings of Max Julien in The Mack. Knowing he and his crew could do better doesn't quite detract from the novelty, but there's a reason this is never revived.
Then Foreigner make it to the top slot with a video that would be over with in a minute if the action had been played at normal speed.
The Boss to play us out, an OK song and not as ear-straining as his shoutier efforts. Will we see the video where everyone and their granny can point out Courteney Cox?
My favourite Russ Abbot character was C.U. Jimmy for its take on the Scottish accent (sorry THX), and this particular clip with Des O'Connor was just hilarious, making a clothes brush cocktail:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Cg7bS7XXI
I recall being in a college class where the lecturer put on a clip of Abbot's Jimmy sketch to illustrate some psychology point or other. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife! Lighten up, I say - well, I didn't say that out loud at the time for fear of getting my head kicked in.
Deletethx, as a scot i presume you found mr abbot's cu jimmy character particularly excruciating? mind you, as an englander (why are we never referred to as "engs" - or to be more precise going by the pronounciation: "ings"?) i find his entire oeuvre excruciating!
DeleteNope, I wasn't bothered by Russ at all, I'm not that precious. He was a lot funnier on ITV, though,
DeleteI consider Friends to be as good as anything I've heard from Amii Stewart. It's more low key than the big blazing disco tracks but expressive and classy. I didn't know it at the time really, and maybe it has less nostalgia value for some but some definitely like it a lot, it may have done best in Italy where it got to the top spot.
ReplyDeleteAtmosphere is a perfectly decent party tune, very catchy chorus.
The Limit is a good performance and arrangement of a very smooth track, the song may be relatively average but I can see why it had some appeal.
From what I remember 1999 was my favourite Prince song of the time, and Dancing in the Dark was my favourite Springsteen.
It's my favourite Prince song too. Superb, outstanding song and video, and a dance floor classic which was more fitting for the people on the dance floor in Russ Abbot's video. I would have loved to see them dance to Prince's 1999. Now that would have been some video!
DeleteNot as good as last week’s show by any stretch but not far off either. Nice sweater PP!
ReplyDeleteThe Limit – Say Yeah – Take it to? No thanks. No recollections whatsoever like Angelo.
Prince – 1999 – Don’t forget that this was an excellent value double A Side with ‘Little Red Corvette’, both of which are superb whilst Prince was making great records. PP’s ‘band’ comment isn’t too wide of the mark as the band members share vocals.
Amii Stewart – Friends – The B Side of Sting & Co’s mega hit ‘Don’t stand so close to me’ is also called ‘Friends’ but is nothing like this. Not too bad really…quite enjoyed it actually, although I don’t recall it, and I loved Amii’s slinky dance moves.
JK Slot. Thanks Neil B…well what a shame BBC4 viewers are missing this; four crackers.
Pat Benetar – We belong – As JK says, great record. Pat never really caught on in the UK
Bryan Adams – Run to you – Little did we know the dizzy heights Bryan would reach six years later with THAT hit. I loved this one too.
Phil Bailey / Phil Collins – Easy Lover – Magic FM staple these days, workaholic Phil was everywhere at this point in time and produced a fabulous record which wouldn’t take too long to catch on in the UK.
Chicago – You’re the Inspiration – Best of the four (and the bar was high). I don’t believe we ever saw this again on TOTP but it’s another great track from the ‘17’ album. They could have released ‘I remember the feeling’ off there too, but it was foolishly wasted on the B Side of ‘Hard Habit to break’ where they could have chosen one of the lesser tracks instead. This video has a nice feel to it as well. Great band and sadly the last time they troubled the UK charts with Peter Cetera leaving soon after.
Smiley Culture – Police Officer – Down to earth with a bang after the previous four. FF
Russ Abbott – Atmosphere – OK confession time. This is a guilty pleasure of mine. I bought the single at the time and though the video with Russ surrounded by dancers and balloons was great and cartooned on the single sleeve. I have no idea what propelled this into the chart (Russ Abbott’s ‘Big Night’ perhaps?) but I have heard a lot worse and still like it after all these years. It’s happy, innocent, music that gets people dancing.
Best video award? Don’t know what won eventually but Queen wins hands down for me.
Grandmaster Mellie Mel – Step up – Ah!!! Not ‘I feel for you’ again FF
Chart rundown – Second week in a row they showed ‘Last Christmas’ when by then it was ‘Everything she wants’ that was being promoted.
Foreigner – I want to know what love is – What can I say that I haven’t already said about this gem?
Bruce Springsteen – Dancing in the Dark – Great single and video and B Side at last getting the attention it deserved. The audience enjoy it too.
Not sure if we’ll get to see this, but marooned at no34 and going no higher was Bucks Fizz ‘I hear talk’. Not one of their best, but an ingenious video featured Cheryl’s new hairdo and skating, which ties in nicely with her current participation in ‘Dancing on ice’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dZnWPYXd_s
I wasn't that keen on the US rock sound at the time, but now I'm more well rounded I can like Run to You and Pat Benatar. (I know Bryan Adams is Canadian, but it's still US rock sound)
DeleteChicago will be on again, as part of the "breakers" section in three shows' time. The Bucks Fizz single did not make it on to the show, though I guess there might have been a studio appearance if it hadn't been for the coach crash the previous month that left most of them badly hurt and Mike Nolan fighting for his life.
DeleteI did, of course, mean Russ Abbot's Madhouse above.... Big Night was Brucie.
Deletewan't his purpleness being billed as "prince and the revolution" at this point? if so then pp can be excused, as they were some sort of band - even if their main purpose was to replicate stuff live that prince did in the studio himself. after he despensed with their services in the late 80's, former members started releasing material under their own names that perhaps unsurprisingly didn't sound disimilar to the man himself. however i think this track by wendy & lisa is probably better than anything he ever did:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYk2wy8Ab0E
I think that if Bucks Fizz hadn't been involved in that awful crash, they would've been certs for a performance on this show. That would have helped the single climb higher, almost certainly. It's not one of their very best, but deserved a Top 20 spot.
DeleteThis new Chicago track in the American top 5, and now featured on the JK section was just as good as Hard Habit To Break, and I remember purchasing this video on iTunes a few years ago, where I have it proudly in my music video library on iTunes.
DeleteI like how Peter Cetera performs with his guitar so comfortably from the cosiness of a tight one seater sofa in the video while singing You're The Inspiration. He made a seemingly uncomfortable narrow seat look like it was as comfortable as a swimming pool.
Here's the superb video in full:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRfy1yorkec
Nice mention of "Everything Must Change" not changing positions, Angelo, but surely you should have said "that was the limit for The Limit"!
ReplyDeleteWilby's nicked the line I've been aching to use for ages about Russ Abbot's song! I first heard this on a Monday night BBC2 show, something like a Des O'Connor guest show, where Russ performed this with live vocals despite having a cold or flu and consequently he couldn't hit all the notes and sounded more like a sealion!
arthur i assume you are making reference to my suggested ludicrous notion of russ abbott covering joy division? i wish he had actually done so, rather than the rubbish the track actually turned out to be - it might have made paul young's decision to cover "love will tear us apart" a good move in comparison!
DeleteYou guess correctly, Wilby! :-)
DeleteThe limit say yeah, listened to loads at the time, a classic, instrumental parts of 12" even better.
DeleteJohn Peel made the Russ-Joy Division joke first. As ever, he had to be first with the zeitgeist (um).
DeleteVocals by Gwen Guthrie though she didn't appear in studio performance I believe.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't a very good edition. PP sleepwalking through the whole thing didn't help, and this was a week with so many new entries lower down that the Top 10 in full was most unwelcome.
ReplyDeleteThe Limit - Exactly the kind of mid-80s soul that was everywhere and most of it was crap like this.
Prince - Perfectly fine but I've heard and seen it enough now.
Amii Stewart - Bland and only livened up by her bonkers moves.
Russ Abbot - Actually, this isn't too bad. The bridge to the chorus (the 'whoa-oh, let it go' bit) is very good and with less dated production it would sound even better. The video director had obviously been inspired by TOTP given the vast number of balloons.
Melle Mel - Worth watching not so much for the song so much as to confirm that yes, they really did think those outfits were a good idea.
Bruce Springsteen - I hate almost all of his songs. Overblown garbage.
Funny, I thought when watching the Russ Abbot video that they might as well have filmed it in the TOTP studio, considering the similarity of the nightclub dance floor and the TOTP studio and studio audience.
DeleteI wonder which nightclub it was filmed at? Could have been Watford or somewhere in London I guess. Nonetheless, Mr Abbot did seem to be enjoying himself immensely, dancing with all those happy people on that dance floor with the (thankfully) milder than TOTP disco lights.
Some ratings trivia: This episode of TOTP got 10 million viewers and was BBC1's most watched show of the night. Clearly PP's razor sharp links, Amii Stewart's unusual dance moves and the presence of Russ Abbot made it must watch TV!
ReplyDeleteBBC4 have stopped tweeting the ratings for each show unfortunately, as that was my source. 10 million must've put it into the top ten BBC1 shows of the week, I'd have thought?
DeleteNot sure Angelo, I got it off a TV ratings forum where they post vintage figures alongside current ones. Usually the old ones are for 1996 and 1998 but they posted the 1985 daily figures to tie in with this week's TOTP.
DeleteI read it slightly wrong as A Question Of Sport got 10.05m so TOTP was almost the most watched show on BBC1.
Elsewhere Crossroads attracted 16m and Treasure Hunt 5m.
From what I've seen on Twitter there's a new person doing the BBC4 tweets so that might explain why they're not posting the figures anymore, but if I see any 1985 figures I'll post them here.
Its amazing how popular Crossroads was! it was always up there with Coronation Street as one of ITVs most popular shows.
DeleteI remember that my mum's favourite programme on TV was Crossroads, and I had got into it as well, but by 1985 I wasn't following it anymore, probably because the famous Benny in the woolly cap had left by then I think.
DeleteMy nan always used to watch it, even when Central tried to take it upmarket in the last couple of years.
DeleteAmazing to think that 5 million people watched an arse running round the countryside too, our household included.
Interesting that Crossroads was still doing well in '85, given it was axed just three years later - I assume those "upmarket" changes helped to seal the show's fate.
DeleteI think Central wanted rid of it as they didn't like the show, and neither did the IBA. It was still getting 11-12 million viewers even towards the end.
DeleteOf course eight years later a certain music show that was still getting 7 million viewers each week would be shunted in to the death slot opposite Corrie...
i'm not sure if it was here or on a facebook group that i'm in that i mentioned there was a time in the late 70's when i actually regularly watched the (non) adventures of the most boring family in the history of british soap opera - the brownlows in "crossroads"!
DeleteI have a feeling it may have been here, as some of the more dodgier Crossroads moments got discussed a while back in connection with something TOTP related - not sure what!
Deletethe likely crossroads connection was when kate robbins' character had a hit single that was recorded in the basement of the motel, and in a case of life imitating art (if you can call something like crossroads "art") she then had a hit with the same track for real:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxw7NaMMlTM
Steve Hack - 7 million viewers? I think the passage of time may be deceiving your memory, although back then the top shows still attracted audiences of 20 million so, relatively speaking, 7 million was poor.
DeleteBy then, there'd been the move from TV Centre to Elstree Studios and awful revamp, while Radio 1's DJs had been jettisoned in favour of presenters such as Julian Clary. At a time when Stock, Aitken and Waterman artists dominated the chart, the insistence that performers sing live was less than inspired, not to mention that acts could hardly sing live and perform energetic dance routines at the same time.
Some acts were permitted to perform more than one song (yet it was supposedly a chart show, not a concert), while the latest offerings of ageing variety artists were promoted which would subsequently never chart. The effect overall was that TOTP lost its relevance as a music show, seemingly appealing specifically to nobody.
I'm not sure which came first: the move to Fridays or shunt to BBC2.
Hi anonymous, no my memory isn't deceived, TOTP was doing 6-7 million viewers at this point. The ratings increased when Ric Blaxill took over as producer on 1994 but after the move to Fridays it would only climb above 5 million again on a handful of occasions. The shunt to BBC2 came in 2005.
DeleteThe move towards celebrity hosts under Blaxill's regime was largely awful as was the 91 live singing revamp.
Steve Hack - Thanks for your response, however just to clarify the awful 1991 revamp was courtesy of Stan Appel, not Blaxill, as was the move to celeb hosts and live singing. Blaxill didn't take the helm as producer until Appel's retirement from the BBC in 1994.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnonymous - I did put in my post that Blaxill didn't take over until 1994 but I wasn't clear he had no part in Appel's 91 revamp, so thanks for clarifying.
DeletePP stands for Peter Powell and, also on this occasion, piss poor.
ReplyDeleteWe start with The Limit’s salad disco – lots of it and it’s inconsequential, rambling on until and after the recognisable catchy chorus. Actually, the keyboard player that wasn’t bad looking, but didn’t Sid Haywoode look thin in that huggingly tight dress? And Pete, where would we know her from exactly?
Next it’s Gary Davies’s midweek chart rundown music, warning us about the impending millennium bug, perhaps? Hmm, nice keyboard players. I wonder if Prince chose purple as it was the main colour of his state’s famous gridiron team the Minnesota Vikings?
Next up it’s a one-woman Legs & Co! Fair play to Amii, not content with just standing there or swaying from side to side. Nice song apart from that horrible jarring synth instrumental in the middle, but “Friends”, Amii? Really? Given the content of the song, these days they’d be known as “F##k Buddies”.
Obviously a couple of awkward links as we get no outro link to Amii or intro to Smiley Culture, who didn’t make me smile and the song lacked culture. Talking of which...
We go from Smiley Culture to the “Best Culture” on the front of Russ Abbot’s top. Note for the second week the mugshot Letraset bloke’s added an extra “t” to his surname. A cheap setting, with underage kids in a nightclub (tut tut) and an extra laughingly singing along, this was a naggingly enjoyable piece of Cheshire cheese from the Chester-born Mister Roberts.
Lots of songs going up 20-plus places this week, aren’t there?
The video award section was a waste of time, as was the video top ten apart from Liverpool’s – erm, Glasgow’s latest hit duo. Nice corset, Jill, and whoever it was that fancied Rose last time out is in for a treat in the next edition, I can tell you. MIND THAT BABY, PAUL! Haven’t you learnt from last time?
We missed out on “White Lines” and got this trash instead? Dear oh dear.
We end on a double gaff, with Gaz claiming Broooce was at number 26 and not 36 and PissPoorPete saying he’d speak to us next week. Sorry, I’ll hang up on purpose.
Haywoode was a dancer on TOTP, so presumably that's what Pete was referring to, assuming the audience had extremely specific knowledge of the resident disco dollies.
DeletePrince moved from a purple obsession to a peach and black one later. Can't think of a sporting team brave enough to try that...
Sorry, Zoo, of course. My fault, though it wasn't the clearest of links from PPPP.
DeleteMy local non-League football team has worn tangerine and white striped shirts for the last 30 years or so. They used a hopeless local manufacturer for the kit one season and ended up with a set of peach and white striped shirts instead!
DeleteWhat's your local team Arthur?
DeleteAshford Town (Middlesex) of the EvoStik Southern League, Division One East.
DeleteMine's Farnborough in the Southern Premier. We were in Division One Central last year.
DeleteBoro won promotion from our division last year - somehow we sneaked a 1-0 home win against Boro last Easter Monday. There's actually another lower level non-League team close to Cherrywood Road, that being Cove of the Combined Counties First Division who play at Oak Farm.
DeleteThere is, Farnborough used to play a charity cup match with them each year many years ago. The big local rivals used to be Woking and Aldershot, but on recent form I don't think we'll be playing them again any time soon.
DeleteAs always, here's my edit of the BBC4HD repeat of 17/01/85 with the missing bits (JK segment, edited final link) added from Neil B.'s upload:
ReplyDeleteTOTP 17/01/1985
Full list of restorations:
https://drykid.github.io/
A couple of things I noted in the chart rundowns this week. I think it was the first time that the two DJs counted down non-stop from No.40 to No.11. I don't recall this ever happening before.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, moving onto the Top Ten chart rundown, it must have been a record for Paul Young to be stuck on No.9 for 5 weeks. I wonder what his mum thought about that. It must have been just as frustrating for her as PY himself.
I think the last time this happened was a couple of years earlier when Elbow Bones & The Racketeers were stuck on No.33 for 5 weeks.
And then at No.7 in the Top Ten rundown, it seems every time they play the same clip from the Ghostbusters video, i.e., when the girl in bed with her lingerie has her blanket removed by an invisible man. It looks like TOTP liked that part of the video.
I thought the 40-11 rundown worked well with GD and PP alternating.
DeleteI notice the alternate chart positions in the rundown too Dory - I agree that this hadn't happened outside of the Top 10 before as far as I can remember.
DeleteAny sightings of the 24th January show? BBC4 will launch straight into 31st Jan & 7th Feb shows this week, so it looks like a further three shows to blog in the next few days. Good Lord, there's no let up, is there?
ReplyDeleteYes, looks like we are back to two episodes per week from next week, so Angelo will have plenty of overtime blogging to do again during the course of this year, assuming that we get 1986 too. However, there could be a bit of a break when the World Cup is on, as some of the matches may be broadcast on BBC4.
DeleteNo sign of 24/1/85 yet, but I would be very surprised if it doesn't appear in the next couple of days.
It's disappointing we seem to be getting two shows a week again. Not that having more TOTP is a bad thing, but it's nice to see each show in the week it was originally broadcast.
Delete"Friends" wasn't Amii Stewart's first single since 1979. After she made top 5 with "Light My Fire / 137 Disco Heaven", she made number 58 with "Jealousy" and then we saw her on TOTP in some very skimpy stagewear (and I do mean skimpy) promoting top 39 hit "Paradise Bird". She also made 39 with a duet ("My Guy / My Girl") with Johnny Bristol in 1980.
ReplyDeleteNot quite as skimpy as I remember, but here's Amii doing "Paradise Bird"...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b69GfsQOqM
The cut-off intro included a remark where Slimes mentioned Amii lived near him and they used to bump into each other at a supermarket.
And yet more Amii info! Between "Paradise Bird" and "Friends" she released at least ten singles in different territories, she re-did the "My Guy / My Girl" medley with Deon Estus and had another minor hit with it (63 in the UK second time round), and she's Sinitta's aunt!
DeleteAs for singes stuck in the same non-summit position for weeks on end, Right Said Fred spent six consecutive weeks at the peak of number 2 with "I'm Too Sexy".
'Ruby don't take your love to town' by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition is the top 10 non-mover I always recall:-
Delete9 - 5 - 3 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 4 - 2 - 7 - 7
Now imagine if they had been doing the Top10 rundown in Dec 69/Jan 70 !!
(kept off the top spot by 'Sugar Sugar' - Archies and 'Two Little Boys' - Rolf Harris)
Let's hope that TOTP doesn't persist with the top 10 videos for too much longer. The problem is there's often little movement in the top 10 on the previous week so the same singles are promoted while neglecting the opportunity to showcase as many new entries further down the chart.
ReplyDeleteThe 24 January show has now appeared - not sure of the source, though:
ReplyDeletehttps://wetransfer.com/downloads/64f4f084d77db66b570a0a736568b2f620180121233053/8fcb57
Nice one John, looking forward to when it goes up on here. At least Foreigner got their whole video played when second week at No.1, i.e., 4mins:45 secs of the 5 minute video, unlike on this week's show at first week No.1, getting only 3 minutes played!
DeleteThanks for the update, John G.
DeleteMy TOTP era was 1982-1987 so I've been viewing the re-runs and reading the blog since the 1982 shows began airing on BBC4.
Certainly, my perception of the show at the time was that 1985 was the year TOTP began to slide for a multiplicity of reasons: the less than inspiring new deejays on hosting duties and overuse of Mike Smith, Gary Davies and Peter Powell, not to mention the reduced running time to 30 minutes when EastEnders launched in February of that year. Notwithstanding bank holiday weeks when the chart was released a day later, 1985 also marked the end of regular live editions of TOTP.
1986 would pave the way for the last half-decent revamp before the show began its downward spiral under the stewardship of Paul Ciani followed by the calamity that was Stanley Appel.
It will be interesting to see whether my memories reflect the reality however as I certainly don't recall the too 10 videos nonsense.
You're welcome Anonymous. I stopped watching TOTP on a regular basis around the end of the 80s, as I wasn't keen on rap, house/rave or the seemingly endless chart domination of SAW. I dipped in occasionally during the 90s, but by then I had become more interested in the music of the 60s and 70s, and largely ignored the charts.
DeleteI don't recall the Top 10 videos being shown regularly in 1985 either, but I was only five at the time.
I don't remember the Top 10 videos
First of all a big thanks to drykid for the full version. Linked it to the TV for a change,
ReplyDeleteSay yeah... sounds like something my 11 year old come out with. New to me but I liked it. A bit Matt Bianco, suprised I'd never heard this before. Maybe one for Forgotten 80s
Proper party record next. So good for so long now overkill. . Hadn't seen te video for a while so enjoyed that.
Interesting PP calls them a band...Hmmm. guess he really wasn't that well known in the uk yet?
Amii up next (my auto correct does not like her name)
Don't recall this at all. Pleasant enough song and a good performance. Don't think I'll remember it later though.
JK up next. God he was annoying wasn't he,
Pat Benatar. This is a good song. Don't here it much but I liked it.
Bryan Adams. I'll admit to being a fan. His unplugged album is brilliant. Great 80s song this.
Easy lover is a great record (even if we sang Cheesy Lover in the playground ) a real favourite of mine.
Chicago. Not my thing at all. Pass.
The bloody awful Smiley next. .who bought this? ??
School disco time.... atmosphere, not surprised this was a big hit. It was everywhere at the time. Didn't know Russ as a comedian then, was probably back upstairs before his show came on. Remember him from later in the 80s but didn't put the two (song and tv show) together for years.
Cheesy video. Nice key change ☺
PP is getting worse isn't he...Bloody hell
Video award. Thompson Twins, Tracey Ullman, Wham...I cany decide.
Who won????
There is a lot of new entries at the bottom not getting a look in. Could of had a couple of these rather than the Top Ten.
Wow. MELLE MEL makes it to the studio. Not the best of his though. What's with the Chaka stuff. One of the first times I recall a rap over a sample.
Foreigner another of those songs that was everywhere at the time. My Mum liked this one so got a fair bit of airplay with the ironing in our house.
A good edition this week, enjoyed that..onwards....
The Russ Abbot comedy song off his TV show I recall was Ghost Joggers in the Sky - so much so that I always bring it to mind when I hear Ghost Riders in the Sky, worse luck.
DeleteAll this talk of Russ Abbot has got the theme song to his BBC show going through my head - "songs of joy and tears of laughter are all we need to lift our hearts." In fairness, it is quite catchy!
DeleteI once saw a Brit horror movie called The Toybox where that theme tune featured prominently. It was... very strange.
Deleteseeing how dreadful the top 40 of 1985 has been thus far, i thought i'd check out a few singles from the lower reaches of the charts that passed me by at the time. and
ReplyDeletestumbled across this real oddity by "the funkmeister" (interesting to see that the term "meister" was already in use in that sense in the mid-80's), which is a "relax" rip-off topped with archive world war ii recordings of hitler, lord haw-haw and plummy-voiced pathe news reporters! apparently it was originally put together for some kind of tv documentary, and was then released as a single as a result of public demand. but whatever the reason, surely something like that wouldn't see the light of day today?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdCdlceHgns
According to Wikipedia, the Best Video award went to Duran Duran's The Wild Boys.
ReplyDelete