The dolls always shine on tv
30/01/86 (Gary Davies & Janice Long)
Billy Ocean – “When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going” (6)
Billy gets tonight's show underway with what will become his only number one next week.
Madonna – “Borderline” (4) (video)
Peaked at number 2.
Talk Talk – “Life’s What You Make It” (22)
Their first top 30 hit in over three years, it peaked at number 16.
James Brown – “Living In America” (19) (breaker)
Became his only top ten hit when it reached number 5.
Simple Minds – “Sanctify Yourself” (17) (breaker)
Peaked at number 10.
Grace Jones – “Pull Up To The Bumper” (15) (video)
Went up three more places.
Fine Young Cannibals – “Suspicious Minds” (8)
A second studio performance, but no amount of shiny suits could get this song any higher.
A-ha – “The Sun Always Shines On TV” (1) (video)
Second of two weeks at number one.
Kurtis Blow – “If I Ruled The World” (30) (audience dancing/credits)
His biggest hit, peaking at number 24.
The next 1986 edition will be the 6th of February.
Billy Ocean starting off the show. I counted 9 band members on the stage, and no wonder Gary Davies referred to it at the end of the song as 'Billy Ocean and the rest of his street'.
ReplyDeleteI think the record is still with Kool & The Gang who put 11 band members on the TOTP stage, back in 1982 with Oo La La La Let's Go Dancing. Good Lord, I see billy Ocean kicking off the show this week is already at No.6 with this one. I think the saxophonist on the instrumental break is what took this to No.1 for Mr Ocean.
James Brown - this seemed to take off so well in Britain, that I remember it was every DJs favourite at the local discos, and seemed to be staple of the time, but in my opinion, highly over-rated.
Grace Jones - I liked the video more than the song. Just love those night driving effects and associated night lights in the video.
Gaz and Jan a really good combination, very relaxed performance.
ReplyDeleteYay, Billy Ocean with another song from a film, in this case a lot better than Jewel of the Nile, in fact the video of this is better than the film! Go and get stuffed! A worthy Number One.
We get just about all of the Madonna video, apart from the crescendo. Gotta love yellow stilettos and fluorescent green ankle socks.
Talk Talk make a storming return to the charts with this dramatic, piano led, telling off ditty, as Janice says, watch the drummer, it's a very unusual beat. Seem to remember the video is one for the entomologists.
Then the Breakers, with another song from a movie, the thunderously stoopid Rocky IV (wasn't there a slight weight category difference, Sly?). Still, it brought the Godfather of Soul back to the limelight just as he was starting to be sampled by all and sundry. He's in the film too! As himself! Not bad Simple Minds shouting next, bit bombastic but OK, then for some reason we get Grace's video again, and again almost in full. Guess someone really liked an- er, another listen.
Fine Young Cannibals done up like Quality Street toffees, otherwise much the same, and they don't do the fade out/fade back in trick of the original, just a little synchronised dance move instead.
Ah-hah! The stylish video at last, I suppose the dummies were easier to order about than extras. Good use of the open mouthed ones.
Kurtis Blow with a tune now better known as a hit by 90s covers band The Fugees. Prefer the original, lots more fun. All in all, a very enjoyable show tonight.
I don't know if anyone recalls Noel Edmonds having Billy on his 'Late Late Breafast Show' a short while after Feargal Sharkey with 'A good Heart'. In both cases, the songs had yet to chart and Edmonds predicted both would go all the way to no1.
DeleteA while after, Edmonds did a 'Gotcha' with Billy where he went for a walk with him in the Caribbean somewhere saying that Billy would get frequently stopped for autographs as everyone recognised him. Instead it was setup up that people kept stopping Noel saying 'Hi Noel' and requesting an autograph to a increasing bemused Billy Ocean. I can't find the footage on YT so you'll have to take my word for it! It was funny.
It goes to show that Noel Edmonds considered himself more important than the performing pop stars of the time
Deletesct353 - I don't recall that edition of Hit Squad, although Noel Edmonds always struck me as the type of presenter whom, while happy to lampoon others for 'entertainment value', may well have struggled to take even the mildest slight against himself.
DeleteOn a separate note, with Michael Hurll as Edmonds' producer, it appears as though the ill-fated Late Late Breakfast Show may well have been used as vehicle to propel the singles to watch into the Top 40 Chart.
I often wondered whether that was the case. However, some failed completely such as REO Speedwagon with their signalong 'Wherever you're goin' (it's alright)'.
DeleteI remember Edmonds twice being done up like a kipper twice on his shows - once by DLT as revenge and another time by the production team who deliberately kept the show on air after he thought they'd finished and made him sing 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' (for reasons I don't recall, but the fact that I recall this much is frankly scary) and on both occasions he was smiling through very gritted teeth indeed.
DeleteApparently Noel and DLT absolutely hated one another, so I imagine teeth were gritted on an industrial scale.
Deletewhy couldn't it have been tidybeard who liked to get touchy-feely with the ladies rather than dlt? if nothing else we might have been spared that "idiots guessing which box the money is in" shit!
DeleteI see "Belouis" "Some" as Smash Hits always called him is in the charts with Imagination. Funny how we never saw his video as one of the Breakers...
ReplyDeletebilly ocean: i don't care how successful he was, he'll never be anything more to me than a poor man's version of wacko with his uptempo stuff and lionel rich-tea with his ballads (and given how much i hate the latter, that's really saying something)
ReplyDeletetalk talk: better than anything they did in the early days, but it still doesn't really grab me. apparently after this they got totally weird
grace jones: it's telling that the best track on the show by some distance is one that's five years old
kurtis blow: coming out of mothballs since the late 70's and his novelty hit "christmas rappin" (ho ho ho), presumably in the knowledge that (c)rap was (sadly in my view) just about to start dominating the charts after mercifully only a few hits in fits and starts in the interim period. i was really hoping this was a take on the old showtune as sung by harry secombe, but it turns out to be the usual tuneless garbage
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ReplyDeleteI must concur with THX in respect of 'When The Going Gets Tough', which is one of the all-time classic No.1s. To me, it has never dated. On Channel 5 at the same time last night, Billy - with his daughter as a backing singer - performed 'Love Really Hurts Without You', from his GTO period, on Jane McDonald's excellent variety show! I was able to view the latter on C5+1.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Dory, though, in relation to James Brown's 'Living In America'. It was, significantly, his only British Top 10 hit, and charted high in most countries. The late Dan Hartman, who produced and co-wrote the song, must be applauded for providing The King of Soul with a global smash that sold well beyond his cult following. Nevertheless, I appreciate that there may be some Brown purists who do not approve of the song; similarly, many 'Deadheads' were horrified when The Grateful Dead's 'Touch of Grey' reached No.9 in the US!
As for Talk Talk's Mark Hollis, he provided a belated lyrical sequel to H-Gloss's 'You'll Never Know', at least from my point of view. I'm aware that I've taken a few wrong turnings in terms of decisions I've made in the past; life is indeed what you make it.
Touch of Grey is about the only Grateful Dead song I can name - or particularly like.
DeleteTell a lie - there's also Dark Star which was on the Zabriskie Point soundtrack. I think that's what John Carpenter named his debut film after.
DeleteAn excellent presenting job this week from Gazza and Janice, who genuinely seem to like each other, though their specially-designed outfits left a lot to be desired. I remember Billy Ocean's biggest hit attracting some spurious controversy at the time over the "go and get stuffed" non-issue, but it is pretty anodyne fare really, chugging along pleasantly but never hitting the heights. Still, it makes a change to see Billy on stage with other people for once, and I certainly don't begrudge him his number 1 - he would only have one further Top 10 hit after this.
ReplyDeleteQuite why Borderline flopped on initial release I'll never know - as I have mentioned before, this is for me Madge's first real classic single, and showed there was much more to her than just a provocative image. Decent video too, with La Ciccone still in her street urchin phase trying to win over a local hunk. Another great song in the studio next, as Talk Talk appear for the first time since 1982 (so not quite 5 years, Gazza). Mark Hollis looks considerably shaggier than before, but he and his bandmates come up with something distinctive and hypnotic here, and it baffles me that this wasn't a bigger hit. Even odder, It's My Life, released back in 1984, only got to 46 first time around - it did eventually reach the Top 20 in 1990.
Simple Minds will not be on again, and that's no great loss as this sounded like very dreary, by-the-numbers stadium rock, with Jim looking silly in that hat. By contrast Grace Jones looks effortlessly cool and scary in her video, and like Dory I thought the night driving effects were impressive. Excellent slinky song too, and I note that our hosts picked up on the suggestive lyrics.
FYC look decidedly oven-ready in their bacofoil suits, which appear in style to be a tribute to early Elvis, even though the King was entering his jumpsuited Vegas period when his version of this was a hit. We finally get to see A-ha's video, which easily outdoes the West End Girls one for creepy mannequins and is still incredibly atmospheric despite being filmed in Teddington. Sadly the intro is skipped again, which means we miss out on the coda to the Take On Me video at the start. Back down to earth for the playout, with rap pioneer Kurtis Blow returning to the charts after a long absence with a forgettable effort. Whoever put the credits together managed to spell Gazza's name wrong...
sadly simple minds were well into the tedious stadium rock thing at this point, and had lost my interest accordingly - perhaps the reason for their descent into mediocrity was the departure of bassist derek forbes, who's forceful-yet-considered playing style was an intregral part of their early sound (although i've just found out that his replacement john giblin played the amazing fretless bass on kate bush's "breathing", having thought for decades it was eberhard weber!)? whatever, i saw that they were playing at the salford fc stadium this summer which is only half an hour's walk from me. but without forbes and original (and similarly crucial) keyboard player mick mcneill on board, they could have played next-door to me and i still wouldn't have bothered seeing them!
DeleteWasn't Jim Kerr of Simple Minds married to Chrissie Hyde of The Pretenders? I seem to recall as such.
DeleteI don't recall any controversy about the Billy Ocean mishearing, everyone thought it was really funny!
DeleteOne of BBC Radio Merseyside's senior disc spinners - Monty Lister, if I remember correctly - told listeners that Billy seemed to be directing us to the taxidermist!
DeleteJim Kerr was married to Chrissie Hynde 1984 - 1990. He then married Patsy Kensit 1992 - 1996.
DeleteTHX - from memory the controversy was very minor, but I definitely recall some people taking umbrage at what they imagined the lyrics to be!
Deletethe pretenders were actually one of the support acts for that simple minds gig i mentioned above. so presumably mr kerr & ms hynde are still good friends, even though no longer spouses?
DeleteI wonder whether they re-ignited the old flame after the event, for old times sake
DeleteGary and Janice dressed up by the viewers - always a great idea. I know who got the better deal, as only one of them looked like a penguin...
ReplyDeleteBilly Ocean - Housewife Classic! Not in capitals this time as it's not quite of the standard of 'Flashdance', 'It's Raining Men' and stuff like that but it still gets far too much airplay on the likes of Heart compared to his better songs.
Madonna - As I said before, my favourite song from her early stuff by some distance.
Talk Talk - A great song, which I knew more from its 1990 re-release. Mark Hollis's miming skills haven't improved much since their last performance, which surely must have been more like 3 and a half years previously rather than 5. Maybe Gary was rounding up...
Breakers - James Brown's song is alright, Simple Minds conjure up some horrifically bombastic nonsense, and for the 2nd week running we go straight into a video. Not keen on Grace's song though I'm afraid.
FYC and a-ha we've already seen, and as for Kurtis Blow...well, sadly he sounds like he's doing the pisstake 'Rapping song' from the second series of 'Look Around You'. Altogether now: "I'm rapping, I'm rapping. I'm rap-rap-rap-rap-rapping!"
Good Lord, I see we've rattled through 5 TOTP shows of January 1986 in only 8 days, thanks to BBC4's combined policy of showing two shows a week, plus omitting the Mike Smith shows.
ReplyDeleteAt this rate we're going to get through the whole of 1986 in no time. It feels like the speed of those cars in the Grace Jones video for Pull Up To The Bumper. Hey, wait for me!
I just looked at the schedule for the coming week, and there is no TOTP 1986 on BBC4, but apparently on Friday there will be the Xmas 1971 edition introduced by Tony Blackburn, but only 20 minutes long??
ReplyDeleteIs this a 2018 editing down, or was the original 1971 show only 20 minutes long? Also, I think it may be the first time this show has been repeated since 1971, so if this is the case, then it seems to be quite a rare episode to get hold of.
Looking forward to seeing that 1971 edition. I think some or all of it has been shown before.
DeleteHere's what should be featured:- T-Rex – Get It On
DeleteThe Tams – Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me
Benny Hill – Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West) (video)
Slade – Coz I Luv You George Harrison – My Sweet Lord (danced to by Pan’s People)
The Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar Ashton, Gardner & Dyke – Resurrection Shuffle
Diana Ross – I’m Still Waiting (video)
The New Seekers – Never Ending Song Of Love
Rod Stewart – Maggie May
The show was 40 minutes long originally, so BBC4 will only be showing half of it, for reasons best known to themselves - perhaps there were problems with some of the links? I bet you that the T Rex performance - which has featured umpteen times as a clip on other programmes - will be featured.The 1986 repeats will resume on Thursday week, so this is a short but welcome break.
DeleteIt's listed as a 30 minute edition on the BBC website. Perhaps the later screening at 03:05 will be longer.
DeleteHere's a UK Gold copy of 27/12/71:
https://vimeo.com/194902340
It was also broadcast on Eins Festival in Germany back in 2009 minus the Rolling Stones footage.
The screening at 03.05 is definitely 30 minutes long meaning 10 minutes have been taken off, as I've got both the UK Gold and Eins Festival versions
Deletepresumably the t rex clip is the one with reg guesting on air piano? only "your song" had been a hit for reg prior to this, earlier in the same year. so was this in fact his debut appearance on the show?
Deleteby coincidence i've just started watching the "the benny hill show" from the 70's on dvd. of the three episodes i've seen so far, much of it still stands up to scrutiny in terms of funniness. but some of it also fails to stand up to scrutiny in terms of pc-ness - for example, the chinese guy seeing the dentist gag (two thirty/tooth hurtee)!
DeleteI see the BBC Top of the Pops police have been out again as Glenn Marshall and James Sturt's Vimeo pages have been taken down.Both of them had lot of episodes on their pages.
DeleteWilberforce - yes, it's the performance with Reg guesting. He actually made his TOTP debut with Border Song in April 1970. By coincidence, Slade made their first appearance on the same show with The Shape of Things to Come - both singles flopped completely. The earliest surviving Elton TOTP performance is of Your Song.
DeleteI see there's a complete episode of Whistle Test on that night too - from the 80s! It's a Mick Jagger special.
DeleteI expect that Benny Hill will be chopped out of the 1971 episode. "All Ernie had to offer was a pint of milk a day..." indeed!
Deletei loved it at the time as a 10 year old, although of course a lot of the innuendo went over ny head. but that was why benny hill was so good, in that his humour worked on both a clean and an ooh-er missus level. and of course the 10-year old me loved the video/film - especially the showdown between ernie and his rival ten ton ted from teddington (as played by the brilliantly deadpan henry mcgee, who is also remembered for the highly amusing sugar puff ads!)
DeleteI heard Ashton Gardner & Dyke were being chopped, along with Benny Hill!
DeleteGenuine enthusiasm and chemistry between Janice and Gary on display here. Some really nice intros.
ReplyDeleteBilly Ocean – When the going gets tough – Great song from Billy. Who recalls Boyzone’s dreadful cover? Thought not. As noted above, lots of band members fill the stage here. The single was promoted by a double pack with the flop ‘Mystery Lady’ as the second single, backed with the not-so-flop ‘Suddenly’ and scenes from the ‘award winning video’ for the main track – how could it have won an award at this stage I wonder?
Madonna – Borderline – Great video and an infectious tune that has grown on me over the past couple of days having not heard it for years. “…and it’s breaking my heart, what am I to do, I hear my Country calling but I wanna be with you….” Oooops!
Talk Talk – Life is what you make it – Another song I have not heard for years and it sounds good! The drummer that Janice mentions is certainly trying to pull off a Keith Moon impression!
Breakers - James Brown – Living in America – never did anything for me whatsoever. Simple Minds – Sanctify yourself – ditto,
Grace Jones – Pull up to the Bumper – FF
Fine Young Cannibals – Suspicious Minds – Wow! What shiny suits! Nice song but nothing special.
Chart rundown – “the Captain of your Heart” by Double as Gary pronounces it. A fabulous song which we’ll no doubt be hearing soon, but isn’t it pronounced “doo-blur”? as in french?
A-Ha – The Sun always shines one TV – At last!! The iconic video. I have avoided looking it up on YT in anticipation of this showing. After watching I was buzzing. The song and the video are just fabulous. The way they have shot those dummies in that disused church, the camera work, the fades from b&w to colour. Absolute perfection. 1986 so far has delivered two extremes for me; all time classic records like this alongside many I’d be happy never to hear again…
Kurtis Blow – If I ruled the World danceout – ….like this. FF
sct you're right in that double were supposed to be pronounced the french way rather than the english one. to my recollection they were actually swiss. that is presumably french-speaking swiss, as opposed to german-speaking or italian-speaking swiss? i had an online conversation with a swiss person a while back, who told me the way they have solved what is a ridiculous situation of speaking different languages in different parts of the same country is to communicate with each other in english!
DeleteA friend of mine thought Double were called Dougal, after The Magic Roundabout dog.
DeleteAccording to Wikipedia (make of it what you will), the Swiss band's name was pronounced Doo-Blay.
DeleteNow then folks, whilst we look forward to the edited 1971 show and the resumption of 1986 next week. A quick rain check on the lower regions of this week’s charts shows that one of my favourite singles of 1986 has made an entry. Its stay will be but brief – five weeks peaking at no60 whilst over the pond it went all the way to the top. One of life’s great mysteries to me as to why this didn’t become massive over here; I certainly bought it. The song? It’s Starship’s fabulous follow up to ‘We built this City’ called ‘Sara’ (not to be confused with the Fleetwood Mac song from ‘Tusk’). If you haven’t heard it, it’s well worth a listen and the video (19,863,673 views!!) even features the longer album cut. I’ve been humming it all day today! Gosh it’s a haunting song!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ScTb6_KHg
It is somewhat astonishing that it only peaked at No.60 here, but I think it was largely due to the fact that TOTP shunned their first single called We built This City, and by not giving it a full play, only a brief clip on the Breakers section, and this was probably the trigger of no follow-up single success for them on these shores, i.e. Sara. Pity, cos I like Sara.
DeleteRemember that in 1986, if TOTP did not play your video, then there were no other channels or video channels in those days to show it, and so I'm not surprised that the British public did not buy Sara, when they did not see enough of the superb first single on the TV, i.e., were not given the opportunity.
bearing in mind mine and sct's tastes don't match that often, i somewhat reluctantly took a listen to this track (co-written by peter wolf, but confusingly not the peter wolf of j geils band fame) that i'd never heard of before... and was more than pleasantly surprised! in contrast to "we built this city", this really is excellent shiny-but-thoughtful synth-led 80's american rock a la mr mister in my view, expecially the chorus which has a couple of brilliant chord changes. so thanks for that sct. but why they made a video featuring a recreation of the 1930's dustbowl depression when the lyrics seem to be a pure love song is beyond me - although it did remind me of the iconic photograph below, that i only became aware of in more recent years:
Deletehttps://mholloway63.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/lange-migrantmother02.jpg?w=560
a couple of other related things: i've always thought the fleetwood mac track of the same name excellent (although the drums are a touch too loud - presumably lindsey buckingham had a drug-crazed mick fleetwood lurking behind him when he mixed it?), as well as this track when the above were called jefferson starship:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E35Yzr0HGto
I know that Starship track as I have it on one of the 'So80s' collections that often feature songs that were hits in Europe but not here, and you're right, it is very good!
DeleteI'm glad I've got everyone in accord on 'Sara' as it really is one of my favourite records of 1986. There is another record later in 1986 that I'm also keen on that similarly went to the top in the States but bombed completely over here, but that I'll leave further comment on that for its release date...
DeleteLike wilberforce, I'm a great fan of the Fleetwood Mac Stevie Nicks song 'Sara'. When the 'Tusk' album was first released on cd, because it was a short double album, they squeezed it all onto one disc. However, when I got to play it through I realised that the price paid for this little economy was to substitute the six minute album version of 'Sara' for the edited 7" cut. Did they think that nobody would notice?!
Thanks for link to the Jefferson Starship track too. I quite like 'White Rabbit' as well.
Not to mention Thin Lizzy's own hit called Sarah:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ALdt53-_4
The Starship song is OK, though I can't say it grabbed me that much. I prefer Fleetwood Mac's Sara, and I would say that Tusk is two thirds of the way to being a great album. Both Buckingham and Nicks were at the top of their songwriting game on that one, but some anonymous offerings from Christine McVie drag things down a bit.
DeleteHad a listen to Sara, and I was surprised I recognised it so must have heard it at the time. It's a bit mild for me, but nice to see Rebecca De Mornay arseing about in the video.
DeleteI have that Tusk CD with the abbreviated version of Sara, it doesn't ruin the album, but you kind of wish the technology had been up to the full version. No such problem with streaming or downloads now, of course.
An excellent pairing of hosts. Erm, nice outfits? Why’s your jacket shrunk, Janice? Almost as short, but not as raunchy, as Grace Jones’s top in the mugshots.
ReplyDeleteThe Billy Ocean Trio there, with female backing vocalists miming Billy’s BVs to daft non-effect. An okay song, but I really wished “Love Really Hurts Without You” had made number 1 instead of this.
As in the last showing, Madonna’s vid highlights a sign giving the name of one of her previous hits, “Angel”.
Janice was obviously at rehearsals to clock Talk Talk’s drummer. Good to see the dance combo from Talk Talk’s previous mugshot has been replaced with a photo of the painfully guitarless trio. Mark Hollis looking like a prototype Liam Gallagher there.
James Brown. Hah! Huh! Ugh! Eh???
Hmm Betty! It’s Jim Kerr in a Frank Spencer beret (though I liked the Fred Scuttle reference), with a subliminal reminder of the John Shuttleworth classic “Pigeons In Flight”. yes, I know it was a dove!
All hail Queen Janice and her thoughts on Grace Jones’s multi-entendre track, which reminded me of the ancient joke about the Ford Pubic – recycled from old Corsairs. Boom boom tish!
Roland and the Rubberlegs are back, in outfits making me hungry for oven ready turkey. You there! Mime that bass properly!
Oo! A second hired hand with A-Ha, on bass but standing in a different postcode. How many hours must it have taken to position those mannequins? Loved the one sitting with legs dangling from a high parapet.
And we finish with a cack track, so I’ll turn Kurtis Blow off (cue raspberry noise from lower regions).
I am guessing that the angel sign is Madge's video is probably just coincidence, as Borderline was originally released over a year before Angel.
DeleteAh, you spotted the deliberate mistake! Ahem......
DeleteThe TV Guide I've got now shows the full 40 minute show from 1971 is on now at 03.05
ReplyDeleteIf that is the case, then it is brilliant news, cos then we get to see the great Benny Hill with the housewife clutching the milk bottle to her chest.
DeleteDid you know that the song Town Called Malice by The Jam, some 10 or so years later, which incidentally also reached No.1, had the lyrics "a hundred lonely housewives clutch empty milk bottles to their hearts"
Two very different sounding number ones around ten years apart, and with a similar story. Brilliant!
Yes Dory, as you've probably found out now, the whole show was broadcast!
DeleteIt's black suit day..even Billy has joined in
ReplyDeleteWhere do I start with this song. Contender for best song of the 80s. I recorded the video and knew all the backing singer moves. I remember being really confused that the backing singers were different in the studio. Mum had to explain they were movie actors!
Borderline. Don't recall this video at all. Very 80s and very arty.
Talk Talk. One of my all time favourite songs. So powerful. I got into this one when it was rereleased in the early 90s.
Breakers:
James Brown. Can take this in small doses. Very much the Springsteen view of the USofA.
Simple Minds. ANOTHER bloody convert video. Songs a goodun though.
Grace Jones. Scary lady. Classy song. No Janice definetely not about cars..
FYC back again. Gone for the full ABC look this week. Shame they never got Jimmy along he would have fitted right in. Lovely moves there Roland. Much better than their first performance.
Here comes the Aha video. Great mix of colour and black and white, they made some great videos. Shame this was their only number one.
My Fortnite obsessed 11 year old is singing along..result!
Kurtis will not rule the world with this tune I'm afraid.
That was the best TOTP in ages. Fabulous. On to February. ..