And a huge thanks to Neil B for the WeTransfer download here
Big hits
27/03/86 (Bruno Brookes & Mike Smith)
Samantha Fox – “Touch Me (I Want Your Body)” (4)
Making her debut with her first of three top ten hits, this one peaking at number 3.
Atlantic Starr – “Secret Lovers” (24) (video/chart)
Their first of two top ten hit, this one peaking at number 10.
Tippa Irie – “Hello Darling” (33)
His only top 30 hit, peaking at number 22.
Bronski Beat – “C’mon C’mon” (40) (breaker)
Their final top 30 hit, peaking at number 20.
Big Audio Dynamite – “E=MC2” (34) (breaker)
Peaked at number 11.
Falco – “Rock Me Amadeus” (27) (breaker)
Will go all the the way to number one.
Queen – “A Kind Of Magic” (16) (video)
Peaked at number 3.
The Art Of Noise & Duane Eddy – “Peter Gunn” (12)
Became their second of three top ten hits when it peaked at number 8.
Cliff Richard & The Young Ones – “Living Doll” (1) (video)
First of three weeks at number one.
Stevie Wonder – “Overjoyed” (25) (video/audience dancing/credits)
Peaked at number 17.
Next up is April 3rd.
The best you can hope for as a Page 3 Girl now is maybe a gig as a TV presenter, so Samantha Fox was probably the apex of that career. Maria Whitaker never had a single out, did she? Of course, all that time being objectified as a fantasy figure by men put her off men for life, but it's more endearing than sexy to see her stomping around the stage here. Song lyrics definitely trying too hard. She could sing, though, not brilliantly, but she carried a tune.
ReplyDeleteAtlantic Starr, not only is the song only suitable to be played at a wedding reception, but the video looks like it's for a wedding reception too. Ooh, dad's got his camcorder out, humour him. Pretty drippy all round.
Tippa Irie with a tune that seems oddly reminiscent of the megahit from the 90s Compliments on Your Kiss by Red Dragon, especially in its infuriating catchiness that you have to hit your head against a wall to dislodge.
Breakers: I haven't thought of his Bronski Beat song in 32 years, funny how these repeats brings memories flooding back. See they're sticking with the fake beach theme. Song sounds more like Amazulu. BAD we'll see again (how much did all those Nic Roeg movie clips cost for the video?!), and the Falco clip I note is the verse where he drops the C-bomb. Must mean something different in Austria.
Proof that Cannon were spending money like water if they had secured the services of Queen for their heads-lopping fantasy epic. When I was at college, Highlander was a BIG movie, despite being a few years old and not a huge hit when it first came out. I like it mostly for nostalgic reasons, not because I think it's the best Scottish movie evah, and this is a jolly theme tune that's curiously non-epic (and non-Scottish).
Hello, Art of Noise have dusted off an old rocker, King of the Twangy Guitar himself for a souped up, none more 80s production of the old Henry Mancini detective show theme. And it's a bit of fun, no idea what the backing singers were there for (they're not on the record), nice to see the old guy get a spot in the limelight at this stage (and he's still going!).
Then Cliff and the Young Ones, still had to listen to that opening speech, and Stevie Wonder to end, a step up from Atlantic Starr at least, though his attempts at acting remind me of the weirdo 70s "documentary" he did the soundtrack for, The Secret Life of Plants, where you keep getting distracted by shots of Stevie wandering through the forest when it looks as if he's in danger of tripping over.
Maria Whittaker was the Page 3 girl with natural 36DD breasts, oh yes, how could anyone possibly forget? However, the Page 3 girl that probably got the most affection in those days was Linda Lusardi, a foxy North London girl who will turn 60 in a couple of weeks time.
DeleteThe debut of Atlantic Starr on these shores was certainly impactful, but not for this home video/remix version which looked and sounded awful, and not a jot on the more perfected 7-inch single released for the UK charts, which makes better listening. The Americans always seemed to make more romantic songs and videos than us Brits, and this was no exception. Their best was yet to come the following year with the more successful hit 'Always'. Incidentally Atlantic Starr first charted in the USA as early as 1978, and charted every year since then, but amazingly they only had success in Britain from 1986. The mind boggles!
maria who?
Deletesamantha fox: we've now had exactly 10 years of these re-runs, and in that time we've gone from the sublime fox to the ridiculous samantha fox. i had planned to use that landmark to say my farewells at this point, but even though this rubbish is indicative of the way things are going i've decided to carry on until the end of the year as i like most of you guys here. all i have to say on the visual front is that i never understood the appeal of ms fox. but then again i've never understood why so many men get so excited over a big pair of knockers when there is so much more to appreciate about a woman's beauty than that
ReplyDeleteatlantic starr: i had a vague memory if this being somewhat nauseating slush, and a listen now makes me cringe just as much now as i no doubt did back then. what a shame this was a hit instead of the vastly superior "silver shadow"
tipper irie: is this a cover of something else? i remember the refrain "hello darlin, hello good-looking", but don't remember it being associated with a reggae singer. but then again, this isn't actually reggae, is it? and i bet the scenery shifters were really pleases to lug a whacking great grand piano on stage when there doesn't actually appear to be any of that instrument on the actual recording?
queen: they probably rank no. 6 in my list of rock superstar acts, and the number of their tracks in my collection just about runs into double figures. this is one of them, and probably the last half-decent thing they did in my view. the best part about it is brian may's "musical scale" second guitar break
art of noise/duane eddy: in my view henry mancini is as close to a genius you'll get musically in my view, but this is far from his best as it's little more than a basic riff. and this rehash of it adds little if anything in that respect. 50's relic mr eddy had already had a second wind just before these re-runs with "play me like you play your guitar", but here he gets another bite of the cherry
cliff/young ones: all my mates used to go apeshit over "the young ones", but i personally found it a bit heavy going - especially the non-stop bellowing by the adrian edmundson character. i personally thought he and the other two mainstays were much better used in the "comic strip" series that was also going around this time, and which of course spawned the legendary mock-metal band bad news (drummer and "comic strip" mainman peter richardson was the original fourth flatmate in "the young ones", but apparently fell out with the producer so was replaced by that other guy that no one remembers). what about this record you say? well, what about it?
stevie wonder: this could easily have been george benson in his declining cash-in years. utterly bland, other than the annoying tap-dripping beat
Good to know you are sticking around a bit longer, Wilberforce, as I had thought this would be the moment when you would bid farewell. I initially thought that I would stop commenting once we reached the end of 1987, but I have decided to carry on until the end of the decade, BBC4 willing, as I quite fancy the idea of reviewing every 80s TOTP.
DeleteI liked your observation of how we have gone from Fox to Sam Fox in the ten years covered by these reruns. For me, S-S-S-Single Bed remains one of the best tunes to turn up in the repeats that I was previously unaware of, Susan Fassbender's Twilight Café being another.
Funny you mention S-S-S-Single bed, as it was a similar fate for Samantha Fox when she left these stores for America to link up with Full Force, who coined the phrase S-S-S-S-Samantha Fox on her singles that careered to the no.1 spot in the USA in 1987/88. I can't wait to comment on these when she links up with Full Force and makes it our charts too.
DeleteBest tune I never really was aware of that I've enjoyed since the repeats is Limahl's 'Never Ending Story'. Somehowe I missed that first time round....maybe because it was him?
DeleteI was certainly a fan of 'S-S-S Single Bed' from first hearing it on ToTP and everyone singing it in the playground the day after, whilst Fassbender's was an unusual record for the time, but none the worse for that.
Gary Davies ended Sounds of the 80s last night with Susan Fassbender's hit. Made up for playing Eye of the Tiger and Thriller for the billionth time...
DeleteIt's time to say a fond farewell to both Yellow Pearl (though admittedly it wasn't the same after they started using that lame guitar-led version) and the iconic circular TOTP logo, the latter of which had been in continuous use since 1973. Sadly this was not a great show to see them out, thanks both to some dubious musical fare and an unrestrained, chronically unfunny Smitty putting in his most annoying performance yet. He also dominated most of the links, making me wonder why BB was there at all. Making his first TOTP appearance for a year, Bruno did at least do a better job than his co-host in the limited amount of camera time that he had, but that wasn't hard.
ReplyDeleteIt says something about this show that Sam Fox's debut hit was probably the best thing on it. The song is a decent bit of commercial pop-rock, even if the lyrics aren't exactly subtle, and Sam goes hard for the rock chick look here. I agree with THX that she can carry a tune, certainly more so than Twiggy could when she made her own bid for pop stardom a decade earlier. Being very young at the time, I had no awareness of Miss Fox's Page 3 past, so at the time for me she was just a singer. I think Smitty was justified in calling Atlantic Starr's promo a "home video", as it has that feel about it - either that, or a very cheap soap opera. The song is nondescript soul balladry, and I wasn't particularly upset to have the Top 40 countdown over the top of it. In fairness to Smitty, he did a much better job of running through it than Janice and Master Bates the week before.
Mercifully this Tippa Irie track completely passed me by at the time, as it is extremely irritating. It sounds like a weird and unholy combination of jazz and reggae, which are not my favourite genres at the best of times, but I suppose you have to give him some credit for a colourful, charismatic performance. Another colourful video for Bronski Beat to follow, but their chart glory days were now over and this rather nondescript effort would fail to graduate from the breakers section.
I could have sworn A Kind of Magic got to number 1, but I see that the video was used in April to close out two shows, which is probably why in my memory it did reach the top. It has always been a favourite promo of mine, with Freddie perfectly suiting his magician's garb, but song-wise it just comes across as the usual Queen sound and fury signifying little. Back in the studio, the Twangmeister returns to TOTP for this rather unlikely collaboration with The Art of Noise. A pleasant enough makeover of a classic tune, which like Livin' Doll had originally been a hit in 1959, but it all feels a little pointless. The "backing singers" were presumably there to add some visual interest and throw some shapes, as there was certainly no singing for them to do. Stevie rounds things off by building sandcastles while emoting over this somewhat gloopy and tedious ballad. BBC4 viewers are not missing too much here...
Good Lord, I for one do remember Samantha Fox as a Page 3 girl, and in the days before boob jobs, a big pair of knockers were always real, and Fox had probably the biggest ones in showbiz. No wonder that Mike Smith mentioned on this show that her annual salary reached £2M, which in todays money would be around £10M.
DeleteSo this debut single on the show was just for fun, cos she certainly didn't need the extra money, having already got rich from Page 3 work. She was soon to follow up this single with I Wanna Have Some Fun. Wouldn't we all, if we had already earned the money she had, and not need to work any more!
Ann-Margret had a boob job in 1971 for her topless scenes in the film Carnal Knowledge...
DeleteI didn't think boob jobs were available as early as 1971. Good Lord, I wonder how much women paid in those days for a boob job? In fact, I have no idea what the market price is nowadays for that matter!
DeleteI overlooked the fact that Bronski Beat would be on again - whoops!
DeleteChart rundown - poor old ELO, they make a dramatic return after three years in the wilderness, and don't even get a Breakers clip on the show, having only made it to No.31. For a world-class group at this stage of their career to not make it into the Top 30 was a sad end to their career, as 1986 was to be the last year for singles releases before breaking up by the end of the year, having made their last contractual commitment album for Sony. Jeff Lynne was soon to head to the USA to move to a new home in California, and soon to take a new project a year later with The Travelling Wilburys.
ReplyDeleteTipa Irie - I could have sworn that Irie was the lead black member of The Beat from 1980 fame with Mirror In The Bathroom, among many other hits then. Crap song for 1986 though!
The Breakers - Bronski Beat looked like auditioning for a new Tight Fit, while the girl at the bottom of that tree looked like the lead singer of Amazulu!
Then it is Falco with Rock Me Amadeus and that iconic video I remember so well at the time. Sadly he died at the age of 40 in 1998 in a fatal car crash while under the influence of alcohol and drugs while driving.
Queen - this video cost a quarter-of-a-million pounds to make, call it about £1.5M in today' money. Good Lord, no-one pays that much to make a video nowadays, when it is all computer graphics for about a tenner!
You're getting Tippa Irie mixed up with Ranking Roger!
DeleteBut they look alike in face and body type!
DeleteI can certainly remember a clip of the 'Calling America' video being shown on the Wednesday Chart Rundown on 'Breakfast Time'....which was presented by Smitty.
DeleteSo The Art Of Noise are back with a new partner, none other than rock legend Duane Eddy. As Mike Smith points out, it is Eddy's first appearance in the TOTP studio since 1975, but I wasn't aware of any such performance. Was the concerned 1975 episode one of the wiped shows I wonder, or does his performance still exist?
ReplyDeleteWith regard to the Stevie Wonder playout, we never would have had such a slow song as a playout on the old format with studio audience dancing, as it would have had to be smoochy couples slow-dancing to it, but now with the new playout format of having the video sellotaped over the studio audience, it meant that at last TOTP could play out with a slow number for the first time in 22 years since the show was launched!
That 1975 Duane Eddy performance does still exist - here it is:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjAdrJzlZd8
Slow numbers had been used as playout tracks before - for example, John Williams' version of Cavatina in 1979. In the late 70s, of course, there was normally no dancing over the credits so it was easier to use slower songs.
That is an interesting find John, as your clip has the BBC4 logo on the corner of the screen, so it must have been part of a compilation show, as BBC4 did not show the 1975 TOTP shows as part of their re-run. I did like the Rubettes doing vocals for Eddy on that clip, more than Eddy's performance!
DeleteIn this case the clip came from one of those Guitar Heroes at the BBC compilations, but I remember it appearing on TOTP2 once. The show it originates from, 13 March 1975, is one of a handful from that year that still survives in the archives.
DeleteI'm not sure who the backing singers were, but they looked more Three Degrees than Rubettes to me...
Some highs and lows and bad jokes in this one. Thanks as ever to the guys who let us see…
ReplyDeleteSam Fox – Touch me (I want your body) – Gets us off to a cracking start but it sounds different to how I recall it. However, I bought the 12” version and it features many more gasps and groans throughout than this 7” mix does. What a debut!
Atlantic Starr – Secret Lovers – Quite a nice record. I’m not saying it’s a classic, just nice. Like Dory I’m looking forward to ‘Always’ which really is a cracker. Video is interesting but oh dear, gets invaded by the rollerblind chart.
Tippa Irie – Hello Darling – Goodbye.
Breakers – Bronski Beat – Come on Come on - no comment, are they still going? Must be the last one before they’re erased. Big Audio Dynamite – E=MC2 – better watch out, better beware…. Falco – Rock me Amadeus – Downright infectious. I should hate this but I love it! Just a great video too. Totally outrageous.
Queen – A Kind of Magic – Sheer and utter class. Roger Taylor’s finest song writing moment and an absolutely wonderful video showing Freddie Mercury as everyone likes to remember him; all those gestures, the attacking vocals and the overall performing brilliance. To think this only reached no3 and ‘Jack your Body’ would go all the way a year or so later…
Art of Noise / Duane Eddy – Peter Gunn – Not sure what Duane thought of all those funny voices and noises in the background but it’s a pretty good sound despite that.
At this point I FF’d all the way to the end…
Cliff / Young Ones – Living Doll – How the blazes did this get all the way to the top? I know it was a charity record but… Checking on our friend’s 80s No1 blog, he’s of a similar mind to me and describes it as ‘unfunnily irritating’. Quite….’A Kind of Magic’ anyone?
Stevie Wonder – Overjoyed – Underwhelmed.
In this same year of 1986, Jimmy Sommerville launched The Communards, and went to no.1 with Don't Leave Me This Way, so Bronski Beat could not have had much longer before folding up for good, once their former lead singer had made a better success of The Communards than he did with Bronski Beat. In any case, what is a Bronski?
DeleteOne of the keyboardists was called Steve Bronski.
DeleteThanks once again to Neil B.
ReplyDeleteAh, the last ever “Yellow Pearl” start-up. I’ll miss it.
Shitty accompanied by Trevor Brookes, who I always thought a bit of a knob.
It’s the British Sabrina! Samantha Fox could actually sing in tune and reasonably well to boot. Not used to seeing her in more than one item of clothing, though. Ahem!
Atlantic Starr, sponsored by Tate & Lyle Syrup. Is this the bunch who foisted “Always” onto us? Another case where the dreaded anti-mugshot roller spoken countdown does us a favour.
Hello and goodbye, Tippa (does that make him Tipp-Ex?). Not exactly “Girlie Girlie”, is it?
“C’Mon C’Mon”? No, don’t want to. Obvious two-video technique with ‘New Jimi’ supposedly sitting on top of the tree but actually near ground level, with Stunt Double doing the above-xylophone shots.
Einstein said that E=MC² according to Landscape. Note the fleeting Thin White Duke pic in the vid.
I liked the fact there’s apparently no German translation for ‘plastic money’, ‘superstar’ and ‘come on and rock me Amadeus’. As far as Austrian acts go, bring back Opus, I say, and that’s hard for me to admit.
“A Kind Of Magic”? Give me “Magic” by Pilot any day.
Here we have the patented Art Of Noise ‘dum dum dum’ keyboard noise (yawn) welded to an old tune with a respected guitarist and a stage worthy of EW&F proportions.
An FF for the chart topper (this is becoming a habit!), followed by a sneaky title pun by Trevor into the outro, which is nice but over-elaborate lyrically and with that stupid dripping tap backing.
Bowie's in the BAD vid because it was a clip from The Man Who Fell to Earth, which is one of the Nic Roeg movies discussed/spoiled in the lyrics.
DeleteInteresting regarding the 'no plastic money any more' lyrics on Rock Me Amadeus. Was there such a thing in Austria prior to 1986 according to Falco, assuming he is Austrian?
DeleteThe first time I ever encountered plastic money would be in the new £5 and £10 notes introduced since last year, replacing the traditional tearable paper ones. Oh, and apparently the £20 plastic notes will be with us by the end of the year I think.
The plastic money would be referring to credit cards, I assume.
DeleteOh yes, didn't think of that, I guess people still refer to credit cards as plastic money, even though the bank notes coming through are also technically plastic!
DeleteIt's a shame that Mike Smith was clearly the 'senior presenter' here with the much more professional Bruno Brookes probably wondering why he bothered turning up, especially as he was - as Shitty pointed out - the new Radio 1 chart presenter yet was only employed in one of the three chart segments on the show!
ReplyDeleteSam Fox - For all her...erm...critics (I don't want to be the Mike Smith of this forum, thanks) she wasn't the worst singer in the world and some of the songs given to her were pretty decent, including this one.
Atlantic Starr - Syrupy drivel.
Tippa Irie - Almost like someone has described reggae to him. Awful.
Breakers - Just Bronski Beat to discuss here and it's very much a case of diminishing returns I'm afraid.
Queen - Not a housewife song as such but I've played and heard the song on the radio quite enough and seen the video plenty of times too.
Art Of Noise / Duane Eddy - It's fairly inconsequential stuff, quite fun but hardly the best AON single.
A decent No.1 (a rarity for 86) and then some terrible Stevie Wonder material (see also everything else he made after 1980) to finish. Not a vintage edition would be my summary.
the best thing the art of noise did by miles in my opinion was "moments in love" which i seem to remember being a fair-aized hit, yet that seems to have been passed by as far as totp is concerned
DeleteIt missed the Top 40 on two separate occasions, which is why it wasn't on TOTP!
DeleteSo the final "yellow pearl" edition of TOTP gets underway. I will miss this version of the theme but the new version will take me into my full time TOTP viewing and Top 40 taping days. All good things...
ReplyDeleteMike doing most of the work (and puns) this week with Bruno chipping in.
First up, every schoolboys favourite Sam Fox with actually a fairly decent tune which she performs well. She was such a BIG star (pun-intended) during my senior school days.
Next up the appalling video to Secret Lovers. This song was not a fave at the time and is still rather naff today. It's OK is the best compliment I can pay it.
OMG - Tippa Irie. What a load of crap. Next..
Breakers:
Bronski Beat with a cheap video and a rather by the numbers record. Don't recall it and can't remember it now it's gone
BAD as Smithy called them, with the odly titled E=MC2. Great tune though, big fan of this one. Video (what we see of it) seems ok
Falco - Best song of the night. LOVED this song as a kid. Still love it now. Brilliant piece of pop music. And is still sounds like he sings "c*&t in the verse we here...oh how we laughed at that when I was 11.
Queen with a video that is so overplayed it has lost some of it's shine but must have been good at the time. Good song as well. One of their best.
Contender for best song of the night (straight fight with Falco). Art of Noise with Peter Gunn. Still think this an amazingly well put together dance record. Odd that they gave the girls mics as they don't actually sing anything. Good to see they got Duane out of Moth Balls for the evening.
Bruno mentions the last time we will heat the yellow pearl music. Surprised they didn't big up the new look for next week..
Cliff at number One and we play out with Stevie. The clip last week didn't lie - awful song, awful video.
Not one of the best shows..