Map of the Pops
24/11/88 (Andy Crane & Simon Mayo)
Tiffany – “Radio Romance” (21)
After Andy and Simon reveal their slightly peculiar map of Radio One's latest state of the art stereo transmitters, Tiffany gets us underway with an aptly titled song, and it became her final top 40 hit when it peaked at number 13.
Bomb The Bass featuring Maureen – “I Say A Little Prayer” (19)
I wonder if the Fugees were watching this? And it became their third of four top ten hits when it peaked at number 10.
Deacon Blue – “Real Gone Kid” (8) (rpt)
A third showing for this song, but it got no higher.
Michael Jackson – “Smooth Criminal” (12) (breaker)
Peaked at number 8.
Pet Shop Boys – “Left To My Own Devices” (7) (breaker)
Peaked at number 4.
Iron Maiden – “The Clairvoyant” (6) (breaker)
A breaker? It was already at its peak!
Bananarama – “Nathan Jones” (20)
The girls were looking particularly chic tonight and the song peaked at number 15.
Chris De Burgh – “Missing You” (3) (video)
At its peak.
Robin Beck – “The First Time” (1) (rpt from 10/11/88)
Second of three weeks at number one.
Hithouse – “Jack To The Sound Of The Underground” (25) (video/credits)
His only top 40 hit and it peaked at number 14.
December 1st is next!
The Stage That Tiffany Was on was used for both her performances on Top Of The Pops.
ReplyDeleteAndy and Mayo, the latter in a cute guide dog jumper, make for a good partnership here, though the endless promotion of the new Radio 1 frequencies is becoming rather tiresome. Anyway, Tiff has an appropriately named song to start us off, and a typically energetic performance to sell it. I suppose it bounces along nicely enough, but the limitations of Tiff's vocals are once again all too apparent, and the "where are they now?" file was starting to beckon. I assume those congas on the Bomb the Bass performance were there to add some visual interest to an otherwise static affair, as I can't hear them on the record. Aretha's interpretation of this Bacharach/David classic is so definitive that Maureen (what a pop star name that is) can't help but pale by comparison, though this version is still quite likeable, and certainly preferable to Dionne Warwick's underpowered original. It reminds me a bit of Dave Stewart's electro covers of 60s classics from a few years earlier.
ReplyDeleteThe choice of breakers this week was ridiculous, given how high all three records were in the charts. Wouldn't it have made more sense to drop the Deacon Blue repeat from the show and play one of these videos in full instead? Anyway, this is all we will see of Iron Maiden's latest opus, and I can't say I am heartbroken about that. How do their fans manage to tell the songs apart? The Nanas provide us with the second cover of the night, a respectable attempt at this Supremes classic which nevertheless lacks the dynamism of the original. They've brought the male dancers along again for perhaps the slickest performance we have seen from them in the studio, though I have to say I preferred the shambolic charm of their early outings. Incidentally, there is a football manager called Nathan Jones who has just been sacked by Stoke City - I wonder if the fans ever serenaded him with this?
CDB is on video this time, a rather dull affair with a vaguely soapy feel. The tiresome jack is back for the playout, as we get a highly generic house effort which has no distinguishing features, and is accompanied by a promo that looks cheap and very dated.
I just wish that Bomb The Bass would have kept with one formula, rather than having three different female singers on each of their first three singles of 1988. The first two were sexy, then what do we get with the third one, Maureen? Erm, someone too tall trying to emulate Aretha Franklin, and a complete divergence from their impactful debut sound. Oh please.......just give us back the original energy that Bomb The Bass had such a great impact with earlier in the year.
Deletethe reason bananarama recorded a cover of a supremes song for their next single release was because their producers stock aitken & waterman were surpremely (sorry) confident that it would be a hit, and thus surpass the achievement of diana ross and co as the most successful female group in the history of the charts. although why they chose this rather than something more-appropriately titled like "the happening" (which is also a far better tune in my view) is beyond me
DeleteWell, SAW's confidence that this would be a hit was not misplaced, though the fact it only got to 15 was an ominous sign that the girls were starting to lose their grip on the charts. The next single, done for charidee, would restore them to the Top 10, but it was downhill all the way after that...
Delete"The happening" has to be The Supremes best song. Gonna be signing that all day now. Thanks Wilberforce"
DeleteI have to point out that The Travelling Willberrys had no play on TOTP, whether in the studio, on video, or playout, or breakers, and much like Mory Kante a couple of months earlier, I feel they were badly short-changed by TOTP, as this week they dropped a couple of places to No.23, and too late to get their video shown on TOTP, despite the video being available when climbing up the charts.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think of the Willberrys line-up with such legends like Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Jeff Lynne, it beggars belief that TOTP put ahead of them trash like Hithouse with Jack To The Sound Of The Underground on playout for example. Good Lord!
I agree it's a shame, and also rather surprising, that the Wilburys never got featured considering the talent involved. They didn't manage any other Top 40 hits in the UK either, so we won't be seeing them in future - even the excellent parent album failed to climb above 16 in the UK, despite being hugely successful internationally. We will get Roy Orbison as produced by Jeff Lynne soon, albeit in tragic circumstances.
DeleteWell, justice was done last night for The Willberrys on BBC4, only a day after these two TOTP shows, when the ELO Radio 2 concert was aired, and Jeff Lynne and his team performed Handle With Care among the ELO classics! Considering this Radio 2 concert was shown on BBC4 on Saturday night, it kind of made up for no play on TOTP, at their chart peak of No.21, now down to No.23 on the this latest TOTP show.
DeleteI recall the general reception to The Traveling Wilburys back in 1988 being one of disappointment. It felt underwhelming, more was expected of all these great talents, but the result sounded like a second division, desperately middle-aged Jeff Lynne album. Maybe the reason it wasn't featured on TOTP was the project didn't go down well in the UK?
DeleteIt's possible that is why TOTP decided against featuring the single, though presumably they would have done if it had breached the Top 20. As the British music scene was in thrall to dance/rave culture at the time, it is not perhaps surprising that a veterans' rock album received a tepid reception, though it did do very well internationally. I like it myself, though the second album, recorded after the Big O's demise, was very poor. I suppose the problem with "supergroups" is that they can generate expectations of magnificence which are never likely to be fulfilled.
Deletei think the traveling (note no extra "l" in the spelling, as in the american way) wilburys (NOT willberrys btw) started off as a jeff lynne solo project (yawn) before harrison joined in as a result of being produced by lynne, and then they decided on the concept of being some kind of fictitious band of brothers and thus invited their other sleb chums to join in. going by the first single i could see why the big o was on board, but what exactly did petty and (particularly) dylan have to offer?
DeleteAnd Tiffany's 15 minutes are up in 10... 9... 8... Little wonder with this half-arsed appeal to DJs to play her record (it used to be a maxim that putting how much you loved the radio in your lyrics was a guarantee of airplay). That chorus is the laziest thing imaginable.
ReplyDeleteBomb the Bass and the exotically-named Maureen next, with a lumpen cover of the old 1960s standard. The performance reminded me of Stan
Freberg's The Banana Boat Song. It did look like a retrograde step to do this, and no surprise, you never hear it now.
Deacon Blue for the fourth bloody time, so let us skip over that and Iron Maiden's Breaker (must be the easiest job in the world, writing their singles) and settle on Bananarama with yet another cover. Without the quasi-psychedelic production of The Supremes' original, this sounds very perfunctory, and my main memory of this is that in the magazine ad for it, you could see one of Keren's nipples in the photo of the girls. Took your entertainment where you found it in those days.
Is that Chris's nanny in his video, the one he ran off with? Still a bit young for you, Chris. He's "been thinking about it every day" according to the lyrics. I bet he has, the dirty sod. You might have thought with all his millions he would have pushed the boat out for the video, but this looks like he got a local bloke who does weddings to shoot it for him.
Robin still there at the top, and they're deliberately avoiding the Coke-sodden video. Pepsi never had a hit single, did they? Michael J. Fox never crooned a ballad, those guys who went "Stan the Man!" didn't form a choir.
Lastly, something that makes Chris De Burgh's video look like Thriller, a comically naff effort from the Continent with a, er, varied cast (including what looks like someone's mum) living it up. This was of course the theme tune to The Mary Whitehouse Experience, obviously a hasty choice for the radio version they were lumbered with right until the end of the TV one. It's amusing enough, I suppose.
I was watching an episode of The Love Boat earlier this week on the CBS Drama channel, and a very young Michael J.Fox was on it, some years before the Back To The Future trilogy of movies.
DeleteHe was already getting famous for the sitcom Family Ties about the time he appeared on The Love Boat. But he had previously been in Midnight Madness, the scavenger hunt movie from Disney that Disney tried to pretend wasn't a Disney movie in the hope it would make more profits. "Fagabeefe!"
DeletePepsi may never have had a hit single, but I suppose they could draw some consolation from having a pop star named after them!
DeletePepsi had a minor hit very early in this re-run. The late Peter Blake (Kirk St. Moritz in "Dear John") played a cool character in Pepsi's 1977 campaign which led to him releasing a single based on their tag-line, "Lipsmackin’ Rock ‘N’ Rollin’", which got a TOTP new release slot and peaked at number 40.
DeleteWell remembered, Arthur. Sadly Mr Blake died not that long ago.
DeleteHas BBC4 stopped showing these TOTP episodes on Thursdays for good, as it seems that in recent weeks we have only been getting the shows on Fridays, albeit two episodes on the same night? I prefer one episode on a Thursday and one on a Friday if they really must show two episodes a week, so that the homework is more staggered!
ReplyDeleteAlso, look out for ELO Night tonight on BBC4, with first the new ELO Radio 2 concert performed by Jeff Lynne's band this month on the 40th anniversary year of the brilliant Discovery album, followed by the Wembley Or Bust concert. I'm definitely staying in tonight on the last night of November for this fantastic music entertainment while it is freezing cold outside!
It looks like it's going to be two shows on Friday for the rest of this year. I see that Angelo has confirmed below that we will be getting 1989 in the new year, so it will be interesting to see whether the traditional Thursday/Friday pattern is re-established when we get there - I agree with you that it is preferable that way.
DeleteI can't say I like this two shows on a Friday thing. It wouldn't have been so bad when they were skipping shows but now we're getting an (almost) uninterrupted run it's boring hearing some of the same tracks twice in one night.
DeleteI'm hearing that the Story of 1989 and Big Hits 89 will go ahead in early January, followed by the 1989 repeat run :-)
ReplyDeleteSo the big question is: what's the title of the 1989 blog going to be? Ride On Time? Back to Life? Something completely left-field? The suspense is unendurable...
DeleteI would like to see something a la Jive Bunny which was one of the big successes of pop in 1989.
DeleteSomething's Gotten Hold Of My Chart?
ReplyDeleteLIke it! I'd offer "Hand on Your Chart" (one of only two 1989 UK number ones who had a solitary week at the top) or "You'll Never Stop Me From Loving You" as we all love this blog.
DeleteTaking a quick glance at Popscene for 1989, there's certainly no shortage of highly suitable titles for the blog ;-)
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ReplyDeleteIntruiging that our hosts got on well but didn’t look at each other much.
ReplyDeleteTiffany there with luxuriant hair, a nondescript song and surely the wispiest, most basic chorus ever.
Stil, at least she ballsed up an original song. Bomb The Bass didn’t even have that excuse. I see they borrowed the early prototype Human League’s reel to reel for the occasion. Maureen eventually branched out and became a successful phoneline.
Talking of “Success”, it’s bye bye to Sigue Sigue Sputnik after tonight.
Oh, great, yet more boring Jacko dancing, followed by Pet Shop Chris dancing (well, that's the closest he ever got) on top of some glass, and Iron Maiden with a tender, subtle ballad this time. Okay, maybe not.
How Simon thought Bananarama’s non-harmony karaoke was brilliant is beyond me. The dance move rehearsals must have taken up more time than the recording of this rubbish.
20 seconds of Chris De Burgh was all I could stomach.
Surely the last act was missing an ‘S’ from the start of their name. Another chance to see the worst haircut ever designed, the Dutch mullet. Less than three years after this, Mister Hithouse died when he crashed into a truck while driving at 140 miles an hour.
Glad that show's over. I felt sorry for the new stereo folk in Belfast and Oxford.
I didn't realise Mr Sh- er, Hithouse was dead! Just looked up his Wiki, and he was responsible for the dreadful Petula Clark Downtown remix that will be in 88's chart soon (if you see what I mean).
DeleteHis name really was Mr Hithouse - if you translated it to English.
Hi Anonymous! I'm back on to ask for some more shows. Have you got the following original archive shows that BBC4 either didn't show or cut links out of? They're all from 1986 and are 9/01, 6/03, 15/05, 31/07, 7/08 and 27/11. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHere are 4 eps mate : https://we.tl/t-74sr1xzIF8
DeleteBrilliant stuff, mate! Many thanks.
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ReplyDeleteMy lord, the charts were dull in 88...
ReplyDeleteTiffany - don’t remember it, still think she can’t sing...
Bomb the bass - not a patch on the original, just sounds like one of the useless remixes we have suffered recently, only worse..
12 - a breaker?? 7??? - and 6. Why not just revive the top 10 video slot
Bananarama - again, not as good as the original...
Hithouse - more of the bibble bibble music... EJECT
I would be interested to know what the viewing figures were for this period as opposed to earlier and later years, because the music recently has been monumentally dull.
ReplyDeleteHi Charlie, the record audience was (I think) something like 19 million in 1979, but that was achieved when ITV was in the middle of a very long industrial dispute. IIRC Simon Bates hosted.
DeleteBy 1988 the audience was hovering around the 10 million mark but gradually falling, it then fell sharply during 1991-93 when live vocals were compulsory, climbed back to 7-8 million during the Britpop era then fell to 3-4 million when the show was put up against Corrie on Friday nights. By the end it was averaging 1 million on BBC2.
Well after being really early for the last show, I am really late for this one, so apologies for any repetition in my comments, but I am writing with no influences!
ReplyDeleteTiffany – Radio Romance – Didn’t realise Tiff had any more hits. Definitely diminishing returns despite her rocking up in the studio.
Bomb the Bass – I say a little Prayer – Why did they bother?
Deacon Blue – Real gone Kid – Deacs did well to get three appearances without reaching the top spot even if this was a repeat. Reminds me of the good old days when the likes of Gillan with ‘New Orleans’ were repeated over and over again.
Breakers – Jacko – the less said about this… PSB- Not one of their best, presume will see this in full. Iron Maiden – Sounds just like any other Iron Maiden single, i.e. fast and loud and shouty.
Bananarama – Nathan Jones – I believe that this was a post Ross Supremes offering? Nice cover though.
Chris de Burgh – Missing you – A real treat this. The video has only been available backwards on video on YT for copyright reasons so great to see it properly. Just who is the girl who features though? Lovely song and one of my personal favourites from 1988.
Robin Beck – First Time – Third time for the ‘hat’ appearance. In retrospect how did this stay at no1 for three weeks? Not that I am complaining.
Hithouse – Jack whatever – Just why did they play out with this tosh? Phil Collins had a superb new entry that was totally ignored and also ignored was ‘Freaks’ (not ‘Freak’) by Marillion which was the last Fish single (taken from the ‘Thieving Magpie’ live album). After that came the debut single featuring Steve Hogarth called ‘Hooks in you’ which is one of my all-time favourite Marillion singles, but peaked at a measly no30 and probably doesn’t get a look in either. No justice….
Yes, Nathan Jones is one of the Supremes hits from the Jean Terrell era. They actually released some great singles during that period, out of which Automatically Sunshine is probably my favourite.
DeleteCurse of the repeats... Greedy Smith, lead singer of Mental as Anything has died at 63. I know they were one-hit wonders here, but it was a really good hit.
ReplyDeleteSad day...Bob Willis has also passed away today. Nothing to do with music other than having the name 'Dylan' added by deed pole as a second middle name in tribute to Bob Dylan. RIP Big Bob.
DeleteYes, Willis was working until recently on the last England Test Match series on Sky Sports, on the post match day debate in the studio, so even at the age of 70 he was a regular on the Sky Sports team.
DeleteAs a player, his run up to the crease was probably the longest I have ever seen, in the days when long run ups were not frowned upon, and it is only fitting to celebrate his amazing cricket career in the 70s and 80s in line with these TOTP reruns of the same era, where pop music and cricket can come together to be remenisced.
they say you shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but: one innings apart, bob willis was a yeoman bowler who would have been lucky to have had a test career had be been west indian or australian. and before sky snaffled up all the broadcast cricket rights, i remember his commentating being the aural equivalent of watching paint dry!
DeleteI was one of those lucky listeners in Oxfordshire grateful that we FINALLY had an FM transmitter for Radio 1 (we only got a properly local commercial radio station in 1989!) and I distinctly recall listening to this show on the radio. Shame that the music wasn't very inspiring then...
ReplyDeleteTiffany - Not as bad as I remembered, and you can see why they opened with this given the new transmitters being switched on. Certainly better than her presvous single at any rate.
Bomb The Bass - This is slightly better than I remembered, though still my least favourite of their big hits. It's possibly inspired by Bristol pioneers Smith & Mighty whose cover of 'Walk On By' wasn't a hit but led partly to Fresh 4 and then Massive Attack being successful.
Breakers - Silly choices all, when Sigue Sigue Sputnik (well, I like it!) and Sam Fox (terrible, but amusing) were available. And the Iron Maiden single is not one of their best.
Bananarama - A very weedy cover that I don't like at all. Mrs Noax loves it though!
Hithouse - Not much love for this here, but I think it's great. So did The Mary Whitehouse Experience presumably. The video clearly isn't good mind you, and is also one of those where it's not the single version either.
So TOTP 30 minute format finally comes unstuck.
ReplyDeleteDue to too many repeats in this show and the last one, we get Breakers that include the 2 highest new entries and a song that should have been a breaker 2 weeks ago. PSB should have got a studio spot and MJ the playout. Plus a top 20 new entry from Phil Collins doesn't get a look in. Some very curious production decisions going on here. Makes for a show that feels very disappointing.
Hosts next and despite having to battle with dodgy 80s map graphics they both do well. Director has obviously decided to have some fun with how tall Andy Crane is and stand him on a box, thought that was quite funny.
So it's the "Last Time" for Tiffany. Two things to note about “Radio Romance”. It's her best song since "Alone now" and she isn't singing live which is a real blessing. Cheers Tiff but your time has been and gone.
Bomb The Bass featuring Maureen with an interesting interpretation of “I Say A Little Prayer”. I liked this a lot at the time and once it got past the first chorus I really got into it again. Think it's a really well made dance tune. Shame the band couldn't be bothered to turn up so we got bongo guy.
Now I love this Deacon Blue song but this is a repeat we didn't need. Were neither Phil C or PSB not available?
Breakers:
Michael Jackson back with one his best songs and a great video as well. “Smooth Criminal” should have got the playout slot as I've already said.
Pet Shop Boys – “Left To My Own Devices” is one of their all time classics and we better get a proper go of this next week or I will NOT be happy.
Iron Maiden – “The Clairvoyant” is not one of their best so didn't appeal at all and from what I heard tonight will stay unlistened to.
Hooray Bananarama are back, with a snazzy look, a funny little dance routine and a storming cover of “Nathan Jones” They've done a brilliant job with this one and it's one of my favourite Banana songs. So catchy and well produced.
We would not be “Missing You” Chris if we didn't get to see you again this week but hey ho....
Once was enough...FF
Robin Beck – same performance AGAIN!
“Jack To The Sound Of The Underground”
Only 1988 could have produced this record and made a 14 year old from Wokingham go out one Saturday morning, blow his pocket money on it and then get banned from playing it by his father after the 12th play in a row!
What can I say? I'm sorry....
Wasted show tonight. Bananarama the highlight.
Shoot the producer!