Bum notes
04/05/89 (Andy Crane & Jenny Powell)
Edelweiss – “Bring Me Edelweiss” (28)
Getting the show underway tonight with their only hit and it peaked at number 5.
Midnight Oil – “Beds Are Burning” (9) (video)
Went up three more places.
Debbie Gibson – “Electric Youth” (21)
In the studio with the title track from her top ten album, it peaked at number 14.
Bon Jovi – “I’ll Be There For You” (18) (video)
Got no higher.
Roxette – “The Look” (26)
Making their studio debut with became the duo's first of six top ten hits when it peaked at number 7.
Kylie Minogue – “Hand On Your Heart” (2)
In the studio performing the song that will be number one next week.
Poison - “Your Mama Don’t Dance” (16) (video)
Went up three more places.
Live Report – “Why Do I Always Get It Wrong?” (not in chart)
It's Eurovision time again - and this year's UK entry did pretty well and came second, but it only reached number 73 in the charts.
Bangles – “Eternal Flame” (1) (video)
Fourth and final week at number one.
Chaka Khan – “I’m Every Woman” (remix) (23) (video/credits)
It had peaked at number 11 in 1979, ten years on and it made it to number 8.
11th May is next.
I remember quite liking Jenny Powell back in the day, though I associate her much more with No Limits than I do with TOTP. She certainly looked good here, but seemed more nervous than I expected, given she had quite a bit of TV experience under her belt by this time, and was too prone to making silly faces at her co-host. It looks as if Andy was also affected by her first night nerves, as they both garbled links. Incidentally, neither presenter was a Radio 1 host at the time of this show.
ReplyDeleteThings get off to a remarkable start with this barking mad Edelweiss performance, the titular flower looming large over the onstage antics, including some homoerotic bum slapping. Although the ABBA revival is generally dated from the release of the Gold compilation and the Erasure tribute EP a few years later, the reworking of SOS here (by far the best bit of an otherwise forgettable dance track) must count as a very early stirring of renewed interest in the Swedish greats. Edelweiss would have a much briefer chart career, but they do their best here to imprint themselves on the memory. Debbie Gibson is also in the studio, with an energetic Kelly Marie/Sinitta-style performance accompanied by two male backing dancers. The tune is more lively than some of her other efforts, but she is too much of a nice girl to allow any raunch into the routine, and it all feels more tame than electric - Debs also looks as if she could do with a hair wash.
Jon Bon's hair looks more luxuriant and glossy than Debbie's, but this boring effort sounds like it has been Xeroxed off their previous singles, and could almost be some kind of generic template for what a Bon Jovi ballad is supposed to sound like - dull video too. Much, much better fare next from Roxette, with a dynamic debut hit that deserved to go all the way to number 1. Per and Marie produced some great records, as well as proving that Sweden's international pop success would not end with ABBA, and I don't think they have ever had the credit they deserved. In the light of Marie's recent sad passing, it is quite poignant seeing them here at the top of their game, looking like they are thoroughly enjoying their first TOTP appearance.
Kylie also manages to upstage Debbie Gibson by having twice as many hunky male dancers, while in addition sporting a suggestive sparkly purple bra. I don't recall this song getting to number 1, and it's standard-issue SAW, but pleasant enough. The title of the Live Report song might have been better applied to UK Eurovision entries from the past couple of decades. The band are a most unprepossessing bunch, the singer modelling his hair on Francis Rossi while a scary woman in a big hat looms over a keyboard right at the back. The song is a truly turgid ballad, and I'm amazed it did so well at the contest, but that's Eurovision for you. We end with a Chaka Khan remix, not that you can tell very easily, splicing together the original video with bits of the I Feel For You promo, for some reason.
Jenny Powell is one of those TV presenters in he 'adorable' category. I remember her being popular in the 80s in whatever she appeared in, and I'm just pleased to have the accolade of being born in the same year as her, as well as Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Patsy Kensit, Vix (lead singer) of Fuzzbox, the list goes on........it's just great to be the same age as all these greats who will be 52 this year. Hope there's lots more of Jenny on these TOTP reruns to follow this debut appearance as presenter.
DeleteI mostly know Jenny from No Limits, the pop magazine show devised by Jonathan King. Her co-presenter, Tony someone, became a postman!
DeleteEdelweiss had their international hit by following the KLF's book on how to get to No.1 (which they had done as The Timelords). In person they barely look as if they're associated with each other, never mind able to put a track together, but this is appealing enough as a silly novelty record of the kind that would become more prevalent in the first half of the 1990s. Apparently ABBA were not amused... This lot's Star Trek-themed follow up is actually better, if just as ridiculous (it did nothing here).
ReplyDeleteA little more of the Midnight Oil video, earnest as ever, then Debbie Gibson appears - you can tell this is from 1989 because she and her backing dancers are sporting waistcoats. As for the tune, she seems to have taken it upon herself to rewrite It's Raining Men, bizarrely, only with "big up ver kids!" lyrics.
Whereas Bon Jovi have taken it upon themselves to rewrite The Beatles' Don't Let Me Down, and not very well, either. Everything screams cliché here, including the video.
Then a major act of the 90s makes their debut, and it's as serviceable and unexciting as everything else they did in the name of rock-pop. I remember Andy McCluskey on Round Table observing their music sounded liked Marie looked: she had all the right looks and characteristics, but remained utterly unsexy because it was all so uninspiring. Also, Simon Mayo said Roxette were two of the worst people he ever interviewed!
Kylie not quite straight in at Number One, but not far off, with a bog standard SAW item for her, but she could do no wrong at this point so naturally it was destined for the top. She seems to be trying to sex up her image here, something that didn't really succeed for about ten years, she was just too wholesome. Not sure about the Space Invaders dancing, either.
Anyone else spot that one of Poison's guitarists has FUCK OFF written on his T-shirt? Did nobody want to say anything?!
Live Report with one of the most offputting looks we've seen for a while on the show, and it's indicative of how Eurovision was in the doldrums that this did so well on the night. The British record buying public were not convinced.
Then The Bangles for the last time before they're covered ten years later, and to end on Chaka Khan and one of those horrible remixes inflicted on old soul and disco records around this time.
Edelweiss was a fantastic upbeat way to start the show, and a great party record. The only problem with this TOTP studio performance is that there was too much going on in terms of visuals, that the cameramen didn't seem to know where to focus, and as viewers we we didn't see some of the stuff going on, on either side of the stage while we could only see the other side. Too many props on that stage.
DeleteGood Lord, just spotted that the whole 25th May TOTP show is already up on YouTube ahead of next Friday's showing on BBC4, and the show starts of with a new Edelweiss visit to the TOTP studio with slightly different costumes, but the same wacky performers:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WayTJ7EaJSU&t=217s
Eidelweiss - another novelty mish-mash record, but i like it. Interesting that Abba allowed them to use SOS - not much earlier the JAMMS had to scrap their album for using one of their samples
ReplyDeleteWonder what happened with the chart link? - jenny looked very confused...
Debbie Gibson - still can’t sing...
Bon jovi - never really got the chance to get going...
Roxette - pleasant ditty from the Scandinavian Eurythmics
Kylie churns out another one...
I am an avid Eurovision fan, but the Live Report track has completely passed me by. Dull enough to be an entry these days. (Just reading the comments - second?!?)
Chaka Khan - very truncated showing of an indiscernible remix of a fine tune.
ABBA didn't allow them to use it, and I think they had to pay up as a result!
DeleteMidnight Oil best song on the show by a very long way, so cut off after about a minute. This performance on youtube shows, despite some weird choices by the director, how sheer passion can turn a good song into a great one.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqBRYMdIVzU
Every so often we got a little gem from the Aussies. This is certainly one of the very best, and Mental as Everything with 'Live it up' was fabulous too. One of my other favourites was this; not a hit over here sadly. The girl backing singer in a pink top makes a priceless expression at around 2:02. Anyway, I love this one...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVvAHP3TfsY
It's a shame that since the start of 1989, the new director/producer? of TOTP decided to show only about a minute to a minute-and-a-half of a video when not even on the Breakers, and the Midnight Oil video was unfortunately given the same treatment.
DeleteAnyway, where have The Breakers gone recently, as a regular feature on the show since 1986. Perhaps it was coming to an end at around this time?
Rather irritating debut from Ms. Powell making silly faces and being slightly, well, slightly irritating. Not that keen on Andy Crane either but I guess he was popular at the time.
ReplyDeleteEdelweiss – Bring me Edelweiss – In a week that sees Barry Manilow’s superb ‘Please don’t be scared’ (one of my favourite records of 1989) drop out of the top40 unnoticed save the chart rundowns, we get this total nonsense. So bad I had to watch it through, but aside from that wonderful Abba snatch it had no redeeming features. What’s with the guy with the record decks doing that Malcolm McLaren thing?
Midnight Oil – Beds are burning – Ah, this is more like it but we don’t get to see and hear too much of it.
Debbie Gibson – Electric Youth – I can think of at least two songs with ‘electric’ in their title that I like more than this and don’t get me started on how good ‘Electric Warrior’ is!
Bon Jovi – I’ll be there with you – Turgid ballad which I’m surprised went to the top of the US charts.
Roxette – The Look – Great stuff…now this did deserve to top the US charts. Just over year away from their finest song and that film…
Kylie Minogue – Hand on your Heart – So ordinary it sucks! Our friend the 1980s chart topper website scribe couldn’t have put it better and I quote “'Hand On Your Heart' is one of the weaker songs to emerge from the 'Hit Factory', and it's one of the runts of the litter that was handed to Minogue. The fact it got to number one is doubtless more to do with the fact that it was the lead-off single from her (then) forthcoming album that its own inherent quality”.
Poison - Your Mama don’t dance – Having endured this heavy metal live video on the playout last week, we’re treated to it again. FF
Live Report – Why do I always get it wrong? – The only redeeming feature I heard in this was the bit near the end where the backing singers strike up. Better Eurovision entries from the UK have not come second.
Bangles – Eternal Flame – We seem to get less of this every week. If Susannah and Co. had done a Brian Adams, we’d be hearing just the first line by week 16.
Chaka Khan – I’m every Woman – Why the reissue? Did we really need it? No doubt it will be on again as I see it amazingly penetrated the top10.
Together in Electric Dreams and Electric Avenue were both superior to Debbie's effort, as was OMD's Electricity...
DeleteAre 'Friends' Electric?
Deletewhat about "electric avenue"? i remember staying with a friend in brixton in the late 90's, where i went out for some sustenance and was surprised to actually find a street of that name - where perhaps not surprisingly it mostly consisted of shops selling things like plantains?
Deletesorry john, didn't see that you already pointed out the eddie grant hit!
Deletei have a recollection that U2 recorded a track called "the electric company", although it was never a hit single
They did. Officially called "The Electric Co". It's from their debut album "Boy" which to my ears is the best one they ever made.
DeleteAlbert Hammond's "Free Electric Band" is another one.
DeleteActually if you cheat and look in the index of the Guinness Book of Hit Singles, there are quite a number of songs beginning with 'electric', most of which I have never even heard or heard of (Prefab Sprout anyone?). I did kick myself for not recalling Geordie's 'Electric Lady'. One I did dredge out of my brain was Delta Goodrem's somewhat obscure album track 'Electric Storm' from the 2004 'Mistaken Identity' album.
Deletedon't forget that oasis track - much as i'd like to!
DeleteFree Electric Band and Are "Friends" Electric are both great songs too, of course. Going back to the 60s, there was an American psychedelic act called The Electric Prunes, who released a minor classic in the shape of I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night).
Deletedoes anyone know why the numanoid put the word friends in inverted commas in the title? possibly because bowie had done so for "heroes", although that seems without logic or reason either!
DeleteI found this suggestion from the 70s section of the 80s number ones website (if that makes sense)
Delete* Adolescent, angst filled interpretation #1: I placed great significance on the inverted commas around 'friends'. To my mind, Numan was saying people only let you down and you'd be far better off with a robot for a mate. Only they wouldn't be a proper mate because they were robots. So a 'mate'. Then.
thanks for that sct. even if there weren't inverted commas around the word friends in the title of said song, i would be (and still am after 40 years) absolutely clueless as to what it means!
DeleteI vaguely recall an interview with Mr Webb where he said the song was about people who say they're a friend and then switch their friendship on and off.
DeleteWell tonight's show rattled along at a rate of knots didn't it. Lots of new stuff as well to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteAndy and Jenny start well enough than manage to mess up quite a few links and it has a real CBBC feel at times.
Kicking off our International line up is Edelweiss, who did indeed get themselves in a lot of hot bother with ABBA and had to send out an SOS to their lawyers. “Bring Me Edelweiss” however was a massive European hit and is one of my favourite dance tracks ever. So clever and catchy. The video is just as bonkers and features a lot more cleavage than was on show here.
A snippet of Midnight Oil and then onto Debbie Gibson who has ditched the old men playing instruments and hired a couple of dancers. Still all very wholesome though. “Electric Youth” is easily her best hit. Very catchy and lively. A fan of this one.
Years before Friends and The Rembrandts, Bon Jovi give us a song called “I’ll Be There For You” which I would have liked to have heard more of. Unfortunately another live video. No imagination these rock bands.
Enter Roxette with US and European smash hit “The Look”. They arrive having had successful careers separately in Sweden before getting together and conquering the world. So nice to see Marie in her prime. I'm a big Roxette fan, had all their albums (on cassette naturally) so really looking forward to seeing them again. The Look is a storming track as well. Highlight of the show.
Kylie Minogue is back with a very nice pop tune from her second album. “Hand On Your Heart” has a rather good looking video as well. Lots of energy in the performance and you can see why it's going to the top spot. Nice to see her in the studio now she's free of her Neighbours contract.
35 year for Neighbours this week and sitting at Number 39 is Stefan Dennis...get your FF buttons ready.....
Bit more of the Poison video this week. “Your Mama Don’t Dance” continues the upbeat feeling in tonights show. It's not bad...Unskinny Bop to come....
Does anyone know if Live Report are free for this years Eurovision? This is a real cut above this years dross (which Coronavirus might actally save us from). 2nd place not to be sniffed at but the record buying public didn't take to it. Don't recall much Radio 1 airplay for this one.
Bye Bye Bangles. Time to snuff out the (non)Eternal Flame”
Chaka Khan with a remixed version of “I’m Every Woman”. We don't get much of this but it's a very familiar tune.
Yeah, just watched the Edelweiss video, and I must say it's very good:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuWrg80dXeU
Reminds me also of this famous Benny Hill Bavarian sketch particularly at 2:14 to 3:14, also in 1989 with Hill's Angels, while he was still on the Thames TV roster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV3LoomRlqA
am i right in that stefan dennis still appears in "neighbours"?
DeleteCome to think of it, perhaps best not to watch the Edelweiss video, as there is a disgusting scene at 0:55 to 1:00 where a bier drinker picks his nose and puts the contents into his mouth in front of several other people's beers, and also the ending is quite morbid, with a view from the eyes of someone falling to their death after falling from the top a building.
DeleteYes Wilberforce you are correct. He left for a while but came back about 15 years ago. The character even has a false leg now... Which the actor occasionally remembers to hobble on..
Deletecan i just ask if anyone agrees with me that roxette were fucking awful?
ReplyDeleteAs I've said above, Simon Mayo would agree! They're not my favourites either, though more because they're so generic and safe.
Deletewell i have no idea of what they were like as people, but i do remember their music being totally bland and anodyne, and without any merit whatsoever in my view!
DeleteI don't feel particularly strongly about Roxette either way, but as music from films go I can't think of many tunes both musically and lyrically that fit a scene as well as this. I still find it moving (old softie that I am) all these years later.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4MKbZBoA8
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DeleteDreadful mis-spellings, try again...
DeleteI wonder if The Look (that band from Cambridgeshire who struck it big with "I Am The Beat") ever did a response song called "Roxette"? There was a song of that name by Dr. Feelgood which was one of their top tracks.
Personally I like Roxette wilby. And they actually took their name from the Dr Feelgood song, Arthur!
Deletewell each to their own noax, but in my view the classic description "music for people who don't like music very much" should have been invented for them!
Deletebtw who is attributed with coming up with that quote, and who was the subject of their scorn? i think the latter was dido (who these days is thankfully apparently in the "where are they now?" category), but i'm not sure?
You'll be delighted to know Dido made a comeback this year (subject to virus restrictions).
Deleteso it's not all bad news with regard to "gaia's revenge" then?
Deletehaving had to cancel his proposed solo comeback tour a couple of years back due to sustaining a serious injury (shame!!), phil collins must be thinking that someone's out to stop him ever performing live again as the newly-announced genesis tour could well be cancelled in the circumstances! btw i noticed one of the tour support players is called nic collins. i wonder how he got the job?
Several points reiterated here, so apologies.
ReplyDeleteA bit of a cheat for the audience here, with two and maybe three ‘studio’ songs pre-recorded by the look of them.
Austrian house (chalet?) first with a big rip-off for the hook and only memorable part of the ‘song’. Edelweiss? More like Japanese knotweed.
Nice kettle / cowbell action inthat Midnight Oil truck. Shame we couldn’t have swapped the time played for this with the first ‘act’.
My fave Debbie Gibson tune next, with stage choreography on the podium but below Paula Abdul.
I don’t like that Rembrandts song, and this was worse. Song, lyrics and video all living in cliché city.
Roxette live, eh, Jenny? The look here being that there Elizabethan ruff look.
A racy bra there for Kylie, and dance moves way below those of Debbie, but the song’s not as bad as others here say although the production sounds muddy.
Still, Kylie wasn’t as bad as the next track, FF.
Barely Live Report by their slowness, and a charismatic (ahem) singer showing his nationality with that Maltese cross on his lapel. This was the only UK chart entry for the short-lived Brouhaha label, fact fans. Was this really the best we could offer, and how did this get within seven points of actually winning?
Last top week for Susannah and the lads, followed by easy on the eye multiple Chaka, with a fine tune ruined by a horrible mix and a lazy video with some bloke centre stage on occasions. Ay?
I was never overly keen on Jenny Powell on TOTP but I thought she was OK here - at least she has personality which is more than you can say for Anthea 'permanent shout mode' Turner or Sybil 'no distinguishing features apart from thatched hair' Ruscoe....
ReplyDeleteEdelweiss - Yes, it's ridiculous. But I happen to have a penchant for silliness when it's done well, and this is. I notice that Starship Edelweiss (or Raumschiff Edelweiss in German, fact fans) has been mentioned above but that wasn't actually the follow-up. That would be 'I Can't Get No Edelweiss' which is even more hilarious, completely flopped, and won The Chart Show's 'Worst Video Of 89' award!
Debbie Gibson - By some distance the best thing she ever did, and that's a decent attempt at doing a dance routine given how tiny the stage is. One of the guys dancing (to her right) has a slightly odd look though.
Bon Jovi - As usual, bilge.
Roxette - Last week I picked up their 'Best Of' album called 'Don't Bore Us: Get To The Chorus!' (great title I think) for a massive 49p and really enjoyed it. They were a very under-rated band, though as is so often the case, their biggest hit is very dull indeed. This is a good one though.
Kylie - I think this is top drawer SAW and therefore no surprise that it topped the chart. Again, a nice dance routine, this time on a slightly bigger stage.
Live Report - I remember quite liking this at the time. My verdict now is that his vocals are good but the song's pretty forgettable until it turns into Carly Simon's 'Coming Around Again' at the end. And the lead singer's look probably lost us a few points.
Chaka Khan - I don't think this remix is that bad, and neither was the next one which will see fairly soon I think. The remix of 'I Feel For You' was utterly pointless and rightly bombed though. The reason for them is that there was a whole album of them called 'Life Is A Dance: The Remix Project'.
Just checked out that Edelweiss follow-up, and I did kind of remember it. Looks like the sort of thing they would lap up on Eurotrash, if that was around in 1989. But... catchy? A bit.
DeleteI think Eurotrash arrived circa 1995, and well after the Edelweiss phenomenon, but who could forget Antoine de Caunes and his clips on the show with half naked girls and risqué clips?
DeleteJust looked it up - Eurotrash ran from 1993 to 2001, barring specials, 160 episodes! It used to make me laugh for the first few series, but it was total post-pub TV, and got fairly tedious by the end. Antoine du Caunes bit of a legend for this and a non-TOTP music show, Rapido, too, which he presented without once showing his hands, as if he was tied up.
Deleteyes thx - "eurotrash" was excellent post-pub fodder for a while in the 90's, but inevitably got somewhat repetitive in the end. however i always liked the female voiceovers/translations in various mock-regional accents (kate robbins of "spitting image" and crossroads" fame was mostly responsible), the cheesy euro disco hits fronted by writhing totty over the credits, and the strained interplay between antoine and JPG (that one suspects was more than an act)
Deletebut surely despite all that, the ultimate post-pub 90's tv series was "the word"?
sorry - JPG is of course jean-paul gaultier, who completely failed in his mission to get men to wear skirts - despite wearing them on practically every episode he was in!
Delete"'Allo meh Breeteesh shooms!"
DeletePlenty of men wear "skirts" here in Scotland! Not that they would ever call them that here.