Hat's the way to do it
27/04/89 (Gary Davies)
London Boys – “Requiem” (11)
Britain's answer to Milli Vanilli get us underway tonight and the song became the duo's first of two ten ten hits when it peaked at number 4.
Natalie Cole – “Miss You Like Crazy” (24) (video)
Became her biggest hit when it peaked at number 2.
De La Soul – “Me, Myself & I” (23)
Making their studio debut and the song went up one more place.
Fine Young Cannibals – “Good Thing” (7) (rpt from 13/04/89)
At its peak.
Morrissey – “Interesting Drug” (9) (video)
As high as it got.
The Beatmasters with Merlin – “Who’s In The House?” (8)
In the studio but the song was at its peak.
Yazz – “Where Has All The Love Gone?” (27)
She'd got her hair done and the song went up to number 16.
Bangles – “Eternal Flame” (1) (video)
Third of four weeks at number one.
Poison - “Your Mama Don’t Dance” (26) (video/credits)
Became their joint biggest hit when it peaked at number 13.
Next up is 4th May
It is probably down to a combination of the lighting and his lurid jacket, but there does seem something slightly unreal, almost plastic, about Gazza on this show. He still gives a professional performance, though, and we get off to a great start with the London Boys and a cheesy pop anthem that I was fond of at the time, and still think sounds quite good now. Despite their name, they were actually based in Germany, and while their acrobatic exertions could not be more camp if they tried, they were both straight and had children, which makes their tragic deaths a few years later all the more sad – the wife of one of the Boys also died in the crash, leaving their three year old son an orphan.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Cole sets her sights on taking a slice of Whitney Houston's market with this big, shouty ballad, which thankfully gets cut off before things get too histrionic; unusually for a video set in a recording studio, Natalie resists donning headphones. A significant studio debut next from De La Soul, bringing their influential brand of laid back, almost trippy rap to the masses. This doesn't really float my boat, but it is at least more listenable and less in-yer-face than other rap records. I'm not sure they should have bothered turning up in person, though, as they are much less distinctive visually than aurally. By contrast, Mozza's bizarre video is more memorable than his by-the-numbers song, thanks to its evocative 80s orange Job Centre sign and the big-haired and chested heroine - not entirely sure what it was trying to say, though!
The Beatmasters and Merlin turn up to the studio for a lively enough run through of their hit, before Yazz unveils a drastic new dreadlock look for a tune that, while pleasant, does not match up to her previous hits and signified the start of her chart decline. Those locks must have been extensions, I would think, as there is no way she could have grown her hair that much in the short time since we saw her last. Poison go upbeat for this week's playout, but unfortunately they choose to do so on a pointless cover of an old Loggins and Messina song that wasn't that great first time around. Yet another ultra-tedious, "in concert" video to go with it too - couldn't they have come up with something a bit more imaginative?
Gary Davies being on his own as presenter of this show, would herald in bringing back the format of only having one presenter, as the days of having two, which goes back to around 1983, were about to be vanquished, as looking at the rest of 1989, there doesn't seem to be many if any shows with two presenters any more.
DeleteDidn't know the fact about the London Boys perishing in a car crash a few years later. How sad.
There are still quite a few dual-hosted shows to come this year, but they gradually become rarer, and in 1990 TOTP would revert fully to solo presenters.
DeleteI knew something tragic has happened to one of the London Boys but didn't realise it was both of them that died. As Dory said, very sad.
Deletealthough i couldn't claim to be a fan of the london boys, the arab guy with his perma ott smile always amused me. i remember we had a couple of sort-of lookalikes in my office at the time (one was turkish-cypriot and the other nigerian), so of course they got dubbed as the london boys!
DeleteI've checked most of these songs in this episode with London Boys' 'Requiem' (ok-ish), Who's in the House? (good), Me Myself & I (great), and Miss You Like Crazy (sad), i'm still missing that 'Requiem' song somewhere through the iPod got their follow-up to that track which lost out to the number one spot by Sonia Evans, but 'Requiem' did make an appearance as right on The Hits Album 10.
ReplyDeleteNext week's TOTP episodes see Cappella on video, Kylie's 'Hand On Your Heart' (twice on two occasions), Queen's 'I Want It All', and Stefan Dennis's only one-hit wonder hit in the U.K. as the play-out track from the second TOTP episode transmitted at 9pm next Friday and not forgetting anyone else - Stevie Nicks' 'Rooms on Fire' and Edelweiss with Bring Me Edelweiss?...
Hi anonymous,
ReplyDeleteDo you have archive copies of these Smith shows: 24/01/85, 01/08/85, 09/01/86, and 15/01/87? Thanks in advance if so
here are 3 of them
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-hEKKm9kdvE
Hi Anonymous! I'm back again to have another go at getting some '70s originals. Have you got any of these, all from 1977? They are 24/02, 19/05, 7/07 and 27/10. Cheers!
Deletesorry brie again sadly none of those.
DeleteNever mind, I'll keep asking! Thanks for looking.
DeleteSorry for the delay but here's 21/11/74. I'll be back soon with 30/01/75:
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-jK3q6qrLFZ
Brilliant stuff, mate. I'll look forward to the other show when you've done it!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHi xrayfour! Can you edited on normal sound this couple acts,please:https://we.tl/t-Ujag42oilF
DeleteYes, here they are gia:
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-qGK4BYbw64
THANKS xrayfour!!! Fantastic job!
DeleteCamp as Christmas, The London Boys are an entertaining start to the show with the brand of shouty dance pop mixed with acrobatics. As John notes above, very sad how they ended up, so remember them this way. As Gary is presenting, I was reminded of one of his "My Most Embarrassing Moment" features where someone wrote in to say he and a friend performed their own copy of LB's act, complete with head over heels flip. Alas one evening in the nightclub he got his friend to flip him and it all went horribly wrong and he ended up flat on his face. Which must have been absolutely hilarious to witness.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Cole with her biggest hit, an unashamedly schmaltzy ballad that I shouldn't really respond to but I actually don't mind at all, I much prefer it to Whitney's monopoly on such things. Another act who died prematurely in tragic circumstances.
Happily, all of De La Soul are still alive, and I do love the Three Feet High and Rising album, a perfect mix of musical collage and smart, ingenious lyrics that nobody else was trying. I would say this was one of the best tracks, but they were all good. Unfortunately for them, this was their creative peak, but they are still going and what a peak!
FYC on repeat, then the latest Moz platter, sounding like the theme tune to a kids' TV show rather than an indie deity, with a self-consciously wacky video to match. Did the decline set in right here?
Ah, Beastmasters and Marc Singer - no, wait, Beatmasters and Merlin, with what sounds like Rok Da House with a male vocal, no bad thing, though. Merlin hit the headlines for burglary about this time, leading to the joke, who's in the house? It's Merlin, but he's not in his own house.
Yazz with her thwarted comeback, Where Have My Decent Tunes Gone? Were audiences so fickle they didn't like her new look, or was it that this song was mediocre at best? Probably the latter.
Bangles still at the top of the tree, and then a horrible bunch of clichés from Poison, oh, do you think they were Motley Crue fans at all? Luckily it was the last track on the show, so we didn't get much of it.
I was quite intrigued to see what happened next in the Morrisey video when TOTP unsurprisingly withdrew after not even two minutes of the video, and it wasn't exactly a great ending in the animal experimentation lab. Anyway, I don't understand why the schoolboys were wearing girls high heels throughout the video??
DeleteGaz Headroom introducing and bigging up the audience participation for this edition.
ReplyDeleteLondon Boys give us the second song called “Requiem” starting the show, the first being by Slik in the very first month of these re-runs. Now, if only London Beat and London Boys had merged to form London Beat Boys. There was an article on the bespoke TV Cream website recently, where London Boys were shown doing their routine on a mini circular stage at the end of a kids’ show set in a scrapyard, after which the camera zoomed into a Border Television logo painted on one of the scrapped cars! Choreography here to make Paula Abdul have kittens – well, she did have a video cartoon cat!
Natalie Cole with “Miss You Like Craz-z-z-z-z-z”.
De La Soul, like Salt ‘n’ Pepa with Spinderella, only male and not so interested in biology. Nice, this, too fast and beatsy to be proper mellow but no mention of guns and dissin’.
First time round with FYC I didn’t notice the cameraman squatting and running out of shot behind Roland at the start of the song.
A weird Morrissey video (buxom ‘heroine’, boys in high heels, some foggy retoric about unemployment) which I couldn’t make out. The track was a long dirge to boot. Not interesting at all.
Listen and learn from those mugshots, Campbell – there’s no ‘The’ in Simple Minds. Well done, Gaz!
The Beatmasters with more cowbells than snares. Bring back De la Soul.
An unusual image for Yazz there, more so than the song, which was okay but the law of diminishing returns was setting in.
Bang(le)s again – they were orignally called The Bangs – and we end with a predictable rock band video for an awful 12-bar blues hash. Poison indeed.
I see what you mean about The Bangles. Perhaps this other clip is more reminiscent of times:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6geQ6-0EdNo
A clip made that bit more uncomfortable when you know her mother directed it. Not quite Dario Argento/Asia Argento material, but still.
DeleteLondon Boys - actually better live than with the video. Very euro pop
ReplyDeleteNatalie Cole - nice voice, but dull repetitive song. Interesting that Gerry Goffin is a cowriter - Off day...
De la Soul - was better as a video
FYC - nice boppy tune. Guitarist still doing his silly dance, but in slow motion.
Morrissey - alright, but a bit ‘morrissey song style 1’. Weird video.
Yazz - I didnt realise she had so many hits - lord knows this was one
Poison - son of ‘Smoking in the boys room’. . Did nothing for me.
Oooh Gary showing all the other presenters how to present TOTP in a professional manner tonight.
ReplyDeleteLondon Boys: “Requiem” a suitably catchy pop number that you sing along to when it's on and then forget as soon as it's finished. Nice acrobatics. "Britain's answer to Milli Vanilli" Angelo? Bit generous...
Whitney we “Miss You Like Crazy” as we only have a Natalie Cole wannabe...
De La Soul with the rather fabulous “Me, Myself & I” really enjoyed hearing this again.
Fine Young Cannibals on repeat. you obviously can't have too much of a “Good Thing”
(sorry)
Morrissey on video next. “Interesting Drug”....Interesting video, any idea what was going on...anyone?
“Who’s In The House?” Why it's the Beatmasters and MC Merlin. Worked better in the studio than on video but not their finest hour. Time for them to go and discover Betty Boo now.
Yazz has had a makeover. I had completely forgotten “Where Has All The Love Gone?”.
Enjoyed it though. Nice tune. Think that's all from her now isn't it?
Bangles still at the top and Poison play us out with “Your Mama Don’t Dance” which is a rather cheesy rock n roll song turned up to 11.
Sorry for the extremely late critique – probably will be missed by most. Busy week. Good show though.
ReplyDeleteLondon Boys – Requiem – The title brings to mind Faure, Brahms, Mozart…and of course Slik. I approached this with trepidation but I needn’t have worried as it’s not too bad!
Natalie Cole – Miss you like crazy – The sort of song that would have been murdered by Whitney but in Natalie’s hands is just fabulous. I forgot how much I liked this as I haven’t heard it for so long. Written by Michael Masser, Gerry Goffin and Preston Glass, the master touch of Gerry shines brightly. Superb!
De la Soul – Me myself I – Argh!!!
Fine Young Cannibals – Good thing – Ok thing still.
Morrissey – Interesting Drug - …and video. Wonder where it was shot?
Beatmasters with Merlin – Who’s in the House – As before, FF.
Yazz (and no Plastic Population) – Where has all the love gone – Search me. Actually this wasn’t too bad.
Bangles – Eternal Flame – Sublime. Just can’t get tired of the song or the video.
Poison – Your Mama don’t dance – Familiar metallic sound and stage act.
Finally watched the whole Morrissey video, I can see why they missed out the seal clubbing shot and the end with the call to arms to end animal testing. That's Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals (but not in the video, I don't know who that is).
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing is a mishmash of Moz's political and social concerns (as was - well, he still likes animals).
I still can't understand why the schoolboys were wearing girls high heels in the video.
DeleteBecause androgyny is cool, man/woman!?
DeleteLondon Boys - Not sure if your reference to Milli Vanilli was intended this way Angelo, but I was convinced at the time that they weren't singing on the records. That said, I love the song.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Cole - Boring tripe, and her hair looks really odd in the video, like she's just got out of bed.
De La Soul - My least favourite single from what is a superb album.
Morrissey - The start of a run of utterly terrible singles.
Yazz - Lo, and thus did Yazz speak and behold, the ghettos did all close forthwith. Oh...my mistake...they didn't. A rather average effort this which threatens to get going but never quite does.
Poison - As usual with their stuff (even if this is a cover), it's dreadful.