Howdy pardner!
01/06/89 (Gary Davies & Anthea Turner)
Sinitta – “Right Back Where We Started From” (19)
Yeeeharrr! It's cowgirl Sinitta getting tonight's live show underway with what became her fourth and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 4.
Natalie Cole – “Miss You Like Crazy” (2) (video)
At its peak.
Madonna – “Express Yourself” (10) (video)
This was already Madonna's nineteenth top ten hit, and it went up five more places.
Double Trouble & Rebel MC – “Just Keep Rockin’” (20)
Making their studio debut with what became their first of three top 30 hits when it peaked at number 11.
WASP – “The Real Me” (23) (video)
Got no higher.
Neneh Cherry – “Manchild” (5)
Oh my that's a tight sweater! Her second time in the studio to perform this but the song was now at its peak.
Cyndi Lauper – “I Drove All Night” (22) (video)
Became her third of four top ten hits when it parked at number 7.
Fuzzbox – “Pink Sunshine” (24)
Another eyepopping costume on show tonight and this second single from their top 5 album Big Bang peaked at number 14.
Gerry Marsden, The Christians, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson, and Stock Aitken Waterman – “Ferry Cross The Mersey” (1) (video)
Third and final week at number one.
Guns N’ Roses – “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (14) (video/credits)
It had peaked at number 24 last year, but this time around it made it to number 6.
8th June is next.
Sinitta turns a Northern Soul favourite into something that should have been backing the continuity announcer on daytime BBC1. The epitome of "will this do?". Nobody was fooled by the acid house smiley earring, I bet.
ReplyDeleteNatalie Cole - just how many key changes did this have?! Anyway, still like it and its borderline hysterical yearning, it did do surprisingly well, didn't it? Eventually.
Madonna with a lesser seen video, also what sounds like a lesser heard mix on the single edit. Seems to be some kind of story going on here, but I'll be darned if I know what it is. Anyway, a slightly forgotten hit, but as an inspirational shout out to the ladies, not bad at all. Well trained cat, too.
Double Trouble and the Rebel MC - they're 'avin' a laff with that keyboard playing, right? Anyway, suspiciously similar to their bigger hit, but not quite as memorable, maybe they were one trick ponies but this is pretty good fun.
WASP, more of the video we saw last time, that's no way to treat your breakfast, virus or no virus.
Neneh Cherry, back in the studio - was it cold? Still a great single, and for some reason she has a tool belt on.
Cyndi Lauper - she had the hit first, but did Roy Orbison record it first? Anyway, perfectly reasonable pop record, nothing special, a bit cheesy, but another driving song to join the billion others and securing her royalties on countless drive time music CDs for the car.
Fuzzbox, a ray of pink sunshine as ever, performance more or less the same as the last time they were on, only with a different song. Not complaining, mind. Oddly the only pink thing onstage is a guitar, not the outfits.
Charity record still there for the final week, and of course the film Ferry Cross the Mersey will never be shown on TV ever again, because Jimmy Savile features so much in it. Probably for the best, as Gerry and the Pacemakers look like total berks in it.
Guns N' Roses, proving they'd rerelease their own grandmothers if it meant a hit, with a paean to some rock chick or other (not pictured). Not that keen.
Incidentally, did you spot Anthea had a fan? Little guy standing beside her in a few links. An adoring gaze!
I always thought this Madonna video was her second best ever, behind the famous Material Girl video in 1985. The later videos were never as good after 1989, and this was probably her peak now with Express Yourself, because pretty much after this, she reverted to black-and-white videos for some reason in the early 90s.
DeleteI was wondering the same about the Cyndi Lauper or Roy Orbison version of Drove All Night as they were around the same time. Although Orbison had by far the better voice, he wouldn't have looked as good as Cyndi in the gorgeous red dress that she was wearing at the start of the video.
According to Wikipedia, the Big O recorded his version in 1987, so he probably got there first, though it didn't become a hit for him until 1992.
DeleteYes indeed Angelo, Sinitta had the cowgirl look, and as usual a fine figure in those jeans shorts, reminded me of Daisy Duke from the Dukes Of Hazzard. Yeeharrr indeed! For the male backing dancers, it was a case of hold Sinitta when you get your turn. Nice one Sinitta, a sexy start to the first TOTP show of June.
ReplyDeleteWASP - the last of the long-haired metal rockers of those born in the 1940s and 1950s were still going in 1989, but it couldn't be for much longer, as I expect by the turn of the decade with the 60s and 70s-born musicians taking over with other fashions in mind, it was surely the last stages of this style that dated back to the 1970s with the likes of Black Sabbath and ACDC as one of the earliest adopters of this hair fashion statement. Still, I wouldn't mind watching the rest of the WASP video to see more of the girl in the white mini skirt.
Fuzzbox - those Birmingham girls led by the very pretty Vix on lead vocals was just the tonic needed for the weekend ahead, and just as good as their debut single only a couple of months earlier. More Fuzzbox please!
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DeleteSecond attempt having used some sort of spellcheck this time...
ReplyDeleteAh, Dory, Fuzzbox had released at least three singles before "International Rescue" which peaked at 41, 31 and 51 plus a collaboration single with other artistes on their first label (Birmingham indie Vindaloo) which made 56. I'll get my coat.
Incredible how they could have such difficulty to break into the top 40 when they have such amazing looks and talent, especially as Birmingham was historically a male outlet for musicians like ELO, UB40 to name but a couple before Fuzzbox.
DeleteFuzzbox had an extravagantly hardcore punk look before their '89 makeover, and the music matched it.
DeleteWhy do they do inflict these live shows on themselves.. Ooh Gary tries to keep control as Anthea Turnoff misses cues, gets her numbers wrong and shouts everything into her mic...did anyone catch a word of what she said tonight?
ReplyDeleteYee-Hah it's Sinitta with a poppy little version of “Right Back Where We Started From” and a nice little routine to match. Not terrible, not great, just nice pop music.
Natalie Cole! Again! She really did have a good stab at getting to Number One didn't she. Confession time...do we all own a copy of “Miss You Like Crazy” on here?
Madonna with one of her finest ever tunes and a fantastic video for “Express Yourself” which cruely gets cut short. Iconic and at the peak of her pop powers. She looks great, she sounds great and this is a proper anthem.
Now the Rebel MC I remember from his "Street Tuff" days but I had no recollection of his “Just Keep Rockin’” Double Trouble days....and now I know why. What a bloody racket. Awful on every level.
2nd week in a row for WASP, picking up where last weeks video cut off. I'm really beginning to like “The Real Me”. Not bad at all. Video is quite interesting as well.
Neneh Cherry up next. There may have been a song but I was distracted.....
I think the Cyndi version of “I Drove All Night” is my favourite. Then I hear the Big O version and that's definitely my favourite. Then I hear the Cyndi version and that's my favourite.....must just be a great song. Video starts off OK but never really gets going.
Grab some “Pink Sunshine” it's Fuzzbox. There may have been a song but 14 year old me was very very distracted and slightly in lust...
"Gerry Cross The Mersey" A non-mover for the third week Anthea? That would make it four weeks at the top then...oh dear God.
Why did they bother with less than a minute of “Sweet Child O’ Mine”? It takes that long to get going... Maybe we will get more next week. I wonder what caused it to chart again only a year later?
I like the way you share the spoils on Cyndi Lauper and Roy Orbison, giving them both equal standing, and its like thanking both of them for their efforts in entertaining us with the same song.
Delete21 year old me was the similar age to the Fuzzbox girls; me around 6 months older than Vix, so my generation, and just as slightly in lust, so its not just you, but most of the male TOTP viewers at the time I'm sure. Makes one like Birmingham I guess.
Another live show, with Gazza looking smart and Anthea at her most hyper, shouty and patronising, as if the TOTP audience consisted solely of the under-10s. I didn't notice that she had a fan, but she was directing her own adoring gaze on her co-host, who might wish if he watched this tonight that social distancing had been in place back then...
ReplyDeleteSinitta's up first with an inoffensive but pointless take on Maxine Nightingale's 70s classic, but I don't understand where the cowboy/girl theme came from - certainly not the song, anyway. I wonder if Sin was even aware of the significance of the smiley face? Natalie is still hanging around the top reaches of the charts, and we get another video tomorrow with one of the best of Madge's upbeat tunes. She has gone blonde again for this video, and as THX notes above, a remarkably well-behaved cat - perhaps it was awestruck at being in her presence!
Double Trouble and Rebel MC serve up an extremely tedious rap, the performance only memorable for the presence of the double bass, not an instrument you would normally associate with this kind of thing. Neneh's top is very tight, but she effortlessly commands that stage again and it is puzzling in retrospect that she never became a much bigger star. Back on video, Madge's erstwhile rival Cyndi is barefoot like Sandie Shaw and has hair like Cruella De Vil. I Drove All Night is a fantastic song, and this is a decent interpretation, but I prefer the faster-paced Orbison version.
Fuzzbox don't bother coming up with a new look for this so-so effort, though the singer does come close to doing some pole dancing with that mic stand. We finish with a Guns N'Roses reissue first seen on TOTP the previous September, but destined to be a much bigger hit this time around.
is it known if any of the surviving hosts watch their old shows when they are broadcast? one suspects if ms turnoff does so, then it's purely a case of egotism!
DeleteTony Blackburn, Mike Read, Janice Long, Nicky Campbell and Simon Mayo definitely have, as they have all tweeted about shows they appeared in during the repeat run.
DeleteThis was the same copy that UK Gold had with no on-screen captions, apart from the "chart rundown" and end credits, the master tape is mostly the same what UK Gold used and when i'd did watch this way back in 2011 on a DVD+R disc part of my copied TOTP's from collectors i'd must been amused. Highlights included WASP covering The Who's 1973 album track from their rock opera Quadrophonia doing 'The Real Me' in a monochrome video apart from the yellow door, Sinitta covering Maxine Nightingale's 1975 hit 'Right Back Where We Started From' and whereas she is wearing a cowboy hat with backing choreographers, Cyndi Lauper tries to cover Roy Oribison's 'I Drove All Night' in half colour and half monochrome, Double Trouble and Rebel MC sample The Staple Singers' 'I'll Take You There', a charity single for the Hillsborough Disaster fund looking like montage of clips from Liverpool mostly some of those are monochrome with a backdrop of their skyline and some kids playing football in the street and leaving us out with G'N'R this time it peaked more higher in the top ten with their reissue of 'Sweet Child of Mine' from the previous September.
ReplyDeleteSadly Natalie Cole couldn't hold off the Hillsborough charity single, if downloads would've been included she would have got to number one, but this was the case as it was down to physical sales of vinyl and cassettes at Gallup headquarters.
I was still buying 7-inch vinyl singles in 1989, as they were still the mainstay of chart singles being sold in record shops like HMV, Our Price, and the like. I remember that the first time I bought a CD single was in 1993 with I'd Do Anything For Love by Meat Loaf, upon his extraordinary comeback after several years in the wilderness.
DeleteSame here Dory. It was 1994 when I got a new stereo system for my bedroom (my 20th birthday) and my first CD single was Jocelyn Brown and Kym Mazelle "Enough is Enough". Very hi-nrg!
DeleteSinitta - alright but pedestrian cover to start us off, with not quite so macho men dancing along
ReplyDeletemadonna - in the middle of her run of best singles. Never noticed before how weird the video is
Double Trouble - yawn FF
Wasp - amazing, only just realised this is the who song! Original better.
Rundown - Lot of covers in this weeks chart
Ooh and here is one of them. Cyndi - at least she makes an effort to put her own stamp on it.
Fuzzbox - jaunty little tune
GnR - another track from the excellent Appetite album - all 30 seconds! Rumours of a new album soon (where ‘soon’ for them means this decade)
Much better episode than last week's, always love Fuzzbox (1989 is one of ny favourite ever years all round). Neneh's top made me gulp a bit, and I do love Natalie Cole but it feels like that song has been around an eternity.
ReplyDeletePoor Gary. Poor us! Easily Turnoff’s worst performance yet, doing Roland Rat “Yeah”s after links and acting throughout the show like a kid who’s just drunk some Top Deck with a gobful of Space Dust.
ReplyDeleteApt costumes for Sinitta’s dancers as this is a cowboy builder type botch-up of Maxine’s big hit. Had Leggy raided her kit from Turnoff’s wardrobe?
Gary turns Yankee with his pronunciation this week, as he follows Sineeda with Naddalie Cole. I’m not crazy about this and I didn’t miss it while I FF’d.
Something about the backing to “Express Yourself” kept reminding me of “Vogue”. Best thing about this was the cat.
A headache track next with that sodding wooh-yeah effect. Double Trouble? Double F, more like.
Laddie, you wouldn’t waste that breakfast in these times. Monochrome hair metal From ‘We Are..." with a nice effect for that yellow house.
Mugshots: Stefan Dennis is going down? Bugger!
Neneh Cherry offering peaches and peanuts tonight. Another stylish aural and visual experience as Neneh owns the stage.
Roy and Cyndi both gave us excellent versions of “I Drove All Night”. Wish we could have swapped the miniscule length of this video morsel with the time given over to that Rebel MC mush. Lovely outfits, Cyndi, but I don’t think much of your parking.
It’s the weighlifting Vix and her mates, Tina wielding what look like huge drumsticks. Majorette moves for what should have been a more major hit. Fizzy, fun and forceful.
If only they’d cut all Turnoff’s links and added the spare time for a longer viewing of the best thing G’n’R ever released.
Hopefully we’ll get some respite with the host in the next edition. Ah.
Surely You'll Never Walk Alone would've been the obvious song for the Hillsborough tribute. Also they show them scoring against Newcastle but celebrating against Leeds. Moot point maybe but these things bother me ��
ReplyDeleteAs they had already used You'll Never Walk Alone to raise money after the Bradford City fire, I suppose they felt they needed a different song this time.
DeleteA hit and miss edition, this one, not helped by Anthea at her most screechy and incomprehensible - at times Gary Davies quite rightly looked like he'd rather be elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteSinitta - I remember rather liking this at the time. Goodness knows what I was thinking, though admittedly it's not as badly sung as her songs usually are.
Madonna - Yet another video that isn't the single version, there are so many of these now! The 7" version is better, it has more oomph. Wasn't the video yet another Metropolis style effort?
Double Trouble / Rebel MC - Another one I enjoyed then more than I do now. These days I prefer the Hip House Mix on the B side!
Cyndi Lauper - I'm another that prefers the Roy Orbison version.
Fuzzbox - Best thing on the show, a fantastic pop song that deserved to do much better.
Guns'n'Roses - Well, it's less annoying than most of their other songs I suppose.