And thank you for Kirsty
27/07/89 (Mark Goodier & Simon Parkin)
The Primitives – “Sick Of It” (33)
We get underway tonight with a taste of proto-britpop but this proved to be the band's final top 40 hit and it peaked at number 24.
Gloria Estefan – “Don’t Wanna Lose You” (6) (video)
At its peak.
Inner City – “Do You Love What You Feel?” (28) (video)
Peaked at number 16.
Kirsty MacColl – “Days” (14)
Giving a rousing studio performance and the song went up two more places.
Gun – “Better Days” (35) (breaker)
Went up two more places.
Paul McCartney – “This One” (37) (breaker)
Peaked at number 18.
The Stone Roses – “She Bangs The Drums” (36) (breaker)
Our first taste of Madchester - but this song had to wait until 1990 to peak at number 34!
Simple Minds – “Kick It In” (23) (video)
Peaked at number 15.
Bros – “Too Much” (2)
In the studio with their new line-up and harder new sound and this song was their sixth of eight top ten hits and their fourth of four number twos.
Simply Red – “A New Flame” (17) (video)
The best video of the night but the song went up no further.
Sonia – “You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You” (1)
Back in the studio for her second and final week at number one.
Alice Cooper – “Poison” (34) (video/credits)
Halloween arrives early and Poison became his fifth of five top ten hits and his first top 40 hit since 1974 when it peaked at number 2.
3rd August is next.
The Primitives - great start to the show, and the only band from Coventry that I know of apart from The Specials. Were there any others? Anyway, I like The Primitives lead singer's good looks, and apparently the group split up a couple of years later in 1991, and then re-formed in 2009 and still tour together present-day, but it's difficult to know who will follow them on tour, as any fans who remember them first time round would be the over-50's now.
ReplyDeletePaul McCartney - getting a Breakers slot at No.37, but despite releasing several singles in the late 1980's, he never seemed to trouble the top 10, with only one song since 1985 making it to No.10, yet Linda McCartney on this new one was still appearing in his videos in 1989, so they seemed to be doing them for fun by now, and not for chart positions. He would continue well into the 90s in this low-charting manner.
Bros - being touted as "next week's No.1" by one of the presenters, but please, look one position lower in the charts for Jive Bunny who had climbed from No.31 to No.3 in one week, which is more likely to be next week's No.1. Good Lord!
Alice Cooper - for this to be playout this week at No.34, meant that there were few climbers in the top 30, and I noticed that lately TOTP were going much deeper down the charts for main slots, Breakers, and now the payout. a sign of the summer season, and slow moving charts!
I was a fan of The Primitives, and I'm not over 50! I'd lost interest by this single, though.
DeleteKing were from Coventry as well.
DeleteSorry THX, I meant the over-40s.
DeleteThat's OK, Dory, I'll be 50 soon enough, I suppose, assuming I don't succumb to the virus.
DeleteDon't watch Nicola Sturgeon's daily briefings then, its bad for morale, well at least for those of us south of the Scottish border.
DeleteI try not to watch Nicola at the best of times, but let's not talk politics, it never leads anywhere good.
DeleteThe Goodier-Parkin combo is wheeled out again, and young Simon seems more at ease this time, not that I thought much of his chart predictions. In any case, that's the last we will see of him – I know it was a hot summer, but did the male hosts really need to keep baring their legs?
ReplyDeleteThe Primitives make a welcome return, but as this was their last Top 40 entry I think we can safely assume this is their TOTP swansong. A typically punchy pop tune from them anyway, short, sweet and to the point, and I liked Tracy Tracy’s slinky new look. Simon mangles the title of Inner City’s latest hit, an anonymous affair accompanied by a rather curious video where it looks as if they decided to recreate a beach in a studio rather than film on a real one, for whatever reason. Kirsty is back in the studio, and I like the way she starts seated before stepping up to the front of the stage as the song builds up momentum. I believe she suffered quite badly from stage fright, but seemingly was always willing to do TOTP when she scored a hit.
The Stone Roses are one of those bands the music critics all expect us to worship, but I just don't see the appeal, and I won't lament the fact this is all we will see of this tedious track. Simple Minds aren't much better, combining a bland song with an equally dull video presumably designed to underline their credentials as a stadium band. Bros should have called this song "Two Much", now that Craig was out the door! They were clearly attempting to adopt a more rocky sound here, and it does start promisingly, but doesn't have a strong enough hook. Matt is wearing so many crosses you might be forgiven for thinking he had become a born again Christian...
Sonia's back for her last week at the top before being toppled by that dratted Bunny, but given it was an identical performance to last week she might as well have just put her feet up that evening. Happily we get a strong playout, as Vincent Furnier makes an unlikely comeback with a good, driving rocker. The video isn't perhaps as theatrical as one might have hoped from the master of shock rock, but it does appear to unfold in a very glitzy dungeon.
i actually remember driving around north london after work one evening and listening to a reportage thing on radio one that featured an interview with the stone roses, who were all-but unknown to most at that point. but it still didn't stop them from bragging that they were basically the best band in the history of rock. so when a friend of mine fell for the hype and bought their first album, i decided to have a speed-listen to every track via headphones to see what all the fuss was about. and all i heard was a tinny lo-fi noise that sounded no better than other similar indie bands around at the time. talk about the emperor's new clothes!
DeleteThe Stone Roses were notoriously bad at interviews, so I'm surprised you heard one where they said anything at all.
DeleteI take the view with The Stone Roses that you probably had to be the right age - and on the right substances - to appreciate them!
Deletewell i was a peer of theirs, and a regular dope smoker at the time too. yet they still did next-to fuck-all for me!
DeleteIndie's premier proponent of the blonde movement goes redhead for The Primitive's comeback single, but it's not as catchy as the material from the Lovely album. I mean, it's not bad, but it doesn't sparkle - this is why you hear Crash any time they're revived on the radio, not this.
ReplyDeleteMore of the boring Glo video, and it doesn't endear it to me any further.
Inner City hit the beach for, er, aerobics?! Well, it was the 80s. Nice, pretty little dance tune, I'd completely forgotten about it but have no issue with being reminded of it, the chorus is very pleasant.
Kirsty back in the studio to support a single that was creeping up the charts. It was obviously a hot summer judging by that waxy sheen on her face, and she's miming, but with any luck this shifted a few more copies of that fantastic parent album.
Breakers, we'll see the first two again, but The Stone Roses would have to wait a little longer to truly take off. I was never a huge fan as many my generation were, their sound was rather thin to my ears, but I do like this, it has a good, chunky piano sound and a catchy chorus. I'm not saying it was all downhill from now on, obviously they only got bigger, but I was listening to their rivals The Happy Mondays.
What's that, Simple Minds? You have a new video? And it's a concert video? Where do you get your ideas? As for the song, weirdly Jim is almost rapping here, but that's the most striking thing about it.
Where's Ken, they asked, and this time we really didn't know. Too Much marked the start of the decline of the Bros bros, undone by a ginger pop poppet and a poorly animated rabbit. It's actually not to bad a try at a different sound, but the melody is lacking. The keyboard player was well into it, mind you.
Simply Dread with more of their video, so we get to see more of Mick's harem of dancing girls. Enjoy it while it lasts, little man!
Another ginger at the top, Sonia offers more of the same, and SAW's time of chart supremacy was coming to an end. With Simon Parkin hosting, this was quite a ginger episode.
Alice Cooper's Poison video, only not the one with the bare naked lady in it, it's the alternate version. The self-decapitating golf enthusiast's last really big hit arrived a long time after his previous, but he is still going - despite that I'm not sure why this was so successful. It's fine, but no more than that.
alice's chart return gives me the chance to tell the following amusing story:
Deletehe and his missus were present at a test match at lords a few years back, and as guest of honour he was introduced to commentator and cricketing legend geoffrey boycott. at which point the blissfully ignorant boycs stepped forward to shake his wife's hand!
I remember an interview between Geoff Boycott and Katy Perry a few years ago where (a) they got on really well and (b) he professed to liking her hit "Firework"!
DeleteAssuming these repeats go right to the end, we won't hear from Katy Perry, unfortunately, she started having hits after TOTP ended. Always liked her, despite recent reports of her bad behaviour.
DeletePleasant enough show, which is high praise for recent weeks
ReplyDeletePrimitives - from the school of Darling Buds and Transvision Vamp (without the sweat), an excellent return
Inner City - pleasant enough
Kirsty - first studio outing for Days. Pleasant enough (again)
Breakers: gun - looking forward to seeing a full outing; macca - who remembers this? Pleasant enough; Roses - not as good as Made of Stone, but amongst their best
Simple Minds - pleasant enough
Bros - better than previous outing. Pleasant enough. (Pathetic guitar solo)
Alice Cooper - big fan, so a good exit. I seem to remember that there were two videos for this. This was the U version, but a trawl of YouTube failed to reveal the uncensored version...
I forgot to mention that dreadful Bros guitar solo! They looked so proud of it, too!
DeleteDid Poison return the compliment by releasing a single called "Alice Cooper"? Tsk.
ReplyDeleteWho was Simon Parkin? Nice combo of presenters though.
ReplyDeletePrimitives – Sick of it – Well it’s so short there’s little danger of that. Nice LBD worn by the lead singer but not surprised this wasn’t a big hit.
Gloria Estefan – Started way past the opening (why did people always snigger at the opening line?!). Doesn’t do this justice. Like a breaker really.
Inner City – Do you like what you feel – Not particularly.
Kirsty MacColl – Days – Lovely. Good to see a studio outing from Kirsty. Just listen to those lovely harmonies.
Breakers – Gun – didn’t they ‘race with the devil’ of was that a different gun? A bit like Oasis and Oasis maybe. This sounds quite hectic. Paul McCartney – psychedelic man! Stone Roses – On the brink of a moment of greatness, but we didn’t know it at the time.
Simple Minds – Kick it in – Fast moving concert video, never lingers on one shot too long….I feel dizzy! Was there a song there somewhere?
Bros – Too Much – I see this title and I just think ‘Spice Girls’. Don’t like this song at all. Straight in at no2? Riding on the short-lived Bros popularity wave methinks. Next week’s no1? Nah….
Simply Red – A nooo Flame – The rhythm of this track in the verses has always reminded me of another song but I can’t get it. I’ll keep wracking my brain.
Sonia – You’ll never stop me from loving you – The guy dancer is very distracting here and seems to take centre stage. Sonia’s outfit brings to mind Sandy from ‘Grease’. This has grown on me over the past few weeks I have to say.
Alice Cooper – Poison – Return to school, sorry form! Co-written and produced by Desmond Child who has been responsible for other hits (with Dianne Warren) which I can’t bring to mind (what’s up with my brain this week?!). Enjoyed this. Nice choice for a playout.
OK...I cheated and checked on wikipedia. Loads on songs. Desmond Child co-wrote Bon Jovi's two early smashes 'You give love a bad name' and 'Livin' on a Prayer'. He also co-wrote Ricky Martin's wonderful 'Livin' La Vida Loca'.
DeleteIt was the 1960s Gun who did Race with the Devil - this band were from Glasgow and best recalled from their utterly superfluous cover of Cameo's Word Up. Nothing to do with Jo Jo Gunne either!
DeleteThe 1960s Gun also contained those "classic" Gurvitz brothers...
DeleteThe rhythm of the Simply Red verses conjured up hazy memories of a Bond theme ("View To A Kill"?) and possibly an A-Ha track which I can't place.
DeleteExtended playout of 27/07/89.
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-1ubLmKJXLK
Many thanks for this!
DeleteGood interview with Wendy James in the paper today, she's plugging her new material. She did get asked about her glazed look on her most recent repeat performance, and she said she just used the makeup available to look as if she had a sheen of sweat. She also said The Beautiful South were horrified by this! She actually came across quite well for a change, though I doubt I'll be getting her latest album.
ReplyDeleteI bought her previous album Price of the Ticket. It was ok, but suffered from tracks being co-written by different people so it had no flow. Nice cover though...
DeleteJust checked out the cover - good grief! I suppose we can add Wendy to the list of artistes who have appeared naked on their album covers, along with Prince, Charley XCX, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, etc.
DeleteWendy also recounted that story on Twitter the night the performance in question was repeated.
Deleteis she still nursing (delusional) hopes of winning an oscar?
DeleteChecked the Wendy James album cover as well. My my! DFS would make a fortune if they could use that as an ad!
Deletelooks like no one else here gets my wendy james oscar reference? at the height of what turned out to be her 15 minutes of fame, despite having no apparent thespian background she was quoted in the likes of Q magazine that she it was only a matter of time before she won an oscar at the academy awards!
DeleteI would have thought Wendy was aiming for an EGOT at the very least.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLack of spellcheck + typing after midnight + strong cider = drat, delete and try aagin....
ReplyDeleteDib dib dib! Our hosts’ trousers have shrunk in the wash making them look like boy scouts. If only REM had kept climbing so ‘Leonard’ Parkin could embarrass himself again.
We lost an edition for spotlight glare (remember Nik Kershaw and “Wide Boy”?) way less than behind The Primitives there early doors. The Coventry Madonna leads us through a song which wins on image but sounds like a B-side. Nice ten-second footage there of a cameraman stooping near the drummer’s arse without his camera being given the red light.
Next it’s Gloria EsteFAN as Goodie correctly tells us. Are you listening, Trev? An arty poncey vid for a ballad I’m quite partial to.
Inner City, probably in an inner city studio sandpit. Same rhythm as their other hits if quicker, the law of diminishing returns kicking in. The chorus reminded me of Rozalla’s “Everybody’s Free To Feel Good”.
A lovely cover by Kirsty, less oiled up and more clothing clad than Wendy James, and a studio performance way more enjoyable than the video. Peak of the week (new catchphrase, anyone?).
Gun with “Worse Days” compared to the better “Days” preceding it.
Like, Paul, wow man. Where’s Neil from “The Young Ones” when you need him? And is Linda miming better than you???
The first sighting of the overly arrogant (for no good reason) Ian Brown. What a fantastic video! Must win an award for that. Actually one of their better songs to these ears.
No, ’Leonard’, Simple Minds are at 23, not 25. Oo, a live gig video. How original. Shame they left the tune in the van. Kick it in indeed.
30 seconds of Bros was ‘too much’. Matt Gloss - Jesus Christ! 'Leonard' gives us the first of two consecutive crap chart forecasts in the outro. Meanwhile, in a garden shed soundproofed by egg boxes, ‘Ken’ is working on a retaliatory concept double album, “Dishing The Goss”.
Mugshots – MC Wildski finally gets a mention, just as the ‘tune’ starts plummeting!
The return of Tribute Charlie Drake’s video reminds me of a single which a friend posted on Facebook this week. After he left Genesis, the first thing Peter Gabriel did musically was co-write and produce a single for Charlie Drake on the Charisma label (which Genesis were on), complete with Phil Collins on drums!
A summer panto next, as it’s Sonia and the Beanstalk. Full marks for effort by the Scouse lass. Shame she couldn’t do a Glenn Close and boil that rabbit looming on the horizon.
Alice Cooper, a fine DJ on Planet Rock and a great comeback here. See, Cult, THIS is how you do a light metal (aluminium?) song and an alluring video.
Bye, ‘Leonard’. I preferred you to Turnoff but them’s the breaks. Now go buy some proper trousers.
That Charlie Drake single was called 'You'll never know'. Quite collectable now.
DeleteI bet it wasn't as good as My Boomerang Won't Come Back. I heard that in a film recently and though the lyrics haven't aged well, it's a stone groove.
DeleteWelcome to the Sizzling Summer Sound of 1989 TOTP.
ReplyDeleteSo hot the presenters are showing off their shorts and the sweat is pouring off the guests..
Goody Bags and Weather Man make a good solid combination. Mark is looking much more relaxed now.
The Primitives up first with “Sick Of It”. Never gonna be a big hit in 89 but a good tune. A bit Transvision Vamp in sound and look.
After some dodgy staging (where are you mark) we have Gloria Estefan with her "wonderful hits". “Don’t Wanna Lose You” indeed.
No recollection whatsoever of this Inner City tune but “Do You Love What You Feel?” is actually very good. Real foot-tapper, proper club tune. I like this.(28)
Kirsty "sweating buckets" MacColl with her cover of “Days”. Great summer sound and I'm a big fan of this one.
Breakers:
Gun – Decent tune which deserved better.
Paul McCartney – “This One” sounds just like all the others. Pass.
The Stone Roses – And here comes Madchester, Indie and ultimately Brit Pop. “She Bangs The Drums” is remarkably tuneful for Indie. Took me a while to get into this but looking back I do like this tune. Much more success to come in the 90s of course.
Simple Minds desperately in need of a tune.– “Kick It In”to touch.. Very poor. Naff concert video as well.
Here come the drums and more sweat (but no Craig) and Bros are back.- The British Teenage public clearly had “Too Much” of a good thing and they are almost out of luck now. Shame really as this is one of their best tunes with a great key change in the middle.
Simply Red – still enjoying this. Although not quite hurtling towards the top Simon. More gently strolling through the teens.
Sonia still at the top - no change in performance save from some very shit SFX. Run out of money have we...
Finally the highlight of the night. As an 80s Pop kid I should of hated this but "Poison" is one of my Top Tunes of 89. Such a great lyric, great tune and some real attitude. Alice Cooper at his best. and we will see more of this one.
A really good show.
Hi Anonymous! Here's my request this week for shows you probably haven't got! This week they're all from 1979. Any original archive versions of 12/07, 30/08, 25/10 or 6/12? Cheers!
ReplyDeleteNo brie sorry.
DeleteOK mate. Thanks for looking!
DeleteHi again Anonymous,
DeleteChecking through the off-air copies available of the 1985 Mike Smith shows, a good majority of them have pretty low quality picture and audio. Might as well ask for whatever shows of his you have of his for that year. Hope you can provide a few of them at least, thanks.
i have most of them i think can you give me dates please?
Deletehere are 6 eps couple of them are bad res though. https://we.tl/t-g1K0dNxaEq
DeleteCheers for these
DeleteIt's ok, i see they have appeared in another group uploader claiming ownership.
DeleteWhy don't you ask xrayfour for the other 6 shows, Unknown? He's uploaded 3 of the 6 for me that Anonymous hasn't got, which are 24/01, 2/05 and 18/07.
DeleteYou guys need to start a collectors club for TOTP wiped shows and rare ones. There are some good new platforms like Zoom which would be perfect for this kind of conferencing and discussion.
DeletePans People fans... this has popped up on Youtube. From the 18/06/1970 show I guess but not shown in full I suspect. Brown/Wilson tune from Peter and the lads..
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=281Qln_er58
...and I've noever seen this Rod Stewart performance before either from the same source. Love the lyric sheet!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6taDxBV6kiY
The Pan's People clip could quite easily have been a video for the Hermans Hermits single, as they had done their dance routine on the HMS Intrepid.
DeleteIt reminds me of a similar navy boat video some nine years later when the Village People got to No.2 in Britain in April 1979 with this famous video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBXu-iY7cw
Suffice to say that it was only denied No.1 by Art Garfunkel's Bright Eyes which was unbreakable at the time in the spring of 1979.
If anyone is going lockdown crazy and can't wait until Friday for the next show, it is on YT:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ1Xkx16xYg
I managed to wait until today for BBC4 to show it. Don't know how, but I'm pleased I managed somehow.
DeleteThe Primitives - Totally forgettable tune, which is a shame as I like the band.
ReplyDeleteInner City - Probably the weakest of the 5 singles from 'Paradise' but still perfectly fine, which shows how strong the others were! The video doesn't do it any favours mind you.
Breakers - I really like The Stone Roses debut album, though the follow-up is one of the worst things I've ever heard. She Bangs The Drums is probably the best track on it, and was a real student favourite.
Simple Minds - Utterly awful and for me the worst thing they ever released.
Bros - I don't mind this but when they released it again the following year in a slowed down version as 'Madly In Love' it was miles better.
Alice Cooper - A fantastic comeback song that should've been No.1