Gran of the pops
14/09/89 (Andy Crane & Simon Mayo)
Damian – “The Time Warp” (7)
Getting us underway with his second trip to the studio but the song was now at its peak.
Madonna – “Cherish” (16) (video)
Peaked at number 3.
Technotronic featuring Felly – “Pump Up The Jam” (19)
Making their studio debut with what became their first of four top ten hits when it peaked at number 2.
Tears For Fears – “Sowing The Seeds Of Love” (5) (video)
At its peak.
Sydney Youngblood – “If Only I Could” (17)
Also in the studio tonight with what became his only top ten hit when it peaked at number 3.
London Boys – “Harlem Desire” (37) (breaker)
The duo's final top 40 hit and it peaked at number 17.
Rolling Stones – “Mixed Emotions” (36) (breaker)
Taken from their number 2 album Steel Wheels, but it got no higher.
WASP – “Forever Free” (35) (breaker)
Went up ten more places.
Tina Turner – “The Best” (10)
Tina also makes it into tonight's studio and the song peaked at number 5
Black Box – “Ride On Time” (1)
A new studio performance for their second of six weeks at number one.
Aerosmith – “Love In An Elevator” (23) (video/credits)
Peaked at number 13.
21st September is next.
Technotronic making their debut here, but nowhere to be seen, but only their 'feature', Felly, was on the stage on her own. I thought it was quite odd, as I am sure the public would have liked to see Technotronic on their debut hit! At least The Beatmasters turned up for each of their hits with their 'feature'.
ReplyDeleteThe WASP video on The Breakers looked interesting, as did the tune, and worth watching in full over the weekend. I don't remember this one at all, somehow passed me by, but thanks to these repeats, I can check it out for the first time over 30 years later!
Another show with some horrors, but we start off with Rocky Horror!
ReplyDeleteDamian – Time Warp – Upbeat and camp this gets us off nicely. Damian doesn’t look quite so fierce on this outing.
Madonna – Cherish – This title conjures up David Cassidy of course but I really like this and its non-album spooky B-Side called ‘Supernatural’. Nice b&w video of Madonna cavorting on the seashore. Quite a short haircut here…wish I could get one!
Technotronic – Pump up the Jam – Anything with ‘pump up’ in the title sees me racing for the FF and this was no exception!
Tears for Fears – Sowing the Seeds of Love – Quite a decent amount of the flamboyant video shown tonight and that’s not a bad thing. “I am the egg-man, they are the egg-men…”.
Sydney Youngblood – If only I could – Springs the song ‘Honey’ by Bobby Goldsboro to mind but this was not at all sentimental. See the tree how big it’s grown….
Breakers (what are they?) – London Boys – more of the same, Rolling Stones – more of the same (but one of them is wearing a ‘Steel Wheels’ t-shirt and I recall that tour was huge). WASP – more heavy metal in sentimental mood rather than thrashing. Like Dory, don’t recall it at all unlike the next two…
Tina Turner – The Best – Oh gawd they got her in the studio this time. Simply horrible.
Black Box – Ride on time – Simply horrible.
Aerosmith – Love in an Elevator – A lift more like. Not bad I suppose.
It's only us British that call it a lift. The Americans only know it as an elevator. I wouldn't mind being stuck in an elevator with those two department store mannequins that turned into real girls in bikinis.
DeleteWe haven't seen Andy or Mayo for a bit, but good to have them both back and they make a fine partnership here. Have to say though that, watching his show with Mark Kermode straight after, Mayo has not aged all that well - don't think those old man specs help...
ReplyDeleteAs sct mentions, Damian softens his image a bit for this new performance, and it is very enjoyable, but his five minutes of glory was now virtually up. Madge adopts a gentler, pure pop sound for this latest hit, and the video matches the mood of the song as she frolics happily in the surf. Not one of her best, but it makes for a pleasant listen. Back in the studio, Felly turns up without Technotronic, but looks good enough to ensure that their presence is not missed! Not a bad bit of dance-pop, if somewhat repetitive - Felly is guilty of doing a "Black Box" here, as the real singer was actually Ya Kid K, who was a member of Technotronic and was apparently told by her colleagues that Felly would be used to promote the record, which I can't imagine went down too well.
Another showing for the TFF video, but at least it is from the earlier part of the song this time. Having experimented with different hairstyles throughout the 80s, Roland is still sporting the barnet he debuted here some thirty years on! I've always liked this Sydney Youngblood song, though his sub-Jacko dance routine here got on my nerves a bit. Apparently he was accused at the time of ripping off Soul II Soul's sound, though on this track at least I can't hear much of a similarity.
The breakers are back, and this is all we will get of this decent if unexciting Stones effort, with Mick looking a complete parody of himself in the video. Steel Wheels was a big comeback album for them, after they had come close to splitting in the mid-80s, and ensured they would continue dragging their ageing bodies round the big arenas of the world for years to come. Tina, who was an influence on the Jagger performing style, puts plenty of her ageing body on display for this energetic run-through of her signature song, before THX has his memory vindicated as Black Box do indeed turn up again for a dungarees-clad performance - I trust Popscene will be updating their show listing to reflect this! Aerosmith to finish, with a typically bombastic pop-rock tune and an in-yer-face video which is as subtle as the music, i.e. not very.
Mayo now looks like Charles Hawtrey, or that's the running joke on the Kermode and Mayo podcast anyway. I think he looks fine for a man in his 60s!
DeleteDoes he have the legendary round glasses that Hawtrey always wore?
DeleteTHX - it was more Clive Dunn as Grandad that came to mind when I saw him in those specs. Perhaps I was being a bit harsh on his appearance, but because I haven't seen his present day self on TV much I still tend to think of him as young and fresh faced!
Delete@Dory: He does have round glasses, yes. Stay tuned in to BBC4 after next week's 8pm TOTP and you'll see him.
DeleteGood Lord, what a treat.
DeleteThe bell is tolling for Damian's fifteen minutes of fame - with a name like that, shouldn't he have recorded a cover of Ave Satani from The Omen? Now that I would have preferred.
ReplyDeleteThe wetter the better for Madge, with yet another song called Cherish, but this is nice enough with some cutesy lyrics that are actually pretty smart in a faux-naïve way ("Romeo and Juliet, They never felt this way I bet!"). She seems to be restaging the love scene from From Here to Eternity solo, which given her ego makes sense.
Technotronic pumping up their jam with yet another miming model. Maybe they should have hired someone to mime the instruments as well - were there a lot of fake stand-ins on songs in the late 80s or something? As for the tune, yeah, acceptable bit of dance pop, though I'm distracted by the return of the "something wrong with your telly" effect.
Tears for Fears get more of their expensive video played, which has the effect of showing off how po-faced and ridiculous it is. Oh well, still like the song.
Sydney Youngblood makes an energetic debut, obviously hoping to make a Terence Trent D'Arby style of impact, but a shade to eager to please rather than self-possessed cool. Which came first, this or Break 4 Love by Raze? They're more or less the same.
The Breakers will all be on again - oh, my mistake, The Stones won't be because the people who bought singles were not the same as the people who bought albums, so there was no crossover appeal. As it is, a fair late period Stones track (I dread to think what period we call them now), but their days of iconic new music were over.
Tina stomps about as she relishes her biggest hit in years, little knowing how royally sick we would all get of it over the next thirty.
Yes, John G, I am vindicated! The Black Box mimer did sport a plumber's dungarees and bizarrely, a T-shirt with large shoulder pads. But that was the sole point of interest for me here.
And Aerosmith we'll see more of shortly...
"Break 4 Love" by Raze had made number 28 in February 1989.
Deletei felt "mixed emotions" came off fairly well in comparison with some of the stone's earlier rockers, and was a bit surprised that it failed to set the charts alight as a result - despite the heavy hype it had at the time (i seem to remember watching a "making of " docunentary back then)
Deletebut alas it was a last hurrah in terms of being considered at the cutting edge to some degree (and to their credit they lasted the course in that regard much longer than most of their peers) before they turned into a "nostalgia" act...
The Stones released some new material for the Lockdown support and it... wasn't terrible, it was fine. Just not essential. I quite liked their 2012 Doom and Gloom single, mostly because the lyrics were amusing.
DeleteThere's no doubt in mind that Break 4 Love by Raze, a mere 6 months before Sydney Youngblood came along, was the far superior of the two similar sounding songs. I remember buying the 7-inch single of Raze, which I still have. Has a superb background beat to it, even at present-day standards.
DeleteOn the wikipedia page for Break 4 Love
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_4_Love
it lists all the other songs that sampled it - 2nd on the list is "If Only I Could"
Interesting, I'm surprised that The KLF also sampled it for 3AM Eternal, their big debut hit in 1991, as the "Break 4 Love Mix." And Talking Heads? Really surprised at that one, for the Once In A Lifetime Remix. Good Lord, whatever next?
DeleteRev Mayo and Crane the Brain worked well together. Nice DJ / audience participation intro.
ReplyDeleteDamian looked a bit more like The Joker and less startling this time, but this still wasn’t my bag.
Madonna’s video for her perky little tune reminded me of “Splash” with Daryl Hannah. Obviously not filmed in Clacton.
Technotronic tech no part in the show (ahem) and the intro link about Belgians is scuppered by Felly actually being Congolese. If I was Ya Kid K, I’d have been furious about singing this and then getting subbed.
Roland hogging the screen for “The West Country Walrus” with poor Kurt either out of focus or in the background. What an overly pompous video.
Nice GI fact by Si into Sydney, giving us everything plus the kitchen sink. An assured performance which he clearly enjoyed.
More frenetic dancing next with the London Boys and a video which must have cost double figures.
Next we get five tortoises out of their shells, Mick trying to look alluring while twerking in octogenarians’ gym gear. Put it away, Mick.
Oh dear, another slow metal ballad. Could’ve been Bon Jovi or Guns ‘n’ Roses, it was so similar. Judging by all those bikes, the others all went elsewhere rather than listen to this.
Ah. Tina Turner. Simply FF.
Black Box gal in Andy Pandy style plumbers’ dungarees there. The repeats of this will definitely drive you round the (U-) bend.
We finish with “Love ON An elevator”, Si? Bit risky, that. The ‘censored’ bits in the video made no sense, and Kim Cattrell’s mannequin was never like that in the Starship promo.
Madonna - workaday song from her ‘can’t do wrong’ period
ReplyDeleteTechnotronic - one of the few dance tracks that has stood the test of time and avoided the dreaded FF...
Sydney youngblood - dull, First FF if the evening...
Breakers: london Boys - sounding much like their previous; Rolling Stones - ok, but from them treading water; WASP - Bon Jovi rejrct - too long even in the breakers
Aerosmith - missing out the naughty opening to the video, but still quite fruity for TOTP, I have always liked this.
Madonna's vid with the mermen made me think, has anyone other than a total poseur ever tried the butterfly in a swimming pool? The only thing it does is remove half the water.
ReplyDeleteThe blonde twins presenting tonight and very competent too. Notice the countdown was split between them this week with Andy taking on 40-31 and 10-2 and Simon doing the middle bit. Worked quite well.
ReplyDeleteA fun intro to our second sighting of Damian. Same performance as last time. Still a lot of fun.
Madonna hits the beach with a bunch of Mermaids/men. A very simple but effective pop song. A very strange video.
Now "Pump Up The Jam" is something of a household favourite with myself, Wifey and teenage Mini-Morgie. We often sing it around the house (especially with toast in the morning) so we all gathered around to watch this.
Bouncy Belly Felly takes centre stage miming to Ya Kid K. Mini-Morgie is astonished they used to make a show where people mimed to their songs (he just doesn't get it) so I blew his mind by explaining this lady was miming to someone else's song and pretending to be her!!!
The first of many hits for Technotronic.
As a side note, I definitely heard someone in the studio egging on the crowd, I wonder if that could be heard at the time or just now with my headphones in???
Kick out the style, bring back the TFF (no-one calls them that Andy). Nice video. Great song.
Next up the Sermon according to Sydney Youngblood. All about love with a crucifix over a stonking dance beat. A killer tune that wins out as the second verse takes place in bed and Sydney is flashing his nipples and thrusting his body at us. Hell awaits...
Breakers:
London Boys have clearly run out of catchy tunes.
Rolling Stones give us a dull tune and Mr "mick" Motivator video.
W.A.S.P have big hair, big ballad, blonde girls and a bloody boring song.
More big hair next with Tina Turner strutting her stuff. Why does she always dance like she's got something thrust between her thighs? Clearly she performed the whole song beforehand but we only get the edited highlights. (Simply) The Best song on the show....possibly!
So then onto Black Box. They may have a new performance but I swear Boy Mayo points to his right and then they appear on the left hand stage.
Anyway we have reached the point of no-return and I am sure this is now the Heather Small version of Ride On Time that Katrin is miming to in her dungarees. (Maybe she has a painting and decorating job to go to after the show)
So, how to explain to Mini-Morgie that she is miming to someone else's singing but that it's a different singer than last week and she's pretending they are the same one and that she is both of them...…..HELP!
A fun video to play us out. Love In An Elevator is a lot of fun, a saucy little video. and Steven Tyler is a great frontman.
Breakers aside a really good show.
You do sometimes hear the floor managers encouraging the TOTP audience, yes.
DeleteMadonna - Like A Prayer is that rarest of things - an album of hers where all the singles are really enjoyable. This is probably the slightest but I like it more now than I did then.
ReplyDeleteTechnotronic - Originally the story was that Ya Kid K wasn't allowed to perform the track as she was too young, but it seems they wanted to use Felly solely for her looks. It isn't that unusual for the act not to be present. Jo Bogaert was the man behind the act, and it's no different to Eruption turning up fronted by Precious Wilson rather than Frank Farian in the laste 70s!
Oh yeah, the song - I like it, and the album was a regular on the 6th form common room stereo.
Sydney Youngblood - Like the London Boys, some nice moves but I'm not ever convinced that he's singing it (check the terrible miming) - an OK song but I prefer 'Break 4 Love'.
Breakers - I like the Stones track, certainly the best thing they'd done since 'Undercover Of The Night'. They had a couple of half-decent songs in the 90s.
As if Tina strutting around isn't bad enough, we then get Katrin Quinol with a bizarre outfit that doesn't suit her at all, although those who think there was a transgender thing going on may want to note the placement of the baggiest part of the dungarees...
Aerosmith - I'm not a big fan of their stuff, but this is one of their better singles.
If it was looks that Technotronic were looking for, they could have done much better than Felly.
Delete