Tuff of the pops
05/10/89 (Jakki Brambles & Steve Wright)
Rebel MC & Double Trouble – “Street Tuff” (12)
Getting us underway and the song peaked at number 3.
Cher – “If I Could Turn Back Time” (18) (video)
Peaked at number 6.
Curiosity Killed The Cat – “Name & Number” (14)
Back in the studio after a two year break but the song got no higher.
Billy Joel – “We Didn’t Start The Fire” (11) (video)
Peaked at number 7.
Sonia – “Can’t Forget You” (27)
A quick interview with Jakki and then a dash to the stage and the song went up ten more places.
Living In A Box – “Room In Your Heart” (31) (breaker)
Became their third and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 5.
Belinda Carlisle – “Leave A Light On” (28) (breaker)
Peaked at number 4.
Milli Vanilli – “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” (24) (breaker)
Became their second and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 2.
Bros – “Chocolate Box” (9) (video)
Their penultimate top ten hit and it got no higher.
Black Box – “Ride On Time” (1) (rpt)
Fifth of six weeks at number one.
S’Express – “Mantra For A State Of Mind” (21) (video/credits)
At its peak.
12th October is next.
Another pairing of Old and New tonight, as Wrighty bows out at long last and Jakki continues to go from strength to strength with her ultra-professional approach. Wrighty is actually somewhat better here than he had been for much of his decade on the show, his bafflingly long stint as host pretty much bookending the 80s; he couldn't resist one final bit of arseing around with that fake ponytail, though...
ReplyDeleteRebel MC and Double Trouble are back with lurid outfits, ever-present double bass and a catchy record which I rather like, mainly for that insistent backing track which reminds me of Satellite by The Hooters, but was actually based on an old Toots and the Maytals track. Off to the USS Missouri next, as Cher serenades the sailors and gets up close and personal with those very phallic big guns. I think this is the sanitised version of this notorious video, featuring Cher in a more demure outfit for large chunks of the running time - apparently the US Secretary of the Navy did consider firing the ship's captain for allowing such a risqué promo to be filmed! It's a shame that the video does overshadow the song in this case, as it's a great Diane Warren tune which heralded a run of excellent singles for Cher from her Heart of Stone album.
Having failed to build on their initial momentum, Curiosity finally return to the charts with a song I haven't heard since 1989. It annoyed me then and still does now, largely because of Ben's vocals, though it does have quite a funky vibe to it. Ben's new purple beret is also irritating, though at least he doesn't do that slappable little finger-in-the-ear "taking a phone call" mime which he did in the video, and which I also remember seeing him do in a different TV performance at the time, probably on something like Going Live. Back on video, a real musical departure for Billy Joel as he virtually raps his way through the entirety of post-war history. I am not a great fan of Mr Joel, but there is something very compelling about this and it was a musical gamble that paid off handsomely. I'm actually a bit surprised TOTP were happy to show the bit of the video featuring the famous photo of the Viet Cong prisoner being executed in Saigon during the Tet Offensive, but presumably nobody complained as they featured it two weeks running.
After a pointless interview with Jakki, Sonia bounces down on to the stage and gamely tries to sell perhaps the most hopelessly generic SAW product we have heard thus far - no great surprise this stalled at 17. More from the breakers next time, so on to Bros and their continuing attempts to rebrand themselves as rock gods. They certainly try to play up their sex symbol image in the video, but the song is another unconvincing attempt at a harder sound, and the glory days were now drawing rapidly to a close. For this week's playout video, S'Express are surrounded by coronavirus - I trust they all self-isolated when shooting was complete...
Not only did Billy sit in front of the Vietnamese prisoner being executed in the street, he was in front of Lee Harvey Oswald being shot to death as well! I think these are the first dead people we've seen on the show since John Lennon's corpse was in that video after he died.
DeleteBilly Joel was the guest a few weeks ago on Brian Johnson's One For The Road, a weekly TV show on Thursday nights on Sky Arts, and he was explaining to Brian that he had just turned 40 when releasing We Didn't Start The Fire, and that it was a reflection of his baby boomer generation's growing up struggles during the Cold War era, and I would throughly recommend watching the ACDC frontman interviewing Billy Joel.
DeleteI forgot to add that he mentioned that in 1989 when the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, he just turned 40, and wanted to in one way celebrate this with We Didn't Start The Fire, but also to reflect on the inhibitions and struggles of his generation growing up through the Cold War during his first 40 years of life, and that his young days were over and that was the only world they knew up until then.
DeleteTHX - good point re Oswald. I think Billy's head was obscuring the bit of the photo where you can see Jack Ruby firing the gun into Oswald's stomach, but it is still a "strong meat" image for TOTP. A lot of people think John Peel witnessed the murder, but he was actually present at an earlier press conference where Oswald was paraded before the media after his arrest.
DeleteDory - it's a pity Billy didn't turn 40 and record this song a couple of years later, as he could have added the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR to his list of events!
The highlights of the episode (here we go!) cos we would've saw this tomorrow night in the late-night slot, unfortunately this would be its only showing tonight.
ReplyDeleteDouble Trouble & Rebel MC - The last of the tracks to feature both of these, strangely they went their separate ways in 1990, despite one of the Double Trouble members getting shot, as Rebel MC regards 'I'm not like a Yankee, i'm a Londoner' and this became one of their highest charting hits.
Cher - The controversial video that MTV sparked complaints, where Cher and her band are on a navy ship with a group of navy soldiers, this song has been used in Hollyoaks a couple of times in the past, it will be used again in a upcoming episode in the weeks to come.
Curiousity Killed The Cat - They did this first before Jade said it in their opening lines to the 'Don't Walk Away' song and Little Mix most recently for just of them to ruin it in 2013 with Missy Elliott plus De La Soul over a mere 18 months later in 1991 with 'Ring Ring Ring', as this to be considered one of the best versions out there.
Billy Joel - The song that mentions all historical icons from Joel's birth right up to 1989 including England has a new Queen and The Cola Wars.
Sonia - She quickly has a interview with Jakki about her upcoming tour, then she goes on to perform her second single in the studio as it was a "new entry" in that week's chart.
Breakers - Living in a Box move on from dancing songs to ballads, as with Belinda Carlisle wants to 'Here I stand?', Milli Vanilli move on from their usual upbeat songs to a ballad in where their next two singles failed to reach the top 40.
Bros - Great video, a real shame didn't make it to the studio to promote it in where like Sonia did to promote hers, their next single they got to perform in the studio at Christmas.
Black Box - Same dunagrees performance again (from three weeks previous!) and now the song was tying the record with 'Swing the Mood' in its fifth consecutive week and meanwhile on the ITV Chart Show they're were still showing the 'Ghost Train' performance from the Summer.
S'Express - Their last hit of the '80s, couldn't agree more with Mark Moore, their success continued on into the early 90s, but sadly they didn't make it that far as they go to 1991...
The S-Express video was far better than the song, and I took the time to watch the video In full on youtube, but does anyone have this full TOTP show, with extended playout, as I expect that TOTP played much more of this playout when originally aired in 1989 by BBC1?
DeleteYay, Double Trouble and the Rebel MC with their best collaboration, non-existent double bass and all! "Is he a Yankee? Naw, Ah'm a Lahndanah!" Proudly British rap, catchy as hell, but they never really followed it up as far as I recall.
ReplyDeleteEver-modest Cher with the second alternate video in a matter of weeks, maybe Sacha Baron Cohen was watching and taking notes with the original? Actually her Diane Warren-penned tunes were pretty decent, La Warren upping her game to work with the legend, though I always remember the cruel pisstake of Cher on South Park unfortunately.
Ah, see, Name and Number wasn't a De La Soul original, they were singing a cover of the Curios' comeback, somewhat bizarrely. It's funk lite, wine bar soul, all those things, I suppose answer machines were a novelty back then (but had been around since the 1950s).
Billy Joel gets out his almanac, flips through the pages, et voila he has a hit record. He got some stick for this at the time, but at least he gets the words do rhyme, and it does keep you listening. The UK is mentioned for The Queen, the Profumo affair and The Beatles! It's a lot more innovative than Uptown Girl, that's for sure.
Was anyone else reminded of Peter Kay's impression of someone walking onto a wedding reception dancefloor by Sonia's entrance here? Anyway, the tune, I vaguely remembered it, but only while it was on. She liked her black catsuits, didn't she?
Next week for the Breakers, then Bros with the song that made them fall out for the umpteenth time on their must-see documentary of last year. No wonder this faltered, the lyrics are terrible and it lacks any hook. Bad sign for the Goss Sisters: they didn't show up to the studio, presumably smarting.
Is this the Black Box rerecording yet? And then S'Express with the virus-infested video and apparently sampling the harmonica intro to The Old Grey Whistle Test theme tune.
Bye Steve, you rarely looked as if you ever wanted to be here, but I grudgingly admire your longevity.
THX this is the original Loletta sampling version. The "new" recording was the dungaree performance a few weeks ago but then they went back to an earlier showing.
DeleteThanks. I must admit I was half thinking they would dub the rerecording over the older performances!
DeleteI'm confused! When was this on? When is the repeat?
ReplyDeleteGood Lord, it seems you didn't notice the change in the BBC4 schedule at the last minute. Even the following week's Radio Times is still showing that next Friday (12th June) will have the 5th & 12th October shows, but it's really going to be the 12th & 19th October ones!
DeleteDoesn't look like there's a repeat, Nutty. Only the Jenny and Sybil show's back on at 1 a.m. tonight / tomorrow morning. It's probably on the iPlayer already, though. BBC4 realised they'd got behind schedule and needed to get a shift on to finish 1989 and 1990 TOTP by year end, so they shoehorned Steve Wright's last edition into the schedules at very short notice.
DeleteWho was it that was putting TOTP shows up on here recently for the extended playouts? Might as well put up this whole show as originally aired, so we can also get to see how much of the S-Express video was originally shown on the playout, as well as giving Nutty Big D a chance to see the show he missed on BBC4?
DeleteI think it was also shown because there was no Kermode and Mayo show to put on, they were on holiday last week so there's a knock-on effect. Back to "normal" next week, though.
DeleteThanks - now downloaded from iplayer, although that will vanish in a month unless I can work out how to make a recording from my laptop! But it's typical that the one I miss is the one that isn't repeated!
ReplyDeleteI can upload it
DeleteThanks - will try to record from the iplayer download in the next day or so, which will be handy for the future if I can manage it! If I fail, I'll let you know if I need your kind offer of a download that won't expire!
DeleteAnonymous is the one who puts up the extended playouts - but only if he's got the original archive edition.
ReplyDeleteNo orig version avalible to me
DeleteWith trial and error, plus some internet research, I now know what I can and can't do with my existing equipment - although I can send an old analogue TV signal from a VHS machine through the aerial to the TV, I can record from the TV onto a digital recorder. However, sending from my pc through the HD lead to the TV, the recorder (which has no HD input) doesn't record. So if this can be downloaded so that I can keep it on my pc (and back up the file) without it expring that would be great!
DeleteThe best way is if someone can put up on here by WeTransfer the original clean copy played in 1989, and not the one with the BBC4 logo in the corner of the screen, then you can upload it onto your PC to keep it permanently. However, you need to download it within 7 days, as this is when it disappears from WeTransfer.
DeleteIs Neil B still around? I recall he used to put up the TOTPs that were not shown by BBC4 because of yewtreed presenters.
DeleteYes Dory. He's on Popscene but never comes on this forum.
DeleteHad to resort to Iplayer for some of this as the recording started halfway through.
ReplyDeleteRebel MC - another dance track that is acceptable
Cher - Another track our band play. I was sure that this was the video with the scant clothing, so had a look on youtube. The video on TOTP was heavily edited. Spoilsports...
Curiosity - sorry, still dull
Billy Joel - slightly longer run of the video. Love the period pieces...
Sonia - pleasant enough. As I have said recently, PWL running out of steam...
Breakers:
Living in a box - no living in a box (the song)...
Belinda - I like this one. Hope for longer version next week...
Milli Vanilli - I do not remember this at all. Mind you, not surprised. Drums sound like they were generated by a Casio.
Bros - better than their recent efforts, but still a good selection (box) for Pointless..
Sexpress - I thought the colour control had gone on the TV...
So October arrives a week earlier than scheduled and we say goodbye to the most annoying DJ ever to grace the TOTP studio. Along with a rather more hip and trendy Jakki Brambles (whose lunchtime R1 show was very good).
ReplyDeleteFirst up let's get WICKED with Rebel MC going all "Street Tuff" with his mates causing Double Trouble. Looks like they've all been down Peckham market and seen Del Boy has kitted them out in the latest gear! Let's be honest, the song is not a classic, but it's fun, great to sing and dance to and I loved it in 89. I do remember this on the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party with Pip Schofield later in the year.
Cher on a Ship!
All aboard sailor for Rock Cher, my my that's a big weapon between your legs. “If I Could Turn Back Time” is one of her best tunes. Very 80s power ballad though.
Curiosity still haven't killed the Cat. “Name & Number” has a catchy chorus and nothing else. The rest of it struggles to hold a tune. What I really want to know though is how many people recorded this chorus onto their answer phones!
A bit more of the rather fabulous Billy Joel video next.
We certainly “Can’t Forget You” Sonia but we can easily forget this song, and I had done. Clearly meant to be a one-hit wonder as SAW have given her the dregs of their tunes for the follow up.
She's dragging all 4ft of her onto the PWL "Miming" tour bus this month. Kylie is the headline on the Coca-Cola "Hitman" Roadshow, but you also get Big Fun and Jonny O!
Breakers:
Living In A Box – A slow burner here as “Room In Your Heart” creeps onto every radio station in the land and becomes a big hit. It's OK but never been a real fave of mine.
Belinda Carlisle – Love Love Love this tune “Leave A Light On” made me a real BC fan. Great pop tunes and the album "Runaway Horses" is well worth checking out.
Milli Vanilli can only afford a yacht, come on Cher, lend em a sailor or two, and maybe a tune? “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” lacks any kind of punch and is probably their weakest offering.
Bros dive into the “Chocolate Box” to mourn the end of their careers with this atrocious record.
Black Box and Technotronic make it a top 2 of "fake" singers. With the old Vanilli that's 3 inside the Top 30. “Ride On Time” for this bubble to burst me thinks.
TOTP do like S’Express don't they. Is “Mantra For A State Of Mind” the only video filmed doing the weekly shop? Tune has grown on me a bit...
So long then Wrighty…..I'll Be Back (as Arnee and the Terminators) in 1990!
I believe Arnee and co was Richard Easter, Steve's sidekick at the time, rather than Steve himself - it wasn't another I'm Alright.
DeleteI’m gonna miss Wrighty. However, Jakki is just wonderful as a presenter and I love her giggle right at the end.
ReplyDeleteRebel MC and Double Trouble (who?) – Street Tuff – With a title like street tuff (whatever that is) this was never gonna last long before I hit FF, and sure enough…
Cher – if I could turn back time – In the days before she uttered those words ‘Can you hear the drums….’ Cher was mightily sexy and could belt out a piece of melodic AOR (this one written by Diane Warren) to great effect and this is one of her very best (along with ‘I found someone’). Not so struck on the military setting for the video, but if you ignore the guns and focus on the lady its ok.
Curiosity killed the Cat – Name and number – Got no higher despite this appearance. Say no more.
Billy Joel – We didn’t start the fire – Who did then?
Sonia – Can’t forget you – I love this catchy song and the tight trouser outfit looks great. Sonia seems like a nice bubbly personality too as echoed by Steve. For me her “the greatest gift they’ll get this year is life” line is the highlight of the ‘Do they know it’s Christmas’ no1 that we’ll be seeing soon.
Breakers – All three are absolute STONKERS and I’ll save comments for another time. Best three breakers in a long time.
Bros – Chocolate Box – Feels like the one left over when everyone’s gobbled up the almond whirls and strawberry surprises. Another ’straight in in top ten then rapidly goes down’ effort that suggests the diehards were buying on release and then nobody else was interested.
Black Box and S’Express I’m not even going to bother commenting on again as I have said all I want to say already. Another week of BB to go zzzzzzz
Hi xrayfour, if you're still out there! Hope you're alright, mate, as I notice you've not been on for over a month. I posted this request several weeks back and you didn't answer. Have you got any parts of the following shows? They are 3/04/75, 17/07/75 and 19/02/76. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteAt last. The end of an arsehole. I’ve lost count of how many competent and, dare I say, more photogenic and fashion-conscious hosts have come and gone, a good number despatched way too quickly, yet we’ve suffered Nodding Dog and his substandard efforts for a decade. Tonight he treats us to a fake ponytail as well. If only Jakki had lasted as long – she took to this like a duck to orange.
ReplyDeleteRebel MC and the crew get kitted out for the evening. I enjoyed this compared to many of its genre recently. It had a certain ‘giddy up’ energy about it.
Cher astride a large turret. Not for the first time either, I wager. A very well put together tune finely sung. There were still glimpses of Cher’s notorious Flying V costume in the video, so why bother censoring it? Even Jakki made mention of the, erm, clothing. First Aerosmith, now this.
Early mugshots: Oo, The Wedding Present!
Next act. Name – dickhead. Number – 0 out of 10.
Bily Joel with an overtly political song but handled in a subtle way somehow. This song got used in American school syllabuses for history at one stage. The backdrop took me back to my childhood. All that was missing was a Spacehopper. Nice turkey / coffin opening camera skit there.
“Sorry, Sonia, we can’t even afford one dancer for you this week”. Stingey Pete Waterman! I forgot Sonia’s effort before it had finished. Note the orange blotch marks on the camera caused by the intensity of the stage lighting. I don’t know about Sonia’s all-in-one, but I watched that Peter Crouch effort on the BBC last night and he was accompanied by a former Radio 1 DJ called Maya Jama, who looks like Liz Bonnin’s hotter younger sister, and she wore a denim one-piece. Very nicely, I may add.
Living In A Box with an arty, moody and yet empty video for a rather good ballad. Boxing clever.
Belinda Carlisle looking alluring as ever, in a serious yet palatable video for a decent number which has a George Harrison style guitar bridge if I remember correctly.
Milli Vanilli with a posey, poncey video for a right dirge. Did this make number 2? Seriously?
Bros ‘treat’ us to one of those songs where the title isn’t actually in the song (“Chocolate in a box” indeed). Obviously the coffee creme no-one wants. Blimey, that was dreadful.
I didn’t realise until very recently it was Heather Small who re-did the vocals on “Ride On Time”. No wonder I hated it. Can’t stand her voice. My idea of musical Hell would be getting stuck in a lift (elevator?) with a tape loop of M People and Lighthouse Family.
Mind you, if you think we’re fed up with weeks of Black Box at the summit and months of Jive Bunny still to come, imagine the excitement when Bryan Adams or Wet Wet Wet take out a mortgage on the top spot.
S’Express rework the “Old Grey Whistle Test” theme but didn’t hoover up enough sales. See what I did there? I’ll miss their 6 foot 2 siren.
Finally. Nodding dog is finally no longer “over there”. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
You'll be interested to know that Milli Vanilli actually went one place further with this in America to No.1 at around the same time at the back end of September 1989, staying there for two weeks.
DeleteIn fact they had a total of three No.1's in America in 1989, with Baby Don't Forget My Number, one week at No.1 in July; Girl I'm Gonna Miss You, with two weeks at No.1 in September; and Blame It on The Rain, with two weeks at No.1 in November; so 1989 was huge for Milli Vanilli in America, more so than in Europe where they came from.
Yep Arthur. George did play guitar on 'Leave a Light on'. He also played on the track 'Deep Deep Ocean' from the excellent 'Runaway Horses' album.
DeleteNow Bonnie Pointer of The Pointer Sisters has died (aged 69). Suggestion: play Heaven Must Have Sent You as a tribute.
ReplyDeleteSad to hear. Slow hand was my favourite Pointer Sisters tune, and certainly their first hit in Britain, reaching No.11 in 1981. One of the greatest love songs of all time, in an age where ballads were at their prime:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbk29JZdl5A
Forgot to mention, I think it is Bonnie Pointer on lead vocals on the Slow Hand video. If it is, then even more tribute to her beautiful voice.
DeleteOr is it Anita Pointer on lead vocals. Not quite sure.
DeleteBonnie Pointer had left The Pointer Sisters by the time of their 80s hits, for a solo career that did OK.
DeleteOk, RIP, just pleased that Anita Pointer is still with us, cos her vocals are the best of the Sisters. I'm going by the Slow Hand ballad lead vocals
Deletei'm not saying that steve priest was necessarily deserving of his death being announced on the main page of wiki, but surely he was more familiar to many arounmd the world than the likes of manuel felguerez, kurt thomas, george murry, marcello abbado and mohsen ibrahim (none of whom i've ever heard of)? tony dunne may ring a faint bell with some of us old enough to remember, but if one were asked to name the 1968 man utd european cup-winning team then how many would remember his? i could probably have guessed 5 or 6, but he certainly wouldn't have been one of them!
ReplyDeleteTony Dunne, an unsung hero, the bassist of the team - and I don't like Man U! (my team are punching well above their weight in the playoff zone in the 'second division'!)
DeleteKurt Thomas was a cult legend for starring in Gymkata! "The thrill of gymnastics, the kill of karate!"
DeleteI recall collecting Tony Dunne along with the other 'Man U' Soccer Stars in the early 70s..... from memory...Willie Morgan, Bobby Charlton, John Fitzpatrick, Alex Stepney, George Best, Dennis Law, Bill Foulkes, Nobby Stiles, Brian Kidd, Martin Buchan, Pat Crerand.... I loved Soccer Stars....everyone at school collected them...in fact I still have the well thumbed albums in the loft.
DeleteThere wasn't much for me to enjoy here, other than waving goodbye to Steve Wright.
ReplyDeleteDouble Trouble / Rebel MC - The 2 songs that book-ended the show are the only ones I really like. I maybe have a bit less time for this now, but it's still good fun. Double Trouble & Rebel MC would both have hits under their own steam the following year but were never as successful when apart.
Cher - Nothing wrong with it, just not my sort of song.
Curiosity - Why have an answering machine prop if it's not going to start at the appropriate point in the song? The song is really nothing special, I prefer what De La Soul did with it.
Sonia - Awful.
Bros - Probably the worst single they ever released. At least 'I Quit' was amusing.
Nice to see the S'Express video as I don't recall ever having seen it at the time.
Forgot about Billy Joel but then I've always found that song vastly over-rated!
DeleteBuddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia, Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel Is A No-Go.....
DeleteU2, Syngman Rhee, Payola And Kennedy, Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians In The Congo.....
We Didn't Start The Fire, It Was Always Burning, Since The World's Been Turning........
Amusingly, there are bands called Monkey Mafia and Space Monkey Mafia...
DeleteGood Lord, didn't know that!
DeleteBe aware! Both of this week's shows have only got one showing on Friday night. No repeat for either on Saturday.
ReplyDelete