You set my lips on fire, you won the key to my heart, and I can't get enough of the 26th of January 1990 edition of Top of the Pops!
Top of the (arm) pits
26-1-90: Presenters: Simon Mayo & Jakki Brambles
(24) YELL! – Instant Replay
Getting the show underway with their studio debut, but this Dan Hartman cover was the duo's only hit and it made number 10.
(18) PUBLIC ENEMY – Welcome To The Terrordome (video)
Peaked at number 18.
(23) DEL AMITRI – Nothing Ever Happens
In the studio to perform what became their biggest hit when it peaked at number 11.
(9) F.P.I. PROJECT feat. SHARON DEE CLARKE – Going Back To My Roots
Third time on the show but the song was now at its peak.
(31) AND WHY NOT? – The Face (video) (Breaker)
Their biggest hit and it peaked at number 13.
(32) LONNIE GORDON – Happenin’ All Over Again (video) (Breaker)
Her only top ten hit and it peaked at number 4.
(27) QUINCY JONES feat. RAY CHARLES & CHAKA KHAN – I’ll Be Good To You (video)
Peaked at number 21.
(26) PHIL COLLINS – I Wish It Would Rain Down
In the studio with what looks like his great grandad on guitar and the song peaked at number 7.
(12) ADAMSKI – N-R-G
Making his studio debut but this energetic tune got no higher.
(3) SINEAD O’CONNOR – Nothing Compares 2 U
Looking all serious and moody in the studio with the song that will be number one next week.
(1) KYLIE MINOGUE – Tears On My Pillow (video)
First and only week at number one.
(19) GINO LATINO – Welcome (video) (and credits)
His only hit and it peaked at number 17.
February 2nd is next.
A Friday TOTP, with the show displaced from its normal slot by the Auckland Commonwealth Games, and an extra few minutes long to boot - I think this must be the first regular show since 1985 to have had a slot that exceeded 30 minutes. Jakki and Mayo, his eyes now seemingly recovered, are our hosts - what happened to Mark Goodier, who we were promised the week before? This was actually the last TOTP to have two presenters until the Year Zero revamp late in 1991.
ReplyDeleteRemarkably, there are two classics in this show, though the opening track is not one of them! Simon Cowell was involved in Yell's brief rise to pop stardom, but it would be hard to argue that they add much to this disco classic - the jackets they are wearing make them look like camp naval officers. Public Enemy next, one of the totemic rap outfits, but this sort of thing is really not for me. The video suggests that those big clock medallions that rappers wore were starting to get a bit out of hand...
We then come to classic number 1, a fantastic little piece of social commentary from a sedentary Del Amitri. Great tune, great lyrics, and I love the way the accordion joins in part way through. The breakers will be on again, and so on to Quincy, Chaka and Ray, with an offering that proves that, no matter how distinguished the talent involved, it counts for nothing if you don't have a decent song. Ray looks like he is having some sort of fit on that bench, or perhaps he was just desperate for the loo.
After Jakki informs us that Clapton played on the Phil Collins song, Phil tries to make up for Slowhand's absence from the studio by deploying a lookalike guitarist. Inevitably, however, the eye is drawn more to that luxuriantly bearded bass player, who I have a vague feeling we may have seen before. Not a bad effort from Phil, this one, with quite a strong gospel-influenced chorus. The weather reference reminds me that this show went out 24 hours after the Burns Day Storm ravaged Britain, killing more than twice as many people as the Great Storm because it struck during the day; I remember watching the roof of my school hut blowing off while it raged.
Adamski makes his studio debut, and he and his rasta mate give it plenty of energy - it's the kind of record which I am sure would sound much better in a club than on TOTP. Classic number 2 next, as Sinead delivers a sadly truncated performance of her enduring Prince cover, complete with excerpt from the video. Unlike some mega-hits, this has not been played to death, and it still sounds very affecting. More Italo House to close, but this is not the most memorable example of the genre, either aurally or visually.
That's the way Ray Charles always moved when performing, he was used to jerking around at his piano, so he did the same without it here.
DeleteI knew Ray used to do the same kind of thing at the piano, it just looked more pronounced and eccentric when he didn't have it in front of him!
DeleteMaybe Quincy should have given Ray a keytar for the video.
Delete*gets a faraway look in the eye thinking about Rashida Jones*
DeleteI found Adamski's take on his appearance on this show quite interesting on The Story Of 1990, where he said that on this particular debut appearance on TOTP where there were two girls on stage with him, it was not his choice, and that he was forced to have them on stage by TOTP, whereas he only wanted his sidekick ragga male performer who was actually his flatmate and part of the Adamski set up, not the two girls.
It goes to explain how many of the studio performers from the late 80s era onwards had extras which did look unusual, but this interference by TOTP was never touched on by anyone, and it took Adamski to set the score straight with the viewers, so kudos to him, and TOTP should have been upfront with their viewers to say at the start of each show, that many dancers on stage are not part of the pop group, and that the pop group has no say in the matter!
But that had been the case since the days of the Go-Jos in the 1960s, it was nothing new. Remember Orange Juice a few years ago bristling at the dancers ripping up pieces of paper to accompany Rip It Up? Prime example.
Deletedidnt watch but i notice its been posted on popscene that the show goes straight from del amitri to breaker clips, which also have lonnie gordon + juicy by wrecks n effect before and why not instead of after, so just a pointer for angelo to edit this post
ReplyDeletealso here to request archive files of 04/08/88 25/08/88 22/12/88 and 31/08/89 from anonymous in case they missed previous reply, though fair enough if these either are unavailable or can't be shared but thanks in addvance anyway
Here they are sorry missed first message
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-2xrFLd4jP8
thqnks very much pal, i see 31/08 file was still in mono after the point where it switched on repeat so guessing these newer ones you have are all mixed down to that regardless of what is on the digitised master in full quality. would think that the first 8 mins of that ep and 01/06 in full are the only ones completely missing their stereo soundtrack then
Deletealso would like to request archive files of 30/08/88 30/03/89 and 11/05/89, all got repeated of course but those leftovers on the live show files are strange but interesting to see, so probably is some on those as well, cheers
*30/06/88 i mean
Deletehere they are https://we.tl/t-pyCeEfOAyC
Deletejust trying to get blog account set up in case of any future reqs from me
DeleteYell!, apparently the answer to the question "Which band makes Big Fun look like Motorhead?" with a hit that unsurprisingly didn't lead to a big chart career. OK for dancing round your handbag to, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThen in one of those crunching gear changes TOTP was famous for, we go right into Public Enemy, who couldn't be bothered filming a video so got some bloke with an editing suite to throw something together (Spike busy?). Anyway, not as hooky as some of their tracks, but the sheer macho bluster of Chuck D makes up for a lot, as ever.
The crunching gear changes continue with Del Amitri expressing horror that anyone would enjoy a chat show. Found this really dull and aloof at the time, and the years have not been kind, it's all very adolescent in its sneering at the squares, like 6th form poetry set to music. I'd imagine Rik from the Young Ones would be enraptured.
FPI again?! Did TOTP have shares in this lot? After the Breakers, Quincy has bought some new toys for his studio that he's dead keen to show off, so we get this heavily overproduced number. Still, it's nice to hear Ray and Chaka duetting, even if they probably weren't recording in the same room. It's no Self Preservation Society, mind.
Phil Collins tries to fool us that Eric Clapton has shown up to mime by casting a looky-likey and placing him in the shadowy part of the stage. Nobody's convinced. As for the song, something about pissing down and about as entertaining. Seems to last ten minutes longer than it actually does.
Adamski farts in Phil's general direction, or that's what it sounds like with that synth bassline, as his flatmate (thanks, Story of!) throws shapes in the foreground. Despite his moaning in the recent interview, Ad looks to be really enjoying himself, which puts him one up on Phil Collins. But it's the next hit we're waiting for.
Sinead, with a nice, delicate rendition of a nice, delicate song, but I've heard this too many times for it to have any effect anymore, plus her antics over the years since are far more worrying than amusing, so she's not much fun to watch.
One thing we can tell about The Delinquents from the video: Kylie wears a very bad blonde wig in it. And cries for most of it. I do recall some fuss about her topless scene giving the movie a 15 rating, thus denying her legion of kid fans a chance to watch her in action, so to speak.
Gino Latino, just a wild guess, was he Italian? Pretty much par for the course for the genre, nothing special.
Thankfully, Gino Latino isn't some bloke from an English suburb using a pretend name, the artist in question being Rome-born Lorenzo Cherubini. His name makes me feel hungry for some of that Gino Ginelli ice cream you can't get any more!
DeleteI remember the Gino Ginelli adverts as being really naff, as was the jingle.
DeleteAnother thing about Gino - you can tell he's Continental by the weird Italian approximation of US rap he uses that sounds like it's from 1983.
DeleteThere's a Doctor Who story "Horror Of Fang Rock" in which Leela is temporarily blinded when she sees a spaceship explode and then her eyes change colour. Looking at these two episodes back to back it seems Sinead had a similar experience.
ReplyDeleteThat was the one set on a Lighthouse where most of the cast get killed by the nasty Rutan climbing up the side of it. The Rutan itself looked like a giant green jellyfish.
Delete"Horror of Fang Rock"! That was the "Doctor Who" episode shown on syndicated telly in the USA in 1987 which got interrupted by someone who knew how to intercept and override the station's signal and interrupted the episode for 90 seconds as a Max Headroom impersonator who finishes the pirate link with his arse being hit by a flyswatter!
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking
Blimey. I vaguely remember that Arthur! Was a bit of a hoo ha in the states and the perps to this day still haven’t been identified.
DeleteBritain got there first in the TV piracy stakes when Vrillion of Ashtar Galactic Command interrupted the early evening news on Southern. Again, nobody knows who did it!
DeleteIt's quite interesting that Phil Collins decided not to refuse an invitation to appear in the TOTP studio, considering that at the start of 1990 the high-energy dance music that appeared to blow away the previous family-show type of groups that performed in the TOTP studio in the 70s and 80s, had clearly not left a proper band in sight on TOTP.
ReplyDeleteThe previous genre were now sent packing, and only the likes of Collins, Elton John, and later Meat Loaf in 1993-1995 t name but a few, could be bothered to march on in the face of the new generation's barrage of noise, and were like finding a needle in a haystack.
A largely painful half hour (cut short by FFs) although Jakki was good value for money as always.
ReplyDeleteYell – Instant Replay – Pointless cover.
Public Enemy – Welcome to the Terrordome + presumably a pun on ‘Pleasuredome’ (which I didn’t particularly like) either… FF
Del Amitri – Nothing ever happens – One of the better moments, vaguely folky but doesn’t really stick in the mind despite the ‘brilliant new entry’ claim.
FPI Project – Going back to my Roots – Presumably this lot were always on hand to pop in the studio? I can’t think of any other reason to have it on again.
Breakers – None made any impressions whatsoever; Lonnie Gordon reached no4 with that???
Quincy and Friends – I’ll be good to you – Stick to production Quincy old chum.
Phil Collins – I wish it would Rain down – A-ha one of the best songs on tonight. ‘Great Grandad’ (who looks like one of Z-Z-Top) is Lee Sklar, a much celebrated session guitarist who has played on so many songs and albums…one example that springs to mind is Rita Coolidge’s ‘We’re all alone’. Lee was Phil’s tour bass player for many years. What amused me was that Eric Clapton being on guitar was mentioned….and then we got Daryl Stuermer! (who played guitar for Genesis and Phil, and even co-wrote a few of Phil’s album tracks). Finally Phil’s drums are being played by….somebody else. Anyway, despite all this, I enjoyed it very much.
Adamski – N-R-G – Ah… Mr Lucozade is back in the studio with this pretty non-descript piece of noise.
Sinead O’Connor – Nothing compares 2 U – The big highlight of early 1990 to me. Love the chord changes, love the way she stops singing and lets the instrumental kick in…just a great record.
Kylie Minogue – Tears on my Pillow – One week at no1, the same as Johnny Nash in 1975 with his song of the same name. Strictly speaking however, if you look at the label of the record it is called ‘Tears on my Pillow (I can’t take it)’. We didn’t see Johnny at the start of this repeat run as we started in 1976, and I don’t think any of the ToTP’s exist where Johnny performed the song except for this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnLZTy2PS1E
Gino Latino – Welcome – Au revoir!
Just to pick up on Rita Coolidge and Lee Sklar....he also played bass on this (from the same album 'Anytime...Anywhere' as 'We're all Alone') which Rita turned up in the ToTP studio to promote, and we saw a few years ago on the repeat runs. Well worth a look, even though Lee doesn't appear to be there! Dig that bass....
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78WIlCQVXgg
Shocking to think that ‘Great Grandad’ Leland Sklar was only 42 at the time of this performance!
DeleteGet Ready for take off. Its a Friday night TOTP with Des Lynam.. sorry breakfast crew members Simon and Jakki. We hope you have a pleasant flight.
ReplyDeleteLadies and gentlemen this is your pilot speaking.....it's the camp captains of pop, Yell with their take on "Instant Reply". Don't think they'll be playing this on Absolute 90s anytime soon but it's a bop.
Taking a journey into sound it's more (c)rap music with Public Enemy. We will hear much more of that "here the drummer get wicked" sample
The countdown has had an update. .I like it.
Let's hope "nothing ever happens" during the flight. Apart from some seriously bad miming from Mr Amitri. Great song. Perfect for a sing a long, a well deserved hit.
Time for snacks (maybe a BREAKersAWAY)
Lonnie up first. Fabulous dance tune. Love this.
Wrecks N Effect. Well one of them performing to an audience of at least 2 disinterested people.
Gurning through their only hit? And Why Not? Sounds decent enough if a little forgettable.
A THIRD appearance for a wonderful tune from FBI and Miss Clarke.
I've decided I don't want to be a Pilot, gonna be a TV cameraman instead.
Quincy, Ray and Chaka (not a firm of solicitors) make a middle of the road American airplay favourite. Not a surprise it wasn't a big hit here. Best grab a warm blanket for a snooze...
Collins and Clapton (not a firm of estate agents) wishing it would rain down. Best put the wipers on for this tune that screams classic but is just average.
Beep Beep. Please fasten your seat belt when seated. It's Adamski and some dancers. Better than the video...
Heading for runway number one its Sinead. Quite a short runway at that as she gets cut off short.
Wake up sir we've nearly landed, are those tears on your pillow? I now feel like I've seen The Delinquents movie. Cheers Kylie.
Gino Latino says welcome to your destination. We hope you've had a pleasant flight. Not a particularly worthy tune.
Now that was more like it. PE aside an excellent show.
Happy Landings.
Unbelievably it was actually the FOURTH appearance for FBI. Twice as an instrumental and now twice with Sharon Dee Clarke. It's grown on me!
DeleteA flight of fancy there by Morgie. All we needed was "Sky High" by Jigsaw for fulle effect!
DeleteA pity Gary Numan or Bruce Dickinson weren't on the show!
DeleteI'm thinking of Typically Tropical's No1 when I see the phrase 'pleasant flight'!
DeleteThere was a 90s Yell type cover of "Sky High" by a lad called Newton.
DeleteHad 3 goes at the Top 40 in 94/95/96 but never got higher than number 58.
He eventually hit the Top 40 in 1997 with a different song and then vanished without trace.
So Newton didn't live apple-y ever after? Maybe he didn't understand the gravity of the situation.
DeleteBoom boom tish!
DeleteHi Anonymous! This week I'm on to request some original archive shows that BBC4 cut links to Smithy out of or didn't show at all. They are 21/02/85, 17/10/85 (both links to Smithy), 23/01/86 (full Smithy show) and 6/11/86 (Smithy link) Cheers!
ReplyDeletebrie, here they all are
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-dGx0xoiKcL
Brilliant stuff, mate! Didn't think you'd have any of these. Have you acquired a new batch of 80s shows? I've still got plenty to ask for between '82 and '83, plus '85-'88. Many thanks again!
DeleteHi Anon and Brie.Do either of you have original archive copies of 22.03.79,25.01.79 and 21.06.79?
Deletebrie, yes new batch recently. Glenn, here they are
Deletehttps://we.tl/t-XRGVa1TxgB
Great news, mate! You can't be far short of having them all now? Appreciate all the uploads!
DeleteThanks Anon!Most grateful.
DeleteHmm, did Goodiebags have eye problems this time? Si getting very up and personal early doors with Jakki, who seemed more serious than usual in this show.
ReplyDeleteYell? Squeak, more like. I don’t want an instant replay of this.
Dear God, not that “This is a journey into sound” clip again. Public Enemy with self-importance over substance. “Terrordome”? Terrible.
Oo! New fall-into-place mugshot graphics!
The underrated Del Amitri with an excellent waltz-time piece of social comment, staged like an old light entertainment show with all those stools. Love this, though how they avoided an Orbital-style ban for the bass not being plugged in escapes me.
Lonnie Gordon as Soul Kylie. Love this, bought it.
Wrecks ‘N’ Effect with the first of two remakes of songs unknown here but big in the States. This is a pointless cobble together of “Juicy Fruit” by Ntume, which only peaked at number 45 in the USA in 1983 but sold consistently enough to ship a million copies.
And Why Not? with a faceless track which never really got going. Top gurning there, last seen in “Star Turn On 45 Pints”.
FPI Project again? Where are Jesse Green or Showaddywaddy when you need them?
Second pointless rehash of a US hit next, “I’ll Be Good To You” making number 3 in 1976 for The Brothers Johnson, known over here for “Stomp”.
First ‘out of hours’ (OOH) clip on the show with tribute guitarist Eric Clapham. As for Phil’s dirge, rain stopped play. Si tries to pretend Phil’s in the studio for the outro. We’re not fooled.
Old blue hair and X head tattoo from “The Story” first appears in 1990 as Acid Homepride Man with a right old racket.
Second OOH of the show but much better, Sinead giving a faultless performance which somehow jars with her future self.
Kylieoke at the top but at least it’s better than KNOB.
We finish with continental rap almost as bad as those mulleted Dutch blokes who killed “Holiday” and “Summer Holiday” in the same song. Well done BBC for the thankfully brief clip.
I knew that Quincy Jones track was a cover, but couldn't place it. Thanks for being our Google, Arthur!
Deletewho produced the brothers johnson's "i'll be good to you" over a decade earlier? none other than quincy jones! their debut album (look out for #1" - i had no idea what that meant at the time. also given there were two of them, it still doesn't really make sense) had some excellent tracks on it (including an interesting cover of "come together"). but this was not one of them in my view
DeleteAll cover versions or samples this week...
ReplyDeleteYell - and yet another cover version. As in the last show, I liked the original, and this is a fairly straight clone..
Public Enemy - obviously recall this well, but it is nothing different to all the other rap tracks knocking around at the time
Del amitri - another track that I recall well, and I don’t remember liking it as much as I did here.
Breakers
Lonnie Gordon - standard SAW
Wrecks n effects - even by rap standards this is awful
And why not - level 42 lite
Pfi project - haven’t heard a cover for a while... Managed to slaughter this one
Quincy jones - oh, wait, could it be? Surely not? Another cover? Bless me. It would have been quite good if it hadn’t had the dustbin lid drum beat.
Phil Collins - comes to something when this is the best thing so far. Eric playing standard guitar solo #2 and again that biff biff drumbeat. Could no one keep beat in those days? Surprised Pink Floyd didn’t sue - sounded a bit like one of theirs but I couldn’t quite bring the title to mind
Adamski - didn’t improve with hearing more than last weeks run out
Sinead - still gives me goose pimples
Kylie - interesting that they haven’t mentioned the Johnny Nash version either week.
Gino Latino - EJECT
The pink Floyd track I suspect your thinking of is the similarly monikered “wish you were here”.
DeleteThe PFI Project - just what the NHS needs!
DeleteLeetree - ah possibly. Clue in the title :-)
DeleteYou were right tho Charlie. The name and the song were uncannily similar. Good ol Phil always liked a bit of plagiarism.
DeleteThe Johnny Nash Tears On My Pillow was a completely different song - Kylie's was a cover of an old 50s record by Little Anthony and the Imperials.
DeleteJohn G - Ooh, so it is. My bad.
DeleteYes, I somehow can't imagine Johnny Cash singing the same that Kylie song.
DeleteSorry, that should have read Mtume with the US hit "Juicy Fruit". I pisspronounced my worms!
ReplyDeletethere was an early case of a "response" record to that, in the form of the equally-excellent "sugar free" by juicy. sadly that also failed to trouble the uk chart compilers
DeleteIt looks like Yell! released two more singles which both stalled just outside the top 75. They were managed by Keith Chegwin's twin brother Jeff!
ReplyDeleteI believe they murdered "Let's Go Round Again" also
DeleteIndeed. That was their third single, which unofficially peaked three places outside the top 75.
DeleteMe again! My bad, I had a look and had forgotten that "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume actually charted higher than in the States, spening five weeks in the top 40 in 1983 and peaking at 34. Didn't sell a million over here, though!
ReplyDeleteDid Sinead just get a 27 place climb in one week? Impressive stuff if so. It's weird how forgotten 'Tears in My Pillow' has become in the Kylie back catalogue, given it made number 1. I guess it's a cover and not her danciest moment but I still have a soft spot for it.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a dad comment given I'm a) a woman and b) was 10 at the time, but I didn't realise at the time just how samey all the dance records sounded when you heard them all in such quick succession. I knew 1990 would be less diverse than 1989 in terms of genre etc, but I'd forgotten how quickly that happened.
Just wait for the Toytown techno later on, where DJs started raiding the kiddies' section of the supermarket VHS shelves for samples. Even The Prodigy did it!
DeleteAnother new forumite, and a woman at that? Welcome, Rad! By the way, Sinead did indeed jump 27 places to number 3.
DeleteI listened to a recent now compilation and got bored with one track, went to skip it, and found it was the third track :-)
DeleteGood to see you joining Rad. Hope you enjoy the comments and observations that arise on this forum.
DeleteOne big chart jump that always sticks in my mind for entirely the wrong reasons is Captain Sensible in June 1982 with 'Happy Talk'. No33....and then No1.
Sharon Dee Clark has since turned her hand to acting and has appeared in a number of Doctor Who episodes including the splendidly titled 'Arachnids In The UK'.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned this on a previous thread but as I'm always commenting so late it must not have been seen. She also had a fairly long stint on Casualty.
DeleteRIP Spencer Davis of the Group named after him.
ReplyDeleteYell - Not a good cover, even some PWL magic couldn't rescue it. The lads then slagged SAW off in the likes of Smash Hits, which obviously did wonders for their career....
ReplyDeletePublic Enemy - As I may have said before, they are my favourite rap act, and this is one of their best though some of the lyrics are...um..problematic now. The 'Hear The Drummer Get Wicked' line we'll be hearing more of later in the repeats....
Del Amitri - A friend of mine at school liked the band so much he grew sideburns like Justin Currie. As you can imagine, this led to an awful lot of piss-taking from the rest of us. I really like this song, and the lyrics still resonate now.
Quincy Jones et al - It sounded pretty dated then and it hasn't improved with age.
Phil Collins - Not as drearily worthy as his previous single therefore not as bad as that, but not exactly thrilling either.
Gino Latino - As this forum's resident Italian House lover, it won't be a shock for you to discover that I loved this, and bought it. I am less keen on it now though!