I could hardly believe it when I heard the news today - it's the 1st of March 1990 edition of Top of the Pops!
Hair raiser
1-3-90: Presenter: Jakki Brambles
(29) SHAKIN’ STEVENS – I Might
Getting the show off to a rock no roll start and this one peaked at number 18.
(10) ROD STEWART – Downtown Train (video)
At its peak.
(27) JAMIE J. MORGAN – Walk On The Wild Side
In the studio giving itall the movesbut this Lou Reed cover got no higher.
(31) INNOCENCE – Natural Thing (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 16.
(32) MARC ALMOND – A Lover Spurned (video) (Breakers)
Went up three more places.
(33) THE B52’S – Love Shack (video) (Breakers)
Became their biggest hit of course when it peaked at number 2.
(34) DAVID A. STEWART feat. CANDY DULFER – Lily Was Here (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 6.
(23) ELECTRIBE 101 – Talking With Myself
In the studio tonight but the song got no higher.
(7) VARIOUS ARTISTS – The Brits 1990 (video)
This compilation of various dance tunes peaked at number 2.
(3) MICHAEL BOLTON – How Am I Supposed To Live Without You
Making his debut in the studio tonight but the song would go no higher.
(1) BEATS INTERNATIONAL feat. LINDY LAYTON – Dub Be Good To Me
A new studio performance to mark their first of four weeks at number one.
(22) J.T. & THE BIG FAMILY – Moments In Soul (video) (and credits)
Their only hit and it peaked at number 7.
March 8th is next.
Jakki was evidently deemed at this point to have passed her TOTP apprenticeship, as she is finally allowed to go solo. It’s another confident and informative turn from her, though she does slip up on the number of weeks Sinead had been at number 1. Had she worn the big parka to the studio because it was windy outside?
ReplyDeleteUnbelievably, Shaky was still reaching the Top 40 into the new decade, and this won’t be the last we see of him either. A very tepid effort, the only thing of interest in relation to it being the resemblance of the bass player to the late Neil Innes. From the old to the new with the beanpole-like Jamie J Morgan, an unappealing performer with an even less appealing baggy-meets-rap makeover of this classic, which in any case sounds denuded without the iconic Herbie Flowers bassline – I’m not sure Lou Reed would be proud, Jakki, though doubtless he enjoyed the royalties!
All the breakers will be on next time, so straight on to Electribe 101 and a pleasant enough offering which nevertheless doesn’t stick long in the mind. Cilla's German cousin certainly stands out from the plain Brummie blokes behind her, but I find her look offputting. I suppose it's quite appropriate to have a medley of dance hits, given that the individual records tended to be cut-and-paste jobs, but this has the feel of smug record industry back-slapping. Jonathan King, of all people, turns up in the video, presumably due to his involvement in the Brits - surprised the BBC4 scissors didn't come out...
Michael Bolton turns up in the studio and strains his way through his song, but he is almost blotted out by the reflected light coming from that enormous glitter ball. Norman celebrates getting to number 1 by matching a garish Brazil jumper with stripy tracksuit bottoms, and we finish with another Italian act. This has quite a nice laid-back sound to it, but never really gets out of first gear, and the video is boring. This is not the last hit single of 1990 that the "ah yeah" sample would feature on.
It seemed that after a 1989 where only the male presenters were allowed to present solo, 1990 opened up the female opportunity to be solo presenter. It's interesting how things run in cycles, where TOTP for about 20 years from 1964 to 1984 was only presented solo as the norm, and now they were going back to basics again.
DeleteDidn't see Jonathan King in the Brits Medley video clip on this show, so where was he?
Oh yes, he is on the end of the clip shown on TOTP with the Eve Of The War bit. Need to see the rest of the video for the nice girls dancing to that segment.
DeleteWas it cold in the studio, Jakki? She looked like one of the Flumps. Anyway, yeah, 1990, rave, Madchester, Shakin' Stevens - Shakin' Stevens?! He was still plugging away with much the same material as his 80s heyday, and even got a fairly respectable Top 20 placing out of this. What can I say? It's Shaky.
ReplyDeleteCovers time, so Rod does Tom, and Jamie does Lou, boy does Jamie do Lou, with a diabolical cover full of the year's most irritating quirks and tropes. He obviously had a very high opinion of himself that was extremely difficult to share. I'm not the biggest Lou Reed fan, but even I'd be moved to commiserate with him over this.
Breakers next episode, so onto Electribe 101, a very pleasant, wistful bit of dance with the same dodgy dress sense as before. Cheeky to include the Mission: Impossible theme in there for no apparent reason. Not bad at all.
That old chart perennial, Various Artists, aka a basic string of hits edited together perfunctorily by Jonathan King. Presumably since the court case fell through they can show him again: he's in the chart rundown pic too. Video? Cheap and camp.
Michael Bolton mimes to his groans and bellows in the studio, and yes that is a combination mullet and ponytail 'do he's sporting. Then Norm gets another No.1, with Lindy looking even more like a teenage girl they took in off the street.
Art of Noise were a very influential act, so that meant it was OK for some Italians to rip them off wholesale, supposedly. Prefer Moments in Love as it was, which was on an advert at the time, though Gary Davies plays it every week on Sounds of the 80s as his bed for The Sloppy Bit.
Jamie J. Morgan's rendition of Walk On The Wild Side in rap form came off very well, and I particularly liked the girl dancing on stage with the silver minidress, the one nearest to him. What a great dancer, best thing on the show!
DeleteI thought Jamie's act of pop murder was easily the worst thing on the show for a while, and I think he missed out the "giving head" line too, the wuss.
DeleteA blatant promotion of the Brit awards/Brit stuff. Not surprised to see Mr King there as he was charged to oversee the 1990 brits to prevent a repeat of the deliciously horrendous previous years show.
ReplyDeleteBut like others, I was surprised to see him there. He’s a BBC persona non grata I thought.
From memory, King complained to the powers that be about being cut out of at least one TOTP and he won. Still makes it headscratching, then, that Dave Lee Travis was completely chopped for a suspended sentence.
DeleteHe won that battle, but once he was arrested over new allegations he started being chopped out again, hence BBC4's refusal to show any of his US chart spots. As THX mentions above, the new case against him collapsed, which may explain why he wasn't airbrushed from this edition.
DeleteWatching the "Police in the East" special with Annie Nightingale repeated on BBC4, there was a segment from the 1979 Awards ceremony where the band won. It was hosted by Sue Lawley & DLT and the footage of DLT was kept in on for last night's BBC4 broadcast.
DeleteI didn't watch that doc, but I saw the first three hours of Annie on BBC4 last night. Shame the first hour of punk and new wave was overrun with Annie's commentary, and some of the new wave acts were questionable, i.e. Japan, Duran Duran and King Crimson (!!!) but I enjoyed the programmes overall.
DeleteI'm hoping to get Annie's book for Christmas, should be an anecdote bonanza.
DeleteI thought the same as you Arthur, the voiceover was unnecessary & I might be right in saying during Soft Cell's performance Annie was doing a literal expression of the lyric (i.e. whistling) LOL! She's a bit of a legend, but personally I prefer the 'At the BBC' programming as the emphasis is on the music with snippets of info on screen. The second "More" prog was infinitely better as a result & had a good mix, though Dr. Feelgood was strangely absent which should've been a shoe-in..
DeleteI thought the first of Annie's programmes was a bit disappointing, too many clips and a Guy Garvey-style voiceover from Annie getting in the way of the music. It's not as if she had much of originality or interest to say anyway, beyond a couple of anecdotes relating to Whistle Test performances she hosted. Otherwise, it was just the usual tired and simplistic "prog bad, punk good" narrative we have been fed by the music cognoscenti for the last four decades - don't you dare diss the mighty Wishbone Ash either, Annie!
DeleteThe second programme was better, in that we got to see full performances and some real obscurities, though Annie's choices ranged from the excellent to the downright awful. It's laughable as well to claim King Crimson had nothing to do with prog - OK, they were musically very eclectic, and did move in a more new wave-y direction in later years, but In the Court of the Crimson King was the album that effectively laid down the prog template! I wonder if BBC4 commissioned these shows to pacify Annie after she was left out of the one-off Whistle Test revival a couple of years back?
i still have annie to thank for playing non-hits and album tracks on her radio one evening/weekend shows that i would otherwise have missed out on by the likes or ian dury, propaganda and nick drake. also: king crimson may not have exactly new wave credentials, but the two early 80's "revival" albums " discipline" and "beat" clearly showed that main man robert fripp had been taking notes of the post-punk movement - and to great effect in my opinion. in the same manner as yes did with "owner of a lonely heart"!
DeleteDidn't realise that 'Police in the East' was being shown and it doesn't appear on iplayer. I do recall that awards ceremony where they went over to the band and did a brief interview where they asked "Did you dream you'd be on tour in the east and then be called to say you'd won the award?" and then Stewart answered deadpan "Yes". I think that is how it went...
DeleteI enjoyed the annie programmes but agree the voice over in part one was annoying - but at least it wasn't the usual TOTP2 clips
DeleteIt's on iPlayer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b011pxlv/the-old-grey-whistle-test-police-in-the-east or search Old Grey Whistle Test.
DeleteThanks Larry! More or less exactly as I remembered it!
DeleteAfter years of suffering Nodding Dog Wright, we finally see a very informative Jakki solo. I wonder where her Lambretta was parked?
ReplyDeleteShaky first with “I Might Get Another Top Twenty Hit”. An ensemble with him on stage for a change, restricting his movements a bit. I don’t remember this song and, though it got repetitive, I enjoyed it more than I expected.
I still think Rod did Tom Waits’s song justice. Talking of trains, wasn’t Rod discovered on a platform at Twickenham railway station?
Early mugshots: Not for the first time tonight, Jakki doesn’t give us all the hit song titles.
Jamie J. Morgan’s crap sounded to me like a template for EMF’s sublime “Unbelievable”. I didn’t realise there were two versions of this song in the UK chart at the same time, and discovered the other was by Beat System and it peaked at number 63.
Is this the first time TOTP predicted four breakers which would all be on the same show next time out?
Uurggh, wipe your face, woman! Innocence with a Soul II Soul meets The Beloved vibe, and nothing wrong with that.
Marc Almond after a woman? The very definition of a fantasy video there.
Jakki mentions the B52’s as kings and queens of Athens, Georgia before the monolith of REM took over the city’s musical crown.
Eurythmics Dave and Dutch Eye Candy with a quite nice uptempo wine bar groove.
Jakki, where was the fourth Brummy in Electribe 101? He wasn’t in the mugshot either. Teutonic Cilla helps us to a neat ambient groove best enjoyed before or after The Beloved – or Innocence, I suppose. Those cameramen onstage (and trying to get off it) weren’t very subtle, were they?
Various Artists with a right old load of shit. I’d have much preferred a deserved re-run for Depeche Mode, or even a return for Adam Ant.
Michael Bolton there, one of five chart stars I can think of with a surname depicting a place who have or had a Football League team – I can think of Lindisfarne’s Alan Hull, BeBop Deluxe’s Bill Nelson (they were in the League from 1921 to 1931), CoCo’s Terry Bradford, and John Leyton. I’m glad Michael mimed – imagine the sound balance levels at the Beeb if he’d done it live! – but fair play, he did turn up to mime to the identikit Whitney ballad backing, complete with the most luxuriant mullet of the re-run thus far.
Urgh, Jonathan King in the top ten mugshots!
I didn’t know Norman Cook was colourblind, He was definitely wardrobe blind by the look of it! Nice band knee drop for that silent bar. Not just thrown together, that.
Jakki escapes to audition for a re-make of “Quadrophenia” and leaves us with another ‘mash up two songs and take the acclaim’ rip-off.
i love the supposed story of a pre-fame rod recording at joe meek's studio (which was literally down the road from rod's home on the archway road), with joe humming and thus drowning out whatever rod sang, before (ironically, given he was tone-deaf) throwing him out as he thought the guy couldn't carry a tune in a bucket!
Deletealso: michael the mullet was not exactly a newcomer to the music industry, having released an eponymously-titled album several years earlier. at which point he was still billed via his actual surname of bolotin
How about Melissa Manchester?
DeleteGood knock, sct353 - Melissa counts by virtue of a single week at number 75 with "The Music of Goodbye"!
DeleteShakin Stevens - typical shakey. Take it or leave it...
ReplyDeleteBreakers
Innocence - bog standard slow dance track
Marc Almond - decent track, but naff video, must of cost nearly £5....
B52s - now we are talking!...
David a stewart - sweet laidback vibes (man)
Brits 1990 - hmmmmm... with all the bits in small bites this was quite fun
(Didn’t remember Elephant Stone re=entering so high)
Jt and big family - didn’t notice the art of noise contribution. Dull
It's about time for Shaky to finally move his trailer out of the TOTP car park. His next three singles stiffed at 60, 59 and 75 respectively, and he's only on the show twice more - Christmas 1990, and a whole 15 years later, when Shaky performed the song which won him an 'old fogies return' pop competition.
ReplyDeleteShaky had a fantastic career with lots of hits.
DeleteThere's a new Shaky compilation box set. It's available to pre-order from Amazon. "Fire in the blood" is the name that they gave to this deluxe mega set!
Shaky compilation? Pass thanks.
DeleteThese shows are so short now that Jakki doesn't even bother to take her jacket off.
ReplyDeleteShaky is back and amazingly this is the follow up to last Mays "Love Attack". Decent enough tune but the 3 follow up singles all miss the Top 40 and the album flops in October.
Rod is obviously travelling British Rail so is still waiting for his train.
Jamie J Morgan makes it to the studio and shows us all he should of stuck to photography. That rap and performance are just so embarrassing. The other version of "Walk On The Wild side" is stuck at number 63 from Beat System (anybody???).
Breakers:
Innocence. Nice tune.
Marc Almond. Start of his big musical ballads phase but this one is not a winner for me.
B52's. Fab tune, Fab video, Fab styles.. Ace!
David A Stewart / Candy Dulfer - Absolutely beautiful record. Was this from a film?
Billie Ray and Electribe 101 are back with some dodgy dance moves to a decent tune. Nice James Bond sample. Enjoyed this one.
I had this Brits Medley. Sorry.
Video looks like they filmed the rehearsal. Hello Johnathan King, Did the scissors miss this bit.
Michael Bolton at number 3 already. He looks all very earnest with it. This is so 1985, even down to the glitterball.
Jakki has joined the Navy...hello Sailor.
Was there no Stone Roses video? Unusual to miss the highest new entry.
New performance from the Beats then JT and the Family give us a very average tune and a daft video.
Ram Jam's 'Black Betty' seems to be getting the cold shoulder too.
DeleteThe original 70s video for Black Betty (famous garden video) was shown a lot on Vintage TV until it closed down a couple of years ago, but I think the now 70s video channel which essentially replaced Vintage TV, does show it every so often:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_2D8Eo15wE
I'm not sure if the new 1990 version in this chart is a remix or a re-release of the original sound, but the above link has always been my go-to-video when a need a fix of this superb tune in my ears.
Just checked out the 1990 remix of Black Betty on YouTube. Total annihilation - hardly any tune to be heard. Dreadful!
DeleteMorgie, to answer a couple of your questions...
ReplyDelete"Lily Was Here" was indeed from a Dutch film called "De Kassière" (The Cashier), about a young woman whose father of her impending child is killed, and she flees the area and becomes involved in a life of crime.
"Elephant Stone" was a re-issue of a single from two years back, and I guess The Stone Roses didn't want to promote what they saw as something from their past and not in tune with their current music.
Thanks Arthur. I don't recall the Stone Roses tune at all but I love "Lily was here".
DeleteThe Stone Roses had very recently got into trouble for expressing their displeasure at the re-issue of 'Sally Cinnamon' so I'm not surprised 'Elephant Stone' came and went as it did. Perhaps the Chart Show featured the old video with Ian in the Jackson Pollock top but I don't remember this being out at all. Pity as it is a great single and would've been a fresh alternative sound on radio and tv at this time even if it was almost two years old. 'Made of Stone' came out around this time too.
DeleteFrom memory, one difference between "Sally Cinnamon" and "Elephant Stone" was that the former was on an old label The Stone Roses had been signed to and re-released as a 'they were on our label too, you know' cash-in. "Elephant Stone" was re-issued by their current record company.
Deletethe most unfortunate "victims" of "previous record company cashing-in" syndrome were probably japan, as having invested in recording three albums with negligable results hansa wanted their snouts in the new romantic trough that the band had been thrown into after they signed for virgin. i personally had no objection when they released post-punk dance tracks like "life in tokyo", "quiet life" and "european son" that would otherwise have died a death (all are classics of the era for me), but pushing an ill-advised stab at a motown cover when the band were currently releasing stuff like "ghosts" was a step too far!
DeleteI quite liked Japan's 'I second that emotion' cover, but perhaps their Lou Reed cover of 'All Tomorrow's Parties' was a 7" release too far.
DeleteAt this point at the beginning of March 1990, on the other side, i.e., The ITV Chart Show, the top ten rundown for the week featured videos not seen on TOTP, namely (10) Adam Ant, (9) Technotronic, (8) The Stone Roses, (7) Guru Josh, (6) Black Box, (2) Michael Bolton:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnpcrxIR_A0
Two good editions this week with 1990's very own colourful quirkiness starting to peak through. I'm anticipating that the March / April repeats will be very enjoyable indeed.
ReplyDeleteJakki goes it alone at last and does the good job you'd expect. She is surrounded by a right motley gang of 'Clothes Show' hopefuls. The guy behind her sporting a hideous coffee coloured splurge of a hoodie, one that would've been very common on a non-uniform day at the time. I tried to hear the music over the sound of it.
Shakin' Stevens, I Might
You still here? Doing the 'This Ole House jerky dance 9 years later. At least it's a bit more restrained than the over the top (desperate) routine when he last appeared. Not bad but the clock is loudly ticking.
Rod Stewart, Downtown Train
It's been nice to get re-acquainted with this one again. Still sounds great. Rod, she's over there!
Jamie J Mor...Oh I can't be bothered. This gets a second feature when 'Enjoy The Silence can only gets one? Not commenting on it then.
Innocence, Natural Thing
Nice tune and voice. Don't know this one at all but good.
Marc Almond, A Lover Spurned
A video to stand out from the rest though im not sure if in a good or bad way. Looks like it's been shot with early '80s video equipment calling to mind the 'Fade To Grey' vid (which scared the bejeezus out of me as a child) but far more approachable and not as good.
The B52s, Love Shack
Now we're talking! Jakki informs us that they are from Athens, Georgia not Athens, Greece. Thanks for that info Jakki. One of three acts from that town that I know about. I was fortunate to see one of them live, the late great Vic Chesnutt on the South Bank. Still love this single and video. The 'Cosmic Thing' album a great burst of sunshine.
David A Stewart feat Candy Dulfer,
Lily Was Here
Another fine blast from the past. This one was certainly everywhere for a time; plugged on tv and radio to a level that suggested that pop star moonlighting to moody effect was something that had never happened before. Saxy! (Sorry)
Electribe 101, Talking With Myself
The things you learn watching this....
This one has grown on me a little. Not as anonymous as it sounded last week and the scary Cilla does possess a certain charisma. Hang on. That voice is very familiar sounding. Very much like someone I can't place. (Checks Wickipedia) Goodness me! It's Billie Rae Martin! Singer of 'Your Loving Arms', one of the dance anthems of '95!
Amazing. Apologies if this fact was discussed on here months ago.
Various Artists, The Brits 1990
I think after the shambles of the previous year there was a concerted effort to give the Brits more credibility in 1990, hence this single. The choice of singles are pretty good, especially 'Voodoo Ray' and it's great to hear a tiny burst of The Beatmasters delirious 'Hey DJ'. The video however. It doesn't get more dated than this.
Michael Bolton, How Am I Supposed To Live Without You
Oh please someone on the set give him an enema. Or an answer to his question. Quickly!!
Beats International, Dub Be Good To Me
So it's made it to No. 1. Great song, some good samples though not much dub to my ears. Ok still. An amiable sound at the top spot before four classics take over.
Jakki signs off telling us to 'batten down the hatches' ah, now was this the other storm that was forecast very soon after the burns day one but which I think turned out to be nothing much.
JT and the Big Family, Moments In Soul
Great, atmospheric single to end on, taking 'Moments In Love' and speeding it up to suit the dreamy 98 bpm trend.
A nice reminder that there was a time when blatant voice manipulation could come from a desire to cast a spell rather than cold contempt. The video rather high in poseur content, the guy extrovertly miming 'Ah Yeah!' a troubling sign of something to come.
I’ve watched ‘em both late this week, so I apologise if some of my points have already been covered.
ReplyDeleteJakki turns up in one of her winter overcoats and must be boiling hot as TV studios usually are. But despite that I really enjoy her style and the show was not too bad tonight.
Shakin’ Stevens – I Might – When I saw Shaky had a new entry in last week’s chart rundown I thought he ‘might’ be in the show next week…sure enough. It’s a bit like a rewind back to those early hits – Hot Dog etc. which is probably not quite what most 1990’s buyers were looking for. But not bad anyway.
Rod Stewart – Downtown Train – Wonderful again! I really liked the B Side as well – The Killing of Georgie Parts 1 & 2. Harking back to the matchless 70s !!
Jamie J Morgan – Walk on the Wild Side – I passed by on the other side… leave well alone!
Breakers – They’re quite good. I won’t go into details, but missed TFF and the excellent ‘Advice for the young at Heart’.
Electribe 101 – Talking with myself – Curiously hypnotic. I quite liked it.
Various Artists – The Brits 1990 – Was this meant to be taken seriously? Mish mash of songs I’d rather not have heard again, and then when the dance version of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds starts up we get what looked like Jonathan King? Surprised they showed him. Can’t imagine the likes of ‘Everyone’s gone to the Moon’ ever getting shown again.
Michael Bolton – How… - Ahhhhh!!!!
Beats International – Dub be good to me – Love this record. Now think Foreigner and their massive ‘I want to know what love is’…watch the video on YT and listen to the keyboard refrain at 0:48 which gets repeated a number of times throughout this masterpiece…
J T and the Big Family – Moments in Soul – Not sure what this was about, but glad it got faded quickly.
Shakin' Stevens - The only thing memorable about this is the record cover designed by the Viz artists.
ReplyDeleteJamie J Morgan - I remember this getting a lot of airplay and publicity but it really doesn't hang together at all and his voice is weak.
Electribe 101 - As I've probably said before, their album 'Electribal Memories' is probably my favourite of all time. I love Billie Ray's voice and it's a crying shame that Universal Music have no interest in a bells and whistles reissue (in fact, nobody knows if the masters even survived the fire) and that the aborted 2nd album has yet to see the light of day.
Various - I remember being quite excited by this medley when it was performed at The Brits but despite my love for dance music was surprised that it was released as a single.