When I'm down on the microphone stand, I give you all the dope lyrics and introduce the 12th of April 1990 edition of Top of the Pops!
Holy cap
12-4-90: Presenter: Mark Goodier
(23) JESUS JONES – Real Real Real
Manking their studio debut and really getting tonight's show underway with what became their first of eight top 40 hits when it peaked at nimber 19.
(18) JANET JACKSON – Escapade (video)
Went up one more place.
(15) TECHNOTRONIC feat. M.C. ERIC – This Beat Is Technotronic
In the studio with their latest version of Pump Up the Jam but this one went up just one more place.
(11) HEART – All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You (video)
Peaked at number 8.
(28) DAVID BOWIE – Fame 90 (video) (Breakers)
Had peaked at number 17 in 1975 but this remix got no higher than 28.
(30) SONIA – Counting Every Minute (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 16.
(31) THE BLUES BROTHERS – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 12.
(7) BIZZ NIZZ – Don’t Miss The Partyline
Went up no higher.
(17) PAULA ABDUL – Opposites Attract (video)
This song about her love affair with a cartoon cat became Paula's second of three top ten hits when it peaked at number 2.
(24) THE CURE – Pictures Of You
In the studio tonight but the song got no higher.
(1) MADONNA – Vogue (video)
First of four weeks at number one.
(26) THE QUIREBOYS – I Don’t Love You Anymore (video) (and credits)
Went up two more places.
April 19th is next.
Best Song: Pictures Of You And Vogue.
ReplyDeleteWorst Song: All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You.
Hi anon, do you happen to have....
ReplyDeleteJust joking! Good episode this with the highlights being the brilliant pictures of you (re release?) Heart and the best one Jesus Jones. Good few years of their stuff to look forward to.
Top trolling. ;-)
DeleteLoved the following tracks on this episode of TOTP,
ReplyDeleteJESUS JONES – Real Real Real.
DAVID BOWIE – Fame 90.
Shame David Bowie wasn't in the studio to perform Fame 90.
THE BLUES BROTHERS – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love.
THE CURE – Pictures Of You.
MADONNA – Vogue.
Lot of new stuff
ReplyDeleteJesus jones: great great great. Don’t remember the drums being so ‘insistent’, but I think that maybe I am getting a complex about the drums from this period. Looking forward to their next release...
Janet Jackson; (all Js so far) wow, a Janet Jackson track I like (although those drums...) vocal line was similar to something - I will need to ponder....
(Why the Blues Brothers reentry from years ago?)
Technotronik - and another one that was ok (bit of a rerun of pump up the jam though). Didn’t mind the drums on this, but the crowd clapping allows me to have something to grouse about...
Breakers:
Bowie - another useless remix
Sonia - best from her for a while (kylie reject?)
Blues Brothers - ah speak of the devils. Excellent! So not a reentry, but still - why now?
Paul Abdul - Now this is what I expected from Janet Jackson - video saved it from FF
The Cure - nor one of their best, but enjoyed. Guitar riff was recycled... (note to self: don’t mention the drums.. doh, too late)
Quireboys - Rod Stewart sings Guns n Roses.
I remember really liking this tune by The Blues Brothers when it came out fresh in 1990, but it got so overplayed over the next 20 years or so, that I can't bear hearing it anymore. I did like the scenery of the video though. Was it an American equivalent of what we call a town hall in Britain?
DeleteAs Dan Aykroyd says in the song's intro, they're at the Palace Hotel Ballroom in Chicago. It was a country club, apparently.
DeleteI wonder if that Chicago ballroom still exists there 30 years later in 2020? Looks like a superb place to entertain and be entertained.
DeleteMr Cheesy is in his "everything's brilliant" mode, but Jesus Jones were pretty decent, though I didn't think they did anything quite as great again as Info Freako, which naturally wasn't a hit. This is very much in their style, the half dance/half indie pop with switched on lyrics, very acceptable. Don't ask them how they got their name, they were asked that in every interview and it drove them round the bend. The keyboard player wins the Liquid Gold Drummer Award for backing musician who most wants to be a frontman.
ReplyDeleteAnother winner from Janet Jackson, they were determined to get a hit from this album, weren't they? Escapade got a lot of play at the time, anyway. Really nice, escapist lyrics, full of hope, which sound a little hollow in the current climate.
Technotronic ditch the female vocalists for a harder sound, but not so much that you'd notice. The bored cameramen kind of take the edge off it! Great in a club, etc.
Heart creep us out, then the Breakers, of which Dame Dave is the only one we won't see again, mostly because it was pretty horrible as a remix. The video features one of the dancers from troupe La La La Human Steps, don't know why I remember that, but he was hanging around with them at the time.
Those Bizz Nizz girls - they've got their swimming costumes on backwards, haven't they? Second and third metallic baseball caps of the episode.
Paula Abdula and MC Kat! In a video that just took the concept of family friendly bestiality and ran with it. Don't think about the consequences of this one too hard, is what I'm saying. Anyway, Roger Rabbit-style video, and the song is snappy enough to amuse.
Hey, it's Eva Green's dad! Oh, no, it's Bob off of The Cure, with a remix you'd have to be very well versed in the band's output to notice, but this is fine, a moody effort that harked a return to their older tunes.
Madonna makes it to the top, has anyone actually vogued since 1990, then? Wouldn't you feel a bit of a berk doing this in a nightclub?
The singer most in need of Strepsils is Mr Quireboys, with a mournful ditty about breaking up with Michael Fassbender (or it looks like him). Seems to be heartfelt, but difficult to get excited about.
It's a pity that TOTP didn't continue their 1988/89 trend of showing the first half of a video, and then two weeks later the second half when the song was main slot/feature again. It worked brilliantly for the No.1's from Glen Maderios in 1988 and Marc Almond & Gene Pitney in 1989.
DeleteI would have liked to see the second half of the Heart video this week to continue the story about the rainy night pick-up date, first broadcast two shows ago, but on both showings we got only the first half of the video, if not first third.
Re: Vogueing - it was a bit of a mixed blessing for the clubs it came from (the queer ball scene in places like Harlem, with largely Black and Latinx roots) and giving them more visibility. I was reading about it recently (after watching Pose) and there are those who were glad of the visibility and exposure, and others who felt Madonna exploited the scene and took something from them.
DeleteYeah, that sounds like Madonna, the pop equivalent of a social butterfly. But most of dance music owes a huge debt to the black and gay clubs, going back to disco.
DeleteJesus Jones, first of a handful before they disappear back into obscurity. I liked their singles though, and always recall them being entertaining in Smash Hits interviews.
ReplyDeleteFor shame, I still know the lyrics to 'This Beat is Technotronic' even though I never owned any Technotronic singles or albums. I had, however, forgotten the Quireboys song. I remember their name and image much better than the very generic music.
Always love The Cure, even if Robert Smith's hair is looking positively tame this episode.
Fame 90 is not one of my fave Bowie tracks, a little dirgey for me.
I remember at the time the Paula Abdul and MC Skat Cat video seemed revolutionary. Now... less so, and the idea of a human/cat romance is just pretty weird. There was a rumour at the time that it was MC Hammer, but it sounds nothing like him.
Also there were some *choices* in the audience fashion tonight, with the standout being the girl in the weird Blossom-esque green hat paired with brown gloves. She looked like she'd raided her nan's wardrobe.
ReplyDeleteThe annoying graphics they're employing this year during the live performances suggest they were maybe feeling threatened by The Chart Show and MTV and felt the need to up the gimmicks to feel 'fresh'?
You'll be glad to know the fancy-schmancy graphics are replaced by less flashy captions from next week, thanks to a union dispute. I quite liked them, they made me laugh!
DeleteI don't mind the ones for the song names, it's the mod performance split screens that annoy me!
DeleteGoody Goody is back and on quite good form !
ReplyDeleteEaster by Marillion is not shown however…big disappointment. One of Steve Hogarth’s best vocals and a great Steve Rothery guitar solo.
Jesus Jones – Real Real Real – How do you like it, how do you like it ? OK I suppose..
Janet Jackson – Escapade – I escaped it !
Technetronic – The beat is technetronic – Same old same old…. FF after the first two notes.
Heart – All I wanna do is make love to you – This has had many kudos on this forum and deservedly so. Great track amongst all the dross.
Breakers – Bowie – Totally original was Bowie and this Fame 90 was no exception. If there had been a remixed version of ‘Hey Joe’ this year presumably it would have been called ‘Hey Joe 90’ ? Sonia – lovely stuff, if somewhat disposable. Blues Brothers – ah!!! Overplayed soooo much.
Bizz Nizz – Don’t miss the Partyline – what partyline?
Paula Abdul – Opposites Attract – Ah this was a surprise! Slinky sexy video and nice song as well. Really enjoyed this. Paula was huge in the States – six number ones (including this).
Cure – Pictures of you – Well it’s no ‘Picture of you’ (as in Joe Brown and the Bruvvers) but not a bad effort nevertheless.
Madonna – Vogue – Ok… just not her best.
Quireboys – I don’t love you any more – I fully expected to FF this one but it grabbed my attention musically and visually. I used to love the ‘smash the crockery’ stall at the School Fete, and the cup that the lady lobs at the plate rack is a great shot – full toss that sent the stumps flying!!
"A Picture Of You" by Joe Brown was lucky and then unlucky. Originally the B-side which got airplay and record company promotion when someone at BBC radio flipped the single and people preferred that track, it reached number one in three of the four charts then run by record papers. Unfortunately for Joe, the official chart compiled its official standings from the chart of the only paper where the single peaked at number two!
Delete....and No1 stopping Joe and his Bruvvers were Mike Sarne and Wendy Richard with 'Come Outside'. Classic stuff!
DeleteMister Hey Wow’s back with an astonishing jacket.
ReplyDeleteJesus Jones capping (see what I did there?) an energetic and assured studio debut. Half expecting Herod Melvin and the Bluenotes next week. Watch EMF take this song’s template and run with it.
Janet Jackson with a black and white and red video judging by the main colours on show and, luckily, we get to the chorus before the compulsory boring dance troupe. This sounded a wee bit thin and needed a tad more bass or oomph of some sort, but an enjoyable tune anyway.
Next up it’s “This Beat Is The Same As The Last Two”. You can actually sing “Pump Up The Jam” in the instrumental bits and it sounds exactly the same. That lad’s no Felly, is he?
It’s Heart with that dirty trollope offering the lad two rides again. I wonder, do Heart get played regularly on Heart?
Loved Sct353’s “Hey Joe 90” quip. Dave’s either vogueing at the start or doing the “Now it’s time for the gallery / There’s a prize for all those we show” bit from “Vision On”.
Sonia gives us another SAW song with a chorus key change bolted on at the wrong angle, and that clock backdrop’s been hired for yet another video.
I enjoyed the Blues Brothers clip and loved the venue even more.
NO NO NO, Mark, Bizz Nizz aren’t on the studio floor tonight. Insert debate as to how this crap finished one place lower and got more TOTP airtime than “Enjoy The Silence”.
Janet Jackson’s nemesis returns with a catchy track and a fun video though, luckily, we never see the mixed species couple in the doggy position. Sorry!!!
Look at the length of Cure Bob’s shirt tail! Unusual upside down guitar playing on a track I’d forgotten and enjoyed.
Madge not taking Robert Smith’s make-up tips, then. That bra made me hungry for a cream horn.
The Quireboys see us out with some British G’n’R as previously mentioned, and a woman who’d do well working in a Greek restaurant.
Mark Goodier with a professional turn tonight.
ReplyDeleteFirst up it's a Really Really Really great song from Jesus Jones. This lot have bundles of energy (although the keyboard player is clearly on something extra). Love this song and I had the album which got played to death in my bedroom. Great start to the show.
JANET JACKSON turning into her brother but it's a belter of a tune with a nice little video. Escapade should have been a much better hit.
TECHNOTRONIC supporting Madonna! M.C. ERIC is the most un-hip rap name. "This Beat Is Technotronic" undeniably the weakest of their tunes but I can't lie, I rather like this.
HEART video again!
Breakers:
DAVID BOWIE – Fame 90 - Not sure why this needed a remix
SONIA – Counting Every Minute - Even by Sonia's low standards this is bad...
THE BLUES BROTHERS – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love - Never seen the film, love the song though.
BIZZ NIZZ – Bored with this.
A dancing cartoon cat with a dodgy rap, and dance legend PAULA ABDUL proving Opposites do Attract. This absolutely shouldn't work but it does probably due to the strength of the song and the pure fun that Ms Adbul appears to be having.
Pictures Of You (remix) to give it the full title (where was the original?). Sideshow Bob moaning his way through a dreary number.
A different bit of the Vogue video as number one.
THE QUIREBOYS with a number that takes an age to get going but "I Don’t Love You Anymore" is an OK rock ballad.
This may well be the weakest edition of 1990 thus far, I whizzed through it in no time at all.
ReplyDeleteJesus Jones - I remember Goodier really hyping all their early songs, so he was probably genuinely delighted to be introducing them. It's a good one, and the singles from 'Doubt' (and the album itself) were all decent songs.
Janet Jackson - Another great single from the 'Rhythm Nation' album and for once, UK record buyers actually bought it in reasonable enough numbers!
Technotronic - I might like dance music but even I draw the line at this one.
Breakers - Shame they didn't remember this feature the previous week as it would've been lovely to see the excellent songs by The Beloved, Jungle Brothers & Rebel MC before they went down. These are all disappointing, and it's surprising that Bowie even turned up for the video of his single.
Paula Abdul - I remember quite liking this at the time, but I'm not so keen now. They tried to give 'MC Skat Cat' a spin-off career but one minor Top 75 single was the result.
The Cure - One of the dullest things they ever released.
The Quireboys - Not a great way to end the show. i'm amazed it's back a few minutes later in BBC4 time....