Let's groove on 'cause it's time to hear the 31st of May 1990 edition of Top of the Pops!
Sign of the times
31-5-90: Presenter: Simon Mayo
(22) BLACK BOX – Everybody Everybody
Kicking off the show and the song peaked at number 16.
(20) TALK TALK – It’s My Life (video)
Peaked at number 13.
(23) SAM BROWN – Kissing Gate
At its peak.
(19) ERASURE – Star (video)
Peaked at number 11.
(25) JANE CHILD – Don’t Wanna Fall In Love (video)
Her only hit and it peaked at number 22.
(12) CHAD JACKSON – Hear The Drummer (Get Wicked)
The Madchester DJ makes his studio debut with his only hit and it peaked at number 3.
(15) BETTY BOO – Doin’ The Do (video)
Became her second of three top ten hits when it peaked at number 7.
(2) ENGLAND/NEW ORDER – World In Motion (video)
This football song gamechanger will be number one next week.
(1) ADAMSKI – Killer
Fourth and final week at number one.
(24) THE CHARLATANS – The Only One I Know (video) (and credits)
Became their first of four top ten Madchester hits when it peaked at number 9.
25th of December 1995 is next... What?
Also on Christmas Eve for the first time since 1997 the TOTP2 Elvis Special.
ReplyDelete24/5 and 31/5 will definitely be in my top 10 episodes for 1990.
ReplyDeleteA decent amount of songs that I like on this episode, all catchy and It’s My Life always a pleasure to listen too, shame it wasn't a studio performance.
ReplyDeleteTHE B52’S – Roam
EN VOGUE – Hold On
BETTY BOO – Doin’ The Do
TALK TALK – It’s My Life
BEATS INTERNATIONAL – Won’t Talk About It
ADAMSKI – Killer
WAS (NOT WAS) – Papa Was A Rolling Stone
Sorry.....The above commment was meant for TOTP episode 24/05/90.
DeleteFavourite track from this 31/05/90 episode:
ReplyDeleteENGLAND/NEW ORDER – World In Motion
Always love a New Order song and great to also have 1990's England team and Keith Allen who co-wrote this song.
I actually remember the Black Box tune, maybe it's because of the repetition in the chorus, and I'd rather hear this than Ride On Time for the billionth time. Doubt that's her singing, mind you.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, probably because Mark Hollis had gone seriously uncommercial by then, It's My Life was rereleased, and I think this is the original video, too. What's up with his mouth, does he have flesh-coloured paint on it? Anyway, decent little tune, a bit moany, but at least it found success second time around.
Sam Brown and her band on repeat - they all have long hair!
Funny this Erasure track, I haven't heard it since 1990 but could practically sing every word along with Andy on this rehearing. Sign of a good pop song? It's not their best, but it'll do. Video looks really cheap.
Jane Child with her facial jewellery, which is about anything remembers about her, but this is actually a dynamic little pop record put across with plenty of energy and a catchy melody. No idea where she is now, or whether she still wears that chain (or that hair!), she did look a bit fashion victim.
Chad Jackson, which one's Chad? Basic, sample-laden dance, sounded great in a club, etc, with a reluctant pseudo-Bob Dylan in Don't Look Back on card duties. Were we supposed to chant along? Kind of derivative of the American stuff.
Yay, Betty Boo! In naughty schoolgirl mode for the video that I don't know would fly today, except that it was aimed at naughty schoolgirls. Some of the most fun rhymes in the business that year.
There's a reason most football records don't aim to be cool, because they fall flat on their faces, but this New Order track had a Madchester swagger (despite professional irritant Keith Allen crowbarring himself in) that made it more acceptable. I thought Hooky was a giant of a man, but he looks like a shortarse compared to the others in the video.
Repeat of Adamski before he ensures nobody wants to hear from him again with his next hit, then more Madchester, with the majestic Charlatans, what a debut hit this was, terrific organ riff, those tripping drums are infectious, and coronavirus hero Tim's half-plaintive, half-can't be bothered vocals are perfect. Best thing on the show (though the video's boring).
It’s World Cup Subbuteo Simon this time. Flick to kick!
ReplyDeleteJust the one keyboardist this occasion for Black Box. Katrin not singing again (as ever) but still looking sultry.
“Wildlife On One” next and Talk Talk’s finest hour. Mark Hollis’s unusual patched up mouth may have been a way of having a go at / not wanting to converse with the music press. He was actually very reserved and kept himself to himself. Mark moved to a village near Bognor Regis (where my folks had a second home) and lived his last few years there, and the neighbours said he came across as just some Spurs supporting chap who’d been in a group. He was very intense band-wise, though. For one album he wrote six different sets of lyrics for each song then threw a die to see which lyrics he’d sing.
I didn’t notice last time that Sam Brown’s jacket is at least two sizes too big (you can’t see her hands on occasions), as is her shirt. Still love the song, though.
Excellent handball jibe for those dirty Argies by Simon.
Good grief, Andy Bell’s avoided the barber! Another of those songs where the title isn’t in the lyrics as Andy sings “stars” in the choruses. Song and video both catchy and likeably goofy.
Next we get the superlative example of image over substance, as Jane Child concentrates on what she looks like (dreadful) while giving us what sounds like a substandard leftover CD bonus track by Prince.
Oh God, it’s that James Brown grunt sample again. Bye, Chad. I got wicked with the FF straight away.
Betty Boo auditioning years too late for Legs & Co. Infectious ‘not to be-taken seriously’ rap which goes down as well as a packet of Space Dust from the school tuck shop.
EnglandNewOrder with a finalist for best World Cup song along with “Three Lions” and a great rap by John Barnes, who spoils it slightly by wearing a top made by a rival manufacturer to England’s kit (Adidas as opposed to Umbro). Such a shame Keith Allen was involved. If life was a caber, he’d be the tosser. Loudmouth Lily’s obvously his daughter, a real waste of sperm.
Surprisingly no football shirt for Simon’s last link, into a ‘Madchester’ band actually from the West Midlands who relocated to Salford-born singer Tim Burgess’s new home town of Northwich in Cheshire. Nice afuche action in the video for one of those ‘first hit’s the best’ singles with an organ-ic rival to The Inspiral Carpets.
Yes indeed, the Black Box singer was wearing a see-through top and bottoms, so you could actually see the outline of her underwear during the performance.
DeleteThe Betty Boo video got only two minutes of it shown, but it seemed to be a very busy two minutes in a school that resembled the school interiors of Carry On Teacher filmed in 1959.
Having watched the full video this weekend, it's quite good, where the last minute after TOTP had left off showed Betty Boo returning home to rebel against her parents at supper time, a bit like the Wham Bad Boys video, and where all her personas are merged into one comic book page at the end of the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM_9As_2VAg
Re: Mark Hollis, coincidentally to your comment, the author of The Dice Man, Luke Reinhart, died a few weeks ago. I'd like to think hipsters imitating that book is a phenomenon that passed years ago, mind you.
DeleteLoved. That. Edition! For me that was one of the best shows I've seen for ages, maybe my favourite since the '82 repeats. The first half, aside from a re-released classic, is good enough but then whoomph!! the 2nd half is just classic pop tv. Simon Mayo's football top changing routine quickly gets a little drawn out but makes sense when he reveals the last one.
ReplyDeleteBlack Box; At last a song that doesn't lean on endless cut ups, this is a good stylish little tune and I love that keyboard phrase. Once again though it's Katrin mouthing another woman's soulful work and considering Martha Walsh was now established as the voice of Black Box it all seems a little tawdry. If she was ok with it I suppose its alright.
Talk Talk; Brilliant pop single from the less crucial phase of this band's career. What a special talent that man was then. Released to promote the 'Natural History' best of, one of the 1st albums I ever bought, the video is not the utterly off its rocker 2nd version that I am absolutely positive was shown briefly on The Brit Awards in '91. This version is unsettlibg enough though. Genuinely upset I was by Mark Hollis's passing.
'It Must've Been Love' at 38. That will make its presence felt very soon.
Sam Brown; Lovely song. The guitarist looks like Jerry Sadowitz with the obvious difference that he looks vaguely approachable.
Erasure; Bit of a makeweight after the perfection of 'Blue Savannah' and the video is very clumsy looking. Did the director of it not know where the contrast button was? Thrown together it does look but that space / astral imagery will be absolutely everywhere in less than 2 years time.
Jane Child; Didn't recall artist or title but bang straightaway remembered that chorus. Deserved its moment in the spotlight.
Chad Jackson; Great daft fun with that sample from PE's 'Welcome To The Terrordome' that was not I would guess intended for such jollity.
The guy with the placards, a gesture so in hock to De La Soul's Daisy Age, I'm suprised he didn't produce a giant inflatable ball to elbow out the way. I wonder who the stand up drummer based himself on.
Betty Boo; I wasn't that keen on this at the time but now I love it for the huge fun it is. As daft as Trigger's broom with colours fizzing here and there and a motif that sounds like the end of a Bert and Ernie skit. Brilliant tune and times.
England / New Order; A real folk memory of 1990 and a classic single. Those words are so smart. It took me decades to figure out some of the rave references that weave mischievously around it. Another one I really look forward to getting re-acquainted with.
Adamski; Well for me its one of the greatest singles ever made. That chorus I could listen to on a loop for hours.
Few British No.1s were more deserved.
The Charlatans; And a marvellous end, this smoking single that for me the band never bettered. One of the best singles of the era.
The Talk Talk video is somewhat reminiscent of The Bloodhound Gang's The Bad Touch, without the obvious feature.
DeleteSeems to be a growing opinion here The Charlatans never bettered The Only One I Know, but I disagree, they have some excellent singles to come. Tim Burgess's solo stuff is good too.
Agree too. Tellin stories their finest hour. Proper Brit pop.
DeleteTwo great new entries ignored. Instead we kick off with…
ReplyDeleteBlack Box – Everybody, everybody – Thought this lot were one hit wonders… unfortunately not. BB certainly weren’t easy listening although this is less irritating than that wretched no1 of theirs.
Talk Talk – It’s my Life – Isn’t this great? So glad it got more recognition. If I’m not mistaken, some scenes were filmed at London Zoo.
Sam Brown – Kissing Gate – Nice to see this again – was it a repeat?
Erasure – Star – Sounds like Erasure all right, but that’s no bad thing. Kiki Dee anyone?
Jane Child – Don’t wanna fall in love – One hit and one release wonder by the looks of it. Weird hair style for 1990. Not sure why this took off as it’s nothing special.
Chad Jackson – Hear the Drummer – Highest new entry? Who on earth bought this? FF
Betty Boo – Doin’ the Do – I watched this and couldn’t help thinking that Britney’s ‘….Baby one more time’ video must have been inspired by it. Fun little ditty that certainly sticks in the mind.
England / New Order – World in Motion – This is no ‘Back Home’ for me – it’s a shame that the ToTP footage for the 1970 squad doesn’t exist anymore. I can recall seeing the two Bobbys and Geoff etc. singing that classic Martin/Coulter song. This instead is pretty non-descript and I couldn’t help wondering if that was the ‘Vindaloo’ bloke peeping out from behind John Barnes. Unfortunately, Mayo is right that this did get to no1, but two weeks later a classic song takes over thank goodness!
Adamski – Killer – Never stop enjoying this song.
Charlatans – The only one I know – An OK end to the show.
I just loved the Talk Talk video with the pink flamingos footage. Reminds me of the Manfred Mann romantic No.1 from 1967 called Pretty Flamingo. Not that I was even born then, but just know it from the Capital Gold plays over the years.
DeleteI would say that the 1998 Vindaloo classic by Fat Les was probably the greatest football chart entry and No.2 of all time. The video was so funny that you couldn't help but watch it a hundred times over:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va6nPu-1auE
Vindaloo bloke? Yes it was the talentless Keith Allen. Professional drunk.
DeleteBoring but true. Interesting to see two songs in this chart (by Sam Brown and Micheal Bolton) featuring the lesser used phrase "make amends" in their lyrics.
ReplyDeleteCracking episode!
ReplyDeleteBlack Box - uptempo dance track. Like.
Talk talk - also like. No sign of the rest of the band...
Sam brown - and that’s three. We are on a roll
Erasure - very enjoyable ditty. Another one of those songs where part of verse sounds like something else - in this case, free electric band.
(Some of the links were getting a little stretched)
Jane Child - again a big like. Quite a run. Don’t remember this, or her, at all.
Chad Jackson - oh oh.... hmmm.. must be in a good mood. This is...ok (the title voice sounded like Grandmaster Flash/white lines)
Betty Boo - another infectious track. Never noticed the sample of Captain of Your Ship before...
New Order - best football song ever - even with the dodgy rap...
Charlatans - their finest hour, although like the Inspirals they had many good tracks to come...
Reading the previous comments, i stand corrected - new order ties with three lions for best football song
DeleteRe The charlatans, looking forward to "One To Another".
ReplyDeleteIt transpires Mark Hollis's unusual non-moving (maybe gaffa taped) mouth in the video for Talk Talk's "It's My life" was a protest against lip-synching.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, those lip synching protests where we took to the streets and demanded that inhumane practice be stopped.
DeleteFunny what some celebs get a bee in their bonnet about...
End of May tunes with Boy Mayo in his Italia 90 top (a rather good World Cup, more of that later)
ReplyDeleteBlack Box are back. Who's voice have we stolen this time Katrin? Less sample led and more of an attempt at a song this time. Not in the same class as "Ride On Time" and very "of it's time"
Now Republic Of Ireland get a plug, I see where Boy Mayo is going with this.
David Attenborough up next with It's My Life. Never knew he'd made a pop song?
On a serious note - awesome tune.
Spain next to introduce Señorita Sam. Not a massive fan of her voice or this tune. Too much stop/start for me during the song. She's bought the whole band for a day out though.
Argentina great at hand ball. Very good Simon.
Now I really like this Erasure tune. Very upbeat and poppy. Never gonna be one of their classics but I always enjoyed it. He needs some serious dance lessons. Strictly anyone? He looks about 14 in this video.
Brazil introduces post punk one hit wonder Jane Child. Not much punk about the tune, very AOR and obviously a huge radio hit. Decent enough I suppose.
Scotland link into the charts, good job this isn't live.
Chad Jackson. This tune was a Radio 1 favourite for a while. Even I had heard of him. No idea which one is Chad though. Great dance track this.
Easily one of 1990s dance highlights.
Betty Boo on video. This is so much fun. Great video. Birthday money being lined up to buy this one. 15 year old me in lust...
England World Cup tune next. Possibly the coolest football song ever!
This gave us three things.
Good. New Order. En-ger-land!
Bad. A John Barnes Rap
Ugly. Gazzas' pop career (see November)
Adam gets a fourth and final week at the top before football mania sweeps the country!
Charlatans play us out with a fabulous indie tune. Many years ago I found a Charlatans best of in HMV and was amazed at how many great tunes they wrote and that I recognised. They might be my favourite indie band. At the time I was a real pop/dance kid so for something guitar based to get through was unusual.
Was Italian 90 a good World Cup? Strange how we remember things differently. I thought it was the very worse one I’ve seen.
DeleteBest ones imo. Russia 2018 and the gloriously bizarre USA 94.
But I digress. :)
As an aside:
ReplyDeleteThe Scottish World Cup song enters the chart at Number 65 next week (Say It With Pride) peaking at Number 45
Also (and despite a lot of radio play) They Might Be Giants can only make Number 61 with the fabulous follow up to Birdhouse.
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) one of pops weirder tunes..
https://youtu.be/5rHRd6Cl-tQ
Istanbul was actually a cover of an old 1950s novelty tune. It was originally recorded by The Four Lads - it must have taken them ages to think up their band name.
Delete