Sleep on and dream of love because it's the 3rd of May 1990 edition of Top of the Pops!
Hair raising
3-5-90: Presenter: Simon Mayo
(26) SINITTA – Hitchin’ A Ride
Getting the show off to a typically energetic start and the song went up two more places.
(8) SOUL II SOUL – A Dream’s A Dream (video)
Also went up two more places.
(12) MORRISSEY – November Spawned A Monster
Straight in at number 12 and performing in the studio tonight but the song got no higher.
(5) THE ADVENTURES OF STEVIE V – Dirty Cash (video)
Peaked at number 2.
(33) EN VOGUE – Hold On (video) (Breakers)
Became their first of four top ten hits when it peaked at number 5.
(34) BILLY IDOL – Cradle Of Love (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(38) MICHAEL BOLTON – How Can We Be Lovers (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 10.
(28) B.B.G. feat. DINA TAYLOR – Snappiness (Sweet Inspiration Edit)
In the studio with their only top 40 hit and it got no higher.
(18) BRUCE DICKINSON – Tattooed Millionaire (video)
At its peak.
(4) ADAMSKI – Killer
A second studio performance and this song will indeed be number one next week.
(1) MADONNA – Vogue (video)
Fourth and final week at number one.
(53) EMMA – Give A Little Love Back To The World (video) (and credits)
She came sixth in Eurovision and the song made it to number 33.
May 10th is next.
ADAMSKI's Killer still my favourite from 1990.
ReplyDeleteBilly Idol - Cradle Of Love (cool video).
Three punishing minutes of Sinitta hammering Vanity Fare's catchy 60s minor hit into a Hi-NRG novelty record. The sign at the start is a bit dodgy. Does anyone hitchhike anymore, or did that die out in the 80s after we'd all seen that Tales of the Unexpected episode? Then there's Rutger Hauer in The Hitcher.
ReplyDeleteSoul II Soul with the hit nobody remembers, Jazzy B's sound was starting to get a little old by now (already! It had only been a year or two!). It's OK, but very middling, as if he was out of ideas.
Moz, looking like Grace Dent without the fashion sense, and I know he's persona non grata now, but I like this, morbid lyrics and all. It has a half-sinister, half-melancholy melody that is pretty effective. And he did almost always show up in the studio.
The video for Stevie V, going for dollars for their dirty cash rather than sterling, then the Breakers. We won't see Billy Idol again with this one, case of nice video, shame about the song really, though the Peeping Tom element is a bit uncomfortable.
OK, who remembers BBG? Or Dina Taylor? (Not Dina Carroll, who I mistook her for at first). Bog standard pop soul, she seems bright enough, but that's about it.
It's overelaborate heavy metal video time, but this Bruce Dickinson solo effort is pretty OK, has a proper melody even if the "Sticking it to the Man" lyrics are old hat. Catering for a fetish market there, in having a beauty queen fall into a pool of mud.
We'll see more of Adamski, though I don't know if the ballet dancer will be back, or indeed if she's welcome, Simon Mayo summing up the mood of the viewers watching (actual accurate chart prediction, too). Did Adamski take that number plate off his own car?
Madonna in her final week voguing at the top, then we can marvel at what an enormous mouth Emma had in her video. We'd be delighted at sixth place now. Doves of peace - could this video be any more cliched?
I actually remember this Soul II Soul hit quite well that I remember humming it during my boring working day at the time, and 'dreaming' of taking a summer holiday in 1990.
DeleteAdamski mentioned in "The Story..." that people kept getting his stage name wrong, so he had the number plate made and put it on his keyboard to solve the problem.
Delete@ Dory: I take it back then about Soul II Soul! Also, forgot to mention, the punctuation pedant in me notes they missed out the apostrophe in the song title twice...
Delete@ Arthur: Yes, but did he make double use of the number plate, like CLIFF 1 on the Roller or (as I remember from a Trivial Pursuit question) BORG 9 for Ernest Borgnine?!
DeleteTHX, two days after this show went out, come Saturday morning, The ITV Chart Show already had Soul II Soul at No.5 in the Top Ten video rundown:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1g9GB3k_TI
If only the number plate N18 BLE was available and cheaply....
DeleteOut of interest, I had a look to see if Ernest Borgnine released any music, but all I could find was his version of Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy from the film BASEketball. What a legacy.
DeleteGreat to see Sinitta (and her legs) back in the charts after a whole year out since her last hit in spring 1989 where she wore a yellow minidress on TOTP and/or in the video. I would have preferred the En Vogue legs to be covered up and out of viewing range, as that Breakers video clip didn't do the concept of a minidress any good at all.
ReplyDeleteIt was a little strange to see Bruce Dickinson going for a pop video style, rather than his usual on-stage video with thousands of decibels blaring from huge stage speakers. Not too sure about the video, but another one to go along with Kid Creole & The Coconuts and Billy Idol to watch in full this weekend to see what all the fuss was about.
Elaine Paige, sorry I mean EMMA to finish the show on playout. I guess the only way a No.53 single in the charts gets onto TOTP is if we were back in the 1970s when you were first on the show, or if you are representing the UK at Eurovision, but this Elaine Paige look and voice by EMMA did nothing to make me want to watch Eurovision in 1990.
Wait a minute, you preferred Sinitta to En Vogue?! Whatever you think about the music, En Vogue were a very attractive bunch of ladies, and made fine use of the LBD.
DeleteWhat's LBD?
Deletedoes it stand for "light brown demographic"? that's meant to be a joke btw
DeleteLBD (Little Black Dress):-)
ReplyDeleteLBD (Let's Booty Dance):-)
ReplyDeleteSam I think your first answer sounds more correct
Deleteso a guy who never fails to drool over the costumes worn by the younger and more attractive female artists on the show, is apparently unaware of the term "lbd". make of that what you will...
DeleteYou really are a .........Well I won't say, but judging by the person who said 'yawn' after your comments before, here's another 'yawn' from me. It's high time you came off this blog, as you have nothing nice to say, just spiteful comments about people.
DeleteNow now, chaps, I like you both, let's draw a line and carry on regardless, as The Beautiful South once sang.
DeleteJ
DeleteSinitta - quite an outfit. Song? What song?
ReplyDeleteSoul II Soul - ok, but must make my usual complaint of the bifty bifty drum track
(Wow, propoganda in the chart run down. Was that a remix?)
Morrissey - like bruce dickinson last time, just sounds like his old band
Breakers:
En Vogue - tune didn’t fit the backing. Pass...
Billy Idol - not his strongest, but look forward o hearing more of it
Michael Bolton - gosh, I actually liked this!
BBG - just plain dull (and like last time, vocals too low in mix)
Bruce Dickinson - the chorus still sounds like someone else - Cheap Trick?...
The Bruce Dickinson chorus sounds more like 'I Want Your Love' by Transvision Vamp, but the video was not as good as Vamp's.
DeleteBruce's chorus reminds me more of the "Just a small town boy, born and raised in South Detroit" tune to "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey.
DeleteArthur, THAT’s The one! Been playing Bruce chorus over and over. I had got as far as early 89s sift rick. Thank you.
DeletePleasure. Glad I got something right for once!
DeleteGood to see the boy Mayo back. Not so keen on him wearing shorts, though. Does he think he’s Norman Cook?
ReplyDeleteSinitta never wore trousers, did she? Other Hertfordshire towns are available for song titles. I nearly yearned for Big Fun during this.
I don’t recall that Snooze II Snooze effort. Stretching that chewing gum really thin now.
Sadly, Morrissey spawned a monster, called Morrissey. This sounded like a Smiths B-side, but at least Stephen was more animated than before. Did you catch his ‘I enjoyed that’ smile as he twirled around post-mime?
Horrible effects on that Stevie V video. Better listened to without watching in my opinion.
En Vogue in pelmets with triple-speed dancers. Pelmet alert straight afterwards too in Billy Idol’s video for a muddy sounding muddler which only reminded me for some reason of Ipswich goth band Cradle Of Filth.
Oh God, Foghorn Bolton’s back. What a barnet! Truck driver gear change for the key into the chorus.
A nice arty quippy intro by Simon into Dina Taylor getting her coat off sharpish and a song which would sound nice played next to that number one by Enigma we haven’t seen yet on this re-run. This is how Soul II Soul should be sounding, Jazzie. Listen and weep.
Bruce with a strange but eye-catching video and a song where the lead into the chorus is catchier than the actual chorus. By the way, Simon, this isn’t a new entry and it’s at number 18, not 12. Two yellows make a red card!
A decent ‘down the bookie’ future chart topper heads up prior to our mates in silver and white, complete with Obligatory Unknown Shape Thrower.
Top ten mugshots: They’ve mis-spelt Alannah Myles, for goodness’ sake!
A plethora of white and a jingoistic in the crowd and a wrong Eurovision forecast before we get Emma’s future top 40 smash and a dove which appears to have gone through a fan or slicer, judging by all those loose feathers.
What was I doing on 3rd May 1990 I wonder? Certainly not watching this show – it was awful. Thank goodness for Admaski and Emma!
ReplyDeleteThe song I have in my head for some reason has the line “in the grip of this cold December you and I have reason to remember”….. must be the weather (cold) and the month. Anyway, surprised to find that Barbara Dickson covered this!
Anyone notice how Simon introduced Bruce D as 'the highest new entry, at number 12', which was actually Morrissey? I haven't heard Bruce D's track since 1990 and had forgotten that I enjoyed it a lot at the time. Similarly, if you asked me to list Soul II Soul songs for Pointless or Family Fortunes, I'd never think of A Dream's a Dream, and yet when it came on I still remembered every word. Psychic Mayo correctly predicts Adamski will be No 1 next week. Imagine if we'd had social media back then, the conspiracy theorists would be wild with accusations of the chart being rigged.
ReplyDeleteHi Rad. Yes, Simon's double bluff about Bruce Dickinson is mentioned in my critique. I met Bruce for a few seconds decades ago, when we were watching a gig at the sadly defunct Moonlight Club in West Hampstead. I shook Bruce's hand and congratulated him on "Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter" recently knocking Cliff off number one. He laughed, thanked me and said something rude but funny which I can't remember. Bruce is only about 5 foot 8 but he looked impressively muscular!
DeleteBruce is quite the renaissance man... makes me feel very inadequate.
DeleteBruce is a national fencer and can fly a 747. Very impressive!
DeleteIt's about 3 degrees outside so we get Boy Mayo in shorts with a very enthusiastic performance tonight.
ReplyDeleteSinitta up first and not showing much enthusiasm for this one as she's clearly realised the game is up. As I said last week I like this one but the performance is uninspiring.
A forgotten Soul II Soul track up next, and forgotten for all the right reasons, it's not up to much.
Then Morrissey appears, desperately in need of a calendar and a tune. One of his weaker efforts.
Very little Dirty Cash spent on this Stevie V video (I see we've ditched the whole "adventures of" bit). Still like the tune though.
Breakers:
En Vogue - Adore this tune.
Billy Idol - Not his finest and feels hugely dated in 1990.
Michael Bolton - More of the same 80s poodle rock with a decent chorus.
BBG give us a nice chill out tune which I had completely forgotten about. Not sure why this doesn't get airplay any more as it's a decent song. Jacket on or off love, make your mind up.
Boy Mayo loves the new Radio 1 logo so much he can't tell the difference between Bruce Dickinson and Morrissey. Easy mistake to make. We had one of those odd wooden masks on our dining room wall at home, something my parents brought back from France. Not mentioned the song...there's a reason for that.....
Mayo makes up for his howler by correctly predicting next weeks number one, there's only one place this tune was going. Seal still not getting any credit, maybe that's why he re-recorded it.
Emma has spent all her time and money giving love back to the world so only has 5 pence left for the video - good luck on Saturday!
Bringing an odd wooden mask back from France sounds like the start of an Amicus horror movie tale from the 1960s... If you see Peter Cushing hanging about, get rid of it pronto.
DeleteNo Cushing yet but I'll keep an eye out 😂😂😂
Delete