Put your hands in the air and wave 'em like you just don't care, it's the 28th of June 1990 edition of Top of the Pops!
Somebody say 'cheese'
28-6-90: Presenter: Gary Davies
(5) SNAP – Oops Up
Getting this live show underway tonight but the record got no higher.
(21) JASON DONOVAN – Another Night
He's in the studio but this song brought a run of seven consecutive top ten hits to an end when it peaked at number 18.
(17) MAUREEN – Thinking Of You
In the studio and on her way to number 11.
(32) DOUBLE TROUBLE – Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (video) (Breakers)
Became their third and final top 40 hit when it peaked at number 21.
(35) GLENN MEDEIROS feat. BOBBY BROWN – She Ain’t Worth It (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 12.
(39) DEL AMITRI – Move Away Jimmy Blue (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 36.
(25) BOB GELDOF – The Great Song Of Indifference
A wonderfully eccentric performance from Bob and the gang and this song became his biggest solo hit when it peaked at number 15.
(23) BRUCE DICKINSON – All The Young Dudes (video)
This Bowie cover got no higher.
(8) MAXI PRIEST – Close To You ®
Went up one more place.
(1) ELTON JOHN – Sacrifice ®
Second of five weeks at number one.
(24) POISON – Unskinny Bop (video) (and credits)
Peaked at number 15.
July 5th is next.
Great catch, Turbo! I'm guessing the duck thing was a joke at the time. We've seen the video, now we get the studio performance, they're lively but it's obvious they were trying to get a formula going, and there's only one The Power.
ReplyDeleteJase is dumper-bound (aside from his Lloyd Webber collaboration) with this nondescript effort from SAW's bottom drawer. Even his hair looks disappointed, though he elicits a scream or two from the fans.
Maureen with a repeat performance of the Chic and the Sisters classic, adding nothing but a plodding beat and David Baddiel back for the rap. I was distracted by the bloke with his arm in a huge cast hurrying one of the audience away.
Breakers, not enough to really form an opinion, but was that the Glenn Medeiros record featured on the Juke Box Jury revival that spurred one of the cringiest moments in TV history where the panel hooted with laughter at it, then he was brought on with a face like a slapped arse to, er, face the music? God, Del Amitri were such whingers.
Bob Geldof trying to channel The Pogues on this one, with a "More Irish than thou" bonus of his little dancing friend. Eh, it's OK, he certainly did a lot of publicity for it, but you can hear why it was aptly named when the song didn't hit the heights of The Boomtown Rats.
Why bother doing a cover of All the Young Dudes when you're never going to better the original? Even Bruce looks angry about his choices in the video.
Maxi Repriest (?!), another song you couldn't get away from, then Elton still not doing Healing Hands in the second repeat in a row.
Finally, Poison with such a stupid rawk tune that it's quite amusing, no idea what they meant by the title, but I suppose we can guess (not about Weight Watchers, then?). Curious lack of laydeez in the video, just a couple of cartoons, so their antics are wasted on the camera crew.
Can you imagine if Turbo-D didn't catch the duck from Gary Davies at the start of the show? Would they have had to do another take?
DeleteTHX, I just had to check online - the "Juke Box Jury" track which got slammed was a later duet with Ray Parker Jr. called "All I'm Missing Is You" which made number 32 in the States. In the show, host Jools Holland (he was everywhere even then) calls him Glenn Mederios and panelist Alan "Fluff" Freeman refers to him as "that Spanish bloke" when Glenn's of Portuguese ancestry.
DeleteThanks, Arthur - ignorance is no excuse, I suppose!
DeleteNo ignornace there, THX. I'm just a very inquisitive type!
DeleteSnap - Interesting to see a change in female personnel since the more successful debut hit The Power. The new girl here on Oops Up was sexier (and shorter) than the previous girl, so was it a case of Turbo-D wanting to boost the sex appeal of Snap, and at the same time wanting someone much sorter than him in order to keep himself as the main character by stature at least? Good Lord, I would have loved to be in on the thought process, considering that the first girl on The Power didn't do a bad job at all?
ReplyDeleteDouble Trouble - did they fire The Rebel MC? Clearly he was not welcome on this one, in order to clear the way for a smoother ballad a la the Rose Royce original from 1978 reaching No.2 in that year. Well this was nowhere near as good as Royce Royce, nor the Jimmy Nail cover in 1985 that got to No.3. As Angelo correctly says, this Double Trouble cover could only reach No.21 at its peak.
Glenn Madeiros feat Bobby Brown - I did find it surprising to see Madeiros in Bobby Brown music style, considering that the only time he was in the British charts prior to this was two years earlier in 1988 as an 18-year old romantic on the beach with his gigantic summer No.1 record Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You. Certainly I don't recall this new collaboration with Brown, but even more surprised to see Maderios in this dance music style!
Bob Geldof - good to see Geldof back to his Irish roots. He seemed much happier and relaxed in his native environment and its music. Compare this with his persona in The Boomtown Rats and Band Aid as an intense uptight person, I much prefer this new solo one with his pre-Riverdance male dancers, especially the short waiter/butler with the shirt-and-bow tie on the stage with him!
Having checked, it turns out Glenn Medeiros did have one other (minor) UK chart entry. The follow-up to his chart topper, called "Long And Lasting Love", peaked at number 42.
DeleteJust saw the video for Long And Lasting Love, and it was a bit like a Neighbours theme tune! OK, seriously, it seems to be a sequel to Nothings Gonna Change My Love For You, but this time we get to see the girl's face, as in Nothings Gonna.... we don't see her face, just the back of her. Anyway, surprised that it only got to No.42 considering it was the follow up to a huge No.1 in the UK in 1988.
DeleteA Trades Description Act rip-off at the start by Gaz, saying there are six acts on the show. He means six studio acts, but three are repeats or (for Mr. Donovan) Open All Hours-style recordings. Don’t buy a house off this man.
ReplyDeleteSuperb throw and catch of that bath duck, mind you, which Turbo uses throughout to comic effect so well done there. Snap already with four times as many dance routines as Big Fun – remember them?
You can’t polish a turd, unless it’s encased in amber, so poor Jase had no chance with that plodding track, easily his worst thus far, which seemed to change key at random points. I bet he hated Craig McLachlan at that time.
NO NO NO, Gaz, Maureen was here a couple of weeks back! Oh dear, that idiot’s back to (c)rap on this. I’d use that walking stick to whack some sense into him.
Great, a second pointless cover in a row, Double Trouble trying to channel Soul II Soul but it was more like Next II Useless. Jimmy Nail walks all over this version.
Glenn Medeiros turns into the Hispanic Bobby Brown. Just what we wanted.
Next, quite possibly the most dreary and depressing video of the re-run. The Scots have a word for this – dreich. The blue sky was completely out of context with the miserable faces and dreary tune. MTV must have had this happy little gem on rotation.
How times change. Bob Geldof’s band would now be called The Vegans Of Love. I was indifferent to this song (see what I did there?) though Bob seemed relaxed and happy. The tune did remind me in parts of “Centerfold” by the J. Geils Band. Shame the cameras panned on the band when it was Action Man Legs’ turn, but Bob did point to him as a thank you at the end.
Brucie with a moody video to accompany Del Amitri’s depressing effort. Karoake cover, but nice blanket throw and mic grab there.
Two non-tonight studio repeats before we get to some self-loving catwalk “Confessions Of A Rock Band” metal. I know Cyndi Lauper released a single called “She Bop” about, ahem, female self-pleasuring so maybe this was a new take on the theme. Not that I wanted to hear this drivel in the first place. Poison indeed.
With all the interest in Glen Madeiros, he got to No.1 in America only two weeks later in July 1990 with this Bobby Brown collaboration. Stayed at the top spot for two weeks on the Billboard charts!
DeleteNot much new this week
ReplyDeleteJason donovan - “straight in at 21”? “Crawled in” more like. Sounded like it was played at 33 (for those who remember vinyl singles)
Breakers:
Double Trouble - fairly straight ‘dancification’ of the Rose Royce original
Glenn Mederious with Bobby Brown - new contender for worst Bobby Brown track...
Del Amitri - I think I know why he moved away. Dull...
Bob Geldoff - bob does the Chieftains. I didn’t mind it... [ref comments - as mentioned, pre Riverdancing, but Gary does call it that, so how’s that work?]
Poison - poison do Aerosmith. Best thing tonight, but a very low bar.
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DeleteI can thoroughly recommend Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema from BBC4 tonight, about pop movies - it's on the iPlayer if you missed it. Loads of stuff analysed, from A Hard Day's Night, SpiceWorld and Viva Las Vegas to Head, Rocketman and Breaking Glass. Even Never Too Young to Rock and Gonks Go Beat! If you have a favourite, it was probably mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAnyone have any favourite rock or pop movies here?
Streets Of Fire from 1984 is my all time favourite Rock/Pop movie, with full musical score by Jim Steinman. It did much better in America, but did release a couple of singles in Britain, most notably Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young (only got to No.67), but which had a superb video to boot:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eln48BCELk
Top Gun soon after in 1986 with Berlin's Take My Breath Away is my next best, and I would say that the 70s & 80s were by far the best for rock/pop movies.
w, never too young to rock... I saw that in the cinema as I was a fan of the Glitter Band (don’t say anything). I remember it also had Slik before they were famous with a song about Punks. The best ‘reality’ film was Slade in Flame. A hard hitting film similar to Stardust...
DeleteJust watched - excellent. Interesting that’ll be the day/stardust didnt get a mention, nor Sting. Not to mention one of the most famous pop films to bomb - Sgt Pepper (and All This and World War 2j
DeleteConfessions of a Pop Performer anyone? Featuring the legendary Kipper!!
Delete@charlie: I suppose they couldn't mention everything in just one hour, but Stardust was a surprising omission. No Quadrophenia, either! Or Tommy - but Roger Daltrey in the all-time bizarre Lisztomania was! Pink Floyd The Wall would have been worth a bit. Thought Backbeat or That Thing You Do would have been given a nod too, given Kermode's a big fan. But I'm quibbling, it was a great show.
Delete@Sct: Now you're talking! They did do a bit on Confessions of a Window Cleaner for the Brit comedy last week, though, so maybe they were Askwithed out.
DeleteYou'll be pleased to know that you can watch all the Confessions of...series of films free of charge on Amazon Video if you are subscribed to their Amazon Prime service. They look very outdated though 45 years on!
DeleteI have a soft spot for the Confessions films, they have a terrible reputation but some of their jokes make me laugh, plus there's the "nostalgia porn" of seeing all those incredibly 1970s streets, brands, cars, actors, etc.
DeleteActually, I think Never Too Young to Rock is on Amazon Prime too...
Wow, never too young to rock... I saw that in the cinema as I was a fan of the Glitter Band (don’t say anything). I remember it also had Slik before they were famous with a song about Punks. The best ‘reality’ film was Slade in Flame. A hard hitting film similar to Stardust...
ReplyDeleteThat was a fine programme by Mark Kermode, as was the previous edition on British comedy. I'm guessing that Slik song was "The Kid's A Punk" which got a TOTP airing to no avail.
DeleteI always wondered how Kermode can make a decent living in that job, as I can't imagine it pays well considering he has essentially taken over from Barry Norman's legacy as film critic for the BBC.
Delete@Dory: Kermode is freelance, so also works for The Observer, The BFI, Scala Radio, and so on. But I don't think you become a film critic to be rich!
Delete@Arthur: The Slik song in Never Too Young to Rock was The Boogiest Band in Town, I'd be very surprised if you remembered that one...
DeleteThere's a similar film called Side By Side starring Terry-Thomas that has Fox in it.
Boogiest band is on the soundtrack album, but I thought The kids a punk was also in the film. I know that there were more songs in the film than on soundtrack - I think a marc bolan track was also in film. Mind you, it was 45 years ago, so I could be wrong :-)
DeleteI think "The Boogiest Band In Town" was Slik's second flop single before "Forever And Ever" made the chart.
Deleteanyone who manages to get a gig working for the beeb is hardly likely to be selling big issues!
Deletehas anyone mentioned "catch us if you can" yet? a cash-in in the popularity of the beatles films, where their "rivals" the dave clarke five also played themselves. however unlike the fab four who were portrayed as equals, in the film (like in real life) DC5 very much had a food chain - with clarke as the head honcho, singer mike smith as second banana, and the rest as bottom feeders
Deletei remember watching it in my early teens and realising the above hierarchy, as there was a scene where the band being asked to do something risky: first clarke stands up and volunteers, followed by smith. and then the guitarist (who had caught my eye thanks to his blond hair) starts to do likewise... only to be informed rather brusquely "we don't need anyone else"!
Yeah, I saw the Dave Clark film as a teenager and wondered why it was so bloody miserable! It really is a film disillusioned with showbiz. Dave goes off on his own for a lot of it, well, accompanied by Barbara Ferris as an advertising model. One of the grimmest party scenes ever!
DeleteI’m late and having watched this through there was very little that tickled my fancy so I won’t do a full review.
ReplyDeleteHighlights were Bruce (you can’t keep a good song down, and this was the only cover I liked on this show) and of course Elton John. I really think putting ‘Healing Hands’ as a double A was an afterthought – it’s not featured on any Greatest Hits packages and doesn’t stick in the mind like ‘Sacrifice’. Oh and Bob Geldof seemed a million miles away from the likes of ‘Looking after No1’ etc.
I have to disagree Sct353. In my opinion Healing Hands is a far superior tune to Sacrifice, and one of Eltons' finest songs. The double A was clearly a way of getting both of last years flop singles into the Top 40. I bought it for Hands, don't think I ever flipped it over as Sacrifice was on the radio constantly.
DeleteA very tanned GD this week. Nice bit of duck business at the start to introduce SNAP! following up The Power with a reworking of Oops Up! Very odd cover this but it works well and a great fun performance. I like it when rap/dance music takes a risk and this one pays off.
ReplyDeleteJD is back with probably his best tune from his second album. I've always quite liked this one. Very blonde floppy hair this time...Adam Rickett is watching. Dancing on "thin" Ice at the moment is our Jason... but for how long?
Maureen (oh Bomb The Bass Maureen!) back with the non-spotify tune "Thinking of You" (would happily put this on the playlist). Could still do without speccy-rap-man.
Breakers:
Double Trouble: another cover from a dance/rap band. I see a theme developing here..
Bobby and Glenn: The song ain't worth it. And Glenn has got hip!
Del Amitri: Less memorable but OK I suppose. May have to give this a full listen.
Bob Geldof has gone all Irish folk. Lord help us. Hated this in 1990. My opinion hasn't changed at all seeing this. The Vegetarians of Love? Hardly rock and roll Bob. Never has a song been better named though...
Bruce going solo cos The Maiden wouldn't touch this poor cover version. Trying way too hard to sound like Bowie here.
A couple of repeats from Maxi Priest and the seriously long dreads, followed by Elton Piano John. Can we have Healing Hands next week please…
Knebworth 90...Wow I remember that. Recorded most of it on tape and listened again and again. Trying to remember who was there now. Gonna have to google it!
Now you either love "unskinny bop" or you hate it...bloody fabulous if you ask me! Lots of fun.
Great show tonight.
Gary was always well-tanned. My abiding memory of Adam Rickett was Gilbert and George perving over him on The Graham Norton Show (Channel 4 version). It was kind of uncomfortable.
Delete