It's so hot in here - it's the 12th of July 1990 edition of Top of the Pops!
Making a splash
12-7-90: Presenter: Anthea Turner
(35) GUN – Shame On You
Fresh from supporting the Rolling Stones to get the show underway but the song only went up two more places.
(27) RIVER CITY PEOPLE – California Dreamin’
The hippy revivalists make their studio debut and this Mommas & Poppas cover became their biggesst hit when it peaked at number 13.
(34) BLUE PEARL – Naked In The Rain
Also making their studio debut with what became their only top ten hit when it peaked at number 4.
(13) GLENN MEDEIROS feat. BOBBY BROWN – She Ain’t Worth It (video)
Went up one more place.
(38) THUNDER– Gimme Some Lovin’
Flying into the studio from Los Angeles to perform this Spencer Davies Group cover and it went up two more places.
(28) THE SOUP DRAGONS feat. JUNIOR REID – I’m Free
This Rolling Stones song gets the Madchester treatment and became the Soup's only top ten hit when it peaked at number 5.
(4) THE STONE ROSES – One Love (video)
Straight in at number four but it got no higher.
(1) ELTON JOHN – Sacrifice ®
Fourth of five weeks at number one.
(26) TECHNOTRONIC feat. YA KID K – Rockin’ Over The Beat (video) (and credits)
Became their third of four top ten hits when it peaked at number 9.
July 19th is next.
A much better show this one, and don't you just love the picture on the top of this blog, with Blue Pearl looking so good! I would rather have her open the show than Gun.
ReplyDeleteRiver City People - I just about remember this one, but don't remember the group, so to see River City People reviving The Mamas & Papas classic (check your spelling Angelo lol) was quite refreshing, especially the pretty lead singer, where the song suited her look so well. I wonder what the Mamas & Papas thought of The River City People?
Glenn Madeiros feat Bobby Brown - I feel this was a Bobby Brown song in style, so I still can't imagine Madeiros singing on it, let alone having the lead vocal, with Brown only on at the end for the rapping part, cos of Madeiros's previous hit in the UK as a romantic teenager on the beach with his new love. Suffice to say that this new collaboration with Bobby brown got to No.1 in the USA on the same week as this TOTP slot in July 1990, so something must have worked well here!
Thunder - flying in specially from America for TOTP? Good Lord, when did they fly back? They couldn't have had other UK invitations over the coming week, so it could have been a short roundtrip back home!
The Soup Dragons feat Junior Reid - best song on the show for me, as I remember singing along to it throughout the summer of 1990, let alone July! The Junior Reid section was so cool, with an overall mix of indie and reggae as a clever idea by The Soup Dragons. Check out the brilliant video!
Technotronic feat Ya Kid K - good layout this week, and I just loved the black & white old movie footage. I can't imagine that the original TOTP broadcast in 1990 had this much of the playout. Anyone know?
I would have thought the first and last the surviving Mamas and Papas thought of River City People was when they cashed the royalties cheque.
Deletei think michelle phillips always did well enough beyond the mamas and papas not to worry about royalty cheques arriving thanks to cover versions. however i suspect long-time junkie john could have done with the dough at that point though!
Deleteby coincidence i have just watched an episode of "the incredible hulk" which guest-starred a then-young woman with a pock-marked face i was not familar with, billed as mckenzie phillips. i looked her up on IMDB afterwards to discover she was john's daughter (which was probably why she was cast to play the rock star in it!). and as a result of looking at john's wiki page, i have now also discovered that she alledged he had a decade-long incestuous relationship with her! well, you learn something new every day...
Yes, I mentioned the Phillips incest scandal on a previous posting, when Wilson Phillips were on. Bleh. Mackenzie's best known for playing the youngest teenage girl in American Graffiti.
Deletesorry thx, i missed that (i am being somewhat selective about what i read here these days). it's strange to think that despite being one of the worst offenders when it came to sex and drugs and rock and roll, john phillips was actually several years older than both my parents (who were in their 20's in the 60's, and who to my knowledge never took an illegal drug in their lives) and most if not all the rock stars of that era. in fact, even older than bill wyman ha ha
DeleteScots putting on American accents Part 1: Gun, actually sounding as if they were aspiring to be INXS on this one. Other than that, ho-hum bog standard rock of the kind that was quickly becoming obsolete.
ReplyDeleteSiobhan from River City People was a TV presenter for a while, but I don't know where she is now. Is this hit's placing in June the reason a lot of people think California Dreamin' is a summer song when it is in fact a winter song? Anyway, they don't do a tremendous amount with it, so another to consign to the lacklustre covers of 1990 file.
I never bought into the Blue Pearl song, for one thing it sounds more uncomfortable than anything and for another it had pretty horrible, clunky production on it. The singer performs as if she believes every word, but I didn't. Never got the appeal. Dancing naked: "Not everything stops when the music does".
I had totally forgotten this Glenn/Bobby track did so well. I had totally forgotten it full stop.
Lacklustre cover time again, with Thunder chugging through the Spencer Davis favourite, only with an unconvincing guitar solo halfway through. They seem to be enjoying themselves, but this defines the word "unnecessary". Not sure about that T-shirt, either.
Scots putting on American accents Part 2: The Soup Dragons, accompanied by Junior Reid who is so busy dancing he forgets he has a bit to mime. Veering close to lacklustre cover, this was more acceptable because hardly anyone remembered the Stones version. "I'm a new creation" says the invisible backing singer. They couldn't get arrested with their original material, of course.
Stone Roses with a variation on the guitar funk of Fool's Gold and a video that looks like it was filmed through linoleum. It's OK, but they were never my favourites at the time.
Not Sacrifice again! Was there no video for Healing Hands at all?!
To end on, another record that slipped my memory, and it's not too bad, quite fun with a sweet chorus amid the rapping. The video is very uninspired, raiding the footage libraries yet again.
There certainly was a video for Healing Of Hands. I distinctly remember that The ITV Chart Show featured the Healing Of Hands video while Elton was at No.1:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_US2ZIbVih0
Don't know why TOTP didn't give the two songs equal play over the 5 weeks at No.1. I mean they had Elton doing Sacrifice in the TOTP studio anyway, so he may as well also have done Healing of Hands while he was there, and they could have show the Hands studio performance on a different week at No.1!
Yes, Siobhan of RCP was indeed a tv presenter and for a long time I had some footage of her doing children's tv continuity on BBC1 or 2 during the morning in Summer '87. Introducing 'Model World' with Bob Symes! I remember well a) because she was very fanciable and b) because the camera switched to her after the program and she was staring into space for a while! Maybe thinking of pop stardom.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, I remember what she'd done before and being very taken with her when I first saw her with her band on totp.
Bob Symes! You just knew he was planning his own militia somewhere.
DeleteTalking of models, didn't Siobhan present The Clothes Show as well?
I was also taken with her Mic1,2,1,2, so that makes two of us lol. I didn't think that anyone was as pretty as Michelle Phillips on the Mamas & Papas videos, but Siobhan comes a very close second!
DeleteChanging "Scots putting on American accents" to "Americans with Scottish sounding names" - Blue Pearl's chanteuse was the LA-born and Hebridean-sounding Durga McBroom!
DeleteAnthea on half decent form but wearing a dreadful outfit sponsored by Trebor Refreshers.
ReplyDeleteShame on you, Gun! File under Very Simple Minds.
I always mix up River City People with The Little River Band, but the latter did at least write their own songs rather than do a second rate karaoke version of an old classic.
Blue Pearl with a “cover me in ecstasy” rave classic. Personally, I thought this was a cut above the rest of its genre and a pearl indeed. Peak of the week.
Glenn Medeiros again? FFS, FF.
Just to show it isn’t only dance acts or triphops or baggies who take on iconic songs and do crap cover versions. A friend of a friend of mine, a very good all round musician, got asked to play keyboards on tour with Thunder for four weeks about 20 years ago and got paid £26,000. I’m in the wrong job.
I HATE that Soup Dragons cover with a passion. A complete clanger - see what I did there?
King Arsehole Mouth (which his mates replicate in their mugshot) with a totally unremarkable noise. This mumbling racket was in at 4? Was the testcard number 3?
Can we PLEASE have “Healing Hands” now? This is a double A-side after all. Even Billy Bragg’s inferior A-side to a dreadful Wet Wet Wet charity cover version got an airing.
We finish with an old school black and whte video for a now dated black and white ‘will this do’ semi-rave effort. Paint drying and all that.
What about Billy Joel's The River Of Dreams? That one is still to come in 1993. Or Yellow River by Christie in 1970? If you're looking for group names, not song titles, I can't think of any other groups with River in them than the ones already mentioned.
DeleteRiver detectives - chains 1989 51 - scraping the barrel here...
DeleteApparently The Soup Dragons weren't named after the Clangers' pal, they were named after the ladies who ladled out the soup in the soup kitchens many decades before. Postgate and Firmin presumably were similarly inspired for their character.
DeleteAs far as I know there's no band called The Iron Chickens.
https://www.facebook.com/TheIronChicken/
Delete:-)
I might have known! Anyone brave enough to call their band The Tiny Clangers?
DeleteHi Dory, There was a late '60s San Francisco area band called 'Mad River'. Very heavy and noodly and not really worth investigating. Also there was Ken Colyer's 'Crane River Jazz Band' a very influential act in their own way who were playing trad jazz in Britain as early as 1949.
ReplyDeleteMuch better than the last edition which goes seriously Zeitgeisty for a short period in the 2nd half. Being Top of the Pops of course it can't be like that all the way through byt still a very entertaining half an hour. Anthea wearing something coloured in with crayons it seems.
ReplyDeleteGun; I presume this is the same Gun that covered 'Word Up' four years later. It sounds like them. Liked that. Not into this. I'll stick with 'Race With The Devil' for a good Gun toting number.
River City People; Gosh yes. I remember this. A definite crush that summer and I did recognise her as the smiley, bubbly woman that helmed BBC1's morning shows for children a few summers before. The band were lucky indeed to have her fronting them singing with the same huskiness as Julianne Regan. Um, did anyone else here think of Catherine Bach?
The cover is nice enough but TMATP are for me one of pop's most perfect sounds so this remake could never be much in comparison. Very pleasant anyhow. Hope Siobhan's still singing. Now for this morning's edition of 'Silas'.
Blue Pearl; Classic dance track that could be released tomorrow and still sound exciting and current. The video had that environmental apocayptic theme that would really resonate today. Like another song on here, this was a mainstay on 'The ITV Chart Show' for weeks so it's good to skip the video and see them in the studio. Was that the single's producer Youth part drumming and part mugging there? Brilliant single.
Glenn and Bobby; Was that really worth repeating? A video that's more or less the same as 1,346 others from the time.
Tune ok I guess. Sounds like a rough blueprint for 'I Love Your Smile' by Shanice. Would be a plus point if I hadn't heard that about 1,356 times during one year.
Thunder; Proof that an unruinable song can be resolutely ruined, here's Thunder to scream and grind charmlessly to a classic from 1966.
A truly great version of this, understandably so, is by Traffic on the 'Welcome To The Canteen' album and captured live to glorious communal effect on the 'Glastonbury Fayre' movie.
The Soup Dragons feat Junior Reid; This was absolutely everywhere that Summer and wouldn't have been close to being on enough for my nearly 15 year old self. I still love that wah wah solo!
I think they were originally of the C86 scene which would make them definate bandwaggon jumpers but whatever. Another favourite from that Summer.
The Stone Roses; Whoah! What's with all this hyper trendiness all of a sudden!
The Roses finally grace Totp with a video and a super cool and iconic one it is. The only thing more exciting to watch than Reni grooving is Reni grooving out of synch! I know it's no one's favourite one of theirs but I think it's great and another video relentlessly played on 'The Chart Show' for a while.
Oh if only they kept it up for a tiny bit more.
Elton John; And to earth. Would like to see 'Healing Hands' instead but this is fine. Strange how certain things you just never forget, however trivial. The couple swaying slowly on the circular platform above is such a vivid memory.
Technotronic feat Ya Kid K; A show with some seriously up to the minute content gets rounded off with a video that looks like it's stuck in early 1988. At least Ya Kid is singing this time rather than rapping inane cliches but it's another unworthy show closer. Some grown men dressed as turtles said hello.
RIP Charlotte Cornwell who has died aged 71.
ReplyDeleteMember of the Rock Follies trio who had a No10 hit with 'OK!' in 1977, despite little promotion by the BBC as I recall. I'm sure when Julie Covington did her interview when she had that No1 with 'Don't cry for me Argentina' but didn't perform it they asked her what she was doing, and she said 'Rock Follies'. Probably didn't go down well with the powers that be promoting an ITV show on prime time BBC! Anyway, that episode has sadly been wiped.
I thought 'OK!' was a pretty decent single.
Yes, RIP Charlotte, she was the middle one in the "how well could they sing?" rankings on Rock Follies (Julie was top). Funny how she didn't really build on that success, but maybe she didn't want to. Good to have one hit on the CV, at least.
DeleteGun - quite liked it, but they sounded like somebody else - as usual will need to sleep on it.
ReplyDeleteRiver City People - I was reading an article recently that reckoned a recording is only a ‘cover version’ if released at the same as the original, and that a later recording is ‘a new version of’ - not sure that applies if the ‘new version’ is almost a clone of the original.
Blue Pearl - liked this at the time, and still liked it now. Only comment, it sounded a little flatter than I remember...
Thunder - another cover/new version that is outstripped by the original.
Soup Dragons - and yet another cover, although this at least felt a bit different to the Stones version. Lose points for the rapping! Their earlier stuff is better - this feels like a jump on the ‘baggy’ bandwagon. [pre posting reading comments - Mic also mentions bandwagonning]
Stone Roses - feels like a cover of Fool’s Gold, but I confess to liking this. [pre post reading of comments - THX also spots Fool’s Gold vibe]
Technotronic - and in keeping with tonight’s theme, feels like a cover of Pump Up The Beat
Anthea….that outfit!!! Otherwise, a much better hosting effort than Nicky Campbell the previous week.
ReplyDelete(Selected reviews)
Not the ‘Race with the Devil’ Gun…couldn’t they think of another name? Rifle or Pistol perhaps?
Riverside People – California Dreamin’ – Nice cover without matching the majesty of the original.
Blue Pearl – Naked in the Rain – Yeah Durga, this is certainly different from the likes of ‘Us and Them’ and ‘Money’! I think she was still touring with Gilmour on his ‘Rattle that Lock’ tour a few years back.
Thunder – Gimmie some lovin’ Well the lead singer is no Stevie Winwood is he? The original popped up on the ‘Notting Hill’ soundtrack a few years later.
Stone Roses – One Love – Agree with Arthur…seems to mumble on every track. Five minutes of fame surely coming to an end? Maybe not quite…another no2 hit to come. Anyway, this one reminds me of a previous hit.
Elton John – Sacrifice – Lots of love for the other side of this double A but I really don’t recall ‘Healing Hands’ being played much at all, and Elton didn’t bother to put it on any of his hits albums.
Anthea this week in messy shirt/short combo. How 1990 does she look?
ReplyDeleteIs this the first appearance for Gun? Couldn't name any of their songs but remember them being around a bit. This is an OK listen, if instantly forgettable. I'm tapping my feet. This might grow on me.
But First This was the summer holiday BBC kids format from 88-92 and one of the presenters was River City Person Siobhan. Loved that format..and I love this tune, it's a classic and this is a decent version as they don't mess with it much.
But First This of course the launch pad for the BBC music programme The O Zone.
Blue Pearl. Now this is a quality dance tune that still sounds freah today. Absolutely loved this at the time. Quite a striking look as well from Ms Pearl. Join you dancing naked in the rain. Happy to oblige. No wonder the keyboard player is smiling, he's got the best view in the house.
Glenn! Again! Did they pay for this video or something?. I'm in serious danger of liking this song.. help me…
Thunder bring some heavy metal and some serious hair to the studio. Sure this Is a cover? Great stuff. Enjoyed that.
Killer going back up the chart!
"I'm Free" very much the summer sound of 1990 and John Inman nowhere to be seen. This is an absolutely awesome tune. Bloody brilliant. Still on my summer playlist today. Clap along now…
Stone Roses get a massive top ten hit with the kind of dreary noise that really turned me off them, give me the Inspirals or Charlatans and day.
Shame Pavva couldn't knock Elton off the top but we get Sacrifice again…..move on now please.
My favourite Technotronic song to play out. Back to the can't be bothered videos though.
Another good show.
In full agreement regarding Blue Pearl, check out the video for full rain effect. The Soup Dragons was the song of the summer in 1990, played just about everywhere on people's summer holidays, worldwide hit I would imagine. Brilliant stuff, including Junior Reid of course!
Delete