We have a house where I am your 7th of March 1991 edition of Top of the Pops!
Hair-ppy
7-3-91: Presenter: Nicky Campbell
(10) HALE & PACE & THE STONKERS – The Stonk
Getting us underway this year's Comic Relief record and it turned the duo into one hit wonders.
(20) ROCKY V feat. JOEY B. ELLIS & TYNETTA HARE– Go For It (Heart And Fire) (video)
At its peak.
(21) QUARTZ introducing DINA CARROLL – It’s Too Late
This Carole King cover was the only top ten hit for Quartz but the first of four for Dina Carroll when it peaked at number 8.
(14) LIVING COLOUR – Love Rears It’s Ugly Head (video)
Went up two more places.
(16) NED’S ATOMIC DUSTBIN – Happy
Making their studio debut with this britgrunge song that became their first of five top 40 hits but it got no higher than number 16.
(5) GEORGE MICHAEL – Freedom (video) (Album Chart)
From his number one album Listen Without Prejudice Volume 1.
(4) ELTON JOHN – Healing Hands (video) (Album Chart)
From his number one album The Very Best Of Elton John.
(3) CHRIS ISAAK – Wicked Game (video) (Album Chart)
The title track from his number 3 album.
(2) GLORIA ESTEFAN – Coming Out Of The Dark (video) (Album Chart)
From her number 2 album Into The Light.
(1) QUEEN – Innuendo (video) (Album Chart)
The title track from their number one album.
(7) XPANSIONS – Move Your Body
A repeat showing but the song wnet up no higher.
(18) ROXETTE – Joyride
In the studio tongith to perform what became their fourth of six top ten hits when it peaked at number 4.
(1) THE CLASH – Should I Stay Or Should I Go (video)
First of two weeks at number one.
(15) THE CHARLATANS – Over Rising (video) (and credits)
Got no higher.
March 14th is next.
Joey B Ellis & Tynetta Hare - the first of the videos on this show, and at peak position now for the Rocky V theme. Boxing was at its peak even in Britain in 1991, with Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Michael Watson all in the mix for world title fights in the middleweight division, and I remember at the time that boxing was was one of the main sports on the news that year, and much more than it is featured nowadays on the main TV channels.
ReplyDeleteXPansions - moving their bodies again, and with this repeat of the TOTP appearance a couple of weeks earlier, we missed the edited end with the main singer doing a full tumble/stretch on the last note, as we did see on the 21st Feb show.
Maybe TV doesn't celebrate boxing so much anymore is because it's been exposed as hugely corrupt?
DeleteAlso it's never been the same since the similarly aged rival BBC and ITV commentators, i.e., Harry Carpenter and Reg Gutteridge resigned, and both passing away around 2009-2010, leaving it all to the satellite channels with no characters as commentators, but rather ex-boxers like Barry McGuigan and others who did not have the same pull with the TV audiences.
DeleteHale and Pace kick off the tradition of the comedy charity single that's not funny, sort of The Chicken Song without the satirical intent. They do say all comedians want to be rock stars, or they do post-1980 anyway. Very strange backing dancers.
ReplyDeleteAfter the tune-free Rocky V ad is on yet again, we get a Carole King cover that's quite respectable, probably because they don't mess with it too much. Dina looks very cheerful singing these lyrics of desolation, for some reason (she even misses her cue at one point because she's enjoying herself so much). Don't know where she is now, but what I most remember about her is her huge mouth.
Living Colour again, then with a name taken from The Goon Show it's greebo rockers Ned's Atomic Dustbin with a tune that always sounded weirdly downbeat to me, at odds with their name. Still, I've heard worse, and it is the one song of theirs that seems to have lasted.
Didn't buy any of those albums, must admit.
A repeat of Xpansions and their aerobics workout, then boring old Roxette once again posing as a hard rockin' outfit with the blandest thing on the menu. Gets a bit Kaiser Bill's Batman in places.
The Clash make it to the top off the back of a jeans commercial, the sell-outs, then to lift our spirits it's The Charlatans with a very silly video that is quite amusing, for a song that everyone forgets about (including me). As often with their early stuff, it's the organ that lifts it.
Chart rundown -
ReplyDeleteNo.22 Mantronix - very unfortunate not to get invited onto TOTP this week climbing from No.39 on the Breakers the previous week. Considering that TOTP only went down to No.21 for performances on this weeks show, with Dina Carrol only just making it on the show at No.21. Unfortunately for Mantronix they went down the week after, and ended up not getting on the show even at a peak of No.22.
No.39 The Dream Warriors - Ludi.
Only one week in the chart, and then straight out of the Top 40, so no chance to make it onto the show.
Compare this to the first week of June when we get there - the singles at numbers 41 and 42 get studio outings!
ReplyDeleteYou'd have to go back to the early 80s for that sort of thing, and when TOTP was a 40-minute show, when you could branch out a bit more. Go back further to the late 70s, and songs in the 50-60 section of the charts, labelled as new releases, would often open the show!
DeleteFast forward to 1991, on a 30 minute show, and this week they could only feature songs down to No.21 with Dina Carrol due to the tight 30-minute constraints. No wonder the viewing figures were lower from 1985 onwards when the show became 30-minutes for the next 21 years until it closed down in 2006.
Three singles that peaked outside the Top 40 this week were by successful 80s artists and Top 40 regulars:
ReplyDeleteNo.44 My Side Of The Bed - Susanna Hoffs
Never knew that Hoffs took up a solo career after the Bangles split up in 1989. Couldn't resist checking out the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnkdccMhEww
No.51 Anything Is Possible - Debbie Gibson
First single since 1989, and best video to date, but by 1991 it seems the public could not identify with her as a Top 40 performer, and she was still only 20 years old at this point! Worth checking out the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS0_RqBQc50
No.56 Mad About You - Sting
Journeying to Morocco for his new story of love, and first indication of his love for North African beats, that would later surface in 1999 with the hugely successful worldwide hit Desert Rose. Back to this new single in 1991, it’s another great and expensive video that went nowhere it seems:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtYzo0OLXs
Come to think of it, the titles of these three songs could be combined into one lovefest!
DeleteConsidering how popular The Bangles were it's amazing that Ms Hoffs solo career never took off.
DeleteA fan of the Sting tune as well.
Last time I saw Susannah in a musical capacity was when she was in the end credits of Austin Powers! That was nearly 25 years ago...
DeleteThe irrating, over the top, shouty Soupy again, starting as he means to go on with a ridicuous first intro.
ReplyDeleteI can’t stand Hale and Pace. Another unfunny double act just like Little and Large or Cannon and Ball, but with an air of arrogant menace about them which made them even worse. “The Stonk” is shit.
It seems the same dick who kept putting FPI Project on likes the Rocky mishmash as well.
The toothpaste manufacturer’s dream Dina Carroll next, assisting Quartz with a half decent piece of supper soul.
I love that smouldering Living Colour song but I can see why others don’t like it. No apostrophe in “Its” in the title!
The Neds, another band from Wonder Stuff / Pop Will Eat Itself territory. Not a fan of this but it’s a change from the norm.
As I mentioned previously, the chart rundown gets tampered with and we still suffer the meaningless top five album slot taking up the room of another single. At least we heard a brief snippet of “Healing Hands”.
More earnest small stadium pop rock from Roxette.
It’s the chart topping mercenaries. The street cred principle of refusing to go on TOTP going up in smoke there, lads. Not that we know who you are as Soupy forgets to give you a namecheck at all.
Almost a ballad from The Charlatans at the end, and a highly unusual and interesting video. Shame we didn't see this again.
Haha....love the FPI Project comparison Arthur!
DeleteHale and pace - tripe!
ReplyDeleteLiving colour - still did nothing for me
Neds atomic dustbin - fairly standard indie pop track in the style of wedding present. To continue a theme from previous posting, it’s pleasant enough
Albums
Nothing new here…
Roxette - as I have said before, I like them, and this is the best thing so far
Charlatans - not one of their best, but head and shoulders above anything else this week
What an appalling couple of episodes…
Hale and Pace; How shall we start this edition. With something rollicking...and crap. I read in Wiki that they met at a teacher training college and this sounds just like an embarrassing routine that teachers do at the end of Christmas term assembly. They were still pushing the cat in the microwave routine about 3 years after it first broadcast. Was it that funny? Just a shame that they didn't grant a one off Totp appearance from Victoria Wood for the flip side's 'The Smile Song'. She was after all far more musical not to mention funnier than they ever were.
ReplyDeleteRocky V; No more.
Dina Carroll; A proper welcome to a homegrown soul/pop star who made some of the most charming singles of the era. A big crush for a while too I don't mind saying. This debut isn't the best of her but it's a good start and nice to be reminded of how little reverence there was for huge pop standards back then. Subtle dancey piano and someone gently hitting some pipes. I haven't a clue where she went but I hope she's doing well. She was such a great singer and a lovely personality.
Living Colour; One more play of this. It should've gone much higher. Fantastic song and production.
Ned's Atomic Dustbin; More sounds from the Stourbridge scene. John Penney doing his trademark ducking away from the mic stand after every line. Would love to have seen them live back in the day. I know they were good fun and their 'God Fodder' T shirts did some good trade. Prefer 'Intact' to this one though.
Once again the album charts. Cutting short whole singles to provide the service of informing people who aren't interested in going to the record shop up their street of what the best selling albums are.
At least their was a bit more of 'Innuendo'.
Xpansions; I really don't think that voice is hers. At least unlike Black Box it leaves you thinking that it could be.
Roxette; Back in the studio with 'the fun one'. But it is of course very stern and not something to laugh at. They did make it hard these two. Was the chorus of this inspired by The Doors 'Hello I Love You'?
The Clash; At No.1 which seems right. Even though it's far from their best. I thought Strummer's Mohican was a few years later.
Thought Nicky did a good job tonight btw.
The Charlatans; This is one I don't think I've heard a note of since March '91 and I know I liked it at the time. It's them at their most self consciously Rosesesque. It sounds like it was written solely to allow Tim Burgess to slowly nod his head about ala Mr. Brown. You can see why 'The Mary Whitehouse Experience' parodied him and Mark Gardener around this time. Good to revisit though. Ultra trendy. Was the clip of the band a live gig or a TV appearance?
Didn't Dina Carroll record a New Year single by Andrew Lloyd Webber which was obviously intended to be a New Year's staple like the Christmas songs you hear everywhere, so naturally nobody's heard it from that day to this?
DeleteEven ABBA's obscure New Year song gets played more.
Thanks THX, I was going to mention this but thought I'd waffled on enough. Do you mean 'The Perfect Year'? That's Webber and Don Black. I remember
Deleteher performing that live on Pebble Mill's 'Song For Christmas' in 1993. Dina was one of the judges and between the songs and the results she sang a belting live version of it then returned smiling to the judges' table. I've searched for it on YouTube but I can't find it. There is a clip of her singing it but it certainly isn't that programme. It is the Christmas music clip I would most like to see repeated. Should've been a new year standard.
*Sees Roxette on thumbnail. Immediately rates show 10/10
ReplyDelete**Hale and Pace opening act, that show rating looks a bit foolish.
Gareth Hale looking quite Rufus Hound here. This song was big in my school that year, by which I mean there was some sort of dance to it on Red Nose Day that year.
Ricky V and co - Again? At least turn up to the studio if you're going to be on twice in a row. It's as typical of the era as it was a couple of hours ago when I watched the previous episode.
Quartz - I can't get over how young Dina Carroll looks. She doesn't seem to he on any social media or anything these days. Hope she's happy whatever she's doing.
Living Colour - It's a bit of a dirge, innit? Also the caption people wrote 'it's' not 'its' although I don't know if the mistake is TOTP's or the band's.
Ned's - Always fun to have these guys around, even if their name and the lead singer's hair and dancing have remained more memorable than the songs themselves.
Albums - surprised it's June because this list screams Mother's Day.
Xpansions - one that's stuck around over the years despite - or maybe because of - being super repetitive.
Roxette - is Joyride my favourite Roxette song of all time? No. Is it my favourite opening line of any song ever? Absolutely, with Cerys Catatonia screaming 'I put horses' heads in people's beds cos I am the mob' a close second. And 'Rox you like a baby' gives me goosebumps every time still. I don't think they are as humourless as some commenters here think, certainly Per has a good sense of humour now. Though I am very conflicted about him recording songs as 'Per Gessle's Roxette/PG Roxette' such as the one on the Metallica covers album (I kid thee not). I know it's only the same as 'Queen plus AN other', or INXS keeping going etc but I don't feel great about those either. (I get that Roxette is a bigger brand than Per alone but... I dun like it). Anyway. Good to see them in the studio and I am very much looking forward to the 30th anniversary Joyride rerelease coming soon.
The Clash - see last week.
The Charlatans - not their best, perhaps, but I'll never turn this one off.
Overall quite a diverse episode.
Rocky V actually appeared on three shows in a row (not two): - first on the breakers, then next episode on the playout, then third episode as main feature, so shown three times in a row up to a peak of No.20 in the charts on the third showing.
DeleteSo they did!
Delete30th anniversary Joyride rerelease you say? Count me in!
DeleteAgain, been away so maybe writing this to nobody. Anyway a reasonable show in places (not including the host who doesn’t make me laugh). A few observations…
ReplyDeleteHale and Pace – The Stonk – Appalling really but a stellar line up including Brian May (who produced), Roger Taylor, Dave Gilmour, Judie Tzuke, Cozy Powell, Tommy Iommi, Mike ‘Rock Bottom’ Moran, Chris Thompson, Miriam Stockley (think backing vocals on ‘When you say nothing at all’)… what was all this talent doing on such a trite effort? Also, it was a double A side but never promoted as much and Victoria Wood missed out with ‘The Smile Song’ which didn’t feature all these stars.
Quartz introducing Dina Carroll – It’s too late – Carole King she ain’t but it’s not a bad effort. Her finest moment will come on one of Lloyd-Webber’s best scores.
Albums – No Madonna and ‘Vogue’ this time but the same end snatch of ‘Innuendo’. BTW everyone keeps lauding the fact that they showed ‘Healing Hands’ but it’s not even on the flippin’ CD that I have in my hands as I write this!!!!
Roxette – Joyride – Boy this is catchy – another US no1.
The Clash – Should I stay or should I go – Big relief this stayed and the Simpsons went!
You are writing to me at least 😂
DeleteComic Relief Time so here is the king of cheese Nicky C introducing HALE & PACE & THE STONKERS. The Stonk is (along with Right Said Fred) my favourite Comic Relief song, from back when they were actually funny. Some serious musicians chops here as well. Deserved Number One in a couple of weeks time. A very young Johnathan Ross there as well.
ReplyDeleteLove the microwave your pussycat line. Very controversial sketch from their ITV show at the time. 😂😂😂 Hale and Pace huge at the time, they were even in Doctor Who.
Don't be a plonker when you can be a stonker!
ROCKY V feat. JOEY B. ELLIS & TYNETTA HARE– Go For It (Heart And Fire)
Not again..sounds like Turtle Power to me.
QUARTZ introducing DINA CARROLL – It’s Too Late a quality song and a very chilled out groove from Quartz. Dina getting a kick up the charts in the process. Sounds so early 90s now.
This new countdown with only the climbers has speeded the show up a bit. I think I'm OK with it..
LIVING COLOUR – Love Rears It’s Ugly Head
Love, love, love
NED’S ATOMIC DUSTBIN – Happy
Well I'd forgotten all about this one. Big hair Indie Rock. Great band name as well. Song seriously missing a hook to make it memorable unfortunately. Forgotten it again already.
George has a video shocker!
I'd rather have the breakers than this Album Chart and the next repeat from XPANSIONS
.
ROXETTE – Joyride
From my favourite album of 1991. Wore the cassette out and had to replace it. Fabulous single. Lot of love for Rosette and Marie had a great voice. She's rather hot too...😜
Everybody whistle now….
THE CLASH – Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Fabulous number one.
THE CHARLATANS – Over Rising
Highest new entry relegated to the playout. Hardly fair. Mind you this is not one of their better tunes. Very average.