Those who find they're touched by madness sit down next to the 18th of April 1991 edition of Top of the Pops!
Budge up, Chesney!
18-4-91: Presenter: Jakki Brambles
(2) JAMES – Sit Down
Launching the show tonight but the song could go no higher.
(23) CHER – The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) (video)
From the movie Mermaids, this was to become her first of two solo number ones.
(19) ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK – Sailing On The Seven Seas
Back in the charts after a three year break, this became their sixth of seven top ten hits when it peaked at number 3.
(16) BLACK BOX – Strike It Up
In the studio but the song got no higher.
(15) THE CLASH – Rock The Casbah (video)
Had made number 30 in 1982, this time around it peaked at number 15.
(18) THE MOCK TURTLES – Can You Dig It?
A second studio performance but the song was now at its peak.
(37) ZZ TOP – My Head’s In Mississippi (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(34) GLORIA ESTEFAN – Seal Our Fate (video) (Breakers)
Went up ten more places.
(33) SILVER BULLET – Undercover Anarchist (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(30) TRANSVISION VAMP – (I Just Wanna) B With U (video) (Breakers)
Their final top 40 hit and it got no higher.
(28) PETE WYLIE & THE FARM – Sinful (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(22) ZUCCHERO & PAUL YOUNG – Sensa Una Donna (Without A Woman)
In the studio to perform what became Zucchero's one and only and Paul Young's seventh and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 4.
(1) CHESNEY HAWKES – The One And Only (video)
Fourth of five weeks at number one.
(7) THE SIMPSONS – Deep Deep Trouble (video) (and credits)
At its peak.
April 25th is next.
Black Box - second time on TOTP with this one, and Katrin looking smokin' hot in that gorgeous outfit full of style and panache on her perfect figure, but TOTP left out the intro again which is the best part of the song. Good Lord!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo3kp5BLF6Q
The Clash - follow-up to the No.1 Should I Stay Or Should I Go, we return to the original 1982 video for Rock The Casbah which had religious stereotypes drifting into fast food and alcohol on their way to a Clash Concert at The Colosseum. Still not sure what a Casbah is. Anyway if Jakki Brambles was correct about no Clash re-union at this stage, were we only to look forward to their 70s back-catalogue now in the 90s?
Chart rundown - The Shamen at peak position of No.29 this week were unlucky not to get a TOTP debut in the studio instead of having a Breakers section which took up the space of one single in full, as last week The Shamen were only on the playout on video as their first ever appearance on the show. We'll have to wait and see if their next single Move Any Mountain gets a TOTP studio appearance.
A casbah is an Arabic citadel, it became a word well known in the West after comedy impressionists parodied Charles Boyer starring in the film Algiers and always said "Come wiz me to ze Casbah!" Pepe le Pew used to say it too!
DeleteJames with that brutal edit of the single to fit in the big finish back again. They could have cut out the Breakers and we'd have the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteCher with her miming co-stars in the video taken from the film Mermaids, about as mild a romantic comedy drama as the 90s ever concocted. The song was a bit of an irritant, far too pleased with itself, but not Cher's last No 1, incredibly. Winona Ryder apparently hated doing this video and was really embarrassed by it.
OMD, and nice to see Andy's dancing has not improved. Reassuring, that. Anyway, good to have them back and about as poppy as they would get with this new material, this is good stuff and proved they still had what it takes.
Black Box, with a disco Nazi and Shaun Ryder on keyboards respectively. Whose brilliant idea was that? They could have saved on a salary by having microphone monster Katrin mime the rap, too. Anyway, their usual nothingy material, not sure why they were continuing to have hits.
The Clash with a video featuring a bit of lampooning at the expense of the Middle East crisis, thank goodness that's been sorted out safely since to everyone's satisfaction since, eh? Tune one of their poppier efforts, written by the drummer, of course.
Mock Turtles back, guitar solo cut off in its prime once again, but this time the director has noticed the benefits of including the keyboard player more.
Breakers are so brief, literally seconds long, that there's no point in mentioning them, just not enough to form an impression, aside from Gloria ripping off Janet Jackson.
Paul Young with Keith Lemon and their resolutely middle-aged hymn to being separated. The lyrics sound as if they have been shakily translated from Italian. "Look at me - I'm a flower!" Oh, THIS guy gets to do his whole guitar solo!
Ches's video again, then the Simpsons video again, featuring a small boy being executed in an electric chair for bumping into a sprinkler with a lawnmower. Bit harsh.
Nobody touched on the interesting point by Angelo that on The Breakers this week it was Transvision Vamp's final top 40 hit as they tumbled down badly the following week to No.48, and sad to see them go out like this on The Breakers with this first single released from their disappointing third album.
DeleteThey released only one more single a couple of months later which peaked at No.41, and so no mugshot on TOTP, so it's goodbye to Wendy and the team right here in a chart career stretching back exactly three years to April 1988.
Bar The Simpsons, this was a really strong edition.
ReplyDeleteA lot of lookalikes with contemporary celebs tonight with baby Christina Ricci a double for Jenna Coleman, Andy McCluskey a dead ringer for Anton Du Beke, and Zucchero looking a bit Keith Lemon.
ReplyDeleteJames - just a classic, despite being overplayed since
Cher - Cheesy as all heck but enjoyable and you can see why it becomes so massive. Still not sure if I've ever actually seen Mermaids, but the video is cute.
OMD - A very catchy chorus on this one.
Black Box - it was OK but nothing standout like Ride on Time.
Clash - I miss the Casbah nightclub in Sheffield so much (now HSBC offices which is a crying shame).
Mock Turtles - Love this one, very of its time. Not very good mimers though.
Breakers - I had completely forgotten about that Gloria Estefan song (and the rest of these breakers for that matter, except Sinful, which is not as good as the original)
Paul Young/Zucchero - Yet another slightly naff 1991 track that's a total earworm.
"I'll leave you with the rumour that Rod Stewart and Meryl Streep are getting together to do the musical version of The Simpsons" - for anyone that thinks life's a bit dystopian these days thank your lucky stars we never lived through that.
ReplyDeleteHa, ha! Rod would be a good Groundskeeper Willie, if only he could do the accent.
DeletePart two of a very good double.
ReplyDeleteJames; Hmmm, preferred the hairstyle from last week Tim. Fine single.
Cher; A cover / film soundtrack. That's ok. There's plenty of originality and innovation elsewhere. What was a little harder to take was that this kept 'Last Train To Trancentral' off of No.1. Still a cheery video with its mix of scenes from 'Mermaids' and some singing Cher and Cheralikes....sorry.
Pity that Bob Hoskins didn't get to appear with the girls and dress as Sonny Bono.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark; Very catchy but the massively unsubtle drum pattern makes it a little unpleasant to the ears. Rather clunky after the miracles of 'Souvenir' and 'So In Love' but they have one gem, the hugely underrated 'Then You Turn Away' coming along soon.
Black Box, I think we're nearing the end for these tinkers and if so it's a very good one to say goodbye with. A good original number with a real earburrower of a riff. Katrin looks like another frontperson who's come from the nearest sports centre to be in the studio. What's Clint Mansell's current personal best on the rowing machine?
Katrin looks amazing, Martha sings brilliantly.
The Clash; Jakki reveals her punk affiliations in the introduction to this. Why did they reissue 'Combat Rock' singles at this time over the rest of their back catalogue? This still sounds very fresh. The video a little controversial perhaps a month or so earlier but I guess as long as the song title wasn't 'Jet To The Casbah' or 'Something Vaguely War Relating The Casbah' it was ok to show.
The Mock Turtles; Another showing for this. Such a great single but better with the full guitar solo.
Breakers next, all but the last one I heard but didn't actually watch. I don't know. Maybe I blinked at the wrong moment. One very good thing about the revamp in Sept '91 is that they'll dispense with these and show more full performances.
Very good to see 'Sinful' although with a live video that looks like it was recorded with Iron Maiden's roadie's video camera. Much preferred the '86 video with the suggestively dressed Nuns that left quite an impression on my 10 year old self.
Zucchero with Paul Young; Another Paul Young returns to the studio looking far more like his Mum had a say in his appearance than the other one did.
I bought this single and it still sounds very charming and another example of '91's warm and friendly vibes. The chord progression is still wonderfully unpredictable even now. An appearance memorable of course for the efforts of his co-singer. There were certainly more than a couple of people clenching their fists and delivering the, 'even doing my own COOKING!!' line at school the next morning.
Chesney Hawkes; 4th week at No.1 and a repeat of the non movie video again. I'm sure it wasn't Chesney's decision as he seems far too nice to have said 'F you Buddy's Song, I'm a star now!'.
The bassist almost misses his vocal cue at one point but he's so cool that you forgive him. When was the last time you saw an extravagant fringe jacket on the show. 1970?
Jakki's introduction was curious. 'Get your hair cut!!' I assume she was joking. She obviously hasn't noticed the woman who appears to her right when she says goodbye.
The Simpsons; No, hasn't grown on me. It actually sounds like a Simpsons episode with all the jokes removed. If only Dangermouse and Penfold had put out a single.
I'd like to see them try to do a jeans ad with White Riot on the soundtrack. Maybe Lost in the Supermarket for Tesco's?
DeleteThe Dangermouse theme was epic, it could have been sampled for some of the approaching Toytown techno.
And of course Lee Thompson played the sax that you heard as the camera went into, and away from, DM's pillar box! He could've got something together for a novelty single. I would've been the first to have bought it.
ReplyDeleteSome new singles that peaked just outside the Top 40 this week, and unlucky not to get the TOTP stage:
ReplyDeleteNo.43 - Rebel MC featuring Tenor Fly - Wickedest Sound
Clearly the song title alone should have got them a Top 40 spot, but checking out the video it seems to have jumped onto the current Magic Roundabout sampling fashion, without any impact on the record buying public.
No.45 - Vanilla Ice - I Love You
This sounded too much like LL Cool J's I Need Love, but with hotter girls in the Vanilla Ice video, but the song was so un-Vanilla Ice in its style, that I'm not surprised the record buyers stayed away.
No.49 - Oleta Adams - You Got To Give Me Room
Much anticipated follow up to her Top 10 hit Get Here, but this new single seemed to have no effect on the Top 40, and sounding too much like a Barbra Streisand non-release, this was nowhere near as good as Get Here, and the poor peak chart position reflected this.
No.55 - Tricky Disco - Massive
Clearly not as massive as their recent debut single at the end of 1990, but I can't seem to find this 1991 new effort anywhere, as it is not on Utube or iTunes, so I wonder what happened to it?
Really enjoy these little snippets Dory! Quite a comedown for several recent big hitters.
DeleteWithout these new features, after having lost some of the TOTP regulars on this blog like Noax and John G, we would have been struggling to make 10 comments per show, so I'm pleased that it has contributed to keeping the blog going strong lol.
DeleteThe Official Charts seem to have the catalog number of Tricky Disco “Massive” as 7WAP 11 which would make it “House Fly” Dory
DeleteThanks for the heads up. Just listened to House Fly, and it's no wonder it only got to no.55, as it is nowhere near as good as their debut hit Tricky Disco, but I can see its place in late-night nightclubs where there is no-one left on the dance floor, and the caretaker waiting to close and lock up as soon a possible!
DeleteAh, the wonderful but (this time) overly verbose Jakki in an edition where I was transfixed by people pretending to hit black and white notes.
ReplyDeleteJames’s keyboard player (or was he a friend or roadie?) who had crutches last time has ditched them and acts like a complete knob in the background. The guitarist to our right wears a T-shirt of cult indie band Beef. Still a great song, even shrinkwrapped like this.
I hate both Cher’s solo chart toppers. Linda Lewis’s version of this song uses Cher’s as a mop to wipe the floor with.
Our second big band in a week where one of the key members had left two years previously. First it was Bob of The Wonder Stuff and now it’s Paul of OMD. Still, a rollocking hit to return with.
Jakki introduces Black Box featuring Steps. I was half expecting Faye Tozer and H. Katrin looks as striking as the song title, and I love the previous jibes about the fancy dress bus conductor and tribute Manc on keyboards.
My fave Clash song next. The armadillo reminded me of those weird Dime bar ads featuring Harry Enfield.
So THAT’S what the Mock Turtles’ keyboard player looks like! Martin Coogan impersonating Chris De Burgh after too many Space Dusts. Shame this got cut off during the guitar solo.
Jakki manages to talk over at least half of the miniscule clips for Silver Bullet (thank goodness) and Pete Wylie’s inferior re-make, ZZ Top sound bluesier than usual, Gloria’s in a very fetching outfit, and...
Oh no! The very last we’ll see of Wendy James! Can’t believe Transvision Vamp weren’t called into the studio to give the gal a chance to dress up – or, er, down.
Zucchero (Italian for Sugar, a nickname his primary teacher gave him – hmmm) should have been on stage with Craig David for this duet to give us the full Keith Lemon / “Bo Selecta” vibe. Last thing I even bothered to half watch in this edition.
I was a little disappointed at Jakki Brambles meaningless swipe at the end of Senza Uno Donna, when explaining what the song title means. For anyone to write a song like this would mean that either Paul Young or Zucchero actually suffered real difficulties in their real life of being without a woman, cos its not something you would write when you are fulfilled in your life, so I was not impressed by her thoughtless comment at the end of that tune.
DeleteHer tone can be a little sneery at times. I'm sure both men had their lovelorn moments and drew on it for a song anyone can relate to. Brilliant song that one.
DeleteOne thing about Jakki in my opinion is that you can always tell if she's cheesed off about something. She's the mirror opposite of Anthea Turner in that respect.
All Jakki was saying was she didn't believe Paul and Zucchero would be without a woman. Sounds like a compliment to me.
DeleteShe certainly turned a song of emotional crisis into a nonsense very quickly with that awful quip, but I can see your point as well.
DeleteIf you think Jakki was sarky on TOTP, you should have heard her on her Radio 1 show! Vitriolic is the word.
DeleteThe ITV Chart Show's own Top Ten rundown a couple of days after this TOTP, had predicted The Clash at No.9 and Gary Clail at No.7, when in fact they had only reached No.15 and No.10 respectively on the official BBC chart:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f868zAS07Nc
For me one of the best show of 1991 if not the best, and with the best hostess too.
ReplyDeleteJames – Sit down – Eight of them on stage and two playing the same keyboard! No matter it’s a rousing singalong that I never get tired of and if it hadn’t been for the sudden appeal of Chesney then a certain no1.
Cher – It’s in his kiss – I recall Linda Lewis’s version in 1975 and when this came out in 1991 I thought it was better and I loved the video. Produced by Peter Asher none other (of Peter and Gordon). Incidentally Linda released a version of ‘I’d be surprisingly good for you’ from Evita…let’s just say that it’s not the best version I have ever heard, and I love the song.
OMD – Sailing on the Seven Seas - ..of Rhye? Seriously, this is FAN-TAS-TIC! One of my favourites of 1991 and what a return for Andy McCluskey. Co-written by ‘Kershaw’ but it’s not Nick who’s riding high with Chesney but Stuart who had joined the band. I always thought that there must be two drummers on this track due to the dominant drum sound, but no; great keyboard solo too.
Black Box – Strike it up – Right from the first shrieky hit I’ve been FF’ing this lot and I think this could be the last time I need to.
The Clash – Rock the Casbah – Timeless post punk. Love it.
Mock Turtles – Can you dig it – I really liked the Turtles who had some great hits of their own and sang backing vocals on many T Rex hits. This mock lot aren’t bad either.
Breakers – Who is that girl in the ZZ Top video?! 4 out of 5 of these tick the box for me…no prizes for guessing which one didn’t! Desperately short clips though.
Zucherro and Paul Young – Sensa una Donna – Both Paul Youngs in the chart at the same time. Love this duet. Also on the excellent ‘Wings of Love’ compilation released later in 1991 (which featured Jeffrey Osbourne’s ‘On the Wings of Love’ funnily enough). This is certainly another of my best of 1991.
Chesney Hawkes – The one and only – Actually it was Chesney’s one and only hit of note as he failed to penetrate the top20 after this.
Simpsons – Deep deep trouble – Conveniently placed at the end to enable a swift exit!
Correct, sct, this is the last time we get to see Katrin's miming qualities. Black Box troubled the top 40 three more times in the next five years but never apperared on the show again.
DeleteThey seem to have gone overboard with the sets this week…
ReplyDeleteCher - love the sing - fairly straight cover of it
Omd - Not their rockiest, but quite pleasant. Drums annoying… [pre post look at comments - not just me on the drums then]
Black Box - definitely the worst offering from them to date… no wait, second worst after megamix
Clash - good toon
Mick turtles - at last we get the guitar solo… well a bit of it
Breakers - didn’t much of these,
Zz top - love them. Must give a shout out to billy gibbons new album Hardware - excellent.
Gloria Estefan - liked this,,
Silver bullet - ..didn’t like this..
Transvision vamp - love this..
Pete Wylie - loved the original, didn’t get enough to know how different it was
Zucchero / paul Young - pleasant enough. Standard paul young vocal.
JAMES – Sit Down
ReplyDeleteA should have been Number One to open the show. Love the psychedelic flowers! A tweet currenly doing the rounds has Tim Booth at the Euro Final in a selfie with 2 England fans with the quote "disappointed...he didn't ask us to sit down once" 😂😂😂
CHER – The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)
Get used to this one it's going all the way. Lots of later tunes try to sound sixties and fail. This manages the trick very well and it's a great pop tune.
The hair behind Brambles!!
ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK – Sailing On The Seven Seas
Now sans Paul and credited only as OMD, Andy produces possibly one the most perfect 7" pop tunes ever. Sugar Tax my first OMD album. It wasn't my last.
A far better performance on Europe's Peters Pop show
https://youtu.be/isTSwkAiyig
BLACK BOX – Strike It Up
I'd have more time for this if it didnt sound like all their other hits. I can take it on its own but would never listen to a whole album of this one. Rather annoyingly I enjoyed that. Grrr.
THE CLASH – Rock The Casbah
Another decent Clash tune gets a re-release. I don't like punk so no idea why I like this at all but I do. Some proper pop sensibilities in there. Cute video as well.
THE MOCK TURTLES – Can You Dig It?
Number 18! Robbed. Should have been Top 5.
Breakers (or a few clips not worth bothering with)
ZZ TOP – Head says funky!
GLORIA ESTEFAN – very poppy for Gloria. Like
SILVER BULLET – Utterly Atrocious
TRANSVISION VAMP – Average
PETE WYLIE & THE FARM – no thanks.
ZUCCHERO & PAUL YOUNG – Sensa Una Donna (Without A Woman)
Paul Young and a man that looks like he works done the local garage. Is that what Italian pop stars look like. I got so sick of this song on every bloody radio show for most of the early 90s. It's not a bad slushy ballad though and always like anything with PYs voice on it.
Same CHEESY HAWKES video as last week and Bart is still in Deep Deep Trouble.