My perception is altered but I shall not falter to watch the 25th of July 1991 edition of Top of the Pops!
Goode geezer
25-7-91: Presenter: Mark Goodier
(9) THE SHAMEN – Move Any Mountain
Opening the show with a live vocal performance of their first of five top ten hits and it peaked at number 4.
(4) C & C MUSIC FACTORY – Things That Make You Go Hmmm (video) (and charts)
At its peak.
(14) DANNII MINOGUE – Jump To The Beat
In the studio and the song made it to number 8.
(8) EXTREME – More Than Words (video)
Their only top ten hit and it peaked at number 2.
(7) ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK – Pandora’s Box
A second studio performance but the song got no higher.
(10) CHER – Love And Understanding
Performing in the studio tonight but the song was at its peak.
(26) FRANKIE KNUCKLES – The Whistle Song
In the studio with his biggest hit and it peaked at number 17.
(34) DEACON BLUE – Twist And Shout (video) (Breakers)
Became their third and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 10.
(33) SEAL – The Beginning (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 24.
(30) BOMB THE BASS – Winter In July (video) (Breakers)
Beccame their fourth and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 7.
(1) BRYAN ADAMS – (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
Third of sixteen weeks at number one.
(29) MORRISSEY – Pregnant For The Last Time (video) (and credits)
Went up four more places.
The Shamen - their fourth single release, and first time on the TOTP stage, as the first two singles in 1990 just missed the top 40, and then their first to get in there in 1991, namely Hyper-Real only got the video played on playout at No.30, and didn't keep moving in order to get invited n to the show, but wow, this new one straight in at no.9 was some achievement, especially as their previous best was No.29 with Hyper-Real a couple of months earlier.
ReplyDeleteDanni Minogue - It seemed everyone wanted a rapper on their single, and now Dannii had her own rapper but had him off the stage on the balcony, so that she would not be outflanked as feature performer. I remember the original of Jump To the Beat by Stacey Lattisaw in 1980 where there was no video footage when Lattisaw could not fly in from America to be on the show, so TOTP had to have Legs & Co dance to it to get a main slot.
Cher - was this the first time for her in the TOTP studio since 1965 with Sonny, doing I Got You Babe? Anyone know? I can only remember her videos on the show for all those years between 1965-1991.
Frankie Knuckles - best tune on the show and just loved those sexy backing dancers on stage behind Frankie, with those hot pants and and legs. Don't know why Knuckles got the smallest stage on the show, considering they were a large number on there.
Morrissey on playout - another controversial single, and unusually was not cold-shouldered like his last few singles which were completely ignored by TOTP despite being comfortably in the Top 40.
Ooh, so close, Dory! You hit the 25 rather than the bullseye. A quick check on the Popscene website shows this was Cher's first solo TOTP studio slot since 1965, but she and Sonny came in a year later for a song called "Little Man".
DeleteHi Dory, had a little look and Sonny and Cher were in the studio performing 'Little Man' as a new release on 25th August 1966.
DeleteGood Lord, but still from 1966 to 1991, that is 25 years before she returned to the TOTP studio, and even way back in 1966, TOTP was broadcast from a church venue in Manchester, as it did not move to the West London studio until 1969, so the last time Cher was on TOTP it was from the old Manchester studio!
DeleteSlight correction - having checked on Wiki, the show moved from being broadcast in Manchester to BBC TV Centre Studio 2 in London as early as January 1966, but moved to the BBC Lime Grove Studios in mid-1966 for three years before returning back to BBC TV Centre in November 1969, so Cher's appearance in the studio performing 'Little Man' in late 1966 would have been at the London Lime Grove studio, and not at the same Wood Lane one that she was on this week in 1991 with her new solo single.
DeleteI was a big Smiths fan so would be happy to see Mozzas’ post Suedehead pre-Irish Blood get cancelled, and everything since. Sing Your Life was good though suppose
DeleteThere was no Legs & Co performance of 'Jump To the Beat'. TOTP was off the air due to a Musicians Union strike during it's chart run.
DeleteChart rundown - three tunes that were unlucky not to have another play and main slot on TOTP this week, as they were non-movers and two weeks since last appearing on the show:
ReplyDeleteNo.6 - Paula Abdul - Rush Rush
Having just come of 5 weeks at No.1 in America, this deserved another play on TOTP this week, but with Paula having had her video shown twice already, and not flying in to the TOTP studio to perform it as she had done for one of her 1990 hits, she probably short-changed herself with this week's roster.
No.16 - DJH featuring Stefy - had only one play two weeks ago when in as a new entry at No.28 in the studio, I felt they could have at least had the playout slot at No.16 ahead of Morrissey at No.29.
No.17 - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam - Let The Beat Hit 'Em
Similar situation to DJH, where Lisa Lisa had one previous play as a new entry at No.31 two weeks earlier, and now with two weeks at No.17, she definitely deserved another play of the video, as I couldn't see her and Cult Jam coming to the studio, as they never did, but would probably have got them onto the show this week if they had made the effort to fly in.
A taste of things to come, The Shamen do it live and make a bit of a racket. See? Miming isn't all bad. I wonder if this was their idea or whether it was an experiment? Anyway, not a bad track - on the record.
ReplyDeleteAh, we get the punchline to the second verse about his baby looking exactly like his best friend, though the guy wondering if he took his first girlfriend's virginity is missed off, well, it's a family show.
Dannii with the first of a run of mediocre covers that became her stock in trade, adds nothing to the original, purely manufactured to get their hands on the nation's pocket money. Rapper relegated to the gantry, well, it's not as if he was essential.
This slowie from rockers Extreme always reminded me of Mike Yarwood coming on at the end of his show and going "And this... is me!" and singing a treacly ballad. Pure cheese.
OMD back with an almost identical performance of their Louise Brooks tribute, except the backing singer on the left is joining in more. Louise died in 1985 so wouldn't be around to appreciate it.
Cher, looking like Janice from The Muppet Show, with what sounds even more preachy in the studio. I dunno, it's enough to put you off love and understanding.
Frankie Knuckles, inventor of house music, in the house! Very pleasant tune, but nobody's whistling on it, are they? It's not I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman, is it? Anyway, relaxing to hear despite all that.
Presumably we see the Breakers again, for sure we'll see the Number 1 again, so onto the playout as Moz takes on single mothers. Yet another song from him that nobody remembers, it's OK but the drum break is a bit redundant.
Four tunes peaking just outside the Top 40 this week, and unlucky not to get to the TOTP stage:
ReplyDeleteNo.43 - UK Mixmasters - Lucky 7 Megamix
Follow-up to the Night Fever Megamix that got to No.23 earlier in the year, this new mix featured 7 Kylie songs, and apparently Simon Cowell who was the mastermind behind The Mixmasters had an amateur video made for it, according to the comments on this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df1jLIVh9FY&t=410s
No.46 - Moby - Go
Moby's debut single, and missing out on a Top 40 place. They would not return until 1993 with their second single, and soon they were to fair a lot better in that second phase.
No.47 - ABC - Love Conquers All
Yes, the same ABC that gave us The Look Of Love and Poison Arrow in 1982, were still going in 1991 but with less success, as the new generation of record buyers just didn't seem to associate with them at all.
No.62 - T'Pau - Walk On Air
Follow-up to their last Top 20 hit in May which got to No.16, but this new single peaking at No.62 in July 1991 was to be their last ever single, so we finally bring down the curtain on a group that made a big impression on the pop charts in the few years that they graced it. They then had a re-issue of Valentine in early 1993 to test the waters, but with a peak of only No.53, there was to be not even any more old material coming back. Goodbye and good night T'Pau!
Oooh some big names here. Big drop for T'Pau especially, it wasn't that long since their last hit.
DeleteGo will peak at number 10 in October 1991.
DeleteYeah, I thought that it was odd peaking at No.46 in July 1991, as I could have sworn it was a chart hit at some point. Seems they had recovered it again in October, or the records were on back-order with the suppliers and could get not enough records in the shops to get them a Top 40 place in July when first in the charts.
DeleteMoby's a he, not a they (unless he's turned non-binary?). Named after the novel Moby Dick, written by relative Herman Melville. Did you know he went out with Natalie Portman? Neither did she!
DeleteI'll wait then until TOTP October 1991 when Moby finally arrives with Go. Will be an interesting blog to look forward to when HE gets to No.10 with it :)
DeleteI’d forgotten about the creepy Moby / Natalie Portman memoir / hallucination. “Go” was a top tune though ahead of his advert music writing career 😀
DeleteGo was basically the Twin Peaks incidental music with someone shouting "GO!" over it. But it did sound good, and I admit I bought and enjoyed Play about a year before he sold all the tracks to adverts and such and you couldn't get away from his gospel and blues singers samples. Probably made him a fortune, mind you.
Delete'Go' of course was the opening track on Asia's 'Astra' album. Released as a single it reached No zilch on both sides of the pond.
DeleteWith so much attention to this week's near miss outside the Top 40, here's a rare performance of Moby's Go, 10 years later in 2001 on Later With Jools, a regular late night BBC2 show:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ30k1c0-3c
Continuing the “Go” chat, hadn’t realised that the chant “Go” was lifted from a Tones and Tails (Goth pioneer Bauhaus spin-offs) track of the same name and the other “yeahhh” vocal bit was a sample of a Jocelyn Brown single. Jocelyn having appeared on TOTP a few weeks earlier with Incognito.
DeleteSome great songs in the mix tonight:
ReplyDeleteThe Shamen - one of my favourites of the year again. Although as THX notes, that status is reserved for the recorded version. The live version isn't the worst we'll see by a long way but it isn't great, and the cool bloopy sound of the backing track gets lost here.
C&C - Ah my most earwormy song ever is back. The video is pretty fun for this one too. I see Right Said Fred sneaking in at the low end of the chart, that one might become something. Just a hunch.
Dannii - I quite like this one, although I can't claim it's anything special. She definitely made the right move by going into television though. She's a great reality judge but not a great pop star.
Extreme - This one is forever linked in my mind as the #2 to THAT song Even though it probably won't be at number 2 for as many weeks as it felt like back then. And like the number one it was a better song before overexposure killed it.
Cher - IS IN THE STUDIO! How exciting. It's weird it was for this track though. Surely I'm the only person in the world who has this as their fave of hers (and as such I'm very happy about that obvs). The hair and outfit do her no favours but could a young Florence Welch have been watching? Cos this could be her early prototype. And yes the message is cheesy nonsense but still not as cheesy as...
...OMD and Andy's dad dancing (which actually came before in the lineup and I forgot about it, soz Andy. Still a better dancer than your lookalike Anton DuBeke).
Frankie Knuckles - Bit dull. Flutes aren't my favourite. Partly because as a percussionist I used to play in wind bands and orchestras and we (myaelf and the other percussionist) would take ages to have to pack away timpani, drums, marimbas and a ton of smaller instruments after practice, whilst flautists would just unscrew their instrument into couple of bits and bugger off.(Sidenote: the only person who ever helped us was the tuba player, who went on to be in G4 check out my star studded past).
Seal - zzz
Bomb the Bass - Love love love this one.
Things to say about that thing 3/16:
Seeing as Cher (the last 'long' number 1 run prior to this one) is on the show... When Believe was at #1 a few years from now, I was at uni and lived with two French girls who were obsessed with that album (which was full of clones) and that song especially. It was pretty much all I heard for 2 long years, so it's just like Bryan Adams (and Wet Wet Wet etc) to me in both that 'started out fine but now just wish it would stop' sense and that 'could never hear it again and I will have heard it more than anything else' sense.
Mozza - That was a load of rubbish. I love it when he has crappy songs because he's such a garbage person and I hate that I like so many of his tracks (including several solo ones so I can't just claim to only enjoy things Johnny Marr was involved in)
Did you keep in touch with the two French girls after uni?
DeleteSadly not, partly because they fell out with each other over both having had relationships with our landlord/fellow housemate!
DeleteHe must have liked their Cher collection :)
DeleteI quite like Believe, but it was at Number 1 for ages too (though nothing like as much as The Groover from Vancouver's run).
DeleteSeems appropriate for Cher's hit rate that her I Got You Babe was the song Bill Murray keeps hearing every morning in Groundhog Day.
The Shamen were ace until Will Sin died and Mr. C., and the hits, arrived! Jesus Loves Amerika should have been their breakthrough. To be fair Pro-Gen (Move any Mountain), Make it Mine and Hyperreal were club classics.
DeleteI'd totally forgotten about Jesus Loves Amerika! There was a tune. Did we ever work out what Mr. C stood for? Maybe best not to ask...
DeleteThe ITV Chart show following this TOTP show two days later, had their own Top Ten as a usual predictor for the following week's official TOTP chart, and interestingly they had Danni Minogue as high as No.5, when she actually peaked at No.8. Even more surprising was having Cher at No.4, when she only peaked at No.10, and for good measure they had C&C Music factory at No.3, whereas they only got to No.4 at peak.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we did get to see the full Danni Minogue video on The ITV Chart Show Top 10, including Danni's rapper in her video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuMP12UvJdM
Two weeks in a row without any appearing / vanishing presenters. Good. Don't reprise that idea please. A good show all round this time.
ReplyDeleteThe Shamen; I assume it was the group that pushed to do their breakthrough hit live and Totp don't do a Soul II Soul style snubbing maybe in light of the, I think, recent tragedy in their line up. They do well too. Colin Angus could always carry it off live on the show which he will do some more times in the next couple of years. Backing a bit of a racket not helped much by Mr.C. Fine start to the show and a good taster for things to come.
C & C Music Factory; Still sounds good fun and I've really liked the new chart rundown. Yep, an item that's too sexy is lurking down there.
Dannii Minogue; The original of this sounds about 2 years ahead of its time. This version sounds at least 1 year behind it's time but I won't begrudge her another hit. A rapper appears on the balcony near the end. Hmmm, someone else did that a short while ago didn't they?
Extreme; A seeming determination to recreate Led Zeppelin's career in about 10 months as well as Nuno's tie at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert did them in but they did have this one glorious moment. A radio classic that is such a part of my 1st working summer
that I still think of it coming out of several different places of a big building whenever I hear it. Still sounds a dream. I'd forgotten the other members sit around watching them.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark; Andy McCluskey, though he's never come across as a particularly gracious bloke in interviews, does have a certain charm in that he dances exactly like a mature student I was at University with. Nice song but I always think it would've been way more interesting if the first line began, 'Conceived in Kansas....'
Cher; Love this. Another radio classic, always playing that summer and sounded sweeping and joyous as it still does today. The programme looks like it's reverted back to about 1985 here, all mirror balls, hazy screens and emergency service alerting dry ice.
Song delightfully '91 though. Brilliant memories with this one.
Frankie Knuckles; Some chart recognition for someone who is a major reason for the charts sounding as they have for the previous couple of years. I'm not sure which one is him. Keyboard guy I assume. Another one that I'd totally forgotten until the first 10 seconds had passed. Another one to add to the (mercifully) small canon of whistling songs. One is by an animated Cockerel, aka Roger Miller that Simon Mayo didn't include in his list of Robin Hood related singers a few weeks ago.
Breakers; Deacon Blue hamming it up to some belated De La Soul graphics. Seal; coolest, best pop star on the planet for me at the time. Fabulous sweeping opener to his debut album, singled up a little here. Video finds him possibly out searching for Cliff Richard.
Bomb The Bass; Gorgeous single. Bought it the moment I first saw the video. Early '90s dance psychedelia at its best.
Bryan Adams; The studio clip again. The only one? I'll just try to process that thought. Bryan sartorially fulfilling his Bernard Sumner fantasies. The guitarist, the definitive nice bloke that owns a recording studio in the town, is cut off just as he gets into his big solo. Rather unfair.
Morrissey; Play out video on far too long.
Frankie Knuckles was the big black guy on keytar.
DeleteRight Said Fred problematic anti-vaxxers now, of course, despite Richard being hospitalised with it the other week. *shakes head*
Oh didn't know that. I thought he was actually fairly sensible. I hope he's ok. They were an entertaining bunch for a while.
DeleteThere's been a lot of musical heroes revealed to have had feet of clay by the pandemic... Van Morrison... Ian Brown... Eric Clapton (mind you, we knew he was a mad old racist anyway). I speak from the UK location where cases are rising fastest, so am in no mood for any of them.
DeleteEnjoyed the host with his ‘I love 91’ t-shirt on.
ReplyDeleteThe Shamen – Move any Mountain – I was unmoved by this….save my finger hitting FF.
C&C and the Music Factory -Things that make you go hmmm – Indeed. FF
Dannii Minogue – Jump to the Beat – Pointless cover.
Extreme – More than Words – My my we have two of the six songs held off No1 by Bryan Adams in the charts already (the other is ‘Now that we found love’ by Heavy D and the Boyz). This song is the staple of many compilations and does absolutely nothing for me whatsoever.
OMD – Pandora’s Box – Superb performance from both backing singers this time! Love this song…such great chords.
Cher – Love and Understanding – Nice to see Cher in the ToTP studio with her understated hair do. Good song though.
Frankie Knuckles – The Whistle Song – Novelty stuff not reminding me too much of Whistling Jack Smith…when I first heard that song title when I was only about seven, I thought it was about Batman (as in Batman and Robin). It was only later in life I realized what a batman actually was…
Breakers – Some good ones! I even liked Bomb the Bass !
Bryan Adams – (Everything I do) I do it for you – So what does one do on a Saturday evening? Why settle in front of the TV and watch a good movie. BBC1 were showing that great adventure film ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves’ (co-incidence with these reruns?) so I settled in for a couple of hours. I’d forgotten the bit where Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio sees Kevin Costner bathing in the altogether but I still enjoyed the lake scene with this music soothingly playing in the background.
Morrissey – Pregnant for the last time - I bit more upbeat for him but nothing startling.
Rip the is irreplaceable Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Blimey where do you do start with stories about him? Total fruit loop and total genius. I love the story of him recording a tree. I was lucky to see him once at the Glade stage at Glastonbury 2011. Probably the most draining gig I've ever been to, just from the crowd intensity. One of the loudest as well. Just the bass I swear was as loud as anything on The Pyramid stage! And in the middle he uttered this, more or less; 'Elizabeth. She is not myyyyyy Queen!!' Legend.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Calling him eccentric doesn't quite do him justice. I remember John Peel used to play a lot of his stuff, including what I've just found out is called Bathroom Skank, with the couplet "Grab a towel, scrub your bowel!" He's burning his studio down in heaven now...
DeleteShamen - dont remember this. Very hollow live vocals, but potential to be good track
ReplyDeleteDannii Minogue - fairly bland song. Didnt stretch the lyricist. Didnt realised it was a cover until Mark said.
Cher - subdued costuming…
Frankie Knuckles - shouldn’t it have been called The Fluting Song? Very dull…
Breakers
Deacon blue - liked what I heard (bit like Beautiful South)
Seal - did this guy only have one tune?…
Bomb the bass - quite liked this. It will be interesting to hear it in full
Morrissey - don’t recall this. It had a nice beat, but the tune was… ok
Ah, if only we'd had the combo of Mr. C and C & C....
ReplyDeleteIt’s Hey Wow mark again.
ReplyDeleteThe Shamen not yet at the peak of their career. Harumph. Is this rap karaoke a glimpse of October TOTP? Ulp!
A third play for C&C’s great rap story song and unusual video. I see this song got “HMMM” in big letters in the chart rundown again.
Dannii Minogue may as well have been Big Fun, i.e. pointless rehash. I jumped at hitting the FF.
Oh, God, I hate that Extreme song.Soothe? Relax? Feck off, Smashie!
OMD playing in Gateshead and Concrete Shite City? Lucky them. Ridng the crest of the wave here. Open the box!
An out of hours recording for Cher’s top notch miming to an excellent track. Much better than that recent chart topper of hers.
If you want whistling, try Roger Whitaker instead of some Autotune keytar and a mimed flute thus avoiding filling it with spittle.
Deacon Blue with another Paul Simon sounding track and nothing wrong with that, plus they’re more playful and less po-faced in the vid which is a yay. Another hairstyle for Ricky there.
We didn’t start at the beginning of Seal’s track. See what I did there? A bit of Basement Jaxx sound in that chorus.
Bomb The Bass’s best by a country mile. Just wonderful.
FF Acne Canuck for what sounds like a last ditch Smiths album filler.
Goody Bags loves 91!
ReplyDeleteTHE SHAMEN – Move Any Mountain (Progen '91) to give it the full title. And a "live" version as well. So cool. I LOVED that! I can hear my Dad calling it a racket now...
If you'd asked me in 1991 to pick my song of the year it would likely be The KLF or this one by The Shamen. Delighted they finally made it big. This is a fantastic dance tune and still a favourite today. Had all the singles and the album.
So sad that Will Sinnott drowned whilst making the video. Mr C (old Ebenezer Goode) makes his first appearance on the album En-Tact.
C & C MUSIC FACTORY – Things That Make You Go Hmmm this is back again.
DANNII MINOGUE – Jump To The Beat
Not a patch on the original but a decent enough effort. Another D-Mob remix me thinks..lots of energy but ultimately a bit unnecessary. Has the rapper been up there since last time?
Speaking of unnecessary, Donna Summer is about to get the soap star treatment in a few weeks.
EXTREME – More Than Words
Can we have Get The Funk Out back?
It's OK but no classic and I've heard it too many times now. Dude seriously needs a haircut.
ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK open Pandora's Box for the second time. Still fabulous. Either the cameraman or the Director fancies the drummer.
CHER – Love And Understanding
Legend in the studio. Storming tune. No Frills just Cher and a quality song. Nice.
FRANKIE KNUCKLES – The Whistle Song
Another live act. Although this is average, and I'm being kind. Enjoyed the dancers though. Should have put them at the front.
Breakers:
DEACON BLUE – Twist And Shout and not a Beetle in sight.
SEAL – The middle bit of The Beginning but not the end.
BOMB THE BASS – One of the tunes of 91. Pure class. Very dystopian video.
I see we are trying to say something new about (Everything I Do) I Do It For You each week.
Um.. I've never seen the film..will that do?
Number One in America as well. God help 'em
MORRISSEY – Pregnant For The Last Time.
Decent Morrissey tune alert!
Didn't know he was pregnant the first time. He kept that quiet.