Girl meets boy on Thursday night just to see the 8th of August 1991 edition of Top of the Pops!
Fowl play
8-8-91: Presenter: Nicky Campbell
(22) DE LA SOUL – A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’
In the studio to get tonight's show underway but the tune got no higher.
(2) EXTREME – More Than Words (video) (and charts)
Knocking at the door of number one, but there was no vacancy.
(32) BEVERLEY CRAVEN – Holding On
Also in the studio but the song got no higher
(5) METALLICA – Enter Sandman (video)
The fist single from their eponymous number one album, this was the band's first of four top ten hits and number 5 was its peak.
(4) THE SHAMEN – Move Any Mountain
A second live studio performance but the song was now at its peak.
(28) AMY GRANT – Every Heartbeat (video)
Got no higher.
(26) BLUR – Bang
In the studio to perform one of their lesser known hits, taken from their top ten debut album Leisure, and it went up two more places.
(19) YOUNG DISCIPLES – Apparently Nothin’
Also here tonight with their only top 40 hit and it peaked at number 13.
(40) TECHNOTRONIC feat. REGGIE – Work (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(36) MICHAEL BOLTON – Time, Love And Tenderness (video) (Breakers)
Peaked at number 28.
(35) SOPHIE LAWRENCE – Love’s Unkind (video) (Breakers)
Her only hit and it peaked at number 21.
(1) BRYAN ADAMS – (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (video)
Fifth of sixteen weeks at the top.
(33) VANILLA ICE – Satisfaction (video) (and credits)
His fifth and final hit and it peaked at number 22.
15th of August is next.
Recalling that Young Disciples were part of the new Acid Jazz movement. Their sophisticated cohort was a world away from the hardcore uproar free party rave scene that was my deal at the time. However I did have a fondness for the Acid Jazzers “Apparently Nothing” offering, Incognito, Galliano, US3 and Brand New Heavies, although Jay Kay can still sling his space cowboy boots.
ReplyDeleteDe La Soul - fantastic way to start off the show with a Roller Skating Jam Named Saturday. Just as well that I am writing today on Saturday morning. I love the Grease snippet in the middle, and also the cutest of all side-singers whoever that 18-ish looking girl on stage with them was. Gorgeous voice she has. Made my day watching this. It's a shame that this song fell down the charts the following week, cos I would have loved to see her again on TOTP.
ReplyDeleteBeverly Craven - by this second song in her catalogue she was already pregnant with her first child, and you could see how she was looking more maternal in appearance, with the hairstyle and look being markedly different to her first two appearances on TOTP on her debut single Promise Me.
The Breakers - just as well that they got in the Tachnotronic tune at No.40 with the gorgeous Reggie, as the song fell out of the Top 40 the following week, so they never made it onto TOTP. The video had clear similarity to C&C Music Factory's Gonna Make You Sweat, but without the colour effects, but its a toss-up as to who was better - Reggie on Technotronic, or the girl in the C&C video. Compare the two videos, and see the common theme of Gonna Make You Sweat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaTGrV58wec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D53iV8B1ry4
Vanilla Ice - I don't recall this one, but having watched it I quite like their mish-mash of Tone Loc's Funky Cold Medina and The Rolling Stones Satisfaction which came off very well.
De La Soul set the skates rolling with a favourite of mine from this year, just a feelgood tune that sees them letting their hair down, not that it was every really up.
ReplyDeleteExtreme, well we know this one and it doesn't sound very extreme, and the same goes for Bev up next, with Nicky doing an embarrassing "qualiddy music" intro that set the tone for ruining this show and the charts for the next couple of years. Nothing against Bev particularly, but this is dull stuff.
Metallica, and if you didn't like Bev and her ilk you were supposed to be into these guys. Not me! They represented the "real music" bores just as much, they were merely noisier. "We sing about horrible things so you must take us seriously", basically. I suppose they had the riffs.
The Shamen are back with the same performance as before, maybe a tad slicker but still sounding cheap and nasty. Good on them for being brave enough to do this again, though if they'd mimed second time it would have been an admission of defeat.
Amy Grant with the irritating "Lifestyle" advert video as before. Didn't catch on like her previous hit, despite it being the same type of thing.
Blur with a tune they apparently didn't like, which may be why we don't hear it very often. Do you think Damon was miming? The chicken sign was... cryptic. It's actually an alright tune, just not out of their top drawer.
One hit wonder time again, The Young Disciples moving and a-grooving to a slinky little bit of acid jazz, decent enough as these things go, though time has not seen fit to celebrate the style. Maybe the lyrics were too preachy in this instance.
Two of the Breakers are on next episode, and we barely hear a cough and a spit from Technotronic and Reggie, so not much to assess.
Did Nicky really say "excremental" instead of "instrumental" re: Bry?
Speaking of excremental, here's Vanilla Ice to take a gigantic shite on The Rolling Stones with an appallingly lazy example of why hip-hop was so looked down on when he was such a visible proponent. He doesn't even mime in the video!
Extreme went one place higher in the US, to the no.1 spot for one week a couple of months earlier in June 1991. Just can't get into anything by Amy Grant as a solo singer, after her amazing duet with Peter Cetera in 1986 with The Next Time I Fall In Love.
DeleteIt's baaack!!!! Honestly I'm so giddy to have TOTP back that I'd rate this episode a 10 even if it were just back to back versions of Uncle Bry but it's also chock full of great songs which is just a treat.
ReplyDeleteDe La Soul - I've just got in from a looong drive in student moving in weekend traffic so Saturday is not my favourite day right now but this is a great performance and makes me like the track much more.
Extreme - Peak 1991 and it's nice to hear it again even though at the time I got sick of it.
Bev - Lovely enough, and makes for a good mix of genres today.
Metallica - My favourite of theirs hands down and I never get tired of it.
The Shamen - Still my favourite song of theirs if we go on the recorded version, still not convinced by their live performance.
Amy Grant - My favourite of hers too. God I just love how sunny this one is, I don't know why I like it so much but it's another one I could listen to forever and not be bored of. I do have a soft spot for the whole Heart in Motion album really, even the couple of religious ones are OK - although I never owned any of her other albums. (The CD single of Big Yellow Taxi might be in my cupboard somewhere though).
Blur - Haven't heard this in forever. I bever really understood why they seemed to disown this one once they hit 'big'. I don't think I've heard them do it live when I've seen them, and pretty sure it wasn't on their Greatest Hits. Anyway, it's a bit B tier Britpop before Britpop became a thing, but I'm a Britpop stan, I'll take even the Z tier stuff.
Young Disciples - Heard this on the radio several times this week, enjoy those royalties Carleen and co! Another classic summer 91 track. God this episode is so good.
Technotronic - 5 seconds of eh.
Michael Bolton - My favourite of his, what a theme.
Sophie Lawrence - My favourite of hers, too. (Did she have any others?). The only song from my lost mix tape that isn't on Spotify. (Though I do have an mp3 ripped from my Smash Hits 1991 album). I know the Donna Summer version is better. But I still like this.
Thing to day about that thing 5/16: It's the third number one to employ brackets kn the title this year. The next one won't be until UB40 in summer 93 with (I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You.
Vanilla Ice - Eh. I don't haaaaate it. I don't like it either though.
God what a fantastic episode. Only Technotronic and Vanilla Ice were poor and I didn't even mind hearing Bryan again.
Sophie Lawrence only released other one single, a Kylie album track, then she decided to go back to acting instead.
DeleteFour tunes that just missed out on a top 40 place, peaking outside, and never destined to grace the TOTP stage with these singles:
ReplyDeleteNo.47 Scritti Politti - Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me
Something that should be said to any man on any day of the week, including Saturdays! Scritti's last single spanning a 10-year catalogue going back to 1981, as the curtain comes down on them. They returned briefly 8 years later in 1999 with only one further single that also peaked outside the Top 40 at No.46, so essentially it is goodbye right here right now.
No.52 - Jimmy Somerville - Run From Love
The opposite request to Scritti Politti, and there was to be nothing more from Somerville after this 1991 flop until 1995 with three comeback singles, two of which would make the Top 40 quite comfortably.
No.58 Michael Ball - It's Still You
Ball kept going until 1996 with mixed fortunes, but this one didn't trouble the scorers.
No.59 - Enigma - The Principles Of Lust
Second follow up to the No.1 Sadness Part one, and second flop along with Mae Culpa. however videos were made for these two follow-ups, and I remember buying the Enigma DVD with all the music videos, and this new one Principles Of Lust was just fabulous on it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifBM3SY3G-s
Let’s not forget that Michael Ball had a Number One Single last year!
DeleteTrue, but pretty sure he wasn't the reason for everyone buying it. In charity records terms, Michael was the Billy Bragg to Captain Sir Tom Moore's Wet Wet Wet!
DeleteI saw BB at the end of 1991. He pointed out (correctly) that, since the double-sided chart-topper he'd had a hit with Sexuality whilst the Wes had done nothing chart-wise. So, he argued, they only had a number one because they were on the flipside of his hit. Shortly after that gig Goodbye Girl blew a hole in that theory.
DeleteEnigma had to have one of the weirdest chart careers ever, massive number one rhen straight to massive flops and just when they seem like a one hit wonder, another massive hit in 1994 and then more obscurity soon after.
ReplyDeleteDear God, when is it Soupy’s last turn to present? Please?
ReplyDeleteDe La Soul get their skates on and roll over to the studio. What on Earth was that hat? Good groove but a bit too repetitive lyrically. I like their new fourth vocalist!
Once again I have to turn the sound down to an extemely low level for a song I’d FF if it didn’t have the chart tickertape over it.
Beverley Craven, looking very attractive and just about holding on to a top 40 hit which merges “Holding Back The Years” and “Sweet Love” in the chorus. Nice intro by Soupy. The sax player’s dressed like a school teacher.
Enter Metallica with a really annoying video. I’m more of a “Fuel” fan myself.
Karaoke bingo time again with The Shamen, complete with a painfully thin dancer.
Amy Grant gives us something similar to Madonna’s “True Blue” and more syrupy visuals.
Bleuurgh FF. Damon Albarn looking like a right cock (again).
I never got Young Disciples – much preferred Omar. The tangerine clad keyboardist stood out like a sore thumb amidst all the other gloomy shades on stage.
Technotronic with “W..." – a very brief snippet of “Work”.
Shame Michael Bolton’s clip wasn’t as short as Technotronic’s.
They must have spent pence on Sophie Lawrence’s video. The single sounded like a fax of Donna Summer too.
Satisfaction that this is the last time Vanilla Ice besmirches the top 40.
Vanilla Ice would have a number two hit with Jedward in 2010.
DeleteI didn't realise that as I've lot touch with the charts now. Luckily or otherwise, we won't see that power trio as TOTP ended four years earlier.
DeleteThe tangerine clad keyboardist looked like Mick Talbot from the disbanded in 1990 Style Council. A quick Wikipedia search shows that Mick did play keyboards on the Young Disciples 1991 album Road to Freedom, so presume it is him, case solved.
DeleteJust returned home from two weeks in Cornwall expecting a huge backlog of shows but to my surprise there is only one shown on 03/09 that I have missed, so I won’t comment on that but start from here. Mr RRRR…. Is back with his unique presenting style.
ReplyDeleteDe La Soul – Roller skating whatever – Swift FF for this!
Extreme – More than Words – one of the six marooned at No2 By Bryan. Not the best of the six by any stretch…but certainly not the worst.
Beverley Craven – Holding On – Not my favourite track on the album (‘Memories’ anyone?) but a nice performance here and good to see and hear Frank Mead’s sax solo.
Metallica – Enter Sandman – Didn’t they have sandmen in ‘Logan’s Run’? Perhaps Logan may have been one. I did like Jessica (Heather Menzies) in that TV series that used to be one of Saturday night’s viewing highlights – long due a repeat run. Anyway, digression over…this was better than usual from Metallica.
Shamen – Move any Mountain – Didn’t move me.
Amy Grant – Every Heartbeat – OK follow up to ‘Baby Baby’ but not as memorable.
Blur – Bang – Not bad from this unusual Band.
Young Disciples – Apparently nothin’ – Apparently so.
Breakers – Disappointed Marillion didn’t feature with the wonderful ‘No One Can’ Looking at 45cat one of the regular contributors classes it as one of his guilty pleasures…and why not. Technotronic featuring Rrrrrrrrr….. No comment and very short. Michael Bolton – Not bad for him. Sophie Lawrence – This song had a refrain that always reminded me of another song….’And then she kissed me’.
Bryan Adams – (Everything I do) I do it for you – Wow! Wonderful that this was shown right to the end this time albeit with the start chopped so we see some more scenes from this iconic movie. It’s now been pointed out that the last scene with Alan Rickman is actually quite nasty when he tries to squire Maid Marion – no wonder she shouts “Robin!” or should that be “Rrrrrrrrrobin!”?
Vanilla Ice- Satisfaction – Placed conveniently at the end for a swift exit.
Apologies I see that the excellent 'No one can' has already been featured on the breakers on the 3rd September show which I haven't watched yet. That will teach me!
DeleteAlso Randolph Powell played a Sandman in 'Logans Run' - he of course was better known as Alan Beam in 'Dallas'.
"Fish, and plankton. And sea greens, and protein from the sea!"
DeleteYou might be the only person to remember Heather Menzies in the TV series of Logan's Run over the film's Jenny Agutter! I think I saw one episode of the show, but it didn't really register, the film made a bigger impression (not just because of Jenny). Difficult to believe it was made a year before Star Wars.
Oh, and Logan's Run the TV series is on DVD if you're feeling nostalgic.
Delete....I could be tempted!
Deletei have a portuguese friend, and a while back we were trying to work out if any of his countrymen ever managed to have a UK hit single. and the only one that we could find between us was guitarist nuno bettencourt of extreme, who moved from there to the states at a very young age!
DeleteDE LA SOUL – A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’
ReplyDeleteIn the studio and I must admit I've loved rediscovering this band on these repeats. Loved all the tunes and this one I had no recollection of at all. Fun summer vibes..
I used to go to a Roller Disco on a Saturday afternoon at St Crispin's Sport Centre (back in the 80s). Loved it.
EXTREME – Get the fu*k out please...
BEVERLEY CRAVEN – Holding On
Ms Craven back at the piano. It's a nice ballad and very radio friendly if no classic. I'll take 10 of these to every one of…..
METALLICA – Enter Sandman. Nope Exit stage left please...
THE SHAMEN – Move Any Mountain
Live again..tuuuuunnnneeee….
AMY GRANT – Every Heartbeat belongs to you. And the epileptic fit this video will enduce an added extra. Love, Amy.
BLUR – Bang
Lesser remembered Blur tune. Nice album track. Why the chicken? they all look so young...
YOUNG DISCIPLES – Apparently Nothin’
Bringing a bit of class to proceedings. I think I recognise one of these singers..hmmm.
Lovely record. One for the garden in the summer.
Breakers:
TECHNOTRONIC feat. REGGIE – Back to the day jobs please. Video inspiring the new TOTP title sequence later this year.
MICHAEL BOLTON – Thumping, Loud and Tuneful.
SOPHIE LAWRENCE - some covers can be unkind to the original.
BRYAN ADAMS – Look, it was this or 5 weeks of Right Said Fred at the top..deal with it..
VANILLA ICE – Cant get no Satisfaction from this tune..awful.