Friday 6 May 2022

The Impossible Top of the Pops

 This is my quest, to follow the 26th of November 1992 edition of Top of the Pops!

 

The unstoppable fire


26-11-92:   Presenter:  Mark Franklin

(23) EMF – It’s You
Getting the show underway but the song got no higher.

(8) GUNS N’ ROSES – Yesterdays  (video)  (and charts)
At its peak.

(5) UNDERCOVER – Never Let Her Slip Away
Their second and final top ten hit was now at its peak.

(21) CARTER – THE UNSTOPPABLE SEX MACHINE – The Impossible Dream
In the studio with their bid for a Christmas hit but number 21 was as high as it got.

(17) SHABBA RANKS feat. JOHNNY GILL – Slow And Sexy  (video)   (Breakers)
Got no higher.

(14) DEACON BLUE – Your Town  (video)   (Breakers)
Got no higher.

(20) KYLIE MINOGUE – Celebration
Here tonight with this Kool and the Gang cover but it got no higher.

(26) JASON DONOVAN – As Time Goes By
And following Kylie into studio performing his sixteenth and final top 40 hit but it got no higher.

(NEW) ROD STEWART – Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda)  (via satellite)
Doing a very creditable impression of Noel Edmonds here and the song peaked at number 6.

(1) CHARLES & EDDIE – Would I Lie To You?  (via satellite)
Somehow holding Whitney off the top spot for their second and final week at number one, oh yeah.
 
 
 3rd of December is next.
 

20 comments:

  1. Out with the old and in with the new, as we no longer have the flashback videos but instead return to the traditional video as second up on the show after the studio appearance opener. The video tradition as second song up on each TOTP show goes back to the early 80s, and seems to have returned a year after the revamp put paid to that tradition.

    Undercover – the studio set with the boat was a throwback to the Dutch equivalent of TOTP called Top Pop where in the 70s the performers would typically play in studio sets with props and objects, usually of soft material.

    Carter USM – an unusual sound for them, and it felt like an Andrew Lloyd Webber type of musicals sound which didn’t suit Carter USM at all!

    Kylie Minogue followed by Jason Donovan on the same show, and both in the TOTP studio this week! Good Lord, I don’t think this has happened since Especially For You at the end of 1988, when they appeared together on the same song. I heard in the news recently that the two of them will be returning to the Neighbours cast this year as regulars on the show, as their careers seem to have gone full circle in the last 35 years or so since they were regulars on Neighbours, and will be returning to acting.

    Rod Stewart – love this song, and highlight of the show for me, as it has always been one of my favourite Rod Stewart songs, and still sounds so good 30 years later. Good Lord, I could easily listen to this song all week until the December 1992 shows are ready next week on BBC4!

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    1. If Kylie and Jason think they're coming back as regulars for Neighbours, they're going to be disappointed, because I heard they're returning for the last ever episode!

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    2. Do you know when this last ever episode is going to be aired in Britain?

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    3. I never watch it, but presumably some time in the Summer.

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    4. 1st August is the last episode date and Kylie/Jason have already filmed their cameo

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  2. Bloody Hell, this has to be a record for the show. All the songs played that were in the top 40 had reached their peak. Not a single one of them moved higher up the chart! The only upwardly mobile mover was Rod with his free BBC advert for a new release.

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    1. Thinking about it, I guess we had just reached that time in chart history when most records entered the chart at their peak position.

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    2. Indeed, I just noticed that on next week's chart, Club 69 came in as a new entry at No.33 with Let Me Be Your Underwear, and then fell down the chart before TOTP could consider them as a Breaker for the following week. No doubt this will come up as a topic on next week's 40-11 chart rundown of 3.12.92 over the Michael Jackson video

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  3. Mr. EMF in another silly hat and still in shorts. It's November! I think there's a tune in here somewhere failing to break out. Forgettable.

    Guns n Roses get the chart treatment. This seems distinctly average from them. Not really worthy of Number 8. Speaking of tunes that shouldn't be anywhere near the Top 10 it's the S.S.Undercover sinking this dodgy cover version. Let's hope they slip away quite quickly.

    Xmas is coming and in lane one it's Carter making an attempt at another Top Ten hit and failing miserably. Fair play for giving it a go though, they've been a proper highlight of the last 12 months or so. Real fire in the studio too, bet that needed a risk assessment.

    Breakers:
    Shabba and Jonny: Too slow, not sexy
    Deacon Blue: US style

    Kylie ending her SAW time with a seriously dodgy cover of Kool and the Gangs "Celebration". Love you Kylie but this is shocking. Purely to flog the Greatest Hits CD. At least better is to come and we can all look forward to seeing her back in Neighbours before the end of July. Loving the TOTP retro t-shirts. Also coming back to Neighbours it's Jason with yet another rubbish cover version. End of an era for both Aussies tonight. One of them will soon become a huge-star!

    An Aussie tune, by a Scotsman, live from USA. Makes sense. Is this the point he starts churning out covers albums? Song 2 making a bid for Xmas Number One tonight by using the cunning Noel Edmonds look as a selling point. I preferred Carter.

    Whitney at Number Two (think she may have Xmas sown up personally) and then another satellite perfomance this time from Charles and Eddie. I love they way they always appear the same way around (like Ant and Dec). Doesn't help as I'm still going to have to google which one is which.


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  4. Ugh waaaay too many covers. Normally I'd be excited by a Kylie appearance but Celebration is by far her worst single. EMF and GnR are OK but hardly either's best. Thank goodness for Charles and Eddie, especially as it's not a video.

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  5. EMF - gesundheit! Sounded like they were out of ideas, apart from the keyboard player who was about to waltz off with his instrument. Where did you get that hat, where did you get that tile?

    Buns N Noses on video at the arse end of their career and not demonstrating why so many people thought they were a big deal. Black and white, too, cliche!

    Undercover I can happily do without, and here's Carter USM to show that not everyone was giving up before Christmas, only their cover of the theme from Man of La Mancha is utterly hopeless and unsuited to their style. I was never that keen on that musical in the first place.

    Shabba - what a revolting development this is. Deacon Blue - still failing to capture the Raintown magic.

    Good grief, put a bit of effort in, it's Kylie, your star attraction and you're treating her like Sonia! Pisspoor cover that her fixed grin can't hide her lack of cheer about. An embarrassment.

    Then Jase graces the TOTP stage for the last time, so I treated him with true reverence and FF-ed.

    Rod Stewart may be many things, but he's not Tom Waits, no matter how hard he tries here. Nice strings, but the original will always be preferable with Tom (who must have been doing Bone Machine about this time - cover something off that, Rod!).

    Then Chas and Ed enjoy the limelight one last time before slipping from the consciousness.

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  6. Oh, and Angelo - spot on about Rod's Noel Edmonds get-up!

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  7. Three songs INSIDE the Top 40 at peak position this week, with no play or feature on TOTP on this run:

    No.19 Brian May - Back To The Light
    Wow, a busy 1992 for May following the loss of Freddie Mercury and subsequently Queen, this did not even get a Breakers slot this week with Deacon Blue and Shabba Ranks only a few places in front of Brian May getting on to the Breakers this week.

    No.31 Chris Rea - God's Great Banana Skin
    Got no idea what this is all about, but despite this quick follow up to his Top 20 single only a few weeks earlier could only make it to No.31 this time round, Rea was far from done, as he would continue to go on up until 1997 with new singles releases.

    No.38 The Bassheads - Who Can Make Me Feel Good?
    Third single in 12 months, and with each single they do less well, with one more new single after this that didn't even make the Top 40, so they're all but washed up at this point, but no-one can forget their debut single in 1991 which was big.

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  8. Three songs OUTSIDE the Top 40 at peak position this week from previous chart regulars, with no TOTP for them this time round:

    No.42 Bob Marley & The Wailers - Why Should I?
    Eagerly awaited follow-up to the big Top 5 hit Iron Lion Zion, this new one just missed out on a Top 40 position, and Marley then had no new music until 1995, so there'll be nothing from him in the charts until then.

    No.52 Lionel Richie - Love Oh Love
    Third out of three quickfire singles in 1992 in this brief comeback, with the first two making Top 40, but this third one holding back, and there would be nothing further from Richie in the singles chart for another four years until 1996, so it's a long goodbye until then.

    No.71 Bananarama - Last Thing On My Mind
    Penultimate single for them before closing out for good in early 1993, this one couldn't make it to the Top 40 in time for Christmas 1992.

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    Replies
    1. We will get to see "Last Thing On My Mind" in 1998 when it becomes the second Top 40 hit for Steps!

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    2. Nobody else can misspell 'Richie' as 'Ritchie' for a few years then! I thought 'Love oh Love' was top drawer actually when I bought the 'Back to Front' album in 1992.

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  9. Sad to hear of the passing of Dennis Waterman today at only 74. I remember his 1980 single I Could Be So Good For You which I think made Top 5 if not Top 3, and was all could enjoy of Waterman, being only 12 at the time, and not old enough to watch his past-the-watershed shows like The Sweeney at the time. RIP Dennis.

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    1. Dennis's hit was a surprise to me at the time and did reach No3 as you mentuon. I didn't watch 'Minder' and of course the BBC made no reference to it but I knew Dennis from other shows he had been in and didn't realise he sung. RIP

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  10. Almost a ballad this time from EMF. Tired of their image. I wonder if the long shorts inspired Boyz II Men for their first satellite link/?

    I concentrated on the chart then gave a big ‘meh’ to what was left of “Yesterdays”.

    We get Undercover, the Poundland KWS, again instead of “Little Baby Nothing” by The Manics? Sheesh.

    Blue Peter Guide Campfire alert! Give Carter their due, at least this was different to their norm. Having had his hand bandged previously, and missed a later studio booking due to, erm, ‘illness’, had JimBob done a leg in this time, hence the walking stick?

    Not enough shown of the breakers, especially the first one, to make an opinion.

    Oh dear, Kylie, not you going (back) down the covers route as well. Absolutely terrible.

    A return for Jason (see note re Manics) with “As Time Goes By The Hits Dry Up”.

    I hope Tom Waits has a shrine to Rod Stewart, who took two of his admittedly great songs and covered them honestly and successfully.

    A cavernous sound for our chart toppers. Glad they held on for one more week.

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