No hill too high, no desert too dry - it's the 9th of December 1993 edition of Top of the Pops!
Blobby! Blobby! Blobby!
9-12-93: Presenter: Mark Franklin
(29) BAD BOYS INC – Walking On Air
Getting the show underway and the song peaked at number 24.
(5) PRINCE – Controversy (video) (and charts)
Got no higher.
(26) GABRIELLE – I Wish (video)
Sick with flu and got no higher.
(6) THE BEE GEES – For Whom The Bell Tolls (via satellite)
Their second of four top ten hits in the 90's and it went up two more places.
(14) DINA CARROLL – The Perfect Year
In the studio and the song peaked at number 5.
(24) UB40 – Bring Me Your Cup (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(17) BLIND MELON – No Rain (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(16) PET SHOP BOYS – I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing (video) (Breakers)
Went up three more places.
(15) CYPRESS HILL – I Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That (video) (Breakers)
Got no higher.
(NEW) CLIFF RICHARD – Healing Love
Performing in the studio tonight and the song peaked at number 19.
(1) MR. BLOBBY – Mr. Blobby (video)
First of three weeks at number one.
16th of December is next.
Prince - this tune was originally released in 1981 and the title track to his 1981 album of the same name, hence the very young looking Prince in the video, cos the video was also from 1981, but the single was not released in the UK at the time, and only now 12 years later in 1993. Not sure how this all came about, but Prince getting to No.5 with it after 12 years is quite extraordinary, considering his first Top 40 hit in the UK was in 1983 when "1999" got to No.25 on its first release.
ReplyDeleteGabrielle - gets the sick note video this week cos she's too poorly to perform in the studio.
The Bee Gees - I don't recall this one, but listening to this Live By Satellite performance, I thought it was very good and the highlight of the show for me, especially how the two brothers share the lead vocals and express themselves out there in a very cold looking New York in December 1993. This song is right up there with recent Live By Satellite's from U2 and Heart.
UB40 - in this their comeback year starting off with their big No.1 I Can't Help Falling In love, it turned out to be a springboard for further singles to come over the next couple of years, but their success was fading again by this time, as 1993 was the last busy year for them chartwise, and what was to follow was sporadic occasional singles through the rest of the decade, with no apparent momentum, as their finest years were behind them at this point.
Dina's tune was from the great (and underrated) Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical 'Sunset Boulevard'. Saw the production a few years ago now in the London Colosseum with Glenn Close in the lead role. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteOn a different tip, last night I watched a 160-minute performance of "Chess" co-written by Andrew's mate Tim Rice. Couldn't believe how brilliantly a load of retired people, youngsters and regular folk with jobs managed to learn all the words / lyrics and choreography in just two months.
DeleteIt's really good to see 'The Perfect Year' get two separate showings on Top of the Pops this month as it really is one of the those seasonal singles that got away. Remarkable when it got so high in the charts. I don't know if I've ever heard it played on the radio since, it hasn't ever been on Totp 2 Christmas specials, and it isn't on the 4 disc Now Christmas collection that I got in the post this morning. Great comp however with The Wombles, Chris Rea and Bruce Springsteen featured.
DeleteSome other oddly overlooked Christmas classics; Alvin Stardust 'So Near To Christmas' (which my sister played just as much as Band Aid in '84), Badly Drawn Boy 'Donna and Blitzen' and anything from Emmylou Harris' glorious 'Light of the Stable' LP.
Sct353 - Mic is Showaddywaddy's 'Hey Mr Christmas' on that compilation? You never hear that one for some reason and I love it.
DeleteThe only time I have seen Hey Mr Christmas was the TOTP2 clip introduced by Steve Wright where Showaddywaddy are outdoors with lots of kids. I don't think there is any other existing performance of it.
DeleteNo it isn't unfortunately. That's a great Xmas single. There's a nice sequence of '70s ones and others dotted around on the other discs but not that one which is a shame. Very good compilation though. I've never heard the 12 inch of the original Do They Know It's Christmas before which closes the collection.
DeleteI have Showaddywaddy's seasonal hit on the 'Bell Singles 1974 - 1976' compilation. I have never seen it on any of the Christmas sets hence why I asked the question. When playing the aforementioned CD any other time of the year I find myself reaching to skip the Christmas song. So like the Carpenters 'Greatest Hits with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra' compilation which plonked 'Merry Christmas Darling' right smack in the middle of the running order, I try to play these discs in December or just leave them on the shelf.
DeleteLooking at the running order of the 'Now' disc, there are certainly some unusual 'Christmas themed' hits on disc 4! Kate Bush and Mariah Carey seem to have had the wrong songs chosen too....
I'd have loved to have heard 'Hey Mr.Christmas' on there. You're right Disc 4 has some odd choices but very good to get 'Winter Melody' and 'Keeping The Dream Alive'. Frog Chorus is forever a part of Xmas '84 for me so I enjoyed that but I'd have liked 'Once Upon a Long Ago' just as much. No 'Sadness PT.1' strangely.
Delete'For whom the Bell Tolls' always conjures up the classic Alistair McLean novel (and film starring Anthony Hopkins) 'When Eight Bells Toll'...."I should have listened to Hunslett for Hunslett's sake" in case anyone has read it.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, Pick of the Pops this week featured 1980 with the bizarre outcome of two excrutiating records (for differing reasons) being played back to back; ' There's no-one quite like Grandma' followed by 'Rock'n Roll ain't Noise Pollution'. I remember reading a review of the latter at the time which simply read (simply red.....ah non intentional pun, but as I wrote it I thought of it) "It most certainly is".
Hopefully a 1980 'Top of the Pops' repeat to catch some of that Top20.
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Delete"Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" was the last of no less than seven UK chart entries in 1980 for AC/DC. The first, "Touch Too Much", got a TOTP outing which featured singer Bon Scott less than a fortnight before his booze-induced death. The track, a paean to shagging, was recorded for TOTP with half of both the verses removed due to their lyrical content.
DeleteActually, my deleted post was correct. The song was recorded for TOTP with the verses intact, but they were spliced (rather badly) from the show, at least for the BBC4 re-run, due to the risque lyrics in the second half of both verses.
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DeleteGood to see that BBC4 are continuing with the earlier TOTP repeats. 3/1/85 being shown in the new year.
DeleteHi there. Sorry I’m late. Ill on Friday and early Saturday, theatre on Saturday evening (didn’t want to let my mate down), and in-laws then football yesterday.
ReplyDeleteHere we have an edition featuring the most professional piece of hosting on the show ever. Seriously.
Not the festive “Walking On The Air” to start, it’s Fake That walking on dry ice. Sounded every bit a top 24 smash.
Mark’s dressed like a Yankee college boy again. Surprised he didn’t change his surname to Roosevelt instead of Franklin.
Repetitititive stuff from Prince, early signs of the showman there.
Non-mugshots: First of two top 40 hits for Funkdoobiest, who you’d expect to do rave versions of Doobie Brothers songs with a name like that, the first sighting of a track which was later duetted in howling fashion by Jordan and Peter Andre, and it appears they have enough Letraset for the Pet Shop Boys’ essay of a title (twice in the show) but scrimped for poor old Meat Loaf’s chart topper.
Gabrielle gives everyone in the studio the lurgy (no tongues) before the latest sick note vid, this time “I Wish I Didn’t Have Flu”, complete with a panto vibe including Cinderella with 50% extra ugly sisters free.
No, Mark, the Bee Gees’ single isn’t new this week. It was in the charts last week. Weren’t you watching? Poignant video featuring the Twin Towers, plus we get to see the elusive fourth Bee Gee, Gibb SR.
1993 was “The Perfect Year” for Geraldine, who seemed to be on TOTP every other week. Another fine performance, mind you. Star of the year for me. Note how Mark ballses up again and intros this as “The Perfect Moment”.
UB40 with one of their slightly more uptempo and better sounding tracks there.
Blind Melon. Just what the world needs, a hippified Extreme. Next.
Both Neil and Chris looking unnervingly like Elton John. Loved the sense of humour shown and the song to boot.
At last, Cypress Hill finally get past the censors with a snippet on the breakers.
What better way to follow Cypress Hill, says Mark, than with… Oh God (satire), it must be December as it’s Cliffmas time again. Neither healing nor lovely, so the song contravenes the Trade Descriptions Act.
Maybe he deserved it for a dog of a hosting performance, but how did Mark keep on talking and smiling after Blobby accidentally smacks the mic into either his nose or chin? Could’ve taken some teeth out, the prat. If that had been me instead of Mark, there would have been several anglo-Saxon expletives while giving the idiot in the costume some very blue remarks. Best bit of hosting, ever.
PS – so glad that pink and yellow abomination only had one top 40 scraper after this.
Chart rundown - I just noticed two new entries this week in the Top 40 for previous TOTP regulars, which were also at peak position this week, and missed out on The Breakers:
ReplyDeleteNo.32 Lisa Stansfield - Little Bit Of Heaven
Apparently her last single for three years until January 1997, so take a deep breath Stansfield fans, as we will not be seeing her for a while in the charts or on TOTP for that matter.
No.40 Go West - We Close Our Eyes
Re-release of their Top 5 debut single from 1985, and would also be their last ever single, as this re-release in 1993 brings down the curtain on a career spanning 8 years since 1985 when they stormed onto the scene with their notable jeans look.
There were at least three Lisa Stansfield singles released overseas (but not in the UK for whatever reasons) in 1994.
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ReplyDeleteMark is in cheery mood and maintains it to the show's end despite possibly getting the flu and nearly losing a couple of his front teeth.
Opening with an early Take That knock off and predictably dull. I heard them a lot for a while afterwards and can't recall a single thing about them. At least the lead Inca doesn't have as bad a falsetto as the guy from Big Fun.
The charts with a single that doesn't exactly promote the current scene. Prince with something that finally gets a release in Britain long after being recorded and it's ok. What was the reason for the keyboard player always dressing like a surgeon?
Gabrielle should be in bed if she's got the flu but she's come to the not particularly therapeutic climes of Elstree to sit on stage and tell everyone she can't perform. Mark clearly doesn't mind catching it. Substitute video is pretty boring and the song is disappointing by her standards.
From someone who's got the flu to some men who could easily catch a bad cold, The Bee Gees live by satellite with I think their last great single, 'For Whom The Bell Tolls'. It's a beautiful tune and Robin sings once again like the loneliest soul in the world. Which is quite impressive considering he's singing live under the Brooklyn Bridge on a freezing December day. His voice does get a little shakier near the end but it's another great satellite performance. Best innovation of the Appel era for me and thankfully it will continue when Ric Blaxill takes over.
Dina Carroll returns with another classic song though it rarely if ever gets played. 'The Perfect Year' is the perfect year's end single though Dina's look and the set is more redolent of Halloween than New Year's Eve. The interspersing of sepia rural scenes also seem a little out of place for such an elegant single but great to see it featured on the show and another performance for the 23rd December edition.
Breakers; UB40 appear to sing something whatever it was. Blind Melon; good to get several seconds of a grungy favourite. The Pet Shop Boys looking like Mike Flowers a couple of years early. Bit of a flop for them and should've done much better in the charts. Cypress Hill with more studenty hip hop fun.
It's nearly Christmas so here's.....! Cliff Richard flanked by giant billowing white flags. God that dragged on.
Mark and 'guest' introduce the No.1. For someone seemingly incapable of insincerity, Mark is very impressive in pretending that he loves Mr.Blobby. He carries on smiling after the collosally stupid twat whacks him in the mouth with a microphone. I agree with Arthur, Mark does remarkably well to stay professional but I bet he or the floor manager advised our friend to rein it in a little while the video was playing. I still like bits of the video (the non Blobby bits) but the record's awful.
Mark remains cheerful while having Mr. Blobby grabbing him and he sounds possibly relieved that his mouth isn't dripping with blood. A playful yelp right at the end, presumably followed by a mutter of "thank f***!"
Spot on regarding The Bee Gees, as I don't recall this single at the time, but not only was it by far the best song on the show, but I've been listening to it all week, and if this really is their last great single as you say, may we give thanks to this amazing group, as they must have been going for around 30 years by 1993, and still getting into the Top 10!
DeleteYes, the amount of all time classic songs they wrote is phenomenal really. If you wrote 'To Love Somebody' you wouldn't need to write anything of any quality again but they just kept coming back with incredible songs. 'Run To Me', 'Night Fever', 'How Deep Is Your Love', 'You Win Again'. Phew! Totally agree, some artists you just have to give thanks to for making the effort.
DeleteI'm a big fan of 'Run to me' and well recall it being on the same show as Alice Cooper's 'Schools Out'. What a contrast! I also really rate 'Don't forget to Remember'.
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ReplyDeleteTake That on helium open up and they are Walking On Air. They look so angelic I bet there's not a bad boy amongst them. Awful song as well.
The only controversy hear is why this PRINCE video is so dull.
I wish GABRIELLE has been well enough to sing live as this shoe fetish video isn't a patch on her studio performances. Song is nice enough.
Question of the night. Who is the fourth BEE GEE? Is there a spare in case one of them froze to death? "For Whom The Bell Tolls" is a decent tune but this is an awful vocal performance. I blame the cold.
With two songs in the top twenty its the reverend DINA CARROLL who is having The Perfect Year. Always dig this one out at Xmas. Easily tune of the night.
Breakers:
UB40 – Extra Costa points if you Bring Me Your Cup
BLIND MELON – sixties style buzzing
PET SHOP BOYS – video perfect for last weeks 3D show. Great remix for the single.
CYPRESS HILL – I Ain’t Goin’ to listen to any more of this.
He's the CLIFF that keeps on giving. Every Christmas without fail, including 2022. Gun/Medicine is an interesting rhyme.
MR. BLOBBY causes chaos in the studio for this terrible novelty tune.
These December shows have taken a very swift downward turn in quality
Yeah, I was wondering myself who that extra Bee Gee was, and he didn't look like one of the brothers. Anyone know?
DeleteYeah also for UB40, I was wondering what cup that was, as Costa was not around in 1993, nor was fast food coffees I would imagine. Must have been a cup of tea, considering that wine was by the glass. Unless it was a goblet of some sort? Now I'm totally confused.
I'm surprised Bad Boys Inc are still going when TT and E17 are in their prime (It's Alright is probably E17's best single yet and Babe has its moments although I hate the line 'a voice I once knew answered in a sweet voice'. The breakers reminded me how two of the year's big and enduring hits, Runaway Train by Soul Asylum and Jump Around by House of Pain got really short shrift.
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