A very Merry Christmas to everyone who contributes to and reads this blog.
Time to break free, nothing can stop the 25th of December 1993 edition of Top of the Pops!
M-erry Christmas!
25-12-93: Presenters: Tony Dortie & Mark Franklin
(-) WEST END feat. SYBIL – The Love I Lost
(-) TAKE THAT – Could It Be Magic (video)
(-) SNAP feat. NIKI HARIS – Exterminate (video)
(-) MICHAEL JACKSON – Heal The World (video)
(40) WHITNEY HOUSTON – I Will Always Love You (video)
(-) 2 UNLIMITED – No Limit
(-) MICHAEL JACKSON – Give In To Me (video)
(-) TAKE THAT – Why Can’t I Wake Up With You (video)
(-) SNOW – Informer
(-) SHAGGY – Oh Carolina (video)
(-) THE BLUEBELLS – Young At Heart
(-) SUB SUB feat. MELANIE WILLIAMS – Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use) (video)
(-) GEORGE MICHAEL & QUEEN – Somebody To Love (video)
(-) ACE OF BASE – All That She Wants
(-) JANET JACKSON – That’s The Way Love Goes (video)
(-) UB40 – (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You (video)
(-) GABRIELLE – Dreams
(-) HADDAWAY – What Is Love (video)
(-) TAKE THAT – Pray
(-) 4 NON BLONDES – What’s Up? (video)
(-) BITTY McLEAN – It Keeps Rainin’ (Tears From My Eyes)
(-) URBAN COOKIE COLLECTIVE – The Key, The Secret (video)
(-) CULTURE BEAT – Mr. Vain (video)
(-) FREDDIE MERCURY – Living On My Own (video)
(-) M-PEOPLE – Moving On Up
(-) PET SHOP BOYS – Go West (video)
(-) D.J. JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE – Boom! Shake The Room (video)
(71) TAKE THAT & LULU – Relight My Fire
(55) CAPPELLA – U Got 2 Let The Music (video)
(6) MEAT LOAF – I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) (video)
(16) DINA CARROLL – Don’t Be A Stranger (video)
(9) ELTON JOHN & KIKI DEE – True Love (video)
(2) TAKE THAT – Babe (video)
(1) MR. BLOBBY – Mr. Blobby (video)
Have a Happy New Year!
4th of January 1994 is next.
I thought this was a cracking Christmas episide apart from the overload of Take That. 1993 was a lot better than I remembered it being, most episodes were pretty enjoyable. 1994 and 1995 I'm really looking forward to.
ReplyDeleteAhead of watching the Christmas edition, and to keep my mind off freezing waiting for my bus, here's my top 20 of 1993. I'm looking forward to '94, a truly great year, but I've really enjoyed revisiting '93; I've loved its warmth and open mindedness. The TOTP sets and format were mostly imaginative and so of its time, the satellite things mostly good and the presenters steered it well enough. I'll certainly miss them when the endless TV C-listers take over. Mark and Tony's guileless enthusiasm seemed to sum up this year very well. Also I think it's one of the great times for female voices which came across so well on the shows which is why my Top 10 is mostly female acts.
ReplyDelete20. R.E.M, Everybody Hurts
19. World Party, Is It Like Today?
18. Soul Asylum, Runaway Train
17. Shara Nelson, Down That Road
16. U2, Stay (Faraway So Close)
15. Terence Trent D'Arby,. Do You Love Me Like You Say
14. St. Etienne, Who Do You Think You Are
13. Paul Weller, Wild Wood
12. M People, How Can I Love You More
11. Dina Carroll, Don't Be a Stranger
10. Captain Hollywood Project, More and More
9. Jade, Don't Walk Away
8. Bjork, Venus As a Boy
7. Crowded House, Nails In My Feet
6. K D Lang, Constant Craving
5. Suede, Animal Nitrate
4. The Beloved, Sweet Harmony
3. Dina Carroll, This Time
2. Gabrielle, Dreams
1. Bjork, Play Dead
Not had a chance to watch yet but I will try to narrow down the 383 tunes on the playlist to just 20. I agree it's been a very up and down year 1993 but there have been some really great songs as well.
ReplyDeletehttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/7p5whLcVo6teOAsIRP7uBp?si=8bfda639536041fb
20. House of Pain - Jump Around
19. Billy Joel - River Of Dreams
18. Beloved - Sweet Harmony
17. 4 Non Blondes - What's Up
16. Spin Doctors - Two Princes
15. Freddie Mercury - Living On My Own
14. Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way?
13. New Order - Regret
12. Peter Garbriel - Steam
11. Ace Of Base - All That She Wants
10. Saint Etienne - You're In A Bad Way
9. Haddaway - What Is Love
8. Pet Shop Boys - Can You Forgive Her?
7. OMD - Stand Above Me
6. UB40 - (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You
5. kd lang - Constant Craving
4. REM - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
3. Rappination/Kym Mazelle - Love Me The Right Way
2. Sub Sub featuring Melanie Williams - Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)
1. Dina Carroll - Don't Be A Stranger
Just watched the big hits 93 programme. Considerinhg how terrible i have thpught the year was, there are some absolute bangers on it.
ReplyDeleteRestricting myself to one song per artist and only ones featured on the Pops as a Breaker or better (sorry James and Nirvana), these would be my top 20 of 1993
ReplyDelete20. REM - Everybody Hurts
19. Ace of Base - All That She Wants
18. Meat Loaf - I Would Have Been Higher (But I stayed at number One Too Long)
17. Saint Etienne - You're in a Bad Way
16. M People - One Night in Heaven
15. Culture Beat - Mr Vain
14. Annie Lennox - Love Song For a Vampire
13. Bee Gees - For Whom the Bell Tolls
12. House of Pain - Jump Around
11 . Björk and David Arnold - Play Dead
10. Madonna - Rain
9. Suede - Animal Nitrate
8. Manics - La Tristessa Duerra
7. Spin Doctors - Two Princes
6. 4 Non Blondes - What's Up
5. Radiohead - Creep
4. East 17 - It's Alright
3. Roxette - Almost Unreal
2. Urban Cookie Collective - The Key The Secret
1. Dina Carroll - Don't Be a Stranger
Seasons greetings Angelo and to all on here. As we’re in listings mode, these were some of my favourite studio / satellite performances of the year…
ReplyDeleteSunscreem - Broken English
The Beloved - Sweet Harmony
Saint Etienne -You’re in a bad way
The Grid - Crystal Clear
Sub Sub - Ain’t no Love
New Order- Regret
Saint Etienne - Who do you think you are
Suede - So Young
Pet Shop Boys - Can you forgive her?
4 Non Blondes - What’s Up
Urban Cookie Collective - The Key
Radiohead - Creep
One Dove - Breakdown
Bjork - Big Time Sensuality
Saint Etienne - Christmas Day
My Top 10 tunes of the year (compiled many years ago) remains largely unchanged after this year of TOTP viewing, although may swap New Order with St. Etienne
Sabres of Paradise - Smokebelch II
Stereolab - French Disco
Underworld - Mmm Skyscraper
Bjork - Big Time Sensuality
Leftfield - Open Up
Tindersticks - City Sickness
Sub Sub - Ain’t no Love
The Fall - Lost in Music
Orbital - Halcyon
New Order - Regret
RIP Terry Hall of the Specials and Colourfield. Only 63 years old. Another recording artist lost in 2022.
ReplyDelete...and of course the Fun Boy Three.
DeleteSuch sad news about the passing of Terry Hall. Gone far too soon.
ReplyDeleteThis Christmas edition was one of three we had on video at home. Still have '91 and '95 on VHS. I enjoyed it a lot with plenty of sunny, smily hits from this smiliest, unselfconscious of years. Not quite as outwardly christmassy as the '92 show but still enjoyably seasonal. It was a strange decision to have the video compilations for each month shown with no links at all, not even an voiceover. The long periods without presenters made it strangely muted and Mark seemed particularly subdued, weary even, like he'd been up the previous night. The most animated he gets is when he says, "don't put that in my nose!" when Tony approaches him with a toy penguin. He's affable and totally pro as always and Tony is his jovial self though they could've been a bit more celebratory considering they've completed a year where they were the only two presenters. Still much preferred to the presenting on the Xmas day '98 edition last night. Hilariously dated ladette pouting and yelling particularly from Kate Thornton. No thanks.
Great start from Sybil but much preferred 'When I'm Good and Ready'.
Jan videos announced by nobody. All rather downbeat and serious apart from the first of (too many) TT appearances.
A rather sleepy start gets a wake up with the never tired sounding 2 Unlimited in the studio to do the tea tray bashing song. Not before an awful link with Patsy Palmer creating dead air before introducing 'No Limits' while looking away from the camera. I assume she isn't on the guest presenter list in the next couple of years. The single still a blast with Anita imperious, Ray teasingly wagging his finger at the crowd and a troupe of space centurions, one of whom almost knocks a snowman's head off.
February videos not very representative of my favourite period of '93 but good to see a bit of the video for 'Love Song From a Vampire'.
No snow for Snow surprisingly and smiles aren't much in abundance either. Still enjoyable.
Ragga for March then The Bluebells back in the studio and all in kilts apart from the violinist. Jollyish but not particularly animated by their standards. Ken McCluskey only smiled once and only then when he wasn't singing though the drummer grinned enough for all of them.
Good to see a little of the Sub Sub video then the best performance of the show for me. Ace of Base sultry and stylish in black and they do a fantastic performance of 'All That She Wants'. The saxophonist hogging the limelight a little too much but the girls really put the song across this time. Wintry in the coolest sense.
Sexy things on offer for May plus UB40.
Gabrielle's got over her flu to appear in the studio and it's another delightful performance of 'Dreams'. A couple of student disco favourites then Take That 'Pray' before a giant stained glass window. The serious performance.
Bitty McLean performing in front of a pile of presents. A happy few minutes and really enjoyed the segue into 'The Key, The Secret'.
Liked Tony's link into M People, saying that they're great apart from Shovel being an Arsenal supporter. For a moment I thought he was going to say something else. I wonder if he had to rehearse that line a few times.
Take That return with Lulu and with Gary wishing us a happy Christmas on the only non festive set of the night. The lively performance. Mark seems to be dressed as Roger Daltrey at Woodstock. Robbie seems to have come as Jay K.
Pt.2:
ReplyDeleteMeat Loaf with a big stage performance of the big, big No.1 and it looks like this is especially for the Christmas show. The big man emoting for the Northern Hemisphere and mostly on form but he makes a horrible mess of that last note.
The last video collection and at last a little bit of the beautiful Prague set video for 'Don't Be A Stranger'. Dina Carroll probably should've been in the studio to sing it as the unofficial queen of TOTP '93 but she was probably grateful for the time off. At least she was featured.
So Mr. Blobby returns to conquer. What a truly unsettling thought. The full video which isn't very pleasant whatever you're eating at the time but you can look away at key moments.
A goodbye laced with disappointment from Mark and Gary and Mark and Tony. Gary must be the only person to ever refer to Mr.Blobby as "mate".
Yes, a familiar contributor from your past returns for one night only!
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd drop by to let you all know that I'm in good health, even though I haven't been on this blog for quite some time.
This week, I've watched the Christmas editions from 1986 and 1990 on BBC4. The edition from 1986 reminds me of Christmases spent with my family; Mum loved Chris de Burgh (and Val Doonican, whose own Christmas special from the same year has also been re-shown on BBC4), while Dad adored Boris Gardiner's ballad, which was actually composed by respected country songwriter Ben Peters. My own pick, however, was Simply Red's all-time classic.
The edition from 1990 featured several acts who deserved to enjoy longer chart careers than they did: Londonbeat, Maria McKee (who also composed Feargal Sharkey's chart-topper 'A Good Heart') and Alannah Myles.
I've never been much of a rap fan, but Vanilla Ice was an engaging performer in his (albeit brief) heyday. I have seen him live once: on the 'Dancing On Ice' tour in 2011, when he had Manchester MEN Arena (now the AO Arena) in the palm of his hand.
Also this weekend, I overheard a snatch of Kenny Thomas's 'Thinking About Your Love' on a repeat of 'Gavin & Stacey'. There was one singer from the 1990s who should have been a SUPERSTAR. He's since retrained in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, in which he now holds a BA degree - but has continued to dabble in music, supporting Level 42 on tour and enjoying a stint as lead singer of Living In A Box, replacing Richard Darbyshire. Talking of Mark King and his band, I plan to see them in concert in 2023 - for the first time ever!
I wish you all a very happy Christmas, and all the best for the coming year.
The same week also had the 1978 and 1998 Christmas editions of TOTP, which I liked more than the 1986 and 1990 Christmas additions, for example on the 1998 edition, there was the brilliant Tamperer featuring Maya, Fat Les with Vindaloo.
DeleteHi Julie, great to see you on here again. Merry Christmas to you and to all bloggers on here. Yes, I enjoyed both those Christmas editions, I thought '90 had some marvellous singles and I thought Saviour's Day with the credits running over it was really effective as an ending. I'd love to have seen Christmas Day '75 again but some good festive repeats getting shown.
DeleteI recommend the book 'Top of the Pops, The Lost Years Rediscovered 1964-1975' by Peter Checks field. I got it for Christmas and it has info on every show between those years and some great quotes from artists who appeared.
Sct353 - Happy Christmas everyone! Been playing the Girls Aloud Christmas album that came out as a bonus cd with the 'Chemistry' album. Some good covers and catchy originals that I am surprised are not very well known. One track 'Not now Santa' did make it onto a previous 'Now Christmas' compilation howevwr but not the latest one.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen that Channel 5 has turned into a pop video channel for most the day on Christmas Day? Well at least from 9.20 till 3pm wth the Top Christmas songs of all time, and then Britain's favourite 80s songs, then resuming early evening for Britain's favourite 90s songs.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year to everyone on the blog. Just wanted to comment about two further passings in the music world. Maxi Jazz such a young age to be gone. Faithless were really special and Maxi was a magnificent front man. Such a character and I envy anyone that saw them live at a festival. I wish I had. Then learn that Thom Bell passed away just before Christmas. I successfully bid for 'Backstabbers' by The O'Jays on original vinyl early this year and I've returned to it many times. Glorious LP but you can't mistake the Thom Bell productions which leap out from the rest. The harp and strings and all the rest. An utter genius. Rip.
ReplyDeleteSad to hear of the death of Anita Pointer of The Pointer Sisters, who took lead vocal on Slow Hand, which was the first single of their that I heard, which got to No.11 in 1981, and made No.2 in the American charts for three weeks that year. RIP Anita.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbk29JZdl5A
Happy New Year everyone.
DeleteRIP Anita Pointer. The Sisters released some great tracks with the song 'Slowhand' being a personal favourite of mine too. Co-written by Richard Carpenter's songwriting Pal John Bettis incidentally.
The Sisters released another largely unheard of single in the UK in 1979; a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Fire' which was only held off the top spot in the US by 'sexy' Rod Stewart. Don't know if it is Anita on lead for that track...
Yes, apparently Fire does have Anita Pointer on lead vocals, and was the Sister's first Top 10 hit in America in 1978, so Anita would have been lead vocal from 1978-1983, until their disco revamp in 1984 with Automatic, Jump, and I'm So Excited, where the sisters took it in turn to take lead vocal. Oldest sister Ruth Pointer who was lead on Automatic, is the only surviving sister.
Delete