We're a thousand miles apart but you know I love the 7th of April 1994 edition of Top of the Pops!
Brace yourselves
7-4-94: Presenter: Andi Peters
(26) BLACK MACHINE – How Gee
Getting the show underway with their only hit, and it peaked at number 17.
(NEW) ERASURE – Always
Performing the first single from their number one album I Say I Say I Say, and it peaked at number 4.
(4) PRINCE – The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (video) (and charts)
Soon to become his only number one.
(13) TONY DI BART – The Real Thing
Performing what will become his only number one hit.
(19) BITTY McLEAN – Dedicated To The One I Love
This Mamas and Papas cover became his third and final top ten hit when it peaked at number 6.
(18) LITTLE ANGELS – Ten Miles High
Performing their tenth and final top 40 hit but it got no higher.
(21) ROACHFORD – Only To Be With You
A second studio performance but the song got no higher.
(NEW) PET SHOP BOYS – Liberation
Here tonight with the fourth single from their number one album Very, and it peaked at number 14.
(1) TAKE THAT – Everything Changes (via satellite)
First of two weeks at number one.
(NEW) A.M. CITY – Pull Up To The Bumper (studio montage) (and credits)
Their only chart entry and it peaked at number 83.
14th of April is next.
I got very confused for a minute with Black Machine closing one episode and opening the next, thinking it was strange that they had them in the studio just to do the credits. Then Andi Peters popped up and oh yeah you already introduced the show but were clearly so memorable.
ReplyDeleteStill too many exclusives, but I love that Erasure always make a proper staged performance of it. The light up letters are very pleasing. This song reminds me so much of this year. I had a friend who was a massive Erasure fan and he played that album pretty constantly.
Prince on his way to the top. It's a decent enough track but weird that this was the one the British public made number one. You definitely don't hear it as much these days as several of his other hits. I see he's using the symbol now and am quite impressed they used it in the chart rundown. But is he still letting himself be called Prince at this stage rather than The artist formerly known as...?
Tony Di Bart - Why does he sound like he's trying to sing with his mouth closed and why does he look like a lesser Ryder brother? The song is very 94 but I never cared much either way about it.
Bitty M - Slightly pointless but pleasant enough cover.
Little Angels - one of those acts who I always liked fine on TOTP or the radio but never enough to seek out their music beyond that. The definition of filler act, sorry guys. Song's chorus is quite catchy I guess.
Roachford - at least Alan Partridge's fave is in the charts this time. His shirt is quite nice.
Pet Shop boys - I like them but why are they wearing loo brush hats? Also the fanboy in the crowd singing passionately along is adorable.
TT - no thanks.
Very pointless cover version over the credits, but at least it features a woman unlike this show.
You could also say that Tony Di Bart had a similar stage to the previous week with Haddaway, by means of the two hotties wearing similar outfits, although the ones this week went for black rather then white underwear, ahem clothing!
DeleteThe 'adorable fanboy ' is actually a pre-fame David Walliams!
DeleteWas fanboy the guy that kept being at the front of stages?
DeleteWalliams is really tall with black NHS glasses. You can spot him during Bitty McClean ("Bitty!") but during PSB he gets a close-up where he is being wilfully eccentric. I only know this because it's often featured on those 'Before They Were Famous' clip shows
DeleteI wonder if Bitty McLean's first name gave David Walliams inspiration for that suckling adult in "Little Britain" as Mickey implies? :-D
DeleteJust a couple of thoughts about the other repeats of last night. The '88 edition; Did anyone else notice the sound mess up halfway through 'Suedehead' or was it just on my TV?
ReplyDeleteAlso for the Feb '84 show; Interesting that BBC4 alighted on an edition that didn't feature the No.1. The Top 10 video rundown was a real treat though.
One other thing. Strange that the video for Howard Jones' 'Hide and Seek' (God, that song was dull) used very similar nature images to Talk Talk's 'It's My Life' which I think came out more or less the same time.
The play-out track from 23/02/84 was "The Politics of Dancing" by Re-Flex, in which Duran Duran take their name from to write their next upcoming single.
DeleteThe play-out from 25/02/88 was "Hazy Shade of Winter" by The Bangles, a cover of the Simon & Garfunkel song from Bookends and featured in the movie Less Than Zero.
'Suedehead' had the same problem before back in 2019 when it was shown twice, there is nothing they can do about that one and same with the glitch between OMD's 'Messages' in the 29/05/80 episode. On the Now 11 video and YouTube, there is no audio problems.
DeleteAh yes Hazy Shade Of Winter by The Bangles, now we're talking, but this only got to No.11 in the UK, while over in the US it got to No.2, and was regularly played on Paul Gambaccini's American chart show on Radio 1 every week at the time I remember.
DeleteI just had a look back at the 2019 post. Was the sound problems in 'Suedehead' the reason the 25/02/88 edition was initially going to be pulled? So that's one edition with a bit of bad sound and another with the chart topper not being incluy.
DeleteIt does beg the question; why then can't any pre April '76 editions get an airing? No 6/3/69 which is very disappointing.
It was Mark Goodier being confused for Smith on the Paperwork why 25/2/88 wasn't originally scheduled.
DeleteOh right. I thought the sound problem seemed a little minor. More surprising that they didn't pull the Feb '84 one as there was no No.1 but glad they didn't.
DeleteAs Frankie Goes To Hollywood 's Relax was banned by the BBC It only made two appearances in 1984:
Delete5/1/84
25/12/84
It was never played on Top Of The Pops during it's no.1 run.
There was one other sound problem in that edition. I might be wrong. I have just come out of a long cold but Rick Astley sounded to me like it was playing on badly warped vinyl.
DeleteThere wasn't any sound problems in the UK Gold version in the mid 90s (just to clarify) with The Mission being removed due to copyright issues and timing reasons at the time. They'd just only cut The Mission out due to the extended play-out track for The Bangles video.
DeleteTesting, testing… can you hear me at the back?
ReplyDeleteBlimey… Chris Lowe smiling!
Oh dear God, it’s that prick who pushed “All Star” (???) TOTP over the cliff to its death. In fairness, Andi did a good job but he came across a bit too dry.
Black Machine with dreadful shouty rap and four Blues Brothers on fake sax. Nothing to see here.
So, we’ve lost the breakers and, just when we need new hits on the show, we have two exclusives. Paul Weller at number 11 must have been pi$$ed off. Andy miming and Vince showing guitar skills which confirms a career in heavy metal beckons.
Peak of the week by Prince. Just a wonderful song. Non-mugshots: Jimmy Cliff Sting at number 40 (sack the Letrasetter) and the only top 40 week for US rappers Young Black Teenagers.
Robbie the Prick in a Port Vale shirt doing some more ha-ha-hilarious business. Oh, my sides.
Next up… THIS made number one??? In a time when singles now regularly peaked in their first week, this takes another month to reach the summit to boot. So anonymous you could have the singer and song title on the front of his shirt and you still wouldn’t remember it.
Unnecessary cover number 1 as Bitty detracts from the sublime Mamas and Papas classic.
Lovely camera work into Little Angels. I can imagine the pre-show discussion…
Producer: “Have this lot had any big singles?”
Letrasetter: “No, not really”
Producer: “Hlaf-million copy sales anywhere?”
Letrasetter: “Um, don’t think so”
Producer: “We’re stuck with their intro caption, then”
Letrasetter: “They’re from Scarborough. Shall I mention that?”
Producer: “It’ll do”
Probably very good live but this was conveyor belt pop-metal. That drummer’s craving attention. Duh.
Where’s Roachford from, then? At least he gets an intro caption this time. I’d forgotten how much I liked this track.
Pet Shop Boys were in the news yesterday when someone opening a record shop found a note typed by Neil Tennant to Janice Long, thanking her for playing the initial (flop) version of “West End Girls“ on Radio 1, inside a copy of the 12 inch sleeve. Probably trying to look like chess pieces here but wearing toilet roll holder hats and with some notes too high for Neil’s range.
Take That with Prick on lead vocals again. Avoid.
Unnecessary cover number 2 at the end with a needless attempt of Grace Jones’s track.
And... glad to be back in the room!
All New TOTP. But having checked out a few episodes again recently I feel like Year Zero, that if BBC 4 get that far, the opinion of the Peters era will change.
DeleteIs it pretty bad to watch? Yes. But you can't say the guy didn't try to make the show an event. Most episodes live, viewing audience participation with voting for which videos to show, performances outside the studio (something we're seeing now with the Satellite performances), a live gig in Newcastle and a few extended episodes where bands decided to play their entire album as a concert for the finale.
If they hadn't had Tim Kash as the main host and loads of pointless interviews and the 24/7 news feature taking up time, it may have done better. But hey, even that 24/7 feature makes it interesting now to see what the pop news was at the time.
ReplyDeleteBlack machine - what is worse than rap? Shouting! Next…
Erasure - they seem to be on every month. It’s ok, but they all sounding the same
Prince - one of his good ones…
Tony di bart - lacklustre performance from him. Hardly noticed the four (oops sorry two) dancers at all…
Bitty mcclean - what’s worse than cod reggae? Cod reggae pop cover versions..
Little angels - quite enjoyed this… my other half’s main interest was that they were from Scarborough
Roachford - pleasant enough. Somewhere in a cupboard I have a purple version of his shirt….
Pet shop boys - didn’t recognise the title, but recognised the song immediately. They were sublime in their day. Other half commented ‘another silly hat’. Can’t argue. (Background riff sounded like lightning seeds)
Not regular presenter No.2 is Andi Peters previously seen in a brief conversation with Mark Franklin on the Christmas edition. He's an affable, jovial presenter here and does a pretty good job but obviously lost the war of the broom cupboard / TOTP presenters called Andi or similar to Andy Crane. I do agree with Rob's view of Peters' time as producer. It was on the way down but it did have some good moments and was helped by a generally good time for pop music. I liked the big stages after the lab dreariness of the Chris Cowey period and some studio things really stick in the mind. Stephen Fretwell 'Emily' and KT Tunstall 'Under The Weather' from 2005 especially. Got some things still on video.
ReplyDeleteBlack Machine; Started it. Made it to 17??
Erasure; What a way with tunes these two had. Fantastic melody to 'Always' and a great, spacey atmosphere to it. Lovely sentiment too. One of their best.
Prince; Beautiful single and a good moment when this made it to No.1. The spirit of 70s Philly soul with some early '90s flash. Good chart too. Paul Weller at No. 11. I bought 'Wild Wood' around this time because of 'Hung Up'. He never seemed to be off the show from the start of The Jam to the end of The Style Council. Why can't he get on the show now?
Tony Di Bart; Ha ha! I don't why I'm laughing, it's such a gloomy single. It's mainly because every microsecond of this could be regarded as a dance cliche. Even the singer's name. Toni Di Bart you said? Yep, you'll do. I don't like this record but I can totally understand why it crawled up to No.1 and Tony mate is a likable soul on stage.
Bitty McLean; 1994 is a good year for reggae in the charts but this cover of a classic is awful.
Little Angels; Another band returning with an image change. The lead singer once looked like Ian Hunter. Now he has indie/grunge floppy hair and a red suit. The single the usual rawk.
Roachford; A pop hero to everyone in my school year in 1989 and it's good to see him still having hits years later. Another fine single.
Pet Shop Boys; Another new release spot with PSB keeping their recent crazy image but musically starting to wilt a little.
Take That; Everything Changes, or won't for the next couple of years. Straight to the top again but this was the first time I could happily sit and listen to them. In keeping with the most uniformly boring stage sets I've ever seen in these repeats the That perform in what looks at first like a giant, poorly lit basement. In white tops and braces, a look which the one at the end certainly wasn't adopting by Christmas.
AM City or something with the montage ; Didn't look but was there a set designer in the credits this week?
A very enjoyable episode, although no standout performances. Looking back Erasure were absolutely amazing. Just about to release their sixth album, their fourth in a row to hit the number one spot (c) Wikipedia This Always song comes with some unplaceable familiarity. Great stuff.
ReplyDeletei am not a fan of Prince, just don’t get him/them. I like two Prince songs: Nothing Compares 2 U (Sinead’s version) and Kiss (as interpreted by Age of Chance). I admit he influenced so many though.
Next up Tony Di Bart. I really liked this at the time. I had no idea it was such a big hit. It pulled all the right heartstrings as I was still sulking from a relationship breakdown, although “I don’t want nobody baby”, ignoring the double negativity, was dispelled later in the year as I got back on track.
I’d not listened to the Pet Shop Boys “Very” album much at all, but had worn out my cassette of the follow up Disco 2 release. The remixed version of Liberation on Disco 2 is unrecognisable to this pedestrian version performed tonight, both survive a re-listening to though now.
It's another great 94 show as Andi Peters get his first go at presenting. Very much stuck to the script but I am sure he will chill out. Comes back as Producer in 2003 of course and revamps the show but plenty of time to cover that later.
ReplyDeleteBy all rights this sax sampling, rapping number from BLACK MACHINE should be a bit pants but surprisingly it's quite good. Got a nice hook and a good dance beat. I enjoyed that.
ERASURE have nicked the plastic magnetic letters off a giants fridge for their rather fine tune "Always". Battle of the exclusives is won here I think. As much as I love PSB this is a rather fine track and a deserved big hit.
Not sure how this is Prince's only Number One but proof he could really write a good "non-filthy" lyric. Didn't think the video was up to much.
Great pair of .....lungs next as TONY DI BART takes centre stage for his biggest hit. Glad he doesn't make a right tit of himself here and performs this well. I think I may have boobed and got slightly distracted watching this one. BITTY (as David Walliams might say) up next with a fine reggae/pop version of Dedicated To The One I Love. Fine song, great version.
Their mothers might think they are LITTLE ANGELS but the drummer is determined to wreak his drums here. Ten Miles High enjoyable but not their best.
ROACHFORD with a second studio performance of an average tune. Nice enough.
PET SHOP BOYS – Liberation
One of their lower key numbers and they do a slow tune quite well but this is not one of my favourites of theirs. Bit something of nothing. Someone in the audience getting far too much pleasure from this singing along.
TAKE THAT were actually quite good weren't they. Excellent live version of "Everything Changes". Quality pop song.
Did we need a cover of "Pull Up To The Bumper"? Don't really think you can cover Grace and do it better.