Don't let go coz we're just a step from the 28th of April 1994 edition of Top of the Pops!
Infernal
28-4-94: Presenter: Nicky Campbell
(18) SKIN – Money
Getting the show underway with their first of six top 40 hits - this was was the biggest and number 18 was its peak.
(12) ETERNAL – Just A Step From Heaven
In the studio and the song stepped up to number 8.
(13) RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS – Under The Bridge (video) (and charts)
At its peak.
(11) CLUBHOUSE feat. CARL – Light My Fire
Performing their only top ten hit and it peaked at number 7.
(26) LEVEL 42 – All Over You
Here tonight with their eighteenth and penultimate top 40 hit but it got no higher.
(20) BARBRA STREISAND – As If We Never Said Goodbye (via satellite)
Got no higher.
(38) RIDE – Birdman
Performing their sixth and final top 40 hit but it got no higher.
(NEW) MICHAEL BOLTON – Lean On Me
This Bill Withers cover will peak at number 14.
(1) PRINCE – The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (video)
Second of two weeks at number one.
(NEW) PHIL COLLINS – We Wait And We Wonder (studio montage) (and credits)
Peaked at number 45.
5th of May is next.
I do remember seeing this episode at the time.
ReplyDeleteUnder The Bridge was a belated hit. If my youthful circles were anything to go by, it was well known by the summer of 1992.
Clubhouse were the same Clubhouse who reached No.11 in 1983 with their Do It Again/Billie Jean medley.
…and Andy Bell, later of Hurricane #1 and Oasis, takes lead vocals on Ride’s Birdman.
You're right, Under The Bridge made it to No.26 first time round in the spring of 1992, and I think TOTP showed the same video on its 1994 reissue, doing better on reissue , making it to No.13 at peak on this week's 1994 chart. Not sure why it was reissued though.
DeleteWhat a mixed bag! Plenty for the parents this week.
ReplyDeleteI quite like Skin but it sounds fairly dated for 94.
Eternal - good track but they were always better when focusing on vocals than over complex dance routines, they look a bit awkward at the moment.
RHCP - Love this, classic track
Clubhouse - very standard 94 dance fare but it's perfectly fine.
L42/Babs - Bloody hell the show suddenly aged about twenty years. I prefer the Streisand of the two.
Ride - 38 is low but good to see some indie on the show (I know soon we'll not be able to move for it. I'm not upset about the fact). Really like this one.
Exclusive for the mams - didn't they already have Barbra? Dull.
Prince - two weeks, nice and respectable run.
Phil Collins - enough with the MOR already.
Feel sorry for 'PJ and Duncan ' with a single that has had no traction despite being 27 for two weeks. Wonder what'll happen to those Crazy cats?
(Also I think this might have come after the famous paintball episode of Byker Grove which scarred all of us on the Gen x/Millennial border and ensured we'd never try it.)
I did like Clubhouse as the highlight of the show, particularly the catsuits, and the girl on the left side with the minidress/skirt who was doing the fire breathing exercises, but we could not see her close up in case kids watching the show may copy this stunt untrained.
DeleteChart rundown - while watching the Red Hot Chilli Peppers as the chart rundown video, I couldn't help but notice Paul Young at peak at No.34 with It Will Be You. It was also to be Young's final single in a run of 11 years since he burst on the scene with a No.1 called Wherever I Lay My Hat, except for a surprise 1997 single release called I Wish You Love which somehow made it to No.33.
ReplyDeleteAlso Celine Dion was at a peak of No.40 this week with Misled which was her follow-up to Power Of Love which got to No.4 in January. A reissue of Misled at the end of 1995 fared better with a peak of No.15, but Celine's best was still to come of course in the late 90s where she became a household name with more success.
If it wasn’t bad enough Bellowing Micky Bolton tells us he’s on tonight…..
ReplyDeleteChrist, no! Not that smug idiot back presenting again! All we need now is Steve Wright to come back and shit on the show. Actually, Nicky was quite acceptable tonight. Hope he’s mellowed.
Skin. Same name as Skunk Anansie’s singer, vocalist looking like Dan McCafferty from Nazareth. Top political sentiment, and well played to boot but, please lad, put a shirt on.
The only Eternal single I bought, on mail order a few years later. Great chorus. Lead Eternal too engrossed in emotive singing to indulge in dancing while wearing a call centre mic. I think the back three were miming anyway.
Decent spice pun intro into the song All Saints took to the top. Boo to that T-shirt shop owner who waffled over the singer’s lip sync.
Non-mugshots: former Tube employee, PiL bassist (and the genius behind the bassline on Bjork’s “Play Dead”) John Wardle aka Jah Wobble with his second of two top 40 scrapers, and O.T Quartet (with links to Faithless) enjoying the first of three releases of their track which all made the top 40.
Never mind the chap in the army, Clubhouse’s dancers probably made a few men stand to attention. First fire eater on stage since… blimey, which female singer had one accompany her last year? I think it was Debbie Harry.
A juggling pun leads us into comfy top half of table Level 42 with Mark King obviously using the same tailor as Nicky.
Barbra up next (how was this in the charts? The Wogan influence again?) with a song from the musical “Sunset Boulevard”. Not a fan, but her version of “Evergreen” is just sublime.
Second drummer up front in successive shows (this one using kettledrum sticks, mind) as, I think, a different member of Ride to the usual singer, wearing weird glasses for effect, croons this midtempo slice of shoegaze. A right old palate cleanser.
For those who weren’t here back at the start of the re-runs, glam muckers Mud had a hit with “Lean On Me” in 1976 which missed out on being shown on BBC4 in 2011 (yes, that far back) due to being wiped, yet now we’re oh so lucky to endure Micky Bolton moose bellowing the ballad. Very quick FF.
Ah, now, this is the version of the Prince chart topper we really wanted last week.
Phil Collins to see us out. Be thankful the montage wasn’t four and a half minutes as that’s how long we usually suffer a Collins turn on the show.
Barbara Streisand still chartbound in 1994 with new music! I remember her first in my first full year of listening to the pop charts, when she came up with You Don't Bring Me Flowers in a duet with Neil Diamond over the 1978/79 New Year in the Top 10.
DeletePhil Collins after this week's montage was only able to peak at No.45 the following week, so TOTP's prediction of a Top 40 entry for him turned out to be wishful thinking, with no studio performance as a result of this relative flop.
Elvis Costello peaked at No.59 this week in his follow-up single to the one he recently appeared in the TOTP studio with, so he was really making a big effort in 1994.
Barbra Streisand was one of my first pop memories too. 'Woman In Love' in 1980 an early memory of a current chart topper.
DeleteBe grateful Arthur. Phil's song is over 7 minutes long...
DeleteGood Lord!
DeleteWatched a bit of this one as I saw Streisand was on it.
ReplyDeleteEternal - One girl and her backing singers? Sure one of them looks familiar..
Level 42 - Perhaps a re-release of 'It's Over' shoudl have been considered at this stage?
Barbra - Magnificent! I saw 'Sunset Boulevard' a few years ago with Glenn Close in the leading role and she was brilliant.
Michael Bolton - Now I prefer Mud! This performance was great with Les's 'violin playing' at the end, and I love the unaccompanied bit before the drums come back in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBndiwitXI8
Prince - Hey did you happen to see... ah no, not that. Charlie Rich much more preferable than this.
Phil Collins - despite being a fan I was never struck on this as a single. I bought the CD single despite this as there were a couple of good tracks included that were unavailable on the album, but a few years later the disc literally corroded and became unplayable. In all my CD collection over the years this was the only one to do this.
sct, thanks to you and Andrew Hammerton for scratching a decade-plus itch there with the Mud clip!
Deletere Eternal: Kelle Bryan was recently in Hollyoaks for a few years and I think has been a Loose Woman. Louise Redknapp was married to Jamie and has done a lot of reality TV including Strictly and I think Masked either singer or dancer. So it's probably one of those two you recognise. I don't think the Bennett sisters have done much other than a brief stint on the reunion circuit.
DeleteA returning Nicky Campbell. No longer with the chaotic patterned early '90s shirts of course but still with his quips primed and ready to go. I'm glad he's back and he is a little more restrained than he used to be. Some of his links were genuinely funny. What a dog's breakfast of an edition he's been given though. A few good things and I'd never complain about an appearance from Barbra Streisand but you can understand why Oasis took off as they did.
ReplyDeleteSkin; Pure cock rock and sombre social commentary isn't something you normally see and hear. Not keen on seeing and hearing it again. Credit to them for not bawling the normal clichés but that was a seriously dull opener. "Rip my shirt off!!!!". Welcome back Nicky.
Eternal; Returning to the slow stomping tempo of 'Stay', Eternal returnal. This one isn't as strong but good enough. The projection screen has been brought down again to show swirling images that resemble what people in the '50s thought outer space looked like. 'Just a Step From Heaven' = 'the heavens' maybe? God knows.
Louise clearly not prepared to just be the cute smiley one at the back anymore. Now at the front. Sometimes.
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers; Classic single but a two year old reissue which doesn't help the show much.
Clubhouse feat Carl; An artist factoid leads into a Nicky skit which leads into some dance that does barely anything. The people backing him are quite a sight but also look like they could've appeared on 'Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge'. I cannot believe that this made No 7.
Level 42; Back with the usual slap unhappy thing. Crikey. The keyboardist doing an ominous spoken word part instead of a falsetto.
Barbra Streisand; Another random entry but quite an exclusive to get her on the show. From a theatre somewhere and she of course sings the song marvellously. More engrossing than when she appeared on video for 'Woman In Love' which was for the most part a series of stills. I don't know why this was out. I can't believe Barbra felt a need to compete with Dina Carroll in releasing another thing from 'Sunset Boulevard' but always great to hear her.
Ride; So that's what the kettle drums were for. It's a long shot but I wonder if they were a clever reference to a similarly avian titled No.1 for Fleetwood Mac. 'Birdman' was definitely the reason I bought 'Carnival Of Light' at the time but it's a bit of a non event now. Barely a tune just an opportunity for Andy to siiiiing reeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyy ssssllllooooowwlllly in a Ride way but sadly without the torndao of guitars. He wore the red framed shades at Glastonbury that year as well, one of many clips I recorded when shown for the first time on Channel 4. Mark not doing much beyond slinking bout enigmatically until heeeee ssssiiinggs veeerrryyyy sssslooowwwllly tooooooo.
Michael Bolton; What '94 needs.
Prince; A mostly awful edition at least gets the video for Prince's fine No.1. Great song. Half decent chart topper I promise to light a candle every day for you until you finally return.
Phil Collins and a montage to end on. Enough said.
Plenty of SKIN on show first up. Not my style of music but this wasn't terrible and had a decent tune.
ReplyDelete"Just A Step From Heaven" a strong ETERNAL song but the vocal was a bit weak for me.
A classic from the CHILI PEPPERS although still no idea why it's called "Under The Bridge". All Saints do a mean version of this later on as well. The Red Devils new at Number 16. whilst the Horny Devils (with CARL - great rock n roll name there!) are in the studio with a firey little dance tune.
Half way (in appearances) to LEVEL 42 and there is a lot of funk on show on "All Over You". Highlight of the show for me.
I'd rather we hadn't said hello to BARBRA. Goodbye it is from me. Never understood why she is so popular, don't like her voice and this song is awful.
RIDE having some fun and the tune isn't bad, before MICHAEL BOLTON does his MOR version of "Lean On Me" which is pleasant enough I suppose.
"We Wait" all show for PHIL and we get the briefest of snippets, No "Wonder" this tanked.