We keep spending most our lives living in the 26th of October 1995 edition of Top of the Pops!
Gangsta rapper
26-10-95: Presenter: Simon Mayo
(15) THE LIGHTNING SEEDS – Lucky You
Getting the show underway with a song that had previously peaked at number 43 a year earlier, this time round it did better and made number 15.
(2) MEAT LOAF – I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth)
A second studio performance but the song could get no higher.
(16) THE HUMAN LEAGUE – Don’t You Want Me (Remix) (video) (and charts)
This wacky remix of their 1981 number one hit got no higher.
(8) EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL – Missing
The song had peaked at number 69 last year, this remix did much better and made it to number 3.
(20) SMASHING PUMPKINS – Bullet With Butterfly Wings (video)
Got no higher.
(13) DIANA KING – Ain’t Nobody (via satellite)
Her second of three top 40 hits but it got no higher.
(NEW) UB40 – Until My Dying Day
In the studio tonight for the first time in eight years and the song will peak at number 15.
(11) CHER – Walking In Memphis
Cher is in the building for a second studio performance but the song got no higher.
(1) COOLIO feat. LV – Gangsta’s Paradise
Making his studio debut with his first of two weeks at number one, and his first of seven top 40 hits.
(TOTP2) CYNDI LAUPER – Girls Just Want To Have Fun (clip of TOTP 26-1-84) (and credits)
Number 2 in 1984.
2nd of November is next.
17-3-77: Presenter: Tony Blackburn
ReplyDelete(30) SUZI QUATRO – Tear Me Apart
(29) BERNI FLINT – I Don’t Want To Put A Hold On You
(2) ABBA – Knowing Me Knowing You (video)
(20) CLIFF RICHARD – My Kinda Life
(14) ELVIS PRESLEY – Moody Blue (danced to by Legs & Co)
(NEW) BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST – Rock ‘N’ Roll Star
(24) MAXINE NIGHTINGALE – Love Hit Me
(6) SHOWADDYWADDY – When
(48) BILLY OCEAN – Red Light Spells Danger
(1) MANHATTAN TRANSFER – Chanson D’Amour (video)
(22) BONEY M – Sunny (and credits)
Good that Tony has been on these repeats a lot recently. I was wondering if he'd decided not to be included in the re-run schedule. He's does a great job and is in his good natured element on this edition having as it does a distinctly Tone friendly line-up (I'm not sure it had anything else at this point). I really enjoyed the music too; polite but very entertaining with a few marvellous tunes. Tony looks like he's styled himself on James Brown's cover image from 'The Payback'. He hasn't got a hat to complete the look sadly. Someone else is on hand to make up for that.
DeleteSuzi Quatro; No need for the team to worry about who should kick things off. Suzi does her usual fine job with a good time rocker that has an arresting title though not one that gives the presenter an opportunity to do a memorable link. I still remember Kid Jensen's none more Jensenlike shout of "Rrrrrroxy Rolerrrr!!!!!!" when they appeared with their next single. Tony just says something about her tour schedule and on we go. With on and off colour effects that are very 1973 it's quite a sight and on a set that's very eye-catching for this period. I wonder if they were momentarily feeling some competition from 'Supersonic' over on ITV.
Berni Flint; Ah, lovely song. Classic mid '70s hairy faced truckin' down the freeway mild mannered chivalry from a man not from deepest Colorado but from Southport. 'Opportunity Knocks' winner (a record of wins I believe) he's a nifty fingerpicker with a fine mellow voice. Quite the pin up as well. He does resembke 'Starsailor' period Tim Buckley here. His music, er, doesn't. That's a great song though. The chords make the title phrase burst out like a ray of sunshine and it's just a charming few minutes.
Abba; Heard 'Knowing Me Knowing You' lord knows how many times and could listen to it lord knows how many times more. What a classic. The video was screaming for a comedy pastiche probably even then but it just looks and sounds brilliant. That vocal entrance from Frida is just thrilling. You can just imagine Benny and Bjorn rubbing their hands and grinning from ear to ear when they came up with that. Favourite? Oooooh Frida this time.
Cliff Richard; Sir Clifford back in the studio (when did he start doing videos?) and a no nonsense rocker with some fine slide guitar and a unusually raucous vocal. It's surprising he didn't employ the throaty voice more often. He could clearly do it. Really enjoyed that.
Elvis Presley; Cliff gesticulates aside to make way for his hero. Elvis hasn't long on this earth of course and 'Moody Blue' has always sounded a bit of an end stage time marker for me. It's alright, enlivened considerably by Legs and Co who are in their Mardi Gras gear this week. Pauline was the star of this routine for me. The set appropriately blue but the actual decor is a bit of a head scratcher. Where are they? An athletics track in heaven?
Barclay James Harvest; An unexpected arrival in the studio as is Tony's declaration of support for a prog act going anthemic. Not played much Tony? Well, you know your job. Apparently they were a highlight of the legendary Weeley festival in 1971 (a colleague at work was there) famous for extreme heat, Hells Angels causing trouble and T.Rex being booed after Marc Bolan welcomed the crowd by saying his band were the ones from Top of the Pops.
'Rock 'n' Roll Star' is good despite not being Rock 'n' Roll and the group not looking like stars. Wafting expansive soft rock that gets cut off after just a couple of minutes which is about 0.8 seconds by prog standards. The camera takes an age to leave them so you notice an expression of "is that it then?" from one or two of them.
Pt.2;
DeleteMaxine Nightingale; Not a patch on her biggest hit but a good song. She seems to be miming but woth a full mic lead that isnt plugged in to anything! I've never seen that before. Set design back to early 1977 nothingness.
Showaddywaddy; Presenter/audience member interaction time and Tony patience and friendliness means it's relatively unstrained. She enjoyed it. 'When', "When?" etc.
DLT may've been at home marking that out of 10. The single the usual saxy stomp.
Billy Ocean; Classic tune! Billy in his Austin Powers phase with a perfect blast of '70s pop. Introduced by Tony and a man who says nothing audible and wears an outsized Sombrero. "Well done Colin!". Er yes thanks, for whatever purpose that was meant to serve. He joins the crowd initially in a way that isn't very helpful to other dancers then moves to rear right a comfortable distance from other dancers, one of which looks exactly like Dickie Davies. Please don't ever stop repeating these.
Manhattan Transfer; It's still difficult to hear 'Chanson D'Amour' without thinking of the very cheesy version on 'Are You Being Served'. This video appearance is also high in cheese but it's a standard for a reason and its brilliantly performed by the foursome. From seeing the 'Old Grey Whistle Test' performance, they must've been absolutely bloody fantastic live.
Play out to Boney M with the intro that was sampled decades later. That sounded great with the usual swirling about. Ludicrous Sombrero man makes a reappearance as he could really fail to if the sequence features the crowd, his hat making a humorous kaleidoscope all of its own. The Dickie Davies lookalike has put a hat on as well. There's no controlling these people.
What, nothing edited out of this show! Got to say that the Legs & Co costumes on Moody Blue were just amazing, and set them apart from most of the other performances on the show.
DeleteBarclay James Harvest's new single was so 70s in terms of a slower, more romantic life back then than these days, and yeah I agree it got very short shrift with only a couple of minutes of the single if that.
It's a pity we don't get any of the DLT presented shows any more, as a lot of his shows had superb pop performances, but BBC4 will not budge on the ban.
Wow, Billy Ocean a classic tune is an understatement, it actually a golden classic of all time. I'm sure there was a TOTP studio performance of this by Ocean with a couple of the Legs & Co girls, but must have been on another TOTP, and considering this performance was at No.48 before entering the Top 40, the Legs & Co assistance must have come when he was in the Top 10 later on with this.
I was 9 years old when this show was originally aired in 1977, and the winter evenings were sat at home in front of the TV, and lying on the carpet while the parents were sat on the sofa, as kids usually found the floor more appealing when in front of the TV, so watching Manhattan Transfer in a cabaret setting reminded me of those days.
Yes Red Light Spells Danger did get a 2nd studio appearance Dory. Billy with mega collars and Rosie and Gill dancing at the front. Presaged by a definitive DLT link where he does a comedy hard nut routine with some audience member. I think he was on another edition as well. Maybe he was the son of one of the production crew. Yes, would really like to see DLT editions again. You're right, true classic that single. The way it starts really brooding and gathers momentum. As good as any Philly Soul productions.
DeleteWhat a treat this show was.
Delete(30) SUZI QUATRO – Tear Me Apart – I didn’t care much for her early raucous hits like ‘Can the Can’ which was one of my least favourite No1 hits of the early 70s. By now Suzi had mellowed a little.
(29) BERNI FLINT – I Don’t Want To Put A Hold On You – Absolutely gorgeous string arrangement on the original recording. You can’t hear it too well on this re-recorded version but it’s there. Lovely song.
(2) ABBA – Knowing Me Knowing You (video) – I recall I first heard this played on the album as an album track from ‘Arrival’ which I hadn’t got at that point in time. I’m with Mic on saying I never tire of it. As it happens I’m just playing through the ‘Thank you for the Music’ 4 CD set and it’s a joy.
(20) CLIFF RICHARD – My Kinda Life – Howe many people have noticed that some people insert the word ‘kinda’ into everyday speak? “It’s kinda this, it’s kinda that…”. I’m sure they don’t know they are doing it as it adds no additional meaning to the sentence. Here it is used correctly – “my kinda life” i.e. “my type of life”… the kinda life I lead etc. etc. Just saying…
(14) ELVIS PRESLEY – Moody Blue (danced to by Legs & Co) – Reading Paul Griggs’ excellent diary I found out recently that Rosie Hetherington from Legs and Co. joined Guys and Dolls in 1981.
(NEW) BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST – Rock ‘N’ Roll Star – Part of an EP that played at 33 rpm with the song ‘Medicine Man’ spread over two sides, this is indeed a short airing. Tony was known for his love of soul music so interesting that he raves over this song when he introduces it.
(24) MAXINE NIGHTINGALE – Love Hit Me – It missed me in this case.
(6) SHOWADDYWADDY – When – Such a feelgood sound from the band. You can’t help but sing along. I missed the bit sung by the drummer in a low bass voice as they cut before that.
(48) BILLY OCEAN – Red Light Spells Danger – Oh what a crescendo! Great record from Billy that had hit written all over it. Nice live rendition.
(1) MANHATTAN TRANSFER – Chanson D’Amour (video) – Loved this. ‘Ra-ta-ta-ta’. Good live rendition again and Laurel Masse had a great voice and presence.
(22) BONEY M – Sunny (and credits) – Bobby Hebb
Apologies...I think it was Janis Siegel singing lead on 'Chanson'.
DeleteTOTP2 28-10-1995 https://we.tl/t-Ib96ZyT6nz
ReplyDeleteCheers Rob
DeleteThanks Rob!!!
DeleteAnother excellent TOTP2.
DeleteMeat Loaf straight in at No.2 on the singles chart, denied the top spot only by Coolio, gave a superb TOTP studio performance, and as mentioned the debut single from the new album Welcome To The Neighbourhood, I remember buying the album as soon as it came out, which included the original Jim Steinman performed classic Left In The Dark, as well as Meat's new version of the 1986 Jimmy Barnes/INXS single called Good Times, renamed Runnin' For The Red Light for the new Meat Loaf album.
Liked The First Time section with Cyndi Lauper's first time in the TOTP studio in 1984 with Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Hard to imagine she is already 70.
In The Video Stir, it was good to see The Rolling Stones wth a new cover of Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, so it took 30 years for the Rolling Stones to sing about themselves. Love It!
Many legendary big names in pop going back to the late 70s and early 80s graced the TOTP studio this week, including Meat Loaf and Cher on separate stages, 14 years to the month after the 1981 video for Deadinger For Love won its various awards in America, but we never saw the pair perform anything together on a stage, apart from a pop video together in 1981 which came to the UK in early 1982, and could not be tempted on this week's 1995 TOTP stage. UB40 were also making their first performance in the TOTP studio since 1987 with Rat In Mi Kitchen, but could not make it to the studio with Pato Banton in 1994 for their big No.1 together.
ReplyDeleteMeat Loaf - new entry at No.2, I think this was his highest ever new entry, and must have benefitted from the attention of the spectacular new video, first aired on TOTP2 in full, before two TOTP studio appearances up to this point to get to this position.
I don't think Meat went straight in at No.1 in the past, as his big No.1 a couple of years earlier went up from No.8 to get there.
The Human League - As the chart rundown video, I couldn't help but cringe to see the new remixed single and video for Don't You Want Me, with the video being a montage of various other singles. Wacky remix indeed Angelo, I much prefer the original from 1981. Also noticed on the chart rundown two new entries this week and at peak in the Top 40, so missing out on TOTP - Jimmy Nail at No.18, and a remix of Blondie's 1979 single Union City Blue at No.31.
Everything But The Girl - this was actually a remix (thanks Angelo) of last year's flop original with a peak of No.69, but this was a complete reversal of fortunes to make it to No.3 second time round with a remix version, but it does sound quite dated nowadays.
UB40 - if you go by only TOTP studio appearances , then this new single in 1995 was the follow up to Rat In Mi Kitchen in 1987! Where had they been all this time, and why no TOTP in 8 years?
Coolio - a week after being featured on TOTP2 with the new video including Michelle Pfeiffer, it comes in as a new entry at No.1, having already completed three weeks at No.1 in America in September.
Phew, this show was like being back in 1981 - Meat Loaf, Cher, UB40 all in the studio, and The Human League on video for good measure, and a show where the Top 2 singles in the chart were new entries. Good Lord!
Lightning Seeds - feels like ages since they were on the show, though they have a lot of hits coming up so I guess we will see more of them?
ReplyDeleteMeat Loaf - good performance here sir.
Human League - Great song, terrible remix and epilepsy inducing video.
EBTG - Now this is a remix done right. Fabulous stuff.
Smashing Pumpkins - one of my favourite tracks of all time, shame it's just the video. I also notice Alanis entering at 26 and being ignored by this show again (for now...)
Diana King - Shy Guy was sooo much better than this mediocre cover
UB40 - can't be bothered to support your mate Pato Banton when he was number one but can be bothered with this much duller track, hmmm?
Getting two Cher performances is pretty good going and the styling is fun.
Coolio - ah, much better than Simply Red (and Robson and Jerome!). Really great track, fabulous use of the Stevie Wonder track.
Four new entries peaking outside the Top 40 this week from previous chart regulars and worth a mention:
ReplyDeleteNo.41 Jimmy Somerville - By Your Side
Penultimate single for Somerville in an already declining chart career, there would be one further single a couple of years later in 1997 which could only manage a No.66 placing, which meant that Somerville was on the way out at this stage.
No.44 Snap featuring Summer - The World In My Hands
Good Lord, it seems a world away since Turbo B fronted Snap in 1990 with The Power, but this follow up to The First The Last Eternity a few months earlier, could not make it to the Top 40, and one further flop Rame in 1996, meant that all Snap would put out after that were remixes of old tunes.
No.51 EMF - Afro King
Last throw of the dice for EMF, with the first single since 1990 not to make Top 40, and turned out to be their last.
No.62 Terry Hall - Rainbows EP
Fourth solo single since 1989, and fourth to flop outside the Top 40, Hall will be most remembered for his groups The Specials, Fun Boy Three, and The Colourfield which were all more successful for him before going solo in the late 1980s.
UB40 do the greeting. Uh huh.
ReplyDeleteSimon again and still committed to his commandment of thou shalt not look exactly the same way for 2 editions. I thought the hairstyle he sported last time really suited him but no we've had that for one show thanks. He's still smartly attired however and does a good half hour though I can't actually recall anything witty or interesting. Another presenter turns up but doesn't do anything other than grin. "Maaaayo!"
The Lightning Seeds; Very enjoyable start with I think the group's best singles. Some happy memories of first semester at Uni with this single. A beautiful chorus, unusually melancholy for Broudie, even a touch haunting and that really takes me back. Soon to join their lineup a keyboard player who I went to college with for a short while. For now a jolly(fied) performance though very pro aside that is from Chris Sharrock on drums who when the camera focuses on him seems to be continually taking the piss. He looked like hw headbutted one of the drums at one point. Still legend especially with the great World Party, now so sadly gone.
Meat Loaf; Hmm. Not really feeling it Marvin. All a bit overstated for a tune that doesn't do much. Just does it loud. Flaming loud. Alright finish your snog.
The Human League; Oh dear.
Everything But The Girl; Great to see the first appearance of 'Missing', the Todd Terry remix one of the singles of the mid '90s. Still powerful and that voice so unique. Interesting that she looks a lot less relaxed here than when she was last on surrounded by flames.
The Smashing Pumpkins; Agree Rad that is a cracking single. Very artful video as well which you will always get from this band. Billy Corgan still with hair. Some brilliant stuff to come from them over the next year or so.
Diana King; That's not very ambitious from someone who's just had a huge hit is it? A very pedestrian version of a Chaka Khan song that nobody with the remotest musical appreciation would ever associate with anyone other than Chaka Khan performed in the pedestrian (oh this isn't just thrown down) part of a car university car park. They could've had some students watch at least. Instead just a few walk by in the distance. Hello? pop star over here kids! A voice that good should've aimed for a little more.
UB40; Was it Chris Evans newsreader that made a link? There was a woman who they kept making a thing of her having a sultry posh voice. Chris doesn't speak oddly. UB40 and a song that sounded nice but I can't be arsed to comment on them any more.
Cher; Back for a 2nd week in a row and a very different 2nd in a row it is. In 50s Elvis suit and quiff (though Kirk St.Moritz came more to mind) she does a great routine. Maybe not entirely accurate in the moves but you get the theme. No watering down those Southern vowells for this Elvis tribute. Not that she ever has done for anything else. Good sport.
Coolio feat LV; Very worthy Ni.1 which still sounds pretty epic. Very effective use of 'Pasttime Paradise' though this probably paved the way for all the banal uses of funk/soul classics that clogged the charts in the early '00s. He was a rapper I could definitely listen to. Tragic he died so young. A couple of weeks of bliss before shite.
Cyndi Lauper; Brilliant ending with one of the classic clips. Tired the cameraman must've been. And with a bit of a headache.
RIP Steve Harley. One of my favourite number ones of the 70s - '(Make me Smile) Come up and see me' produced by Alan Parsons with Tina Charles on backing vocals. Another fabulous song was the duet with Sarah Brightman 'The Phantom of the Opera'. On one of Steve Wright's last 'Pick of the Pops' shows he sent best wishes to Steve Harley who he knew wasn't well as they grew up in the same area. Now both are gone. RIP.
ReplyDeleteMarvellous start to the show form The Lightning Seeds. Very much the epitome of 90s pop/indie sound.
ReplyDeleteChris Evans? Where's wally is about right. As much as I loved his breakfast show and TFI he must have been an absolute nightmare to work with.
This Meatloaf tune is growling on me. Nice of Simon to name check Patti. Cracker indeed. I always wonder if the turns can hear what's being said about them.
Pointless but energetic remix for Human League. Liked the video.
This tune screams 90s from EBTG. Probably the years most played tune? Very good indeed and a deserved classic of the era.
Smashing Pumpkins. Not sure if I like this or not. Watched the whole thing and still cant decide. Wouldn't want the dry cleaning bill for this video.
Diana in the car park. Oh the glamour. Did they forget the keys? Liked the TOTP road sign .Not sure this tune needs a cover version but it's different enough to be interesting. Tapped my feet along to this.
UB40 in the studio! Huge wedge betwen the brother's just out of shot. Always like their tunes and this is no exception.
Chelvis up next. Gold mic still in hand. Its Ok this version I suppose.
RIP Coolio. Awesome tune. Highlight of the show with a brilliant performance.
Best edition for a while.