Top of the Pops on BBC Four

[kalowski]

Slovenian avant-garde band Laibach recorded two covers of the song on their 1987 album Opus Dei. The first version, "Leben Heißt Leben" was sung in German. The second version, "Opus Dei", was promoted as a single, and its promotional video (which used the title "Life is Life") was played extensively on American cable channel MTV

[daf]

22 August 1985: Presenters: Gary Davies & Steve 'Ugh - Horrible Perm!' Wright

(15) LISA LISA & CULT JAM – I Wonder If I Take You Home
Pearl Necklace with one off the wrist
(5) THE CARS – Drive (video)
Give us yer Effing Money!
(11) BALTIMORA – Tarzan Boy
The Gorilla Grooves Tonight
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(40) DAN HARTMAN – I Can Dream About You
(36) MAI TAI – Body & Soul
(34) MARC ALMOND – Stories Of Johnny
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(4) KATE BUSH – Running Up That Hill
Purple Pouty Beater
(10) PRINCESS – Say I'm Your Number One
Big Pink Dangly Ones
(1) MADONNA – Into The Groove (video)
Everybody's Favourite Sleazebag (!)


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157654688971419

(12) AMAZULU – Excitable (audience dancing / credits)
Nobody's Favourite Sexist Oaf

[buzby]

22 August 1985: Presenters: Gary Davies & Steve 'Ugh - Horrible Perm!' Wright

An episode I vividly remember from when it was broadcast, for a number of reasons. These repeats are really reinforcing my hate for Steve 'Fucking' Wright though. He looks like he's just hoovered up a fat rail before the show too.

(15) LISA LISA & CULT JAM – I Wonder If I Take You Home

Reason number 1 - Lisa Velez's prominent hot pink bra. She was obviously copying Madonna's style of the time. Very 'of it's time' production on this, similar to the heavy overuse of sampling that John Robie was messing up New Order's singles with at the time.

(11) BALTIMORA – Tarzan Boy

How appropriate that this pile of cheesy eurodisco was Wright's favourite track of the week

(40) DAN HARTMAN – I Can Dream About You

As mentioned in the 'F**k My Hat!' thread, he was the writer and producer of Loleatta Holloway's Love Sensation, and sued Black Box to get a writing credit for Ride On Time

(36) MAI TAI – Body & Soul

Apparently filmed in the aftermath of a ceiling collapse in a stage lighting warehouse

(4) KATE BUSH – Running Up That Hill

Reason number 2: Kate Bush's eyes and Paddy Bush looking like the wildman of Borneo with his balalaika,. Not quite as good as the performance from Wogan (which went on to become the official video in the US, as MTV wouldn't play videos that didn't involve lipsyncing) from the day the single was released due to the tiny stage they were all crammed onto, but still very memorable (it was also her first TOTP appearance since she performed Wow on 22/03/79). It could have done without that tit in the audience throwing streamers too. Kate's using an odd variation of the dummy AKG mike - it hasn't got the 'bolt' dummy stub antenna plugged into the back of it, it's got a real plug with a foot of dangling cable instead (presumably one of the cut-off cables that could be tucked into the hole in the stand).

As mentioned in the recent 'Annoying Noises' thread, all the sounds on the track (the low drone, string chords and the 'yelping' melody line) were all derived from the same cello sample from the Fairlight library manipulated in different ways.

(10) PRINCESS – Say I'm Your Number One

Reason number 3 - Princess' lack of visible support. Why was she given acres of space on the main stage and Kate & her band were squashed onto the smaller ones?

It's a decent track this - in contrast to Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, the S/A/W production on this still sounds very modern for something from 1985. It really was their peak period, before they started churning tracks out like a production line.

(1) MADONNA – Into The Groove (video)
Everybody's Favourite Sleazebag (!)

That was his nickname for her that he used on his radio show (along with calling Prince 'Ponce'). He really is despicable.

[Dr Rock]

22 August 1985: Presenters: Gary Davies & Steve 'Ugh - Horrible Perm!' Wright

(15) LISA LISA & CULT JAM – I Wonder If I Take You Home

The song that kept my ex gf off the top of the US Dance charts, Me Trivia fans.

[Norton Canes]

That was his nickname for her that he used on his radio show (along with calling Prince 'Ponce'). He really is despicable

When Prince released Kiss, Wright played high-pitched monkey noises over it. I genuinely don't think he grasped the racist connotations.

He also fostered a bizarre grudge against Depeche Mode around '86, during their Black Celebration phase. He thought their music was far too gloomy and would go off on comical rants each time he had to play one of their singles.

[buzby]

The song that kept my ex gf off the top of the US Dance charts, Me Trivia fans.

Which one was she?

1. I Wonder If I Take You Home - Lisa Lisa And Clult Jam With Full Force
2. Thinking About Your Love - Skipworth & Turner
3. Angel/Into The Groove - Madonna
4. Imagination - Belouis Some
5. Save Your Love (For #1) - Rene & Angela

Presumably you mean the backing vocalist Denise Davies - if so, she did get to number one as Thinking About Your Love topped the chart the following week.

[Dr Rock]

I seem to have misremembered, she did get a US Dance Chart number One, but was knocked off by Lisa Lisa.. (Damn, didn't think this was easily found, course it is...)

[buzby]

I seem to have misremembered, she did get a US Dance Chart number One, but was knocked off by Lisa Lisa.. (Damn, didn't think this was easily found, course it is...)

Apparently she was given Into The Groove by Madonna to record for her album (produced by Mark Kamins, who produced Madonna's first single and brought her to Seymour Stein's attention). Cheyne's version (and her debut album) was never released though as Madonna changed her mind and recorded the song herself for Desperately Seeking Susan.

[Dr Rock]

That's right.
I didn't know her then.

[Dr Rock]

Contemporaneously I have been dumped by my first squeeze, only managing to lose two-thirds of my virginity. It will be a while until I fully become a man, but it will be to the sound of that Kate Bush song.

[Norton Canes]

Late August '85? Just got back from Malta, way too much time out in the sun, lost about four layers of skin from my shoulders and they're red raw.

[kalowski]

I'd forgotten how good 'You're the one for me' by D-Train is.

[daf]

29 August 1985: Presenters: Janice Long & John Peel

(18) MAI TAI – Body & Soul
Bottom!
(16) DAN HARTMAN – I Can Dream About You
Live Aid Butt Book Plug
(15) D TRAIN – You're The One For Me
None of them received an invitation to play guest keyboards . . none of them . . n-n-none of them.
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(40) BANANARAMA – Do Not Disturb
(39) BRYAN FERRY – Don't Stop The Dance (Montreux clip)
(30) MADNESS – Yesterday's Men
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(22) THOMPSON TWINS – Don't Mess With Doctor Dream
Strobe-Tastic!


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157655112913515

(1) UB40 & CHRISSIE HYNDE – I Got You Babe (video)
The Great Pretender
(33) AMII STEWART – Knock On Wood (audience dancing / credits)
Happy Birthday Peelie!

[Sebastian Cobb]

(22) THOMPSON TWINS – Don't Mess With Doctor Dream
Strobe-Tastic!

Banger

[daf]

Peel wrote about this show at the time :

Observer, 1 September 1985

The note the commissionaire passed on warned that Alix and Melanie were at the gate for Mr Peel. Alix and Melanie (their real names) had been at the gate for Mr Peel since mid-morning. They were also at the gate for Miss Long. I passed them, pausing only to explain that it was unlikely that I would be able to get them into the studio, when I arrived at Television Centre at 1.30. I passed them again when I hiked in twenty minutes later from a temporary BBC car park in, I think, the Lake District.

By 2.00 I was in the studio, attempting to adjust to life in an atmosphere consisting mainly of vapours produced by dry ice machines and receiving instruction from producer Michael Hurll. These consist of details of assignments - 'John, you've got Bananarama and Madness. Janice, you've got Bryan Ferry' - and details about timings. I was once given eleven seconds to interview Debbie Harry.

I have a theory, untainted by research, that no one listens to the DJs on Top Of The Pops, that they are peering over our shoulders, as it were, to catch a first glimpse of the star for whom they have a hankering. Unfortunately these stars do seem to listen, and Paul Hardcastle, who is playing some sort of keyboard device with D Train, wants to know what I meant when I said eight weeks ago that his record '19', which concerns itself with the average age of American Vietnam war victims, had come nineteen years too late. He seems to accept my explanation because he later consults Janice and me over the salads available in the canteen.

At some moment lost in the mists of pre-history I must have said something beastly about the Thompson Twins, because they - or their representatives - once required that I should not introduce them on Top Of The Pops. They are on the programme again and when I passed the band's Alannah Currie on the steps down from Stage B, she fixes me with a basilisk stare. Later she invites Janice round for a meal.

At 2.15 we record the chart rundown, for which we are out of vision, getting it right first time. Word has it that other DJs have needed as many as fourteen takes. We feel pretty pleased with ourselves. At 2.30 we rehearse our introductions to the Top Forty Breakers and the Top Ten Videos. This is a more complicated business altogether, as we are in shot one moment, out the next, then back in again. This requires fine timing, with the sheets of yellow paper, on which we have scribbled our prettily worked ad libs, hidden behind our backs until the camera lights go out.

At 3:45 there is a complete run-through of the programme. our drolleries produce no reaction whatever from the dancers, cheerleaders and technicians. On the second run-through I introduce the word 'bottom' into my opening remarks and this goes down quite well. By 5.20 rehearsals are over and I retreat to my dressing room for an hour's sleep. Later I escort Janice Long to the bar where Dan Hartman, whose record 'I Can Dream About You' is at number sixteen, joins us. I don't much care for 'I Can Dream About You,' but Dan turns out to be a most affable chap. We have a serious talk about, amongst other things, the proliferation of toll-roads in Connecticut.

At 7.20 I report to make-up. I always dread this, believing that make-up artists would rather be chastised with scorpions than apply the dense layer of powder and paint that serve to make me look three or four months younger.

In the studio the cheerleaders, the real heroes of Top Of The Pops, are whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Tonight's DJs, they bawl, are Janice Long (cheers) and John Peel (silence). We clamber up to our positions on stage, the floor manager signals that there is one minute to go and we run through our opening remarks yet again. Janice checks that there is no lettuce on my front teeth. Another Top Of The Pops is about to take to the air.

[Norton Canes]

(22) THOMPSON TWINS – Don't Mess With Doctor Dream

Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ow!

Is this actually supposed to be about any drug in particular? I can't work it out from the lyrics.

[daf]

Heroin apparently - more on this can be found in the Twins interview in the latest Smash Hits

[Endicott]

Is this actually supposed to be about any drug in particular? I can't work it out from the lyrics.

I would tentatively say heroin, party because of the use of 'golden' but mainly because the withdrawal described in the lyrics sounds quite nasty.

This is partially supported by an unsubstantiated comment on songmeanings.

The song is about heroin in particular. It was written after the band visited Ireland on tour and were approached by children of about 8 or 9 years old who tried to sell them heroin. They were shocked at the ages of the children, as well as the fact that it was something as destructive as heroin that the children were using.

EDIT-BINGO

[gilbertharding]

(16) DAN HARTMAN – I Can Dream About You
Live Aid Butt Book Plug

Something - perhaps the fact that here was another apparently identical middle-aged man who could have been a provincial sales rep, singing a completely forgettable pop song which surely no-one now has heard of - made me google Dan Hartman.

Now, you all knew this already - but blimey: He wrote Free Ride, Living in America, Relight My Fire, and was dead by 1994.

[daf]

Top bloke!

Nice piece on Dan by Edgar Winter from 2005 : http://www.danhartman.com/mirror/danhartman_website/memories/dan_hartman_memories_ew.htm

[buzby]

29 August 1985: Presenters: Janice Long & John Peel

Such a contrast to that pair of wallies last week

(15) D TRAIN – You're The One For Me
None of them received an invitation to play guest keyboards . . none of them . . n-n-none of them.

Banger #1
This was the 1985 'Labour Of Love' remix by Paul Hardcastle (hence the guest appearance wielding a Yamaha KX5) to promote their Best Of album. The duo split shortly afterwards, with vocalist James Williams taking the D Train name with him as a solo artist. The original version reached number 30 in the charts in 1982, and Hardcastle had released a cover of it as his first single in 1984 (which only reached #41), which is why he was asked to remix it (the remix is based around his cover but using the original vocal track). It went on to be sampled by Liam Howlett on Prodigy's Girls.

(33) AMII STEWART – Knock On Wood (audience dancing / credits)

Banger #2, and one of my all-time favourite records.
Another 1985 remix, this time of the 1979 original (produced by Simon May of '& His Orchestra' fame). It peaked at #7, one position lower than the 1979 original. The remix was by Alan 'The Judge' Coulthard for DMC (he was studying law and later qualified as a barrister). He had originally started sending mixes to Tony Prince at Radio Luxembourg in 1982, Prince became his manager, and Coulthard approached him with the idea of setting up a UK equivalent of the US Disconet DJ subscription mix service. He and Prince went into business as DMC, though their model differed from Disconet in that they gained licences from the record labels to make their mixes. There was an undertaking at the time that if DMC was ever sold, Coulthard would receive 10% of the proceeds

After finishing his law degree in 1986, Coulthard stopped working for DMC full time to continue with his studies, though he continued to produce mixes for them on a freelance basis.  Amid increasing concerns he was being ripped off, he got a new manager in 1986 and by 1988 a union-style meeting was arranged by Coulthard and  the other producers working for them. Coulthard had discovered Prince and his wife had been dubiously accounting the royalties owed to him and others for years (including a large amount owed from the sales of the Amii Stewart remix, and the fee for the Hit Mix 88 album he produced - he had been paid £1500 but DMC had invoiced the label who commissioned it for £20000) and siphoning them off themselves.

Prince and his wife burst into the meeting, a heated argument ensued and Coulthard severed all ties with them, vowing to get back all that was his. In 1999, after Coulthard had taken the Bar and qualified as a barrister (and DMC had sold MixMag to EMAP), he took DMC to court for fraud, breach of contract and breach of copyright. Unsurprisingly, Prince has since sought to belittle Coulthard's contribution in the creation of DMC.

Peel wrote about this show at the time :

Lovely stuff, daf!

Is this actually supposed to be about any drug in particular? I can't work it out from the lyrics.

Come lay your head down on the stone/Cool and white and welcome home - Coke?
Blue marbles - Valium/Diazepam?
Golden rain - Heroin?
Ironic that an anti-drug song was produced by Nile Rodgers, who was on one long cocaine and booze bender from the late 70s to the mid-90s

...made me google Dan Hartman.

Now, you all knew this already - but blimey: He wrote Free Ride, Living in America, Relight My Fire, and was dead by 1994.

And Loleatta Holloway's Love Sensation/Black Box's Ride On TIme

[daf]

Love the Countdown/This is it medley - 14 minutes of disco magic :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9l5mx0JktU

[Dr Rock]

I think Dr Dream means heroin. Possibly from interview from the same time.

[Better Midlands]

I think Dr Dream means heroin. Possibly from interview from the same time.

It's about heroin, as mentioned in interviews at the time. Also the 12" is subtitled (Smackattack!)

[Better Midlands]

 Interesting post by buzby about Alan Coulthard - I didn't know any of that.

[daf]

Bonus original end bit for edit nerds :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Gy5kM0Po4

[Norton Canes]

A whole two minutes of Credits Dancing, yes! That's made my weekend. Downhill from here surely.

[jobotic]

Not sure of the veracity of this title, but I've been enjoying this bit of TOTP dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E7BLSSLgtw

[daf]

Everybody's seen the Bob Pratt Tape, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEzOXeG7wfc
Look at old Barry Square grooving next to her - can't believe his luck!

The tape in full - https://vimeo.com/172010430

[daf]

5 September 1985: Presenters: Peter Powell & Mike Smith

(3) BALTIMORA – Tarzan Boy
A Real Wang-Dang-Arooga!
(26) BRYAN FERRY – Don't Stop The Dance (Montreux clip)
Sleepy Oiled Puma
(28) REBECCA STORM – The Show
Theme tune to Central TV's "Connie" (starring Stephanie Beacham)
(21) MADNESS – Yesterday's Men
Sensibleness
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(31) HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS – The Power Of Love
(23) MARILLION – Lavender
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(10) BONNIE TYLER – Holding Out For A Hero
Maltloaf
(1) DAVE BOWIE & THE DAVE BOWIE BAND feat. DAVE BOWIE & MICK JAGGER – Dancing In The Street (video)
Prancing Peacocks



(20) STEVIE WONDER - Part Time Lover (audience dancing / credits)
Wow - thought he'd completely dried up after 'I Just Called to Say I Love You'!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/79201b0ce0b9b180437642a97d6287e920180427185532/3c731b