Top of the Pops on BBC Four

[daf]

Now with only a few more bopping days to Christmas it's . . .
19 December 1985: Presenters: Paul Jordan & Mike Smith

(19) AMAZULU – Don't You Just Know It
Ha gooba gooba gooba gooooo-ba
(3) BAND AID – Do They Know It's Christmas (1985 video)
The Bitter Tears of Sting
(14) ALED JONES – Walking In The Air (theme to 'The Teddy Bear')
Opportunism - Let's make lots of money!



- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(28) LEVEL 42 – Leaving Me Now
(25) SOPHIA GEORGE – Girlie Girlie
(23) ELTON JOHN – Wrap Her Up
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(5) PET SHOP BOYS – West End Girls
Soft option, please!
(1) WHITNEY HOUSTON – Saving All My Love For You (video)
Houston, we have a tiny sax ghost
(16) PAUL MCCARTNEY – Spies Like Us (audience dancing / credits)
Mince Pies Like Us

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://we.tl/jWsdiTEGVs
Alternative emergency slightly edited version : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI68HCYCmVg

[non capisco]

(23) ELTON JOHN – Wrap Her Up[/color]

What on earth was this? Elton John and George Michael shouting out names of lasses they're pretending to fancy. "SAMANTHA FOX!!!!!!!" Was it not billed as 'Elton John & George Michael' because George Michael realised late in the day that it was a right load of trumpet?

[Dr Rock]

Christ that takes me back, you don't get that in any of Elton's 'Best Ofs' do you? Clearly off his face on coke, weirdest of all George shouting 'Samantha Fox!' as you point out - both of these fellas would prefer Michael J Fox, am I right!? Or some other man whose surname is Fox, as they are both homosexauls.

At this time I am still a tortured spotty half-virgin working part time in my family's short lived fashion boutique on a council estate. It won't be a couple of years until I have my own fan club of adoring young girls, but I don't know that then.

[non capisco]

'West End Girls' is still a brilliantly haunting slice of synthpop gold, isn't it? Time and East 17 cover versions cannot diminish it. (That's the passage of time, not Morris Day's The Time covering it)

[Norton Canes]

What on earth was this? Elton John and George Michael shouting out names of lasses they're pretending to fancy. "SAMANTHA FOX!!!!!!!" Was it not billed as 'Elton John & George Michael' because George Michael realised late in the day that it was a right load of trumpet?

"Attach-ed" indeed.

[edit: oh fuck, it's all coming back to me now. "Keeeee-keeeee deeeeeee!!!" ]

[edit again: ten-minute extended mix, anyone..?]

[daf]

Elton John and George Michael shouting out names of lasses they're pretending to fancy. "SAMANTHA FOX!!!!!!!"

Ha! Yes, that was brilliant - Sam Fox, indeed! Talk about over-compensating!

[gilbertharding]

Levels of irony not diminished by the fact that Sam Fox would rather be watching the tennis at Eastbourne herself.

[kalowski]

Some sort of TOTP 1986 Biggest Hits thing on now and you have to say Cameo are magnificent.

[Norton Canes]

Cameo are magnificent

[kalowski]

Cameo are magnificent

You said it!

[daf]

25 December 1985: Presenters: Janice Long, John Peel, Dixie Peach, Gary Davies, Steve Wright & Jonathan King

KING – Love & Pride
Red Red Robin
- - - - - - - - - - - - (video clips) - - - - - - - - - - - -
SISTER SLEDGE – Frankie
MADONNA – Into The Groove
Christmas Stockings
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
COLONEL ABRAMS – Trapped
Half way down the Chimney
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PHYLLIS NELSON – Move Closer (clip from 4 April)
MIDGE URE – If I Was (video clip)
Walking round in women's underwear
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ALISON MOYET – That Ole Devil Called Love
Does your Granny always tell ya that the old songs are the best
- - - - - - - - - - - - (video clips) - - - - - - - - - - - -
EURYTHMICS – There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)
PAUL HARDCASTLE – 19 (remix)
None of them received a chocolate orange, None of them, N-n-none of them
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
DEAD OR ALIVE – You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)
Brut 33 (rpm)
- - - - - - - - - - - - (video clips) - - - - - - - - - - - -
PHILIP BAILEY & PHIL COLLINS – Easy Lover
DAVID BOWIE & MICK JAGGER – Dancing In The Street
A small Baileys & Two glazed hams
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
BALTIMORA – Tarzan Boy
Jumper
- - - - - - - - - - - - (video clips) - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE CROWD – You'll Never Walk Alone
USA FOR AFRICA – We Are The World
BAND AID – Do They Know It's Christmas
Mixed and assorted Nuts
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
BILLY OCEAN – Suddenly
The Afternoon Nap
- - - - - - - - - - - - (video clips) - - - - - - - - - - - -
FOREIGNER – I Want To Know What Love Is
UB40 & CHRISSIE HYNDE – I Got You Babe
. . .  some bathroom smellies and a pair of socks
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FEARGAL SHARKEY – A Good Heart
Mistletoe and Whine
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Jonathan King – US chart rundown
MADONNA – Crazy For You (video clip)
TEARS FOR FEARS – Everybody Wants To Rule The World (video clip)
GEORGE MICHAEL – Careless Whisper (video clip)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157660835861545

PAUL YOUNG – Everytime You Go Away
You take a piece of meat with you
- - - - - - - - - - - - (video clips) - - - - - - - - - - - -
ELAINE PAIGE & BARBARA DICKSON – I Know Him So Well
JENNIFER RUSH – The Power Of Love
Small Wincarnis for Gran
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WHAM! – I'm Your Man (video)
Quality Treat
WHITNEY HOUSTON – Saving All My Love For You (video)
Pulled a Cracker
FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD – Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (audience dancing / credits)
Frankie Say : Get Stuffing!

[Satchmo Distel]

Girlie Girlie is a classic.

[Vodka Margarine]

(14) ALED JONES – Walking In The Air (theme to 'The Teddy Bear')
Opportunism - Let's make lots of money!

Worst columnist ever.

[kaprisky]

In anticipation of the start of the 1986 run tonight, I might as well point you towards the Sony Movie Channel (Freeview ch 32) which is going to be showing Electric Dreams (14:55), the Steve Barron-directed, 1984 film that was apparently the first under the Virgin Films banner and featured Oakey and Moroder's hit song, which of course prompted that splendid 'songs that outlived the movie' thread from last year. The Sky movie channels used to schedule this in the early 1990s but as far as I know it has never been on free-to-air telly.

[daf]

2 January 1986: Presenters: Janice Long & John Peel

(27) A-HA – The Sun Always Shines On TV
On the Telly?
(13) PAUL MCCARTNEY – Spies Like Us (video)
Grey Goose
(23) LEVEL 42 – Leaving Me Now
Wot, No Bom-Bom-Biddy-Biddy Bass?
(11) BRONSKI BEAT – Hit That Perfect Beat
Jimmy Who?
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(29) JENNIFER RUSH – Ring Of Ice
(25) STING – Russians
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157660833702302

(14) SOPHIA GEORGE – Girlie Girlie
You Jus' Chew a Curly Wurly
(1) SHAKIN' STEVENS – Merry Christmas Everyone (video)
Janice Gurn-Face Everyone!
(19) ELTON JOHN feat. GEORGE MICHAEL – Wrap Her Up (audience dancing / credits)
The ladies' bras . .  The ladies' boobs . .  The ladies' bodies, and the ladies' bums

[Phil_A]

(11) BRONSKI BEAT – Hit That Perfect Beat
Jimmy Who?

This caught me by surprise, I'd no idea they replaced Somerville with Dave Spikey.

[buzby]

2 January 1986: Presenters: Janice Long & John Peel

Great stuff!

(27) A-HA – The Sun Always Shines On TV

Showing they weren't just one-hit wonders, this is another banger. You can still hear the teenage girls swooning over Morten's cheekbones 30-odd years later. Mags has rearranged DX7 Conner into a high-rise. That Simmons drumkit, although welcome from my perspective, would have been seen as a bit old (hi)hat by now though.

(13) PAUL MCCARTNEY – Spies Like Us (video)

Fab Macca Thumbs Aloft plays about with the bass riff from Lady Madonna while a chimp (or possibly Linda) bashes away at a Fairlight, vocals drenched in more echo than an Alpine valley and that sampled gated snare clattering away too high in the mix. It was a pointer towards what to expect on his next album. There is a far more interesting remix by the Art Of Noise included on the 12". The video was directed by John Landis to promote the film.

(23) LEVEL 42 – Leaving Me Now

Mark appears to be wearing a carpet jacket. He looks lost without his bass. It is still there (just about) on the track though. Mike Lindup's not got his venerable Prophet V either.

(11) BRONSKI BEAT – Hit That Perfect Beat

As I said last time - BANGER. Steve continues his 'waving hands in the general direction of the keys' miming style, and 'long distance' DX7 Corner reappears. Did they ever play the video for this I wonder?

- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(29) JENNIFER RUSH – Ring Of Ice

Sounds like some italo-disco from a couple of years previous. Luckily this is the last we hear from her for a long time.

(19) ELTON JOHN feat. GEORGE MICHAEL – Wrap Her Up (audience dancing / credits)
The ladies' bras . .  The ladies' boobs . .  The ladies' bodies, and the ladies' bums

Possibly the first sports bra spotted on British television?

[daf]

Apparently there was an edit to the end bit. Not to remove Mike Smith's name this time *, but because Peel used the 'R' Word  :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IInwydgc6sk&app=desktop

* (although Janice mentions his surname - so probably would have been cut for that anyway)

[Sebastian Cobb]

MADONNA – Into The Groove

Yassss

[bim sherman shirts]

The women's names Elton and George belt out 'lustfully' mostly seem to be gay icons to varying degrees. Maybe it's a bit more self aware than it seemed at the time.

[non capisco]

The video was directed by John Landis to promote the film.

Blimey. It's no 'Thriller', is it? But then when you hire Macca to do a song for your film thinking "Maybe I'll get another Live And Let Die out of this" and he turns in that load of half finished cobblers I don't blame Landis for not making much of an effort in return.

'The Sun Always Shines On TV' is a brilliant song. Nice bit of Nordic gloom lurking in the background of a straightforward pop song. If I remember correctly the start of the video is a direct follow on from the 'Take On Me' video which blew my mind at the time.

Sophia George was ace too, putting in a sterling performance against the backdrop of some berk wolf whistling. I'd always sort of assumed that song was some kind of vaguely homophobic thing without ever really listening to it but I think she's having a go at a bloke putting it about. Have I got that right?

[Sebastian Cobb]

That aha! Track is a banger.

One of my mates gave me a Roxette tape a while back to take the piss out of a drunken indiscretion I'd made. Chucked it in the car as it was the only usable tape deck I had and blared it out. Forgot how good she's got the look is. All saturated to fuck through the rover speakers brilliant.

[daf]

Sophia George was ace too, putting in a sterling performance against the backdrop of some berk wolf whistling. I'd always sort of assumed that song was some kind of vaguely homophobic thing without ever really listening to it but I think she's having a go at a bloke putting it about. Have I got that right?

Yeah, I was listening out for any dodgy stuff, but it does seem to be about a Cassanova with a girl in every port, flashing 'it' (affections / penis / cash?) round the worldie :

Young man you too girlie girlie
You just a flash it round the worldie
Him have one go a school
One gawn fool fool
Him have one everytime me say she thinks a she rules
One she a nurse she say as she come first
The other night them going out them pick her new purse
One a sell star
One work in a bar
A she can smile when the two a them a spar
One gettie gettie
One frettie frettie
And him no drink no other milk but Betty

So too 'girlie girlie' seems = too 'girl mad'

[Dr Rock]

Yes I read a contemporaneous Smash Hits interview that explained it.

[Satchmo Distel]

The video is also clear on the meaning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDKb4O-l02U

[daf]

9 January 1986: Presenters: Mike Smith & Steve Wright

(26) ‪FEARGAL SHARKEY – You Little Thief ‬
Bad Heart Located
(27) FULL FORCE – Alice I Want You Just For Me  (video)
EEERGHK! . . . EEERGHK!
(23) JENNIFER RUSH – Ring Of Ice
Cold Finger
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(31) MR MISTER – Broken Wings
(30) DIRE STRAITS – Walk Of Life
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(34) ‪KING – Torture ‬
No, Mr. King, I expect you to Sing


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157658525786924

(20) STING – Russians (video)
Just like the old man in the suite by Prokofiev
(1) PET SHOP BOYS – West End Girls
Cut Glass Rap
(25) ARETHA FRANKLIN – Who's Zoomin' Who  (audience dancing / credits)
Arthur Frankin

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/c36cef25147b30d08937ccd30d39aafe20180713120209/371f4a

[non capisco]

(23) JENNIFER RUSH – Ring Of Ice
Cold Finger

Not a natural mover, is she? She kept making a sort of jerky backwards head grimace as if she'd just smelt an especially rancid fart.

[buzby]

9 January 1986: Presenters: Mike Smith & Steve Wright

Absolutely skin-crawling  I remain convinced Wright had a nose-full before each episode.

(26) ‪FEARGAL SHARKEY – You Little Thief ‬
Bad Heart Located

The 'answer song to A Good Heart. Not very gentlemanly, Benmont Tench, was he? Budget cuts have meant Feargal is wearing one of Trump's hand-me-down suits, the tallest of his 3 backing singers has got the elbow, and the keyboard player and his DX7 have been dumped in favour of a 'horn' section (the trombone player doing a Susan Scott Agency-level impression of Lee Thompson in a beret and shades). The guitarist (Richard Morcombe) sports a Steinberger L2.

The twin female drummers thing is carried over from the A Good Heart appearances, though this time Gina Schock is accompanied by ex-Modette and Fun Boy Three drummer June Miles-Kingston (on the album, producer Dave Stewart enlisted the Eurythmics live rhythm section of Olle Romo and a pre-Curve Dean Garcia)

(27) FULL FORCE – Alice I Want You Just For Me  (video)
EEERGHK! . . . EEERGHK!

J.J. Jeczalik has a lot to answer for, unleashing that horn stab sample back into the world (in this instance, apparently being scratched-in off a gramophone by the band's mascot E-crof, who could be Thomas Bangalter's dad). The two babies' bottles on the back of they keyboard player's rig are apparently a reference to his name (Gerald 'Baby Gerry' Charles). As for the song, considering they were a 10cc-like supergroup of songwriters and producers I'd hesitate to even call it a song - it's a bassline with some sounds laid over it.

(23) JENNIFER RUSH – Ring Of Ice

Not a natural mover, is she? She kept making a sort of jerky backwards head grimace as if she'd just smelt an especially rancid fart.

It's almost as if it was filmed backwards. She did the same thing for the studio performances of the Power Of Love. It reminds me of Jack Douglas' comedy nervous twitch, or something Bob Mortimer would do (see Lucas Bon Chomme in the Masterchef sketch). Candy De Rouge and Gunther Mende were definitely trying to evoke Laura Branigan's version of Gloria here.

- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(30) DIRE STRAITS – Walk Of Life
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oddly showing the US version of the video. The original UK version features a busker in a tube station (in keeping with the theme of the song) with the 'Brothers In Arms' National Reso-Phonic guitar, intercut with a completely different soundcheck band performance. The use of sports footage for the US version was apparently Knopfler's idea - he also told the director not to shoot him in profile for the performance footage, to avoid highlighting the size of his nose.

(34) ‪KING – Torture ‬

Bloody hell,  a Jupiter 8! In 1986!

(1) PET SHOP BOYS – West End Girls

Get in, lads. The PPG Wave 2.3 (the first synth they bought, and used for the bass on this track) appears again, with the matching Waveterm programmer/sequencer in a more prominent position this time. Neil has forgone the long overcoat in favour of a black bomber jacket that makes him look like London's most foppish bouncer.

[canadagoose]

2 January 1986: Presenters: Janice Long & John Peel

I enjoyed that episode. John Peel is one of my favourite presenters, and I audibly laughed at his "Wham, exclamation mark" comment. Seems like there were a lot of Bronski Beat songs you just never hear nowadays, and the one on that show was one of them - I don't think I'd heard it at all before.

[DrGreggles]

Peel was always good value on TOTP.
One of the (few) things I disagreed with on Chart Music was that Pricey said that Peel's sardonic delivery was annoying, as if he was trying to suggest that the songs were beneath him*, but it's not as if the TOTP producers were unaware what he was doing - it's the reason he was there. His lack of enthusiasm, paired with the ebullience of Kid Jensen/Janice Long, always made for the best presenting duos.
Give me that over two gurning imbeciles any day.

*and they generally were