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Top of the Pops on BBC Four

Started by daf, June 01, 2012, 04:17:04 PM

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daf

13 March 1986: Presenters: Mike Smith & Steve Wright

(20) THE BLOW MONKEYS – Digging Your Scene
Louche Sax Hankie
(2) BANGLES – Manic Monday (video / chart car-crash)
Bungled
(22) HIPSWAY – The Honeythief
Altered Image
(8) DAVE BOWIE & THE DAVE BOWIE BAND feat. DAVE BOWIE – Absolute Beginners (video)
Thin Black & White Duke
(26) FREDDIE JACKSON – Rock Me Tonight (For Old Time's Sake)
Thick Black & White Suit
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(27) THE ROLLING STONES – Harlem Shuffle
(23) HOWARD JONES – No One is To Blame
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157660492471210

(17) CULTURE CLUB – Move Away
Pasty Faced Cowboy George
(1) DIANA ROSS – Chain Reaction (video)
Spiralling Keychange
(13) PRINCE – Kiss (video / audience dancing / credits)
Knee Slide! ("Ow!")

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https://vimeo.com/162036037
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/4643fe39c39c39ecefc42100a9f2a42120180824075002/4b8dea

Uncle TechTip

Ah, "Doctor" Robert Howard, one of the most delicious voices in all of pop. This heralds the rise of big-jacketed saxophone sophistication, we hated it at the time but look back with some fondness today.

#3002
I had no idea that Culture Club and Howard Jones were still charting in 1986. It's like Live Aid never happened.

However, at least Jones only peaked at 16 with this and never had any Top 30 hits thereafter. The Culture Club one peaked at 7 and would be their last Top 30 action until 1998, although George would have a solo No. 1 and a four other Top 30 hits from 1987-1992.

The Blow Monkeys' track is great and has a similar feel to Swing Out Sister

The Hipsway track is rather angular, with perhaps a bit of ABC Lexicon Of Love going on in the melody (or When Smokey Sings), but unlike ABC it gets annoying very quickly and the video is fucking awful.

Chriddof

Quote from: daf on August 25, 2018, 01:43:57 PM
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(27) THE ROLLING STONES – Harlem Shuffle

The video for this is notable for having its video produced by Ralph Bakshi - the live action bits were directed by Bakshi and the animated segments were directed by the now-disgraced John Kricfalusi, future creator of the Ren & Stimpy Show. Most of the other animators were other key Ren & Stimpy personnel - including Lynne Naylor, Kricfalusi's (legally aged) girlfriend at the time and also the woman who designed the proper look of Stimpy, not to mention the person who is said by some other R&S alumni to be the real artist who defined the Spumco house style, which is very evident in this. Here's a quick clip of Mick Jagger giving a somewhat inaccurate view of the video's genesis, which would have infuriated Robert Crumb had he seen it at the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twjW7Fl5iSw

Quote from: daf on August 25, 2018, 01:43:57 PM
(23) HOWARD JONES – No One is To Blame

For some reason Google's automatic top page link of this video when you search for it is a manky digital rip from 2006, yanked from Howard Jones' website, which has a load of now outdated tour dates on the bottom. Howard Jones himself appears to have uploaded a slightly better quality version without any long-gone tour dates, but it's still all a bit JPEGgy. Pull your finger out, Vevo!

Quote from: daf on August 25, 2018, 01:43:57 PM
(17) CULTURE CLUB – Move Away
Pasty Faced Cowboy George

Is that a reference to George appearing in the A-Team around about this time? I vaguely remember some characters in that notorious episode calling him "Cowboy George".

gmoney

Any idea why Sinatra was charting around this time?

Norton Canes

Only the other day Melanie Sykes referred to Digging Your Scene as a 'really cheery song'. I wonder if anyone had the heart to put her right.

#3006
This excellent site has a very detailed list of all pop on UK TV in 1986:

http://www.tvpopdiaries.co.uk/1986.html

The Sinatra chart entry is a mystery, his last ever solo Top 40 hit. He had a Greatest Hits album that charted that week so maybe there was TV advertising that boosted that track, but "New York, New York" only made #59 on release in 1980 so I have no idea why it would be popular in 1986. Sinatra's main publicity at that time was how he had flipped from being a JFK Democrat in the 60s to a Reagan supporter by 1986 performing at the White House for the bastard.

Note that chart runs are getting shorter at this time, starting the trend of entering high then falling that would reach its peak in the 90s. Not uncommon for a song to make Top 10 but be out of the Top 100 within 10 weeks, which very rarely happens now.

"Digging Your Scene" - didn't know about the AIDS angle but I think you'd need to be "in the know" to get it. A quick scan of the lyrics made me think he was stalking a pensioner. But the hook on that tune is just awesome and transcends the subject matter IMHO, so obtaining a feeling of joy from the music itself is not necessarily wrong.

Dr Rock

Quote from: gmoney on August 26, 2018, 12:04:37 AM
Any idea why Sinatra was charting around this time?

It was a time when record companies would try lots of re-releases (see Tavares, or soon to chart Jacke Wilson). Might have been in an advert or something.

buzby

Quote from: Satchmo Distel on August 26, 2018, 07:25:13 AM
The Sinatra chart entry is a mystery, his last ever solo Top 40 hit. He had a Greatest Hits album that charted that week so maybe there was TV advertising that boosted that track, but "New York, New York" only made #59 on release in 1980 so I have no idea why it would be popular in 1986.
The single was reissued (though the Music Master catalogue shows it as still being in print in the UK in 1983,) to publicise the 'His Greatest Hits (New York, New York)' compilation that was released at the end of March.

The single release wasn't just a case of putting a new sleeve on the 1980 single though, they had new masters made for the 1986 release too (the 1980 release was mastered by Strawberry Mastering, the 1986 reissue was mastered by Barry 'BAZZA' Grint at Tape One).

A bit later in the year Frank was back in the news due to Kitty Kelley's unauthorised biography coming out.

daf

#3009
Nice detective work there Buzby - The Greatest Hits seems to be the catalyst for the bump.

I also suspect the helping hand of Radio 2 at the back of this - Wogan (notorious for nurturing similar curved-ball hits) had left Radio 2 in 1985 to concentrate on his TV chat show, but I could see either Derek Jameson (his Breakfast show replacement), Jimmy Young or David Jacobs being very receptive to Frank's old school charms, and giving it plenty of spins in heavy rotation.

- - - - - - - - -
BTW - I notice we're over 100 pages here. What's the form? Should we move on to a new (part 2) thread - or carry on with this one?

Dr Rock


Jockice

People who do that kicking their legs in the air bit at the end of New York New York should be put to death. That is all.