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Topic: Top of the Pops on BBC Four - Thread Two.

Started by Dr Rock, August 26, 2018, 02:21:41 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Norton Canes

Ah, there we go - more of the layered vocals at the end of that version, rather than the few seconds at the end of the 'official' 7" release.

Vince Clarke's 2011 remix is worth a listen.

daf

14 January 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Simon Mayo

(10) CLIMIE FISHER – Rise To The Occasion
Plod - Plod - Plod that Ba-a-a-ss
(13) TIFFANY – I Think We're Alone Now (US TOTP clip)
I Think We're Singing Live Now
(3) KRUSH – House Arrest
Torch Song
(4) MORRIS MINOR & THE MAJORS – Stutter Rap (No Sleep Til Bedtime)
Street Crud
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(22) THE CHRISTIANS – Ideal World
(17) AC/DC – Heatseeker
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/albums/72157675055643023

(8) TERENCE TROUT D'UNSTABLE – Sign Your Name
Stitch your thread across my knee, I think I've ripped my trou-sers
(1) BELINDA CARLISLE – Heaven Is A Place On Earth (US TOTP clip)
Rhyl Sun Centre (if closed - Butlins Pwllheli)
(11) GEORGE MICHAEL – Father Figure (video / credits)
Someday a real rain will come and wash all this stubble off my face

Bently Sheds

I've only just started catching up with these, on Nov 26th 1987's episode Blue Mercedes appeared:
Quote from: buzby on May 27, 2019, 01:09:14 AM
No idea what that upright bass/keyboard thing was supposed to be. The keys are clearly just glued onto it, and it doesn't feature in either of the promo video attempts
The keyboard plank guy seemed to be doing his best "Ronnie Barker Playing Guitar" impression, inasmuch as his fingers were moving when the notes were not.

I'd have understood the concept of the weird keyboard contraption if they had been producing Sique Sique Sputnik style futuristic Rockabilly tunes & it was intended to be a Jetsons-style double bass replacement; but used in the context of what my schoolmates at the time termed a "blip blop dance shit" tune it made no sense at all.

Perhaps it was his final piece for CSE Woodwork?

daf

21 January 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Steve Wright

(16) BROS – When Will I Be Famous?
When Will I Have a Dartboard?
(12) AC/DC – Heatseeker (video)
The Andy Capp Band
(8) JOYCE SIMS – Come Into My Life
Triple Marge Simpson
(15) THE CHRISTIANS – Ideal World
Watch out for the Lions!
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(23) MOTLEY CRUE – Wild Side
(20) BANANARAMA – I Can't Help It
(14) THE BEATMASTERS featuring THE COOKIE CREW – Rok Da House
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(18) DOLLAR – O L'Amour
Blond on Blonde
(1) BELINDA CARLISLE – Heaven Is A Place On Earth (US TOTP clip)
Located at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril, 10 miles south of the Scottish border.



(7) THE STRANGLERS – All Day & All Of The Night (+ credits)
Time for that solo album, Hugh!

Norton Canes

Wait, did they show this in the end? I gave it ten minutes and the tennis was still on so presumed they postponed it.

Norton Canes

Davies is dressed like Tom Baker's Doctor if they cast him in 1988

daf

#1236
Only the early showing got cancelled - the late night one went out at midnight, as scheduled.

It's available on iplayer now - plus it's due for a repeat on saturday evening on BBC4 (along with tonight's two editions).

Sebastian Cobb

I came in pissed about half past midnight last night and it wasn't on the iplayer then.

How the fuck is BBC4 now a dumping ground for excess sport?

daf

#1239
Two Smith shows to fit in before tonight - here's the first :

28 January 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Mike Smith

(17) DEBBIE GIBSON – Shake Your Love
Quivers down my back bone
(18) BILLY IDOL – Hot In The City (video)
Peeping Tom Hole
(21) 2 MEN, A DRUM MACHINE & A TRUMPET – Tired Of Getting Pushed Around
Trumpet the Bogie Man
(25) JERMAINE STEWART – Say It Again
Big Boy's Blouse
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(24) TAYLOR DAYNE – Tell It To My Heart
(19) JACK 'N' CHILL – The Jack That House Built
(16) ELTON JOHN – Candle In The Wind
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(33) T'PAU – Valentine
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue . . . (opens card) . . . You look like a monkey, and smell like one too!!
(1) TIFFANY – I Think We're Alone Now
Long Jumper 


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157677096155811

(8) THE BEATMASTERS featuring THE COOKIE CREW – Rok Da House (video / credits)
Nik da Film-clips

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/82d5de62ff3e9b75f3dee21954cee5bc20190705140928/0cfee0

Norton Canes

Quote from: daf on July 05, 2019, 03:34:04 PM
(21) 2 MEN, A DRUM MACHINE & A TRUMPET – Tired Of Getting Pushed Around
Trumpet the Bogie Man

Who said this new-fangled dance music didn't translate well to the TOTP formula?

Back in the 90's I had some mates who formed a band and, remembering that 2MADMAAT named themselves after the constituent parts of their band, called themselves 2 Men, a Drum Machine and a Lesbian

DrGreggles

Quote from: Norton Canes on July 05, 2019, 03:52:25 PM
Who said this new-fangled dance music didn't translate well to the TOTP formula?

Back in the 90's I had some mates who formed a band and, remembering that 2MADMAAT named themselves after the constituent parts of their band, called themselves 2 Men, a Drum Machine and a Lesbian

Or '3 Men and a Drum Machine' as a Beloved Internet Personality might call them.

Sebastian Cobb

I much prefer the SOM method of anthromorphising your drum machine and giving it a sinister name.

daf

#1243
4 February 1988: Presenter: Mike Smith

(27) BILLY OCEAN – Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car
Touch my "Bumper"
(16) KYLIE MINOGUE – I Should Be So Lucky (video)
Get Outta Ramsay Street, and Into Your Car
(28) THE SCREAMING BLUE MESSIAHS – I Wanna Be A Flintstone
He's about to hit a chestnut tree
(2) BROS – When Will I Be Famous?
When Can I Play Conkers in England without Goggles? 


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/albums/72157677333196940

- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(26) LUTHER VANDROSS – Give Me The Reason
(29) SINEAD O'CONNOR – Mandinka
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(10) ELTON JOHN – Candle In The Wind
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!
(1) TIFFANY – I Think We're Alone Now
Big Fish, Little Fish, Severed Head in a Cardboard Box
(12) JACK 'N' CHILL – The Jack That House Built (video / credits)
Red Noses on!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/bbe1f1cbdd365bacbcea5b2afb7bc6e020190705144253/5568d0

Candle In The Wind was a live version recorded in Australia 14.12.86

Sandy Denny and Kate Bush both had lapses in taste by covering the piece of shit.

daf

11 February 1988: Presenters: Bruno Brookes & Gary Davies

(25) EDDY GRANT – Gimme Hope Jo'anna
Little Bit of Politics!
(7) DEBBIE GIBSON – Shake Your Love
In-depth analysis of the human mating ritual / Gratuitous Sex Crap
(20) THE MISSION – Tower Of Strength
Well, it's not a "Secret Gig" now is it, you plum!
(4) TAYLOR DAYNE – Tell It To My Heart
Great Dayne
(22) SINEAD O'CONNOR – Mandinka
Nothing Compares 2 This
(1) TIFFANY – I Think We're Alone Now (video)
Besides that huge crowd behind us, you mean?



(10) JERMAINE STEWART – Say It Again
"The Rick Astley Postponed BPI Awards Ceremony Segment"

kalowski

QuoteAt the age of 30, Tiffany appeared in Playboy magazine in order to progress her image in the public eye. Throughout the early years of her career, she faced direct competition from another young, popular, female singer in the late 80s, known as Deborah "Debbie" Gibson. Interesting to note is the fact that Debbie Gibson decided to pose in Playboy a few years after Tiffany had first appeared.
Thanks, boobpedia!

daf

#1247
18 February 1988: Presenters: Nicky Campbell & Gary Davies

(5) BOMB THE BASS – Beat Dis
This is a journey into Sumner . . . Stereophonic Geoffrey Sumner
(4) BILLY OCEAN – Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car
Bill Le Taxi
(9) T'PAU – Valentine
Bourgeois Tagg (!!!)
(21) WAS (NOT WAS) – Spy In The House Of Love
Open the door, empty the bin
Everybody read Anaïs Nin
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(29) VANESSA PARADIS – Joe Le Taxi
(27) MICHAEL JACKSON – Man In The Mirror
(30) BANGLES – Hazy Shade Of Winter
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(25) COLDCUT featuring YAZZ & THE PLASTIC POPULATION – Doctorin' The House
Look out chaps - Sir Lancelot Spratt is on his rounds!
(1) KYLIE MINOGUE – I Should Be So Lucky (BBC video)
Pipe down Campbell - Gary is talking!



(26) ALEXANDER O'NEAL & CHERRELLE – Never Knew Love Like This (video / credits)
You Daft Racists!

buzby

#1248
Quote from: daf on July 05, 2019, 03:34:04 PM
28 January 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Mike Smith

(17) DEBBIE GIBSON – Shake Your Love
Twin Roland D50s, a Yamaha KX6 keytar and an extraneous drum kit (it's clearly a LinnDrum on the track). She looks just like Michaela Strachan doesn't she? As for the song, it's entirely forgettable. I never understood the competition between her and Tiffany either - Tiffany is quite clearly the better singer of the two, and a much less awkward performer.
Quote
(18) BILLY IDOL – Hot In The City (video)
At least there's no keyboard player for him to molest in this video.
Quote
(21) 2 MEN, A DRUM MACHINE & A TRUMPET – Tired Of Getting Pushed Around
Another KX5.Ex Beat-sters and current FYC members Andy Cox and David Steele decide to jump on the house music bandwagon, accompanied by one-time UB40 and current FYC trumpet player Graeme Hamilton. The anonymity angle is ruined by appearing on TOTP (though they do seem somewhat reluctant). As far as the song goes, it does sound slightly 'inauthentic' and bandwagonesque.They did one further single (minus Hamilton) as Two Men And A Drum Machine, but we'll come across that in a future episode.
Quote
(25) JERMAINE STEWART – Say It Again
what's that alongside the DX7? A late appearance by a Roland Jupiter 8! The piano solo definitely wouldn't have been played on it though.
Quote
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(24) TAYLOR DAYNE – Tell It To My Heart
Fuck me, how tinny does this sound? something must have gone wrong in the audio dubbing for that VT.
Quote
(19) JACK 'N' CHILL – The Jack That House Built
Yay! Starglider on the Spectrum!. One of only two singles the duo recorded before splitting after the follow-up Beating The Heat just failed to crack the Top 40 (a bit of a lost gem IMO).
Quote
(33) T'PAU – Valentine
The obligatory DX7 + D50 combo. I like this song more than China In Hour Hand as it allows Decker to show off her vocals. it still can't beat Heart & Soul though.
Quote
(1) TIFFANY – I Think We're Alone Now
L
Speaking of vocals - LIVE, and in the UK! Take that Gibson you fraud!
Quote
(8) THE BEATMASTERS featuring THE COOKIE CREW – Rok Da House (video / credits)
I love this track - it just sounds very raw and full of energy, with none of the edges knocked off by working with an established producer. The Beatmasters were also good friends with The KLF too.

Quote from: daf on July 05, 2019, 05:52:38 PM
4 February 1988: Presenter: Mike Smith

(16) KYLIE MINOGUE – I Should Be So Lucky (video)
Her first track recorded with S/A/W. This video was shot specially for Noel Edmond's Christmas 1987 Post Office Tower show (which is presumably why TOTP are using it instead of the official video) and features Kylie riding round in one of the oddball (and rare) Baur BMW E30 3-series cabriolet conversions.

Quote
(28) THE SCREAMING BLUE MESSIAHS – I Wanna Be A Flintstone
Dave Bowie (of Dave Bowie and the Dave Bowie Band fame) professed these as his favourite band throughout 1987 and 1988, and they even supported him on his Glass Spider tour UK dates. They had been knocking around the London rockabilly scene since the early 80s (originally as motor Boys Motor), garnering a bit of a cult following for their intense live shows. They recorded a few indie singles and a Peel Session in 1985 and were asked to appear on Whistle Test.

The resulting buzz around them prompted WEA to offer them a deal, and accepting is possibly the worst thing they could have done as WEA never really knew what to do with them. They recorded Gun Shy, thier first album for WEA in 1985 which was critically lauded but did nothnig commercially. This track was recorded for their second WEA album Bikini Red, and wa sa reworkng of an old Motor Boys Motor track Here Come The Flintstones (recorded for their 1982 album for Albion Records).

Despite the unlikely chart success of I Wanna Be a Flintsone, touring constantly just to pay off their advance and recording costs (and having to sell gear and do normal jobs to survive when they weren't touring) eventually took their toll, and they only recorded one further album, 1989's Totally Religious. By this time relations between the band and label had collapsed ,and no singles would be released to promote it, the album was pulled from shelves a month after it's release and the band were dropped and split soon afterwards.
"It's a shit business"

Really interesting interview with Cookie Crew about their rise and fall and UK 80s hip hop in some guys garden shed here

https://youtu.be/ppv6UM7BIfE

daf

Quote from: buzby on July 06, 2019, 03:54:58 PM
I never understood the competition between her and Tiffany either - Tiffany is quite clearly the better singer of the two, and a much less awkward performer.
( . . . )
Speaking of vocals - LIVE, and in the UK! Take that Gibson you fraud!

Yes, (Ding-Ding!) round one to Tiffters : an absolute knockout from an "Absolute Knockout"!

daf

Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child (1989)

QuoteKnown for their cultural parodies, Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper released two EPs and four full-length albums in the 1980s; their 1989 LP, Root Hog or Die!, contained "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child" as its lead single. In the song, Nixon not only asserts that he is the father of Gibson's child, but is also married to her (with Joan Collins performing the ceremony at a chapel in Las Vegas). He also manages to insult Rick Astley ("a pantywaist"), Spuds McKenzie ("hate that dog") and Tiffany ("wrestling in Jello") along the way, all in just two minutes and three seconds. The song is not, however, a direct attack on any one artist, but rather a parody of tabloid gossip (hence the title) and pop culture in a similar vein to Weird Al Yankovic's "Headline News" of several years later.

Not surprisingly, the song caused a bit of controversy. Gibson herself was even moved to write an answer song, "Stuffy White Girl", which she planned to release as a b-side, but ultimately thought better of it. It did give Mojo his first Billboard chart appearance, as the tune peaked at #16 on the Modern Rock listings in the summer of 1989.

QuoteThe music video, produced by T'Boo Dalton and directed by Scott Kalvert, features Nixon and Roper with lookalikes of Tiffany, Astley and Collins—and actress Winona Ryder as Debbie Gibson. Ryder (who once called the video "my favorite role of all time") wears a wedding dress and gives birth to "a Bigfoot baby, all covered in fur" with the requisite two heads.



Captain Poodle Basher

Quote from: buzby on July 06, 2019, 03:54:58 PM
Dave Bowie (of Dave Bowie and the Dave Bowie Band fame) professed these as his favourite band throughout 1987 and 1988, and they even supported him on his Glass Spider tour UK dates. They had been knocking around the London rockabilly scene since the early 80s (originally as motor Boys Motor), garnering a bit of a cult following for their intense live shows. They recorded a few indie singles and a Peel Session in 1985 and were asked to appear on Whistle Test.

I saw the Screaming Blue Messiahs play the Mean Fiddler sometime in late 1986 and can attest that they were very intense and menacing. I was standing to the side of the stage and Bill Carter, for whatever reason, decided to stare me down and intimidate me throughout their set. He kept glaring at me and would come running over and ram the head of his guitar into the wooden panel that I was leaning against while mouthing off at me. At the end of the gig, he came over and shook my hand saying "No hard feelings eh?"

Jockice

Quote from: Captain Poodle Basher on July 06, 2019, 06:08:31 PM


I saw the Screaming Blue Messiahs play the Mean Fiddler sometime in late 1986 and can attest that they were very intense and menacing. I was standing to the side of the stage and Bill Carter, for whatever reason, decided to stare me down and intimidate me throughout their set. He kept glaring at me and would come running over and ram the head of his guitar into the wooden panel that I was leaning against while mouthing off at me. At the end of the gig, he came over and shook my hand saying "No hard feelings eh?"

They gave me a headache. Not many bands have managed that.

non capisco

This love that David Bowie apparently had for The Screaming Blue Messiahs and Captain Poodle Basher's visceral account of seeing them live are entirely at odds with that fucking rubbish novelty single and lame Top Of The Pops appearance. 

If you put a gun to my head and made me choose I'm Team Debbie Gibson because I hate that croaking "into the niiiiight" vocal 'flourish' that Tiffany does.

Stuff I've really liked over the last few episodes : 'Mandinka' by Sinead O'Connor, obviously a banger. 'Beat Dis' by Bomb The Bass. The Beatmasters one with yer standard "bung a load of old Felix The Cat shit together" late 80s house video. How many silent 1920s cartoons had dancing skyscrapers and cats going garrity in nightclubs? Tons of the fuckers, clearly.

That T'Pau song sounds like Marillion.

DrGreggles

Quote from: non capisco on July 06, 2019, 06:21:23 PM
If you put a gun to my head and made me choose I'm Team Debbie Gibson because I hate that croaking "into the niiiiight" vocal 'flourish' that Tiffany does.

Likewise and for the same reason.
Despite my love of gingers...

kalowski

Quote from: DrGreggles on July 06, 2019, 06:35:13 PM
Likewise and for the same reason.
Despite my love of gingers...
And she is ginger... everywhere (cf my earlier post)

Chriddof

Quote from: non capisco on July 06, 2019, 06:21:23 PM
If you put a gun to my head and made me choose I'm Team Debbie Gibson because I hate that croaking "into the niiiiight" vocal 'flourish' that Tiffany does.

Funnily enough, the version of this track available on some streaming services and digital download places (notably Amazon) is a very close re-recording done about 20 years later - it's virtually the same, but the croaky "niiiight" bit is not remotely croaky at all. I don't know how that'll affect your opinion.

Sebastian Cobb

Just seen Nitro Deluxe - Let's get Brutal made the charts in one of them. So good.

I'm guessing it's the hair and dresses, but both Debbie Gibson and Tiffany look closer to 30 than 16.

Jockice