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

[gilbertharding]

I'm enjoying the fact that Tiffany ("And the good thing about that is it proves she can really sing...") has the same basic hairdo and fashion sense as all the middle-aged men in her band (who are probably all really chuffed to be so 'with it').


I don't know if we've seen it yet, but every time Belinda Carlisle is on in the next few months, look out for how much her guitarist really REALLY fancies himself. It's quite something.

[daf]

("And the good thing about that is it proves she can really sing...")

I was a bit bemused by Simes saying this - we've heard her sing live twice already - in the TOTP US clip, AND the "long Jumper" UK performance!

Was anyone claiming she was autotuned at the time, or a front for session singers or something?

Terrible song though - maybe the full sentence was intended to be :

"And the good thing about that is it proves she can really sing... any old rubbish and make it sound half decent"

[gilbertharding]

In any case, she can't 'really sing' - at least you can't reach that conclusion on the basis of that performance.

I mean, she has a completely unremarkable voice, and does very little with it except hold a tune (which she sings through her nose). I mean, not everybody can be Aretha Franklin, or  Whitney Huston, or even Amy Winehouse, or Annie Lennox or Allison Moyet (who famously had a "great voice": Radio 1 DJ code for 'fat').

There are lots of kinds of singing... but the kind of singing she does is... fine, I suppose.




I think everyone is mixing her up with Debbie Gibson anyway (I know I am).

I've probably told this story before, but there was a big concert at Madison Square Gardens in about 1988 to celebrate the 40th Birthday of Atlantic Records. They showed it on BBC2, and I taped it to watch later, because it was going to be GREAT with all the GREAT singers who had been on Atlantic Records.

Of course, because it was 1988, it was utter shit. All the great singers were too drugged up to remember why people liked their music, so went through the motions with horrible 1980s production, hair and clothes. There was something called Vanilla Fudge, which I'd never heard of, and lots of Genesis and Yes (never liked prog much), and some terrible, pale shadows of R&B.

But the icing on the shit sandwich was the wheeling out of an artist who brought the Atlantic Records Story right up to date with a performance of two songs and a medley of her hits: Ladies and Gentlemen - Miss Deborah Gibson!!

All in glorious NTSC.

[the hum]

Pitch correction had been around since the mid-Seventies, with the introduction of the Eventide H910 Harmonizer (which Tony Visconti used to great effect on Bowie's 'Berlin' period albums, and he described it's capabilities as 'fucking with the fabric of time'). Eventide refined the Harmonizer throughout the 70s and 80s, but by 1987 a small and obscure French effects unit manufacturer called Publison developed the Infernal Machine 90, which marked a step-change in pitch correction capability (and it could be controlled by a MIDI keyboard). It also featured a host of other on-bard digital effects and could also be used as a 16-bit sampler . It was discussed earlier in the thread after it's brief appearance in 'The Story Of 1987' that ran before the 87 episodes were repeated. See my first post mentioning it here, and follow the subsequent replies.

Like the Harmonizer, the IM90 was hardware-based (and Publison ground all the chip markings off to try and stop anybody reverse engineering it). Despite being very good at what it did, it was an expensive piece of kit, and as most professional studios had already invested in Eventide's equipment, it was never that popular and remained rare and obscure (there are no demos of it in action on Youtube, though there are a few demonstrating the capabilities of it's immediate predecessor the DHM89.

It arrived just at the right time for PWL as they were looking for a sampler to replace their 8-bit Emulator IIs (in The Story Of 1987 is was described as a sampler), but it's pitch correction capabilities became key in their plans to knock out tracks by untrained or inexperienced singers as quickly as possible in an 'assembly line'-like manner.

Informative as ever buzby, cheers.

[Norton Canes]

(10) EIGHTH WONDER – I’m Not Scared

Absolute pearler of a song, Neil Tennant's lyrics as trenchant and acerbic as ever. Lest we forget we're in the midst of PSB's First Imperial Phase, the final fruit of which is about hit the number one spot.

[Norton Canes]

Also lest we forget, the final edition of The Roxy aired on the Tuesday following the 31^st March edition of TOTP. That final line-up: Jermaine Stewart (Gonna Get Lucky), T'Pau (Sex Talk), Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (From The Hip), Pat & Mick (Let's All Chant), Bananarama (I Want You Back)

Oh well, it was worth a shot.

[buzby]

17 March 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Mike Read

Blimey, Mike Read rises from the grave, still dressed like it's 1983.

(12) HEART – These Dreams (video)

This video is hilarious - no amount of cliched FM Rock posing with guitars and big hair can disguise the fact thait this is the most anodyne AOR ballad imaginable that's entirely synth-based with not a six string to be heard.

(6) ERASURE – Ship Of Fools

Vince had dropped the steel National Resonator for an Encore bowl-backed electro-acoustic (with a very distinctive headstock)

(31) KEITH SWEAT – I Want Her

Is this the first example of New Jack Swing to hit the charts?

(27) DAVID LEE ROTH – Just Like Paradise

Roth taking 'Rock' rather literally for the video. Filmed at Half Dome in Yosemite National Park by renowned climbing film-maker David Breashears.

(20) EIGHTH WONDER – I’m Not Scared

Basically a PSB song (note the complete absence of the actual Eigth Wonder band) and all the better for it. As Norton, days, it's a pearler.

24 March 1988: Presenters: Simon Bates & Peter Powell

The Walking Dead Part II - what the fuck has Bates been let out of his coffin for?

(14) SINITTA – Cross My Broken Heart

No amount of wearing a dress where you can see what she had for dinner can disguise this is Standard S/A/W Pop Song 57a, complete with the Infernal Machine working overtime in the middle 8 ('Listen, Pete! We can make her sound like Rick Astley!!').

(18) A-HA – Stay On These Roads

Tonight, Magne has a Yamaha KX88 Master MID keyboard and a Roland Alpha Juno 2. Decent song which showcases Morten's falsetto well.

(16) SIMON HARRIS – Bass (How Low Can You Go)

Roland D50/Yamaha DX7/Simmonds SDS pads standard combo.
Very few of these early sample-tastic tracks have aged well. This isn't in the same class as Pump Up The volume or Beat Dis in my opinion. It's not helped by the fact he's plainly nicked most of the samples from previous, more regarded examples of the genre.Iyt alo features my onw personal bugbear, sampled scratching.

Needless to say, the remix he was doing of Joyce Sims's Come Into My Life gets pissed on from a great height by the Mantronix original

(25) WET WET WET – Temptation

More lyric stealing from Pellow, this time from Heaven 17!

(26) CLIMIE FISHER – Love Changes (Everything)

Re-released in the wake of the success of Pete 'Mixmaster' Harding's MARRS ripoff remix of Rise To The Occasion (it had originally been released in August 1987, when it peaked at #67) it must be one of the biggest 'bait and switch' tricks by a record company for buyers expecting another song like their previous hit.

(1) ASWAD – Don’t Turn Around

The Roland D50 and Yamaha DX7 put in a repeat appearance. Standard.

[non capisco]

Is this the first example of New Jack Swing to hit the charts?

Bobby Treetops and I were saying the exact same thing this week. It really sounds like something from the early to mid 90s. Someone should tell Gary Davies that "sweat" isn't a bodily organ though. Abysmal patter.

[The Culture Bunker]

Re-released in the wake of the success of Pete 'Mixmaster' Harding's MARRs ripoff remix of Rise To tHe Occasion (it had originally been released in August 1987, when it peaked at #67) it must be one of the biggest 'bait and switch' tricks by a record company for buyers expecting another song like their previous hit.

With added points that I, for one, would never recognise 'Rise to the Occasion' while the follow up remains seared into my memory from the time.

Climie, of course, later did sound work in the gravel business.

[daf]

7 April 1988: Presenters: Gary Davies & Simon Mayo

(15) TAYLOR DAYNE – Prove Your Love
Giant Hairstacks (Greetings Grapple Fans!)
(13) FLEETWOOD MAC – Everywhere (video)
Five miles to London and still no sign of Nicks
(16) GLEN GOLDSMITH – Dreaming
Murderers' Gloves
(20) HAZELL DEAN – Who’s Leaving Who
Recycled Lampshade
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(24) NATALIE COLE – Pink Cadillac
(22) AC/DC – That’s The Way I Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll
(23) PEBBLES – Girlfriend
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(-) SCOTT FITZGERALD – Go
Unbelievably, this soupy rubbish almost won!
(1) PET SHOP BOYS – Heart
False Bottom


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/albums/72157678779524505/

(21) JELLYBEAN featuring ADELE BERTEI – Just A Mirage (video / credits)
Short and Sweets

[Satchmo Distel]

Who's Leaving Whom, surely?

Pebbles could do a duet with BamBam

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BamBam_(singer)

Speaking of which, what the fuck?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pebbles_and_Bamm-Bamm_Show

[Sebastian Cobb]

Very few of these early sample-tastic tracks have aged well. This isn't in the same class as Pump Up The volume or Beat Dis in my opinion. It's not helped by the fact he's plainly nicked most of the samples from previous, more regarded examples of the genre.Iyt alo features my onw personal bugbear, sampled scratching.

It is really not good.

Here, why does the (presumably) quantel harry drop a vertical and horizontal line on the left/bottom portion of the picture before doing a 'flip'? Presumably this was hidden by overscan, backi in the day.

[Chriddof]

Speaking of which, what the fuck?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pebbles_and_Bamm-Bamm_Show

That got partially shown on Children's BBC in 1989 as part of The Flintstone Comedy Hour (read: half hour on the Beeb), despite being nearly 20 years old by then. Although that kind of thing never stopped the BBC as regards to The Monkees repeats a few years earlier, of course - or indeed, King Of The Rocket Men. I think the The Flintstone Comedy Hour theme tune ended with the words "We'll have a groovy time!".

Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm later got married:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTCxbt_Qr-Y

[Norton Canes]

(1) PET SHOP BOYS – Heart

Utterly brilliant that this got to number one. How many other fourth releases from albums have hit the top spot? Don't You Want Me is one that immediately springs to mind. Ah hang on, Spice Girls, Westlife, B*Witched and whatever other bands had a phase where basically everything they released topped the charts. Bet it didn't happen that often in the 80's?

[Satchmo Distel]

How often did an album have four strong singles on it? 'Dare' did and so did this one.

[The Culture Bunker]

How often did an album have four strong singles on it? 'Dare' did and so did this one.

I'd go with 'Cupid and Psyche 85': 'Absolute', 'Wood Beez', 'The Word Girl' and 'The Perfect Way'. Oh, and 'Hypnotise' too.

[Satchmo Distel]

Agreed.

[Darles Chickens]

How often did an album have four strong singles on it? 'Dare' did and so did this one.

How about 'Bad'?  And maybe 'Thriller' too.

[Norton Canes]

Just going through a few obvious candidates (I'm not obsessed enough to check every single 80's chart topper), I see La Isla Bonita hit the top spot and was the fifth single released from Madonna's True Blue.

[daf]

14 April 1988: Presenters: Bruno Brookes & Steve Wright

(14) BANANARAMA – I Want You Back
'Nana, Hey Hey, Kiss Her Hello
(11) NATALIE COLE – Pink Cadillac (video)
Nat Queen Cole
(3) CLIMIE FISHER – Love Changes (Everything)
Ooh, look at me - I've seen a bare lady!
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(20) DEF LEPPARD – Armageddon It
(25) S-EXPRESS – Theme From S-Express
(23) T’PAU – Sex Talk
(22) JERMAINE STEWART - Get Lucky
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/sets/72157677339226430

(15) JELLYBEAN featuring ADELE BERTEI – Just A Mirage
Oi, Pet Shop Boys - they've nicked your Megabyte Modem!
(13) PEBBLES – Girlfriend
3000 Quality street wrappers
(1) PET SHOP BOYS – Heart
Thank you Mr Jellybean - now don't do it again!
(2) BROS – Drop The Boy (video / credits)
Squash the Screen

[Norton Canes]

Are all female backing singers required by law to do that arm-swinging, finger-snapping synchronized dance? The Climie Fisher chanteuses were providing an especially flamboyant interpretation.

[Norton Canes]

Also, Jellybean's chart-pestering songs are so fucking shit and dated, they're all like something from 1985 man.

[boki]

Are all female backing singers required by law to do that arm-swinging, finger-snapping synchronized dance?

I can't claim to have any insider knowledge, but it would make sense that there's a standard bag of tricks that'll make life easier for dancers and choreographers alike, and these lasses are likely to be stage school grads.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Also, Jellybean's chart-pestering songs are so fucking shit and dated, they're all like something from 1985 man.

I like them, including the cheap videoes of him pratting about behind a chroma key background with loads of dodgy effects.

[Better Midlands]

Also, Jellybean's chart-pestering songs are so fucking shit and dated, they're all like something from 1985 man.

I agree for someone with a great pedigree as a DJ they're pretty bland.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I agree for someone with a great pedigree as a DJ they're pretty bland.

Didn't he produce Holiday?

[Better Midlands]

Didn't he produce Holiday?

Yes and Love Will Save The Day for Whitney Houston, he also mixed the singles off Madonna's debut album. His first single "The Mexican" is a classic from that period also, loads of great remixes from then too.

[daf]

21 April 1988: Presenters: Simon Bates & Peter Powell

(3) S-EXPRESS – Theme From S-Express
Theme from S(ample)-Excess
(14) GEORGE MICHAEL – One More Try (video)
Girlfriend?!
(15) DANNY WILSON – Mary’s Prayer
Curiosity - Nicked the Hat
- - - - - - - - - - - - (breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(19) PAT & MICK – Let’s All Chant
(21) WILL DOWNING – A Love Supreme
(25) JAMES BROWN – The Payback Mix
(24) PATRICK SWAYZE & WENDY FRAZER – She’s Like The Wind
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(17) JERMAINE STEWART - Get Lucky
Emergency Patriotic Bum Hanky
(6) HAZELL DEAN – Who’s Leaving Who
Always has a Summer hit . . . in April
(1) PET SHOP BOYS – Heart (video)
'Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!



(10) MICHAEL JACKSON & JACKSON FIVE – I Want You Back ‘88 (video / credits)
Before he turned into a Cartoon

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* :
Rose Royce – "Is It Love You're After" (1979) 
TZ – "I Got the Hots for You" (1983)
Alfredo de la Fé – "Hot to Trot" (1979)
Crystal Grass – "Crystal World"(1974)
Karen Finley – "Tales of Taboo" (1986)
Ish Ledesma – "Scream for Daddy" (1986)
Peech Boys – "Don't Make Me Wait" (1983)
Yazoo – "Situation" (1982)
Gene Roddenberry – "The Star Trek Dream" (1976) {* removed from U.S. version}
Debbie Harry – "Feel the Spin" (1985) {*}
Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs – "Oh That's Bad, No That's Good" (1967) {*}
"The Martian Monsters" from Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House", (1964) {*}
Gil Scott-Heron – "The Bottle" (1974) {*}
Stacey Q – "Two of Hearts" (1986) {*}

[DrGreggles]

(19) PAT & MICK – Let’s All Chant

I know it was for charity, but these cunts can fuck off!

[kalowski]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* :
Rose Royce – "Is It Love You're After" (1979) 
TZ – "I Got the Hots for You" (1983)
Alfredo de la Fé – "Hot to Trot" (1979)
Crystal Grass – "Crystal World"(1974)
Karen Finley – "Tales of Taboo" (1986)
Ish Ledesma – "Scream for Daddy" (1986)
Peech Boys – "Don't Make Me Wait" (1983)
Yazoo – "Situation" (1982)
Gene Roddenberry – "The Star Trek Dream" (1976) {* removed from U.S. version}
Debbie Harry – "Feel the Spin" (1985) {*}
Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs – "Oh That's Bad, No That's Good" (1967) {*}
"The Martian Monsters" from Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House", (1964) {*}
Gil Scott-Heron – "The Bottle" (1974) {*}
Stacey Q – "Two of Hearts" (1986) {*}

Very nice. How good is that Rose Royce track?