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

[Icehaven]

Del Amitri sound exactly like landfill indie 15 years before it happened.

[Camp Tramp]

I had forgotten the horror that was Yell.

[Icehaven]

I actually remember liking Lonnie Gordon, but that might partly have been because I coveted her shell suit.

[Camp Tramp]

Virtually every dance track seems to have that whooping loop on it.

[Icehaven]

Does Ray Charles know there's no piano there?

[Icehaven]

Didn't know the Lambada was that old.

[Icehaven]

Phil's shoes are very pointy.

[Camp Tramp]

Phil's shoes are very pointy.

So is his widow's peak.

[daf]

Virtually every dance track seems to have that whooping loop on it.

Whoo! Yeah!

[Norton Canes]

CYPHER GRAPHICS

[Better Midlands]

Whoo! Yeah!

It was always Yeah! Woo! BITD
↖️↖️↖️

Wikipedia disagrees however

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woo!_Yeah!

[daf]

18 January 1990: Presenter: Nicky Campbell

(13) |  HALO JAMES – Could Have Told You So
(20) |  LIL' LOUIS & THE WORLD – I Called U (video)
(23) |  MARTIKA – More Than You Know



(3)   |  49ers – Touch Me (video)
(18) |  MEGADETH – No More Mr. Nice Guy (video)
- - - - - - - - - - - (Breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(31) |  NENEH CHERRY – Inna City Mamma (video)
(30) |  SINEAD O'CONNOR – Nothing Compares 2 U (video)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(19) |  THE QUIREBOYS – Hey You
(2)   |  KYLIE MINOGUE – Tears On My Pillow (video)
(1)   |  NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK – Hangin' Tough (video)
(27) |  ADAMSKI – N-R-G (video)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 
 

[DrGreggles]

I had such a thing for Martika back then.

[Jockice]

Del Amitri sound exactly like landfill indie 15 years before it happened.

But I bet if Justin Currie's cousin Momus had written that song it would be acclaimed as a lyrical masterpiece. Wouldn't have got anywhere near the charts mind, but you can't win em all.

[Jockice]

I had such a thing for Martika back then.

I had a thing for her kitchen.

[daf]

26 January 1990: Presenters: Simon Mayo & Jakki Brambles

(24) |  YELL – Instant Replay
(18) |  PUBLIC ENEMY – Welcome To The Terrordome (video)
(23) |  DEL AMITRI – Nothing Ever Happens
- - - - - - - - - - - (Breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(31) |  AND WHY NOT? – The Face (video)
(32) |  LONNIE GORDON – Happenin' All Over Again (video)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



(9)   |  F.P.I. PROJECT feat. SHARON DEE CLARKE – Going Back To My Roots
(27) |  QUINCY JONES feat. RAY CHARLES & CHAKA KHAN – I'll Be Good To You (video)
(26) |  PHIL COLLINS – I Wish It Would Rain Down
(12) |  ADAMSKI – N-R-G WATCH
(3)   |  SINEAD O'CONNOR – Nothing Compares 2 U
(1)   |  KYLIE MINOGUE – Tears On My Pillow (video)
(19) |  GINO LATINO – Welcome (video and credits)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 
 

[daf]

Justin Currie's Twitter from last night :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In other news, Del Amitri are on TOP OF THE POPS TONIGHT, BBC4 at 7:30!!! Thirty years on, 55 years old and I'm still excited. I shall be live tweeting my response to watching the 1990 edition of Top of the Pops for the first time since broadcast at 7:30. I don't remember much about the day so hopefully this will spark a few memories. Dreadful theme tune, wasn't it?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ooh, I forgot Jakki Brambles called us "wonderful". I remember these clowns and thinking, "We're much better than these twats."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
God, pop music is dire. Go, sailors!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I remember standing by on the wee stage for our performance and wondering who'd be on before us. They went to VT and we were like, YASSS! Public Enemy - how cool is that?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I think I was grooving to this on a stool with an acoustic guitar on my lap. Like an arse.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The tension is building...soon. Soon our lives would change. Don't blow it, lads.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My heart is actually racing like it was then. Weird.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Did Jackie just say "Working Hours"?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well, this is different.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No one is dancing!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Nice black uniforms. Nice touch, lads.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oooh, angry look to camera 1 in last verse. Very effective. You tit.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I'd like to proudly point out that I cut that do myself.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Go Lonnie! We needed cheering up after that. Let's dance again!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I think we stayed on our stage at this point. They didn't clear you until the end of the live taping in case of re-shoots. Don't remember these videos. Adrenaline must have wiped all irrelevant details. I think we're all just stunned it has happened.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
One of the old school BBC cameramen (they were all men then) whispered to me during rehearsal, "What a pleasure it is to hear real music. We hate all this disco shit"
Silly old snob.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Not very good clappers in the crowd this week. Probably traumatised by having to stand through our folk pop dirge.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SO many videos. No wonder we got a slot. No other fucker would turn up!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To my shame I don't even recall Brother Ray either. I was drunk on success already.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I sat besides Ray Charles in Glasgow airport once. I swear his shades were made of solid gold.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yes. We're at 23. We're STEAMING up that chart.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I've completely blanked this poisonous little twerp from my memory [I think this must be Phil Collins - daf]. Worse still, Clappers is noodling shite along with it. On the record. Some poor schmuck has got to mime along to it on the show.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Go Adamski.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lovely Sinead. We thought us, Public Enemy, Sinead. That's three good things in a sea of shite. Not bad...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Such a showstopper. Bless her balls and her passion.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We shared a manager with Sinead at this time. It was the day we broke and the day Sinead went stratospheric. We were introduced later upstairs in the BBC Club bar, television centre. She was very shy but sweet and reminded me of a sparrow.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I remember thinking — I LIKE this. I could get fucking USED to this.
You never do.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sinead must have gone to number 1 the following week. No wonder.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If I'd been asked, for a million euros, who was number one the week we did TOTP I'd have been clueless. I think I'd have said Sinead. Kylie seems like a nice lass but fuck me, is her voice insipid. Fuck off, Kylie!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[non capisco]

It's sweet that he thinks Del Amitri had more in common with vital and inflammatory artists like Public Enemy and Sinead O' Connor than they had with 'But, Seriously...' era Phil Collins.

[edon]

(24) |  YELL – Instant Replay
(18) |  PUBLIC ENEMY – Welcome To The Terrordome

Classic bit of TOTP mood whiplash right there.

Mayo and Brambles' fawning over Del Amitri and their lack of enthusiasm for PE said a lot I reckon

Justin Currie's Twitter from last night :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I've completely blanked this poisonous little twerp from my memory [I think this must be Phil Collins - daf]. Worse still, Clappers is noodling shite along with it. On the record. Some poor schmuck has got to mime along to it on the show.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Collins probably either turned up to shoot his performance early or did it during the recording sessions for one of the previous weeks. Currie comes across better than I thought he would in those tweets, but as said above I don't think his band has ever been mentioned in the same breath as the other two acts he classed as not shit.

[Norton Canes]

Not a massive fan of Del Amitri or anything but Nothing Ever Happens is a decent enough slice of mundane melancholia.

[non capisco]

Not a massive fan of Del Amitri or anything but Nothing Ever Happens is a decent enough slice of mundane melancholia.

It thinks it's cleverer than it is.

[batwings]

It thinks it's cleverer than it is.

Paul Merton and Nick Hancock gave it a good kicking on Room 101 (radio):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ6M53hH42A

[edon]

Very sixth formy. I imagine Twitter was awash with people saying it was the ultimate lockdown anthem or something while it was on.

[Menu]

Paul Merton and Nick Hancock gave it a good kicking on Room 101 (radio):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ6M53hH42A

That's weird without an audience. Didn't know Covid had been around so long.

[Menu]

I like that song but I think the guy sounds like a bit of an arse on Twitter. That old cameraman was just trying to be nice. Poor little guy. Thanks Daf for collating that.

[DrGreggles]

Nothing Ever Happens is a pleasant enough tune.
There's certainly a lot more 1990 dogshit to wade through before that deserves a slating.

[Jockice]

It thinks it's cleverer than it is.

Not as clever as their other big hit, Always The Last To Know. You see, the punchline is that he was cheating on her as well and she was the last to know. Ingenious!

(Both decent singles by the way. I can't see why Del Amitri have attracted so much dislike on here.)

[famethrowa]

Always appreciate anyone willing to have a go at Saint Kylie.

[Menu]

Not as clever as their other big hit, Always The Last To Know. You see, the punchline is that he was cheating on her as well and she was the last to know. Ingenious!

I never got that far!

[The Culture Bunker]

I did pick up the Del Amitri  "Best Of" comp years ago (for about £2) and they had a fair few decent pop tunes - I certainly prefer them a lot more than the indie landfill shite that came 10/15 years later. I was surprised on finding out none of their singles made the top ten here, as they seemed to be on the radio loads from 1990-95.