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

[Pauline Walnuts]

18 January 1990: Presenter: Nicky Campbell

(20) |  LIL' LOUIS & THE WORLD – I Called U (video)

"There's been some comedy duos over the years, Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, Arthur Mullard and Hilda Baker, Serge Gainsberg (sic) and Jane Birkin, this is the funniest yet, Lil Louis & The World."

At least we have to grateful Campbell didn't go into his 'Cool American Voice'.

[daf]

I wouldn't have called 'Je 't'aime' a comedy record either - lazy muso slag!

Hinge & Bracket, Flanders & Swann, Rod Hull & Emu - loads of other options

[non capisco]

I think that was supposed to be one of his 'bon mots'.

[Phil_A]

What a ghastly, smug pair of wanks Mayo and Campbell are. At the point when the latter smirked "Philosophy...on Top Of The Pops!" I really, really wished I could punch him through the screen. Absolute dickhead.

I assume the cunt wishing everyone a happy new year on the 18th of January was another example of his devastating wit.

[Captain Z]

Put me down as another one who struggled to understand the 'comedy duos' joke he was trying to make.

Stick to cutting hair, Nicky Campbell.

[Norton Canes]

Anyone know what significant milestone Kylie's current single Tears On My Pillow represents?

^{(assuming Wikipedia is correct)}

[Captain Z]

Ooh, I think I can guess that one -

Spoiler alert

the last SAW song to get to number 1?

[close]

[Norton Canes]

NAILED IT

[edon]

It also would prove to be her last single to get to #1 for 10 years, despite moving on to far better stuff in the 90s. I think I'm right in saying Wet Wet Wet stopped her from doing so again on more than one occasion, they definitely did in 1994.

[DrGreggles]

I'd say that the last genuine SAW #1 was Sonia's in mid '89.
What with Tears On My Pillow and Band Aid II being covers.

[buzby]

4 January 1990: Presenter: Gary Davies (Live)

Good old 'Dependable' Davies.

(24)  |  THE QUIREBOYS – Hey You

To borrow one of Al Needham's catchprhases, they are Shakin' Aerosmith. Absolute dog eggs.

(18)  |  SILVER BULLET – 20 Seconds To Comply (video)

Silver Bullet's first Top 40 hit, having narrowly missed out with Bring Forth The Guilllotine which peaked at #45 the previous September. Like the previous single, this was produced by Tam Tam Records' resident producer Ben Chapman. Bullet's unique aggressive style involved lots of movie samples and references, particularly horror movies (in this case the theme from Psycho as well as the Robocop samples).

(12)  |  LATINO RAVE – Deep Heat '89 (video)

Megamix issued by Telstar/BMG to promote the Deep Heat 89 compilation, thrown together by the Technotronic duo of Jo Bogaert and Manuela 'Ya Kid K' Kamosi under the alias The Wing Command (hence why Pump Up The Jam features heavily). To me, it just highlights how good Numero Uno and KC Flight's Planet E were.

(20) |  SONIA – Listen To Your Heart

Poor Sonia, She's giving it her all, but this is clearly 'Generic S/A/W track 47b' that sounds like it was rejected by Kylie before it got to her.

(23) |  49ers – Touch Me (video)

Another bunch of Black Box bandwagon jumpers, to the extent of Dawn Mitchell miming to a bunch of samples of other vocalists (in this case Aretha Franklin and Alysha Warren).

(25) |  F.P.I. PROJECT feat. SHARON DEE CLARKE – Going Back To My Roots (and credits)

Point of order, daf - this is a (much edited) version of the double A side Rich In Paradise that had Paolo Dini on vocals, rather than the Sharon Dee Clarke vocal version.

This was another bunch of Italians (F.P.I. being the initials of their surnames - Marco Fratty, Corrado Presti and Roberto Intrallazzi,) going down the cover route this time (but still with the usual array of samples, including the Lyn Collins 'Think' 'Yeah! Woo!' loop). Two versions of the track were issued as a double A side,, the more chart-oriented version being a straight cover of Going Back To My Roots featuring Sharon Dee Clarke on vocals, and Rich In Paradise with Paolo Dini on vocals which begins with the 'Hey you, don't be silly, put a condom on your willy' line and features orgasmic French Kiss-style groans which unsurprisingly never got much airplay.

The performance is a bit of a synth spotters bonanza - most obviously a Fairlight series III (unlikely to have been used on the record but was probably someone's 'dream gear' to hire in for the performance), the inevitable Italo House Korg M1 (where the piano came from, not the Fairlight), The old stalwart DX7 and currently ubiquitous Roland D50 that the M1 was going head to head with.

Blimey, working round quotes with all these font changes is headache-inducing!

[edon]

Good old 'Dependable' Davies.

Davies is probably more competent in hosting TOTP than pretty much all of the other presenters on the rota in 1990 - I don't think he's in it to boost his ego or career by this point, and has of course been around since 1983 so doesn't make a mess of live shows. He doesn't ever really attempt to appear above the acts either, unlike Campbell and his third rate Peelie impression.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Buzby's 'dependable' quip is funny but that earnest defence of GD is something else.

I'm watching this episode now and must say QUIREBOYS are more shit AC/DC than shit aerosmith.

Davies looks like he's been seconded from a murder mystery weekend in that weskitt.

[non capisco]

I like how Jakki Brambles always looks like she's struggling to contain her irritation. Looks like she'd rather be doing anything else rather than pointing at Halo James.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I like how Jakki Brambles always looks like she's struggling to contain her irritation. Looks like she'd rather be doing anything else rather than pointing at Halo James.

She's been mentioned in here before for being brilliantly short with bruno brookes.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Sonia, She's giving it her all, but this is clearly 'Generic S/A/W track 47b' that sounds like it was rejected by Kylie before it got to her.

Davies says she was appearing live on this; 'appearing' being the operative word because there's a harmoniser (infernal, still?) all over it.

[Menu]

She's been mentioned in here before for being brilliantly short with bruno brookes.

Please tell me you have video examples of this.

[edon]

Buzby's 'dependable' quip is funny but that earnest defence of GD is something else.

I'm watching this episode now and must say QUIREBOYS are more shit AC/DC than shit aerosmith.

Davies looks like he's been seconded from a murder mystery weekend in that weskitt.

Oh he's definitely still getting more and more out of place with each passing episode, but I just reckon he's coming out of this a lot better than all of the other R1 jocks. I think it was Orbital who gave him kudos during the Story Of documentary for trying to play Chime on his show despite having to talk over it due to some rule, which was fair enough.

Please tell me you have video examples of this.

Can't find any clips, but the standout link she did with him went like

"... Kirsty MacColl and Days, did you know it was originally by Ray Davies and The Kinks?"

"Yes, I think it may well have been."

"Yes it absolutely was."

Unfortunately I believe they stopped pairing the presenters up in 1990, so no more fuckery between them now

[buzby]

Davies says she was appearing live on this; 'appearing' being the operative word because there's a harmoniser (infernal, still?) all over it.

'Live' as in the sense of being there in the studio. And yes, it is drenched in Infernal Machine 90-treated vocals (hence why she sounds like a transposed Kylie Minogue/Rick Astley).

[Sebastian Cobb]

Oh he's definitely still getting more and more out of place with each passing episode, but I just reckon he's coming out of this a lot better than all of the other R1 jocks. I think it was Orbital who gave him kudos during the Story Of documentary for trying to play Chime on his show despite having to talk over it due to some rule, which was fair enough.

I do think he's one of the better ones fine but the 'dependable' made me chuckle. Especially since it's becoming apparent the totp production itself is obviously struggling with dance and rap irrespective of finding fitting presenters.

[Menu]

Oh he's definitely still getting more and more out of place with each passing episode, but I just reckon he's coming out of this a lot better than all of the other R1 jocks. I think it was Orbital who gave him kudos during the Story Of documentary for trying to play Chime on his show despite having to talk over it due to some rule, which was fair enough.

Can't find any clips, but the standout link she did with him went like

"... Kirsty MacColl and Days, did you know it was originally by Ray Davies and The Kinks?"

"Yes, I think it may well have been."

"Yes it absolutely was."

Unfortunately I believe they stopped pairing the presenters up in 1990, so no more fuckery between them now

Love it.

[Better Midlands]

(23) |  49ers – Touch Me (video)
Another bunch of Black Box bandwagon jumpers, to the extent of Dawn Mitchell miming to a bunch of samples of other vocalists (in this case Aretha Franklin and Alysha Warren).

To be fair 49ers producer Gianfranco Bortolotti the founder of Media Studios in Italy came before Black Box. Limmy favourite Cappella - Helyom Halib was released in 1988 and eventually got #11 in the UK charts three months before Ride On Time got to #1 in 1989, Cappella then went on to have eight UK Top 40 hits in the early 90's including U Got To Know and U Got To Let The Music. As well as producing countless club hits he also had UK Top 40 success as East Side Beat, RAF, Anticappella, Sharada House Gang & Clubhouse, many of them making the top 10.

[Better Midlands]

Oh he's definitely still getting more and more out of place with each passing episode, but I just reckon he's coming out of this a lot better than all of the other R1 jocks. I think it was Orbital who gave him kudos during the Story Of documentary for trying to play Chime on his show despite having to talk over it due to some rule, which was fair enough.

Yes, he was known for playing a lot of club hits (especially tracks from Europe) on his afternoon show before they broke in the UK, Raúl Orellana - The Real Wild House springs to mind as one.

[monkfromhavana]

Yes, he was known for playing a lot of club hits (especially tracks from Europe) on his afternoon show before they broke in the UK, Raúl Orellana - The Real Wild House springs to mind as one.

He was also quite a big fan of Pacific State.

Bortolotti is a bit of a legend (well, him and his army of in-house producers), so "bandwagon jumpers" is a bit on the harsh side. Also I think copyright laws were a bit different in Italy to anywhere else making it a lot easier to use samples or just rip-off tracks wholesale (Anne Joy - Anthem, KLFS - What Time Is Love etc etc)

[Better Midlands]

He was also quite a big fan of Pacific State.

That's the one, in my head I kept thinking it was Sueno Latino but it seemed a little far fetched.

[Camp Tramp]

Jakki Brambles was also short with Jenny Powell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rODRzNleAUw&t=5m53s

At first, I thought it was a scripted scene but the pair had no chemistry between them and Jenny was stumbling with her lines throughout the episode.

[Better Midlands]

Also I think copyright laws were a bit different in Italy to anywhere else making it a lot easier to use samples or just rip-off tracks wholesale (Anne Joy - Anthem, KLFS - What Time Is Love etc etc)

Italian cover versions were a guilty pleasure of mine because of the stupid names and often bad vocals - especially the rap ones - Rebel Rebel - Street Tuff is terrible and includes the not in this case appropriate classic line "Am I a Yankee, nah I'm a Londoner" at 2m12s.

[daf]

Point of order, daf - this is a (much edited) version of the double A side Rich In Paradise that had Paolo Dini on vocals, rather than the Sharon Dee Clarke vocal version.

Oops, quite right - I should have checked with the onscreen caption! (My source - the Popscene listings - still has the wrong info up.)

Blimey, working round quotes with all these font changes is headache-inducing!

Ha! Sorry about that - I'll try and cut down a bit on those!

[Menu]

Jakki Brambles was also short with Jenny Powell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rODRzNleAUw&t=5m53s

At first, I thought it was a scripted scene but the pair had no chemistry between them and Jenny was stumbling with her lines throughout the episode.

It's like Glen Ponder with Alan!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Love it.

Best bit is Brookes does an involuntary sort of confused 'is it me/what's her problem?' look to the camera.

Up there with Peter Powell's arsey "get off me!" to mayo.