Topic: Top of the Pops on BBC Four - Thread Three

[Norton Canes]

Well there we go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4X2FG9Jbqw

Wow. PLOT OVER tastic.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Wasted opportunity. Thirty seconds of each track, wizzing through, with Nightingale giving the full "and then a band appeared called The Specials, who I was a fan of from their very first release..."

Agreed, I was cooking my tea for that one, but would've been a bit annoyed if I gave it my full attention. The second hour was full tracks though and much better.

[Jockice]

How did the album go down at the time? It was a big change of direction for Shelley.

It went down pretty well with my mates and I. The rest of the world seemed fairly indifferent.

[non capisco]

That last gasp Bros single had exactly the same chorus as one of their other ones! Not even the same melody...the same words! What a swizz! We know you're slaloming into the dumper, lads, no need to get out and give yourselves a push! Matt Goss dressed like a holiday camp entertainer. Up the road, boys, you're finished.

Guru Josh looks a bit like Duke DeMondo.

[daf]

I was wondering if Luke's drumming actually features on any of the records - it's either a drum machine, or they've got him playing a couple of biscuit tins!

[non capisco]

He's got a comically large drum kit as well.

[daf]

8 March 1990: Presenter: Bruno Brookes

( 5 ) |  GURU JOSH – Infinity
(24) |  GLORIA ESTEFAN – Here We Are (video)
( 8 ) |  J.T. & THE BIG FAMILY – Moments In Soul
(20) |  INNOCENCE – Natural Thing (video)
(29) |  MARC ALMOND – A Lover Spurned
(12) |  ERASURE – Blue Savannah (video)
(17) |  DAVID A. STEWART feat. CANDY DULFER – Lily Was Here (video)
(15) |  BROS – Madly In Love



( 1 ) |  BEATS INTERNATIONAL feat. LINDY LAYTON – Dub Be Good To Me (video)
(17) |  THE B52’S – Love Shack (video and credits)

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

[Wacky Homemade Badges]

Excellent Roy Jay reference from Ver Hits there.

[Norton Canes]

The early 90's shows will continue to be great

No, they won't.

(29) |  SHAKIN’ STEVENS – I Might

I can forgive him anything after seeing this...

(27) |  JAMIE J. MORGAN – Walk On The Wild Side

Sacha Baron Cohen trialling an early incarnation of Brüno, here

(33) |  THE B52’S – Love Shack (video)

I can never make up my mind which is the absolute worst moment in Love Shack, a song that's essentially a collage of worst moments. Is it "hurry up and bring your juke-box-moh-neh"? "Tiiiiin roof, rusted" (something I always imagine should appear on a Dungeons and Dragons inventory)? No, it has to be "funkehlittleshack... fun-keh-lit-ell-shack"

( 7 ) |  VARIOUS ARTISTS – The Brits 1990 (video)

JK alert! Surprised that one got through this time around. Perhaps the editorial team were more worried deciding if those red lycra shorts were pre-watershed appropriate.

( 3 ) |  MICHAEL BOLTON – How Am I Supposed To Live Without You

David Ward back on CYPHER GRAPHICS this week, providing Michael Bolton with what I can't describe as representative of anything other than a drooping penis. Fortunately it perks up at the end.

8 March 1990: Presenter: Bruno Brookes

( 5 ) |  GURU JOSH – Infinity

I wonder, was the song - by turns melancholy, then manic - indicative of his state of mind? They say the music of Vivaldi mirrored his mental health.

( 8 ) |  J.T. & THE BIG FAMILY – Moments In Soul

Atrocious. You can see why Britpop happened, after a couple of years of this sort of shit.

(29) |  MARC ALMOND – A Lover Spurned

My daughter correctly identified that he looks like someone from Lazytown.

(12) |  ERASURE – Blue Savannah (video)

A mid-tier Erasure effort, the third release from their Wild! album. The video freaks me out a bit. I think that's because I remember this...

(15) |  BROS – Madly In Love

I sometimes wonder how hard it must be to keep smiling and looking like you're having a great time when you're a session muso miming to garbage like this. Or in this case, how hard it must be to keep smiling and looking like you're having a great time when you're in the actual band.

(17) |  THE B52’S – Love Shack (video and credits)

Yeah, definitely "fun-keh-lit-ell-shack"

[Norton Canes]

It's a shame Depeche Mode were so happy with the work of Anton Corbijn on the videos for their singles from Violator and Songs Of Faith And Devotion that they didn't do Pops studio performances for any of those songs. Might have kicked Enjoy The Silence a little further up the chart than no.6.

[Norton Canes]

This doesn't look good for Corbijn etc.

[kalowski]

Yeah, definitely "fun-keh-lit-ell-shack"

Yep.

[crankshaft]

Fuck this, I adore "Love Shack" and I don't care who knows it.

[Gulftastic]

Me too! It's great!

I noted 'Loaded' sneaking quietly into the 40.

[edon]

It's a shame Depeche Mode were so happy with the work of Anton Corbijn on the videos for their singles from Violator and Songs Of Faith And Devotion that they didn't do Pops studio performances for any of those songs. Might have kicked Enjoy The Silence a little further up the chart than no.6.

That's what a big name director does to you. I seem to recall David Sylvian never graced the TOTP studio for Red Guitar after he had the video for that produced by Corbjin as well.

[Brundle-Fly]

Whenever I hear Loveshack it will always make me think of having a terrible sore throat the following morning after caterwauling it at the top of my voice in the back of a minibus coming home from a mate's stag night in 1990. We all sang it for the entire three-hour journey home because that was the only cassingle the driver had on his car hifi.

[daf]

This doesn't look good for Corbijn etc.

Chortle!

[buzby]

How did the album go down at the time? It was a big change of direction for Shelley.

Homo Sapien might have been a big change in direction to Buzzcocks fans, but he had been recording experimental electronic music before forming Buzzcocks. He released the album Sky Yen in 1980, which had been recorded in 1974 using a home-built oscillator circuit.

[Johnboy]

Adam Ant, Marc Almond and disco mega mixes

What is it, 1981?

[non capisco]

Adam Ant, Marc Almond and disco mega mixes

What is it, 1981?

Not forgetting Shakey still churning 'em out in 1990. He must be on his last chart legs by now, surely?

[buzby]

Right, part two, continued from the previous thread....

22 February 1990: Presenter: Mark Goodier

(13) |  TINA TURNER – Steamy Windows

'Live', there. My dad used to call her The Prancing Horse, which this performance illustrates. DX7 and a Steinberger L2 headless bass. This was the third of SIX singles from her 1989 Foreign Affair album

( 2 ) |  BEATS INTERNATIONAL feat. LINDY LAYTON – Dub Be Good To Me

Blimey, a PAIR of Prophet 5s! Shame it's for a track that features no synths at all though.

(19) |  CLIFF RICHARD – Stronger Than That  (video)

This wet fart of a song was written and produced by Alan Tarney, who was the man responsible for turning A-ha's tracks from their debut album into hits. He was an old collaborator of Kitty's, having co-written We Don't Talk Anymore and produced most of his 80s albums.

- - - - - - - - - - - (Breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(38) |  RENEGADE SOUNDWAVE – Probably A Robbery  (video)

It is indeed a banger. I also bought this on cassingle (I had an hour's bus ride to my job in KwikSave and had just got a Walkman, so I was buying the odd cassette here and there). It did actually feature Ozone Breakdown on the B-side, though it seems it was initially lined up to be a double-A side (the original promos were labelled as such, but the actual release wasn't - take that, Wikipedia). They had moved from Rhythm King to it's parent Mute after their first couple of singles as they felt they were a better fit there than the more dance-pop roster on Rhythm King, and Daniel Miller lent a hand with mixing and Mute regular Flood producing.

I've always like the fact that in the ostensibly 'cockney geezer crime drama' lyrical theme, the first verse and choruses allude to the 'robbery' being sampling - 'the funniest thing is I just wanted to sing but the notes wouldn't come my way'. Especially as the chorus is constructed around a sample of Curtis Mayfield's Little Child Running Wild from the Superfly soundtrack.

(27) |  GURU JOSH – Infinity

Hmm. I'm pretty sure it's use on The Hitman And Her was the key to this becoming a hit. It's quite cleary 'inspired' by Pacific State (though unlike that track, the sax on Infinity is coming from a preset on the Ensoniq SQ80). Speaking of which, Guru Josh had been a keyboard player for Adamski, and it's no surprise to see that he has exactly the same TR909 drum machine and SQ80 sampling workstation as the Space Cowboy (something I remember Adamski grousing about at the time, accusing Josh of copying him). They are accompanied here with an old-school Roland Juno-60 and slightly newer-school (and lesser-spotted) Roland S50 sampling keyboard.

(29) |  AEROSMITH – Dude (Looks Like A Lady)  (video and credits)

Just fuck off.

[monkfromhavana]

I'm pretty sure it's use on The Hitman And Her was the key to this becoming a hit. It's quite cleary 'inspired' by Pacific State (though unlike that track, the sax on Infinity is coming from a preset on the Ensoniq SQ80). Speaking of which, Guru Josh had been a keyboard player for Adamski, and it's no surprise to see that he has exactly the same TR909 drum machine and SQ80 sampling workstation as the Space Cowboy (something I remember Adamski grousing about at the time, accusing Josh of copying him). They are accompanied here with an old-school Roland Juno-60 and slightly newer-school (and lesser-spotted) Roland S50 sampling keyboard.

You mean Mad Mick was miming?

[buzby]

You mean Mad Mick was miming?

Mad Mick plays on the Spacey Saxaphone Mix from the B-side of the 7" single, but on the "1990s...Time For The Guru" version that was the A-side it's a sample.

[daf]

Is the vocal so quiet on the original record?

I had to put the subtitles on to work out what he was whispering about!

[Norton Canes]

That's the way I remember it.

[buzby]

1 March 1990: Presenter: Jakki Brambles

Not bad, miles ahead of Turner at least.

(29) |  SHAKIN’ STEVENS – I Might

But I was most happy to see Shakey again! One last time, I guess?

He has one more appearnace in him

- - - - - - - - - - - (Breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(33) |  THE B52’S – Love Shack (video)

Nice to see them them back. This is a bit of a strange one. It had been the lead single in the UK to promote Cosmic Thing, their 'comeback' album after the hiatus following the death of Ricky Wilson (remember that they had done no promotion for their previous album Bouncing Off Satellites in 1985 either) and had been released back in August 1989 (ahead of their European leg of their Cosmic tour to promote the album in September) ibut didn't chart.  This re-release was backed by old favourites Planet Claire and Rock Lobster, and also included a plethora of remixes, including the Ben Grosse 12" mix and remix by Danny Rampling.

The song is about the tin-roofed cabin that Kate Pierson lived during the 1970s where Rock Lobster was written, which was off the Atlanta Highway outside Athens. It burned down in 2004.

(23) |  ELECTRIBE 101 – Talking With Myself

Bloody marvellous. I love Billy Ray Martin, the Marlene Dietrich of House. The performance features a Triple DX7 attack (as on their previous appearance the mysterious 5th member is not present - he didn't appear in publicity photos until after the split and they became Groove corporation.). Roberto Cimarosti (the tall bloke with glasses) passed away in January last year. How sad.

( 7 ) |  VARIOUS ARTISTS – The Brits 1990

This is great too - I bought it on 12" at time. It was basically the point that the BPI realised that this 'dance' music thing wasn't going to go away any time, so they had better embrace it Our esteemed colleague. features in the video as he was 'executive producer' of the project, having taken over the running of the show and creating the BRITs name in 1987. Unlike that ropey Deep Heat 89 megamix by Technotronic, they did the wise thing and asked DMC to produce the mix for them, and it was London-based DJ Mike Gray who put it together. Have a listen to the 12" version - you get more of the excellent Cookie Crew & Edwin Starr's Got To Keep On, which only gets as far as the intro at the end of the 7" mix.

One thing I always thought a bit odd was the version of Pacific State that Mike Gray used - it's the original version from their pre-ZTT Quadrastate EP (which then cropped up in edited form as Pacific- b on the B-side of the ZTT release)

[OnlyRegisteredSoICanRead]

I liked  Billy Ray Martin's slow motion twerking.

Pioneer right there.

[Norton Canes]

"I burned my bridges, as you burned your last cigarette..."

The best thing Billie Ray Martin ever did

[Norton Canes]

I remember when we moved to London, 1994, one night we up to one of the right classy bars off Trafalgar Square and there, singing in a corner of the room accompanied by grand piano, was Billie Ray Martin.

Which was nice.

[Sebastian Cobb]

What's the schedule for these since they've returned? I used to watch 'new' ones on Friday after they aired Thu/Fri but it looks like that's not happening.