Top of the Pops on BBC Four - Thread Four

[buzby]

Were Utah Saints indie too? (Consults London Records Wiki - it looks complicated).

London Records 90 Ltd (the label New Order signed to) and it's Pete Tong-helmed dance offshoot FFRR were definitely not indie, not even 'fake indie' like Eternal or Food. They were wholly-owned sublabels of Polygram. The only anomaly was that when Roger Ames left Polygram for Warners in 1999, he negotiated to take the London and FFRR labels and their catalogues with him, so now they are part of WMG.

Yeah, one-trick ponies for sure but TBF this one's a banger, maybe their best effort even. Smart choice of samples, mixing an 80's classic with 70's disco kitsch. When I watched this on Friday I was trying to remember where I recognised the 'oh-oh oh oh-oh' sample from - ended up Googling it, discovering I'd never heard Crown Heights Affair's You Gave Me Love, and realising the answer must be from this song.

I suspect they may have heard the sample used on the Nordik Megatech Hardcore Mix of Kraze's Lets Play House a couple of years earlier. They also had previously used it themselves on My Mind Must Be Free, a track from their debut album, released in November 1992 in the US & Canada only. That track was recycled into Believe In Me (so they were using another one of The KLF's tricks, recycling their back catalogue) and released as a single to promote the European release of the album at the beginning of June 1993.

Cobra Bora from 808 State's debut album in 1990 had also done a similar thing, using the into to The Hustle by Van McCoy.

[Norton Canes]

Cobra Bora is ace.

I see the quote from Bill Drummond describing Utah Saints as "the first true stadium house band" is all over Google, but I can't find a source. Also, very disappointed the band haven't done one of their comprehensive Twitter posts detailing this studio performance.

[Norton Canes]

TOTP: "Okay Indie fans, sorry for not playing Blur or PJ Harvey properly last week. But don't worry, we're going to make up for it this week! Here's Kingmaker!"
Indie fans: Whatever facepalms were called in those days

Kingmaker had some good singles*.

IIRC their final studio album had quite an interesting Rockabilly feel but it wasn't the proto Brexit music of the 90s known as Britpop so the massess followed the mundane.

*waaah waaah but we didn't get Blur going "la la la la la la la la la la la la la la for tomorrow"

"We may coat down your favourite band or artist, but we never forget - they've been on Top of the Pops more than we have..."

Moved by your impassioned defence I had a bit of a sniff round the web to get up to speed on Kingmaker and though I can't say I'll ever be especially enamoured of their music (the gutsy 'Where You Stand' was the best thing I chanced across), I was touched by this October 2000 interview with Loz Hardy, a salutary warning on the perils of getting into bed with the music business. So thanks for the heads-up.



I see Kingmaker had both Suede and Radiohead supporting them in 1992. Were a band ever more ironically monikered..?

[daf]

EARLY START KLAXON!

[daf]

Tin O' Tuna

[daf]

Bit boring this - sorry George!

[daf]

Nice bum!

(that perked me up!)

[daf]

Good luck Sanyo!

(null points)

[daf]

Felix seems to be singing both sharp and flat at the same time - impressive!

- - - - - - - - -
(Ha! "decent vocal" says Tony - the cheeky roister-doister!)

[daf]

UB40 reggae mincer

[daf]

Don't think even Charles and Eddy remember this one!

[Norton Canes]

Flambeaux!

[cosmic-hearse]

Absolutely dire 2 eoisodes

[cosmic-hearse]

St Etienne saving the day, lovely song

[daf]

Is that a toilet mat round Wiggo's shoulders?

[cosmic-hearse]

And featuring a former member of Dolly Mixture, if I'm not mistaken?

[daf]

Haha! - because Train Spotters are sad nerds you see!

[bigfatheart]

I don't think there's anything constructive to be gained from discussing either of those piles of shite. Utter (van)dross.

[Norton Canes]

"It's not a day for work, It's a day for catching tan..."

A brace of editions bookended by brilliant songs; but sadly, although the bookends are lovely, the volumes in between are all by the likes of Dan Brown, Richard Osman and J.K. Rowling.

I mean great song though it is, I had no idea it was going to be practically all downhill after OMD's Stand Above Me. For the evening's shows I mean, not for OMD - you've got to hand it to Andy McCluskey, here realising that as good as Sailing on the Seven Seas was, it would be an even better fit for the chart if it didn't sound quite as sparse. So in comes the punchy big production and it becomes a real spectacular - in fact it's a while since I saw the Elstree punters look this animated. Just look at their delighted little faces as the camera sweeps past! Andy seems in his element playing to them. Standing there in his black and yellow striped t-shirt like an alpha hornet, one can almost sense from his expression that he's thinking "It's 1993! Thirteen years after our first Pops and we've still got it!" Mind you I'm wondering, even as he exhorts the front row to greater levels of frenzy with his cavalier 'I can't hear you!' gestures, is his mind turning to churning out hits for the chart behemoth that became Atomic Kitten? That breakdown in the middle eight when the lights went down was a proper Moment, and by the time it was all over my pulse was, you may not believe, actually racing.

Up to the gantry and oh look, it's the big model of the logo, not seen that for a while. There's a story here, but it's not ready to tell... yet. There's a right kerfuffle on the studio floor while Mark does his opening link, stage hands sweeping into action to set up Robert Plant's pot plants. Excellent little look at what usually goes on behind the scenes, huh kids.

(Random interlude - I've just Googled 'Tony Dortie' and it turns out his real name is Clement Anthony Dortie. Tony?! You should've stuck with Clement!)

Anyway as I implied above, unfortunately it's pretty much all pish right through to next week's chart-topper. The chart rundown reminds us that Parisienne Walkways '93 was a thing, and that Shabba Ranks looked like the gayest man in the world ever. Dina Carroll appears to be angling for the role of Death in Netflix's Sandman adaptation almost twenty years before anyone realized the casting would be so diverse. Hey this song is quite a throwdown, can't say it got me off the sofa but I was definitely involved in some cushion dancing. Also props to the set guys for their all-encompassing starfield - shame the illusion is ruined at the end of the ep where Mark is squatting on it (so to speak) and the lack of sympathetic lighting reveals it as a tatty bit of bulb-studded cloth. Still, liking Dina.

It really does turn to shit after that though with 29 Palms (thanks stage dressers, we can see what you did there) and Tina Turner live from Monte Carlo performing on the rooftop of the spectacular Prince's Palace - ah, no, sorry, she's in some soulless TV studio in the Salle des Étoiles Sporting Club (the location of 1993's World Music Awards) that might as well be one of the Elstree sets. Small mercies though, at least we escape a full performance of The Waterboys' The Return of Pan, which sounds so pretentious it's beyond satyr.

Question: does "And if you cry out, I'm gonna make you, make you dance some more" really sound any less horrible than "I'm gonna push it, push it some more"? (apart from the fact that the crowbarred-in 'clean' alternative doesn't properly span, that is.) TBH they both sound a bit coercive but 'make you dance' conjures up a very specific image of a seedy pimp forcing someone in their club to gyrate to the point of exhaustion (Keep it light, yeah - ed.) Oh, sorry. Have to say I never really got the Five Live EP, it always seemed like a bit of a mess. Some Queen, Killer's on there. some... other Queen, but songs that I've never heard of... still, the Killer vid is quite cute, with its branding rip-offs presaging the sort of faux logos that kept Camden Market t-shirt sellers in business for the duration of Britpop. 

Felix seems to be singing both sharp and flat at the same time - impressive!

Hang on, who's actually singing this Felix song? Because according to Wikipedia and Top of the Pops Facts 'Felix' here is the producer/DJ that brought us Don't You Want Me and It Will Make You Crazy over the last few months, and not the vocalist, of whom a cursory trawl of the internet has revealed no trace. The song was originally by Sylvester but Sylvester's been dead for almost five years by this time so that rules him out. Whoever it is it's fair to say they don't exactly make the most of their spot in the limelight - this is right up there with the most excruciating of Year Zero vocals, the scowling showgirls look like they can't wait to get on to their agents and once again some slack camerawork means we see the audience drifting off to another stage before the turn's done. Fortunately, after a pause to catch UB40 waiting to pounce on the number one spot, Luther V's along to remind us how easy this singing lark is. Sweet!

And that was when the milkman called, attempting to drum up some business, and by the time he'd gone and I'd rearranged my négligé I'd missed the link into the Bonj. Glasgow managing to look more glamorous than Monte Carlo though. I see JBJ is growing out the feathered cut which looked so fresh around the time of Keep the Faith. Oh, it's over. Was just getting into that. Charles also trying to get aboard the Sandman diversity bandwagon with an audition for The Corinthian, by the looks of it. Don't take those shades off, Charles! Hoping the next BBC FOUR TOTP compilation show is called 'Flambeaux hits at the BBC', I feel there must now be at least an hour's worth of footage of these dramatic props and they're certainly caught in all their glory here, with plenty of lingering close-ups as they dominate the stage. Wonderful stuff, whenever they appear they're a real highlight (both metaphorically and literally) and tonight, they're certainly a great deal more animated and interesting than whatever it is Runrig are up to.

Sadly any hope that the show's going to improve is dashed by the appearance of Saint Etienne, the orange Revels of indie pop, here slapping another coat of beige lounge musak emulsion on the wall and inviting us to watch until it's dry enough they can put up their tiresome retro-kitsch 60's French cinema posters. Which one's the writer one? Feel like Saint Etienne were an idea that should have been left in one of his books. Getting a real earworm from this, mind, but only of the BBC restaurant scene in I'm Alan Partridge. Unfortunately for me I'm not the Commissioning Editor of BBC Television and I can't issue an edict preventing Saint Etienne appearing on the show in future.

Well it's been a long and frankly not especially great nearly-hour but we've finally arrived at the other end of the bookshelf (remember the analogy? Do keep up) where we find Ace of Base performing one of the decade's best chart-toppers, the minor key mountain stream cool synth melody of All That She Wants burbling gently over the knurled outcrops of its dub reggae beat punctuated by staccato horn blasts and whispered echoes of the chorus. It's testament to Denniz Pop's immaculate production that though it's obviously cod reggae, it sounds honest and faithful enough to convince us the band are actually serious about playing it. It may be solid Euro-pop but this is no novelty effort. In fact its main strength is that it's dark stuff - musically it's gently menacing rather than relaxing; and lyrically, well, that's where it totally comes into a foreboding world of its own. Because it remains true today, and was certainly the case thirty years ago, that if you wanted to write a lyric people found disturbing, you only had to write about a powerful and single-minded woman. And it doesn't get much more determined than the predatory instincts of the subject here, pursuing her male targets with her gentle voice and a promise of passion before the night has gone. I love that the first verse sets things up in a way that sounds so innocuous but portrays this supremely adept man-hunter as lounging like a lioness during the day, too intent on relishing life's other pleasures to pursue her prey; it's also wonderful that her helpless quarry's described as a fox, the animal that's usually imbued with its own inimitable cunning. I think my favourite line is the low delivery of "Won't talk forever" after "The gentle voice that talks to you", as a genuinely ominous and sinister warning, but it's hard to best "All that she wants, is another baby" as a startling focus for the chorus. And the fact that the lyrics are precursed by "She leads a lonely life" just adds an ABBA-level note of melancholy.

Definitely one of pop music's great narrative lyrics.

Woah, is that the time? I need to get a parcel back to the post office. Decided when the trainers arrived that Cloud White and Legacy Teal weren't a good colour combo. Best dash!

[daf]

13 May 1993: Presenter: Mark Fr@nklin

(23) | ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK – Stand Above Me
(11) | SHABBA RANKS & MAXI PRIEST – Housecall (video and charts)
(20) | DINA CARROLL – Express
(21) | RUBBER PLANT – 29 Palms



NEW | TINA TURNER – I Don't Wanna Fight (via satellite)
- - - - - - - - - - - (Breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(29) | THE WATERBOYS – The Return Of Pan (video)
(27) | JUNGLE BOOK – The Jungle Book Groove (video)
(24) | BON JOVI – In These Arms (video)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(05) | INNER CIRCLE – Sweat (A La La La La Long)
(01) | GEORGE MICHAEL & QUEEN – Killer/Papa Was A Rolling Stone (video)

[daf]

at least we escape a full performance of The Waterboys' The Return of Pan, which sounds so pretentious it's beyond satyr.

Wahey!  :D

[daf]

20 May 1993: Presenter: Tony DOrtie

(29) | FELIX – Stars
(04) | UB40 – (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You (video and charts)
(28) | LUTHER VANDROSS – Little Miracles (Happen Every Day)
(09) | BON JOVI – In These Arms (via satellite)
(38) | CHARLES & EDDIE – House Is Not A Home
(36) | RUNRIG – The Greatest Flame
- - - - - - - - - - - (Breakers) - - - - - - - - - - - -
(31) | DIRE STRAITS – Your Latest Trick (Live) (video)
(19) | THE SPIN DOCTORS – Two Princes (video)
(16) | HOUSE OF PAIN – Jump Around (video)
(15) | TINA TURNER – I Don't Wanna Fight (video)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(27) | SAINT ETIENNE – Who Do You Think You Are



(01) | ACE OF BASE – All That She Wants

[sweeper]

Worst pair of ToTPs I have yet to sit through.

Fucking hate 1993. Hated it then. Hate it now.

[A Hat Like That]

There's hints of What Could Have Been in the Breakers of most of these episodes.

[buzby]

Hang on, who's actually singing this Felix song? Because according to Wikipedia and Top of the Pops Facts 'Felix' here is the producer/DJ that brought us Don't You Want Me and It Will Make You Crazy over the last few months, and not the vocalist, of whom a cursory trawl of the internet has revealed no trace.

The vocals on Don't You Want Me were sampled from Jomanda's Don't You Want My Love (the flat-as-a-pancake rendition we were treated to in the studio was definitely not from a member of Jomanda). The vocals on It Will Make You Crazy were by Steele, a pseudonym for Sam Brown (not that one), who appeared for the studio performace (her sister Natashka was one of Felix's dancers too). The vocals on Stars were by the US house DJ/producer Roland 'Dark' Clark, and it appears to be him in the studio.

[Norton Canes]

Ta! Not even the info-captions on its TOTP2 appearance bother to identify him, though the YT comments are more helpful.

[KennyMonster]

Fuck me, Runrig (And Panic) went downhill after Neneh Cherry left.

[sweeper]

The general chart dreariness of the first half of 1993 (with notable exceptions) might explain why Meatloaf held the no. 1 spot for so long in the second. We must have been gagging for something preposterous to clear all those Runrig cobwebs out.

Looking forward to the first official summer of Eurobeat, though.

[gilbertharding]

London Records 90 Ltd (the label New Order signed to) and it's Pete Tong-helmed dance offshoot FFRR were definitely not indie, not even 'fake indie' like Eternal or Food. They were wholly-owned sublabels of Polygram.

London was part of Decca when Decca was a record label (I guess it was to Decca what Capitol was to EMI). 'ffrr' was an acronym which appeared on Decca discs, standing for 'full frequency range recording'.



Not sure if this is adding anything to the sum of knowledge - but it's something I noticed when I was collecting old Rolling Stones albums in the early 90s, and noticed that there was a dance label called ffrr.

[gilbertharding]

Kingmaker

In 1992-1994 I had no telly, so never saw TotP. But a mate of mine was trying his hand as a promoter, putting gigs on mostly at the Boat Race pub in Cambridge. Mostly losing money - as most of the bands were completely unheard of: Sidi Bou Said, The Revs, Big Ray, and many many more

Anyway, one day the management of Kingmaker rang up, saying that they wanted to do a fan club gig, and would my mate be the promoter? The catch was, he was not allowed to publicise the gig - but there was guaranteed to be a crowd. Neither he, nor anyone else we knew, liked Kingmaker. But he said yes, so a few of us got on the guest list... and I can't remember a single other thing about the gig or Kingmaker.

Pointless anecdote over.

Oh - and that St Etienne song was crap and all.