"Things can only get better" - D:Ream
A new dawn has broken, has it not?!
I was in St John's Newfoundland this week, spending a glorious week-and-a-bit with my squeeze. So I've never seen this episode before.
Back this side of the pond, Dr. Brian Cox and Peter Cunnagh re-activate their 1993 hit single. Adopted as an anthem by one party in the recent election. The results are discussed on BBC1 as we speak; here on BBC2, we know how to party.
"Old before I die" - Robbie Williams
A bold, swaggering song, it's like one of those people who walks into the room and totally dominates.
Robbie is one of those people who walks into the room and dominates it, the suit and insolent boastfulness.
For my money, this is Robbie's three-minute thesis: understand this single, and you understand the man's career. The rest is commentary.
"Bodyshakin'" - 911
Second place in the Best Newcomer category at last year's Smash Hits awards (behind the Spice Girls, who haven't been on #TOTP for *ages*), Joey Jeffy and Jamie made some records. "Bodyshakin'" is certainly one of them.
Haven't heard this since 1997, haven't thought about this since 1997. Hey, host Cathy Dennis, can you play No Doubt instead?
"Lovefool" - The Cardigans
Reactivated after it's been used on the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", the one with the fishtank. A very good date movie.
"Bellissima" from Dave Quicksilver
Repeat from two weeks ago. But we ain't seen it!
Ah, sadly, we have seen the basic plot: lots of dancers come on stage, a string quartet jab each other in the eye, and Dave stands behind his "decks" at the back of the stage. All the better to get a good look at the action.
"You might need somebody" - Shola Ama
According to legend, the young soul singer was spotted while singing at Hammersmith tube station.
This cover of Randy Crawford's other big hit landed in the top ten, and quickly found a place in everyone's hearts - it's now on its third #TOTP in as many weeks.
Album "Much Love" was a massive hit; 1999 follow-up "In Return" was a massive flop, and Shola's since said she was "not ready" for fame.
"Nightlife" - Kenickie
Re-released to promote their forthcoming album "At the Club", swagger and glitter and glamour covering up the pain of rejection. May have taken a copy of this single across to Newfoundland, explain what Brem X Jones and Phil and i were babbling on about.
Second and final appearance for Lauren, Emmy-Kate, Marie, and Johnny. Lauren never hosted #TOTP, she was on Channel 4's "Planet Pop" which morphed into "Popworld".
The Independent wrote, "Blonde and brassy and up for as much fun as it's possible to have in PVC - which, I would imagine, is quite a lot - Kenickie tear through their debut album with the kind of spirit that shames the week's other releases. Smells, in fact, like teen spirit, but with all self-pity swept aside by sheer force of personality."
"Drop dead gorgeous" - Republica
Kenickie *and* Saffron on the same episode? Mark #TOTP, you absolutely spoil us!
Who cares it's a re-release, who cares it's basically the same as "Ready to go" with a scantily-changed lyric. This is drop dead awesome. [continues gushing in this vein for several hours]
Number 1! "Blood on the dancefloor" - Michael Jackson
Title track from Jacko's forthcoming remix album.
"Then Play Long" has recently re-assessed the album, and says it's "one of the best albums Michael Jackson ever released. It might even be his best since Off The Wall. I can’t believe how good the record is, and how sorely, and sourly, it was underrated, sidelined or even damned by a lot of ageing men who truly ought to have known better."
https://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2025/02/michael-jackson-blood-on-dance-floor.html
Playout track is "Love shine a light", Katrina and the Waves perform the BBC's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest. It'll be held tomorrow night in Dublin, televoting so the public help decide the winner, and - be very careful - Ronan Keating hosts.
Katrina: "For Eurovision you need a song with a universal message, lighters in the air, Coca-Cola, heartwarming positive 'all-unite' vibes."
If you don't want to know the result, look away now.
"Love shine a light" - Katrina and the Waves
A new dawn has broken, has it not?!
Kimberley Rew wrote the song for the anniversary of a Samaritans branch in Swindon.
"Love shine a light" scored more Euro-points than anyone before! It would have been a number one single, except they couldn't keep up with demand and literally ran out of copies!
Katrina reprises her winning costume on the TOTP stage, just like ABBA did so many years earlier.
"Love is the law" - The Seahorses
Remember The Stone Roses? John Squire, the creative force behind the Madchester band, has a new group.
And they've made a song that's almost, but not entirely, like what The Stone Roses would make in 1997.
By which we mean vaguely anthemic, full of guitar riffs, and with a nagging chorus we'll never quite be able to forget, so may as well lean in and love it. The "Snap" of late-era britpop.
"Star people '97" - George Michael
The latest single from Yog's album "Older", another pop at commercialism and capitalism and the avarice of certain people in the music industry. Mentioning no names, natch.
Jo Whiley is the TOTP host this week, she was the new lunchtime host on Radio 1 daytimes.
"Taxloss" - Mansun
The radio edit is the least remarkable one; the CD and 12-inch featured various trance remixes by hip-n-happening DJs.
And the music video, filmed a couple of weeks earlier at Liverpool Street station, where stagehands drop £25,000 in marked fivers onto an unsuspecting crowd of commuters.
"Bodyshakin'" - The 911
Joey Jeffy and Jamie are back in the charts, with a song I can't remember hearing since 1997.
Mansun's stunt was made even more controversial as it took place during the IRA's campaign of phoned-in bomb warnings - they'd planted a package beneath the M5 at the start of April, then targeted other roads, railway stations, and the Grand National with warnings that contained nothing more than hot air.
"Alright" - Jamiroquai
Recognising that his own songs are tedious waffle, Jay Kay and his band insert some life into their set with this cover of Supergrass.
Ah, we can wish...
"Don't leave me" - Blackstreet
Another chance to see the group's other signature hit, the one with the funky keyboard riff and crooning harmonies.
Earnest R&B is a tough sell, and it took a group with the talent of Blackstreet to make it big over here.
Blackstreet also took part in the Eurovision Song Contest, performing "Autumn leaves" alongside Daniel Kajmakoski in 2015.
Our group declare to be true
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