"History" - Michael Jackson
Jackson had played four concerts in the past week - one at the Don Valley stadium in Sheffield, three in Wembley. Both would be knocked down within a few years.
The Jackson fans reckon most of the History tour was identikit, the same dance moves every night. His concert in Munich is widely available, if you're interested.
"No more talk" - Dubstar
Steve Hillier had written much of this song ten years earlier, while still at school. He's since written about writing the song.
https://www.stevehillier.net/dubstar-25/2021/7/12/nomoretalk
Two CD singles: one with live versions of tracks from "Disgraceful", one with "Unchained monologue" which might be the group's best b-side.
Song of the episode, surely.
“You have your whole life to write your first album, and three months to write your second” The pressure was on. Disgraceful had been certified gold and was well on the way to reaching platinum album status. Every single we’d released had made the charts, we’d even had two bona fide hits with
"Last night on earth" - U2
BBC1 had 30 minutes of the U2 concert that night, at 11.25.
Jo Whiley also presented her Radio 1 lunchtime show from Rotterdam, but Pete Tong was "behind the decks" at the Phoenix festival.
Third single from U2's "Pop" album, and I cannot recall when I last heard this.
"Piece of my heart" - Shaggy ft Marsha
After being run out of town by Mungo Jerry fans a couple of years earlier, Shaggy tries to do something with the Erma Franklin song.
Dance folk had mixes by Todd Terry to enjoy. For the rest of us...
Actually, have you noticed how #TOTP has stopped panning from the presenter to the performer, or back? Makes it so much easier to conceal pre-records.
Soundtrack to the top 20: "How come how long" by Babyface, voiced by Clive Warren.
At the top: "Do you know what I mean?" - Oasis
"All of rock history has been leading to this point," claimed Select magazine, quite clearly off their heads on something.
Some call it the group's best song, seeing as how it's absolutely massive and arrogant and encapsulates everything Oasis were about.
Others reckon it's repetitive, vacuuous, and goes on a minute longer than "Bohemian rhapsody".
"Do you know what I mean?" - Oasis
(ctd) I think there's a great four-minute song lurking behind the bluster, but Oasis were no longer making tight rock 'n' roll sounds. They'd become full of themselves at Knebworth the year before, and believed themselves to be untouchable.
Never believe in myths of your own brilliance, it makes you lazy and boring.
Just one week at number one, sold to the Oasis fans and nobody else.
While the lads witter on, three more episodes to clip...
... and they're not showing the next three editions, which I can sum up in three toots...
25 july 1997
rpt "D'you know what I mean?" - Oasis
vid "So help me girl" - Gary Barlow
"G.h.e.t.t.o.u.t." - Changing Faces
(not online)
"Lazy days" - Robbie Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4o44oujdD8
rpt "Free" - Ultra Naté
"Blinded by the sun" - The Seahorses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nGzyk7lBM
rpt "Freed from desire" - Gala
Pfft Editorial-Reasons back at number one.
1 august 1997
"Picture of you" - Boyzone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEgQWsOHaUo
We're not seeing Boyzone's finest hour. Grump.
"Yer old" - Reef
(missing)
"Rock me good" - Universal
(also missing)
vid "Last night on earth" - U2
vid "Everybody (backstreet's back)" - Backstreet Boys
"Alma matters" - Morrissey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYJ06wUx7JU
"Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
(we'll see it later)
Pfft Editorial-Reasons
8 august 1997
"Black eyed boy" - Texas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ueyn_LjXeb0
"All about us" - Peter Andre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Qgz8NiJJE
vid "Mo money mo problems" - Notorious BIG
"What a beautiful day" - The Levellers
(not online)
"Brushed" - Paul Weller
(also missing)
"Tarantino's new star" - North and South
On ITV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeW7gSrcYOw
rpt "C u when u get there"
Pfft Editorial-Reasons
15 August is next!
"Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
Clearly inspired by Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" album, presented in a glossier, friendlier package.
Mer explores the identities embedded in the concept of "woman". We are human, we contain multitudes. Contradictions and comparisons are what move us.
We are extremes, we are moderate. And we do not need fixing. Textbook feminism from '97.
Didn't have any other big hits, not for the want of trying, and not for any lack of quality.
There's a generation who knows the words to "We didn't start the fire".
Another generation is word-perfect on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", or raps by Eminem.
Me? Turns out I'm the "Bitch" generation.
"Yesterday" - Wet Wet Wet
All of rock history has been leading to this point!
Saggy old band cover thirty-year-old song, turn it into a dirge.
After this vapid, insipid Beatles cover, Wet Wet Wet went their separate ways.
It's a horrible end to a group who made some great music, but got eclipsed by their lead singer's ego - and his drugs habit. Remember them some other way.
"Outlaw" - Olive
"You're not alone" was a warm hug at the end of the night from some ultra-cutie we'll never see before or after.
"Outlaw" is going back to the club next week, keeping an eye out for said ultra-cutie, and being disappointed they're nowhere to be seen.
The lyric's about Ruth-Ann finding her bloke had slept with another bloke; she's only disappointed coz he wasn't honest.
Last time we see Olive: they recorded a clip for the Christmas show, but not shown.
"Everything" - Mary J Blige
"I am a leader, a queen, a living legend"
Mary's finest moment... so far? She's able to express herself, loosen off from the hard-rappin' style, and it suits her.
Let fly with that wonderful voice! Lean into the hugemungous soul talent! Let Jam & Lewis handle the production, they've learned to be great.
Great to see the spot stage back, the crowd get so close to the singer.
"Anthem" - The Wildhearts
Six months ago, #TOTP producer Rik Blaxill had a soft spot for The Wildhearts. However much his successor Chris Cowey has tinkered with the format (anyone found the theme tune?), The Wildhearts still get on.
However good their song is, or isn't, The Wildhearts know how to make good television. Spectacular, interesting, loud, worth watching, better than Coronation Street on the other side.
"Do you know (what it takes)" - Robyn
Max Martin co-wrote the song, produced at his Cheiron studios. The soulful vocal hook, and the beat, stand comparison with Mary J Blige; the synth stabs are pure 1980s flashback.
Is the hook the title, or the "Always be around" line? Or the middle eight, which - looking back - is very very familiar.
Pop history passes through this moment. And we all missed the importance.
"Young hearts run free" - Kym Mazelle
Dance diva (1997 style) covers dance diva (1976 style).
The arc of history has bent back almost all the way back on itself, Kym's version is barely distinguishable from Candi Staton's familiar take.
Lifted from the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", which is on BBC1 after the news tonight. Who says they just throw the schedule together!
Fond memories of the summer with my squeeze at the time, bopping to Kym and Robyn.
Whatever she's doing now, hope she's doing well.
Not sure what the song under the charts was.
"Men in black" - Will Smith
The X Files you can watch from *on* the sofa, not *behind* it. The film came out during the long dark teatime of "Doctor Who", and perhaps set a template for Rusty Davies's less pretentious show.
But we're here for the song. "Forget-me-nots" is back, this time with a rap explaining the background plot of the film, such as it is. Will Smith raps exposition, and it holds people's interest.
Bonsoir bonsoir je suis je suis je suis...
Et bien. Mike «un pour les hétéros» Reid and Comte Gary Davies du Wooton have dressed like Frenchmen. All they need is a string of onions over their shoulders, and a beret in front of Mike's face.
Some absolutely class songs to come over the next half-hour. This... is not one of them.
"Drop the boy" - Bros
Matt in the red jacket and spikey hair, Luke in the background looking very similar, Ken seems to have been posed in "jiggling" mode.
"The worst Bros single ever," opined our friends at Creamguide. Naah, it's better than "I quit". And better than "Chocolate box". And better than "Madly in love". (ctd)
"Drop the boy" is a very strange song: the backing track is instant and a complete earworm, the chorus is an anthem, but Matt's vocals in the verse are horridly garbled.
Clearly animated by something, but what is he singing about? How can we follow the thread of his rant when he's all "ken takka murder is it start anew"?
If only he'd had a better singing teacher, someone who taught him to enunciate. Must do better.
"Ship of fools" - Erasure
Andy's in his usual white t-shirt, Vince pretends that all the keyboard noises come from guitar, and the stage slowly fills with a fog of dry ice.
The verses promise a lot of emotion, the pre-chorus ramps it up, but the chorus is strangely unfulfilling.
Lots of lovely camera pans and evocative pulls, shame we can barely see the band through the mist.
Breakers! Sinitta has "Cross my broken heart", gadding about in her miniskirt, in a caff, with prominent product placement, and the most literal interpretation of a song since Legs & Co.
She'll be in the studio next week.
Simon Harris with "Bass (how low can you go)", dudes in bomber jackets walk around a white studio decorated with the word "bass", and trenchant house music plays.
Looking for all the world like Chris Lowe, he'll be in next week as well.
Keith Sweat sings "I want her", slipping up the stairs to see his ladyfriend; it shows how ultra-smooth soul had been influenced by the fashionable choppy rap sounds.
David Lee Roth sings "Just like paradise", a stage show filmed at 4 frames per second, David climbing up a rockface without a helmet (but his hairdo will adequately protect his brains), and the song is big breezy west coast rock.
"I'm not scared" sing Eighth Wonder
The rest of the band have another appointment, so we only get to see Patsy Kensit on stage.
The star of "Luna" is working with the Pet Shop Boys with a song Madonna didn't have time for. It's cosmopolitan pop, all very European-sounding, which is no bad thing.
"Don't turn around" - Aswad
Their debut? A decade into their career for their #TOTP debut!
Big stovepipe hats to keep their sandwiches in, Brinsley finds the camera like the seasoned professional he is.
The message is completely at odds with the sound - it's a kissoff to an ex-lover, the verses put on a brave face, the chorus reveals the truth of the emotional state.
This song was a ray of sunshine, a little bundle of infectious joy. Still is.
"I should be so lucky" - Kylie Minogue
Still number one, and we see the official video.
#TOTP also made a special clip of Kylie in and around Melbourne.
"I know you got soul" - Erik B and Rakim
Rap set to a Jackson 5 sample, and with archive footage including actor Peter Wyngarde.
Our first mystery year was 1988.
Also from this week in '88: "The Snooker Machine", in which QED tries to work out the physics and maths behind snooker.
Steve Wright in the mid-evening introduces our final show for tonight. If it seems familiar, it is: a shorter version of this edition was shown two years back.
The chart is played over "Spirit of radio" by hairy rockers Rush.
"Love patrol" - The Dooleys
Ilford's finest had almost exactly one year making hits, this was their final chartbound tune.
After fame, they went their separate ways. Three members went to make music in South Africa, Jim the singer sold scooters, and Kathy married Andrew Mackintosh (DS Grieg in "The Bill").
"Sue Lawley" - The Police
Like Paddy Ashdown, Steve Wright will be remembered for exactly one joke.
Happy birthday, Steve Wright's joke.
"Working my way back to you - forgive me girl" - The Detroit Spinners
This week, Legs & Co have raided the dressing-up box and become construction workers. Complete with a phone engineer's cabin, and a sign "Danger: ladies at work".
Leave the scaffolding up, would you, we'll need it again soon.
"Stomp" - Brothers Johnson
Out of the LA music scene, into Billy Preston's show "God Squad", where they caught the attention of Quincy Jones.
George and Louis Johnson started as funk musicians; by now they're leaning heavily into disco. Their only big hit here.
"My world" - Secret Affair
OK, we were going to use the scaffolding for a giant game of snakes and ladders, but this'll work just as well.
The mod revivalists had a short and vibrant career. Their one big hit was ambitious, but unlike certain other Oasis bands we've seen, they made tight and coherent music.
Pleased to see that, like Belinda Carlisle, this band are playing the nostalgia circuit.
"Dance yourself dizzy" - Liquid Gold
Brackley's finest. Not sure where they are, but they're not in the usual studio.
"All night long" - Rainbow
INT: a bedroom at night.
"George. George. George. George, don't do that."
"Shut up, Bungle."
"Turning Japanese" - The Vapors
A group from Guildford, fronted by solicitor Dave Fenton, and supported The Jam on tour.
Another one-big-hit wonder: when their second album was knocked back by the record company, Fenton thought "stuff this" and returned to his day job, eventually became a big shot music lawyer.
https://www.attackmagazine.com/features/job-envy/music-lawyer-david-fenton/
He's just Ken.
"Happy house" - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Apparently, this has become something of an anthem on the Roblox video game. One wonders if they're listening to the words.
"Cuba" - The Gibson Brothers
Martinique's finest export, the disco-salsa we never knew we needed.
"Games without frontiers" - Peter Gabriel
Pete and Kate sing about their favourite pan-European television competition. Somewhere in Cologne, Hans Zimmer is stirring.
"Take that look off your face" - Marti Webb
Are they trying to play the entire top 30 on tonight's show? Even the boring songs?
"Turn it on again" - Genesis
They'd been a massive albums band through the 1970s, but their last big hits had only been seen on video. Now, Mike and Tony and Phil come into the studio, a forgettable song is made memorable by their bright shirts.
Would be nice if they'd actually reached the chorus, or played the title, but then #TOTP is only 40 minutes long. I blame Jonathan King.
"Together we are beautiful" - Fern Kinney
"I've been with better looking guys / You've been with prettier looking women"
The low expectations of a provincial disco, sweet and pretty without ever rising above adequate.
Still, a week at number one cements Fern's place alongside rocktackular greats like Gina G, Deep Blue Something, and The Blazin' Squad.
Playout is "Do that to me one more time" - Captain & Tenille
Our second mystery year was 1980.
Irish night on BBC4 next, with Sinéad O'Connor at 10.10.
Lady Gaga and Enya are the unlikely mix on BBC2 tomorrow.
Won't be with you next week (first aiding at a Comic Relief event: hope it's three hours of *nothing*), and when I'm back it's likely to be Mystery Years only.
Whatever you're doing this fortnight, have a great one!
Our group declare to be true
Snaprails
Ian K Tindale