Friday 30 March 2018

In Between Top of the Pops

This edition of Top of the Pops from August 1st 1985 will not be shown on BBC4 because of the ongoing dispute between Mike Smith and the BBC. But have no fear, your Good Friday has just got even better with thanks to Crystal who has made it available here at WeTransfer

There's only one 'F' in Five Star




01/08/85  (Mike Read & Mike Smith)

Five Star – “Let Me Be The One” (18)
In the studio at last but the song got no higher.

Tina Turner – “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” (3) (video)
At its peak.

Gary Moore – “Empty Rooms” (29)
Peaked at number 23.

Prince – “Raspberry Beret” (33) (breaker)
Peaked at number 25.

Nik Kershaw – “Don Quixote” (23) (breaker)
His final top ten hit, peaking at number 10.

Bruce Springsteen – “Glory Days” (21) (breaker)
Peaked at number 17.

The Cure – “In Between Days” (20)
Went up five more places.

The Top Ten Videos:
Jaki Graham - "Round & Around" (10) (video clip)
Trans X - "Living On Video" (9) (video clip)
DIre Straits - "Money For Nothing" (8) (video clip)
Kool & The Gang - "Cherish" (7) (Montreux clip)
Opus - "Live Is Life" (6) (video clip)
Harold Faltermeyer - "Axel F" (5) (video clip)
Sister Sledge - "Frankie" (4) (video clip)
Tina Turner – “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” (3) (video clip)
Eurythmics - "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)" (2) (video clip)

Madonna – “Into The Groove” (1) (video)
First of four weeks at number one.

Billy Idol - "White Wedding" (11) (audience dancing/credits)
His first of three top ten hits, this one peaking at number 6.


August 8th is next.

35 comments:

  1. The two Mikes this week, with Smitty in full-blown irritant mode and Mr Read apparently bemused by his co-host’s hyperactive antics, but showing the patience of a saint towards him. Five Star finally make it to the studio, choreographed to within an inch of their lives and kitted out a bit like American footballers. All very professional, but the song is still extremely dull. By contrast, Tina's Mad Max tune is one of her best, with a powerful, anthemic quality that even the kids' choir at the end can't spoil. Her mighty shoulder pads also knock spots off Five Star's!

    Gary Moore dons a big coat to perform this classy rock ballad, accompanied by an irritating big-haired keytar and keyboard player. I was waiting keenly to see what Gary would do with the acoustic guitar stuck on that stand, but I was surprised he didn't lift it off when he finally "played" it - I suppose it saved having to sling the electric behind his back. Unusually none of the breakers will feature again, which is a bit of a shame in the case of Prince as this is one of his better singles thanks to a very pretty, jaunty tune; nice colourful animation in the video too. Nik Kershaw's chart career was now moving towards the dumper, but it looks as if he did get the chance in this video to enjoy some Spanish sunshine while playing Sancho Panza. The song's OK, but you get the feeling that musically, if not lyrically, Nik was starting to run out of ideas a bit. Meanwhile, the Boss reasserts his blue collar credentials by pretending to perform in a bar. It's a stirring enough tune, I suppose, but as with much of Springsteen's work too all-American for my tastes.

    Back to the studio for The Cure and one of their best songs, mixing some nice fast guitar work with a dreamy synth sound; I wonder how long Robert Smith spent on his hair each day? A generally decent show saves the best until last, as I entirely agree with Mike Read that White Wedding was the best thing in the charts at the time. A seamless blend of 50s rock 'n' roll attitude and 80s production, for me it is Billy Idol's finest moment and a song I never tire of hearing. Unfortunately this is one of those weeks where the cheerleaders hog the camera, and we don't get much opportunity to see the "civilians" in the crowd dancing along.

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    1. carlos santana also used the old "acoustic guitar set up to be played without moving it" trick in later years

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  2. Thanks Crystal for making this available…nice to see it although not a great edition.

    Five Star – Let me be the one - ….who’s lovin’ you tonight….oops, no, not the Shads, so FF

    Tina Turner – We don’t need another Hero (Thunderdome) – (FF) Never want to hear this again!!

    Gary Moore – Empty Rooms – A 1985 remix by all accounts (as was the Trans X effort which originally came out in 1983). Bought this single on 12” at the time and loved it as well as the (otherwise unavailable) live version of ‘Parisienne Walkways’ with Philip Lynott on the B Side. A great performance of an atmospheric song with the acoustic trick being something that I’ve seen Steve Howe do at Yes concerts.

    Breakers – Don’t recall the Prince hit, Nik Kershaw’s song sounds like ‘ Donkey oatey’, Springsteen really was enjoying a run of ‘Glory Days’ but although not having many hits until that time, frankly the singles off previous albums just weren’t commercial enough. My personal favourite Springsteen track ‘Racing in the Streets’ was far too long and just not ‘instant’ enough for singles buyers.

    The Cure – In Between Days – It has a certain hook to it this one from Smitty and co. Not bad for them really.

    Chart rundown – Oh dear, I was speaking of ‘covers that put you off originals’ on last week’s thread and looks what’s snuck in at no22! Fortunately Sonny and Cher’s original with that marvellous Oboe refrain and Phil Spector like production still sounds marvellous despite this ghastly cover frequently occupying the airwaves to this day! Not in the chart rundown however is ‘The Power of Love’ by Jennifer Rush which had just spent its third week in the 40s and fell a few places. Six more weeks in the 40s were to follow when, presumably on the 21/09 chart rundown, we’ll finally get sight of it. I am not sure when the record was transitioned to the familiar remix version with Jen in that short black mini skirt on the sleeve, but certainly at this point I think it was the original mix and more cultured looking sleeve in existence. Also not in the rundown (at no95) is ‘Out of Touch’ by Hall and Oates which I heard on the radio today; didn’t trouble the top40 despite four minor chart runs, but topped the US charts. I would rather have heard this than some of the rubbish that has been on in the past four weeks!

    Madonna – Into the Groove – One that didn’t top the US charts as it wasn’t released as a single over there for some strange reason. I recall being in a Night Club called ‘Samanthas’ just off Regent Street at the time with this blaring out on the dance floor.

    Billy Idol – White Wedding dance out – Mike R’s favourite at the time was just an ‘ok’ song for me. OK for a dance out I guess.

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    1. The bluesy Parisienne Walkways sounded pretty bad in the studio version from what I remember, mainly because of the vocal. Empty Rooms arguably has a wider appeal and I like it quite a lot.

      White Wedding is an ok rock track, but Eyes Without a Face was more memorable for me.

      In Between Days, decent but not as good as Lovecats.

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  3. Tina Turner v Bonnie Tyler - The Battle of the Comebacks.

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    1. One was holding out for hero and one didn't need another hero. Bonnie way better with that comparison I think as her song was better. Though Tina Turner was good in 84.

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  4. Five Star, now that's how you co-ordinate, Conway Brothers. Drilled to an inch of their lives, but the song is in one ear and out the other material. They had catchier stuff in their repertoire to come.

    Tina Turner, man, I loved Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome when I was a kid, saw it at my local fleapit and managed to get in though I was underage. This song brings all the excitement and majesty back, plus Tina is really great in it, she could have been an excellent actress if she'd wanted. Also featuring in the video: future one-hit wonder Angry Anderson, who was the film's Wile E. Coyote. Like the post-apocalyptic sax player halfway through.

    Gary Moore with an empty track, no hook to speak of and it looks as if he should have hired more staff for this performance. Not surprised this has been forgotten.

    Then the Breakers, the Prince and Boss tracks are curiously similar lyrically, though with their own take on girl nostalgia. The Purple one is better than the, er, shouty one in this case, however. And little Nik, always liked this too, how many other pop stars were writing like this at the time? I suspect he had a stash of prog rock from his younger days in his luxury pad.

    The Cure with one of their best singles, and thankfully not as overplayed as Lovecats. Powers along with some verve in contrast to Bob's fey vocal, a solid combination.

    Then Madge getting her first number one, but not the last, and Billiam Idol posing and posturing away then presumably falling off his motorbike with the effort.

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    1. Empty Rooms has a mammoth hook, better than Madonna or Prince in this.

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    2. If you mean it went the way of the dinosaurs, then I'd agree.

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    3. Heavy power hooks can be exciting though, and obviously it's part of the 80s sound from now on. Anyone not accepting big hooks will miss out on a fair bit from this period. You could say the same with the Opus song I suppose.

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    4. Oh, I have nothing against a great riff, and Gary Moore has been responsible for a few, but I didn't hear one in Empty Rooms.

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  5. KC said...
    Cheers Crystal

    Something good to watch tonight!

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    1. Another female getting involved on the blog, hooray! Hope that Morgie doesn't put off any other prospective female participants with his Wifey terminology quip.

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    2. Hey Dory.
      All female participants welcome.
      Wifey spent ages winding me up about watching these re-runs and living in the 80s, then she goes and starts watching some of them herself and commenting all the time.
      So I added her to my posts, firstly to wind her up...and now she reads them!!!!

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    3. Why not give her her own posts and separate profile, rather than speaking for two people?

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  6. Continuing the pattern of recent shows with one corking tune surrounded by average and distinctly poor material. And I disagree with John G, I thought Smitty was quite tolerable on this one while Mike Read easily won the bell-end of the week contest!

    Five Star - Just not in any way a memorable tune. Much better to come from them.

    Tina Turner - Once enjoyed radio saturation to the point that I never wanted to play or hear it again. Now it's not on so much I don't mind it, a well produced pop song to be honest.

    Gary Moore - One of those classic 'fist pump' rock ballads. It's alright, nothing special.

    Breakers - Surprised that the Prince track doesn't get featured again if that's correct! I think it's one of his best 80s songs. The Nik Kershaw one is alright, Bruce's latest shouting number I could do without. Him and Madge monopolising the Top 40 doesn't do the Pops any favours, does it?

    The Cure - And here's the best thing on the show. One of the poppiest things they ever did and nothing wrong with that. It was (like The Cult on the previous Smith show) at least featured on the 'Big Hits' show at the start of the year.

    The aformentioned Madonna at the top, and what's this? 2 weeks in a row with a suitable playout song!

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    1. Holiday is such a better dance song than Into The Groove.

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    2. Yeah Noax, Raspberry Beret was one of the best videos of the 80s, largely due to its use of lovely fresh colours, and one that over the years has stood up well among the other 80s videos with less defined colour arrangement.

      I would have loved to see this track get a main feature on the show, but it was never to be unfortunately, despite it being just as good as some of Prince's other songs having a main feature on the show during the decade.

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    3. Raspberry Beret doesn't convince me as a song, he scales down the funk in parts but the melody that takes over isn't that great. Some may like the production or that he uses a particular mix (like that violin sound) but I don't feel anything substantial.

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    4. Well, it's certainly better than 'Paisley Park' and that somehow got on!

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    5. Raspberry Berry and Little Red Corvette are probably two of Princes most under-rated song. One got buried on the B-side of the 1999 re-release and one didn't get a proper TOTP outing. Criminal.

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    6. I would agree it's better than Paisley Park, any of the luscious production in that got hidden behind that hammered beat.

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  7. tina turner: another stupidly nonsensical bracketed title - was that stuck on for the benefit of the one person on the planet that was unaware this song was connected to the third mad max movie? the film in question is not bad overall, but has a serious case of "rollerball"-itis in that when the action grinds to a halt about half way through (after max is run out of bartertown) it gets pretty dull for a while - unlike the far superior "mad max 2", that gradually winds up the tension from an intriguing beginning to the all-out action of the classic vehicle chase at the end. as for the song; well, let's just say i preferred tina's acting to her singing

    gary moore: i can never make up my mind if this guy is/was boyishly good-looking or a totally ugly mother. this is a bit on the plodding side, but at least it's more palatable than the meat-and-potatoes rock of his last offering. i don't know about empty rooms, but it's more a case of empty stage as gaz has only some 80's fashion victim with a portable keyboard (that always looked naff to me) on it with him

    cure: after the dubious experimentation of their last few singles, they return to the straight ahead and driving beat that they were known for - this is probably the third best thing of theirs in my opinion, after "a forest" and "primary". original drummer lol is still hanging in there on keyboards, looking for all the world that he expects smithy to hand him his P45 at any moment (and to my recollection it wasn't long in coming after this)

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  8. I just loved the way that the No.3 and No.1 songs in the chart had their videos played in full on this show, both to their last fadeout. I just wonder if the No.2 song when played last week at No.1 had the video shown instead of a repeat studio performance, then we would likely have seen Eurythmics stay at No.1 for several weeks, but the power of the Madonna video as a new entry at No.4 last week, was enough to propel her to No.1, leaving the Eurythmics somewhat short-changed for only one week at No.1.

    In those days, if you had your video played in full on TOTP, then it generally had more propellor effect up the charts than if a studio performance was played, and the top 3 positions this week was a case in point.

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    1. ....we could have done that with 'Private Investigations' in 1982 where Cherry Gillespie only appears dancing in silhouette on the bit that they did show, whereas in the later instrumental section she's in full view.

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    2. Lol sct353, there are of course some exceptions to my theory, and Private Investigations is one, as it does not have the same power in the song itself before the video is considered, as in the case of the top 3 this week, Cherry or no Cherry!

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  10. Must admit I lost track of Nik Kershaw after the 3rd album Radio Musicola, which featured the title track & maybe When A Heart Beats(Smithed I think?). Back to The Riddle album, where this one comes from, this was the last single from that album wasnt it?

    Seem to recall around this time Nik made an appearance on Superstore to promote DQ but the video wasnt ready at the time, playing stills of Nik over a brief snatch of the audio.

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    1. Yes, When a Heart Beats is on a Smiffed show in December. Don Quixote was the last single from The Riddle album; When a Heart Beats appeared on the cassette and CD versions of Radio Musicola, but not on the LP.

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    2. Thats probably why I bought the 7 inch at the time, as I had the Lp as well.

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  11. And 3rd TOTP of the day with Smithy back again using Mike Read as his straight man.

    Five Star finally make it to the studio. Forgotten they all dressed the same. Much better to come from them than this effort of course. Staples of kids TV for the next few years. Even if some of the viewers thought they were crap.

    We get to see much more of the Tina Turner video next. I must admit I do like this song, a proper big 80s ballad, and a radio staple.

    Gary Moore back again. Not a fan myself. Nothing memorable about this effort. Even the change of guitar can't save it.

    Holiday back in the chart I see. We will see more of that.

    Breakers:
    Raspberry Beret is one of favourite Prince songs. Like the video too
    Nik Kershaw. I like this. Bit of an odd title but a good pop song.
    Springsteen with another American anthem. Glory Days his best yet. Plenty of product placement for Budweiser

    The Cure next up. Tune....
    Was Matt Groening watching, proper Sideshow Bob look.

    Eurythmics get a short stay at the top. Madonna gets all the way to the top and officially wins pop music in 1985.

    Billy Idol plays us out with the fabulous White Wedding.
    Shame this show got the chop and last week's survived as this is a much better collection. Enjoyed this one very much.

    Right..That's 100 minutes of TOTP today...I'm going for a lie down now.....

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  12. I always thought that if I got a donkey I'd call it Hotay. Donkey Hotay, Don Quixote... harumph!

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    1. in a similar manner to 80's indie band camper van beethoven, what would you get if you put an ass with a breakfast cereal? answer: donkey oatybix

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  13. Big thanks to Crystal.

    Five Star, dancing like five mini-Michael Jacksons but with a song as feeble as Millie Jackson’s recent effort. Which one of the gals was recently a contestant on “The Voice”?

    Extraordinary earrings there for Tina Turner’s less than extraordinary bellowed offering, complete with Michael Bolton lookalike on sax.

    Gary Moore with “Empty Space Where The Drummer Should Be”. I’d have loved the acoustic guitar to be rigged up six inches higher to see how Gary would have fared. I can imagine Phil Collins ruining this tune.

    The less said about Mike Read’s fingering technique the better.

    I preferred Prince’s mic sharer to Broooce’s.
    What was Nik Kershaw thinking? Bring back the Ted Bovis costume!

    More Big Mac and fries rock from Broooooce. Yawn.

    Robert Smith looking as contrasting a frontman to Mister Springsteen as you could get, fronting some wonderful frizzy peppy goth disco.

    No, Mike, it isn’t THE Eurythmics. Did we not learn from Gary Davies last week? Cuh!

    Bearing in mind the comely outro dancer, that last track should have been renamed “White With A Black Horizontal Striped Boob Tube Wedding”.

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  14. Can someone make the download available somewhere I didn't grab it in time

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