August 22, 20186 yr I remember seeing Sigue Sigue Sputnik in the teen mags but I think this is the first time I've heard the song. I found their look so distracting that I didn't pay much attention to the actual song. Audrey Hall - I loved Smile, and always thought it was her debut single, and the only one I'd ever heard. Wikipedia tells me that Smile was the follow up to One Dance Just Won't Do, and that she released several singles in the 1960s. She looks too young for that ! I wanted to love the song she performed on TOTP, but it was a bit weedy. Alexander O'Neal - I love all his 80s singles. Great voice. Matt Goss had a minor hit (#23) in the 90s with a decent cover of If You Were Here Tonight. He didn't make all those distinctive/annoying ''grrr'' sounds on it, like he did all over the Bros singles, so that was something. Colonel Abrams - I remember seeing his singles and thinking how handsome he was, but never actually heard his songs before. I immediately loved I'm Not Gonna Let You, but wish he had been there to perform it, instead of showing the audience dancing, which I always found cringey.
August 24, 20186 yr I loved it! Since when has pop music had a "musical genius only" policy :lol: I mean that would discount the whole of Punk Rock for starters, where the whole point was you didn't have to be a musical virtuoso to be creative and have something to say! Plus, fun is not a bad word.... Plus it was one of the few dance tracks around at the time too.
August 26, 20186 yr Totp 6/3/1986 Mike & The Mechanics Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) Kate Bush The Hounds of Love Frank Sinatra Theme from New York Jim Diamond Hi Ho Silver Prince & The Revolution Kiss Whistle Just Buggin Diane Ross Chain Reaction No1 Huey Lewis & the News The Power of Love Edited August 26, 20186 yr by Steve201
August 30, 20186 yr I've found my 'Chain Reaction' listening limit, was that The Bee Gees on backing vocals?
August 30, 20186 yr Author My Chain Reaction listening limit was passed many years ago. Yes, it was the Bee Gees on backing vocals. After all, they wrote it. All these years after last hearing Cliff & The Young Ones I still have fond memories of the "Fies my soul?" line. We now say a fond farewell to Yellow Pearl. That was the last episode to use Phil Lynott's tune.
August 30, 20186 yr My Chain Reaction listening limit was passed many years ago. Yes, it was the Bee Gees on backing vocals. After all, they wrote it. All these years after last hearing Cliff & The Young Ones I still have fond memories of the "Fies my soul?" line. We now say a fond farewell to Yellow Pearl. That was the last episode to use Phil Lynott's tune. Well, Midge Ure's tune probably, and Phil's lyrics, it sounds very Midge :lol: At least they waited till Phil was dead before dumping it for a worse theme tune. That was very much a trend in TOTP theme tunes, each not as good as the previous until just before the show got axed and they reverted back to Whole Lotta Love. Even my Chain Reaction listening limit was passed many years ago and I loved it....! It hasn't sounded fresh since it was a 90's hit again, at that point overdose set in.
August 31, 20186 yr Listening to Yellow Pearl in full, it sounds great, yes it is very Midge Ure with the synths. It's kind of appropriate that 'The Wizard' by Paul Hardcastle would soundtrack the late 80s TOTP episodes as that kind of underground sounding sampled dance music would become very popular in 1987 and especially in 1988. I still prefer 'Yellow Pearl' though by Phil Lynott as a theme tune, it is more emotive. Chain Reaction does sound a bit dated for 1986, it sounds more late 70s or 1980 than 1986, it is high energy disco but doesn't have much of an electronic element to it unlike what we will see from the Communards soon. But it is a very good song, good fun and Diana's vocal is great. That was very much a trend in TOTP theme tunes, each not as good as the previous until just before the show got axed and they reverted back to Whole Lotta Love. Will they even bother showing the reruns after about 1999 I wonder? Did many people watch TOTP after then? Edited August 31, 20186 yr by TheSnake
August 31, 20186 yr The other significance of tonight's episode is that it marks ten full years of the re-runs on BBC Four.
August 31, 20186 yr Def prefer Yellow Pearl as it coincides with the best years of totp and it's good timing as the standard of hits reduces. But Paul Hardcastles theme sounds very late 80s as Snake said and it's one I remember from my childhood!
August 31, 20186 yr The other significance of tonight's episode is that it marks ten full years of the re-runs on BBC Four. Did they not just start in Jan 1976?
September 1, 20186 yr Did they not just start in Jan 1976? Did they not do the rerun of episodes earlier in the 70s that weren't deleted or didn't feature Jimmy Savile or Dave Lee Travis? Or were there so few of those as to be pointless to rerun? :unsure: Def prefer Yellow Pearl as it coincides with the best years of totp and it's good timing as the standard of hits reduces. As I said September 1986 seems to have quite a few good songs in the top 10 at once, some of them being classics! Also November 1986 too. Edited September 1, 20186 yr by TheSnake
September 1, 20186 yr Yeh there's loads more to come over the next 32 years lol but the changes and music in the 1977-84 period were huge and led the way for nearly everything after for me apart from proper rap/grim/urban which was still to come in the late 90s Edited September 1, 20186 yr by Steve201
September 1, 20186 yr Did they not do the rerun of episodes earlier in the 70s that weren't deleted or didn't feature Jimmy Savile or Dave Lee Travis? Or were there so few of those as to be pointless to rerun? :unsure: As I said September 1986 seems to have quite a few good songs in the top 10 at once, some of them being classics! Also November 1986 too. I think they thing was that a lot have been lost etc plus the Saville stuff mean they couldn't have had a proper series. Tony Blackburn/Noel Edmunds and others presented plenty of shows!
September 2, 20186 yr Yeh there's loads more to come over the next 32 years lol but the changes and music in the 1977-84 period were huge and led the way for nearly everything after for me apart from proper rap/grim/urban which was still to come in the late 90s I see where you are coming from, the late 70s saw the development of disco (influential in dance) and punk rock (influential in indie/alternative music). Synthpop and electropop of course of course have remained popular since they were started in the late 70s/early 80s. The likes of Shannon, Art Of Noise and Herbie Hancock in 1983/84 paved the way for house music and Hi-NRG kind of paved the way for 90s eurodance. The whole new wave scene (especially the more guitar based New Wave in the late 70s and 1980) also paved the way for indie and Britpop. Iron Maiden arrived in the early 80s to evolve heavy metal. Hip hop of course also developed in the early 80s. The only genre I think you are missing out is breakbeat hardcore/rave in 1991-1992 which doesn't really sound like much that came before and led to drum and bass and dubstep. Edited September 2, 20186 yr by TheSnake
September 2, 20186 yr Yeh and I suppose Happy Mondays/Stone Roses and to a lesser extent Prodigy were a mesh of dance and indie/new wave/Punk. Thing about this new era is the big new wave pop groups who dominated so much in the 1980-85 period literally nearly disappeared! E.g. Duran Duran/Spandau/Human League! And also the dominance by cheesy SAW nonsense which was the sound which was great in the early part of the decade becoming so basic and money orientated. The cleverness and creatively disappeared. Although there were equilivants in the late 70s/early 80s too such as Dollar/Bucks Fizz Edited September 2, 20186 yr by Steve201
September 2, 20186 yr Always loved the Sigue Sigue Sputnik album (Flaunt It!) with the commercials between the tracks. By a strange coincidence I managed to find a vinyl copy of it in a local shop yesterday.
September 3, 20186 yr The charts for 3/4/1986 & 1/8/1959 both have cliff livin doll & duane eddys peter gunn at numbers 1 & 9 respectively!
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