Didn't realise Dollar made a comeback lol, ultimate cheesy early 80s band!

 

But not as cheesy as most of the pop in 1988, we have not only the Glenn Medieros, Boy Meets Girl and Robin Beck's cheesy love ballads but also the Stock Aitken Waterman songs. I don't know why such cheesy music with trite lyrics was so popular in the late 80s :lol:. I guess its a bit like the early 2010s with the EDM-pop songs in the chart which sound cheesy and naff now.

 

Tiffany's first two weeks at No.1.

 

Not a big fan of 'I Think We're alone Now', its a bit too cheesy for me but some parts of the production in it I like (the synth horn bit before the last chorus).

 

Just watching the most recent episode shown, you can really hear how appropriate the theme tune is now, 'The Wizard' really is quite similar in style (although not quite as interesting imo) to the brilliant 'Beat Dis' by Bomb The Bass which kicked off the show.

 

The fab Doctorin' the House also in the episode. Must have been a big shock to many at the time to see all these dance songs taking off in the chart after years of very little dance music in the charts.

Edited July 6, 20195 yr by TheSnake

I loved the Tiffany song. Glad we got to see her last week at No.1. Should get 4 of Kylie's 5 weeks on top. Mike Smith only hosts two more shows in '88, the 10th and 31st March. There'll be the Proms coming up soon though. :(

Edited July 6, 20195 yr by Gay Rights

That must be his last episodes?

Top of the Pops 21/1/1988 Presented by Gary Davies & Steve Wright

 

Bros When Will I be Famous

AC/DC Heatseeker (Video)

Joyce Sims Come into my Life

The Christians An Ideal World

Motley Crew You Are All I Need/Wild Side (Video)

The Beat Masters Rock The House (Ft The Cookie Crew) (Video)

Banarama I Can't Help It (Video)

Dollar o l'amour

***No1 Belinda Carlisle Heaven Is A Place On Earth (TOTP USA) ***No1

The Stranglers All Day & All of the Night

 

Edited July 6, 20195 yr by Steve201

Top of the Pops 11/2/1988 Presented by Gary Davies & Bruno Brooke's

 

Eddy Grant Give me Hope Joanna

Debbie Gibson Shake Your Love

The Mission Tower of Strength

Taylor Dayne Tell It To My Heart

Sinead O'Connor Mandinka

***No1 Tiffany I Think Were Alone Now ***No1

Jermaine Stewart Say It Again

 

That must be his last episodes?

 

 

Yes there are two more to come, his last ones.

Thanks, Bruno Brooke's really becomes second to Gary Davies now as the main presenter into the 90s!

Top of the Pops 18/2/1988 Presented by Gary Davies & Nicky Campbell

 

*First episode Presented by Nicky Campbell

 

Beat The Bass Beat Dis No5

Billy Ocean Get Outta My Dreams No8

T'Pau Valentine No9

Was (Not Was) Spy in the House of Love No21

Vanessa Paradis Joe Le Taxi (Video) No29

Michael Jackson Man in the Mirror (Video) No27

The Bangles Hazy Shade of Winter (Video) No30

Coldcut (feat Yazz & The Plastic Population) Doctorin the House No25

***No1*** Kylie Minogue I Should Be So Lucky (Video) ***No1***

Alexander O'Neal & Cherrelle Never Knew Love Like This (Video) No26

 

 

Lots of changes with Nicky Campbell's first appearance and quite funny too, no signs of nerves. Then next week we get Mark Goodiers first outing. I assume they are replacing Simon Bates & Janice Long?

 

Loved Gary Davies wee dig at SAW after Kylies no1 video saying "You know if you slow that Kylie record down it sounds just like Rick Astley 😂

Edited July 13, 20195 yr by Steve201

Two chart-toppers for me in that bunch. I'll keep you in suspense a few months though :lol: 2 number 2's, or maybe 3, I forget, as well. That's pretty good going....

Top of the Pops 25/02/1988 Presented by Peter Powell & Mark Goodier

 

**First episode Presented by Mark Goodier

 

The Primitives Crash No29

Morrissey Suedehead (Video) No6

Vanessa Paradis Joe Le Taxi No14

Rick Astley Together Forever (Video) No9

The Sisters of Mercy Dominion (Video) No17

Eddie Cochrane C'mon Everybody (Video) No19

George Harrison When We Was Fab (Video) No25

The Mission Tower of Strength No12

Eddy Grant Give Me Hope Joanna No8

***No1*** Kylie Minogue I Should Be So Lucky (Video) ***No1***

The Bangles Hazy Shade of Winter (Video) No20

 

Top of the Pops 3/3/1988 Presented by Gary Davies & Simon Mayo

 

Coldcut & Yazz & the Plastic Population Doctorin The House No9

Rick Astley Together Forever (Video) No4

Sister of Mercy Dominion No13

Belinda Carlisle I Get Weak (Video) No

Johnny Hates Jazz Heart of Gold (Video) No32

Taja Sevelle Love is Contagious (Video) No28

Aztec Camera How Men Are (Video) No33

Erasure Ship of Fools No20

Derek B goodgroove No19

***No1 Kylie Minogue I Should Be So Lucky ***No1 (Video)

Mel & Kim That's The Way It Is (Video) No16

 

We miss out the 10/3/1988 as Mike Smith presented it his penultimate episode I think.

 

Top of the Pops 17/3/1988 Presented by Mike Read & Gary Davies

 

Bros Drop The Boy NE No17

Heart These Dreams (Video) No12

Erasure Ship of Fools No6

Sinitta Cross My Broken Heart (Video) NE No30

Simon Harris Bass (How Low Can You Go) (Video) NE No29

Keith Sweat I Want Her (Video) No33

David Lee Roth Just Like Paradise (Video) No27

Eight Wonder I'm Not Scared No20

Aswad Don't Turn Around No4

***No1 Kylie Minogue I Should Be So Lucky (Video) ***No1 *5th week

Erik B & Rakim I Know You Got Soul (Video) No13

 

 

I'm Not Scared is a great song. The Pet Shop Boys recorded their own version for their Introspective album later in the year. The Aswad song was a surprise no.1. They'd gone 13 years without a top 40 hit and then suddenly have a no.1 single. Ace Of Base's cover version is well known,but I'm just looking at the wiki page for the song and I see Aswad's version is not the original. I didn't know that it was written by Albert Hammond and Diane Warren and first recorded by Tina Turner in 1986.

Yeh the Eighth Wonder track was produced by the Pet Shop Boys according to wiki. Aswad were brillant, great to see them get a huge hit eventually. You can just see them now in a more minimalist totp studio in 1975 performing much younger then.

 

Didn't realise how Patsy Kensit became famous either, she was stunning back then!

 

Just one more Smithy shows then and not a huge amount of Simon Bates/Peter Powell/Janice Long/Mike Read shows left to go. The new producer Paul Ciani was bringing in the changes. Just noticed him in the closing credit to that episode.

Albert Hammond and Diane Warren have written huge lists of hit songs (but not together for the most part). Diane also wrote the brilliant song Numb for the Pet Shop Boys, one of the very very few songs that weren't covers that they accepted. Aswad were around for ages, Brinsley Forde being a child actor in the great-for-it's-time multi-racial kids TV show Here Comes The Double Deckers in 1970/71. Albert Hammond was busy writing hit songs all over the place at that time and was just kicking off his own pop career with It Never Rains In Southern California. Diane Warren comes from Southern California, where it might seem it never rains, but it actually does.

 

I love a great link....

Well,here's another link then: Patsy Kensit was also a child actor,starting in that Birds Eye frozen pea ad as a four year old and appearing in several films and TV dramas before she was 16.

I'm Not scared is indeed great, a classily produced (PSB to thank for that) pop song at a time when most pop was over cheesy.

 

And it also has the instrumental 'drop' and 'chopped' vocals in place of the chorus like many of today's pop songs, making it sound not too dated.

 

Yes I like Aswad's version of Don't Turn Around, a real forerunner of the early 90s reggae revival in the charts.

Edited July 28, 20195 yr by TheSnake

Well,here's another link then: Patsy Kensit was also a child actor,starting in that Birds Eye frozen pea ad as a four year old and appearing in several films and TV dramas before she was 16.

 

Ooh if only she had appeared with Brinsley as a toddler in Double Deckers that would have been delicious :D frozen peas? There must be a link there somewhere.... :lol:

Top of the Pops 24/3/1988 Presented by Peter Powell & Simon Bates

 

Sinitta Cross My Broken Heart No12

A-Ha Stay On These Roads NE No18

Simon Harris Bass (How Low Can You Go) No16

Wet Wet Wet Temptation (Video) No25

Debbie Gibson Only In My Dreams (Video) No23

Climie Fisher Love Changes (Everything) (Video) No26

Iron Maiden Can I Play With Madness (Video) NE No4

Tiffany Could Have Been (Video) No4

***No1 Aswad Don't Turn Around***No1

Whitney Houston Where Do Broken Hearts Go (Video) No15

 

Edited August 2, 20195 yr by Steve201

Top of the Pops 24/3/1988 Presented by Peter Powell & Simon Bates

 

Bass (How Low Can You Go) is very good.

 

They mentioned on the rundown there were two Taylor Dayne songs in the lower end of the chart at the same time. I much prefer Prove Your Love to Tell it To My Heart.

 

Wet Wet Wet's Temptation is actually quite good.

 

That Climie Fisher track is cheesy but very good, it has become a frequently played 80s classic along with fellow mid tempo pop song Aztec Camera's Somewhere In My Heart later on the year.

 

Simon Bates was surprised to see that Iron Maiden track top 5 and so I am I, it is good though.

 

---------------------------------------------

 

Watching the 14/04/1988 episode:

 

We got our first glimpse of the fab future #1 Theme from S'express in a short video clip. Jellybean and Adele Bertei - Just A Mirage sounds more 1984 than 1988 with its Hi-NRG sound - very good anyway.

 

Some new jack swing with the very good Pebbles - Girlfriend - the 90s R&B sound was really starting to develop now.

 

The brilliant Heart from Pet Shop Boys is at #1 (although they don't like it that much apparently now).

 

Edited August 3, 20195 yr by TheSnake