April 21, 20187 yr Haven't seen the gorilla suits since 1982 in totp lol. Its a pity TOTP stopped long before Bruno Mars - Lazy Song or Coldplay - Adventure Of A Lifetime were released.... That Tarzan Boy track is good, I've def heard it before. Its quite well known, it was good that certain big European hits like it could occasionally cross over and become UK hits in the 80s, although it was more common in the 90s, especially from eurodance acts. Edited April 21, 20187 yr by The Snake 🐍
April 22, 20187 yr Life is Life is in the chart then too! I was going to mention Life Is Life, love that song, very different too to anything else in the charts at the time, with its live crowd singing! We will have 'Brother Louie' too for europop in September 1986, which is a great tune imo! Looking at September 1986, it had so many classics in the top 10, one of the best months for chart music ever imo.
April 22, 20187 yr The 80s really saw the beginning of Euro songs charting late summer as people returned from European holidays!
April 22, 20187 yr The 80s really saw the beginning of Euro songs charting late summer as people returned from European holidays! Of course there will also be Sabrina in 1988! The kind of Whigfield of the 80s (her voice even sounds like her a bit imo) :o Edited April 22, 20187 yr by The Snake 🐍
April 24, 20187 yr Watching totp 1983 and we've had three number ones as follows - Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart, Duran Duran Is there something I should know & David Bowie Let's Dance!! I mean that's unreal, so good they stopped Sweet Dreams by eurthymics hitting no1, imagine as good a quality nowadays!?
May 31, 20187 yr I didn't notice any lights. Were they different? They just had them off on the main stage in the first half of the show for some reason!?
May 31, 20187 yr Author They just had them off on the main stage in the first half of the show for some reason!? Budget cuts :lol:
May 31, 20187 yr Watching totp 1983 and we've had three number ones as follows - Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart, Duran Duran Is there something I should know & David Bowie Let's Dance!! I mean that's unreal, so good they stopped Sweet Dreams by eurthymics hitting no1, imagine as good a quality nowadays!? Fab top 5 there was on the first week of 1986 actually: 1. Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls 2. Whitney Houston - Saving All My Love For You 3. Shakin Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone 4. Bronski Beat - Hit That Perfect Beat 5. A-ha - The Sun Always Shines On TV hopefully that will not be in the cut episodes! Plus September 1986 's top 10 throughout the whole month has some great quality too.
May 31, 20187 yr Shaky must have been lucky enough to sneak a week at the top in Xmas 85 with West End Girls on the horizon!!
May 31, 20187 yr Budget cuts :lol: They did it with the old white light background which was in place between 80-83 as well i noticed!!
June 2, 20187 yr Take on Me just never gets old, the video still looks class. Nikita was another great track by Elton!!
June 7, 20187 yr just actually turned the TV on as TOTP starts: What a fab record A Good Heart is, Maria McKee song about her ex - and Feargal must have a great sense of humour as he covered her ex's song about her for the follow up You Little Thief. Nikita is still lovely, though Elton knew perfectly well that it's a man's name, not a girl's, video notwithstanding. Georgie Fame up next with some 60's jazzpop. Oops I mean Matt Bianco. yeh yeh! Where's Basia? Presumably some early Brexiters ganged up on her and forced her back to Poland. Either that or it was her solo career. Matt Bianco without Basia is a bit mundane. Chart rundown with Simon & Janice. Breakers: oh that career-best Siouxsie song Cities In Dust, awesome video and sounds SO exciting on full blast at Duckies club. Cloudbusting, Donald Sutherland, Kate Bush, ambitious, epic, and sampled for the brilliant Something Good, Utah Saints. UB40's second best ever record Don't Break My Heart (Kingston Town was the best), just gorgeous, and I am so in love with the charts of this time, so much class. King, pre-VJ MTV days for Paul, and the OK Taste Of Your Tears. I mean it's not brilliant or owt, but it's not bad either. Mildly pleasant, nice tune. Needs a haircut. All of 'em. Bet all that gel and perms left them with premature baldness.... Top 10 video clips, Level 42 impresses, Duran Duran are incognito, TV & film themes dominate, and a-ha are still brilliant. On top? The Power Of Love. Not Frankie. Not Huey. No, it's the anthem of middle-aged women at the time, and one I grew to love. Eventually. Jennifer Rush. If only she'd followed up with a cover of Spirit Of Radio! For non-believers I suggest before passing judgement you first listen to Celine Dion's 90's hit version, and JR's rather restrained vocal (in comparison) seems quite emotionally subtle.... Plus she wrote it, so fair's fair, she should have the definitive version. It's a Shaky fade-out. Lipstick Powder & Paint. Not one I admired much at the time. Errr sounds actually OK now. Oops.
June 7, 20187 yr Author Matt Bianco could certainly do a decent Georgie Fame tribute act :lol: A Good Heart is a decent song as well. Of course, not every performance of You Little Thief went entirely to plan... 9ddjMslTUOE Take On Me remains one of the greatest pop songs ever written - even if it did require some fairly drastic remixing before it became a hit.
June 8, 20187 yr Steve Wright' moustache and Peter Powell's extra-tight jeans get us underway, and let's start with a big bang: Take On Me, a-ha in the studio, giving Scandinavian falsetto a cool name and hair gel a bad one. It's a good thing it became a hit as Morten could afford some new jeans and chuck away the ones with all those holes. I also had jeans with holes, but that was an accident with some barbed wire. Up next it's Led Zep on TOTP, they said it would never happen! Stairway To Heaven (edited severely). I must say Robert Plant's vocals don't seem as dynamic as I recall, and all those 80's synths must be a remix. Ooh the ending is much better but he seems to have morphed into a Scouser ("calm down calm down"), fashion-wise. Why oh why they didn't release this as a single in 1971 instead of getting all sniffy and holier than thou - kids like me couldnt afford albums but we could have bought a fab epic single. Level 42, for some hot bass action now and a great song. Always better than music critics gave them credit for. Then again who cares what music critics think, trend-chasing cynics. Trusted my own judgement thank you very much, always have, always will. Ace Of Bass taught me that. Chart rundown: So much big hair! Followed by an advert for a bland BBC show, at least judging by the theme. Eurythmics and Aretha: Sisters are indeed doing it for themselves (with Dave Stewart), and it's a Road To Nowhere for Talking Heads. Nice to have the accordion back, and the band with a big goodie. UB40 Don't Break My Heart. So good they couldnt exist as one band, and now we have two so the universe can survive, one brother in each to provide balance. Fab record. Doesn't Ali look young! What a cutey he was. Still buying his records with Astro and Mickey. Top 10 video rundown, and Steve Wright outrageously calling Madonna a sleazebag. Well at least it was less offensive than the time he though AIDS was hilarious and a topic for fun. I don't listen to his shows on radio 2 if I can avoid it (not always successfully), I have better judgement than he did in those days. Mr. Angry never forgets! Jen on top again. Such hair! Still enjoying it. Sorry! FGTH > Jen > Huey. Fade to paul hardcastle getting to n-n-nineteen. Not making that up. Totally did.
June 8, 20187 yr Author That Stairway To Heaven cover was truly horrific. The only thing in its favour is that it wasn't Jennifer Rush. Perhaps it would be a good idea to lock Johnson, Gove and Farage in a room together and play those two abominations on a permanent loop. I would suggest doing the same to anyone who wants to abolish the Human Rights Act. They'll soon change their mind.
June 8, 20187 yr That Stairway To Heaven cover was truly horrific. The only thing in its favour is that it wasn't Jennifer Rush. Perhaps it would be a good idea to lock Johnson, Gove and Farage in a room together and play those two abominations on a permanent loop. I would suggest doing the same to anyone who wants to abolish the Human Rights Act. They'll soon change their mind. you've clearly never heard the Celine Dion version of Power Of Love, or the Rolf Harris version of Stairway To Heaven. He had to ask for the sheet music as he'd never heard it :lol: I think those on loop would produce a quicker result, I'd lay odds that trio would quite like Jennifer Rush, probably the only pop music from 1985 they'd buy.. hah! :lol:
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