Top of the Pops 14th December 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Nicky Campbell: “Welcome to Top of the Pops. We have got the best shirts on television. We're going to start with Rob and Raz featuring Leila K. A bit of Swedish house music. And every Swedish house has a sauna and like this, like a sauna, it's hot, steamy and enervating. Got to give it.”

 [13] ROB 'N' RAZ featuring Leila K: got to get. The problem with Nicky Campbell showing me how smart he is, is that it makes me all the more delighted when he cocks up. I am small and petty. It's a delight that he gets the name of the song wrong right after he has opened the top of his head to show you all the folds in his cerebellum. Also, his shirt is vile. Somewhere in TV Centre reception a building manager is furious at the Nicky-Campbell-torso-shaped hole in his carpet. The fact that Campbell has found two people with equally poor taste in shirts just goes to demonstrate the mess that was Thatcher's Britain. And that's it. No more booing at Nicky Campbell this week.

Last week I awarded Rob, and Raz, and Leila K, the best-dressed award. This week, it's disappointing to see they are more sensibly clothed. The clothing budget has been slashed to pay for two extra dancers and a guy who pretends to play the trumpet.

[9] MADONNA: dear jessie. Promo VT.

CHARTS FROM 40 TO 31. “I'd wager my troosers that will be her seventeenth top five hit.” Nicky Campbell's oblique comment at the end of Dear Jessie is a reference to Donald Where's Your Troosers. Simon Mayo kept playing the song on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show through November and it was re-released as a single in the hope of becoming Christmas Number 1.

[25] VAN MORRISON & CLIFF RICHARD: whenever god shines his light. Duets through the years:

David Bowie & Bing Crosby, Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy > Gene Pitney & Marc Almond, Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart > Van Morrison & Cliff Richard, Whenever God Shines His Light > Renée and Renato, Save Your Love > Arthur Mullard & Hylda Baker, You're The One That I Want. 

[18] LATINO RAVE: deep heat '89. Promo VT.

CHARTS FROM 30 TO 11

[24] WET WET WET: broke away. I'm not mad about Marti Pellow's hat.

[8] TINA TURNER: I don't wanna lose you. Promo VT.

[23] ELECTRONIC: getting away with it. Alan Jeffery's Lighting was very blue and purple for Van Morrison & Cliff Richard and Wet Wet Wet. It's noticeably more colourful for Rob, N Raz, and Leila K, and here for Electronic. It's clear Alan Jeffery shares my opinion that Got To Get and Getting Away With It are the two best songs of the night, and deserve the best lighting.
(POP FACT! Electronic is actually Bernard Sumner, Johnny Marr, and Neil Tennant -amazing!). ((John's Pop Fact! Chris Lowe and ABC drummer David Palmer also worked on it- swingorilliant!!))

TOP 10

[1] JIVE BUNNY & THE MASTERMIXERS: let's party. Promo VT and death to all concerned. Presumably the G-ry Gl-tt-r, Another Rock and Roll Christmas, segment was edited out of the BBC4 repeat. “Now that is what I call a Christmas turkey,” says Nicky Campbell and for once we are two minds with but a single thought.

[38] ALEXANDER O'NEAL: hitmix. Promo VT. Didn't this get played last week? Yes. Yes it did. What's that all about?

The last time this happened was on 02/11/1989, when Milli Vanilli's Girl I'm Gonna Miss You was repeated. The previous week it was scheduled as the end of show playout, but omitted to get BBC1 back on schedule following an earlier newsflash about the resignation of Nigel Lawson.  As far as I can tell, there was no big news story on 7 December 1989 so I'm at a loss as to why Hitmix gets seen again here.
As if this wasn't a big enough mystery. There's also a second one. The caption is wrong. I'm watching a downloaded BBC archive copy, and the caption says the song is at [38]. This is wrong. Week of 14/12/1989 Hitmix was at [20].

This could be a mistake made during editing for the show. Dropping in the clip from 07/12/1989 and then forgetting to change the caption. Or in subsequent years, if the 14/12/1989 mastertape was damaged. It could even be a more modern mistake. An error introduced by the person preparing the files for the internet.

Does anyone have a copy of the BBC4 repeat, who can check to see a) did G-ry Gl-tt-r get snipped and b) what's on the Alexander O'Neal caption?

Bruno Brookes and Anthea Turner next week.

Performance of the week: Electronic, Getting Away With It.