Top of the Pops 15 March 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Simon Mayo: “Well, welcome to the pops. We've a rock and roll edition for you tonight with three debut performances before seven thirty. And now we start with a band who are appearing at Manchester Apollo tonight and then they're at Wembley next week. They're at number twenty seven doing Deliverance. Would you welcome please to Top of the Pops, The Mission.

 [27] THE MISSION: DELIVERENCE. Wow, somebody really loves The Mission. Listen to them shriek.

Belated noticing of Format Change: Paul Ciani's gone right off having the host introduce the show from the studio Crows Nest. It hasn't been used for that purpose since Anthea Turner was up there for the 15/02/1990 show.

[11] NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: I'LL BE LOVING YOU (FOREVER). Promo VT. A NKOTB ballad? I think I'll give my Fast Forward finger a workout, thanks.

CHARTS: 40 TO 31. When Simon Mayo* finishes his link into the charts the picture flicks to a different camera angle looking up at him in the Crows Nest. At the end of the charts, the picture cuts back to the same angle. It looks like Vision Mixer Hilary Briegel accidentally cut to the wrong picture before going into the countdown.

*I automatically typed Simon Bates there originally. I'd like to apologise to the Mayo family for my terrible error.

[18] CANDY FLIP: STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER. I really hated this in 1990. I was fairly conservative in my tastes (if you think they are bad now, you should have seen me when I was buying Bananarama albums*). Somewhere along the line, possibly in the wake of the Sergeant Pepper 20th anniversary, I'd picked up the odd idea that The Beatles were an untouchable monolith and I treated this remix like someone walking up Uluru.

Thirty five years later I struggle to recreate the righteous fury I experienced at the time. Now my response is to shrug and go, it's not terrible. I would like to note that the remix adds nothing much and the people doing most of the work are the blokes with the maracas and tambourine.

Candy Flip appeared at the Colchester Hippodrome some time in early 1990. I remain baffled over how they filled the evening. Strawberry Fields x199 and then their 1989 Top 150 smash Love Is Life for an encore, presumably.

*The Stock Aitken and Waterman ones. I'd also like a charge of buying The Twist by Chubby Checker and the Fatboys to be taken into consideration.
[6] B52's: LOVE SHACK. Promo VT.
BREAKERS
[29] BIG FUN: HANDFUL OF PROMISES
[30] FISH: A GENTLEMEN'S EXCUSE ME (a round of applause for the Cyper caption that swims on with the letters arranged in the shape of a fish, take a bow David Ward)
[31] WET WET WET: HOLD BACK THE RIVER
[24] PRIMAL SCREAM: LOADED. Bobby Gillespie appears courtesy of World of Leather. Do you know, I don't think that bloke is actually playing that keyboard.
CHARTS: 30 to 11
[22] INSPIRAL CARPETS: THIS IS HOW IT FEELS. David Ward is on good form with a caption that rolls like a carpet. Just the cheeky scene setter this song needs.
Hilary Briegel picks up on the sixties vibe of this record with a deliberately retro circle-shaped wipe between cameras. It looks lovely and it's a shame the Quantel split-screen frenzy during the bridge doesn't really work because it's a bit out of kilter with the mood of the song.

[4] JIVE BUNNY & THE MASTERMIXERS: THAT SOUNDS GOOD TO ME. Promo VT and a lunge for the mute and fast forward buttons that disturbs the cat's snooze. I want to praise David Ward's inventiveness on the captions but his attempt to repeat the fish caption with a rabbit made up of letters results in a terrifying skeletal thing which is the most disturbing bunny since the Black Rabbit of Watership Down.
TOP 10. J-n-th-n K-ng makes a third appearance.
[1] BEATS INTERNATIONAL featuring LINDY LAYTON: DUB BE GOOD TO ME. BBC VT. A repeat of the 01/03/1990 performance.
[14] B52's: LOVE SHACK: Promo VT. “Stop tickling me,” complains Simon Mayo as someone tries to claw the jacket off his shoulder. Gary Davies hosts next week.

Performance of the week: Primal Scream, Loaded.