Top of the Pops 24 May 1990

 Words: Chris Arnsby

 Anthea Turner: “Hallo! And welcome to Top of the Pops on BBC1! Also listeners on Radio 1! FM stereo! Not forgetting the people in the south of England who are tuning in for the very first time! On 98.2! We're starting [indecipherable]! The B-52s at number twenty!”

 [20] THE B-52s: Roam. Kudos to Dave Chapman, Video Effects, and Ben Fuller, Vision Mixer. One of them (or both it could be a team effort) perfectly times the spinning wipes between shots on the twanging guitar bit* of the song. It makes for a great transition from the opening choral bit into the body of the song. And it's nice to see it repeated a couple of other times.

Meanwhile, up in the Crows Nest. Some fiend is wearing a fluorescent yellow jacket. A transparently obvious way to spot themselves when watching later from home. It's super effective. Their presence can be noted through the whole programme.

*on reflection, it's possible the word I'm looking for here is chord.

[10] MANTRONIX featuring WONDRESS: Take Your Time. Promo VT. A slight change to the current, crummy, captions. Previously they've all featured a blazing sun under the Chart Number. Now, Mantronix get a slightly more abstract blue design.

CHARTS: 40 TO 31

[5] EN VOGUE: Hold On. Do I have cloth ears? Is Anthea Turner's microphone badly adjusted? I'm occasionally struggling to make out what she is saying against the background of studio noise. I could have sworn she named En Vogue as Oslo. Do I need a discrete hearing aid to continue to enjoy my quality of life? My descent into the target audience of Talking Pictures continues; now I'm worrying about who will look after my loved ones* when I'm gone.

Some unfortunate framing and lighting makes En Vogue initially look like a trio. The fourth member of the group, standing stage left, fades into the dark background and is rapidly cut out of shot as the camera pans in on the stage. If you're not paying attention, like me, then the appearance of a fourth person in the line up comes as a surprise. 

Florescent jacket watch. On the stairs, stage right, partially hidden behind the vertical neon tubes.

*my collection of Crash magazines, Doctor Who soundtrack CDs, and novelty socks.

BREAKERS:

[32] MOVEMENT 98 Featuring CARROLL THOMPSON: Joy And Heartbreak
[33] BETTY BOO: Doin' The Do
[34] LITTLE ANGELS: Radical Your Lover
[35] TALK TALK: It's My Life.

Too much Radical Your Lover and Not enough Doin' The Do.
[9] BEATS INTERNATIONAL: Won't Talk About It. Good advice, Beats International. I'll move on.
Florescent jacket watch. Right behind Anthea Turner on the scaffolding bridge and then at the end of the performance, they've come down into the audience in front of the stage.
CHARTS: 30 to 11
[11] MICHAEL BOLTON: How Can We Be Lovers. BBC VT. A repeat from 10/05/1990.
12] DON PABLO'S ANIMALS: Venus. Not going to sing then? Suit yourselves. The song features a few moments of sampled applause which sound like Top of the Pops' canned cheers and applause they use to end each performance. Predictably this causes a little confusion during the camera's final pull back as the song ends.
Don Pablo's Animals are sentenced to POP JAIL for using the “Woo! Yeah!” sample. (John- All I can really find out about Don and his Animals is that they are Italian.)
Florescent jacket watch: Stage right, at the very edge of the stage.

TOP 10
[1] ADAMSKI: Killer. Promo VT.
[25] WAS NOT WAS: Papa Was A Rolling Stone. Promo VT. Next week Simon Mayo. “The breakfast chef!” according to Anthea Tuner.
Florescent jacket watch: back and to the left of Anthea Turner.

Performance of the week: The B-52's, Roam.