Top of the Pops 28 June 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

“Hello. A very good evening to you. Welcome to Top of the Pops. If you want to hear the show in stereo just switch your radio to Radio 1FM. We have six acts in the show tonight. And we start with a real belter, number five in the charts with, uh, Snap featuring Oops Up the duck here they come.”

 [5] SNAP: Oops Up. I hope Gary Davies got hazard pay for that extra piece of physical props work. He makes a good throw across the studio and Turbo B makes a terrific catch considering the low visibility with all the smoke and flashing lights. It's the kind of tiny moment that would haunt my nightmares. We'd be on take 15 and Oops Up the Duck would be ricocheting off the lighting grid and falling into the gears of the camera crane while a bored audience slow-clap and jeer me. 

That said. Oops Up the Duck is a bit of a blob on screen. The audience at home could do with longer to register what Gary Davies holds up but he's a slave to the 30 second introduction. We don't really get a good look at the squeaky duck until a medium close up of Turbo B and  Penny Ford. The first time I watched this show I briefly thought Gary Davies had chucked Turbo B a microphone.

Derek Slee is back on Lighting this week, replacing Graham Rimmington. It's always subjective talking about things like lighting but I thought Graham Rimmington's work was quite flat and Light Entertainment. For comparison, look at the way Derek Slee keeps the wider studio lights low as the camera pans to the Movie Strip stage. At first only the circular area within the stage has any illumination and it looks really moody.

[21] JASON DONOVAN: Another Night. Probably pre-recorded judging by the hard cuts in and out of the performance, and also because it's dropped into the second song slot normally reserved for Promo VTs.

I think this was recorded during the studio session for the 14/06/1990 edition. Have a look at the Maxi Priest performance coming up, the layout of the stage floor lights and dangling Christmas tree-thing are the same. Even some of the camera angles, like the one looking out from behind the set, are duplicated.

CHARTS: 40 TO 31

[17] MAUREEN: Thinking Of You. Dapper bloke, who I now know is called, Kevin Clark from Definition of Sound (thanks mumu03) doesn't visibly lurk backstage like he did on the 14/06/1990 show. He's been taking How Not To Be Seen lessons because you have to look a lot harder to spot him. He's standing on the stairs leading down to the stage, behind a member of the audience.

Once Dapper bloke does come on stage there's some excellent and dynamic hand held camera work, constantly moving the gaze of the camera between a one shot of Kevin Clark, to a two shot of him and Maureen, and back again.

When the first chorus starts, on the tracking shot which begins over the Movie Strip stage, look at the crowd in front of Maureen. It's an opportunity to see a Floor Manager in their natural habitat, tapping members of the audience on the shoulder and selecting them to stand round Gary Davies in the next link. But, what's wrong with the Floor Manager's arm. It's in a sling and protected by foam rubber. Has he sprained it with too much tapping people on the shoulder did he damage his rotator cuff while demonstrating how to throw Oops Up the Duck?

BREAKERS

[32] DOUBLE TROUBLE: Love Don't Live Here Any More

[35] GLENN MEDEIROS featuring Bobby Brown: She Ain't Worth It

[39] DEL AMITRI: Move Away Jimmy Blue

[25] BOB GELDOF: The Great Song Of Indifference. There's a joke in The Simpsons where Homer builds a barbecue. “Yeah, that's one fine-lookin' barbecue pit.” Pull back and reveal he's looking at the box his set came in. The one he made is a pile of rubble. “Why doesn't mine look like that?”

That's kind of how I feel about this Bob Geldof performance. It's an assembly of parts which, correctly assembled, would be a bunch of great pop-mates mucking around and having fun and yet the finished product is all wrong.

I'm being unfair but I read this as an attempt to build a cult record rather than allow it to evolve from the ground up. It feels like an instruction manual to the audience. You will buy this single and this is how you will use it to have a good time; 1, everyone does Irish Stepdance. 2, everyone goes “na na na na” and stamps their feet. 3, everyone smiles. 4, why aren't you smiling? Didn't you read point 3?

It's going to be Performance of the Week (Dapper bloke closes internet browser broken-hearted, again) but this is by far the most memorable and “did you see that last night?” performance of the show. But it's not good.

[23] BRUCE DICKINSON: All The Young Dudes. Promo VT.

CHARTS: 30 to 11

[8] MAXI PRIEST: Close To You.  BBCVT, from 14/06/1990.

TOP 10

[1] ELTON JOHN: Sacrifice/Healing Hands. WORLD CUP update. England have made it through the Group of 16 knockout phase. They play Cameroon in the quarter-final on 01/07/1990. World In Motion down to [4].

Elton John, meanwhile, appears courtesy of BBC VT, 22/06/1990.

[24] POISON: Unskinny Bop. Promo VT. Nicky Campbell next week.

 Performance of the week: Bob Geldof, The Great Song Of Indifference.