Top of the Pops 20 Sept 1990

20/09/1990

Nicky Campbell: “For seven days and seven nights we have waited, Top of the Pops is here at last. Want you to try at home first of all, clear a space in your living room, kick up the heels, and join in this routine. Copy it precisely. Twenty 4 Seven and Captain Hollywood, shall we dance.”

 [28] TWENTY 4 SEVEN Featuring CAPTAIN HOLLYWOOD: There has been a minor change to the set design for the main stage. The Crow's nest is no more. It has been long abandoned by the programme but, even after the hosts stopped using it, there were normally a few audience members sent up there to have “fun”. From, I think, the first show in September 1990 the Crow's Nest has been removed from above the centre column of the main stage, replaced by another colour projection screens; making a triptych with one of the screens above each of the wings of the Main Stage and the centre.

It's not easy to track the change which is why I've only just noticed it. It's weird. It's as if Paul Ciani's direction does not favour the upper top quadrant of the Main Stage. To spot the change I had to go through a few old editions and watch the Main Stage performances while muttering things like “why doesn't Ben Leach to move his head out of the way”.

[23] THE STONE ROSES: Fools Gold. Promo VT

CHARTS: 40 TO 31

[21] SNAP: Cult Of Snap. One of the nice things about writing up these episodes of Top of the Pops is getting the chance to revisit groups and songs I didn't think much of first time around. Snap was one of those bands and I'm pleased to admit I was wrong about both The Power and Oops Up.

Cult of Snap is also good fun but this performance feels unfocused. Turbo B is wearing one of those headset microphones which allows him to divide his time between a drum set and rapping. When he's rapping he's wandering all over the stage and, kind of, addressing the air. My reaction is; who are you talking to? Yes, this is very much where I shift into middle-aged man confused by pop culture territory.

Turbo B doesn't need to move around so much, he naturally dominates the stage and could stay at the drums and let the camera come to him and that would let the performance feel more focused on him.

Snap have also brought along a couple of stripped to the waist dancers who are frighteningly energetic. Normally I'd expect Nicky Campbell to refer to them but he's already used his go to clever-boy word “Terpsichorean” on act one.

[16] AC/DC: Thunderstruck. Promo VT.

BREAKERS

[32] S·EXPRESS: Nothing To Lose

[34] DNA: La Serenissima

[35] MONIE LOVE Featuring TRUE IMAGE: It's A Shame (My Sister)

[19] THE CARLATANS: Then. Now it's the handheld camera operators time to shine. Some lovely shots including one that starts down low looking up at the keyboard and then slowly rises to show the fully lit studio in the background with the cranes trundling around.

CHARTS: 30 to 11.

[3] IRON MAIDEN: Holy Smoke. Promo VT. Started around 90 seconds in, to remove two uses of the word shit and a lyrical reference to crucifixion which could provoke complaints of blasphemy.

Top of the Pops has carried out further editing to make the video suitable for the post-regional news magazines audience. Less contentious images from the first 90 seconds are substituted for shots of the band dressed as priests and smoking; as are a shot of a sound engineer that rapid cuts to someone facing away from the camera who stands to reveal they are wearing leather trousers with cut-out buttock holes; some scantily dressed ladies who will catch their death of cold outside like that; and the same scantily dressed ladies indoors and fondling someone associated with Iron Maiden (I'm really sorry, I'm not familiar enough with the band to know who it is).

[9] THE FARM: Groovy Train.

TOP 10

[1] STEVE MILLER BAND: The Joker. BBC VT. As the video comes to an end, Nicky Campbell says: “I'll tell you what. He's a stalker. He's a chalker. He's a bit of a porker isn't he.” Yeah. Fuck off Campbell. Oh, he hasn't finished. “I'd like to see old Steve Miller get into a pair of size thirty jeans.” There are plenty of things to criticise The Joker for, especially in terms of it being yet another in a long line of songs to get to Number 1 off the back of a jeans advert, but sure, just be a classic bully and invite the audience to join you in laughing at Steve Miller's appearance. I'm kind of glad to see nobody else in the studio did*.

Anthea Turner next week.

*I'm not sure this needs a footnote but to avoid this looking like I'm pointing back in time and shrieking, I'd like to add that my friends thought this was a crass thing to say in 1990.

[31] MC TUNES VERSUS 808 STATE: Tunes Splits The Atom. Promo VT.

 Performance of the week: Snap, Cult of Snap.