Top of the Pops 15 November 1990

Words: Chris Arnsby

Bruno Brookes: “Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of Top of the Pops. A great studio audience and a lot of fun on tonight's show, that's guaranteed. Now we start off with a song, it was originally a hit back in 1978 for Earth Wind and Fire and got to number fourteen. Now in 1990, Black Box take it to five. Here is, Fantasy.”

 [5] BLACK BOX: Fantasy. BBC VT. A repeat from the 01/11/1990 edition. It's almost unheard of to start the programme with a repeat and there's another one coming up at the end of the show. What's going on?

A lot of songs are going down the chart this week. The ones going up were mostly featured last week; EMF, Del Amitri, The La's, Jimmy Somerville, 808 State, Gazza and Lindisfarne. All the songs used tonight are the remaining climbers and new entries. With one exception. At [38], NWA's 100 Miles And Runnin' is not mentioned. You'd struggle to edit that down to even a 20 second clip for the Breakers with its frequent use of f*ck, sh*t, d*ck, a*s, etc.
With Black Box and Kim Appleby unavailable, Top of the Pops is faced with using repeats for 50% of its studio performances. I have no idea why Black Box get pole position. It might be because Kim Appleby's performance opened the 01/11/1990 programme. It might have been a coin flip. The last time the show started with a repeat performance was also in November. Yazz and Stand Up For Your Love Rights, 17/11/1988.

[23] INSPIRAL CARPETS: Island Head. I artlessly avoided asking one obvious question in the proceeding paragraphs. Why start the programme with a repeat when the Inspiral Carpets and Caron Wheeler are in the studio?. Why not one of them? Well, with what is unfortunately a certain amount of disrespect to Caron Wheeler, she's lucky to be featured at all. In a stronger week for songs I think she would have struggled to make the programme.

Which leaves the Inspiral Carpets. This is their third Top 30 hit of the year. They've previously started the programme with She Comes In The Fall, on 05/07/1990. Why aren't they a good candidate to open the show?

The obvious answer, Top of the Pops prefers to open with a faster paced song than Island Head. Just look back through the past month; Jason Donovan, I'm Doing Fine; Kim Appleby, Don't Worry; Belinda Carlisle, We Want The Same Thing. Except... the next song in that list is the slow a-ha song Crying In The Rain and what about tonight? Fantasy is hardly the world's greatest bopper.

Island Head is slow and melodic and (to my know-nothing-about-music ears) it's got a vaguely Jethro Tullish sound*. It's not fast but the performance is elevated by the staging and lighting which both look great.

The Inspiral Carpets are scattered across the main stage and one of the guitarists is sitting down. The performance feels large scale and relaxed at the same time. Chris Kempton is allowed to play with all the lights and he's installed those laser-like white spotlights which sweep slowly across the background in time to the beat. Throw in some low angle camera shots from behind the crowd, as they clap along with their arms over their heads, and the whole thing looks epic. A stadium performance in studio TC4. It's great and I find myself with only one answer my own question. Why aren't Inspiral Carpets a good candidate to open the show? Paul Ciani didn't want them to.

I think that's a mistake. Worse, at the risk of sounding like a pearl-clutching dowager, I think it's insulting to Inspiral Carpets. Give priority to the groups who take the time to come to Television Centre**. I appreciate it's difficult to make these kind of judgements when you are on a weekly treadmill but pick a song and find a way to make it suitable to open the show. The ironic thing here is, the production team managed that with Island Head and no one seemed to realise.

*It's got a bit in it that sounds like a flute.

**. Okay, I went back to see what I said about the 17/11/1988 show. (https://thiswayupzine.blogspot.com/2023/12/top-of-pops-1988-triple-bill.html). The studio acts were All About Eve, Mica Paris, and Tanita Tikaram. I'm embarrassed to find I was praising the “brave” decision to open the show with a format-busting repeat. Two years ago I was a wrong idiot.

Mica Paris is the most obvious candidate for opening act but if I was the Producer/Director designate I would have loved to open with Twist In My Sobriety and find a way to make it work. Except... it's 3pm on Monday 14/11/1988, the camera script is overdue, and that video of Yazz is beginning to look awful tempting...

CHARTS: 40 TO 31

[6] ROBERT PALMER & UB40: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. Promo VT.

[40] CARON WHEELER: Uk Blak. Caron Wheeler was in the right place at the right time to make the line up for tonight's edition. [40] was the high point of this song's four week chart run. Next week it will be down to [41] and then [65].

And that's the show. Top of the Pops is over for this week although there are still 12 minutes to fill before Eastenders.

BREAKERS

[28] THE MISSION: Hands Across The Ocean

[30] JON BON JOVI: Miracle

[35] JULEE CRUISE: Falling

[25] JIVE BUNNY & THE MASTERMIXERS: Let's Swing Again. Promo VT. Nobody involved with this is trying any more. Jive Bunny looks like he's been animated in MS Paint.

CHARTS: 30 to 11

[22] MEGABASS: Time To Make The Floor Burn. Promo VT.

[3] KIM APPLEBY: Don't Worry. BBC VT, 01/11/1990.

TOP 10

[1] THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS: Unchained Melody. NBC VT, The Andy Williams Show 1965.

[26] PRINCE: New Power Generation. Promo VT. Anthea Turner next week. Bruno Brookes shows off “my award” the Smash Hits award for Best Music TV Programme which goes to him and “Top of the Pops management and busybodies.” Shame about the blue arm which keeps intruding into shot.

 

Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 46

Performance of the week: Inspiral Carpets, Island Head.