Top of the Pops 23rd & 30th May 1991

 Words: Chris Arnsby

23/05/1991

 Gary Davies: “Hello. A very good evening to you and welcome to Top of the Pops. Don’t forget we’re in stereo on Radio 1FM and boy do we have a great show for you tonight. We start off with a band who’ve got a new album called The Promise which is coming out in June. They’re in the charts at number twenty with Whenever You Need Me. It’s T’Pau!”

 [20] T’PAU: WHENEVER YOU NEED ME. Apologies to flame-haired crooner Carol Decker but I wouldn’t have started this edition with this song. Then again, I’m not sure which song I would have used to start tonight’s show. This is going to be a double-bill write up because once again I find myself with little to say. Top of the Pops has hit a chart slump between the May Bank Holidays.

There’s an interesting low-angle shot from a handheld camera at the beginning of the song. It wanders along the front of the stage looking up. A little later, a panning shot from a crane allows us a good look at the operator and his mate who holds the cable. Michael Hurll doesn’t normally like people to get too good a look at the studio crew. However as it turns out Michael Hurll is away. This edition was produced and directed by Stanley Apel.

[7] COLOR ME BADD: I WANNA SEX YOU UP. Promo VT. Nice work from Ian Trill on Video Effects and Vision Mixer B. John Fuller who colo(u)r Gary Davies with a false colour effect on the transition into the video.

[29] SIMPLE MINDS: SEE THE LIGHT. BBC VT. Clearly a pre-recorded performance. Possibly from the studio session for the 16/05/1991 show which had similar stage lights raised on a podium behind New Kids On The Block.

CHARTS FROM 36 TO 11. “Dear BBC. Please stop Gary Davies from using the phrase “happenin’ choons. Whatever happened to standards? Yours etc.”

[3] BEVERLEY CRAVEN: PROMISE ME. Back again with her Grand Piano. I’ve got nothing to add. The weather’s too hot.

[13] R.E.M.: SHINEY HAPPY PEOPLE. Promo VT.

[18] WONDER STUFF: CAUGHT IN MY SHADOW. Promo VT. Filmed outside Birmingham Town Hall, apparently.

[23] DEACON BLUE: YOUR SWAYING ARMS. Did I mention the weather is too hot?

[28] QUEEN: HEADLONG: Promo VT.

TOP 10

[1] CHER: THE SHOOP SHOOP SONG (IT’S IN HIS KISS). Promo VT.

[31] TECHNOTRONIC FEATURING REGGIE: MOVE THAT BODY. Promo VT. Anthea Turner next week. But not on BBC4.

 BONUS MASTERTAPE BIT: As Technotroic finish moving their body the picture on my recording fades to black and blurs back into life to show the audience applauding someone standing on the film strip stage in a haze of dry ice. It’s Amy Grant here to record Baby Baby.

Take 1: “Applause please,” says Floor Manager Barrie Martin and the camera pans in on Amy Grant who is in shadow for the introduction. Oops. Terry Brett, Lighting, misses his cue for the start of the lyrics and Amy Grant stays too long in shadow. Take 1 is cut off early to the disappointment of the audience.

Take 2: The cameras reset and this time the lighting change goes without a hitch. Take 2 appears to be fine but there is a request for a third go.

Take 3: Rescue Me by Madonna is being pumped through the studio speakers as Amy Grant walks back on stage. The picture looks a lot hazier, clearly more smoke was demanded in the studio. Amy Grant is caught by surprise by the sudden start of her song and has to hurry back to the microphone from the front of the stage. The picture quality is rubbish. Really washed out and hazy in places, and bleached white in others as the lights flare against the dry ice. Surely they are not going to let this take run through to the end? They don’t. A lighting change on “stop for a minute” once again puts too much shadow on Amy Grant and the music fades. The crowd are disappointed and beginning to get a bit bored. “Sorry Amy”, says the Floor Manager who blames “technical”.

Take 4: There’s still too much smoke and the lights bleach out the picture really badly in places. However, Top of the Pops now has two full takes for the edit and that’s clearly enough.

 Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 19

Ratings: 6.27 million, enough to get the programme to [22] in the Top 30. The equivalent 1990 edition didn’t chart so rated less than the 6.14 million who watched Black In Blue (a documentary about the Metropolitan Police and their drive to recruit more black and Asian recruits).

 Performance of the week:  No one. It’s too hot and I am in a filthy mood. (John- Well because I have a (noisy) oscillating fan to battle the heat, I'm willing to step in and award it to T'Pau. `Decks does put in the effort it has to be said.)

 30/05/1991

 Anthea Turner: “Hallo and welcome to Top of the Pops! On BBC1 and Radio 1! In FM stereo! You make sure you’ve got your radio and your television tuned in! Because we start off tonight’s show with Technotronic at number twelve! And Move! That! Body!”

 [12] TECHNOTRONIC/REGGIE: MOVE THAT BODY. This is Anthea Turner’s last show. From here she’ll move on to present Blue Peter from July 1992 to June 1994.

The other notable thing about this episode is, it wasn’t shown on BBC4. The Doors, along with Neil Young, Journey and Bonnie Raitt, who are all represented by Wixen Music, withdrew from the charmingly Victorian-era named Mechanical Copyright Protection Society back in 2015. This was a blanket agreement which allowed the BBC to broadcast songs on a pre-approved basis and pay the copyright holder an agreed fee. Shortly afterwards everyone kissed and made up and signed an agreement which allowed unrestricted airplay… on radio only. TV rights still need to be negotiated on an individual basis.

If you are thinking it’s a little extreme to axe a programme because of the play out video, you’re right. Why not do a little light editing and overlay the promo VT for Walking Down Madison on top of The Doors? Well, BBC4 is on a shoestring budget these days and there’s no money. O tempora, o mores!

Meanwhile. Here are Technotronic and Reggie, presumably, with one of the raunchiest routines Top of the Pops has seen for a while. The sequence where the two female singers ride on the backs of the male dancers is quite something. If you missed it, the whole episode is on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2v5JFGVoyE 

[21] M.C. HAMMER: YO!! SWEETNESS. Promo VT.

[25] POP WILL EAT ITSELF: 92 DEGREES. What’s this? Electronic effects being used in a performance? Michael Hurll has seen the light. A bit. They are only being used as a transition between shots at this stage but hopefully we’ll now start seeing them more regularly. (John - By coincidence 92 degrees could easily be the temperature as I type this.)

CHARTS FROM 39 TO 11.

[28] SONIA: ONLY FOOLS (NEVER FALL IN LOVE). The revamped Triangle stage has had a small makeover again, with an arch of lights added over the top. I wonder if that’s permanent? I should really rename the Triangle stage as it no longer features any triangles. The big metal blocks remind me of the standing stones at Stonehenge, so this is now called the Stonehenge stage.

[27] KRAFTWERK: THE ROBOTS. Promo VT.

[32] SIOUXIE & THE BANSHEES: KISS THEM FOR ME. Featuring real fire on stage, safely contained in pots to stop any accidents.

[5] AMY GRANT: BABY BABY. BBC VT. Why it’s the performance we saw being recorded further up the page. Michael Hurll uses take four of Stanley Appel’s recordings. It looks rubbish.

[10] KYLIE MINOGUE: SHOCKED. Raunchy performance number two. Clearly Michael Hurll is of the opinion that a little sex appeal can’t hurt, and might actually help the ratings.

[1] CHER: THE SHOOP SHOOP SONG (IT’S IN HIS KISS). Promo VT. Week five at Number 1.

[29] THE DOORS: LIGHT MY FIRE.  The Doors appear on a clip from The Ed Sullivan Show, 17/09/1967, making this CBS VT. They appear against an odd, abstract background of orange, brown, and grey shapes which look weirdly like the sort of moulded plastic sets seen in Space 1999. At the end of the performance there’s a long shot and it’s suddenly clear the background is a whole load of front doors hung at different heights from the ceiling. That’s very literal. Was Flick Colby doing the sets?

Mark Goodier next week.

Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 18

Ratings: 6.43 million and [29] in the Top 30. In 1990 Top of the Pops didn’t place, rating less than the 7.08 million who watched the Six O'Clock News on Wednesday.

Performance of the week: Technotronic and Reggie, Move That Body.