Top of the Pops 13th June 1991

 Words: Chris Arnsby

 Jakki Brambles: “Hello. Good evening. And welcome to Top of the Pops. It’s a little bit different tonight but you can still hear us in stereo on 1FM. First up, tonight’s show, we have probably the only ever artist who scored five top twenty singles off her debut album and still got dropped by her record label. You can’t keep a good woman down. Here’s Sonia.”

 [11] SONIA: ONLY FOOLS (NEVER FALL IN LOVE). “A little bit different tonight.” That sounds ominous. I’m getting “Great news for all readers inside!” vibes. It sounds like IPC is about to force Top of the Pops to merge with Roy of the Rovers.

Actually, there’s already been a couple of small changes. A little sprite character has been added to the titles. It floats through the title sequence tunnel (which is supposed to represent a journey up the charts to Number One) and flickers red and green, with the little flames flickering up and down to (presumably) represent the changing chart positions.

Secondly, Jakki Brambles is up on one of the studio bridges and away from the audience. You can see the studio and main stage over her shoulder but it makes her feel isolated from the main programme.

Also gone, the pan from the host to the stage. It’s been replaced with a hard cut. This is going to make spotting future pre-recorded performances tricky. Maybe that’s the idea.

[2] AMY GRANT: BABY BABY. Promo VT. Here’s something that hasn’t changed from last week. Videos are introduced by using CSO to overlay the host onto a background. In this case the background is a shot of the Main Stage recorded through a weird fish eye lens, which is replaced with a PR still of Amy Grant.

I say this is CSO, it may not be. I don’t know if Jakki Brambles is standing in front of a blue screen or if the background is being removed and replaced digitally. There’s an odd stippling effect behind her when she moves which is different to the coloured fringing seen in seventies Doctor Who.

The lighting on Jakki Brambles looks different when she’s on “CSO” to when she’s in the studio. It’s flatter and brighter and you can’t see the normal flashing lights reflecting off her. All this makes me think Top of the Pops has set up a small part of the studio with its own lights for whatever kind of compositing is being used.

Here’s another change. The full Top 40 is back but it’s being overlaid on the video for Baby Baby using a DEF II style scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen. Also, it goes all the way up to [2]. Overlaying the chart on a video is not a terrible idea but having them in “vision only” seems a bit of a two-fingered gesture to blind people.

Also, despite what the opening caption tells you, Baby Baby isn’t a New Entry.

[22] GLORIA ESTEFAN: REMEMBER ME WITH LOVE. Promo VT (I think). It’s footage of Gloria Estefan performing at a concert in Rotterdam on 04/05/1991. Jakki Brambles is on one of the bridges, shouldn’t she be on CSO to introduce this?

[35] ALL ABOUT EVE: FAREWELL MR. SORROW. I don’t have anything to say about this performance. The lighting is a bit flat and dull. The picture is a bit murky. That’s it.

[20] DIVINYLS: I TOUCH MYSELF. Promo VT.

[28] LENNY KRAVITZ: IT AIN’T OVER ‘TIL IT’S OVER. Video Caption Artist Rosina Reilly is working overtime to fit all the apostrophes in the right place.

Jakki Brambles is on CSO which means this is probably a pre-recorded performance. The big bank of blue and purple lights hung over the Stonehenge state matches what was seen last week during Marillion’s performance, so I’m guessing this is part of the same studio session.

[7] THE DOORS: LIGHT MY FIRE. Promo VT and presumably snipped from the BBC4 showing.

[37] MASSIVE ATTACK: SAFE FROM HARM. Terry Brett plays with a very simple lighting effect with great results. While the camera tracks in at the start of the performance, Terry keeps the stage in darkness except for three white spotlights illuminating the three people at the front of the stage. The spotlights flicker on and off, and make it look like the trio are appearing and disappearing. It’s a really basic lighting trick but it really looks good.

BREAKERS

[27] ROD STEWART: THE MOTOWN SONG

[26] EXTREME: GET THE FUNK OUT

[25] BETTE MIDLER: FROM A DISTANCE

[24] LATOUR: PEOPLE ARE STILL HAVING SEX

[1] COLOR ME BADD: I WANNA SEX YOU UP. Colour Me Badd are not sexy men. Two of them have bad hair, one has a weird forehead, one is wearing a beret. The suits. Oh god, the suits. They keep making hip thrusting gestures and pawing at their genitals, and when you think the nausea is reaching a peak they do this finger kissing gesture which is vile. Just watching them makes me feel unclean.

[19] SKID ROW: MONKEY BUSINESS. Promo VT. Nicky Campbell next week.

 Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 16

Ratings: 6.39 million just enough to sneak in at [30]. The 1990 edition got a better chart position on fewer viewers, 6.18 million and [28].

 Performance of the week: Lenny Kravitz, It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over