Top of the Pops 5 June 1986

Presented  by Chris Arnsby. [15] Cashflow: Mine All Mine. Gary Davies. “Welcome to Top of the Pops and here to start us off is Cashflow and Mine All Mine.”
Check out the Mine All Mine video where the padded shoulders have reached excessive proportions, even by the standards of the eighties. Cashflow look considerably less ridiculous in person. Everyone is a little less hunch-shouldered, although there's a nasty selection of pastels on display and, regardless of what the guitarist thinks, orange is a bad colour for a suit.

 

Gary Davies: “Can they move or what? That's Cashflow and Mine All Mine. Well... Hey! How ya' doin' ? Welcome to Top of the Pops. In studio tonight we have The Pet Shop Boys, we have Simply Red.”

Simon Bates: “We also have the new number one and it's good to know that while Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford make solo hits, Genesis just keep on going. Here's Invisible Touch.”

[16] Genesis: Invisible Touch. On video.

[2] Simply Red: Holding Back The Years. “They're singing live in the studio.” Yeah, yeah, sure they are Gary Davies. Oh, wait, Mick Hucknall really is singing live and he's doing a bit of audience work as well. He's waving the microphone across the audience on each, “I keep holding on.”

It's not getting much of a response from the crowd but fair play on him for trying. Or, maybe it is getting a response but someone in the gallery is turning Mick's microphone down each time, in case someone shouts an obscenity. “Simpy Red with backing vocals from the Top of the Pops crowd,” observes Gary Davies so maybe the audience were muted to avoid bringing the programme into disrepute.

Top 40 Charts.
Top 40 Breakers. [21] Miami Sound Machine, Bad Boy; [19] Falco, Vienna Calling.

[17] Pet Shop Boys: Opportunities. Chris Lowe is uncharacteristically animated. He flails at those drum pads like a toddler having a tantrum. The yellow sou'wester falling away from one shoulder sells the image completely. Keep an eye on Chris as the camera pulls back at the end of the performance. He drops one of the drum sticks by accident, marks the end of the song by raising both arms in the air like a boxer, and then throws the remaining drum stick away across the stage.

[10] Nu Shooz: I Can't Wait. On video.

Top 10 Charts.
[1] Doctor & The Medics: Spirit In The Sky. Back in the studio again for the third time and their first week at Number 1. With his shiny purple jacket and huge mop of white hair the guitarist looks like a glam rock version of Jon Pertwee's third Doctor. It's a missed opportunity that Clive Jackson didn't dress up like the Master. Instead he boldly goes shirtless and displays his svelte torso. “There goes a man who makes Rambo look like a wimp,” is Simon Bates' nonsensical comment. It's in the vicinity of a joke and makes Gary Davies looks more nonplussed than usual. Gary follows this with a request that Simon Bates does “his Doctor and the Medics dance.” What follows is technically indescribable. So here's a picture...

“It was better than that in rehearsal,” lies Davies. Next week it's Mike Smith.

[9] Jaki Graham: Set Me Free. On video, plus credits and... no audience dancing, for the first time since (I think) the return of Top of the Pops after the 1980 Musician's Union strike. Instead a sinister yellow and red crystalline shape forms the background to the credits and video.

Performance of the Week: Pet Shop Boys, Opportunities