01/12/2021

Top of the Pops 13 November 1986

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby. Mike Smith: “A busy night tonight. We've got to cram it all. We've got Kim Wilde in the studio, Spandau Ballet are here, and on platform three waiting for a train [makes train noises] …  Spandau and Kim Wilde coming later. Here's Madness.” 

[20] Madness: Waiting For The Ghost Train. I'm not sure what happened to Mike Smith's introduction. It sounds like a rare fluff from one of the more polished hosts. The second half of the sentence is in voice over only and feels redundant. Did someone remind him he hadn't said the name of the group? Or, was Smith about to accidentally introduce Madness as Spandau Ballet before he made a last second correction?




The single sleeve names the song as (waiting for) the ghost train, but in these parts we go by the Top of the Pops caption so the title loses its brackets and gains some capitals. This is Madness' final single, released shortly after the band announced they were splitting, and guitarists Mark Bedford and Chris Foreman have written THE END on the backs of their guitars. More writing is plastered over Madness' suits. Guardian headlines about SWAPO and more eye-catchingly the repeated phrase Soweto Bloodbath because this is a song about apartheid. 

“Can that really be the end?” asks Mike Smith when it's all over. Well, yes, until 1992 at least. It's been a long run since their first appearance on the 06/09/1979 edition with The Prince when Suggs sang, “an earthquake is erupting.” And it did. It really did.

[18] Shakin' Stevens: Because I Love You. On video.

[2] Kim Wilde. You Keep Me Hanging On. “Hoping to be number one next week,” says Mike Smith. I'm sure it would be nice but Berlin aren't going anywhere. Speaking of European capitals, Kim's flown in from Paris but I'm not sure it was worth the effort. I find myself unmoved by this song, and I couldn't really explain why.

Top 40 Charts.

[8] Spandau Ballet. Have the Spands become a duo? You could believe so for the first half of this performance which focuses on Tony Hadley and Gary Kemp. Low lighting and close shots keep the other three concealed until Steve Norman suddenly starts tootling on his clarinet. He's in profile, with an overlaid close up of Gary Kemp's guitar vignetted in the opposite corner of the picture. It' the sort of thing Top of the Pops used to do a lot in the seventies, quite a dated effect, but it works well.

Then the rockin' half of the song kicks in and all the lights are turned on. There's everyone else. Spandau Ballet haven't split. Yet.

Top 40 Breakers: [22] Simple Minds, Ghostdancing; [14] Europe, The Final Countdown.



[25] Bob Geldof: This Is The World Calling.
Nearly two years after Band Aid, Bob returns to his pop career. I remember at the time it seemed odd, like a backwards step, but what else is he going to do? Tonight's Top of the Pops has a sense of a wheel turning full circle; Madness, Spandau Ballet, and Bob Geldof all make their last appearances. They were once all staples of the programme but not anymore. Fortunately Shakey will still be around to guide us into this uncertain future. 
Meanwhile, some clever electrician has worked out how to slow the flashing of the neon tubes around the main stage. They don't quite flash in time with the beat of the song, but it's close enough.

Top 10 Charts.

[1] Berlin: Take My Breath Away. On video.

[4] Mel & Kim: Showing Out. Top of the Pops ends with a really odd joke. Mike Smith plugs another programme from Michael Hurll's television empire, Entertainment USA. Produced and directed by Gordon Elsbury who used to be Michael Hurll's representative on Top of the Pops but is now reduced to going to Hawaii. Mike Smith is surrounded by audience cheerleaders and when he mentions the star of the show, one J-n-th-n K-ng, the cheerleaders all shriek and run away. It's a play on K-ng's then reputation as the most hated man in pop but it's taken on a considerably different meaning. Janice Long and John Peel host next week.

And we're on week six of using the title sequence still as a background to the credits. 

Performance of the Week:  Madness: Waiting For The Ghost Train

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