Top of the Pops 19 and 26 February 1987

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby

19/02/87: Gary Davies: “Hi how ya doin'? Welcome to another mega Top of the Pops. Tonight we have an excellent show for you. In the studio we have Eric Clapton, Curiosity Killed The Cat, also Man 2 Man Meets Man Parish, but first we start with a band who've just released their first single. It's the highest new entry in the chart this week. Here's Westworld and Sonic Boom Boy.”

 [22] Westworld: Sonic Boom Boy. For some reason I keep getting this song mixed up with Love Missile F1-11 by Sigue Sigue Sputnik. There must be some vague similarity that my brain keeps locking on to, although obviously the key difference is that Sonic Boom Boy isn't rubbish. Top of the Pops are confused. The opening caption calls the band Westworld. The closing one calls them West World. Which is it? Christine Buttner is credited as Graphic Designer this week (I assume she handles the captions), and when the charts roll round she plumps for Westworld again, so I'm going to take that as correct.

[14] Carly Simon: Coming Around Again. On video. Carly Simon's Coming Around Again, I didn't know she was unconscious.

[3] Curiosity Killed The Cat: Down To Earth. Sigh. Back again for the third time in five weeks. Unfortunately for my blood pressure this song has the perfect chart trajectory to gain maximum Top of the Pops exposure. It's risen slowly each week from [15] to [8] to [5] to [3] which means the band can be invited back on a bi-weekly basis. Deep breath. The song now peaks at [3] which means I don't have to look at Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot's stupid hat, and stupid face, and stupid socks, and stupid eyebrows for a while. (John – or as Smash Hits used to call him Ben Vol-au-vent Parrot)

Top 40 Charts. The Top of the Pops audience are rowdy tonight. They can be heard in the background whooping and shouting during Gary's chart countdown; which I think would have been taped earlier at the start of the studio session and then played back into the studio during recording.

[6] Man 2 Man Meets Man Parrish: Male Stripper. Call that stripping? It's rubbish. By the end of three minutes he hasn't even taken his bow tie off. Gary Davies seems flustered and back announces the song as “Man 2 Man Meets Male Parrish, and Male Stripper,” but he might just be thrown by having to try and remember the cumbersome band name.
Top 40 Breakers: [25] Duran Duran, Skin Trade; [23] Simply Red, The Right Thing; [19] Mental As Anything, Live It Up (From 'Crocodile Dundee'); [18] Jets, Crush On You.

[15] Eric Clapton: Behind The Mask. Gary Davies is terribly impressed that Eric Clapton is on Top of the Pops. “He is just so brilliant.” He'll always be Derek Claptout to me, as the computer game Rock Star Ate My Hampster renamed him.

Top 10 Charts
[1] Ben E King: Stand By Me. On video.

[17] Europe: Rock The Night. “Will he be number one next week, or could it be Percy Sledge with When A Man Loves A Woman, or could it be another record from a jeans commercial?” wonders Davies, unexpected channelling the spirit of John Peel.

Mike Smith and Steve Wright host next week.

Meanwhile, Top of the Pops returns to using the classic freeze frame from the opening titles. Making the pattern; 09/10/1986 to 04/12/1986 classic freeze frame, 11/12/1986 DIFFERENT! 18/12/1986 to 05/02/1987, a return to classic freeze frame, 12/02/1987 DIFFERENT! And now, a return to the classic. Do they keep losing it?
Performance of the week: Westworld: Sonic Boom Boy

26/02/1987

 Steve Wright: “Hello!! Good evening!! And welcome to another Top of the Pops!! Turn round pal!!” Mike Smith: [facing away from the camera, turns round] “Oh over... Are we over there, okay.” Steve Wright: “You do it!!” Mike Smith: “I'll do it now. 'Ere, we've got a good show lined up tonight. Here come, from Tonga, the eight members of a family called The Jets.”

 [9] Jets: Crush on You. The Jets, are bouncy and perky with lots of energy, and other words ending in y. The song is a polished piece of pop but it's also bland. Ultimately it's hard to shake the feeling the Jets are the band for people who find Five Star too edgy and threatening. (John- I prefer it to Five Star, its more fluid and in the video they all dance in sync while playing their instruments. Its so Eighties though with that percussion sound and lots of keyboard stings! They are all from the same family and took their name from the Elton John song `Bennie and the Jets`)

[15] Simply Red: The Right Thing. On video.

[18] The Cult: Love Removal Machine. “This next song is very, very loud, be warned!!” says Steve Wright. I can't speak for the loudness of The Cult. They don't look loud. They look like four clots in black leather. What I can speak to is my impression that half The Cult had got confused and were playing Start Me Up, and the lead singer decided to press on regardless and hope no one noticed.

Ian Astbury, the lead singer, of The Cult seems to be wearing a big golden Totenkopf on the front of his hat, which is a bit infra dig these days to be frank. “You're a bit of a cult? Aren't you?” Mike Smith asks of Steve Wright afterwards. Steve Wight actually looks a little hurt. Which made me laugh loads. I am a bad person.

Top 40 Charts.

[7] Level 42: Running in the Family. Watching Level 42 I'm always struck by how pleased Mike Lindup looks. The other's are all trying really hard to look cool, but Mike's just happy to be there.
Top 40 Breakers: [21] The Communards, You Are My World; [17] A-Ha, Manhattan Skyline. (John- Surprisingly this song will only reach number 13 yet it is surely one of the Eighties’ finest singles. Maybe if they’d done this TOTP it would have gone higher?)

[8] Mental As Anything: Live It Up. Has there been a greater disconnect between a band's name and their appearance? Mental As Anything don't look unpredictable and zany. They look like they've stepped out briefly from performing at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in Hill Valley, 1955.

Top 10 Charts
[1] Ben E King: Stand By Me. On video.

[24] Duran Duran: Skin Trade. Gary Davies and Janice Long host next week. Mike Smith and Steve Wright say goodnight and we close with Duran Duran's video for... no we don't finish with a video. We finish with a studio performance. It feels disrespectful to exile Duran Duran to the arse end of the programme when they've made the effort to come into the studio. It also feels disrespectful to shrink them into a small cube to allow the credits to roll uninterrupted, as if the credits are more important. For reasons which never become clear Duran Duran are accompanied on stage by a man resembling Witch-Finder general Matthew Hopkins, who plays the trumpet.

Performance of the week: Really? By a process of elimination it's not Duran Duran, or Mental As Anything or Level 42 or The Cult which means it has to be... the Jets? I'll try again, by a process of elimination it can't be the Jets or The Cult or Level 42 or Mental As Anything which means it has to be... Duran Duran? Heads it's Jets. Tails it's Duran Duran. 
It's Jets, Crush on You.