Top of the Pops 26 May 1988

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby.

Steve Wright: “'ello there!! Good evening!! I'm Steve Wright!! Welcome to Top of the Pops!! We have an excited crowd!! And some good bands!! And our other host is Mark Goodier!! Say hello Mark!!”

Mark Goodier: “Thank you very much Steve. Let's start tonight with a lady who keeps on coming back to the UK because she keeps on getting hits. Debbie Gibson at number nineteen with Out of the Blue. Across there.”

 [19] DEBBIE GIBSON: out of the blue. Last week the hosts kept sitting down. This week, in Paul Ciani's ongoing quest to make Top of the Pops look slightly different, the two hosts are separated. Steve Wright introduces the show from the edge of the main stage and hands over to Mark Goodier who is up on one of the studio bridges. It doesn't work because it looks like they've had a row and refuse to appear on camera together. Everything's blue for Debbie Gibson. Blue lighting. Blue scenery. And a blue costume. I'm sensing a theme. It looks like she's performing live from Metabelis 3. Is that a spider on her back? Debbie's a solo performer so she performs in front of a bank of monitors to add a little visual interest. It's a competent performance. Nothing ground breaking but it gets the show off to a solid start.

 

 

[13] LA MIX: check this out. On video. Steve Wright once again goes solo to introduce this video. Wright/Goodier rift confirmed! And here's something else to add to the Debbie Gibson blue list. Steve Wright's wearing blue washing up gloves because he's a wild and kerazy guy.

TOP 40 FROM 40 TO 31. Paul Ciani has persuaded Goodier and Wright to set aside their differences in the interests of show harmony. They both introduce the chart countdown.

[15] OFRA HAZA: im nin'alu. Now Goodier goes it alone. He's back on the scaffold bridge where he started the show. Did the pair demand equal chances to solo introduce a record?

Ofra Haza is also on the Debbie Gibson stage. A repeat use made obvious by the distinctive monitor bank behind. I don't recall Top of the Pops recycling stages for back-to-back performances before -at least not since the days of the 1984 Scenic Services strike, 23/02/1984. Is Top of the Pops coming from a smaller studio this week? In an attempt to hide the reuse this performance is intercut with the video. “Different!! Interesting!!” is the final verdict of Steve Wright, Top of the Pops' resident intellectual.

I'd have swapped the running order. Put Ofra Haza on first and Debbie Gibson on third. I can only assume the production team placed Ofra Haza third because they also wanted to show the video, which contains some good visuals and shows places that wouldn't have been so familiar to the 1988 audience. The downside of this thinking is, you open with Debbie Gibson's much more business as usual performance.

TOP 40 BREAKERS: [22 CLIMIE FISHER this is me] ; [25 ASWAD give a little love]; [28 STYLE COUNCIL life at a top people's health farm ].

[11] HOTHOUSE FLOWERS: don't go. For those keeping count (me). Steve Wright and Mark Goodier teamed up to introduce the Breakers and now Steve Wright goes solo again to introduce Hothouse Flowers.

This was my GCSE revision time and there are a slew of songs I associate with sitting in my bedroom trying to memorise correct facts. Don't Go is one of them but I remember it because I really disliked it at the time. This is unfortunate because the internet consensus suggests I'm wrong and most people seem to remember Don't Go quite fondly. I had, as is fairly standard for me, quite an arbitrary reason for taking against this song. The pace of the song seems off. The music doesn't match the speed at which the Liam Ó Maonlaí dashes through the lyrics, as if he's in a rush to get to the end. I've probably missed the whole point.

TOP 40 FROM 30 TO 11

[17] MICA PARIS: my one temptation. You won't be surprised to hear that Mark Goodier joined Steve Wright for the chart countdown and now he's on his own again, back on the studio bridge. He must be knackered. Dashing up and down the studio to meet up with Steve Wright for 20 seconds before having to scoot upstairs again. Prediction time. The pair will be reunited for the rest of the show.

About Mica Paris, I have little to say. Sorry. The lyric “nothing is free if you pay too much,” states the obvious in a way that probably won't shake the IMF to its foundations.

[18] SCRITTI POLITTI: patti (don't feel sorry for loverboy). This explains Debbie Gibson and Ofra Haza having to share the same stage because the others were all set up for bands. About Scritti Politti, I have very little to say. Sorry.  

[1] WET WET WET: with a little help from my friends. Another outing for the 12/05/1988 performance. This is of course a double a-side with Billy Bragg. Last week, to illustrate the double a-side concept, Paul Ciani played a brief snippet of Wet Wet Wet when Billy Bragg had finished. Obviously he'll do the same now and show a small moment of Billy Bragg's performance.

[14] HEART: what about love. Paul Ciani's dragging this out a bit. Still Billy Bragg is bound to be along in a moment. Nicky Campbell and Peter Powell next week and here's Heart. With Billy Bragg coming afterwards, no doubt.

 PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: Ofra Haza Im Nin'alu.

 In your own time Paul. Billy Bragg any moment now.