Top of the Pops 1 June 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Anthea Turner: “ Hi there! And we are well and truly live on tonight's Top of the Pops! On BBC1! And also Radio 1! But you can hear us on FM Stereo!”
Gary Davies: “We have an action-packed programme. Double Trouble and the Rebel MC, Neneh Cherry, Fuzzbox, but to start us off, here is Sinitta.”

 No caption. That's odd. Pressures of a live show, presumably. Well, this is Sinitta and she's at [19] with Right Back Where We Started From. Tut, fancy ending a sentence with a preposition like that. Sinitta is attended to by four cowboys. I don't know why. Then, midway through the song, the stage is invaded by a saxophonist who is just in time for the saxophone break, which is lucky.

First time round, the saxophonist appeared out of thin air so I went back to see if I could spot him sneaking on to the stage. He's at the left corner of the screen in a wide shot. Then he's obviously carefully cued because he scuttles across the side of the stage under the cover of a spinning wipe into a low-angle shot of one of the cowboys. Next, you can see him at the back of the stage. At this point, the dancers turn and gesture towards him in arms wide hail-fellow-well-met posture but the camera is not quite in the right place and the saxophonist is blocked first by Sinitta then by another wipe which spins out of the point in the screen where he's standing. He does his thing and dances off screen and is never seen again. Farewell saxophonist we hardly knew ye.

At the end of the song, the crowd are loud and appreciative enough to cause some brief microphony interference lines on the picture.

No caption again. Has the Aston operator fallen asleep? Fortunately Gary Davies tells us that Natalie Cole is at [2] with Miss You Like Crazy. Promo VT.

 CHARTS FROM 40 TO 31. Anthea Turner is caught up in the excitement of live television and describes them as, “the charts at thirty!” Paul Ciani needs to send someone to make sure the Aston operator is okay. Fortunately Anthea Turner is hear to announce “Madonna, at ten with Express Yourself Yeeaahhh!” Which makes it sound like a Roland Rat cover. Promo VT.

 “Up eighteen places to number twenty. Double Trouble and the Rebel MC and Just Keep Rocking.” Thanks Gary. The Aston Operator has left the building.

I can't really put my finger on it but this performance seems a bit anaemic. Maybe it's Rebel MC. Maybe it's the looping backing track that endlessly goes “Woo! Yeah!” as if the sampler has got stuck on Anthea Turner mode. Woo! Yeah! That drove me nuts in 1989. Woo! Yeah! One of the few songs which would have me diving across the room to turn off the radio. Woo! Yeah! That's enough of that nonsense. Woo! Yeah!

 Woo! Yeah!

 Anthea's turn again. Woo! Yeah! “It's from rapping to rocking!” Oh no. It's those wrinkly old codgers W.A.S.P. at [20] with a Promo VT for The Real Me. Woo! Yeah!

 CHARTS FROM 30 TO 11.

Gary does the honours, “at number five with Manchild, it's Neneh Cherry.” Right at the start of the performance, while Neneh Cherry is dancing and waiting for lyrics to begin, one of the handheld camera operators crabs along the front of the stage and suddenly the picture lurches alarmingly. Somebody has taken a nasty knock. Later, Vision Mixer Hilary Briegel makes use of a lovely slow fade between two camera angles which results in the image of a giant Neneh Cherry towering over a smaller version of herself.

What else? Moiré patterns briefly appear on the scenery behind Neneh Cherry, I've not noticed that before. It seems to be more pronounced on the bits of the scenery with the regular cheese grater-like small holes. Maybe the lighting is slightly different this week, and it's making the camera more sensitive to the effect. And, watch out for the terrific shot at the end of the rap where the handheld camera slowly ducks into the dry ice cloud. Very nice.

 “Cyndi Lauper first hit the British charts in 1984 with Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! That's always been her motto and she's here at twenty two!” Cheers Anthea. Any chance you could give me the song title? Promo VT.

 “They're in the charts at the moment with Pink Sunshine, over there. It's Fuzzbox.” Now Gary lets me down. What's the chart position? Do I have to look up everything myself?

For reasons which are not clear, lead singer Vix is carry what appears to be a scaled-up four foot long metal tack. It looks lethal. This performance goes better than the one on Ghost Train, ITV's Saturday morning kid's show. On 20/05/1989 Fuzzbox performed Pink Sunshine live and had some problems when the tape unexpectedly rewound partway through. You can watch it here, https://youtu.be/-QWL0AznZ_4?feature=shared, the band crack up but carry on performing like professionals.

 TOP 10. The cut from Fuzzbox to Gary and Anthea catches the camera operator by surprise, he's in the middle of checking his focus for a close up of the hosts. The shot crashes backwards rapidly while the two hosts seem slightly stunned. Did the production gallery cut away from Fuzzbox earlier than expected?

 “For the third week running, Britain's number one is a non-mover!” I get what Anthea Turner means but it's a very inelegent way of saying Ferry 'Cross The Mersey is still at Number One. PromoVT.

 Nicky Campbell hosts next week. Top of the Pops closes with Guns and Roses, Sweet Child of Mine at [14]. The credits run fast tonight. They normally take around 30 seconds, tonight they are done in 20. The programme must have been in danger of over running its live slot.

 Bonus master tape bit: The audio is faded down on the video and we hear the whoops and cheers of the studio audience. “One... Okay, that is it. That's a live show. It's out. They're on to Eastenders, already. Thank you very much for those people who had tickets. And made the effort. All the people who made it here at short notice. Thank you very much. A round of applause for yourself and a safe journey home. Thank you.” The comment about short notice is interesting. I wonder if this edition was changed to a live one at the last minute. Possibly because of the same strike which affected the 18/05/1989 edition? If it was, perhaps that explains the missing captions and the near over running.

Performance of the week. Fuzzbox, Pink Sunshine.