Top of the Pops 3 August 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Steve Wright: “Hope you're having a good summer!! Good evening welcome to Top of the Pops!! I'm Steve Wright!! Here's Jenny Powell!!”
Jenny Powell: “Yeah. It's very nice to be working with you Steve.”
Steve Wright: “Thank you!!”
Jenny Powell: “Well the first band tonight come from Glasgow. They're three teenagers in the band, err, they're called Gun, I think...”
Steve Wright: “They are!!”
Jenny Powell: “...I think they're going to be a big hit. Here's Better Days.”

[33] GUN: better days. The guitarist at stage right has dirty great holes in his trouser legs. Is this a first sighting of pre-distressed jeans, that nineties fashion essential.

Sorry Gun. That's all I've got. Well done for not jumping when the thunderflashes go off. (John- I've got a fact for you, the drummer on this is called Scott Shields and he went on to compose music scores for films such as Black Hawk Down, Stardust, Bend It Like Beckham, Kick Ass and many more.)

[27] MARTIKA: toy soldiers. Promo VT.

CHARTS FROM 40 TO 31.

[30] PAUL McCARTNEY: this one. Mr McCartney returns to the Top of the Pops studio. It's coming up on two years since he last appeared with Once Upon A Long Ago, 03/12/1987.

This is a clearly a pre-recorded performance. If Paul McCartney had been in the studio “live” you can bet they would have panned from the host to Paul for maximum look-he's-really-here points. So can I work out when this was pre-recorded? Probably. They match the ones seen behind Sonia last week, so my best guess; this was recorded in the studio session for 27/08/1989.

Here's something I had to have pointed out to me by Billy Smart (who is keeping these updates going by constantly sending me the relevant editions, something for which I am profoundly grateful). This song has been sneakily edited by Paul Ciani. I've previously mentioned his war on Promo VTs, snipping their runtime down to anywhere from 90-120 seconds; see both Martika and Alice Cooper in this edition. Now studio performances are being brought down to around three minutes.

The aim seems to be to cram at least 10 songs into each episode (or nine, with the Breakers treated cumulatively as song 10). This week we have four studio performances and six videos. That's roughly 12 minutes for studio footage and 12 minutes for Promo VT. The power of Maths shows that leaves six minutes of a (roughly) 30 minute programme for the opening titles, host chat, charts, goodbyes, etc. Six minutes seems a lot but consider that even if the hosts were able to introduce each song in 10 seconds that's still nearly two minutes of programme time spent just telling you who the next band is and what they are singing.

The single for This One lasts around 4 minutes 13 seconds (253 seconds). The Top of the Pops performance runs to about 2 minutes 50 seconds (170 seconds). The first saving is easy, 19 seconds are gained by cutting the introduction. The next cut is sneaky, approximately 20 seconds saved by losing the second repeat of the “the swan is gliding...” section of the chorus. This is covered on screen with a cross-fade which presumably helps smooth out any audio or video glitches. The final cut trims out the last section of the song, 44 seconds. Now Eastenders can run on schedule.

I think it's reasonable to assume Paul McCartney performed the whole song in the studio and the editing was done at a point when he was safely back on the Mull Of Kintyre. 

[13] ALICE COOPER: poison. Promo VT.

[19] TRANSVISION VAMP: landslide of love. BBC VT. This is the performance recorded at the end of the studio session for the 13/07/1989 show.

CHARTS FROM 30 TO 11

[34] WENDY AND LISA: satisfaction. It's a good job I had so much to write about This One, because for the second time this week I've got nothing to say about a studio performance.

[32] THE LIGHTNING SEEDS: pure. Promo VT.

[2] KYLIE MINOGUE: wouldn't change a thing: Those little stage lights down the back of the main stage prove to be a really useful guide to when performances were pre-recorded. This time they match the ones seen behind the Blow Monkeys; dating this BBC VT to 20/07/1989.

TOP 10

[1] JIVE BUNNY & THE MASTERMIXERS: swing the mood. Promo VT. If you brought this, you are now banned from reading this blog. So there.

[26] SHAKESPEAR'S SISTER: you're history. Promo VT. To fit in the closing credits, Paul Ciana has to start running them immediately with the video. As a result no one remembers to caption Shakespear's Sister. Bruno Brooks and Sybil Ruscoe next week.

 Performance of the week: Paul McCartney, This One.