Top of the Pops 15 February 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

 Anthea Turner: “Welcome to Top of the Pops! And for the next half hour on BBC1 and Radio 1 we've got videos including Rod Stewart and Tina Turner! We've got chart news! And in the studio we've got The Wedding Present! The Stranglers! But on stage now it's Britain's highest new entry! At number five! Black Box!”

 [5] BLACK BOX: I DON'T KNOW ANYBODY ELSE. This edition is hosted by the “newly wed,” (© Gary Davies MCM) Anthea Turner. She tied the knot with Peter Powell, yes, That! Peter! Powell!, but by 1990 he'd moved on from being a presenter and DJ to run a management company.

David Ward, has a rival. Who is David Ward? He once was King of the Cypher Graphics system but he's been dethroned by newcomer Rockett Norton. It was actually last week that Rockett made his debut but on that occasion his captions were very much in line with the ones produced by David Ward; apart from adding a wireframe graphic of the Top of the Pops symbol behind the chart number. This week Rockett Norton has been allowed to really take the Cypher system for a spin to see what it can do. And what it can do is very fancy indeed. The caption for Black Box falls from the top of the screen packed in a (purple) 3D box and the chart position and letters tumble out of the box and line themselves up, as the box disappears back up the screen. Très bon. Very très bon indeed.

I have follow up questions. 1) How will David Ward respond. And 2), is Rockett Norton related to the camera operator Rocket, credited on Red Dwarf? Probably not, given the different number of Ts in each name. (John- Or is he a superhero who saves the world in between doing graphics? With a name like Rockett he should be.)

Plus one last non-caption question. What's the weird black shape that appears screen right as the crane pulls back from the stage during the introduction to I Don't Know Anybody Else? Part of the camera presumably.

[15] CHER: JUST LIKE JESSIE JAMES. Promo VT. CaptionWatch, the text Just Like Jessie James is arraigned in the shape of a gun.

[24] ERIC CLAPTON: BAD LOVE. Promo VT. CaptionWatch, Bad Love is organised into the shape of a heart and Eric Clapton pierces it like an arrow of Eros.

CHARTS: 40 to 31

[24] THE WEDDING PRESENT: BRASSNECK. The Wedding Present and Eric Clapton both at [24]? That can't be right. It isn't. Eric is actually at [25]. A disappointing early mistake for the Rockett lad. CaptionWatch: The (purple) box from (Black) Box is back again. Has Rockett Norton run out of ideas?

The Independent newspaper sent a reporter to this Top of the Pops recording for an article published on 08/03/1990. Of The Wedding Present, they note: “Lost in the middle of it all, The Wedding Present are going through their third studio rehearsal (they have four). It is their Top of the Pops debut, and they are clearly not impressed. Amid a gaggle of technicians anxious about the light on the drums being a bit thin, the singer David Gedge looks around blankly, and wonders just what he's led his pop group into... David Gedge has not come to terms with being a mere object upon which lights and cameras are trained; he looks bored.” (And thanks to commenter mumu03 for emailing this article to me).

David Gedge and the boys from the Wedding Present stand motionless (or as motionless as possible while playing the drums) and deliberately fail to make eye contact with the camera and, well, look bored. There are plenty of people on YouTube willing to give a thumbs up on the grounds that “Musicians don't like this kind of show. So, that's why he acts this way.” and praising them for “dissing the commercialism of the show.” The alternative view comes from one of the camera operators quoted in The Independent's report: “People like that make me sick. They pretend to dislike it just because they think it fits their image and they can't be seen to be having a good time.”

So which is it? Moody boys deliberately going to a party to be seen standing alone or brave artists mocking the crass consumerism of the pop industry? If you ask David Gedge, it's a joke that got out of hand: “I was sort of influenced by the Brassneck promotional video where the entire band remained motionless while a troupe of dancers performed around us. I just thought I’d continue the theme for Top Of The Pops, too. At each studio rehearsal I became more and more extreme and I was really half expecting the director or somebody to come up and tell me off. But no one did... so I thought... why not?!”

It's perhaps a shame that no one in the studio talked to the band. Although you can also understand why the production team chose to focus on their jobs rather than engage with a bunch who gave every impression of not wanting to be there having accepted the invitation to do so.

In the end no one wins. The Wedding Present come off as a bunch of bores and the production team look silly for treating them to all the usual fast camera moves and flashing lights. Ironically the best epitaph for this performance comes from Anthea Tuner: “Wedding Present! [wink to camera] Anyone want a toaster!?”

[21] ROD STEWART: DOWNTOWN TRAIN. Promo VT. CaptionWatch, the caption trundles on screen in the shape of a steam train with Rod Stewart as the smoke.

[6] SYBIL: WALK ON BY: BBC VT. Repeated from 02/02/1990. CaptionWatch, the song title overshoots the centre of the screen. Quite literally walking on by.

CHARTS: 30 to 11

[17] DEPECHE MODE: ENJOY THE SILENCE. Promo VT. CaptionWatch, just some fancy text movement. There's not really much inspiration to be taken from the song title, although Depeche Mode has been wrapped into a ring which might be intended to match the shape of the crown Dave Gahan wears in the video.

[22] MICHAEL BOLTON: HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE WITHOUT YOU. Promo VT. CaptionWatch, appropriately the name of the song is wrapped into a question mark shape.

[31] THE STRANGLERS:96TEARS. The Stranglers continue to live in their own little universe. If The Wedding Present really wanted to engage with Top of the Pops on their own terms then this is how you do it. The Stranglers have loosened up over the years but still maintain their own sphere of surly indifference. The only person working the camera is drummer Jet Black who gazes manically down the barrel of the lens. Every cutaway shot to the drums is like gazing into Renfield's cell in Dracula.

For anyone fretting about last week's damage to the neon stage to force through a couple of dry ice pipes, it's all been fixed.

CaptionWatch, The Stranglers text is wrapped into a rotating ring which wraps tighter and tighter around the chart position graphic and squeezes it out of shape. It is strangled. Do you see?

TOP 10

[1] SINEAD O'CONNOR: NOTHING COMPARES 2 U. BBC VT. A very shortened repeat of the 26/01/1990 performance. About two minutes.

CaptionWatch, the caption moves horizontally and rotates vertically. It looks very nice but it's a bit disappointing after the guns and trains and number strangling.

[27] TINA TURNER: STEAMY WINDOWS. Promo VT. Mark Goodier next week. CaptionWatch, Rockett blasts back. The text initially appears slightly obscured behind a grey block but it moves forwards through the grey block and fades into full colour and visibility. The grey square is a steamy window. This manages to be visually pleasing and technically clever.

 Performance of the week: If you go by the sheer verbiage I've written then it has to be The Wedding Present, Brassneck (but secretly, it's actually The Stranglers, 96 Tears).