Top of the Pops 10th & 17th May 1990

 Words: Chris Arnsby

10/05/1990 

 Gary Davies: “Hello. Good evening. I hope you're having a great Thursday evening. You're going to enjoy tonight's programme, in the studio we have Beats International, Mantronix featuring Wondress, we've got Adamski, Michael Bolton, and we start off with the highest new entry at number five. Better The Devil You Know, over there it's Kylie.”

 [5] KYLIE MINOGUE: Better The Devil You Know. Top of the Pops is in a rut. There's nothing wrong with happy little pop songs to open the programme but this is the fourth in a row. And three of those four were produced by Stock, Aitken, and Waterman; Sinitta wasn't much to my surprise. I'd suggest that as recent Number One act, Beats International would be a better choice to open tonight's show, or Mantronix.

[20] WONDER STUFF: Circlesquare. Promo VT.

CHARTS: 40 TO 31. Not going to play Emma now that she's (barely) broken the Top 40

[19] MANTRONIX Featuring WONDRESS: Take Your Time. Mantronix and Wondress have taken the time to fly in especially for Top of the Pops according to Gary Davies. I commend their effort but I have nothing else to add.

[8] NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: Cover Girl. Promo VT

[18] BEATS INTERNATIONAL: Won't Talk About It. Having said Beats International would be a good bet to open the show, it's not great is it? Whatever elements made Dub Be Good To Me work so well are in low abundance second time around.

In fact, this is a bit of a dull show. It's definitely gone off the boil since right after the first song. There's nothing wrong with Mantronix or Beats International but, surprise POP QUIZ, could you whistle either of them right now?

CHARTS: 30 to 11

[22] MICHAEL BOLTON: How Can We Be Lovers. We can't, Michael. I find that the only thing worse than your music is your hair. Let's cite irreconcilable differences and move on.

Mr Bolton is pre-recorded and I think quite a while ago. If you look above the stage there's a line of five white spotlights. The last time that configuration was seen, as far as I can tell, was all the way back on the 05/04/1990 show when Emma was debuting Give A Little Love Back To The World. If Michael Bolton was in the UK around that date then it's entirely possible they would grab him to record this song because it was inevitable it would chart

[14] EN VOGUE: Hold On. Promo VT.

TOP 10

[1] ADAMSKI: Killer. Adamski, Seal, and the unnamed dancer, are on the Triangle stage. If at some point in the future they can also appear on the Main Stage then they will have done the whole set. You won't be surprised to hear the Triangle Stage has been assembled in a different configuration but I'm getting bored with cataloguing the assorted ways it is thrown together so I'll simply note the difference and move on.

Chris Kempton is back on Lighting. He points strong white spotlights at the stage with rotating cutters that throw a fan blade effect through the studio smoke. The cameras rove the Triangle stage and find angles where bits of scenery intrude into the picture and look industrial; this matches the lighting and the harsh electronic stings of the song. Dave Jervis is doing the Video Effects, with Sue Collins credited as Vision Mixer. They also get into the jagged industrial mood with with asymmetric four-sided Quantel inserts that would delight Euclid.

Adamski has been lucky with the way Top of the Pops has presented Killer (with the exception of last weeks more bog standard flashing lights approach). It's always looked great.

[25] THUNDER: Back Street Symphony. Nicky Campbell next week. Promo VT. We're only 26 minutes and 30 seconds into the show and Gary Davies is saying goodbye. This is about 60 seconds ahead of where the programme normally ends. Those sixty seconds make a big difference because the end of this show is padded out with Thunder. They drear away at their plodding rawk until the credits start at 90 seconds; it's usually more like 30 seconds into the final video.

I wonder if this was a difficult show to fill? A minute is an awkward length of time. Too short for a couple of Breakers which is how Top of the Pops normally fills itself out. The other option would have been to allow the other three videos to run slightly longer.

 Performance of the week: Kylie, Better The Devil You Know.

 17/05/1990

 Nicky Campbell: “Oh good to see you. Welcome to Top of the Pops. Well... I think it was Jean Paul Sartre who said football's a funny game and indeed it is, here we are, a moveable feast on a Friday night and what a menu, hope you are ready to gorge yourself gonna start with something really sizzling. Hot. House. Flowers.

 

[31] HOTHOUSE FLOWERS: Give It Up. 3-3 after extra time. That was the score between Crystal Palace and Manchester United at the end of the FA Cup Final on Saturday 12 May 1990. The replay was scheduled right across the prime time of BBC1 Thursday night, from 7.20-9.30. The regional news programmes lost 10 minutes so Eastenders could start at 6.50 and the news was delayed until 9.30.

The original line up is still on BBC Genone so we can see the summary for the episode of Tomorrow's World that never was: “Is there any limit to how small computers can get*? Will our television sets in 2020 contain more computing power than all the super computers in Britain today**? And how the Soviets have overcome problems to get the first civil aeroplane in the world to fly by gas***?” Bad news for fans of Russ Abbot. The 8.30 repeat of his show was cancelled. But, I hear you ask. Wasn't Top of the Pops simulcast on Radio 1FM. Yes it was, and it looks like Mark Goodier was extended by 30 minutes to cover the gap.
So, what happened Friday? Well. Wogan lost five minutes. He finished at 7.40 so the 30 minute Top of the Pops could be dropped in to the schedule before something called Paradise started at 8.10. The repeat of 'Allo 'Allo! that was supposed to be on BBC1 from 7.45-8.10 was dropped.

And on Radio 1FM? I don't know. Weirdly, The Daily Telegraph, who diligently list all the schedule changes for 17/05/1990, print the original planned schedule on 18/05/1990. And none of the other newspapers seem to bother running radio schedules.

The VT countdown clock at the start of the episode reads “TX: 18th May 1990 (Friday)” in case someone in got confused in the transmission suite.

* No.
** Yes.
*** No.
[25] LISA STANSFIELD: What Did I Do To You. Promo VT. Except for viewers on BBC4. The video got cut because Nicky Campbell said this in the introduction: “Ah yes, Rochdale. Gracie Fields, Cyr-l Sm-th. And, Lisa Stansfield who can sing better than Gracie and she's gonna be bigger than Cyril.”
[22] THE PASADENAS: Love Thing. The Passadenas bring some very vigorous jiving into the studio. The lead singer is absolutely soaked in sweat by the end of the song. I hope they didn't have to go for a retake.
CHARTS: 40 TO 31

[16] THE CHIMES: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. Nicky Campbell waxes lyrical about the next song and says it's “so good that Bono wrote to the group and said 'at last somebody can do justice to this song.'” A bit early for the Pet Shop Boys cover of Where The Street Have No Name, I thought. And I was right.
[27] EURYTHMICS: Angel. Promo VT.
CHARTS: 30 to 11
[29] SAM BROWN: Kissing Gate. Over at the BBC Photo Sales site there's a lovely picture of Paul Ciani directing this performance, https://bbcphotosales.co.uk/asset/120326/ I'm really grateful to mumu03 for pointing it out because, as he says, there are next to no photos of Paul Ciani online. He also mentioned this one, https://bbcphotosales.co.uk/asset/121873/, showing Ciani and Designer Richard Brackenbry looking over a smashing model of the studio. Both pictures come from a book called The Network Television Story.
Look in the background of the second picture. See the white board. What does it say? “3^rd January Willie Rush”(ton -presumably). I've no idea what that could refer to.
[21] PAUL YOUNG: Softly Whispering I Love You. Sorry. I'm done. I've got nothing constructive to add.
TOP 10
[1] ADAMSKI: Killer. BBC VT. A repeat of last week's performance.
[28] DEPECHE MODE: Policy Of Truth. Promo VT. Anthea Turner next week.

Performance of the week: The Pasadenas, Love Thing.