Top of the Pops 20th June 1991

 Words: Chris Arnsby

 Nicky Campbell: “Hello. Good evening. Welcome to the brilliant new look Top of the Pops. Prepare to be engulfed in a fiesta of music and colour. Lights and action. Sound and vision. What a show. Five live acts, the best music videos and what a start. Here is the r-r-r-r-Rebel MC.”

 [20] REBEL MC/TENOR FLY/B.LEVY: TRIBAL BASE. It seems a little over the top for Nicky Campbell to describe minor format tweaks as a new look. However, there’s an interesting snippet of news in the following week’s Stage And Television Today.

That news item would have been written in the week the 20/06/1991Top of the Pops was being prepared and recorded. It is possible Nicky Campbell was asked to describe the small changes made to Top of the Pops as a “new look” to throw people off the scent a bit.

Top of the Pops has been revamped. You can see the new look on screen right now.”

Alternatively, the small changes might feel like a bigger deal to the hosts because they are being asked to do things differently. Nicky Campbell is no longer surrounded by the crowd, he’s up on a scenery bridge and later he will be asked to stand in front of a green screen. That’s right green screen confirmed! NOW READ ON!

[6] SALT-N-PEPA: DO YOU WANT ME. Promo VT and charts from [40] to [2].

[15] LATOUR: PEOPLE ARE STILL HAVING SEX. Latour are on the Film Strip stage and for some reason the set designer has taken out the fixed panels at the back-right and back-left of the stage. In their place are a couple of flimsy cloth banners which billow nicely and are probably symbolic of the winds of change blowing through the nation’s fusty attitudes to sex on the telly*. More importantly, they give a view into the gap between the Film Strip and Main Stages. During the performance the gap is black because Terry Brett keeps the light levels low. However, the studio lights are raised as we head into the link to the next video and what do we see back there?

Why it’s Nicky Campbell wearing his nasty stair carpet shirt and standing in front of a green screen. So that’s where all the links into videos, repeat performances, Breakers, etc, are done.

* I mean, I keep falling off!

[19] EXTREME: GET THE FUNK OUT. Promo VT.

[5] KENNY THOMAS: THINKING ABOUT YOUR LOVE. I’m still not mad keen on isolating the host from the audience but one positive side effect is the terrific camera angles we get of the stage where the next act is about to perform. This one in particular looks great. The light levels are nice and high so we get a chance to see a couple of the camera operators in position, Kenny Thomas fiddling with his microphone a bit and shuffling awkwardly while waiting to begin, and the audience who seem really excited to see Kenny Thomas; god bless ‘em.

BREAKERS

[33] CUBIC 22: NIGHT IN MOTION

[33] CARTER -UNSTOPPABLE SEX MACHINE: SHERIFF FATMAN. Actually at [22]. The caption is wrong. Tracie Coster, Video Caption Artist, for shame.

[29] OMAR: THERE’S NOTHING LIKE THIS

[22] PAULA ABDUL: RUSH RUSH. Yes, that’s Keanu Reeves.

[27] DRIZA BONE: REAL LOVE. I’ve been wondering if the green screen shots were recorded as live or were they all done together at the end of recording?

It looks like they are done live at the appropriate point in the programme. The first green screen shot, into the Salt-N-Pepa video, shows the Rebel MC et al still on stage. The second one, into the Extreme video, shows the Main Stage setup has changed to the one used by Driza Bone. Then, at the end of Real Love, Nicky Campbell’s link into Jason Donovan shows Driza Bone waving at the crowd. Oh, and for fans of ducts, you get a really good look at the tubes pumping dry ice down the wings of the stage.

[2] JASON DONOVAN: ANY DREAM WILL DO. Promo VT.

[7] BETTE MIDLER: FROM A DISTANCE. Bette Midler appears courtesy of the Disco Ball Corporation (a division of Northrop Grumman). This can be the only explanation for there being six of the things hanging from the ceiling behind her, plus a seventh weird cylinder-shaped disco ball which is part of Northrop’s new line of stealth disco technology.

Fair play to Bette Midler. She gives every impression of being delighted to appear on Top of the Pops. What a pro.

[1] COLOR ME BADD: I WANNA SEX YOU UP. BBC VT. A repeat of last week’s disgusting performance. Now I have to disinfect the inside of my television again.

[12] ROD STEWARD: THE MOTOWN SONG. Promo VT. Simon Mayo next week. Check out the member of the studio crew dancing across the Main Stage in the green screen background to Nicky Campbell.

Countdown to Year Zero revamp: 15

Ratings: [29] with 6.24 million better than last year when the equivalent show placed at [30] with 6.02 million watching.

 Performance of the week: Latour, People Are Still Having Sex.