25 Years Since....July 1992

Now we've entered the second half of 2017, here's what I was enjoying when we entered the second half of 1992:

Electronic - Dissapointed

This is a great one to put into a music quiz, play the clip ask who the artist is and you will inevitably have some people say the Pet Shop Boys. I  must admit I did thing this was a Pet Shop Boys song myself at the time.

It does feature the Pet Shop Boys, but as guests of Electronic who consisted of Bernard Sumner of New Order and Johnny Marr of the Smiths. It could be argued that this fits better amongst other Pet Shop Boys songs than other Electronic songs.

Altern 8 - Hypnotic St-8

Little did I know at the time was this would be the last we'd see of Altern-8 in the Top 40. It did seem a bit more low key than Activ-8 or Evapor-8 and that's reflected in it's lower chart placing of 16.

I was just getting used to Altern 8 regularly releasing hits and they did have a further 3 singles that charted outside the top 40 which I didn't know about.

As I said when posting about Evapor-8, if you had asked me at the time which rave act would still be massive in 25 years ago I would have said Altern 8 instead of the Prodigy. Despite it being nearly a years since the Prodigy first charted, they only had two top 40 hits by this point.

Smart E's - Sesame's Treet

I remember this being the opening record on Top of the Pops and there were a group of kids singing this and doing rave dancing. Being a kid myself, it was good to see, what I didn't realise was that the kids were just there for the performance.

It was actually three grown men behind this and it was the actual Sesame Street theme music which had been sampled, something which they hadn't got permission for.

The three men in question would go onto because household names in the rave scene, one of them being Luna C who started up the legendary Kniteforce records, and the other two members forming Bang! who had one of the best known Happy Hardcore records in "Shooting Star".

Urban Hype - A Trip to Trumpton

Another record that samples children's TV music. This was a record that my mum couldn't stand, so naturally I liked it.

Later on in the decade when the Ratpack started doing old skool sets at raves, they had a tendency to play pretty much the same set all the time. This was one of the records they would feature, but minus the vocal samples. Was great to hear it again in the beginning until I listened to one Ratpack set too many.

Roy Orbison - I Drove All Night

I heard the Cyndi Lauper version of this first back in 1989 which I quite liked.

I knew that Roy Orbison passed away in 1988, so when this version was released in 1992 I assumed that he did the original back in the 60s and this was a reissue.

I was wrong. It was written for Roy Orbison originally and he did record it in 1987 but wasn't made into the record we know when this amongst other recordings were remixed by his Travelling Wilbury's bandmate Jeff Lynne for his posthumous album "King of Hearts".

Swearing In Pop Music

Warning, this post contains strong language.

First of all, I have no problem with swearing, I swear myself and personally I think if you get offended by swearing then you need to get a life. I've also never seen the point in censoring swear words for children, even with my sheltered upbringing in the countryside I knew pretty much every swear word by the time I was 8, and they're only words anyway.

What's prompted my to write this post is the amount of swearing I've heard on top 40 hits this year, the latest being this weeks new entry from a One Direction member. Maybe he's doing the Robbie Williams thing of being controversial post-boyband, but it certainly sounds like him and his collaborator are swearing just for the sake of it. I can say the same for some other records that have been hits in recent times.

The issue of swearing in pop music has been flagged in recent times, but is it really an issue?

First of all, what is pop music in a modern sense? This year we have had 4 acts flood the charts with multiple records at various points, Ed Sheeran, Drake, Stormzy and Kendrick Lemar. Three of those four are rappers, so one would expect swearing on their music. In fact I would hazard a guess we've had more records in the top 40 so far this year with rapping in them than not.

Although rap is the genre most likely to be associated with swearing, it's not the only one where you would expect it. When I was listening to rock and metal music back in the early 90s I think pretty much every band I listened to swore, some more so than others. It was my parents discovering "Get In The Ring" by Guns n Roses contained the lyric "suck my fuckin dick" that made them ban me from owning any Guns n Roses music. I did however own it courtesy of a copied tape from a mate at school.

Then there was Rage Against The Machine, who caused outrage with "Killing in the Name". Some people say this is just lots of needless swearing because of the "fuck you I wont do what you tell me" part being repeated multiple times, but every line in the song is repeated multiple times and it fits in with what the song is about.

When Green Day started to make a name for themselves in this country, they had the single "Longview", a song about masturbation with swearing in it. I knew somebody several years ago who wasn't familiar with Green Days music so I said he could borrow my "Dookie" CD. He said no, because he didn't like music with swearing in. Aside from "Longview" though, only three other tracks had swearing on them. What's more ironic though is that the man was a Pink Floyd fan who I've since discovered were swearing on records before it was commonplace to do so.

When I started getting into dance music I wasn't really expecting swearing, but there was. More often than not it was the MC's on the tape packs doing it. One particular MC, Junior, swore so often that some started calling him MC Fuckin Junior.

It's probably fair to say that most genres outside of pop have their fair share of swearing and have done for quite some time now. But what about swearing in pop music itself?

Around the turn of the century I was part of an Alisha's Attic e-mail group. I sent out my first e-mail to the group and then received an e-mail from one of the moderators giving me a bollocking for swearing in the e-mail. I thought the no swearing policy for the group was a bit ridiculous, particularly as Alisha's Attic had a song called "Angel Eyes" which had the lyric "fuckin bitch". So there is an example of a pop song with swearing from over 20 years ago.

Back in 1994 though, East 17 had a track on their "Steam" album called "MF Power". Whilst the track had the swearing edited out, the lyric sheet contained the lyric "Love ain't nothing but mother fuckin power". So there you have it, a boy band put swearing on their lyric sheet 23 years ago.

So whilst I do see some of the swearing on current pop records a bit pointless and there is arguably more of it than there used to be, it certainly isn't anything new.

I shall leave you with the East 17 track in question, MF Power.

Top of the Pops: 27/07/2017

Here is the Top 40 Countdown

We have a new number one which comes from DJ Khaled who "Despacito" knocked off number one in the first place. Only two additional artists feature this time as opposed to the army of people he had on the last one.

We also have 11 eligible records, meaning I have to eliminate two, quite surprising given the highest new entry is number 25. So I've eliminated number 29 because it's on it's second chart run and number 20 because it's only one place higher than it's previous peak and was previously going down.

This leaves 5 new entries and 3 additional climbers.


New (38) Yungen ft Yxng Bane - Bestie
⬆ (25) Alma - Chasing Highs
New (36) Dua Lipa - New Rules
⬆ (16) Rudimental ft James Arthur - Sun Comes Up
New (33) Selena Gomez ft Gucci Mane - Fetish
⬆ (13) Camila Cabello - Crying In The Club
New (26) Script - Rain
New (27) Demi Lovato - Sorry Not Sorry
⬆ (1) DJ Khaled ft Rihanna & Bryson Tiller - Wild Thoughts

Record of the Year 1984: Phil Fearon & Galaxy - What Do I Do

Apparently back in 1984, my young self would stand up in front of my family and sing "I Just Called To Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder, something I have absolutely no memory of. Fortunately my music tastes have moved on since then, it was never even a consideration for my record of the year.

My choice is "What Do I Do" by Phil Fearon & Galaxy. This is thanks in part to the Top of the Pops reruns. I already knew this record beforehand but the one from Phil Fearon & Galaxy that's always stood out to me is "Everybody's Laughing", also from 1984. However, I've been enjoying this record so much from the Top of the Pops reruns and have since listened to "Everybody's Laughing" a few times, but have decided I now prefer this one.

Despite the name suggesting there is a group behind this, there isn't, it's just Phil Fearon himself. This was the third top 40 hit for Phil Fearon & Galaxy, but he had previous chart success back in 1979 as a member of Kandiate. Prior to that he was one of the founding members of Hi-Tension.

One of the backing vocalists on this is Dee Fearon, who as you may have guessed is Phil's wife. But she was also the singer for Baby D in the 90s.

He would go on to run the Production House Records label who's acts included Baby D plus other acts from the rave scene such as Acen and The House Crew.

UK Singles Chart: 1984

We are currently at the end of March in the Top of the Pops reruns for 1984, so a quarter of it will be fresh in my mind and the rest of it will be predicting what will happen as it's still a bit early for me to remember.

As you probably know, the Liverpool group who were just outside the top 40 at the end of 1983 were Frankie Goes To Hollywood with "Relax". This was the first record to be played on Top of the Pops this year and go banned shortly after, meaning it didn't get played during it's 5 weeks at number one. Their follow up, "Two Tribes", fared even better spending 9 weeks at number one, the longest of the decade. Their third hit "The Power Of Love" was also number one making them the second act to reach number one with their first three singles. It spent one week at number one, before being knocked off be the Christmas number one "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood was clearly the success story of 1984, but not far behind them was Wham! who scored their first number one with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and second number one with "Freedom". They were only denied their third number one by Band Aid who kept "Last Christmas" off the top. Additionally we had George Michael get to number one with his first solo record "Careless Whisper".

Duran Duran had their second and final number one with "The Reflex" and scored a number two with "The Wild Boys" and number nine with "New Moon On Monday2. Meanwhile, after a solid start to the year, both Spandau Ballet and Culture Club were starting to decline in popularity towards the end of the year having record outside the top 10, with Culture Club only reaching 32 with "The Medal Song" having reached the top 4 with all their previous releases.

Cliff Richard was the only 50s debutant to have a hit this year meaning midway through the decade only him and Elvis had hits in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. He had one hit bringing his total to 83.

David Bowie continued his streak of hits every year since 1972 with "Blue Jean" keeping him in third place with 36 hits. Elton John became fourth outright adding two to his total bringing it to 33. Stevie Wonder had a number one with "I Just Called To Say I Love You" putting him in fifth place with 32, leaving Frank Sinatra sixth with 31 and Lonnie Donegan seventh with 30, who is now joined by Status Quo who had two hits this year.

Stevie Wonder wasn't the only Motown act to have a number one this year. Lionel Richie scored his only number one with "Hello". We saw a return to the charts after an 11 year gap for the Temptations with "Treat Her Like A Lady". There was also a couple of Motown debutants this year. Dazz Band had their only hit with "Let It All Blow" and Berry Gordy's son had his only hit with "Somebody's Watching Me" which featured the vocals of Michael Jackson who himself had a couple of Motown hits in the charts this year which he recorded in the 70s when he was on the label.

We have a solitary Punk record in the charts this year from the Toy Dolls with their Punk version of "Nellie the Elephant". Disco meanwhile was finally starting to fizzle out with the only ones of note being "Fresh" by Kool & the Gang and "Thinking Of You" by Sister Sledge which was actually recorded in the 70s.

It could be argued that there were two types of music Disco was making way for. First was Funk, most notably with Chaka Khan having hits this year with "Ain't Nobody" and the number one "I Feel For You" having previously done disco music. There was also the chart debut of Cameo with "She's Strange".

The other type was Hi NRG music which is what Frankie Goes To Hollywood is considered to be. We had the Weather Girls chart in March with "It's Raining Men" and a pre Stock Aitken & Waterman Dead Or Alive debut with their cover of " That's The Way (I Like It)".

In April we had the first Stock Aitken & Waterman record in "Searchin' (I Gotta Find A Man)" by Hazell Dean. We also had the Ian Levine produced, and appropriately titled "High Energy" by Evelyn Thomas.

In June we saw the debut of Bronski Beat with "Smalltown Boy", whilst July saw the second Hazell Dean record "Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)" and the debut of Divine with "You Think You're A Man", both Stock Aitken & Waterman produced.

We also had Freddie Mercury jump on the bandwagon with "Love Kills" and Kim Wilde with "The Second Time".

When watching the story of 1984 prior to the current Top of the Pops reruns, they mentioned a style of music I honest had never heard of before, Sophisti-pop. It was said to be inspired by Roxy Music, who had split up by this point.

One of the notable groups of this genre, the Style Council, had debuted the previous year and would have further hits this year. We had the debut of Matt Bianco with "Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed" and Sade with "Your Love Is King" already appear on Top of the Pops.

Also debuting this year from that genre is Scritti Politti with "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)" and Everything But the Girl with "Each And Everyone", plus Level 42 return with "Hot Water" and are now considered to be a part of this genre. There is also the only hit of Animal Nightlife with "Mr. Solitaire".

As we had the debut of Howard Jones in 1983, it was only a matter of time before we saw the debut of Nik Kershaw which we did in January with "Wouldn't It Be Good".

There was no shortage of Synth Pop in 1984 of all varieties, but towards the end of the year we get the debut of Art Of Noise with "Close (To The Edit)" which takes it in a completely different direction.

The synths are making their way into the Rock world too, with Van Halen making their chart debut with "Jump". This would be the only UK hit for the band from the David Lee Roth era.

We have Whitesnake, Iron Maiden and AC/DC from the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal scene continue to have hits, but we also see the debut of Dio with "Mystery".

Despite forming back in the 60s, its wasn't until 1984 that we saw the chart debut of ZZ Top with "Gimme All Your Lovin" followed up with "Sharp Dressed Man". This made them the first act beginning with Z to have more than one hit.

The most notable debutant of the year in the pop world though was Madonna. She debuted with "Holiday" which reached number 6 and followed up with "Lucky Star" and "Like A Virgin". She would have to wait until next year for her first number one though, and "Lucky Star" failed to reach the top 10, it would be another decade until the next Madonna record failed to do so.

There was also the debut of Cyndi Lauper with "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" which reached number 2 and followed up with "Time After Time" which reached number 3. Based on their first two hits, it seemed like Cyndi Lauper had the upper hand on Madonna, but her other two releases that year failed to reach the top 40 and would only have two further top 10 hits including a remake of her debut hit.

After a 20 year absence, Henry Mancini returned to the charts this year with his second and final hit "Main Theme From The Thornbirds". There was also a return after 15 years for Sandie Shaw courtesy of the Smiths, who had her final hit with "Hand In Glove".

Also bidding farewell to the charts this year, not taking re entries into account, is John Lennon who's final hit is "Borrowed Time" and Hot Chocolate who's final hit was "I Gave You My Heart (Didn't I)". You may have noticed that Mike Read said on Top of the Pops that Hot Chocolate had hits every year since 1970, but that applies to the top 75 rather than top 40, they failed to reach the top 40 in 1979 and 1981.

We are now getting more Rap/Hip Hop records in the charts. There are two from Grandmaster Flash with "White Lines (Don't Do It)" and "The Furious Five Step Off (Part 1)", the latter not being listed in the 1000 No.1 Singles edition of British Hit Singles. We also had Break Machine have their three chart hits with "Street Dance", "Breakdance Party" and "Are You Ready". Then there is the debut of Afrika Bambaataa with "Renegades Of Funk". We also have a novelty rap record from Mel Brooks with "To Be Or Not To Be (The Hitler Rap)".

The Afrika Bambaataa record was said to inspire the Freestyle genre of music, and we had our first Freestyle hit in the UK in "Let The Music Play" by Shannon. She followed this up with "Give Me Tonight" and "Sweet Somebody". This would be the last we'd see of Shannon in the charts expect for a couple of dance records where she was guest vocalist in the 90s.

No new nationalities on the charts this year, but a mention needs to go to German group Nena who scored a number one with their only UK hit "99 Red Balloons", a style described as being "Neue Deutsche Welle".

So that brings us to the mid-point of the 80s. Stock Aitken & Waterman have arrived, will this set the scene for the rest of the 80s?

Top of the Pops: 20/07/2017

Here is the Top 40 Countdown

So two of last weeks eliminations are eligible this week, but despite this there are only a total of 7 eligible record this week. There is one more climber included this week from Sigala ft Ella Eyre.

We still have "Despacito" at number one, whilst Simon Cowell has helped preserve Bryan Adams record for consecutive weeks, it's now half way to catching Frankie Laines total weeks record.

The rest of the show is taken up by the three new entries.

Had the four records I eliminated been different, we could have had just five records feature this week.

New (38) Jax Jones ft Demi Lovato & Stefflon - Instruction
⬆ (23) Selena Gomez - Bad Liar
New (26) Zedd ft Liam Payne - Get Low
⬆ (19) Major Lazer ft Travis Scott, Camilla Cabello & Quavo - Know No Better
New (30) Kesha - Praying
⬆ (6) Sigala ft Ella Eyre - Came Here For Love
(1) Luis Fonsi ft Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber - Despacito

Record of the Year 1983: Depeche Mode - Everything Counts

When I was younger, Depeche Mode were a bit of a mystery group to me. I'd always heard of them but wasn't sure whether they were a cheesy 80s group or one you're supposed to take more seriously. The two record that would spring to my mind when they were mentioned was "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Personal Jesus", so one that's very much pop and another which is quite dark.

Around a decade or so ago I was getting into the darker side of electro and listened to "Enjoy the Silence" for the first time in years and realised how good it was. This is turn lead to me listening to other Depeche Mode hits, and like "Enjoy the Silence", I realised just how good this record was too.

This record showcases the light and dark side of the group, the verses sung by Dave Gahan being dark and the chorus sung by Martin Gore being light, but with a darker lyrical content about corporate greed and corruption.

To my original question when I was younger, well they are still going, releasing new music and playing to big crowds all over the world, definitely more of a group to take seriously than a cheesy 80s group.