Top of the Pops: 02/02/2017

Here is the Top 40 Countdown

This is the shortest episode since the unofficial Top of the Pops comeback started, with just 5 singles eligible.

Once again Ed Sheeran is number one so he appears for the third week in a row and still preventing his number two single from getting another showing. The two climbers featured on the show from two weeks ago.

For the second time in three weeks, we have the same person perform twice on the show. This week its Dua Lipa, who has a new entry as well as her collaboration with Sean Paul climbing the charts. So if you don't like Dua Lipa then this episode is guaranteed to be at least 40% crap.


⬆ (28) Sean Paul ft Dua Lipa - No Lie
(New) Dua Lipa - Be The One
⬆ (32) Robin Schulz & David Guetta ft Cheat Codes - Shed A Light
(New) Tinie Tempah ft Tinashe - Text From Your Ex
- (1) Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You

What happened to Bomb the Bass?

For some people, Bomb the Bass disappeared at some point in the early 90s. Those who followed a bit more closely will know he did disappear for a bit, but he was very much back in the 00s.

Around 10 years ago I remembered Bomb the Bass being quite good and bought a couple of his albums and listened to more of his music on the internet. He was very much active, having a website that was regularly updated and was on the usual social media channels. In around 2010 he did a European tour which didn't include England, I assumed he must have been more popular on the continent, but I also did read about him living in both Amsterdam and Vienna at some point so may have just not fancied coming back to England.

In 2013 it was 25 years since "Beat Dis" came out and he was releasing "Mega Dis" to mark the occasion. In June of that year he set a date to play at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen which I planned to go to having wait a few years by this point to go and see him. Then shortly before the gig he announced that due to unforeseen circumstances the gig would be cancelled, no more live dates the rest of the year but he was planning a tour for 2014.

Then after October of that year we heard absolutely nothing from him. His website stopped being updated and no longer exists. If you look at his Twitter and Facebook they were both last updated in October 2013.

Every now and then I take a look to see what has happened to him, and also see if there are any online discussions from people wondering what had happened to him. I checked again today and came across this.

So it would seem he's called it a day with music and has gone into the food business, now running a meatball takeaway in Prague. He says in the interview he doesn't want to be DJing in Ibiza and trying to be cool when he's 60. He has a good decade or so until that happens, hopefully he'll find himself missing making music and come back before then.

25 Years Since...

Now we're almost a month into 2017, I thought I'd take a look at some of the music I was enjoying at the start of 1992. It was before I devoted myself to any scene and enjoyed most music that was in the charts. Here are 5 tunes I particularly liked at the time:

Prodigy - Everybody In the Place

At the time the Prodigy's only previous effort on the charts was "Charly" which was written off as a novelty record. I don't think I'd heard anything quite like this record at the time, even 25 years later the beats on this record sound like something else. I remember having the urge to dance with my hands in the air at the time, probably an early sign of my raving years that would lie ahead of me.

Wonder Stuff - Welcome To the Cheap Seats

The Wonder Stuff were one of those bands who put out a few tunes around the turn of the decade, but they stepped up a gear in 1991 when they released "Size Of A Cow" in 1991. Then later in the year came their biggest hit, the number one "Dizzy" with Vic Reeves. Such was the success from that record along with the fact that Miles Hunt barely sang on the record, it almost banished anything they'd done before to history as far as I was concerned. However, the release of "Welcome To the Cheap Seats" reminded me of their existence as a band without Vic Reeves. This time they had guest vocalist Kirsty MacColl, but I think its fair to say that Miles Hunt was very much the main vocalist on this.

James - Born Of Frustration

Asking anyone to name a James song and the vast majority will say "Sit Down". Personally I've never been a fan of "Sit Down", but "Born Of Frustration" is a fantastic tune. I like the way the chorus is a bit of an anti climax to the "Wooooowooooowoooowooo" at the beginning. It's also a song that I misheard the lyrics to, the line "When all that counts in how to change" I heard as "When all the counties out to change".

Pasadena's - I'm Doing Fine Now

This had an instant impact on me when I saw this for the first time on the Chart Show. It just has one of those real feel good choruses. Still feeling good listening to it 25 years later.

Voice Of the Beehive - Perfect Place

I used to follow the charts really closely in 1992. I would regularly listen to the top 40 countdown and would rarely miss an episode of Top of the Pops or the Chart Show. Just as well really, else I may not have ever heard this song which only reached number 37 in the charts. Seems like not too many people remembered it either, this video has been on YouTube for almost 10 months and has had only 97 views. Make it 98, you know you want to!  

Top of the Pops: 25/01/2017

Here is the Top 40 Countdown

So once again we have Ed Sheeran at number 1 and once again we have just 7 songs eligible for this show. Ed Sheeran will only be playing once this week, with his other song staying still at number 2.

Both ends of the top 40 are represented this week, with four from the top 10 and three which are number 32 and below. In addition to the three new entries there is a re entry to the top 40 from XX reaching a new peak of 34 having originally reached 38 back in November. This is the only 2016 release on this show, the rest are all new for this year. Unlike last week though, we just have one tune that is somebody featuring somebody else.

New (10) Chainsmokers - Paris
⬆ (4) Jax Jones ft Raye - You Don't Know Me
New (32) Sage the Gemini - Now And Later
⬆ (7) Starley - Call On Me
New (37) Migos - Bad And Boujee
Re (34) XX - On Hold
(1) Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You

Top of the Pops: 18/01/2017

After making my post last week about why Top of the Pops shouldn't come back following my analysis of what would have been on Top of the Pops the previous 6 weeks, I thought it would be interesting to continue this analysis each week until I get bored of doing it, whenever that may be.

At the same time though, what I thought I could do is create my own Top of the Pops on this blog for those of you who would like it to come back. Obviously I'm not going to invite the acts to come and play in the studio, I'm simply going to post links to the YouTube videos. There will also be no presenter doing the links between the songs, but this ensures there will be no need to censor it in 35 years time when said presenter is banned from TV.

My plan is to put post this at 19.30 every Thursday in true Top of the Pops style.

So to this week. Here is the Top 40 Countdown.

There are 7 songs eligible for this weeks show, so another short one. We have a new number one by Ed Sheeran and a new number two also by Ed Sheeran. I haven't read anything about the same act not being able to appear twice in the same episode, but then in those days you tended not to get two new entries from the same act in the same week. As there is no rule saying it isn't allowed, I'm allowing it. So Ed Sheeran appears twice, so if you like Ed Sheeran this will be a good episode for you, if you don't then it's guaranteed to be over a quarter crap.

Ed Sheeran is also the only one this week who's inside the top 20 and also the only one to have a song which isn't featuring somebody else.

New (23) Machine Gun Kelly ft Camila Cabello - Bad Things
New (28) Sean Paul ft Dua Lipa - No Lie
⬆ (22) Tom Zanetti ft Sadie Ama - You Want Me
New (33) Snakehips ft MO - Don't Leave
New (32) Robin Schulz & David Guetta ft Cheat Codes - Shed A Light
New (2) Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill
New (1) Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You

UK Singles Chart: The 1960s

Before looking into the chart history of the 60s in any sort of detail, my perception of the 60s was that it was a decade of 2 halves, the first half being centred around beat music and the second half being more heavy and psychedelic but also with soul and folk music coming to the forefront of things.

Whilst my perception wasn't far off the mark, it certainly wasn't a simple case of 5 years of 60s part 1 and 5 years of 60s part 2.

I've known for many years that The Beatles debuted in 1962 and it is often said just how big an influence they were in changing the world of music. It should be no surprise to see that the music world hadn't really left the 50s up till this point, but what did surprise me was what little indication we were in the 60s there was. The first number one which to me is a 60s sounding number one was "How Do You Do It" by Gerry & the Pacemakers in mid 1963, just 18 months before the halfway point of the 60s.

The only music that seemed to have any sort of longevity in the charts was soul music. We had the Supremes debut in 1964 and would have at least one hit every year for the rest of the decade without sounding drastically different by 1969.

The beat era basically lasted throughout 1963 and 1964, the only bands who continued strongly after this, such as The Beatles, had moved on from their original sound, whilst many of the other bands were having their last couple of minor hits by 1965 if they hadn't finished already.

Then there was the folk music, which took off in the charts in 1965 but seemed to fade away towards the end of the decade.

By the end of the decade, the charts had a much more pop sound to them, but clearly this wasn't reflected in the world of music. You had some hugely popular bands such as The Doors, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin who had little to no presence in the singles chart.

I think the best way to sum up the 60s charts is that it is a decade of change. After a slow start, new styles of music would come along and knock what was popular off the top, but it would never be too long until it would get knocked off itself by the next big thing.

I said in my 1969 post that it was best described as a big farewell party to the 60s and with the 70s on the way, a change seems almost inevitable.

Record of the Year 1969: Gene Pitney - Maria Elena

As the years go by, its getting more and more difficult to pick a record of the year as there is much to choose from. For 1969 I have decided it should be "Maria Elena" by Gene Pitney.

I first heard Gene Pitney when he did the re-issue of "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart" in 1989 with Marc Almond unaware that it was an old song at the time. Marc Almond would continue to have more hits but I heard nothing more of Gene Pitney.

A few years later I was listening to a mates Happy Hardcore mix tape on my Walkman. It was a 60s minute mix on a 90 minute tape and he told me that the remaining 30 minutes was Gene Pitney. Having not heard anything of him for a few years, I was intrigued to hear what else he had done and when I heard it I quite liked it.

When I decided to listen to music other than rave in the late 90s, Gene Pitney was one artist I started listening to when I saw a compilation CD of his with 28 tracks on it for something like £3 or £4.

I did get a lot of stick from people for listening to Gene Pitney, mainly because he was old and because of his high pitched voice. It did bother me at the time and I pretended to stop listening to him, but carried on it secret until I stopped caring and have openly admitted to listening to Gene Pitney for years.

This tune came out when Gene Pitney's popularity was in decline which probably started after he had his final top 10 hit with "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart" a couple of years earlier. I would say however some of his best tunes came out during this period. As well as "Maria Elena" there was "Somewhere in the Country", "A Street Called Hope", "24 Sycamore" and "Shady Lady".

In true Gene Pitney style, this is a sad song, but its uplifting at the same time. It's about a soldier saying farewell to Maria Elena as he is going to war and may not come back.

Gene Pitney continued to tour right up until his death in 2006 when he was on tour in the UK.