Eurovision Song Contest 2024 *clears throat*

(I do that a lot, btw. Damn rhinitis! Hmm, alluring image to cultivate on the Internet right there…)

I PLEDGED (well, sort of) that I would go into this year’s Eurovision cold! (As cold as could be!)

(I am still a little put out at last year’s results. Well, it happened. I would love to be a juror one day. Oh, the POINTS I would give to some of the songs… #Power) (I would probably be a rubbish juror actually. I don’t like the bit at the end when the acts receive their public vote: you can tell it’s tough for many of the contestants. Justice for “Who The Hell Is Edgar?” ETC.)

I have heard some songs in their entirety.

Look, we’ll see how this goes, ok?

If anyone is interested *ahem* I made a playlist with some of the national final songs from this year (Lithuania, Estonia, Goddess Konstrakta from Serbia, RAAVE! from Austria).

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1yjfpUHxRqKf55RU44k6CO?si=6dBzPxkqReum9F_VwpYsMw&pi=e-CP17-xqsQVGi

I have watched Eurovision on and off since the 1980s.

My favourite Eurovision song of all time is this captivating masterpiece.

Goddess! Robbed! Babble! Etc…

My favourite songs from the last few years, hmm: Serbia from 2022/2023. Austria from 2023. Anouk (Netherlands). I honestly don’t know! Hold up, is it time for another playlist…

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0g68TA4oT3IJrHAF9Jk5js?si=BtdchOxRSZ6Id5WBjKZ-Yg&pi=e-Jq0QSIXkRJ-e

I like songs to be in native language if possible. I am a middle aged woman whose passport expired. Gimme different cultures, different languages! Give me that flavour, that excitement!

I am aware that I am getting older and some of the factors (things like TikTok integration) mean nothing to me (oh Viennaaaa). I really don’t want to sound like someone shouting at a cloud. I want to get the balance right (oh the title of a Depeche Mode song).

What have I heard so far, then?

Estonia – song with an incredibly long title that I am not going to look up as my cat is on my lap (Eesti, we are cool, right? We have a history!)

SOUNDS LIKE I have no idea

I completely and utterly love this and I am thrilled that this song will be representing Estonia in May. This is why I watch Eurovision! It’s in Estonian, it represents Estonian culture. The package is so fun and charming and clever and infectious. I might have to vote for this, you know. When did I last vote at Eurovision? I don’t always particularly care for the Estonian entries. I used to be a big fan of the Estonian music scene. Tallinn is home to this gem…

https://youtu.be/4j5M4N_NDPg?si=4Hrn_30A9ejbtCOA

(Does the embed work? It is the Depeche Mode bar in Tallinn. GOD. The sweetest perfection indeed.)

Sweden – Impossible

SOUNDS LIKE “Salva Mea” by Faithless (thank you Internet!)

Yes, Sweden has the ‘teacher’s pet’ tag for sure: they are good at what they do and I will always respect a competition like Melfest (they put the work in and it invariably pays off) but, yeah. It can be like eating Pringles (let’s NOT go there) instead of trying a new flavour, something different… I would love to hear Swedish language, for example. (When did Sweden last send a song in Swedish? It is a beautiful language.)

These singers (Marcus and Martinus) are adorable, and it is probably just as well I am not a juror because I don’t like to think of their little faces being disappointed in any way. Eurovision can be ruthless. Of course they will do well because Sweden (and the singers are Norwegian). The song is catchy. Good luck to them.

(I will be back…)

(I love Pringles btw. Way too much. And I always almost eat the original ones.)

Top of the Pops 1995/1988 (BBC 4 22/09/23) – *Independent Blog Post*

I haven’t written in a while, so why not?

Question, maybe rhetorical: why does 1995 feel like an eternity ago but 1988 less so? Is it because I was a teen in 1995?

I remember this time in 1995 so well. I went on a college trip to Strasbourg/Brussels. I remember the jacket that I wore (a suede jacket from Top Shop). I remember the cassette in my Walkman. (A Prince Greatest Hits compilation.) I remember falling asleep on a coach and waking up to find my fellow travellers laughing at me. (I dread to think what I must have looked like!)

Ooh, the TOTP studio has a swanky new look and a funky new theme! (Vince Clarke was behind this theme? Should I have known this?)

Our 1995 (first episode presenter) *drum roll* Ms Kylie Minogue! Kylie’s longevity takes my breath away. I’m part of the generation that grew up with her. You know, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Kylie keeps having hits for the next ten/fifteen years. She’s Kylie Minogue. I’ll admit that I haven’t always been fond of her (I was too cool for her Stock Aitken Waterman stuff nyaaah, and then there was what appeared to be Madonna cosplay in the early nineties) but these days I really, really like her.

Some songs from that episode:

MN8 – New Jack Swing. I get why it caught on (it’s catchy, very appealing to youth). (I am sure that one of the members of this band is/was married to the “Home and Away” actress Laura Vasquez.)

Scarlet – “Independent Love Song”. Oh God, this is so epic. This is how you do a debut single (but then, how do you better something this epic?). It is masterful and transcendent. The singer reminds me a little of the actress Michelle Holmes (“Rita Sue and Bob Too” etc etc).

Ini Kamoze. This song had legs. (Perhaps appropriate, as it comes from a movie about models.) I wouldn’t seek it out but it’s catchy, I don’t mute/skip it.

REM – “Crush With Eyeliner”. One of the (many) interesting things about these repeats is that I get to read the lyrics via the subtitles. I remember liking this at the time, but I never think of listening to REM these days.

Number One – iiiit’s Celine! I still don’t really ‘get’ this song, but of course Ms Dion is a vocalist par excellence. I think this song and the Scarlet song could also have been hits a decade earlier: they have that timeless quality.

Didn’t watch the second 1995 episode. I was back in my groove for the 1988 episode…

Hosts: Nicky Campbell and Andy Crane. I think they worked well together. NC can be a bit of an acquired taste as a TOTP presenter, so I think pairing him with affable Andy was a good move.

What happened in that evening’s “EastEnders” episode?!

Pet Shop Boys – “Domino Dancing”. PSB go freestyle! I really enjoyed this performance (loved the backing singers) but wish there hadn’t been such a buildup to Neil’s vocal at the beginning (it felt a bit awkward waiting for him to start singing).

Womack and Womack – “Teardrops”/Bill Withers – “Lovely Day”

Grouping the above songs together as they are favourites of my Mum, though not this 1988 remix of “Lovely Day”. Again, I wish the production had done something to ease the awkwardness of Mr. Withers, who was not on top miming form.

It’s such a classic, though: you can throw the “ah yeahs” at it but you can’t detract from the nucleus of what is a top quality song. I like to think of how many people got into Bill Withers following this remix, too (but I am with my Mum – of course – we prefer the original!).

Nicky tries to be smart about Rick Astley. No, Nicky: this wasn’t cool. It’s a prime time TV pop show, not some arty review thing on late night Channel Four. Nicky seems to be a really decent guy and I am sure he cringes watching this back. (Hell, if I’d had to introduce some of the stuff on TOTP as a superior younger person I’d have had to keep a lid on some of my feelings. I have just tried to find the clip of Jo Whiley’s utter disdain introducing Vanilla “No Way No Way” from back in the day.)

The playout track was “Riding on a Train” by Pasadenas. This is so perfectly 1988 I love it. How CAN this song be 35 years’ old? Where did the freakin’ time go…

(With that, I bid you goodbye!)

Top of the Pops – BBC Four – Episode 21/08/86 *Girls, Boys and Brother Louie*

Our hosts! Gary Davies and Bruno Brookes!

GD is arguably my favourite presenter from this time (aah, he and Janice Long. Gosh, she is missed). He makes it all look so easy, and I like how he doesn’t present with a supercilious air. This is his job, he’s good at it, he isn’t looking for cool points.

I don’t mind Bruno Brookes at all either. I grew up with him presenting the Top 40 on Radio One. I’ve seen a lot of goodwill towards Mark Goodier from the nineties kids (I guess I am technically a nineties kid as I came of age in that decade but I am so much more of an eighties kid in spirit): perhaps I have such sentiments for Mr. Brookes.

(Why does this text seem so small? Did they have Visionace capsules in 1986?)

(Listing below copied from the Popscene website)

(25) Depeche Mode – “A Question Of Time”

Oh my God, if it isn’t my favourite band! Heart emojis galore! The Mode! From my favourite album ever, “Black Celebration”! Happy Friday!

This song is of course an unadulterated classic (admittedly the lyrics are icky).

How exciting would this have been as a pop fan in 1986 (would I have liked DM in 1986? I was eight, sure, but I would listen religiously to the charts etc. I have no idea what I liked in 1986, really. My earliest faves like Thompson Twins and Nik Kershaw probably weren’t as visible. I don’t know. It was thirty-seven years ago, damn it!).

From the sublime to the…
(11) Prince – “Girls & Boys” (video)

Also sublime! Prince is a genius. He had the confidence and the vision to pull off things – ‘things’, how nebulous – that 99% of his contemporaries wouldn’t/couldn’t have dared. (I remember Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back” from back in the day. One needs mammoth quantities of self-confidence to even go there without being an immediate object of ridicule.)

Eighties me would have found this cool I am sure: Prince’s gang, the French lyrics, the charisma, the style.

(23) Bruce Hornsby & The Range – “The Way It Is”

Does Bruce Hornsby look like Hugh Dennis? (What was that about Visionace earlier…)

I have always liked this song. What else did Bruce Hornsby do? As much as I like this song, I have never investigated further. I think I would have to be in a particular mood. Maybe, one day.

(21) Janet Jackson – “When I Think Of You” (breaker)

I think this era of Janet’s is my favourite (the “Control” era). I really enjoy this!

(19) The Human League – “Human” (breaker)

Phil Oakey aah aaah swooooon

(18) Peter Cetera – “Glory Of Love” (breaker)

It’s a power ballad! You know, if I ever get married, I could walk down the aisle to this. Come ON, it’s a statement.

(15) Jermaine Stewart – “We Don’t Have To…” (breaker)

…what? Take Our Clothes Off, you say? Whatta choon!

(This is a great episode!)

(12) Modern Talking – “Brother Louie”

Schlager time! I am guessing this was a big holiday hit (without looking it up).

Did “Cheri Cheri Lady” ever make UK Top 40? That is ein Lied!

(1) Boris Gardiner – “I Want To Wake Up With You” (video)

This is pleasant enough but I wouldn’t seek it out. (Also – not Mr. Gardiner’s fault – he shares a name with a certain British politician, and I will leave it here.)

The model in this video is very pretty.

(28) The Communards – “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (video/credits)

It’s Ian Hislop Jimmy Somerville! Aaah BABY!

I am thinking that I haven’t given 1986 the credit it deserves. This was a storming episode.

I am off to rest my eyes…

Laterz.

TOTP 03/03/1983 (repeated on BBC Four – 03/03/2023) *Not About The Tennis Player*

Well, hello!

In other news: I am still ill. This virus has floored me. (My Mum has also been really poorly with this.) It has been over a fortnight and I am still coughing, hot/cold, exhausted. This blog’s message for today: look after your health. Stay hydrated. Take vitamins. Huddle under blankets. Take care of one another.

(Sometimes I wish I had someone to take care of me, y’know? God, I am luckier than most: how I know this. I have these indulgent moments when I feel grotesque and I imagine someone bringing me steaming mugs of tea and hot water bottles. They pass. It passes. Any-way!)

We are in 1983! Y’all ready for this? *

(Hey! This is from 1991!)

Our hosts. Messrs Peel and Jensen. The snarkometer is ready, having been on full charge.

Icehouse – “Hey Little Girl”. Oh my God this is a wonder. How great to see/hear this! I think I first heard this on a compilation somewhere. It’s so classy, and I imagine the most exquisite road trip music while venturing through deepest Australia. I have always really enjoyed this song. But but, what is this menace… There are balloons about! Gross! Nooo!

(Is there a term for someone who dislikes balloons? I do not like their texture, and I truly fear standing on one, or someone else standing on one. If anyone is ever going to throw a birthday party for me in the future, please skip the balloons! But you can crank up this other Icehouse song, if you like…)

Happy Birthday to meeee!

OMD – “Genetic Engineering”. Andy McCluskey always throws himself into these performances. Is this the case live? (Also: Andy has hardly aged in forty years. Oil of OlayMD.)

I wasn’t familiar with this song at all but what a rush this was. Synths! Drums! Fabulous movements! A man shouting words into a megaphone! It put me in mind a little of this super-sexy Blue Pearl performance from 1992.

So hawt.

Loved it, and might listen to OMD on Spotify later! So far, this episode is 10/10!

Peely mentions a Radio 1 week in Liverpool. Fast forward 40 years and Liverpool is preparing to host the Eurovision Song Contest.

Chart rundown. Blancmange with “Waves” at no. 26. One of my favourite songs ever of course. Ohhh this is good.

Bananarama! With the song that spawned this ad!

There is something so endearing about early ’80s Bananarama. Their whole aesthetic is basically roll up, have fun, whatever; it’s cool! Siobhán Fahey has my eternal respect for the simply badass way she bats away the balloons.

Peely snarks. In other news, water is wet.

Chart rundown. Depeche Mode at no. 13. 1983 was bleeping awesome for music, wasn’t it? Yessss?

Number 18 – Patti Austin and James Ingram. Competent ballad, performed very well. Perhaps I would have to be more in the mood for this. I would love this if it popped up in “The Love Boat” or one of those shows from the time.

Peely snarks. In other news, the Pope is a Catholic.

Video Top 10 rundown!

Some brief observations…

Fun Boy Three at no. 10. Terry Hall was an awful loss. RIP Terry Hall. (Still hard to believe he has passed.)

Thompson! Twins! Number 9!!

Madness (8) and Eurythmics (5) compete for the most out there video.

Tears for Fears at no. 7. This is one corking Top 10.

I am not familiar with the Musical Youth song at no. 6. I think I may wish to be familiar with the video’s location. (Sunshine and palm trees; you were saying-)

Toto “Africa” at no. 4.

How did Kajagoogoo get their name? I think I know…

Bonnie Tyler at no. 2 with the iconic “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. I hope this song made Bonnie gazillions. A belated Happy St David’s Day to my countrywoman. (Speaking of Eurovision, it is ten years since Ms Tyler entered for UK with “Believe in Me”.)

Number One! It’s “Billie Jean”! (It’s not about the tennis player!)

Song of the episode? I am not counting the video rundown… I will give it to Icehouse as it’s long been a song I have enjoyed, with OMD in second place.

Laterz!

TOTP 1989 – Feb 1989 (repeated on BBC 4 – Friday 17th February) *For Those About to Rock(et)*

I feel like writing – this is a spontaneous entry – because dear blog I have been sick. Proper poorly. I have sat up in bed at around 4:00 am Googling how long it takes for medicine to start working. I have been guzzling calorie-free Ribena like a champion (one has to be good at something, etc).

1989! I am in my comfort zone with these episodes, and there is nowhere else I would rather be. I am too ill for these fancy revamps an’ all. Indulge me, please!

There was an episode from 1977 on before this one, presented by Noel Edmonds. I understand that NE was considered quite the cool chap back in the day (aah, the days before he started making people feel like trash on TV game shows! “Deal or No Deal” became the most awful TV, really, and then there is some of the other eyebrow raising (to put it tactfully) stuff). (C’mon, let’s move on from this.)

Our 1989 presenters: Mark ‘Goodybags’ Goodier and Andy ‘Crane’ Crane. Aah, Andy Crane! I am surprised TOTP did not use him more, to be honest. Wasn’t he on ITV a lot of the time: was it a contractual thing? There was a lovely Andy Crane superfan lady who used to follow me on Twitter. I hope she enjoyed the repeat on Friday evening.

(I haven’t made notes or anything for this: it is true “top of the head” fare.)

Def Leopard (I am going to leave the correction in as a tribute to a family member who was irked by these kind of spellings. Ditto The Krankies Elektronik Komik, or however it was spelt) – “Rocket”. The Lep were the biggest band at this time? I find this thing more endearing than a lot of similar stuff because it is just so unapologetically ‘real’ – the Leps are making tons of money and living their dream, they just don’t care.

*coughing*

*vomiting*

(You are getting a warts and all experience today, dear reader!)

Simple Minds – “Belfast Child” – new entry at number 2! I think you’d have to be in a particular mood to listen to this (it seems that many record buyers in February 1989 were in such a mood).

Gloria Estefan. Oh, she is so pretty and her voice is silky smooth! Live vocal, obvs. (I do not think we had FM access in this part of the country until late 1990 or something. I remember the frisson of excitement I would feel when moving the radio dial and coming across that red ‘FM’ light, be it flickering or otherwise.)

What else was there?

Where are the bops? Where is the Inner City/D-Mob etc? Give it to me!!!

Texas – “I Don’t Want A Lover”. Sharleen Spiteri was (and still is) stunning. Another live vocal, so the FM simulcast people were having a good night. I don’t dislike this song but I have never embraced it (if I met this song in the street I would shake its hand).

Sam Brown – “Stop”. Another adult contemporary song, and not a pretty melody one like “Mary’s Prayer” (Danny Wilson). I wouldn’t have liked this at the time. (I was 10.)

The Croatian Eurovision entry from a few years ago sounds more than a little like this…

“STOP! Before… you plagiarise a song!”

I gave up on the episode at this time because I wasn’t well.

Now, I am going to give up writing this entry… STOP! Before…

(Sorry if this was too negative. Maybe it is not a good idea to write at this time. STOP-ping!!!)

TOTP 94/87 – shown on BBC Four, Friday 3rd February

I don’t like the music of 1994 (sledgehammer subtlety right there) and I don’t think I liked the year of 1994 either (what would be my favourite song of 1994? Did “Ping Pong” by Stereolab come out in that year? If so: that’s my choice. Charts: maybe “Midnight at the Oasis” by Brand New Heavies).

Magnificent

This blog doesn’t do negativity of course 🧘‍♀️ (it doesn’t usually do emoji/s either, but I wanted to calm the grump factor). Here we go!

Messrs Dortie and Franklin are no longer presenting. There is a new producer: Mr. Blaxill. We’re in the mid nineties now and times they are a changing. This was also around the time (I believe) that Matthew Bannister went and shook Radio One up. The old guard was discarded/sent to Darby and Joan Club (neva 4get, the Brambles 🫶🏽 ) (was JB at Radio One at this time? Couldn’t she have come back?! Sigh).

I switched this on towards the end in readiness for an eighties episode, but I was also curious about the Blaxill tweaks. I went back and read who was on this episode before I tuned in.

Cappella: Move On Baby”. Aaah! It’s that performance! You guys, please remember Kelly Overett this way, dancing gaily in the streets of London Town!

(Paul McCartney likes this too!)

Somewhere, Cappella’s arch-nemesis were laughing heartily…

“You call that a live performance, binch?”

I read someone call this (Kelly O’s performance) TOTP’s worst ever live vocal. The singer with Shaft’s iconic “Roobarb and Custard” thanks Adrian Rose for what must be the zillionth time for his decision to block the shows he presented from being repeated.

How old was Sting in 1994? Was he as old as I am now? Possibly younger?

Bruno Brookes was presenting this episode. The audience was very excitable.

What was that predicted new entries thing right at the end? Spoiler Alert? *grumpy*

The montage thing at the end was different, but it was no ‘80s playout; no sirree. Do you think I have an eighties bias, dear blog…

1987! Palate cleanser! Presented by Janice Long rocking a pixie cut (God, I miss her) and John Peel.

The Blow Monkeys! I love them. Dr. Robert once liked one of my tweets. If you fancy looking at my tweets Mastodon account (psst “Fionanarama”!).

This is my favourite BM song.

The most 1980s thing you will ever see in your entire life

Curiosity (Killed The Cat)! (And killed my spelling on Mastodon last night, blush.) I would have had such a crush on Ben if I had been old enough. He is/was just my type. (I think Dr. Robert and I could have a ‘connection’ too: he is my type also! I think he is my type politically which is a bonus. Please never show up on GB News, Dr. R.)

Janice living her best life presenting the show with her beloved mate Peelie and ‘her’ bands (such as The Smiths).

That episode was a treat.

Laters. *sniff*

TOTP – 13/01/1983 (repeated on BBC Four) *Avenues That Swing*

Well, hello!

It’s been a while! (Not that long.)

I have been obsessed with watching “The Traitors” and my favourite music show hasn’t been so much of a feature (I have also been feeling quite poorly: I am two paracetamol down today). It was a pleasant surprise to check out the TOTP section on iPlayer and see so many episodes available. But but (but), the heart that beats inside me is an eighties heart, so I turn down the autoplay of “Big Hits 1999” (’99 is actually a musical year I quite like, buuut, eighties! Damn it, I have had a headache today…).

1983!! Merry Christmas!! (Ish!)

Our hosts are Kid Jensen and John Peel. I like Kid Jensen a lot. John Peel was an absolute hero of mine – I loved that man – until the (how shall I word this) less than pleasant stuff became apparent.

There is a woman who looks a little like Annie “Jane Harris” Jones in the audience.

Let’s start! Vamos!

Incantation (sorry, didn’t get the title and I am too cold and lazy etc to look it up). Oh, I do love this kind of thing. (I hesitate when it comes to giving this a genre, for fear that I will make a fool of myself.) It’s folk… And has a recorder solo? How many UK Top 40 hits feature a recorder solo? One guy is blowing on his wind instrument very hard. I note this because I must have a limited lung capacity or something. I cannot blow balloons (not that I particularly want to, wretched things!) and I remember trying to play a wind instrument waaay back in the day and failing, hard.

I love the way the tempo of this song changes. It might be good to listen to this on an elliptical trainer: you could move with the pace.

When does “Garden Party” by Mezzoforte show up in 1983? [spoiler?] This is a similar kind of thing in that it doesn’t really come under the typical chart music parameters.

There are loads of TOTP flags in the audience. I would love one of these flags for my house. I actually had a look on eBay at one time.

Sharon Redd – “In The Name Of Love”. (Not the Thompson Twins song.) This is quite brassy (Sharon is a born performer). Those nails, though. Holy hell. (Alannah Currie would not have rocked such nails, perhaps.) I think this was a new song for me, even if the Thompson Twins song keeps trying to assert dominance in my head!

Peely snarks about Sharon’s super fingernails, and Peely and Kid snark hard about the next song…

“Orville’s Song”. I thought this was quite sad. (It might be the first time I have ever paid attention to the lyrics, admittedly.) I don’t want to make fun of it. Sigh… Orville, I hope you are happy in puppet retirement home!

The Belle Stars – “Sign Of The Times”. This is, always has been, and always will be a corker; a stone cold classic. It must have been so exciting for young girls watching this: not only an all female band playing instruments, but lyrics that were so far removed from “I Love You Baby” fare. Strong and independent and completely brilliant!

Album chart! Ooh! Number one is a compilation album: “Raiders of the Lost Charts”.

Number 17: the theme music from ET! I hope ET is keeping Orville company in that retirement home. I have never seen ET and doubt I ever will (isn’t it sad? I don’t do sad, people) (ET is friendly, yes?).

Gallup chart rundown!

Number 22 – “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant. The video looks quite intense. There is probably an important political message with this so I will be mindful.

Number 15 – oh my God, “Heartache Avenue” by The Maisonettes…

This song is one of my favourite songs ever. I think my top three is something like:

Heartache Avenue

When The Sun Hits (Slowdive)

Waves (Blancmange)

In fact, I would lock in that top three.

I used to be completely infatuated with this song: I first encountered the video on a VH1 show in 2000 (a one-hit wonders show). I taped the video and would watch over and over again. Everything about this song appeals so heavily to me: the soul, the style, the simplicity yet the intricacy. I LOVE “Heartache Avenue”. The Maisonettes’ album is also worth checking out for sure. One-hit wonders they may be, but what a hit. They came, they went (chart wise); they left magic. That magic will forever endure.

Top 10 rundown. Peely and Kid snark about Renee and Renato.

Number One: “You Can’t Hurry Love” by Mr. Phil Collins! Has anyone ever parodied this video? I like PC (see blog entries passim) (no pressure of course) (I pulled up PC’s ballad album on Spotify recently. “Don’t Let Him Steal Your Heart Away” packs one heck of a punch.).

Next week’s presenters: Janice Long (RIP) and wooh! Gary Davies.

Playout (this was a bit short): “I Feel Looooooove” by Donna Summer.

Laters!

Ta-ra, 2022

(Well, it’s not over quite yet…)

When I was younger I used to come up with “Best Of” lists at the end of each year. (I get excited at my Spotify Wrapped list each December!) Obvs these days I wouldn’t have a clue… 2022, who are you? (I did listen to “Midnights” by Taylor Swift which I liked, and I might listen to “Renaissance” by Beyoncé too as it’s another big album.) (I love how my SwiftKey brings up the accent in Beyoncé’s name: very respectful, SwiftKey!)

How personal do I want to get here? I think it is the time of year that is so poignant and reflective and it can be tough. God knows that I am so much luckier than most but I get scared and I wobble.

What for 2023, then…

• I would like to not drink so much caffeine.
• I would like to continue studying Ukrainian and keep up my Duolingo streak.
• I would like to learn to drive but if it doesn’t happen next year I will not be hard on myself.
• I will try and be more outgoing. I haven’t really had the energy (ok, been bothered) to go anywhere: the pandemic might have been a slight factor.
• I will not return to Twitter. (I am currently watching the most fabulous TV channel called Now 80s. I cannot burble excitedly about seeing the video for “Body Rock” by Maria Vidal, and that is ok…)
• (How do I disable the list setting… May 2023 be a better year for the world! Happy New Year, everyone.) 🙂
• (I will learn to use WordPress properly?!)

TOTP – 25/11/1985 *You Have No Right To Ask Me How I Feel*

(Twitter is a time suck, bad for mental health, unethical in manifold ways BUT where else could I enthuse about “Separate Lives” which is [spoiler] coming up in this show!) (I am still Twitter free, of course. Twitter and I are living separate lives. I would like to be the Marilyn Martin, please.)

1985!

Our hosts! Peter Powell (swoon etc) and Dixie Peach!

First up is “Mated” by David Grant (why did my iPad just suggest “Cameron” then? *glaring very hard at iPad*) and Jaki Graham. This is a nice soul song if not a bit soppy. I am sorry; I am cranky. In the words of Howard Jones Esquire: what is love, anyway? One day you are singing about creating beautiful children, the next you are having vicious arguments over wet towels on the bathroom floor. (Both DG and JG are still doing very well for themselves: I am sure Jaki has a prestigious doctorate from somewhere.)

Next! Whitney Houston “Saving All My Love For You”. I have somewhat retired Whitney Houston songs because it’s too sad; her story is just excruciatingly sad. “Can I Be Me” made my heart hurt. It’s really shocking, actually: I wish I could detach myself from what happened and appreciate (if not always like/love) Whitney’s formidable back catalogue.

Dixie makes a comment about the romantic songs on the episode. “Saving All My Love For You” is about adultery, Mr. Peach. The idea of a young family being oblivious while Whitney and beau make love the whole night through, Yeah but. (Does W walk away from him at the end of the video? I hope so, adulterous bast-)

Ooh, the charts!

37 – Princess – “After the Love Has Gone”. This one has an interesting chart history.

Have I ever heard “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits at no. 18? I’ve heard “Money For Nothing” oodles of times (hasn’t everyone).

12 – a-ha – “Take On Me”. Morten looks impossibly handsome in that chart picture.

Breakers!

29 – Sun City! This is a fun one to hear again (of course not detracting from what was happening). Who is the woman who sings the line about quiet diplomacy? What a performer: what a star!

Paul McCartney (didn’t get the chart number).

24 – Go West. Peter Cox. (Swoon.) How 1985 was this?

End of breakers!

Now we have “When Love Breaks Down” by Prefab Sprout: such a beautiful, erudite piece of pop music. It’s something so precious and must be cherished and protected forever.

Peter Powell likes it too!

The Top 10 in video countdown kicks off with “Separate Lives”. People of the Internet: say what the hell you like about Phil Collins but I only have to hear the first few lines of this song and I am smitten, simply overcome. Maybe I should try and devise a list of my favourite 1980s power ballads (this song, “Alone” by Heart, “Glory of Love” by Peter Cetera… “The Captain of Her Heart” by Double comes under another category for me).

What film is this song from? God I LOVE it. And yeah: I am a bit of a Phil Collins fan. He can bring the ballads, and you want to try and deny the appeal of “Easy Lover”?

I don’t really care for the other songs in the Top 10. (There is one song that had me lunging for the mute button, such is the extent of my dislike!)

Number One – Wham! – “I’m Your Man”. Not my favourite Wham! song but it’s ok.

Fabulous playout with Starship and “We Built This City” and the audience have a coordinated move goin’ on. I wonder what has happened to all of those dancing youngsters. (They will all be 50+ now, yes?) I hope that life has been as kind as possible to them and that they cannot resist smiling whenever they hear this song…

Laterz!

TOTP – 15/11/1984 (repeated on BBC Four – Nov 2022) *Cryptic Kershaw*

(I do not think I am going to blog the episodes from the 1970s… but, never say never!)

Our hosts!

Mike Read (sans shades this time) and a v young looking Bruno Brookes. (Bruno is going to pop up again in 1994. Does he present any episodes beyond that year?)

(Remember when… Bruno Brookes used to win Best DJ at the Smash Hits Poll Winners’ Party every year? Did anyone else ever win it? I seem to recall Pat Sharp and Mick Brown polling highly despite being Capital Radio DJs and thus only London area listeners could enjoy them. Those were the days, youngsters. These days you can listen to radio from all the world, but in my day… reaching for Werther’s Original )

(I think my next stop should be the Bruno Brookes Wikipedia page.)

CUE THE MUSIC!

Matt Bianco – “Half a Minute”. I freaking LOVE Matt Bianco and I love this song. Basia is one of this blog’s heroines, hands down! God I love her. Love her! I am sure I would have been entranced watching this as a six year old. Basia is so effortlessly gorgeous and classy, and her Polish nationality would have intrigued me too. (I had a Polish friend growing up and I would love hearing my friend speak Polish with her family. I thought it was so cool. Perhaps I am a polyglot in a parallel universe.)

If you haven’t already heard the Matt Bianco song “More Than I Can Bear”: the rest of this blog entry can wait, get thee to YouTube.

What an opening. Basia!! *calms self*

Where to next, Messrs Read and Brookes?

Duran Duran – “Wild Boys”. Why is it that the DD songs showing up on these repeats the ones I don’t particularly like? (Oh my.) I have never really ‘got’ DD but they have some songs I adore (I mentioned “Election Day” by Arcadia in the last entry, which is my favourite Duran related song; it’s a classic). Simon Le Bon is a strong singer and their eighties aesthetic was on point. (This video might have creeped me out as a six year old if I had seen it.) (There was no money spared here, that’s for sure. I hope Simon had a bucket nearby following all of the spinning on that contraption.)

This also seemed to go on forever. (I was grumpy because I just wanted Basia back, right…)

Again, thoughts are with Andy Taylor and his family at this time.

Eurythmics – “Sexcrime 1984”. (I do not know what my six year old ears would have made of that title.) This is obviously from a movie and if I wasn’t so damn lazy I would look it up. Eurythmics are like Duran Duran for me in that they are so integral to eighties music yet I just don’t ‘get’ them (while not flat out dislking them) like I get other bands of the era. This video also seemed to go on for ages. Has my attention span finally spun away?

Charts Part One! Human League “Louise” at number 36. Phil Oakey was breathtakingly handsome in 1984.

Ray Parker Junior “Ghostbusters” at 32. I remember the 1987 song about sleeping alone, and aaah what’s next…

Alvin Stardust is next with a song called “Cry Just a Little Bit”. It’s pleasant enough and probably would have done well at Eurovision that year (it had that swing! I don’t know, it’s just a feeling).

More charts!

17 – Nik Kershaw – “The Riddle”

16 – Depeche Mode – “Blasphemous Rumours”

15 – Phil “Captain of My Heart” Oakey and Giorgio Moroder -“Together in Electric Dreams”

Is that a run, or is that a RUN?

Aaand we’re getting Nik in the studio!

Speaking of effortless pop, Nik nails it, nailed it; grammar be gone, logic be thrown away. This song is a stone cold classic. Nik Kershaw is brilliant and a hero of this blog.

Number One: Chaka Khan! “I Feel For You”! It’s mighty of course, a musical triumph!

Playout – “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters. Everyone in the studio is dancing and having fun. These dancing playouts are the highlights for me. Young people having the time of their lives. Tomorrow didn’t matter and minutiae didn’t matter: it was all about that ‘now’. Time is precious and life is precious and it surely cannot get much better than throwing shapes to classic pop on TV in one’s youth.

I am off to Wikipedia Bruno Brookes daydream about Phil Oakey whatever…

Yup, laterz!