Old TOTP (BBC4)

Yes, now I remember, East 17 and Gabrielle. I assume they thought this was going to do a Boyz II Men rather than sink like a stone that's been tied to a bigger stone.
 
Well, at least the WWF people sold some records, unlike the Chippendales. I mean, really. What a GRIM winter.
 
I think I've talked about this before but the modernised remix and the quick cover version were so much of the charts in 1992 and so little in 2022. Streaming has made everything available for ever so reviving a song simply doesn't work - the appetite just isn't there.
 
I agree although there’s a worrying trend in hip hop at the moment sampling old songs, again. It’s very lazy but it’s actually working, the songs are performing well which surprises me for the very reason you’re talking about. But the kids seem to always prefer the updated sample with rap rather than the superior original … I guess we’re just showing our age
 
1992 had some big songs but it was definitely a dip for me, mostly because I was into dance music at the time and dance is always cyclical where it’s exciting for a couple of years (in this case 88-91) and then the labels come in and dilute it for commercial use (1992-1996) until the dance industry shifts tack and finds something else exciting (1997-2001) until the commercial stuff takes over again. Repeat and rinse. I’m sure this happens in other genres too.

Anyway while the dance music took a dip into commercial in the mid 90s the R&B scene got exciting again, and we had a lot of really good guitar music, so I didn’t mind too much.
 
Didn’t Sister Sledge do this with almost all their big hits in 1993? Random remixes that sounded almost identical to the originals just as an excuse for a revival? I mean it was perfect for me as I was discovering them all for the first time.
 
funky said:
I agree although there’s a worrying trend in hip hop at the moment sampling old songs, again. It’s very lazy but it’s actually working, the songs are performing well which surprises me for the very reason you’re talking about. But the kids seem to always prefer the updated sample with rap rather than the superior original … I guess we’re just showing our age
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Hip hop always did this to greater or lesser degrees - in the 80s, the entire rhythm track could be founded on 2 copies of the same record going back and forth or a sampled loop. Other times, there could be a riff used. I'm out of touch with hip hop at the moment; I know virtually nothing of what's doing well there.
 
Ellie said:
Didn’t Sister Sledge do this with almost all their big hits in 1993? Random remixes that sounded almost identical to the originals just as an excuse for a revival? I mean it was perfect for me as I was discovering them all for the first time.
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I don't remember but there was certainly a lot of that going on. Greatest Hits CDs were doing great business for the industry so there was a desire to get one to take with the wider public. A remixed hit was one way in.
 
octophone said:
Hip hop always did this to greater or lesser degrees - in the 80s, the entire rhythm track could be founded on 2 copies of the same record going back and forth or a sampled loop. Other times, there could be a riff used. I'm out of touch with hip hop at the moment; I know virtually nothing of what's doing well there.
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A British white rapper (of which there are far too many) has just released a song with a sample of Stone Roses would you believe. The sample itself is marvellous but then he starts talking over it…

The lyrics and bars of today’s rappers are still quality at times but the tone and flow are dreadful. It’s actually on trend to deliver the entire rap in monotone. Yes I’m old, but today’s kids are tone deaf.
 
funky said:
A British white rapper (of which there are far too many) has just released a song with a sample of Stone Roses would you believe. The sample itself is marvellous but then he starts talking over it…
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The Stone Roses (reunions notwithstanding) are further away from us now than The Beatles were from Candy Flip when the latter did "Strawberry Fields Forever" as a baggy floor-shuffler. Makes ya think...
 
octophone said:
Hip hop always did this to greater or lesser degrees - in the 80s, the entire rhythm track could be founded on 2 copies of the same record going back and forth or a sampled loop. Other times, there could be a riff used. I'm out of touch with hip hop at the moment; I know virtually nothing of what's doing well there.
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Pretty much the source of most Hip Hop songs in the 90s

 
Thought the 1999 story of was pretty wonderful, LA MURPHY being especially entertaining.

Fran Healy really was quite beautiful back in the day.
 
The Shamen having an actual bong onstage for their Alice In Wonderland TOTP...clearly some of the money had started to come in for the famously taciturn Colin Angus to be tempted to splash out on the costumes.
 
No recollection of this dance version of Alive And Kicking at all. I wonder if the Rangers scarves were designed to piss off Jim Kerr or if there was an actual miscommunication? (oh, it;s only one scarf...the other scarves are different...)
 
The Lemonheads version of Mrs Robinson is what a cover should be - knocked out for fun with obvious enthusiasm. As it turned out, they sickened of it almost immediately and were completely fucked off with it by the time of this performance.

That said, Evan Dando's Morrissey impression is absolutely thrilling. :D
 
I don't think I can be arsed with the Xmas episode. Might jump straight to 1993.
 
Jesus Jones - a veteran of the "release straight after Xmas for a better chart position" gambit. This is deeply unmemorable. Whither the wild excitement of their previous albums?
 
Aw, The Frank And Walters. I really liked them, saw them live once too. But I didn't like this single. Well, not this version - it was better on the album; this version was too produced (by Ian Broudie).
 
Little Angels were nothing if not persistent. I assume they did well touring, like a lot of rock bands.
 
Christ, The Sultans Of Ping FC. British Indie was in a very...erm...quirky era in '93. No wonder I was getting into Stereolab, Moonshake, Aphex Twin around this time...
 
Apache Indian - I remember this being "controversial" in some quarters. Sounds pretty decent now, if a bit stiff. It's a bit too programmed.
 
This Paul McCartney song is shite.

I know, master of language but it really is - dull, smug, joyless. At least we know now that doing the Beatles "Anthology" snapped him out of it.
 
Of course, "Could It be Magic" persisted after Xmas. That was the one that truly broke them commercially. Their career trajectory remains of particular academic interest. Remember, they would spilt only 3 years after this.
 
Pop Will Eat Itself. Described at the time as the first unsigned band to be on Top Of The Pops - RCA dropped them about 2 days after the release of the single. Clint Mansell is of course now a respected and successful film composer. Fuzz Townsend got a bit of success later on in Car SOS. Richard Marsh was in Bentley Rhythm Ace a bit later on too.
 
funky said:
That doesn’t narrow it down. :eyes:

The man was a musical genius and yet, completely lost at sea without the other Beatles. A strange phenomenon.
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McCartney's problem is one of taste. Like a lot of prolific songwriters, he doesn't know the difference between a winner and a knock-off. Without The Beatles to filter out some of his worst impulses (something they regularly failed to do after 1967), he just chucks out everything. The only times he has really knocked it out the park has been under particular pressure - Band On The Run, Chaos And Creation In The Backyard (where Nigel Godrich actually told him some of the songs were crap, much to McCartney's bewilderment) and Flaming Pie.
 
Arrested Development are the subject of some interesting verbiage in US magazines for how they have been written out of hip-hop history. In retrospect, they owed a lot to De La Soul but they were still decent.
 
Blimey, I'm up to date.

Can't really be bothered with year-by-year shows. They don't appeal to me.
 
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