Tuesday 16 August 2011

The Alternative TOTP Canon #32: M - Pop Muzik

Robin Scott's self-descriptive, self-reactive art-new wave critique ("I was looking to make a fusion of various styles which somehow would summarize the last 25 years of pop music... whereas rock and roll had created a generation gap, disco was bringing people together on an enormous scale") was always going to lend itself to set-piece prime time performances. Not so much the regular charting appearance, which is just some people standing around with identity tags on, but that from the Christmas show. No, not Peter Powell's odd intro, but the abandonment of suits and formal wear for camouflage trousers, a uniform logo in shocking lipstick pink, deliberate standing around for the band and, up on the balcony, Scott commanding his patch like a communist dictator with moves and his backing singer friend with a strict manner and the sort of headgear Dexys would be commandeering in 1980. Then out comes the walkie-talkie and it's conceptual game over.

12 comments:

wilberforce said...

pretty modern-sounding for its time, this was the kind of record that everyone had a soft spot for regardless of their musical taste... a classic number 2! i also liked the follow-up "moonlight and muzak" which bombed despite heavy radio airplay, thus effectively consigning M to history as one-hit wonders - which is probably what the abstract and arty robin scott would have preferred anyway... i always thought he looked so cool and distinguished with his (fake?) silvery temples, but 30 years on now i've acquired a pair of my own i'm not so sure ha ha!

btw, drummer phil gould went on to became a TOTP mainstay with my favourite 80's band level 42 (but news to me is that M's keyboard player was wally badarou, later not only a collaborator with phil amd his chums, but also along with sly and robbie a member of the crack compass point session team that backed grace jones among others...)

Steve Williams said...

I've always had a soft spot for this song because, according to my parents, I really loved it when I was a toddler, and it backed some of my first attempts to dance. Indeed that original suits performance was the first song on the episode of Top of the Pops on the day I was born, 5th April 1979, as was another equally iconic song and performance - http://youtu.be/eNTBssx7rqY
Tony Blackburn's last Pops in his original run too.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned this when you put up Mister Thin Lizzy, but the best use of Pop Muzik is of course on this fabulous montage from the 900th show -
http://youtu.be/WazYqtFmTUU

wilberforce said...

how bizarre - i was also thinking of mentioning "cool for cats" as another slightly quirky yet well-loved track that was around at that time (and incidentally also got to number 2!) but thought that might be over-indulging on the old nostalgia front...

i may have been disappointed at the time, but now i think it's great that these tracks never actually reached the chart summit despite their appeal, for if they had i suspect people like myself would not retain so much affection for them (the beautiful losers!)... maybe contributors can come up with other "classic number 2 tracks" here? i suppose an obvious candidate is ultravox's "vienna", but as i may have said before, in its own way it now seems just as embarrassing as the record that prevented it getting to number one...

Arthur Nibble said...

A recent addition to the classic number 2 list has to 'Chasing Pavements' by Adele, to my ears a sublime ballad which was held off the top for four weeks by sodding Basshunter.

I reckon Darts must have had a classic number 2 in their canon, possibly 'It's Raining'. They were probably the unluckiest group in chart history - three consecutive singles made number 2 but they neached made the summit in their career.

Arthur Nibble said...

...erm, that's meant to say Darts never made / reached the summit in their career. That's what happens when you change what you're about to submit, don't edit it properly and don't know how to edit old posts!

Simon said...

If you're choosing one of the Darts #2s you'd have to go with Come Back My Love, it's a song that always used to be on local BBC radio (at least when I was growing up) and has just enough Den Hegarty.

I think Radio 2 did a Number Twos special not long ago, it's certainly a fascinating counter-list to an increasingly accepted canon. The optimum time for being one short was surely 1995, when Wonderwall, Common People and Alright all fell just before the line - the latter behind the Outhere Brothers, the former two to different Robson & Jerome singles. They don't tend to get mentioned in all those Britpop documentaries.

Wellieman said...

The wonderful Only You by Yazoo was held off No.1 by some awful German Eurovision winner. Then to rub salt into the wounds the awful Flying Dickheads did take it to the top the following Christmas.

P.S. Mr Wilberforce - Vienna just as embarrassing as the dirge that kept it off No. 1? Never in a million years... (or maybe I'm stuck in a time-warp too)

Simon said...

In fact, here's a full list of singles that peaked at number two up to mid-2007.

Noax said...

I actually loved 'A Little Peace' by Nicole so I'm not too disappointed at 'Only You' not making it. Especially as it's my least favourite Yazoo single anyway (though I still like it!)

Funny this chat about great No.2 hits should come up today as my ipod decided to play me 'Rule the world' this morning. There's a frankly brilliant tune that clearly should have been No.1 but was runner-up for weeks behind something or other, probably a terrible R&B song - yes, I know, that doesn't narrow it down.

wilberforce said...

mr wellieman - i remember at the time practically burning with rage week after week when i listened to the chart rundown and discovered the ultra-cool "vienna" was being denied its rightful place at the top yet again by that talentless oaf and his appalling novelty tune... but tastes change over time and some tracks don't last the course, and "vienna" is a definite casualty in my book - nowadays i find it merely rather pretentious and bombastic and therefore almost as unlistenable as "shaddup your face" - hope that justifies what i said earlier...

Wellieman said...

I need to lie down... I thought I'd just read someone actually likes A Little Peace, after the shock of Vienna being unfavourably compared to Shaddap your Face. Hopefully I'll wake up from this nightmare soon!

Only joshing folks, each to their own and good discussion about great No.2s. How about Greg Lake's majestic I Believe In Father Christmas being held off by the overplayed BoRhap anyone?

Arthur Nibble said...

Majestic indeed. One of the two Xmas chart gripes I have is Greg missing out on the top spot. The other is that 'Christmas Wrapping' by The Waitresses - surely one of the best and quirkiest festive songs - has never made the chart.