Wednesday 28 March 2012

28th March

1985: Sturm und drang, Frankie Goes To Hollywood? Never! This time Holly's got his dictator chic on, which becomes somewhat jarring given everyone else is in black vests. Just after another example of the Mike Smith humour clinic, Go West exhibit not dissimilar style behind their big art coats as if they'd willingly chin you for suggesting the production might subsequently age the song.

1991: Fair to say Gary Clail On U Sound System's focused anger diffuses somewhat when subsequently presented with the bloke at the back. Is the man next to him an audience member or a particularly underused dancer? Meanwhile, for someone later oft commended for his unique sense of rhythm and movement James' Tim Booth seems quite hesitant, rocking on his axis a lot in his smock.

1996: The great cross-cultural exchange. PJ & Duncan, as they just about still were, performing their version of Stepping Stone - a song also covered by the Sex Pistols, lest it be overlooked - via satellite from... somewhere. I imagine the original caption stated a place. Moreover, if we assume the dancers are a red herring, where exactly was this recorded? The executive blocks round the corner from the set of Mad Max?

1997: Ill advised moves of our time: Sean Maguire's Britpop phase. Indeed, it's possible to argue this is what pushed the emergency stop on Britpop. The bouncing like Albarn used to, the coat, the accent, everything. You can only imagine what the Pet Shop Boys with their columns of silk made of it. Relaxed there, Chris. There's something tremendously clunking about the girls screaming and waving to the passing crane camera just as a quite minimalistic Beautiful South start a piano ballad having set out the candles and Paul's Russian hat. Zoe Ball at the end mentions the latter but in a way that makes you doubt she's even seen it.

2003: You don't often get a moment in pop, at least since ZTT packed in, where maverick producer with post-modern ideas meets proper pop band. Observe Richard X vs Liberty X, the band doing the full routine around chairs as pop bands do while Richard wanders around in the background a bit. Or does he? Helpfully he's uploaded the Paul Morleyesque actual text graphic backdrop.

1 comment:

Mikey said...

PJ and Duncan were at Heathrow Airport, supposedly because they were about to fly out of the country. "They've got the right idea, haven't they?" said presenter Mark Goodier, on his last show as presenter (even then, he was a last-minute replacement for a guest presenter who had fallen through).