594 Hello Salt-n-Pepa - Push It

Chart  entered  : 26  March  1988

Chart  peak  : 41  ( 2 on  reissue  by  a  different  label  a  few months  later )

Number  of  hits : 15

Hip  hop's  first  female  stars  now  make  their  entrance.

The  rapping  duo  met  at  Queensborough  Community  College, New  York where  they  were  studying  nursing  in  1984. Sandra  Denton   was  born  in  Jamaica  but  came  to  New  York  at  an  early  age  where  she  had  a  rough  childhood. Cheryl  James   was  a  native  of  the  city. The  two  formed  a  duo  called  Super  Nature , encouraged  by  Cheryl's  producer  boyfriend  , Hurby  Azor. Their  live  act  included  a  DJ,  Latoya  Hanson, who  went by  the  name  of  "Spinderella". Cherl  called  herself  "Salt"  and  Sandra  "Pepa".

Hurb  then  came  up  with  the  idea  of  making  an  answer  record  to  Doug  E  Fresh's  The  Show  and  wrote  and  produced  their  first  single  "The  Showstopper"  in  late  1985. The  single's  miniscule  melodic  content  comes  from  the  film  Revenge  of  the  Nerds  but   otherwise  it  follows  the  usual  early  hi  hop  template  of  rapping  or  drawling  over  a  percussion  track  with the  occasional  scratching  break.  Fresh  and  his  associate  Slick  Rick  were  said  to  dislike  the  record  but  at  least  firearms  weren't  involved  in  the  dispute.

The  group's  name  was  then  changed  to  Salt-n-Pepa  and  Hanson  was  replaced  by  Deirdra  Roper  as  the  new  Spinderella. Roper's  association  with  the  group  was  to  be  longstanding  but  it  was  always  left  vague  as  to  whether  or  not  she was  to  be  regarded  as  a  full  member. Besides  being  regularly  name-checked  on  the  records  she  appeared  in  the  videos  and  publicity  shots, her  relatively  svelte  figure  a  notable  contrast  to  the  duo  who  were  both  rather  broad  of  beam  shall  we  say ?

The  group  signed  to  Next   Plateau  Records   and   released  their  debut  album  "Hot  Cool &  Vicious" in  December  1986, the  first  hip  hop  album  by  a  female  act  with  the  caveat  that,  bar the  necessary  credit  to  the  Pointer  Sisters  for  the  sample  used  in  "Chick  On  The  Side", it  was  100%  written  by  men, mainly  Azor.  The  first  single  as  Salt-n-Pepa" My  Mic  Sounds  Nice"  is  the  usual  DJ  boasting  with  few  concessions  to  femininity  set  to  a  minimalist  groove  borrowed  from  Grover  Washington  Junior's  "Mister  Magic". Released  in  the  spring  of  1987  it  earned  them  an  appearance  on  one  of  the  last  episodes  of  The  Tube.  The  second  single  from  the  album  "Tramp"  borrows  more  heavily  from  the  Otis  Redding  and  Carla  Thomas  song  of  the  same  name. The  increased  melodic  content  makes  Azor's  tale  of  putting  down  a  sleazeball  opportunist  more  accessible.  However  their  real  breakthrough  song  was  tucked  away  on  the  B-side.

"Push  It "  started  getting  attention  after  being  remixed  by  San  Franciscan  DJ  Cameron  Paul  and  attracting  radio  play. It's  a   not  very  subtle  sex  song   and  there  isn't  actually  that  much  rapping  on  the  track  , just  two  short  verses  and  a  brief  quote  from  You  Really  Got  Me  ( Ray  Davies  being  mollified  by  a  writer's  credit )  giving  plenty  of  room  for  Hurby's   Harold  Faltermeyer  synth  riff  to  worm  its  way  into  the  brain.

The  remix  was  issued  as  a  single  with  a  new  track  "I  Am  Down"  on  the  flip. "I  Am  Down" is  a  boastful  clarion  as  abrasive  and  uncompromising  as  its  flip  is  slick  and  enticing. Nevertheless  it  was  listed  as  a  double  A-side  from  its  second  week  in  the  UK  charts. It  broke  them  in  the U.S.  reaching  number  19  while  stalling  just  outside  the  Top  40  here.

After  the  girls  performed  it  at  the  Nelson  Mandela  Tribute  Concert  in  June  1988, demand  for  the  single  rose  again. By  that  point  they  had  a  new  distribution  deal  so  it  was  released  by Champion   who  decided  to  put  "Tramp"  on  the  flip  side  instead. Gallup  decided  to  amalgamate  sales  of  the  two  singles  crediting  both  labels..

After  its  success "Push  It "  was  added  to  future  pressings  of  "Hot, Cool  and  Vicious", as  a  result  of  which  it  became  a  platinum  success.

Although "Push  It" was  not  the  first  UK  hit  to  include  the word "pissed " ( or  variants  thereof ),  after  this  its  use  would  no  longer  raise  an  eyebrow.

593 Hello The Wedding Present - Nobody's Twisting Your Arm

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Chart entered : 5  March  1988

Chart  peak :  46

Number  of  hits : 25

These  guys  could  have  been  the  next  Smiths  but  chose  to  be  another  Fall  and  did  more  than  most  to  undermine  the  charts  in  the  process. Though  not  the  first  to  make  the  charts , they  are  the  first  of  only  two  bands  featured  on  the  C86  cassette  to  qualify  here.

The  band  was  formed  in  Leeds in  1985  from  the  collapse  of  an  earlier  band, The  Lost  Pandas. Vocalist  David  Gedge  and  bassist  Keith  Gregory  decided  to  continue  working  together  and  formed  The  Wedding  Present, the  name  a  homage  to  Nick  Cave's  Birthday  Party. They  recruited  an  ex-schoolmate  Pete  Solowka  as  guitarist  and    drummer  Shaun  Charman  came  through  auditions.

After  tenacious  gigging  around  Leeds, the band  managed  to  self-finance  their  debut  single  "Go  Out  and  Get  'Em  Boy"  on  City  Slang  Records  in  early  1985. By  the  time  it  had  sold  out  is  initial  pressing  they  had  set  up  their  own  label  Reception  Records  with  distribution  through  Red Rhino. The  single  was  reissued  in  May. It  set  the  template  of  ultra-fast  guitar abuse  by  Pete  against  David'  blunt  and  flat  Yorkshire  vocals. The  song  is  a  reproach  to  a  squaddie . There  are  hints  of  Orange  Juice  and  the  Banshees  in the  musical  mix  but  it  sounds  like  early  Joy  Division  more  than  anyone  else.

The  next  single,  "Once  |More"  the  following  year,  was  better  produced  with  cleaner  guitar  lines, a  bit  like  Altered  Images  but  played  at  breakneck  pace. It sounds  like  a  plea  from  a career  criminal  to  be  allowed  to  continue  his  activities  and  when  you  consider  where  the  band  come  from  it  may  be  they  had  one  notorious  criminal  in  mind. The third  single  "This  Boy  Can  Wait"  moves  further  towards  the  mainstream  with  Keith's  melodic  bass  line although  it's  comparatively  slight  lyrically.

The  band  had  now  come  within  Peel's  radar  and  did  a  session  for  him  which  was  almost  immediately  released  on  vinyl  as  one  of  the  first  issues  on his  new  Strange  Fruit  label  in  1986.

With  their  profile  increasing  the  band  set  to  work  on  their  debut  album , "George  Best"  , a  strange  choice  of  title  for  a  band  from  Leeds, why  not  Billy  Bremner  or  Eddie  Gray  ( managing  Rochdale  at  the time ) ?   I  can  only  give  it  a  qualified  thumb's  up. David  definitely  has  a  good  ear  for  the  idioms  of  proletarian  romance - it's  difficult  to  think  of  anyone  else  who'd  title  a  song  "Give  My  Love  To  Kevin"  for  instance  - but  his  unmelodious   voice   grates  at   not  much  over  a  single's  length. It's  telling  that  the  best  track  "Everyone  Thinks  He's  Looks  Daft" , a  sharply  observed  take  on  futilely  abusing  your  ex's  new  partner, is  the  one  where  he's  accompanied  by  Talula  Gosh  singer,  Amelia  Fletcher.. Similarly,  Pete  is  no  Johnny  Marr  and  although  there's  one  or  two  decent  riffs,  he's  not  got  nearly  enough  ideas  for  a  whole  album. Shaun's  pedestrian  drumming  doesn't  help  either. The  album  contained  their  two  most  recent  singles  "My  Favourite  Dress"  and  "Anyone  Can  Make  A  Mistake"  and  although  neither  troubled  the charts,  the  album  made  a  very  respectable  showing  at  number  47.  Now  the  major  labels  were  interested  in  signing  them  but  the  band  decided  to  remain  independent  for  the  time  being.

"Nobody's  Twisting  Your  Arm" was  their  next  recording. Within  their  particular  sonic  limitations,  it's  a  good  track  with  Keith  providing  some  melodic  bass  work  on  which  to  hang  the  song  and  Pete  placing  a  bright  top  line  riff  over  the  usual  jangle. Dave  comes  up  with  a  good  lyric  from  the  POV  of  a  loyal  boyfriend  fed  up  of  having  his  trust  abused. Fletcher  pops  up  to  again  sugar  the  pill  and  it's  a  shame it  couldn't  quite  get  in  the  Top  40. In  fact  it  set  the  pattern  for  most  of  their  singles   by  dropping  from  its  entry  position  and not  hanging  around.

592 Hello Richard Marx - Should've Known Better

Chart  entered : 27  February  1988

Chart  peak : 50

Number  of  hits : 15

I've  never  seen  the  late  eighties / early  nineties  as a  golden  age. For all  the  excitement  around  acid  house, Madchester  and  grunge, you  also  had  some  utter  mediocrities  managing  to  rack  up  a  fair  number  of  hits  and  here's  one  of  them.

Richard  was  born  in  Chicago  in  1963. His  father  composed  advertising  jingles  and  Richard  started  singing  on  them  from  the  age  of  5. As  a  teen  he  sent  out  demo  tapes  and  somehow  attracted  the  attention  of  Lionel  Ritchie  who  invited  him  down  to  L.A. Richard  sang  backing  vocals  on  Ritchie's  first  two  solo  albums  including  the  mega-selling  Can't  Slow  Down. He   subsequently  provided  backing  vocals  for  Madonna  and  Whitney  Houston. In  1984  he  was  hired  by  Kenny  Rogers  and  took  the  opportunity  to  offer  him  a  couple  of  songs. He  wrote  Rogers' s  1984 US  hit  Crazy. After  that,  he  started  working  for  producer  David  Foster  and  provided  songs  for  Chicago  and  Freddie  Jackson. His  persistence  in  hawking  his  own  demo  tapes  finally  paid  off  when  he  signed  with  Manhattan / EMI  in  1987.

Richard  went  into  the  studio  to  record  his  debut  album  with  help  from  The  Tubes; Fee  Waybill  and  Joe  Walsh, Randy  Meisner and  Timothy  B  Schmidt  from  Eagles. Their  influence  is  all  over  the  first  single    "Don't  Mean  Nothin' ", and  not  just  in  Joe's  slide  guitar  solo . Richard  himself  said  he  thought  it  could  be  slipped on  to  The  Long  Run  and  he's  not  kidding. It's  competent  AOR  rock  but  there's  something  profoundly  depressing  about  a  24  year  old  guy  trying  to  recreate  the  sound  of  a  nine  year  old  album. It  didn't  do  anything  here but  got  to  number  3  in  the  U.S.

"Should've  Known  Better ", the  next  single,  is   particularly  infuriating  because  it's  such  an  obvious  rip-off  of  one  of  the  eighties'  best  singles, Don  Henley's  The  Boys  of  Summer . It's  all  there ,  the  same  tempo, upfront  drum  track, plaintive  vocal  and  very  similar  guitar  work  in  the  middle  eight. However, Richard  doesn't  attempt  to  replicate  Henley's  exquisite  lyric  about  baby  boomer  disillusionment  - probably  he  didn't  understand  it  - and  instead  serves  up  a  string  of  cliches as  he  reproaches  a  lost  love . It's  unbearable  and  I'm  going  to  have  to  run  to "the  original"  to  wash  out  the  taste.  

591 Hello Morrissey solo - Suedehead

Chart  entered :  27  February  1988

Chart  peak : 5

Number  of  hits : 38

Easy  post  this  one  as  I've  covered  the  beginning  of  Stephen  Patrick's  solo  career  here.

590 Hello Coldcut and Yazz * - Doctorin' the House

( * as  Coldcut  featuring  Yazz  and  the  Plastic  Population )

Chart  entered :  20  February  1988

Chart  peak : 6

Number  of  hits :  Coldcut  11 , Yazz  12

Two  qualifying  acts  for  the  price  of  one  on  this  single  which  furthered  the  dance  invasion.

Coldcut  are  a  duo. Computer  operator  Matt  Black  and  ex-art  teacher  Jonathan  More  met  at  Reckless  Records  in  London  where  Jonathan  worked. He  was  also  a  DJ  on  pirate  radio  playing  rare  soul  and  funk  records  and  drew  Matt  into  his  world.

Their  first  collaboration  in  1987  was  a  white  label  release  "Say  Kids  What  Time  Is  It ?"  a  record  entirely  constructed  around  samples, the   primary  ones  being  the  song  "King  of  the  Swingers"  from  The  Jungle  Book.  and  James  Brown's  Funky  Drummer. It  sounds   like  a  complete  dog's  dinner  to  me  but  was  popular  in  the  clubs  and  put  the  duo's  name  on  the  map. The  title  sample, from  the  kid's  TV  show  Howdy  Doody , was  re-used  by  M/A/R/R/S  in  Pump  Up  The  Volume.  The  duo,  who  previously  had  separate  shows  on  Kiss  FM, joined  forces  on  the  influential  show, Solid  Steel.

They  re-christened  their  partnership  as  "Coldcut"  and  started  their  own  label,  self-consciously  named  Ahead  of  Our  Time"  to  release  their  next  single  "Beats  And  Pieces"  which  sounds   like  more  of  the  same  to  me  if  a  bit   less  cluttered.

They  scored  their  first  hit  as  producers  - though  of  course  the  distinction  between   producer  and  performer  was  blurring- with  a  re-mix  of  Eric  B  &  Rakim's  rap  track  Paid  in  Full  which  reached  number  15  in  the  UK  in  November  1987.

For  their  next  single  they  hired  mixed  race singer  Yazz  to  lay  down  some  original  vocals. Yazz  was  born  Yasmin  Evans  in  London in  1960 . She  was  a  former  volleyball  player  with  the  England  under-19  team  and  catwalk  model.

In  1983  she  sang  on  two  singles  released  by  The  Biz. "Falling"  is  a  passable  Shalamar  impersonation. The  second, "We're  Gonna  Groove  Tonight"  sounds  more  like  Galaxy  with  the  female  backing  vocals  prominent  and   a  relentlessly  upbeat  partying  message. Neither  troubled  the  charts  despite  the  inclusion  of  a  free  pack  of  playing  cards  with  the  latter  single.

The  Plastic  Population  never  actually  existed. It  was  some  sort  of  comment  by  Yazz  on  the  prevalence  of  plastic  surgery  among  celebrities. Oh  well, whatever.

"Doctorin'  the  House"  is  somewhat  more  conventional  than  their  previous  releases, with  a  house  backing  track  that  they  presumably  wrote  themselves . Its  more  accessible  to  the  likes  of  yours  truly  but I  wouldn't  cross  the  road  for  it.   The  samples  are  mainly  dialogue  from  film  and  TV  rather  than  music  although  there's  a  bizarre  scat  break  in  the  middle  that  I'm  guessing  may  be  Cab  Calloway. Yazz's  contribution  on  the  record  is  restricted  to  crooning  the  title  at  regular  intervals  but  she  provided  a  visual  focus  for  the  video  and  Top  of  the  Pops, setting  a  template,  for  putting  models  out  front  with  this  sort  of  music,  that  would  be  picked  up  by  countless  other  outfits  over  the  next  decade.

589 Hello Bomb The Bass - Beat Dis

Chart  entered :  20th  February  1988

Chart  peak : 2

Number  of  hits : 10

And  so  the  age of  the  producer  begins. M./A/R/R/S  were  a  collaboration  between  musicians    from  two  indie  groups  and  Paul  Hardcastle  is  an  accomplished  keyboard  player. It  would  be unfair  to  describe  Tim  Simenon  ( the  man  behind  the  nom  de  plume )  as  a  non-musician but  he  is  predominantly  a  producer.  Although  the final  axe  was  long  in  arriving, this  is  where  the  slow  death  of  Top  of  the  Pops  began, the  advent  of  the "men  in  baseball  caps  jigging  around"  as  The  Guardian  put  it.

Tim  was  born  in  Brixton  in  1967. He 's  never  given  much  away  about  his  background  but  his  day  job  when  he  made  this  was  waiting  in  a  Japanese  restaurant  and  there's  a  definite  Oriental  look  to  his  features. He  was  also  doing  a  part-time  course  in  sound  engineering  at  college  in  Holloway  and  DJ-ing  at  Soho's  Wag  Club .

Tim  came  up  with  the  rhythm  track  for  "Beat  Dis "  himself  on  a  synth  but  otherwise  the  track  consists  entirely  of  samples  from  reputedly  over  seventy  sources  put  together  with  the  aid  of  producer  Pascal  Gabriel. It's  perhaps  most  easily  recognised by  the  Thunderbirds  sample   at  the  beginning  of  the  record.

 I  realise  this  track  is  nearly  thirty  years  old  but  I  am  little  closer  to  understanding  its  appeal  beyond  the  confines  of  a  nightclub. I   appreciate  a  good  bass  line  as  much  as  anyone  but  I  then  want  a  song  on  top  of  it, not  the  musical  equivalent  of  a  wordsearch. There  probably  is  some  fun  to  be  had  in  identifying  all  the  components  but  I'd  much  rather  hear  them  in  their  original  context.        

588 Hello Faith No More - We Care a Lot

Chart  entered : 6  February  1988

Chart  peak : 53

Number  of  hits : 16

This  lot  are  hard  to  classify  but  built  up  a  substantial  fanbase  which  enabled  them  to rack  up  a  fair  number  of  hits.

The  band  were  formed  as  Sharp  Young  Men  in  California  in  1979 . The  members  at  that  time  were  bassist  Billy  Gould ,  drummer  Mike  Bordin  and  two  other  guys.  By  1983  the  group  had  changed  their  name  to  Faith, No  Man  and  released  a  single  "Quiet  in  Heaven /Song  of  Liberty "  on  an  independent  label. It's  a  stomping,  angry,   Goth / punk  record   that  could  be  the  Virgin  Prunes  or  even  PiL  with  original  vocalist  Mike  Morris  sounding  like  he's  been  influenced  by  Lydon. "Song  of  Liberty "  is  the  more  controlled  number  with  its  insistent  bass  line  but  neither  has  anything  that  could  be  described  as  a  tune.

Shortly  afterwards  the  keyboard  player  was  replaced  by  Roddy  Bottum  ( yes  that's  his  real  surname )  and  then  the  band  decided  to  reconstitue  themselves  without  Morris  as  Faith  No  More. After  trying  out  a  number  of  temporary  singers  ( including  a  certain  Courtney  Love  ) and  guitarists  they  settled  on  Charles "Chuck"  Mosley " and  Jim  Martin  respectively. Chuck  had  been  in  a  punk  band  with  Billy  in  the  late  seventies  called  The  Animated  and  more  recently  had  fronted  a  post-punk  band  called  Haircuts  That  Kill, Jim  came  from  a  thrash  metal  band  Vicious  Hatred  and  was  pally  with  members  of  Metallica.

The  band  then  started  recording  their  debut  album  without  any  label  support, managing  to  put  down  five  tracks  on  their  own  money. These  were  heard  by  Ruth  Schwartz  of  the  independent  label  Mordam  Records  who  fronted  the  money  to  complete  it.

The  album  "We  Care  A  Lot"  came  out  in  November  1985. The  opening  title  track   written  by  Roddy, Chuck  and  Billy  seems  to  be  a  sarky  riposte  to  the  burgeoning  pop as   philanthropy  trend  following  Band  Aid  with  Chuck  bellowing  a  list  of  all  the  things  that  supposedly  concerned  them  over  a  steely  funk  bassline  which  rears  up  before  the  chorus  in  similar  fashion  to  Derek  Forbes  on  Promised  You  A  Miracle. It  has  the  muscularity  of  metal  although  the  lead  instrument  is  Roddy's  keyboards  rather  than  Jim's  guitar.

The  album  is  a  really  frustrating  listen   because  there's  a  lot  of  good  music  on  it. I  love  Roddy's  Ultravox-style  keyboards  and  Billy's  no  slouch  on  the  bass  either. The  problem  is  Chuck. He  writes  some  intelligent  lyrics  but  30  minutes  ( a llowing  for  the  instrumental  tracks )  of  his  tuneless  bawling , somewhat  similar  to  The  Angelic  Upstarts'  Mensi , is  way  too  much. There's  good  songs  here  but  he  does  his  best  to  hide  the  fact. Chuck  actually  addresses  the  issue  in  the  song  "Greed"  - "They  say  that  when  I'm  supposed  to  be  singing, all  I'm  really  doing  is  yelling". Well  "they"  are  right  man, do  something  about  it.

The  following  year  they  signed  with  the  Slash  label  which  had  a  distribution  deal  with  Warner  Brothers. With  a  larger  recording  budget  the  band  decided  to  re-record  "We  Care  A  Lot "  for  the  next  album.  The  new  version  has  a  cleaner  production, the  odd lyrical  change   and  a  slightly  faster  tempo  but  otherwise  it's  not  much  different.  The  video  got  an  airing  on  The  Chart  Show  which  helped  it  into  the  charts  here  before  they'd  broken  in  their  homeland.