7 July 1990
— Parker from The Thunderbirds
VER HITS Once Again Goes After Number One!!!
A few months' back, we looked at a singles review from Smash Hits' chief competitor Number One. It was one I enjoyed blogging about even though it was from an issue that I never actually purchased. Then again, neither is this one. My sister found it in a magazine rack in a Calgary bookstore. She brought it home, let me look through it and I never bothered giving it back. Can't recall her making much of a fuss about it either. Had it been the Hits she'd brought home that day, I wouldn't have been as likely to have assumed ownership.
Overpriced imported issues of ver Hits didn't seem to be available in western Canada so I had to make do with Number One. And though I was starved of British music journalism, it wasn't something I sought out very often. (I will probably write about the singles from the one other volume I picked up the following summer once I get to that time period) Nevertheless, it was a treat to have a second rate pop mag from my short-lived home. It was great being able to catch up with some old favourites who hadn't managed to travel across the Atlantic while I also appreciated the opportunity to get to know some newer acts that also weren't coming to a record shop near me.
The singles in this issue were reviewed by Aloysius "Nosey" Parker from cult TV series The Thunderbirds. I had seen a handful of episodes of those crazy puppets piloting spacescrafts and rescuing other puppets in peril but, as you can no doubt see from how I just described it, the show didn't make a huge impression on me. I know that Parker looks like a snooty English butler and it might be either a villain or anit-hero but not much else. In researching this I discovered that he even used his notoriety to cut a pop record with F.A.B., a techno unit that I'll be discussing in the future. The result was "Thunderbirds Are Go" and it provided him with a Top 5 hit that summer. Admitting to Tom Doyle that he had to "move with the times", his metamorphosis as MC Parker (a name like 'Aloysius' simply wouldn't do) wasn't easy given his past life saving the planet but it was a role proved capable of. But could he do the same in evaluating the singles of other pop stars?
As you can see, there is currently no link available for this issue of Number One for the simple matter of it not having been posted. I will rectify this if and when some kindly soul gets round to putting it up online. I'd do so if (a) I still had the copy I "borrowed" from my sister and (b) I knew how to do so. Perhaps one day.
~~~~~
I once figured that I knew the UK charts so well that I could tell immediately if a new single would be a hit or not. Mind you, this was while I was back in Canada and a year had passed since I had any kind of life in Britain. Suffice it to say, I was almost always incorrect. The British weren't going to go for New Kids on the Block, surely! R&B romeos like Color Me Badd and All-4-One? The Brits would see right through that crap! "Achy Breaky Heart"? Nah! (I was wrong on all of 'em)
I had a little more luck when calling a hit rather than a flop but this was still guesswork. Reading the singles in this issue of Number One, I was struck by Parker's interest in this rap/rock/funk tune that he picked as his single of the week and figured it was going to be absolutely massive back in Britain. North Americans weren't going to go for it but my chums over the water were going to be all over it. (I really shouldn't have taken the "thoughts" a decrepit old puppet so seriously)
So I figured it was a dead cert hit in the UK and all over Europe and hoped that I'd at least have the chance to sample it in Canada. And it didn't take long to make it in North America. By the end of the summer it was being played on a semi-regular basis on MuchMusic, Canada's answer to MTV. And that silly old puppet was correct, "Deeper Shade of Soul" was a banger — and it remains one to this day.
And, yet, it failed to spark much interest back in Britain. Even more surprisingly, it was a hit in the US and nearly cracked the Top 20. Sure, Americans were at long last starting to accept hip hop but MC Hammer was its biggest name at the time and he was as pop as rap got. Cutesy Young MC was big and so was rugged, sex 'n' drugs man Tone Loc. Public Enemy and NWA had the political edge. LL Cool J was all about being positive. 2 Live Crew was there to shock everyone. But hip hop that had guitars and old grooves and sounded as if it could come apart at any moment? No, I didn't think the Americans would go for it.
But go for it they did and they were right to do so. As I say, "Deeper Shade of Soul" was easily the finest rap number I'd heard up to that point, one that had a chorus that stayed with me for years until I rediscovered it on YouTube. Even now, it's still a remarkable experience. Rap-rock didn't always work and it often smacked of novelty but when done right there was nothing like it. Die Totenhosen and Fab Five Freddy's own attempt was brilliant enough but this was a huge step forward and one that Urban Dance Squad never quite managed to better, though they did go on to record several more fine records. Parker and I thought it would've been bigger elsewhere but at least it took off in a part of the world that needed it. That old puppet knows his stuff.
~~~~~
Also Released This Week
James: "Come Home"
Parker isn't so fussed by yet another baggy group that had emerged that summer. ("Come Home? These lads should go home") Of course, James only had a fling with indie dance and this was it. With Tim Booth's customary melancholic lyrics, "Come Home" is right at home with the rest of their very fine material but it's understandable that everyone figured they were yet another group jumping on the baggy bandwagon, especially once producer Flood had got his hands on it. A modest Top 40 hit but one that was gearing them up for a big stretch from 1991-93 and, ultimately, material sufficient enough to piece together the finest greatest hits album of the nineties. What does some old puppet posing as an MC know anyway? Come Home when she's on top, chaps.
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