Ask anybody who grew up within the golden period of pop what they had been doing at 7.30pm on a Friday night time, the reply would have all the time been the identical – watching High Of The Pops.
The BBC attracted the most important names within the business for its weekly chart countdown present, particularly in the course of the 90s, the place the likes of Spice Ladies, Oasis and Take That had been regulars.
After all, High Of The Pops wasn’t distinctive to the 90s, airing for 42 years till it was pulled from the schedule in 2006 and changed with an annual Christmas particular.
However as we proceed our celebration of old-school TV in HuffPost UK’s new nostalgia sequence Rewind To The 90s, we’re wanting again at a number of the most iconic TOTP performances from the last decade.
And the place else might we presumably begin than with….
1. Spice Ladies – Wannabe (1996)
This video marks maybe the official begin of Woman Energy, with the Spice Ladies’ very first efficiency on TOTP – dodgy miming included.
After all, High Of The Pops would later play an enormous half within the band’s personal historical past, because it was a journalist from the present’s journal who got here up with the ladies’ particular person Spice nicknames.
2. Take That – By no means Overlook (1995)
When Robbie Williams unexpectedly left Take That in 1995, many questioned how they might proceed with out him, so the stress was on for the remaining members after they took to the TOTP stage for his or her first stay efficiency with out him.
Because it was, they changed him with a complete gospel choir, barely giving anybody the possibility to note his absence.
3. Steps – Tragedy (1998)
Steps had been TOTP regulars of their 90s heyday, with every of their releases receiving an identical efficiency full with choreo and coordinated outfits.
However our favorite? Effectively it must be Tragedy from 1998 for the sheer quantity of shoulder shimmying.
4. Mariah Carey – Feelings (1991)
Mariah’s first High Of The Pops efficiency really got here practically a yr after she made her UK TV debut on Des O’Connor Tonight in November 1990.
As Mariah celebrated being primary on the US Sizzling 100 and quantity 10 on the UK album chart, she took to the TOTP stage to carry out this husky rendition of Emotion.
5. Cher – Consider (1998)
There are such a lot of issues to absorb from this efficiency. The tracksuit. The boots. The wig. The out of sync miming (which we’re hoping is only a glitch with this video, quite than what really went out on TV). The actual fact Cher is even on High Of The Pops. Unbelievable.
6. Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Approach (1993)
Whereas the 90s had been characterised by BritPop and bubblegum pop, Lenny Kravitz proved there was nonetheless room for a little bit of rock on the High Of The Pops stage when he served up this energetic efficiency.
7. Pulp – Frequent Individuals (1995)
Lengthy earlier than Girl Gaga was dancing in an enormous bathtub on the X Issue stage, one in every of Pulp’s dancers was throwing some shapes in an outsized grocery store trolley on High Of The Pops.
8. Natalie Imbruglia – Torn (1997)
We don’t know why, however this efficiency makes us really feel unusually emotional. Undoubtedly top-of-the-line songs of the Nineties, and it nonetheless stands up over 20 years later.
9. The Fugees – Killing Me Softly (1996)
Killing Me Softly was one of many greatest hits of the 90s, and with performances like this one, it’s not laborious to see why that got here to be. Lauren Hill’s vocals are simply perfection.
10. Kylie – Breathe (1998)
Admittedly, Breathe isn’t one in every of her greatest hits, however Kylie’s 1998 efficiency of it on TOTP serves as a reminder of her experimental indie period, which deviated from her earlier string of pop classics.
For the report, we liked it simply as a lot.
11. Robbie Williams – Let Me Entertain You (1998)
After Robbie’s solo profession acquired off to a little bit of a shaky begin, he acquired to remind individuals of the showman they fell in love with upon the discharge of occasion anthem Let Me Entertain You.
His TOTP efficiency noticed him take followers to “RobbieWood”, the place he displayed the stage presence of an artist means past his years and set the tone for his future stay exhibits.
12. All Saints – I Know The place It’s At (1997)
Many individuals mistakenly consider that By no means Ever was All Saints’ first single, nevertheless it was really I Know The place It’s At – the only that additionally noticed them make their High Of The Pops debut, the place they exploded onto the pop scene just like the Spice Ladies’ cooler, extra grown-up cousins.
13. Adam Rickitt – I Breathe Once more (1999)
Adam’s efficiency may need been a extra clothed affair than the video for I Breathe Once more (should you’ve not seen it, it’s undoubtedly price a Google), nevertheless it was in no way any much less horny.
14. Whitney Houston – My Love Is Your Love (1999)
Whitney solely made a handful of appearances of High Of The Pops throughout her profession, however handled followers to a double whammy in 1999, recording renditions of It’s Not Proper However It’s OK and My Love Is Your Love, which noticed her on positive vocal kind.
15. S Membership 7 – Carry It All Again (1999)
Having discovered fame as children’ TV stars on their present Miami 7, S Membership’s arrival on the TOTP stage marked their introduction to a wider viewers earlier than the band would go on to assist outline early 00s pop music.
16. Celine Dion – My Coronary heart Will Go On (1998)
Titanic fever swept the world within the late 90s, and because of this Celine Dion discovered herself sitting on the high of the UK charts in February 1998 with the movie’s signature track, My Coronary heart Will Go On, earlier than giving this spine-tingling rendition of it on TOTP.
17. Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)
Nirvana’s 1991 look went down as one in every of High Of The Pops’ most memorable ever, due to the band’s surprising rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Not solely did Kurt Cobain do the entire thing in an unusually low voice, however the band ‘performed’ their devices in a mocking method, presumably as a result of they’d been made to mime to a pre-recorded backing observe.
Curt additionally darkly reworked the opening, telling individuals to “load up on medicine and kill your folks.”
18. Oasis – Roll With It (1995)
Oasis additionally took a jab at TOTP’s tendency to have artists mime their stay performances, when brothers Noel and Liam swapped roles on stage, with Noel miming alongside to Liam’s pre-recorded vocals and Liam pretending to tackle Noel’s guitar solo.
19. Blur – Nation Home (1995)
Blur and Oasis’ rivalry was dropped at the High Of The Pops stage when Blur beat their rivals and their track Roll With It to the primary spot in 1995 with Nation Home.
Bassist Alex James took it upon himself to rub salt within the wound, sporting an Oasis T-shirt throughout their efficiency.
20. Hanson – MmmBop (1997)
Actually, we don’t have way more to say than what an absolute tune.
21. East 17 – Keep One other Day (1994)
East 17 went all out after they made Christmas primary in 1994. Somewhat than simply throwing on these white puffer jackets, they’d a complete festive lounge set constructed for his or her efficiency of Keep One other Day, which was launched by fellow boyband Take That.
22. Peter Andre – Mysterious Woman (1995)
Does something epitomise the Nineties greater than Peter Andre sporting curtains and flashing his torso to a screaming viewers whereas singing Mysterious Woman?