It's a timeslip moment again!
Can two decades really pass so quickly? Twenty years ago today, this cheerful little ditty gave an out-gay band their first (and only) Number 1 in the UK...
Right Said Fred (led by brothers Richard and Fred Fairbrass) leapt into our collective conscience with the phenomenally camp I'm Too Sexy - which many people fondly remember as also being a chart-topper, but was in fact one of the many songs to flounder against the unstoppable force of Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It for You [sixteen consecutive weeks at number one] in 1991 - and on the back of it, became massively successful across the world.
Of course, the "novelty band" bubble burst fairly rapidly after their first clutch of hits. But for lead singer Richard - the gay one - a television presenting career beckoned. He also, admirably, lent his fame to supporting the struggle for gay rights in Russia, and he and his brother were injured in scuffles with anti-gay neo-Nazis at a rights rally in Red Square in 2007.
Right Said Fred are still together and performing - mainly at those "nostalgia" concerts admittedly. I saw them live (they were awful) at G.A.Y. in 2002. However it seems highly unlikely they will ever again secure the massive success of their past...
Right Said Fred official website
Twenty years ago! Can it be that it was all so simple then? Or has time rewritten every line?
ReplyDeleteTime has rewritten and engraved all my lines, unfortunately! Jx
DeleteI always thought it was very strange that this was the song that got them to #1 in the UK. Of course they were never going to top Bryan Adams at the time, but the follow up "Don´t Talk, Just Kiss" got to #3 (I thought that one might make it to #1). And when "Deeply Dippy" came out I remember thinking that it would probably struggle to enter the Top 10, considering that the other two had not made it to the top! Oh well, this was back when the charts were still fun and full of surprises...
ReplyDeleteAfter these three singles and the #1 album they came from, things did (not surprisingly) turn bad very quickly for the group. They have released several albums since (one came out just last year) but only the first two made the UK top 40. I seem to remember that they had a fairly high profile in Germany for a while, charting well with some of their releases. But I agree, I think it is about as likely that they will make a successful comeback as Mr Blobby!
They had bad luck again with Don't Talk, Just Kiss! That was up against another garguntuan chart-topper - the reissued Bohemian Rhapsody/Days of Our Lives, in the wake of Freddie Mercury's death. So I can only assume that Deeply Dippy - which is a great pop song after all - was just the lucky release!
DeleteJx
I can't believe it's 10 years since we saw them at G.A.Y! They were awful though...
ReplyDelete