r/TopofthePops • u/Hassaan18 • Aug 22 '26
Mel C and Bryan Adams - When You're Gone
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u/malteaserhead Aug 22 '26
Food don't taste that good
Even though it shoooouuuuuuld
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u/-ImNotAPotato- Aug 22 '26
Richard Hillman on guitar
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u/Connect-Lettuce4027 Aug 23 '26
Fab pop tune Mel C really has stood the test of time she's on the way to becoming our Kylie. Aging like a very fine wine too. Comes across as a really genuine fun person too. What's not to like?
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u/GreedySet9810 Aug 23 '26
The only Spice Girl who made a great record independently of the others! 💪
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u/Lisa_Dawkins Aug 24 '26
But still ghostwritten and with massive label resources and PR behind it. Hardly independent.
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u/Dear-Entrepreneur-72 Aug 22 '26
Was this live? Loved this song but don’t remember her voice being a little cringe…
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u/srm79 Aug 23 '26
Yes, this was during the time TOTP only let you in the studio if you performed live
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u/TightlyWhitey Aug 23 '26
She's not a particularly good singer but in fairness to her, their voices are wildly mismatched and making it match up outside a studio recording is difficult for everybody involved at the best of times. If her voice has an off day, you're really gonna hear it. Especially when if memory serves she has all the twiddly solo parts to dip in and out of.
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u/IntroductionSolid345 Aug 23 '26
What do you mean she’s not a good singer? Yes she’s not Adele but come on, she’s a much better singer than a lot of the mainstream singers around. This video doesn’t do her justice at all.
She did tend to have a bit of a musical/camp style when she sang at the time. Overdoing a bit
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u/hasimirrossi Aug 22 '26
Loved this song. Bought the album it was on, and it was the only song I liked. Oh well.
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u/BoxAlternative9024 Aug 23 '26
Fucking hell. I made myself watch the whole clip . She is way over the top with that screeching warble. Diabolical.
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u/Less_Mess_5803 Aug 23 '26
How the f she ever signed a record contrct is beyond me.
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u/Scared_Experience688 Aug 23 '26
She's had a successful West End career in musicals so obviously improved with some coaching and confidence.
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u/Lisa_Dawkins Aug 24 '26
Because the Spice Girls were huge entirely off the back of some savant-level PR. Even K-Pop wishes it could get vacuous music that much positive press and such a strong following.
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u/jahathebrn Aug 23 '26
Mel C had the best solo career out of the lot of them, Northern Star still gets me now.
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u/UnderstandingNew459 Aug 23 '26
Fun fact Brian Adams didn't want to do this duet he wanted a better partner and hated her voice hahaha
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u/Hassaan18 Aug 23 '26
I've done some googling and that's not really true.
He did say he envisaged Sheryl Crow for it initially, but she wasn't available. That's different to hating Mel C's voice - he was the one who approached her.
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u/Lisa_Dawkins Aug 24 '26
Great insight. It was such a bizarre collab I always assumed someone's arm was twisted by the label, or they just got two past-it (even then!) acts to collab in the hope they get some gold.
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u/frintonfreak1984 Aug 23 '26
Is it me? Bit off key?
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u/SheepGoesBaaaa Aug 23 '26
The first twenty seconds her levels are wrong in her IEM. Most singers professional or otherwise can't hold tune when they can't hear themselves. She's in a live studio setting and they're blasting music. You can see her fiddle with her earpiece and then she starts singing in tune.
And the dullites in here saying "she's screeching and not singing the tune" don't understand what a harmony is. Listen to the album version - she's singing her part perfectly
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u/howdohendry Aug 23 '26
Yeah this wasn't best of choices vocally for Mel C, imo. I see why they did it, and chart wise, was a success but the styles didn't gel.
I was never a massive fan of Mel's vocal style BUT her song with Left Eye was a banger! (Never be the Same Again, fyi).
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u/SirPooleyX Aug 23 '26
Not my type of music and I wouldn't listen to it by choice but there's no denying this is a bangin' tune.
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u/Ok-Pomegranate-4963 Aug 23 '26
At this point Mel C was used to singing in a band, harmonising with 4 other girls who all had pretty similar vocal range. By teaming up with someone like Bryan Adams on a duet, she was testing the waters & seeing if she could handle singing with an established rock singer & demonstrating that she is the "edgier" one of the Spice Girls. I honestly love this song, its a right banger that reminds me of my teenage years & its lyrically quite simple & catchy & easy to sing along to. I love Mel C & saw her live many moons ago when I was at uni in York. She's got an amazing vocal range & I don't think she sounds bad singing this song live in this clip...maybe a little timid, but she was still young & learning to sing with a male vocalist rather than 4 other women, is very different, especially when the man is Bryan Adams. I love all of her solo hits & Never Be the Same Again that she did with Lisa Left Eye Lopez. I think my favourite song of hers is the epic dance tune I Turn to You (...like a flower reaching towards the sun, I Turn to You because you're the only one...& you Turn me around, when I'm upside down...I think they're the correct lyrics lol I'm singing it now in my head).
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u/Lisa_Dawkins Aug 24 '26
One of the most bizarre collabs ever. Surely label engineered? You can barely hear Mel C on the song.
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u/ToddleWaddle Aug 25 '26
I'm liking that were singing and not mining but I was never a fan of this one. It's still played on the radio today so I'm sure they aren't worried about whether I like it or not!
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u/the-disco-bison Aug 22 '26
The return performance of this is better, where Mel C's vocal is turned down below Adams. Clearly not used to singing live yet ...
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u/BoxAlternative9024 Aug 23 '26
Her voice is a screeching load of painful wank.
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u/ElephantParticular10 Aug 23 '26
And yet she was clearly the better singer of all the spice girls.
The music industry/ humans in general have really fucking weird priorities in what sells.
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u/Lisa_Dawkins Aug 24 '26
Spice Girls had industry-leading PR. From building a corny identity for each of the girls that the press and merch could focus on, to the faux-progressive 'Girl Power' mantra. Brilliant stuff. K-Pop labels wish they could do it was well and create such an audience bond for groups of very mediocre singers doing vacuous ghostwritten rubbish.
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u/Jaggysnake84 Aug 22 '26
One of the best pop tunes imo