Mental As Anything - Live It Up (TOTP)(2)

***I've reuploaded this video for better quality, please hit this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpyGrS4_NvE , thanks ***


This is a bit of a strange performance, their only appearance on Top Of The Pops in 1987 with their only hit in the U.K. making them a new band over here swiftly followed by being known as one hit wonders (even though by this point they were in their tenth year and relased five albums by 1985)...yet again Britain was either stopped from hearing another Australian band either by record companies or the media or the distance between Australia and Britain (and the U.S) making the journey non viable economically...or, most likely, us Brits couldn't be arsed to listen.
For example, "Need You Tonight" by INXS flopped over here. "New Sensation" was rush released here before anywhere else in the world in 1987, then "Devil Inside" in early 1988. As far as INXS go it wasn't until mid 1988 that Britain as a whole finally recognised them with "Never Tear Us Apart" and then claimed we'd always loved them...

Anyway, that was almost a year and a half after this performance, a single recorded and released two years earlier from an album also relased two years earlier. This single became a hit through being on the Crocodile Dundee soundtrack, by the time the song had got into the U.K. singles charts the Mentals were about to promote a new album "Mouth To Mouth" after having already released the first single from it "Let's Go To Paradise" in 1986.

For me that's why this performance seems strange, Greedy looks bemused wondering why it's this two year old song, not a current one. Wayne looks like he's wearing his "Paradise" jacket, Marty (if you can see him) just looks pissed off...Reg and Pete put in a good performance but the crap direction and camera work kills it.

It's weird that certainly in this country they're a one hit wonder with a lead singer who has blonde hair called Greedy. But they did so many other good songs, Marty has such a good voice, Reg was always in his own crazy world and couldn't help but make you laugh, it's a shame that he and Peter left the band, and a real shame about the Twohill sacking and subsequent court case.

Live It Up is from a period where everything was sequenced, this had started to happen on the previous album "Creatures Of Leisure" where there wasn't much in the way of acoustic drums, I've an interview from 1986 with Marty where he mentions that the Mentals lost direction for a while as far as sequenced perfection goes. By 1989's "Cyclone Raymond" album they were getting back on track of playing as a band using real instruments again, just as they did on their first three albums.

The footage is from Top Of The Pops 2, I've kept the comment at the beginning that cock Steve Wright says, and then redubbed the song to lose his stupid twatty cringeworthy "The lead singer looks like he should be selling ice cream" comment.

Check out other Mentals songs - Got Hit, I Didin't Mean To Be Mean, Beserk Warriors, The Nips Are Getting Bigger, Big Wheel, Romeo And Juliet, Brain Brain, If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?, Baby You're Wild, Just My Luck, Mr Natural, You're So Strong - they're probably all on youtube!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mental
• As
• Anything
• Mentals
• TOTP
• TOTP2
• Live
• It
• Up
• Martin
• Plaza
• Reg
• Mombassa
• Greedy
• Smith
• Peter
• O'Doherty
• David
• Twohill