Wendy James in 1991.

Music The things you turn up. After impulse listening to Baby I Don't Care, I happened upon this interview between Jonathan Ross and Wendy James (below). She's clearly not quite sure what to make of him or how to come across because it's a prime time interview in relation to a tentative comeback after Transvision Vamp's heyday just two years before. There's an exchange about something which happened on Going Live the week before ...



... and thanks to YouTube, here is the Going Live from a week before:



What's remarkable about this isn't just that it shows that Ross and the commenters to Points of View blew everything just slightly out for proportion especially considering her admission that she doesn't wear knickers when performing is for practical reasons, but also that it's a demonstration of what kids television and Saturday morning television was like in 1991.

 At various points, James is coaxed into talking about feminist issues and the environment and although some of her answers wander a bit, the fact that she's even being asked in comparison to the topics which are covered on so called "adult" television now. The modern comparison would be The One Show, I suppose, which has a particular reputation for Goulding stars out of the comfort zone.

Generally James comes across as being really rather mighty, so it's a shame that this was the last we really saw of her in the pop world.  Wikipedia suggests the album she was promoting, Little Magnets Versus the Bubble of Babble, didn't eventually have a release in the UK after a disagreement with the record company over the sound, the group splitting up before they could change their mind.

There's load of Wendy James related stuff on YouTube.  Here she is on Rivron for goodness sake.  Can you imagine this programme being commissioned now, let alone there being any guests?  "So I'm supposed to float in the Thames with Roland Rivron while he asks random questions?" "Every now and then a boat may almost collide with you but it'll be fine ..."  Oh and good lord, Star Test.  "Number nine, yawn."