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Poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP) is essential for facilitating DNA repair, controlling RNA transcription, mediating cell death and regulating immune response. This activity makes PARP inhibitors targets for a number of disorders. PARP inhibitors have shown utility for treating diseases such as ischemia reperfusion injury, inflammatory disease, retroviral infections, ischemia reperfusion injury, myocardial infarction, stroke and other neural trauma, organ transplantation, reperfusion of the eye, kidney, gut and skeletal muscle, arthritis, gout, inflammatory bowel disease, CNS inflammation such as MS and allergic encephalitis, sepsis, septic shock, hemmorhagic shock, pulmonary fibrosis, and uveitis, diabetes and Parkinsons disease, liver toxicity following acetominophen overdose, cardiac and kidney toxicities from doxorubicin and platinum-based antineoplastic agents and skin damage secondary to sulfur mustards. PARP inhibitors have also been shown to potentiate radiation and chemotherapy by increasing cell death of cancer cells, limiting tumor growth, decreasing metastasis, and prolonging the survival of tumor-bearing animals.
US 2002/0183325 A1 describes phthalazinone derivatives as PARP inhibitors. US 2004/0023968 A1 describes phthalazinone derivatives as PARP inhibitors. US 2005/0085476 A1 describes fused pyridazine derivatives as PARP inhibitors. US 2005/0059663 A1 describes phthalazinone derivatives as PARP inhibitors. US 2006/0063767 A1 describes phthalazinone derivatives as PARP inhibitors. US 2006/0142293 A1 describes phthalazinone derivatives as PARP inhibitors. US 2006/0149059 A1 describes phthalazinone derivatives as PARP inhibitors. US 2007/0093489 A1 describes phthalazinone derivatives as PARP inhibitors.
There is therefore a need in the therapeutic arts for PARP inhibitors. Such compounds can be used to treat subjects suffering from cancer, and can further expand the range of treatment options available for such subjects.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
Aksharit
Aksharit is the first word game for Indian languages developed and marketed by MadRat Games Pvt. Ltd. It is a board game based on the Hindi language. The game is loosely inspired on crosswords, but is purported to be designed to have specific pedagogical utility in Hindi language learning. Aksharit is used in 3000 schools throughout India and has been used by over 300,000 children. It's also available in 10 other major Indian languages. It's available in the digital form on Nokia's Symbian3 platform and on Intel AppUp. It has been a recipient of the Manthan Award and has been recognized at conferences such as TechSparks and INKtalks.
History
Aksharit was conceptualized by Manuj Dhariwal, while he was pursuing his bachelor's degree in design from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, for his final year design project. In 2009, Manuj presented a business plan to market Aksharit at a business plan competition conducted by Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, which he went on to win. Rajat and Madhumita, both graduates in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Bombay, had taken up teaching at Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh. They had devised a number of innovative games to teach their respective courses. The three of them, came together and incorporated MadRat Games Pvt. Ltd in January 2009, with Aksharit as their flagship product. Aksharit is Patent Pending (Patent Number : 294/DEL/2010)
Languages
Aksharit is available in 10 other major Indian languages, exclusive of Hindi. They are Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi and Punjabi. Aksharit is available in two versions, Junior and Senior, for every language.
Game rules
Designed for 2–8 players, above 10 years of age. Players have to form meaningful words on the board, given the constraints. Each player earns points on the basis of the word formed. There are specific points for each akshara tile. There are various positions on the board which lets the player earn point bonuses. The game ends when all the tiles supplied have been exhausted and the player with the highest points wins.
Chotu Aksharit (junior version)
Designed for 2–8 players, below 10 years of age. It is designed like a cross word, where players need to match the correct akshara printed on the board, with the corresponding akshara tile to form words. Each word has a corresponding picture to help children remember the word meaning. Depending upon the words formed they advance a commensurately on a board and the first player to reach the end of the board is declared the winner.
References
External links
About Madhumita Halder
Category:Board games introduced in 2009
Category:Word board games
Category:Indian word games
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
|
Exercise-induced serum enzyme elevations confounding the evaluation of investigational drug toxicity. Report of two cases in a vaccine trial.
Two subjects developed marked elevations in creatine kinase and other serum enzymes associated with mild myalgia during a randomized, double-blind, controlled Phase 1 clinical trial of an investigational live, attenuated vaccine against West Nile virus (ChimeriVax-WN02). One subject had received ChimeriVax-WN02 while the other subject was enrolled in an active control group and received licensed yellow fever 17D vaccine (YF-VAX). Subsequently, the clinical trial was interrupted, and an investigation was begun to evaluate the enzyme abnormalities. As daily serum samples were collected for determination of quantitative viremia, it was possible to define the enzyme elevations with precision and to relate these elevations to physical activity of the subjects, symptoms, and virological and serological measurements. Evaluation of both subjects clearly showed that skeletal muscle injury, and not cardiac or hepatic dysfunction, was responsible for the biochemical abnormalities. This investigation also implicated strenuous exercise as the cause of the apparent muscle injury rather than the study vaccines. As a result of this experience, subjects engaged in future early-stage trials of these live, attenuated viral vaccines will be advised not to engage in contact sports or new or enhanced exercise regimens for which they are not trained or conditioned. The inclusion of placebo control arm (in lieu of or addition to an active vaccine control) will also be useful in differentiating causally related serum enzyme elevations.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Q:
Can a person legally search for work, or other resources to facilitate future immigration, while visiting under the Visa Waiver Program?
I have a friend who wishes to immigrate to the US in the future. However, they do not currently meet any eligibility requirements for a green card nor do they have a sponsor for a non-immigrant visa at this time. They will be coming to visit the US soon, under the Visa Waiver Program.
While they are mainly coming for tourism and social purposes, my friend also hopes that the visit can be used to find proper sponsorship for a green card or work visa. However, I understand that the VWP does not allow for dual-intent like a work visa generally does. This raises some questions.
If employment is found prior to their currently-planned trip, is it possible to change/cancel the VWP permit to have a green card or work visa granted for the trip instead?
While in the US under the VWP, may they apply for US-based jobs and attend interviews (under the condition that work does not begin while still under the VWP)?
If employment is found while on this trip, will they need to return to their home country before a green card or work visa can be granted? If so, for how long?
A:
There's nothing to change or cancel. If the person becomes eligible to apply for an immigrant visa or a non-immigrant work visa, he can simply apply.
Yes.
Yes. There's no work-sponsored immigrant visa as far as I'm aware, so it will be a nonimmigrant visa application. The waiting time depends on the circumstances and the visa type, but it would most likely be in the neighborhood of several months to a couple of years.
Questions about the practical aspects of immigration are better suited to Expatriates.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
A) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and its manufacture method, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having shallow trench isolation (STI) and its manufacture method.
B) Description of the Related Art
Local oxidation of silicon (LOCOS) has been used as isolation of a semiconductor device.
According to LOCOS techniques, after a silicon oxide film is formed on a silicon substrate as a buffer layer, a silicon nitride film is formed as a mask layer for preventing oxidization. After the silicon nitride film is patterned, the surface of the silicon substrate is selectively and thermally oxidized via the silicon oxide film.
Oxidizing species such as oxygen and moisture enter not only a silicon region under an opening of the silicon nitride film (isolation region) but also a silicon region under the buffer silicon oxide layer under the nitride layer (active region) adjacent to the opening, when the silicon substrate is thermally oxidized. These oxidizing species oxidize the silicon substrate surface even under the silicon nitride film and a silicon oxide region called birds' beak is formed. This bird's beak region cannot be substantially used as an active region for forming electronic elements so that the area of the active region is reduced.
A silicon nitride film having apertures of various sizes is formed on a silicon substrate and the substrate surface is thermally oxidized. In this case, a silicon oxide film formed on the silicon substrate surface and in the small size aperture is thinner than a silicon oxide film formed on the silicon substrate surface and in the large size aperture. This phenomenon is called thinning.
As a semiconductor device becomes miniaturized, a ratio of an area not used as the electronic element forming region to a total area of a semiconductor substrate increases. Namely, a ratio of the area unable to be used for the electronic element forming region, due to bird's beak or thinning, increases, hindering high integration of a semiconductor device.
Trench isolation (TI) techniques are known as isolation region forming techniques. According to TI techniques, a trench is formed in the surface layer of a semiconductor substrate and insulator or polysilicon is buried or embedded in the trench. This method has been used for forming a bipolar transistor LSI which requires deep isolation regions.
Trench isolation is being applied to a MOS transistor LSI because both bird's beak and thinning do not occur. MOS transistor LSI's do not require deep isolation regions like bipolar transistor LSI's and can use relatively shallow isolation regions having a depth of about 0.1 to 1.0 μm. This structure is called shallow trench isolation (STI).
STI forming processes will be described with reference to FIGS. 11A to 11G.
As shown in FIG. 11A, on the surface of a silicon substrate 1, a silicon oxide film 2 is formed having a thickness of, for example, 10 nm by thermal oxidation. On this silicon oxide film 2, a silicon nitride film 3 is formed having a thickness of, for example, 100 to 150 nm by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The silicon oxide film 2 functions as a buffer layer for relaxing stress between the silicon substrate 1 and silicon nitride film 3. The silicon nitride film 3 functions as a stopper layer during a later polishing process.
On the silicon nitride film 3, a resist pattern 4 is formed. An opening defined by the resist pattern 4 defines an isolation region. The silicon substrate region under the resist pattern 4 defines the active region where electronic elements are to be formed.
By using the resist pattern 4 as an etching mask, the silicon nitride film 3, underlying silicon oxide film 2 and underlying silicon substrate 1 respectively exposed in the opening are etched by reactive etching (RIE) to a depth of, for example, about 0.5 μm to form a trench 6.
As shown in FIG. 11B, the silicon substrate surface exposed in the trench 6 is thermally oxidized to form a thermally oxidized silicon film 7 having a thickness of 10 nm for example.
As shown in FIG. 11C, a silicon oxide film 9 is deposited on the silicon substrate, for example, by high density plasma (HDP) CVD, the silicon oxide film 9 being buried or embedded in the trench. In order to make dense the silicon oxide film 9 which is used as the isolation region, the silicon substrate is annealed, for example, at 900 to 1100° C. in a nitrogen atmosphere.
As shown in FIG. 11D, the silicon oxide film 9 is polished downward by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or reactive ion etching (RIE) by using the silicon nitride film 3 as a stopper. The silicon oxide film 9 is therefore left only in the trench defined by the silicon nitride film 3. At this stage, annealing may be performed to make dense the silicon oxide film.
As shown in FIG. 11E, the silicon nitride film 3 is removed by using hot phosphoric acid. Next, the buffer silicon oxide film 2 on the surface of the silicon substrate 1 is removed by using dilute hydrofluoric acid. At this time, the silicon oxide film 9 buried in the trench is also etched to some degree.
As shown in FIG. 11F, the surface of the silicon substrate 1 is thermally oxidized to form a sacrificial silicon oxide film 22. Impurity ions of a desired conductivity type are implanted into the surface layer of the silicon substrate 1 via the sacrificial silicon oxide film, and activated to form a well 10 of the desired conductivity type in the surface layer of the silicon substrate 1. Thereafter, the sacrificial silicon oxide film 22 is removed by using dilute hydrofluoric acid. When the sacrificial silicon oxide film is removed, the silicon oxide film 9 is also etched to some degree by dilute hydrofluoric acid.
As shown in FIG. 11G, the exposed surface of the silicon substrate is thermally oxidized to form a silicon oxide film 11 having a desired thickness which is used as a gate insulating film. A polysilicon film 12 is deposited on the silicon substrate 1, and patterned to form a gate electrode. Impurity ions having an opposite conductivity type relative to that of the well 10 are implanted and activated to form source/drain regions. If necessary, side wall spacers are formed on the side walls of the gate electrode, and impurity ions of the opposite conductivity type are again implanted and activated to form high impurity concentration source/drain regions.
As the silicon oxide film 9 is buried in the trench and a heat treatment is performed for making it dense, the silicon oxide film 9 contracts as it becomes dense. The active region surrounded by the silicon oxide film 9 receives a compressive stress.
As the compressive stress is applied, the electron mobility in the active region of the silicon substrate may lower considerably. If the carrier mobility lowers, a saturated drain current reduces. As the active region becomes small as the semiconductor device is made miniaturized, the influence of compressive stress becomes large.
As the shoulder of the isolation region 9 is etched and a divot is formed as shown in FIG. 11G, not only the upper surface but also the side wall of the shoulder of the active region of the silicon substrate is surrounded by the gate electrode. As a voltage is applied to the gate electrode of such a shape, an electric field is concentrated upon the shoulder of the active region so that the shoulder forms a transistor having a lower threshold voltage. This parasitic transistor generates a hump on the IV characteristic curve.
A method of suppressing the formation of a divot and preventing the hump characteristics has been proposed (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI-11-297812). According to this method, a silicon oxide film and a silicon nitride film are formed in this order on the inner surface of a trench, mask material is once filled in the trench, the mask material is then etched to such an extent that the surface level of the mask material in the trench becomes lower than the surface level of the semiconductor substrate, and the silicon nitride film exposed in the upper part of the trench above the mask material is removed.
A problem specific to STI may occur although STI is suitable for miniaturized fabrication. New techniques capable of overcoming the problem specific to STI has been desired.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
Nebraska added future depth at the defensive end spot Sunday, flipping Dwyer (Fla.) defensive end Alex Davis on his official visit.
Davis, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound defensive end, took an official visit to Lincoln over the weekend with his parents and despite snowy conditions, saw enough to commit to the Huskers.
The three-star defensive end is an interesting recruit. He didn’t begin playing football until last spring, but quickly showed an ability to get quickly to the pass rusher. With a big frame, Davis has potential that caught the eye of Nebraska, Pitt and other programs late in the process.
[blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"][p]Im flipping my commitment to Nebraska #Cornhuskers
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
For centuries advertisers and traditional media companies have been using tools, systems, and methods to try and reach and connect with the proper demographics that will purchase the goods and services being advertised. For example, many advertisers on television elect to advertise their products when a program is shown that will be viewed by the viewer segment, group, or demographic that is likely to purchase the advertised products. Recently, the long standing tools, systems, and methods of advertisers in print media, radio, and television have been altered by the shift of people getting their content from the Internet, rather than print media, radio, and television. Advertisers and media companies have struggled to adapt and many online advertisements are not reaching the desired viewer demographic, as mass content being created by traditional media companies is no longer connecting well with the interests of viewers seeking to consume more personalized and relevant content in a wide variety of online forms including but not limited to search results (e.g. Google.com®, news stories (e.g. CNN.com®, videos (e.g. YouTube.com®, photos (e.g. Flickr.com®), friend-generated postings (e.g. Facebook.com®), and blogs (e.g. perezhilton.com).
Online advertising and content generally has several parties involved in the process of displaying advertisements and content to viewers, with the three primary parties being the content publisher, the advertiser, and the advertising network. The content publisher is the owner of one or more websites which have some volume of visitors consuming content to whom the advertisements may be shown alongside (e.g. Facebook®, CNN®, AOL® and blogs) and who receives payment from the advertiser. The advertiser is the party who desires to create and display advertisements to viewers consuming the publisher's content (e.g. Toyota®, University of Phoenix®, and U.S. Army) and who provides payment to the content publisher. The advertising network or vendor serves to connect a multitude of content publishers with a multitude of advertisers (e.g. DoubleClick® and Advertising.com®) and is typically paid a portion of the monetary transaction between advertisers and publishers. Some very large content publishers, which may have millions or hundreds of millions of viewers, will often form their own advertising network to sell directly to the advertisers (e.g. Google® Advertising Programs, Yahoo!® Advertising Solutions, Microsoft® Advertising adCenter).
It is the advertising networks and the very large content publishers which use many of the varied methods, systems, and tools for determining which specific advertisement or content to display from the multitude of available advertisements and content libraries. The current methods for determining which specific advertisement or content to display from the multitude of available advertisements and content include using a simple analysis and segmentation of the viewer (e.g. the viewers' demographic or basic behavioral data on the potential viewers), analysis of the context (e.g. placing advertisements in locations with content related to the advertisement's content, as demonstrated by Google's® AdSense®), and/or cost optimization (e.g. observing which advertisements are the most cost effective or the most profitable to display, and then electing to display those advertisements at a disproportionally high frequency).
The first two above listed analysis methods are commonly referred to as “targeting.” These methods are well known in the art and have been shown to improve the performance or effectiveness of advertisements and content. For example, an advertisement which aims to sell a subscription to a sports related magazine should, and frequently does, perform better when shown to viewers who frequent sports-related websites, who have in the past paid for premium sports television channels, or who currently have a subscription to a different sports related magazine. Additionally, content about the latest technologies being used effectively in high school education should, and frequently does, connect better when displayed to parents who have children near or within high school age, people with degrees in the field of education or executives of companies that develop technology applications.
Advertisers generally pay for online advertising in one of two ways. The first and longest-standing method is called Cost Per Impression (“CPM”). In the CPM method, the advertiser simply pays a set amount each time the advertisement is displayed to a viewer. Typically, a CPM is priced per thousand impressions, so a ‘$0.50 CPM” advertising campaign would cost the advertiser 50 cents for every 1000 displays of the advertisement. This method is analogous to offline advertising such as television, print media, and billboards where the price paid by the advertiser is related to the number of “eyeballs” that see the advertisement or view the content. For example, a thirty (30) second Super Bowl ad will cost an advertiser millions of dollars because that thirty (30) second advertisement will be seen by tens of millions of people. A second method for pricing online advertisements is called Cost Per Click (“CPC”). In the CPC method, the advertiser only pays when and if the viewer engages with the advertisement by clicking on the advertisement and linking to the advertisers' desired redirected location. The CPC method is usually priced per individual click. As such, “$0.50 CPC” advertising campaign or agreement would cost the advertiser 50 cents for each and every click that the advertisement receives. With the CPC method, no payment is made for mere passive viewing of the advertisement.
In recent years, improving the targeting methods and specificity has been a matter of significant research and development. Because an enormous amount money is spent in the advertising and content creation and distribution space, small optimizations have the power of scale to generate and/or conserve large sums of money. For instance in a CPC campaign, if an advertising network can increase the number of clicks or views which result from impressions, which is called the clickthrough rate, the advertising network can earn more money in the same period of time compared to if they had not improved the click-through rate.
Despite the significant resources spent on improving the targeting methods, significant improvement has not been achieved. Moreover, none of these improved targeting methods has utilized a scientific approach, a scientific analysis of the viewers, or a scientific analysis of the advertisements or content, to optimize advertising or content creation and delivery. Simply put, before the present invention, comparing advertisement or content performance across scientifically created segments of viewers to determine the best-performing segments for a particular advertisement or piece of content had never been done.
Finally, the concept and method of building a multitude of specifically scientifically targeted advertisements or pieces of content, using a knowledge base of scientific information, to optimally target each segment of viewers has also never been done.
Thus, there is a need for a computer-aided method that utilizes scientific analysis to identify what motivates and drives a viewer at their core to consume a particular piece of content and to pay attention, respond, and take action on a viewed advertisement. What is needed is a computer-aided method that segments the viewers, optimizes the advertisement or content creation, scientifically selects the advertisement or content to display, and creates a targeted advertisement or piece of content.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
Kids
Halloween
Boo! What are you going to be for Halloween? Sometimes, it can be fun to dress up as a group. Maybe your brothers, sisters, friends - or even parents - will want to join in the fun. Here are some costume ideas for groups of two or more.
sun and moon
winter, spring, summer, and fall
salt and pepper shakers
a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste
cop and robber
doctor and patient
veterinarian and animal (dog, cat, or bunny)
fireman and fire dog (dalmatian)
fisherman and fish
squirrel and nut
teacher and student
pilgrim and Indian (or turkey!)
prince and princess (or king and queen)
cowboy and horse (or cowboy and cowgirl)
dog and bone (Arf! Arf!)
vampire and bat
burger and fries
peanut butter and jelly
Santa and elf (or Mrs. Claus)
macaroni and cheese
three blind mice
three little bears
three little pigs
Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail (from Peter Rabbit)
Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion, and Toto (from the Wizard of Oz)
Sonny and Cher (ask your parents!)
And no matter what you dress up as, please be safe while you're haunting the neighborhood!
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Genotoxicity of phenacetin in the kidney and liver of Sprague-Dawley gpt delta transgenic rats in 26-week and 52-week repeated-dose studies.
Transgenic rat mutation assays can be used to assess genotoxic properties of chemicals in target organs for carcinogenicity. Mutations in transgenes are genetically neutral and accumulate during a treatment period; thus, assays are suitable for assessing the genotoxic risk of chemicals using a repeated-dose treatment paradigm. However, only a limited number of such studies have been conducted. To examine the utility of transgenic rat assays in repeated-dose studies, we fed male and female Sprague-Dawley gpt delta rats with a 0.5% phenacetin-containing diet for 26 and 52 weeks. A long-term feeding of phenacetin is known to induce renal cancer in rats. Phenacetin administration for 52 weeks in males significantly increased gpt (point mutations) mutant frequency (MF) in the kidney, the target organ of carcinogenesis. In the liver, the nontarget organ of carcinogenesis, gpt MFs were significantly elevated in phenacetin treatment groups of both genders during 26- and 52-week treatments. Furthermore, sensitive to P2 interference (Spi(-)deletions) MF increased in the liver of both genders following 52-week treatment. MFs were higher after treatment for 52 weeks than after treatment for 26 weeks. Frequencies of phenacetin-induced mutations were higher in the liver than in the kidney, suggesting that the intensity of genotoxicity does not necessarily correlate with the induction of tumor formation. Results from gpt delta rat assays of repeated-dose treatments are extremely useful to elucidate the relationship between gene mutations and carcinogenesis in the target organ induced by cancer-causing agents.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Decomposition pathway of KAlH4 altered by the addition of Al2S3.
Altering the decomposition pathway of potassium alanate, KAlH4, with aluminium sulfide, Al2S3, presents a new opportunity to release all of the hydrogen, increase the volumetric hydrogen capacity and avoid complications associated with the formation of KH and molten K. Decomposition of 6KAlH4-Al2S3 during heating under dynamic vacuum began at 185 °C, 65 °C lower than for pure KAlH4, and released 71% of the theoretical hydrogen content below 300 °C via several unknown compounds. The major hydrogen release event, centred at 276 °C, was associated with two new compounds indexed with monoclinic (a = 10.505, b = 7.492, c = 11.772 Å, β = 122.88°) and hexagonal (a = 10.079, c = 7.429 Å) unit cells, respectively. Unlike the 6NaAlH4-Al2S3 system, the 6KAlH4-Al2S3 system did not have M3AlH6 (M = alkali metal) as one of the intermediate decomposition products nor were the final products M2S and Al observed. Decomposition performed under hydrogen pressure initially followed a similar reaction pathway to that observed during heating under vacuum but resulted in partial melting of the sample between 300 and 350 °C. The measured enthalpy of hydrogen absorption (ΔHabs) was in the range -44.5 to -51.1 kJ mol-1 H2, which is favourable for moderate temperature hydrogen applications. Although, the hydrogen capacity decreases during consecutive H2 release and uptake cycles, the presence of excess amounts of aluminium allow for further optimisation of hydrogen storage properties.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
#!/bin/sh
GitRoot=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
GitCommitMessageHookPath="$GitRoot/.git/hooks/commit-msg"
NewCommitMessageHookFile="/hooks/commit-msg"
NewCommitMessageHookPath="$GitRoot/tools/$NewCommitMessageHookFile"
if [ ! -e $NewCommitMessageHookPath ]; then
echo "Something's gone wrong, I can't find $NewCommitMessageHookPath"
exit 1
fi
echo "Installing Git commit-msg hook..."
if [ -e $GitCommitMessageHookPath ]; then
BackedUpCommitMessageHook="$GitCommitMessageHookPath.previous"
echo "You already have a Git commit-msg hook installed."
echo "Backing it up as $BackedUpCommitMessageHook"
if [ -e $BackedUpCommitMessageHook ]; then
rm $BackedUpCommitMessageHook
fi
mv $GitCommitMessageHookPath $BackedUpCommitMessageHook
fi
cp $NewCommitMessageHookPath $GitCommitMessageHookPath
echo "Done."
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
Q:
Collision of Galaxies
According to the big bang theory, the universe started from a small intial point and is essentially expanding. However, my question is that if the universe is expanding how is it possible for galactic collisons to occur? Are the galacies moving away from a relative position but not moving away from each other? If so, how do we know this?
A:
The expansion of space is something that happens on the largest scales. At small scales, such as distances between nearby galaxies, other forces, such as gravity, dominate. Galaxy clusters are held together by the attractive force of gravity between these galaxies. Space in these regions is still expanding, but the gravity pulls on these galaxies much more than space's expansion moves them apart.
Galaxies that are close enough together, such as the Milky Way and Andromeda, are pulled together by the force of gravity between them.
A:
Even more concise: the universal expansion of space does not affect the space within gravitationally bound structures.
A pair of colliding galaxies clearly fall into this category.
The general expansion of the universe is only apparent at the largest scales, where the universe can be treated as an isotropic, homogeneous fluid, where there is no net gravitational force acting on any "particle". At smaller scales, this isn't true. The universe at small scales is messy and inhomogeneous. The anisotropic gravitational forces between bound objects completely dominate the expansion effect.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Q:
StackExchange clone: where should I add my indexes?
I'm creating an open source stack exchange clone and the following is my schema. What should I add indexes on for it to be optimal?
Here is the schema in Rails format (SQL format below as well):
create_table "comments", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.integer "post_id", null: false
t.integer "user_id", null: false
t.text "body", null: false
t.integer "score", default: 0, null: false
t.datetime "created_at"
t.datetime "updated_at"
end
create_table "post_types", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.string "name", null: false
end
create_table "posts", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.integer "post_type_id", limit: 2, null: false
t.integer "accepted_answer_id"
t.integer "parent_id"
t.integer "user_id", null: false
t.text "title", limit: 255, null: false
t.text "body", null: false
t.integer "score", default: 0, null: false
t.integer "views", default: 1, null: false
t.datetime "created_at"
t.datetime "updated_at"
end
create_table "posts_tags", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.integer "post_id", null: false
t.integer "tag_id", null: false
end
create_table "tag_synonyms", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.string "source_tag", null: false
t.string "synonym", null: false
end
create_table "tags", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.string "name", null: false
end
create_table "users", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.string "first_name", limit: 50
t.string "last_name", limit: 50
t.string "display_name", limit: 100, null: false
t.string "email", limit: 100, null: false
t.string "password", null: false
t.string "salt", null: false
t.string "about_me"
t.string "website_url"
t.string "location", limit: 100
t.integer "karma", default: 0, null: false
t.datetime "created_at"
t.datetime "updated_at"
end
create_table "vote_types", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.string "name", null: false
end
create_table "votes", force: true do |t|
t.integer "id"
t.integer "post_id", null: false
t.integer "vote_type_id", null: false
t.integer "user_id", null: false
t.datetime "created_at"
t.datetime "updated_at"
end
Here is the raw structure in SQL as well:
CREATE TABLE `comments` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`post_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
`user_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
`body` text NOT NULL,
`score` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`created_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`updated_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `post_types` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `posts` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`post_type_id` smallint(6) NOT NULL,
`accepted_answer_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`parent_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
`user_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
`title` tinytext NOT NULL,
`body` text NOT NULL,
`score` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`views` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1',
`created_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`updated_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `posts_tags` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`post_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
`tag_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `tag_synonyms` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`source_tag` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
`synonym` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `tags` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `users` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`first_name` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
`last_name` varchar(50) DEFAULT NULL,
`display_name` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
`email` varchar(100) NOT NULL,
`password` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
`salt` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
`about_me` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`website_url` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
`location` varchar(100) DEFAULT NULL,
`karma` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
`created_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`updated_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `vote_types` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
CREATE TABLE `votes` (
`id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`post_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
`vote_type_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
`user_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
`created_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
`updated_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
);
A:
Let's go though a few things here... (now that you actually show the database structure instead of only the Rails 'view', we can see what's happening).....
"Relational Databases" are about "Relationships". Relationships are expressed by having queries 'join' two or more tables. The Joins require matching columns on both tables. For example, the post_id on the comment table matches the id on the posts table.
If you have some comments and want to find the details of the posts they are on, then you will want to select from the posts table where the comment_id is a certain (set of) values.
When you select on a column, you often (normally) want that column to be indexed.
So, for each of your 'primary key' columns you will automatically also have an index. You need to index the 'other' side of the relationship as well.
Comments table
created_at should not be nullable. Nullable columns typically have a small impact on performance. All comments are created, and thus should all have a date, and there is no need for it to be null.
If you do queries that select the comments on a particular post, then you need an index on the post_id.
I suspect you may also have occasional queries for all the posts for a given user, which means you will probably want another index on the user_id
post_types
No problems here.
Posts
You will want indexes on the following:
if you want to select the post for a given parent, parent_id
if you want to select posts for a given user, then user_id
if you want to select posts for a given type, then post_type_id
you will also want to index the title, since this may make searches easier.
look in to full-text indexing for the body.
Should created_date be nullable?
Post-Tags
you will want two indexes here, and for performance reasons, you will probably want them duplicated. Explaining why is beyond this answer, but look for 'index coverage':
index on both tag_id and post_id
index on both post_id and tag_id
Tag Synonyms
source_tag should be source_id and should be an integer. Also with an index.
synonym should be synonym_id and should be an integer. It should also have an index.
Tags
Fine
Users
Recommend an index on:
display_name - so people can find themselves easily (and hopefully you have enough users for it to be needed).
(Are you sure you don't mind the users having no name)
Should created_date be nullable?
Vote_Types
fine
Votes
vote_type_id, post_id and user_id should each have their own index.
Should created_date be nullable?
Conclusion
Now you have some suggestions on what indexes you should start with, the next step is monitoring where your actual performance is poor, and targeting those areas for additional optimization. To do that, you need to actually be running your application, and finding out what your actual queries look like, and running those queries to see what the actual execution plans are, and where those plans look like they need help by adding an index.
- you do not have any primary keys on your database. Primary keys are part of the database's referential integrity, and ensure that you and your programs do the 'right thing'. Additionally, primary keys are implemented as an index, so they will ensure that primary-key-related access to your table is fast.
- you do not have a post_id column on your post table????? Really? This makes no sense.... unless parent_id is supposed to be the unique identifier.....
- similarly, you do not have a user_id on the users table. What gives?
So, you have no keys, and as a result, you are missing what are normally the most critical indices. Set up each table to have a key and you will be most of the way there.
Most databases now contain tools that will recommend indexes for you based on queries that you often run.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Every bad boy or bad boy wannabe needs to know one name: Hunter S. Thompson. Or, you can simply call...
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
Label-free visual biosensor based on cascade amplification for the detection of Salmonella.
Salmonella is a widely distributed, extremely harmful bacteria, the presence of which requires confirmation via an on-site visual biosensor. In this study, we constructed a label-free, cascade amplification visualization biosensor for the sensitive and rapid detection of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar typhimurium based on the RDTG principle (recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), duplex-specific enzyme (DSN) cleavage, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) extension and G-quadruplexes output). Following DNA extraction of Salmonella spp., the first step in the construction involved the recognition and amplification of nucleic acids, carried out by RPA, to achieve the first signal amplification within 10 min. This RPA product was then specifically cleaved by DSN to produce a large number of small double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) products with 3'-OH within 15 min to achieve the second signal amplification. Thereafter, TdT was employed to empower these small 3'-OH dsDNA products to extend and produce a large number of long G-rich single-stranded DNAs (ssDNAs) within 20 min, thus realizing the third signal increase. These long G-rich ssDNA products displayed a color change that could be directly observed through the naked eye by adding H2O2/3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). The RDTG biosensor for the detection of Salmonella spp. has several advantages, including a low limit of 6 cfu/mL. It is an isothermal-free instrument, simple to operate, with a rapid detection time of less than 1.5 h. Furthermore, it can be visually characterized and quantified by a microplate reader to detect Salmonella spp., in food and environmental samples, and it has broad application prospects.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Viral brachial neuritis in emergency medicine.
Brachial plexus neuritis is a rare neurologic disease that may be overlooked in emergency medicine because other conditions are much more common. We report a case of brachial plexus neuropathy due to cytomegalovirus infection. The diagnosis was based on history, clinical findings, laboratory tests, and electromyography. Early diagnosis and adequate treatment is important to avoid unnecessary investigation, prevent complications (especially adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder), and reassure the patient.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Q:
Grids and pointers in c
I made this program in C where an object R is placed on a grid and it's supposed to move taking inputs from they keyboard. For example, thi is what happens if you press N.
0 1 2
0 - - - R - - - - -
1 R - - PRESS N -> GO UP -> - - - PRESS N AGAIN -> - - -
2 - - - - - - R - -
So R makes it go up. The object has to move around, so when it is at [A0][B0], for example, it needs to go all the way down [A2][B0]. See above.
It will move up, down, left and right.
Right now i'm creating the function to make it move up, but i'm having a lot of troubles: sometimes it randomly freezes to 2:0 and 0:0 without goind up, and when it's at A = 2, instead of going up of 1, it goes to 0, although i set it to do 2-1 (to go up it has to subtract 1).
I don't understand what's causing those troubles, any advice?
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define X 3
#define Y 3
struct coords{
int a;
int b;
};
typedef struct coords cord;
// Print the array
char printArray(char row[][Y], size_t one, size_t two, struct coords cord)
{
row[cord.a][cord.b] = 'X';
// output column heads
printf("%s", " [0] [1] [2]");
// output the row in tabular format
for (size_t i = 0; i < one; ++i) {
printf("\nrow[%lu] ", i);
for (size_t j = 0; j < two; ++j) {
printf("%-5c", row[i][j]);
}
}
}
int moveUp(struct coords * cord);
int main(void)
{
struct coords cord;
char row[X][Y] =
{ { '-', '-', '-'},
{ '-', '-', '-'},
{ '-', '-', '-'} };
srand(time(NULL));
cord.a = (rand() % 3);
cord.b = (rand() % 3);
printf("\nValori rand: A %d, B %d\n", cord.a, cord.b);
// output the row
//printf("\nrobot:%c\n", robot);
puts("The array is:");
printf("\n");
printArray(row, X, Y, cord);
row[cord.a][cord.b] = '-';
//printArray(row, X, Y, &m, &n);
char h;
while(h != '3'){
switch (h) {
case 'N':
moveUp(&cord);
printArray(row, X, Y, cord);
row[cord.a][cord.b] = '-';
break;
}
scanf("%s", &h);
}
printf("\n");
}
int moveUp(struct coords * cord)
{
cord->a - 1;
if (cord->a == 2){
cord->a - 1;
} else if (cord->a == 1){
cord->a - 1;
} else if (cord->a == 0){
cord->a + 2;
}
/*
if (cord->a == 0) {
cord-> a = 2;
} else {
cord->a - 1;
}
*/
printf("\n A = %d, B = %d\n", cord->a, cord->b);
}
A:
In the below code, you are checking the value of h before having read anything into it. If the uninitialized value of h happens to be 3, then execution will not enter the while loop.
char h;
while(h != '3')
So read in a value into h and then do the check in the while loop.
In the moveUp function, you can use the ternary conditional operator to assign the next position or the object R.
cord->a = (cord->a)? (cord->a - 1): 2;
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
887 F.2d 1086
Unpublished DispositionNOTICE: Sixth Circuit Rule 24(c) states that citation of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Sixth Circuit.FERRELLGAS, INC., Appellant,v.David DEAN, Jr., Appellee.
No. 89-5221.
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.
Oct. 17, 1989.
Before KRUPANSKY and WELLFORD, Circuit Judges and JAMES HARVEY,* Senior U.S. District Judge.
WELLFORD, Circuit Judge.
1
David Dean was employed by Buckeye Gas Products, predecessor to defendant Ferrellgas, and by Ferrellgas itself, for about sixteen years. Ferrellgas was engaged in the liquid petroleum gas (LPG) distribution business and Dean was its route salesman and delivery agent. During his tenure, Dean signed a noncompetition agreement. The agreement prohibited Dean from disclosing any confidential information during or within two years following termination of his employment. The agreement also prohibited Dean from competing with Ferrellgas under certain circumstances following his termination:
2
4 .... Employee shall not interfere with the established business relationship between the Employer and the customers of Employer within a radius of fifty (50) miles of Employer's Location, and shall not call upon any such customer of Employer's Business for the purpose of soliciting, selling or delivering products of the kind which are the subject of Employer's Business, or rendering any service to such customer in connection with such products.
3
In August 1988, Ferrellgas terminated Dean's employment. The exact reason for the firing is in dispute, but the discharge occurred following rumors which reached defendant that Dean planned to start his own company in a business which would compete with Ferrellgas. Following his termination, Dean went to work for a competing company, and Ferrellgas claims that Dean has been "pirating" away its former customers while serving as a route salesman.
4
In assessing the appropriateness of a preliminary injunction, the trial court applied the test put forth in In re DeLorean Motor Co., 755 F.2d 1223, 1228 (6th Cir.1985), considering: (1) the likelihood of plaintiff's success on the merits; (2) whether the injunction will save the plaintiff from irreparable injury; (3) whether the injunction would harm others; and (4) whether the public interest would be served by the injunction. The trial court found after consideration that the DeLorean test weighed against granting the injunction. The court found it unlikely that Ferrellgas would succeed on the merits, found no evidence to suggest that Ferrellgas would suffer irreparable injury in the absence of extraordinary relief, and found that the public interest would not be served by an injunction that might stifle competition in the LPG marketplace.
5
On appeal, Ferrellgas takes exception to the findings of the district court and its failure to enforce the agreement by injunctive relief. It maintains that the trial court misapplied Tennessee law in assessing its likelihood of success on the merits, and with respect to the equities of the case. Ferrellgas also argues that without the injunction it will not effectively be able to enforce its rights under the agreement. Ferrellgas maintains that the decision of the district court grows out of the court's misinterpretation of Tennessee law, and a failure to appreciate the relationship between Dean and Ferrellgas and Dean's subsequent conduct in "competition" with his former employer.
6
A trial court's decision to grant or deny injunctive relief will be disturbed only on a finding of abuse of discretion. Frisch's Restaurant, Inc. v. Shoney's Inc., 759 F.2d 1261, 1263 (6th Cir.1985); DeLorean, 755 F.2d at 1228; USACO Coal Co. v. Carbomin Energy, Inc., 689 F.2d 94 (6th Cir.1982). "Rigid adherence to the 'abuse of discretion' standard is required to avoid untoward disruption of the progression of lawsuits as the lower court decision 'was in no sense a final disposition'." Frisch's Restaurant, 759 F.2d 1261, 1263 (citations omitted).
7
We find no abuse of discretion and therefore affirm.
8
Ferrellgas has raised serious questions on the merits of its claim, but failed to convince the trial court that it would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction. Even assuming that it would suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a preliminary injunction (and that the trial court's contrary finding was an abuse of discretion), it is difficult to see how that harm would "decidedly outweigh" the potential harm to Dean if the injunction issued.
9
Agreements in restraint of trade, such as covenants restricting competition, are not invalid per se. Although disfavored by law, such agreements are valid and will be enforced, provided they are deemed reasonable under the particular circumstances.
10
There is no inflexible formula for deciding the ubiquitous question of reasonableness, insofar as noncompetitive covenants are concerned. Each case must stand or fall on its own facts.
11
Allright Auto Parks, Inc. v. Berry, 409 S.W.2d 361, 363 (Tenn.1966) (citations omitted) (emphasis added).
12
The experienced Tennessee district judge in this case carefully considered and weighed the various Tennessee cases in a fifteen page opinion which deals with the difficult issues of enforcement of anti-competitive agreements by employees who are not in supervisory or management positions. Judge Edgar cited and considered Central Adjustment Bureau, Inc. v. Ingram, 678 S.W.2d 28 (Tenn.1984); Selox, Inc. v. Ford, 675 S.W.2d 474 (Tenn.1984); Hasty v. Rent-A-Driver, Inc., 671 S.W.2d 471 (Tenn.1984); Kaset v. Combs, 434 S.W.2d 838 (Tenn.Ct.App.1968); and, Arkansas Dailies, Inc. v. Dan, 260 S.W.2d 200 (Tenn.Ct.App.1953) among many other authorities in reaching his decision. We find his rationale to be persuasive and affirm based generally on the district court's opinion. The district court took into account the circumstances of the required signing of the agreement in dispute and the circumstances of the discharge.
13
Tennessee law on this subject seems to emphasize consideration of each case on the particular facts involved, and in appropriate circumstances will enforce reasonable terms and provisions of such non-competition arrangements. We find no error in the considered exercise of discretion in this case to decline extraordinary relief without prejudice to plaintiff's rights to seek other relief and damages.
14
We accordingly AFFIRM.
*
The Honorable James Harvey, Senior United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan, sitting by designation
|
{
"pile_set_name": "FreeLaw"
}
|
Differential modulation by interferon gamma of the sensitivity of human melanoma cells to cytolytic T cell clones that recognize differentiation or progression antigens.
Human melanoma is a highly immunogenic tumor capable of inducing a specific immune response. A number of melanoma-associated antigens have been characterized during the past several years and can be classified into two groups: differentiation antigens-present also in normal melanocytes-and tumor-specific antigens, which, with the exception of testis, are present only in tumor cells. In a previous publication [Kirkin A. F., Petersen T. R., Olsen A. C., Li L., thor Straten P., Zeuthen J. (1995) Cancer Immunol Immunother 41:71] we have described the production of clones of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) against the highly immunogenic human melanoma cell line FM3. Using these clones we have defined four previously unknown melanoma-associated antigens, which could be subdivided into differentiation and progression antigens. In the experiments reported in this paper, we have further compared CTL clones from different groups and shown that the sensitivity of melanoma cells to CTL that recognize differentiation or progression antigens is differentially modulated during tumor progression as well as by the lymphokines interferon gamma (IFN gamma) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). The interaction of CTL clones recognizing progression antigens was strongly increased after treatment of melanoma cells with IFN gamma, while the recognition by CTL clones specific for differentiation antigens either was unchanged or significantly decreased. IL-10 treatment of melanoma cells induced up-regulation with respect to recognition by CTL clones specific for differentiation antigens without affecting the recognition of melanoma cells by CTL clones specific for progression antigens. Using cellular systems at different stages of tumor progression, we demonstrated that the progressed state of melanoma cells is associated with increased sensitivity to recognition by CTL clones detecting progression antigens, and with decreased sensitivity to CTL clones recognizing differentiation antigens. Mimicking tumor progression, treatment with IFN-gamma induced apparent down-regulation of differentiation antigens. A hypothesis is suggested in which IFN-gamma plays different roles in the immune response against poorly immunogenic and highly immunogenic melanoma cells, increasing the progression of poorly immunogenic tumor cells or promoting a strong immune response and regression of highly immunogenic melanoma cells.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
1/25/09
Every year after the All-Star starters are announced people start talking 'he got snubbed'. Well, I think it is pretty obvious where the injustices lie in the All-Star starting lineup so I won't go into that because you all have read 100 articles on the subject. That number will double once the entire roster comes out. With all of this talk, I started thinking of a solution to this problem.
Jeff Van Gundy said today on ABC that the All-Star game is too important to these players to leave the starters solely in the hands of the fans. While some of us intelligent fans may take offense to that, we have to stop and realize that our level of NBA intellect does not accurately represent the average fan iq. As we know, the masses are guided by noteriety. Basically, what is being said in the mainstream media about a particular player will influence their vote. To a much more superficial extent, reputation is one of the biggest guiding factors in voters' minds (*cough* AI *cough*). Yes, I understand the All-Star Game is for the fans so the fans should have a say in who they watch. It is good marketing without a doubt.
We have all heard about the expansion of the All-Star roster to 17. I can support that, but it seems a little contradictory to only allow 15 on a standard NBA roster, but all of a sudden up that number to 17. I do see room for the argument to work though.
My proposal is a bit different than the 'Roster-Expansion Argument'. My proposal is to release the names of the coaches and media members who vote for the rest of the All-Star team. The coaches should have a vote independent of anyone else, but the vote from the media should be influenced by public opinion. In other words, it could be similar to the electoral college for the presidential election. Each media member with a vote is assigned a region of voters, similar to how congressional districts are drawn up. The votes for All-Stars come in, and they gather that information to help guide their votes. Of course, the members of the media could just completely ignore what the general vote is, and vote his or her own way regardless due to the lack of incentive to be faithful on the part of the media member (it's not like they have to run for re-election). My answer to that could be the vote for the All-Stars could be split. 50% for the member of the media (who has been guided by the public vote), and 50% the fans vote. So here is how my theory would work.
We can expect that there will be few differences in the votes. For example, Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, and Chris Paul will pretty much be unianimous, barring something drastic, every year. So since Lebron, Wade, Dwight Howard, and KG show up in everyone's East ballot, they are obviously starters. However, AI and Nelson are split. One writer has taken Nelson and one region has taken Nelson. When a tie comes about like this, the fans should have the final say in numbers of votes as is the case of AI and Nelson. If Nelson got more votes, Nelson gets the start, and AI automatically goes to the bench. However, take the case of CP3 above. Everyone has voted CP3 except for Region X. This means that CP3 is automatically a starter even though Region X and Y have split because both writers have picked CP3. If a player gets more writer votes, the player is in, and the general election is meaningless. If more regions pick a certain player and have a higher percentage of vote for that player than writers do, the region wins. For example, lets say combined, all the regions had a 55% vote for Deron Williams, but 70% of writers voted in CP3. CP3 wins. When it comes down to it, a tie will be determined by the popular vote of the fan. In any case, a player that is split, will automatically go to the bench. Essentially, the writer gets the input of the fan, and the fans vote themselves. The writers have act as independent bodies when making a decision with the fans influencing the writers through their feedback.
I think this system gets the best of both worlds. Fans are able to decide split votes as well as influence the decision of the writer, and writers are able to cover up the mistake of fans in the event the fans really got it wrong. It is a sort of checks and balances system.
I have not thought through this system the entire way through so there may be some flaws in my reasoning. Please point them out, and I can make some changes to the theory. Let me know what you all think. Thoughts and opinions are strongly encouraged.
1/24/09
The Pistons have struggled as of late. They have only won 3 out of their last 10. They have gone from one of the elite in the NBA to a team not guaranteed a playoff spot. They have been replaced as one of the Top 3 teams in the East by the Orlando Magic. When I heard the other day that coach Michael Curry was toying with the idea of Allen Iverson coming off the bench, I was shocked. Curry ended up not making that decision, but instead, allowing Rip Hamilton to come off the bench. With all of the uncertainty in Detroit after the Billups trade, I stand here wondering what happened to the Detroit Pistons?
We are looking at the Nuggets right now battling for 3rd place with the Hornets in the Western Conference even without Carmelo Anthony. We look at the Pistons who are fighting with Atlanta for the 4th spot and hear Miami's footsteps right behind them. Could it be that trading Chauncey Billups was functionally throwing away their season. We have seen how Denver has been stabilized by the force that is Chauncey Billups. There is no question that Billups played the same role for the Pistons. The Pistons have handed the keys to Rodney Stuckey, but asking the young players to fill the shoes of Chauncey Billups is asking a bit too much. So now the Pistons are left with two shooting guards who deserve to start. What does Michael Curry do? Does he let AI stay at the 1 and Hamilton at the 2? When does Stuckey get his minutes? If Stuckey is to get better, he has to be gaining experience. Surely that experience can't come if Stuckey is not getting minutes. As you can see, Joe Dumars has put coach Michael Curry in a bad position.
After watching Hamilton come off the bench the other night against Dallas, it seemed to be ok for Hamilton as he finished with a team high, 17 points. AI seemed to be the inefficient one in the game against Dallas. AI only finished with 11 points on 3/9 shooting. The Pistons lost that game, and the Pistons are still struggling to find answers. As I see it, they have 3 problems. A lack of size in the front, inconsistency, and no real rhythmn to any of their games. They also have no real sense of identity. Are they a fast paced team with AI? Are they a half-court team that slowly pounds it inside? Are they a team that needs to just give it to AI and watch? It seems like they are all of those at times. Rasheed Wallace is their only real post threat, but as in past seasons, Wallace has not gone inside consistently, and has hung around the perimeter for much of the time.
I was talking to a friend the other day, and he was telling me that the reason the 76ers went to the Finals in 2001 was due to the lack of talent on the 6ers. I thought this was a peculiar comment coming from a Philly native and 76ers fan, but he brought up the fact that AI was not surrounded by any talent, and it was up to him to lead. He was also in his prime at the time. It is no secret that AI is declining at this point in his career and is looking for help. Is Detroit a good fit for him? No. It is nothing like the 76ers team he took to the Finals in 2001. AI needs the ball constantly, and having to share the ball with Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace makes it tough for AI to do what AI does, score.
Detroit has a severe deficiency in the middle. They have Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace at the 4 and 5 spots. Both of those players are essentially forwards. They have Kwame Brown coming off the bench, but few would call Kwame a credible center. Since the Pistons go small, they need to run a fast paced game, and AI can help them do that, but they don't. They constantly get lost in posessions. They hope that one of their playmakers can just throw a shot up. I seldom see plays being run by Pistons. They need a lot more guidance on the offensive and defensive ends. The Pistons have the talent to win games and make the playoffs, but I don't think anyone is thinking Finals, much less past the first round, at best.
A bystander can't help but wonder if Joe Dumars has just conceded the season in hopes of freeing up cap room with AI and Rasheed Wallace's expiring contracts. The Pistons might be one of those teams that are clearing out cap room in hopes of getting a big free agent in 2010. Don't kid yourselves Detroit, Lebron, Wade, or Bosh will not be there in 2010. If I didn't know any better, an early ousting in this years' playoffs probably means the dreaded r-word...rebuilding.
1/20/09
For the first time since last June, when the site first started, I'm posting links to some interesting sports stories. More articles to come in the next few days about the Association.
I'm sure a lot of you have heard this, but this is the story of how DWade's divorce is hitting a low point. A lot of people have criticized the NBA for the culture of the players. We have heard of Michael Jordan's divorce, Shaq's divorce, and now Dwyane Wade's divorce. Three of the most high profile athletes in the world have had very high profile divorces, and they all happen to be basketball players? I hope there is no correlation here. Take what you may from this. I'm not sure of what to make of it. I hope it all gets sorted out, and is not that big of a distraction for Wade's play on the court.
Awesome story about Danny Granger's childhood with an emphasis on Danny Granger's dad, Danny Granger Sr. I'll let you all read the details for yourself.
Most valuable sports franchises in the world by Forbes. Unfortunately, no NBA teams, but I suspect that the Knicks would have been on the bubble for the top 10.
Obama has impacted all of our lives. We have all seen how the reaction to him taking office has been in the NBA. A few NBA players paid top dollar to get tickets to the inauguration. Apparently some people paid around $50,000 a ticket for a seat. Here is a link to show how important this was to the NBA. This is just one example of NBA players and teams reacting to the Obama presidency.
DishingDimes was just featured in this article from a great blog that focuses on college basketball during the college season, but the NBA right when the playoffs race starts getting heated up. Check the site out.
1/19/09
Wake Forest is #1 and it has inspired me to write about the top point guard prospects in the country because that race seems to be the most interesting, and at the forefront of the NBA draft discussion. We will leave Ricky Rubio and Brandon Jennings out of the discussion because they are abroad and I am ignorant of the intricacies of their game and have had limited exposure to watch them play. If you think that my analysis is bias towards Wake Forest because of my affiliation with Wake, I can assure you that I am not. I have been a big skeptic of Wake Forest sports from my entire time I have attended Wake. I have tried to formulate my opinion from a purely objective standpoint. I am just one of many who has written on the subject. Take it for what it is worth.
#1 Jeff Teague: He was a very under the radar player until he helped lead the Deacons to a win over North Carolina. Everyone I have talked to until the last two days, even after the North Carolina win, told me they thought Teague needed 1 more year at Wake. The last two days have shown us how fast Teague has risen on draft boards. He is a mid lottery pick at this point, and if he has a good tournament, I think he can be a top 5 pick easily. Teague also has the luxury of being on a team with 2 other NBA-ready players and a couple other future potential NBA and professional players. Teague has received help from the SF Al-Farouq Aminu as well as the PF James Johnson. Both players will most likely enter the NBA draft this year. I think Teague's help has elevated his play. Wake also has incredible size for a college team with 6 players standing north of 6'9, and it has helped Teague's penetration in the lane and options offensively.
Teague has an incredible ability to find weaknesses in the defense and attack them. When Teague goes to the hoop he goes straight to the chest of the defender. Teague also has an outside jumpshot. When the defender sags off him to prevent Teague from driving into the lane, Teague can pull up and hit a shot, and he hits 3 pointers 52.3% of the time. It makes life incredibly difficult for any opposing defender. Teague is averaging 21.4 ppg, 4.1 assts, 4 rebs, and 2.1 stls this season. Those numbers will catch the eye of any NBA scout. Teague is not a bad on the ball defender. He has active hands and knows how to disrupt shots. Teague also has a negative side. NBA scouts have said that his decision making is questionable, and they don't think he is a pure point guard. I agree with both of those observations. As a fan, I can't complain about Teague's decision making because he makes shots. Outside of that, I can see how that is of concern for NBA scouts. Teague will have a much more difficult time driving to the basket in the NBA. The defenders are faster and stronger than those in college. Teague can overcome those shortcomings with his superior athleticism. When looking at Teague's numbers it isn't difficult to tell that he is a shoot-first point guard who uses passing as a secondary weapon. If Teague improves his passing and decision making in order to increase his assists and lessen the 3.7 TOs a game he has, he can climb to the top 5 in the NBA draft.
#2 Stephen Curry: America has fallen in love with Curry. It may be his boyish looks that make him look like he could have gone to your high school or he could be one of your friends, but as a basketball player, we have to respect what he has done for Davidson. Major conference coaches were also fooled by his looks, but he is proving a lot of doubters wrong. Like Teague, Curry has questions about his decision making, and Curry has admitted to that. Stephen Curry is without a doubt the best player on his team. He is averging 29.1ppg, 6.5 assists, and 3 stls this season. He doesn't have the help that Teague has, but I would still categorize Curry as a better passer than Teague. If teams are going to beat Davidson, they need to throw their best defender on him. Stephen Curry can shoot from virtually anywhere on the floor. Even if the genes came from his ex-NBAer father, Del Curry, there is no question that Curry is one of the best, if not the best, shooter in the country. I think that if Curry gets on the right team, he can be a Rip Hamilton type of player. If he can come off of screens and limit his game to a catch and shoot type of game, he can be successful. Curry has the skill to be a point guard in the NBA, but like I said, his decision making is questionable. Even if he does stay a PG in the league, he should still be a jump shooter, and limit his creativity. I say he should be a jump shooter because he is unconscious when he has a wide open shot. Even with a hand in his face, Curry has showed the world he can deliver a big shot, and make seemingly impossible shots.
I question his NBA ability because of his size. I understand that he is about 6'3, but he has a small frame. Being a ball handler in the NBA requires one to be strong to body up against defenders and protect the ball going to the basket. If we think of the best PG's in the league today, CP3, Deron Williams, Jameer Nelson, etc., they don't fit Curry's stature. Steve Nash may be an exception, but no one is comparing Curry to Nash. I say that Curry should be a secondary ball handler that comes off screens because of his size because that seems to be where most of his potential lies. Rip Hamilton is not known for being one of the strongest players, but has been extremely successful feeding off of screens. The classic example is Reggie Miller. His career did not end up too poorly. Curry will for sure be drafted in the lottery if he comes out this year based on potential and reputation, if he finds an identity, he will be able to use his skills to really help an NBA team. He just needs to find the right combination of all of that.
#3 Jrue Holiday: One of the most sought after recruits in the country and National High School Player of the year prior to coming into college, Holiday has not lived up to expectation. Despite his lack of performance this season, he is still projected as one of the top 5 PGs in this years draft, and still projected to be a better NBA prospect than fellow Bruin, Darren Collison. Holiday has only averaged 9.6 ppg and 2.9 assists, but all of this comes in about 26.5 minutes a game. That is pretty good production from a second string point guard. From what I have seen from Holiday, he is a bit raw. Having said all that, Holiday has a very high basketball iq. He has good court vision, and seems to make very smart decisions. Holiday is the best passer out of this crew, and has the least amount of TOs at 1.9 a game, but he also plays the least out of the other 2 players on this list.
Holiday can undoubtedly help an NBA team, but I don't seem him helping a team out in the next year. Holiday needs about 2-3 years to fully develop as a basketball player. Holiday, like Curry, also has a small frame. He is 6'3 180, but can make up for the lack of size with his basketball iq. Any team that is in need of a guard could draft Holiday and mold him into whatever player they want him to be, as opposed to Teague and Curry who have a very apparent skill set. Holiday is a very good shooter, as evidenced by his 49.2% fg percentage. People should not be worried about Holiday's lack of production this season because we have to remember that Coach Howland is trying to balance their senior guard Darren Collison and Jrue Holiday's minutes. With players like Holiday, we have not seen enough from him to accurately asses his productivity and success in the NBA. A team will take a chance on him because of what he can bring to the table. It is just a matter of if he will bring it to the table...ever.
1/17/09
There was once a time in the NBA where critics of the Conference system lobbied to split the conferences up and make them into an NFL like division system. The tide has changed in the NBA. 3 out of the 4 best teams in the league are Eastern Conference teams. The worst team in the NBA comes from the West (OKC). For the purposes of this post, we should look at the top teams in the NBA, the Lakers, Celtics, Magic, and Cavs, and examine the diversity each of the 4 teams' diverse style. As a fan of the game, it is a joy to watch the differences in the makeup and style of the 4 teams. I'll tell you what I mean.
The Celtics: At the beginning of the season, everyone was talking about the reigning NBA champions losing single digit games. That is not going to happen, and since their loss the Lakers on Christmas, the Celtics went on a bit of a skid. They have regained their swagger, and look like they are back to their old selves. The Celtics are made up around The Big 3. They have their proven superstar in KG, another clutch superstar in Paul Pierce, and one of the best shooters/scorers in NBA history in Ray Allen. Put those 3 together, and some role players, and you have the reigning NBA champions. No other team in the league can boast 3 household names on one team. They proved that they could get the job done with that mix of players. Then we have Rajon Rondo. Rondo has been in a slump right now, but that is expected of his youth. The talent Rondo has at age 22 is amazing. He is a great complementary player to The Big 3.
When it comes down to it. The Celtics have built around 3 key players. It makes them tough to beat because you can lock down on KG all you want, but then you have the problem of Pierce and Allen to deal with, lock down on Pierce, and then you have the same dilemma. Lock down on Allen, and you know the story. It forces teams to be superior on defense. Defense needs to be the #1 priority when playing the Celtics. Throwing single coverage on any of the players means you need to have some really good perimeter defenders to guard Pierce and Allen, and then you need to have a heck of a versatile defender to defend KG. These are the types of matchup problems the Celtics pose every night for opposing teams. A lot of NBA teams try to center around a superstar. The Celtics did that too, times 3.
The Magic: Coming off a season sweep of the Lakers, the first time that has happened in 10 years, the Magic have proven they can play with the best. The Magic have their superstar in Dwight Howard, and they have their great scoring forwards in Turkoglu and Lewis. Another big boost for the Magic is Jameer Nelson. He is putting up career numbers with 16.9 ppg, 5.4 assts, and 1.26 stls. Nelson has proven that he can lead the team. When the Magic's shooters are off, Nelson takes it upon himself to go for 30+. Coach Stan Van Gundy doesn't even need to tell Nelson what they need from him that night because Nelson has that innate intuition of what he needs to bring to the table. Last night was a great example of Nelson and his leadership. He saw his teammates struggling from the floor. He goes 9/18 and drops 28 pts, 8 assts, and 6 rebs, and only 3 TO's against the Lakers. It was a performance from a player who is ready to win.
The Magic have the $100 million man in Rashard Lewis. He is a deadly shooter who is a rich man's Lamar Odom. He can do everything you want, and he brings you a pretty good level of consistency. Of course, Lewis has his off nights, but the Magic have scorers who will pick up the slack. Hedo Turkoglu is also a great player for the Magic. He has consistently contributed at a high level and is 4th on the team in scoring by only .1 of a margin at 16.8ppg behind Nelson. Hedo has also hit big shots for the Magic this season. With Nelson running the show in the backcourt, an up and coming rookie in Courtney Lee, the gunners, Turkoglu and Lewis, Dwight Howard's job is pretty easy. Wrong. Howard is undoubtedly the reason for the Magic's success. He leads the team in every category except for assists. He leads the league in rebs and blks. The one stat that he is not top 5 in the NBA in, is in FG%. That is something Howard needs to improve for the Magic to maintain this success. He only shot 8 for 18 last night against the Lakers, and finished with 25 pts. Some might not think that is of concern for the Magic. I mean, they won. You can't complain. The Magic have built themselves around Howard. They put 2 of the best shooters in the NBA next to him, and a point guard who has risen to his potential, but Howard needs to shoot north of 50% consistently for the Magic to be successful in the postseason. The Magic have proven they are one of the deadliest shooting teams in the league with their record setting 3point shooting night in Sacramento the other night. What is unique about the Magic is how much they have improved since last season with virtually the same team. You would think that with all the movement in the East, and the Magic staying the same, they would not be a top 3 team in the East anymore. Well, they have stayed the same. The Magic got better on the court while a lot of other teams got better on paper. Building around the best Center in the league is not a bad deal either. They are going to make some noise.
The Lakers: The Lakers are looking to make another Finals appearance. They have been hit with the injury bug lately, but the consistency of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol is about all the Lakers need to be a threat. Many argue that the Lakers are the deepest team in the Association. I tend to agree with that assessment. When healthy, they can bring Jordan Farmar off the bench behind Fisher. Farmar could start for 75% of teams in this league. Unfortunately for Farmar, he is playing for one of the 25% of teams that can start a point guard ahead of him. The Lakers are unique in the sense that they have players who can play multiple positions. Phil Jackson is known to have Kobe and Sasha Vujacic to play the 1. Pau can play the 4 or 5, Lamar can play pretty much any position except for the 5, Walton can play 2 or 3, and Ariza can play the 3 or 4. The Lakers also have the most size in the NBA. A front court that can play 2 7-footers and and a 6'10 SF is a pretty tough thing to go against. Put 6'7 Kobe in the backcourt, and the Lakers become a matchup nightmare. Phil Jackson has always been an advocate of size, and the current Lakers roster is proving his philosophy correct.
The Lakers have been centered around Kobe for so many years that people have been reluctant to accept the level of talent the Lakers have on their team. Kobe has come into a role where he has become more comfortable trusting his teammates and being a faciltator and a scorer, and most importantly, knowing when to be in both roles. The Lakers are a team that is struggling to find a level of consistency at this point. One can't argue they are being lackadaisical per say, but one could argue they struggle to effectively execute. The most glaring problem for the Lakers is their lack of defense. The Lakers allow 99.5 points per game, but their strong offense has been able to cover up for that every game, except for 8. The Lakers consistently allow their opponents into the century mark midway through the 4th. That will need to change come playoff time. Throwing their unrivaled combination of size, experience, and talent into the playoffs makes them a huge threat to any team, and unlike any other.
Cavaliers: Lebron James. Not much more needs to be said here. The help of Mo Williams has helped Lebron and the Cavs hold the best record in the NBA. Lebron does everything a superstar should do. He is a freak of an athlete, and is virtually unguardable. If he improves his jumpshot, Lebron is the best player in the league. The biggest highlight for Lebron is his impressive passing ability. We have all seen his bullet passes on SportsCenter, and if he continues his high level of play, I would not be surprised to see them in the Finals.
What makes the Cavs unique is that outside of Lebron, every player is a role player. Obviously Mo Williams is the #2 option, but he feeds off Lebron. Williams has to wait to pick his spots, and go for it. Wally Sczerbiak is the same way. He is a shooter that feeds off of double teams from Lebron. The Cavs also play surprisingly good defense for their lack of size. They only allow 89ppg, the best in the NBA. They average 11 more points than their opponents. You can't argue with that stat. It proves their defensive superiority. Their defense comes from the perimeter. They have shot blockers in Ben Wallace, Varejao, and Ilgauskas (when healthy). Mo Williams is a great on the ball defender, and of course, James' unparalled athleticism makes it hard for any offensive player to get what he wants. I can't even find a comparison to the makeup of the Cavs in the last 25 years. There is almost no contemporary example of a team that has had the success the Cavs have enjoyed without another star on the team. There is an argument for Mo Williams to be that star, but we know that he is playing at this level because of Lebron. Ask the Bucks if they recognize this Mo Williams. This is all Lebron James. He is the future of this league, and maybe the only player we may ever seen that has James' physical build that mixes athleticism and overall basketball skill together to produce what Lebron has produced in his very young career.
All 4 of these teams have proven they are fallible. The Celtics went for a stretch of losing 6 out of 8, the Magic have losses to Memphis and Toronto, the Lakers have back-to-back losses twice this season, and the Cavs have lost to the Bulls. As good as these teams are, they have their vulnerabilities. For the first time in a while, the East is more top heavy than the West. I think the Spurs can challenge the Lakers for a Finals spot, but the race in the East is what everyone will be watching.
1/13/09
I'm happy to bring to you Alex "Buckets" Matthews. He will go by the name Buckets on the site (origin of the nickname is still unknown). My first memory of Buckets was when I met him we started talking and naturally, basketball was one of our topics of conversation. Buckets told me, "I know more about the NBA than anyone I know." A bold statement. After getting to know him, he has not disappointed on his NBA knowledge. He is a hoops fan all the way around. From AAU to college to the NBA. He is a scholar.
When asking Buckets about his former high school career, he told me of a humbling moment. He describes the game as a 'playoff game' for his state championship. During the first half of the game, he shot an impressive 5/5 from downtown. Upon making his 5th 3pter of the half, he started doing a taunting sort of walk. This walk caused Buckets to injure his knee, and was basically completely unproductive for the 2nd half. When asked, Buckets described the experience as, "Embarassing."
Buckets hails from an island in South Jersey. Yes, an island, that apparently has a population of around 100 people. He lays claim to, "Every sports team in Philly, except for the Eagles. I'm a diehard Cowboys fan." Who knows? Nonetheless, Buckets is also a student at Wake Forest in his 2nd year here. He is a manager of the currently ranked #2 Wake Forest men's basketball team. When he isn't working for the basketball team or being a basketball nerd, he can be found playing basketball. As you can see, basketball is a huge part of the life of Mr. Buckets. I hope he can show that to the loyal readers of the site. I also hope that he will be able to share his unique insight and perspective on all things basketball. Welcome, Buckets.
1/10/09
Sorry I have not been living up to my New Years resolution. I hope to change that when I get back to campus on Sunday. I just got back from a Lakers game. It was an exciting game to watch, but very disturbing to think about after the fact. The lack of defense from the supposedly best team in the league was the main problem. The Pacers shot the lights out, and had it not been for a Kobe Bryant bailout with 3 secs left, it could have been a loss for the Lakers for the second straight time to the Pacers. The Lakers have had a huge problem holding 4th quarter leads. With injuries plaguing the Lakers, it is going to be very important for the team to pull it together in order to raise another banner at Staples Center. Nonetheless, it was good to be back to see my favorite team.
Anyway, as promised, I finally got around to posting the YouTube videos of me on ESPNU. These videos aired on ESPNU the week of 10/27/08. The main topic of the debates were, "Who will win the football game between Wake Forest and Duke?" For the record, Wake ended up winning the game. Had to add that in there. If you don't know, I am the Asian guy for Wake Forest. Enjoy.
I will be updating again soon. We will also be adding another writer to the site to help make updates more frequent. I appreciate everyone's support.
1/3/09
Happy New Year everyone. I apologize for not posting with more frequency. One of my New Years Resolutions is to post 3-4 times a week. Holiday season is hectic as we all know. I wrote an article a few weeks ago about waiving Marbury. I still stand by my original opinion of Marbury doing the right thing. This is the Knicks' problem. They created this. If any of you were in this position, most of us would act the same. It is pretty tough to be guaranteed $21 million dollars this year and forgive your boss by accepting $5 million dollars and walking away. Situations like these feed into why some people do not like professional sports. I can sympathize with that. If it were about the game, Marbury would want to be playing. We have to remind ourselves again and again that this is a business. Just like any other market, each party is trying to do the best for his or her respective party. With all this said, this brings us to our most recent Marbury drama.
Marbury has been rumored to be interested in signing with the Celtics. It would be good for every party only if the right things came into play. If Marbury were paid his entire salary by the Knicks for this year and the Celtics just had to dish out the minimum for Marbury, the Knicks would cut ties with the player that has been haunting their surprising season, the Celtics would have the backup pg to Rondo, and Marbury would be in a better situation overall. I would say that New York fans would hate him for going to Boston, but at this point, Marbury going anywhere would make Knicks fans happy. The risk for Boston would be how Marbury can come back and perform. There is no telling how Marbury will play after all the time off. Another consideration would be the reuniting of KG and Marbury. KG claims that he is ok with Marbury coming to Boston. We all know that the relationship between KG and Marbury from their days in Minny was questionable, and reuniting both of them could be potentially harmful to team chemistry. If there were tension between KG and Marbury, locker room relationships may be damaged. A KG/Marbury division in the locker room would be something the Celtics should stay far away from.
For this move to work, Marbury would have to be willing to take a back seat to the Big 3. Marbury should realize this is not Georgia Tech, not the mid 90's T-wolves, not the mid-90's KG, and most importantly, not his team. Marbury will have to put his ego away and take his spot behind a 22 year old Rajon Rondo. It will be a tough transition, but if the numbers work out right, there might be some potential in this move. If I'm Danny Ainge, I don't do this deal. There are to many question marks in this move, and he needs to tread these waters carefully. A Marbury signing could be a very bad PR move. Unless there was a lot to gain from the Celtics, they should keep the group they have. The potential for damage to the Celtics can come from more ways than just the salary cap.
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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Crush tells me a joke Laughed so hard I farted
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The present invention relates to the three-dimensional imaging arts. It particularly relates to the imaging, tracking, and displaying of neural fibers and fiber bundles by diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI), and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, the invention will also find application in conjunction with the tracking and graphical rendering of other types of fibrous structures as well as with other imaging modalities such as single photon emission computed tomography imaging (SPECT), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), and the like.
Nerve tissue in human beings and other mammals includes neurons with elongated axonal portions arranged to form neural fibers or fiber bundles along which electrochemical signals are transmitted. In the brain, for example, functional areas defined by very high neural densities are typically linked by structurally complex neural networks of axonal fiber bundles. The axonal fiber bundles and other fibrous material are substantially surrounded by other tissue.
Diagnosis of neural diseases, planning for brain surgery, and other neurologically related clinical activities as well as research studies on brain functioning can benefit from non-invasive imaging and tracking of the axonal fibers and fiber bundles. In particular, diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) has been shown to provide image contrast that correlates with axonal fiber bundles. In the DT-MRI technique, diffusion-sensitizing magnetic field gradients are applied in the excitation/imaging sequence so that the magnetic resonance images include contrast related to the diffusion of water or other fluid molecules. By applying the diffusion gradients in selected directions during the excitation/imaging sequence, diffusion weighted images are acquired from which apparent diffusion tensor coefficients are obtained for each voxel location in image space.
Fluid molecules diffuse more readily along the direction of the axonal fiber bundle as compared with directions partially or totally orthogonal to the fibers. Hence, the directionality and anisotropy of the apparent diffusion coefficients tend to correlate with the direction of the axonal fibers and fiber bundles.
Extraction of fibrous structure information from DT-MRI images is computationally intensive, with processing times typically extending from several tens of minutes to an hour for clinically valuable images, volumes, models or parameters. To keep the processing time within reasonable limits and to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, relatively low resolution images are usually acquired for fibrous structure tracking. For example, volumes of 30-40 slices, each of 128xc3x97128 voxels with a linear reconstructed voxel dimension of about 2 mm, and a 2 mm slice resolution, is typical. This relatively coarse resolution affects the appearance of the tracked fiber representation in displayed renderings. Since the fibrous structure tracking is generally performed three-dimensionally, each factor of two increase in acquired image resolution corresponds to about a factor of eight increase in computing time and memory usage.
The present invention contemplates an improved apparatus and method which overcomes the aforementioned limitations and others.
According to one aspect of the invention, an imaging method is provided for imaging a subject including anisotropic structures. A three-dimensional apparent diffusion tensor map of at least a portion of the subject including at least some anisotropic structures is acquired. The apparent diffusion tensor is processed at a voxel to obtain eigenvectors and eigenvalues. A three-dimensional fiber representation is extracted using the eigenvectors and eigenvalues. During the extracting, voxels are locally interpolated in at least a selected dimension in a vicinity of the fiber representation. The interpolating includes weighting the interpolated voxels by a parameter indicative of a local anisotropy. The interpolating resulting in a three-dimensional fiber representation that has a higher resolution than the acquired tensor map. A human-viewable display of the three-dimensional fiber representation is produced.
According to another aspect of the invention, an apparatus is disclosed for tracking fibrous structures in a subject. A magnetic resonance imaging scanner is configured to acquire diffusion-weighted imaging data. A reconstruction processor reconstructs the acquired diffusion-weighted imaging data into diffusion-weighted image representations. A diffusion tensor mapping processor constructs a diffusion tensor map by selectively combining selected diffusion-weighted image representations. An eigenvalues/eigenvectors processor determines ordered eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the diffusion tensor corresponding to voxels. A fibrous structure tracking processor computes a fibrous structure representation based on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors and at least one starting voxel selection. An interpolation processor cooperating with the fibrous structure tracking processor increases a resolution of the fibrous structure representation by locally interpolating voxels in a neighborhood of the fibrous structure during computation of the fibrous structure representation. A display device displays at least a portion of the fibrous structure representation in a human-viewable medium.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for tracking fibrous structures in an apparent diffusion tensor map including a three-dimensional arrangement of diffusion tensor voxels. A starting voxel is selected. Beginning at the starting voxel, an eigenvector corresponding to a largest eigenvalue is iteratively followed from voxel to voxel to construct a three-dimensional fiber representation. During the iterative following, voxels are locally interpolated. The locally interpolated voxels are weighted combinations of nearby diffusion tensors.
One advantage of the present invention resides in an improved smoothness of the tracked fiber representation.
Another advantage of the present invention resides in improved computational speed and reduced memory usage.
Yet another advantage of the present invention resides in improved tracking accuracy with higher resolution.
Numerous additional advantages and benefits of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment.
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1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to floral retainers and more specifically it relates to a multiple flower stem holder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous floral retainers have been provided in prior art that are adapted to prolong the life of cut flowers and display the same. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.
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Characterization of leucine transport by toadfish liver in vivo.
Kinetic analysis of L-leucine uptake by toadfish liver at 20 degrees C in vivo has been carried out after pulse injection of L-[14C]leucine into the hepatic portal vein. D-[3H]mannitol, which is taken up slowly by toadfish liver, is used as a marker for extracellular space and space accessible by simple diffusion. At normal plasma leucine concentration (0.1 mM), leucine uptake occurs rapidly (t1/2 = 0.25 min), representing a flux of 0.6 mumol/min for the liver as a whole. Analysis of the distribution of radioactive leucine among intracellular and extracellular free pools and protein-bound form at times of 30 s to 5 min after injection is consistent with operation of a concentrative or uphill transport system accounting for 40% of uptake at normal plasma concentration. Saturation of uptake occurs at increasing leucine loads; calculation of intracellular pool dilution from protein synthesis data indicates that 20-30% of liver intracellular space is occupied by incoming leucine during the first 2 min after portal injection. Maximal flux (V max) is 4.1 mumol/min per 7-g liver as a whole with Km = 0.6 mM. Competitive inhibition of leucine uptake is afforded by isoleucine and phenylalanine with lesser effects by aspartic acid, cysteine, methionine, threonine, tyrosine, and valine. No effect is observed with alanine, glycine, histidine, lysine, and proline.
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London buses step up controls after 20 drivers die
London's transport authorities on Friday announced new measures to protect bus drivers from the coronavirus, as colleagues held a minute's silence for 20 who have already died.
Mayor Sadiq Khan, whose father was a bus driver, led tributes to the victims as authorities said passengers would no longer be able to use the front door near the driver.
"It breaks my heart that 20 London bus workers have lost their lives to #Covid19. It could easily have been my dad and his friends," Khan wrote on Twitter.
"Our transport workers are heroes and we must do everything we can to protect them."
He joined a minute's silence called by the trade union Unite, which has been pressing for better protection for London's 20,000 bus drivers and other transport staff.
London is on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak in Britain, where almost 14,000 people have died, making it one of the worst-hit countries in the world.
Since a nationwide lockdown was introduced last month, bus passengers numbers in London have fallen by about 85 percent.
But a reduced service is still running on the buses and trains for key workers. Four Underground and train staff have also died.
Transport for London (TfL), the city's travel authority, has already introduced a new cleaning regime for buses, stations and depots.
The seats at the front of buses closest to the driver have been roped off and drivers sit behind a clear protective screen.
In the new measure to be introduced from Monday, the front doors will now be kept shut with passengers asked to get on and off using the middle doors.
Pete Kavanagh, Unite's London representative, said it was a "very welcome move".
"We have lost members of our bus family in recent days and we refuse to lose any more," he said.
"Unite has been asking for central boarding as an essential safety measure during these times because bus workers are, understandably, fearful for their health."
Not all protective measures have been so well-received by workers.
The RMT union reported that one bus operator in south-west England responded to its demands for more protection by fitting "what can best be described as a shower curtain" to the driver's cab.
Drivers complained that "the curtain is so flimsy members of the public have been pulling it to one side in order to speak to the driver" - which risks greater contact with passengers.
Khan is also lobbying the British government to advise people to wear face masks on public transport, to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Ministers have expressed scepticism about the idea in the past, but say the issue is under review. (AFP)
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Let's talk together about the changing world. The doctor is in.
Some things about leaves
Walked to vote on a raw Novemberish day in Providence. When the weather is seasonable, I feel better, even though I know it has no long-term meaning. The leaves are starting to come down in earnest finally and pile up a little.
To pay attention to some things, we have to neglect other things. Let them just pile up on the sidewalk, break down as best they can, let the dogs shit in them, let their own tenants of fungus and bacteria emerge, unsanitary, let them spread a layer of humus slowly over the sidewalk, let people walk and wheel in the street, let dropped seeds take root. How quiet it will be. Sour smell of the smashed locust pods rotting, sparrows having to make different decisions.
Streets paved with gold, in the short term: let them learn again to maintain themselves, let the seedlings teach the concrete to crack. Think about who is with you now. When you step off the street itself to let an ambulance through, you are taking a walk in the forest.
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Behind the Vital New Jazz Program at Metro State University in Denver
It's been a busy month for the Department of Music at Metropolitan State University. Its accreditation was renewed by the National Association of Schools of Music, and it added a new Jazz and American Improvised Music Performance concentration (also accredited). We interviewed Peter Schimpf, associate professor and chair of the Department of Music, and MSU music lecturer Dave Devine about the new emphasis and the importance of keeping jazz fresh.
Gina Tron:MSU has a rich jazz history. How did this new accreditation come about?
Peter Schimpf: We've had some kind of jazz here at MSU Denver for years. Ron Miles is one of our longest-lasting faculty members. He's an internationally recognized jazz musician, so he's always created a presence for jazz. Other members have also joined over the years who are also excellent players. Students here have been playing jazz lessons, but they didn't contribute to any type of degree. There was so much going on that we thought the time was right to turn this into a degree and go through the process of accreditation. We're glad we did. It's already becoming one of our most popular majors.
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PS: We were sort of unofficially offering the degree last semester. This fall is the first official fully accredited semester that the degree is offered.
What sets this program apart?
Dave Devine: I think what's really unique about the program is that it's a reflection of current times. It's not a cookie-cutter program. One of the most important things is that MSU establish a program that is unique to all the other schools. We didn't want to be the school that is just the most affordable. If you come to this place, you are actually getting a unique experience; it's not just an academic exercise. Metro has such a unique faculty. Not only are they active players nationally, but all of them share such a passion for teaching. They all try to communicate the information in a unique manner specific to the program. It really sets the program apart instantly from the rest of the school.
What can students taking it expect?
PS: All genres of music are to be used in the program. The official title of the degree is Jazz and American Improvised Music. The idea is to really expand the notion of what jazz is beyond any kind of traditional notion, to think of jazz as improvisational, first and foremost, and as a kind of music that can explore other forms of American music and serve as a starting point for improvisation. In the 1940s and 1950s, when jazz superstars like Duke Ellington and Miles Davis were really making a name for themselves, they were playing songs that were popular in that day. As it kind of matured and evolved, traditionally speaking, a lot of jazz musicians still play those same tunes because those were the tunes that they learned from jazz artists. But the idea here is that jazz is an ever-evolving, still-living art form that can look to today's popular music or any kind of music as an opportunity to explore for improvisation. It's about bringing jazz into the now.
Explain how the program goes beyond just the walls of the school.
DD: We have a strong relationship with Dazzle and [the] Mercury [Cafe]. We have a lot of concerts at Dazzle. Students have the opportunity to play in a professional environment and have their friends and family come and see the music.
What do you hope this brings to the school and the future of music?
PS: I would say that the one thing about this program is we start from a very progressive perspective, and we hope to continue to grow in that, both in regard to types of music and in regard to types of instruments.
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Photo
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ATHENS - Gilbert native Garin Justice has literally turned the football program around at Concord College.
Justice enters his fourth year as Concord University’s head football coach in 2014. He was named the 18th Mountain Lion head coach back in January of 2011.
Since being hired by Concord, Justice has led the rejuvenation of a football program that had went 0-11 as recently as 2008. Over his three year reign as head coach, Justice has compiled a record of 22-11 (.667), already the third highest winning percentage and eighth most wins by a head coach in CU history.
“We’re excited about the program and pleased with all the hard work everyone has put in to get to this point,” Justice said. “When I came to this program they were 1-21 before we showed up.”
Since then, Justice has helped lead the Mountain Lions to one conference championship and a subsequent NCAA Division II playoff appearance.
Justice was a 3-sport star at the old Gilbert High School. He played football, basketball and baseball. He became an All-State lineman in football, which led him to getting a scholarship offer to West Virginia University by former coach Don Nehlen.
Nehlen retired, which paved the way for Rich Rodriguez to take over the Mountaineer program.
Justice stayed the course where he became a solid contributor to some of WVU’s best teams in the early 2000’s.
Being a West Virginia native, Justice likes to give in-state players a chance if he thinks they can contribute.
“Our philosophy is that if a kid from West Virginia is good enough to play and contribute to our program – we’re going to look at him,” Justice stressed. “Alex Lee of Mingo Central is a good example.”
Lee signed with Concord last spring and is expected to do well at the next level.
“I was a local kid and hopefully I can give other kids an opportunity if they are good enough and work hard,” Justice added.
Justice became known in his home state as a 3-year starting offensive tackle for the Mountaineers. A hard-working lineman, he was captain of the 2005 Mountaineer squad that went 11-1, defeated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and ended the season as the fifth best team in the country according to the final AP Poll.
That season, Justice earned All-Big East honors and was a Sporting News second team All-American. He was also the Big East Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Justice graduated from West Virginia University in 2006 with a Bachelor’s Degree.
“Garin’s pedigree in college football is fantastic,” Concord Director of Athletics Kevin Garrett said. “He played at West Virginia for Rich Rodriguez and Rick Trickett. He worked for Bobby Bowden, Jimbo Fisher and Trickett at Florida State. He had a chance to learn from some outstanding coaches and he’s done great work here.
“Garin is a man who grew up in southern West Virginia and is now coaching in southern West Virginia. That means a lot to everyone here,” said Garrett. “Garin Justice and Concord football have a bright future.”
At Concord, Justice’s teams have been known for their nationally-ranked defense as well as an offensive strategy that has provided the Mountain Lions the opportunity to win through an aerial attack or via a ground-based offense, depending upon personnel.
On Justice’s watch, 50 players have been All-West Virginia Athletic Conference or All-Mountain East Conference selections while two athletes earned WVIAC Defensive Players of the Year accolades in addition to 18 all-region selections and eight All-Americans honorees.
2013 was one of his finest seasons to date: Concord went 8-3 and narrowly lost out on winning the inaugural MEC title and earning a playoff bid. Concord tallied three-year highs under Justice on offense in points per game (26.6) and rushing yards per game (167.9). Just as impressive was Justice’s defense which posted three-year lows in points allowed per game (14.2), rushing yards allowed per game (108.4) and passing yards allowed per game (159.7).
Defensively, the Mountain Lions ended the season ranked third in the nation in points allowed, third in total defense, third in third down conversion defense, third in first downs allowed, fourth in passing yards allowed and 27th in turnovers forced.
Concord’s special teams unit also excelled in 2013 under Justice by ranking sixth in the country in blocked kicks, seventh in punt return defense and ninth in net punting.
Offensively, the Mountain Lions recorded the 24th best time of possession total in all of NCAA Division II.
Justice originally went to Concord in January of 2009 as the offensive line coach and strength & conditioning coordinator on former coach Mike Keller’s staff. Justice played a prominent role in Concord’s remarkable turnaround after its 0-11 season in 2008.
In 2009, Justice’s first year on the CU staff, the Mountain Lions went 6-5. In 2010, Concord was 8-3, winning eight games in a season for the first time in 19 years.
Prior to his arrival in Athens, Justice spent two seasons at Florida State University as an offensive graduate assistant, offensive videographer, and weight room graduate assistant. Justice helped develop four freshmen All-Americans and two All-Atlantic Coastal Conference performers. He completed his master’s degree from Florida State in sports administration in 2008.
He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at West Virginia University in 2006 where he worked with the offensive line and helped Dan Mozes win the Rimington Award as the nation’s best center.
Justice married the former Casie Coughlin at Concord University on July 7, 2012. The couple’s first child, Juliet Blake, was born on May 20, 2014.
His new baby girl has kept him busy this summer. He has been getting up at night and helping with feeding and changing diapers. But Justice knows all about responsibility and working hard, so it’s been a thrill having his new baby girl in his life.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be head coach at Concord,” Justice said “I have a great sense of pride to be able to coach at the university my family holds in such high regard. I’m thrilled and excited for the opportunity.”
(Info from the Concord College web-site was used in this article.)
(Kyle Lovern is the Sports Editor for the Williamson Daily News. He can be contacted at klovern@civitasmedia.comor at 304-235-4242, ext. 2277 or on Twitter @KyleLovern.)
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ADVERTISEMENT
What's in store for the next generation?
As our pet and human populations grow, so will the demand for veterinarians in the fields of companion animal health, food and animal safety, disease control, and public health.
Jul 01, 2012
By dvm360.com staff
VETERINARY ECONOMICS
INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT
As our pet and human populations continue to grow, so will the demand for veterinarians in the fields of companion animal health, food and animal safety, disease control, and public health. Although there are fewer opportunities to join a mixed animal practice (the AVMA reports that only about 13 percent of U.S. veterinarians practice equine or mixed animal medicine today), there is also less competition for those jobs. According to the Bureau for Labor Statistics, the vast majority of the 2,500 veterinarians who graduate each year are competing for companion animal postings, which will only continue to grow.
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X-Universe #1
$1.99
$24.99
X-Universe #1
If Gwen Stacy's tears had not dried up long ago, she would cry. Not for herself, but for the world around her. She can only sit and watch as the Mauraders decimate the ruins of Wakanda. That is, if Tony Stark doesn't do anything to stop it.
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The present invention relates to a packaging apparatus for feeding and loading individual bags formed in a continuous strip in which successive bags are connected end-to-end. More specifically, the present invention relates to a fully electric packaging apparatus that includes an integrated printer assembly that is pivotable away from the drive rollers used to feed the continuous strip of bags, wherein the integrated printer assembly prints a label or product marking on each of the bags in the continuous strip immediately prior to the printed bag being loaded with the product being packaged.
Currently, many manufacturers utilize automated loading machines to load products to be packaged into individual plastic bags. The plastic bags are typically contained in a xe2x80x9cwicketxe2x80x9d in which successive bags are stacked on top of each other and held in alignment by a header having a series of wicket rods. Once each bag is filled with the product to be packaged, the bag is torn along a line of perforation and separated from the header that aligns the stack of bags. After the bag has been filled with the product, the bag is transferred to a drop sealer in which the two layers of plastic forming the bag are heat sealed in a conventional manner. Although the combination of a wicketed bag loading machine and a drop sealer is in wide use and has proven to be effective, drawbacks exist in the use of plastic bags stacked in the wicket package.
One such drawback is the limitation in the type of printing that can be applied to the individual bags in the wicket. Since the bags in the wicket are stacked on top of each other and are loaded with a product while still attached to the wicket header, there is no possibility of printing a design on the plastic bag prior to the insertion of the product. Although the wicketed bags could be printed prior to assembly into the wicketed packet, the manufacturer of the wicketed bags typically mass produces the bags without customizing the bags for the individual customer. Thus, if the customer wishes to imprint information on the bags after purchase from the manufacturer, the wicketed bags must be imprinted after the product has been loaded and the wicketed bag sealed by the drop sealer. If the product being sold in the sealed plastic bags includes an irregular surface, printing after the bag has been filled can prove to be a difficult and imprecise proposition.
Recently, continuous strips of bags that are end connected have become available for use in packaging products. Each of the bags in the continuous strip includes an open end that is connected to the closed end of the next bag in the continuous strip. Rolls of continuous strip bags can include at least 1000 bags. However, the automated feeding and loading of the continuous strip of bags has also presented problems in the feeding of the bags from the supply source and the opening of the bags in the continuous strip prior to loading of the products to be packaged.
In currently available packaging apparatus that open and load continuous strips of bags that are end connected, the printing on each bag is done by a printer that is typically located upstream from the location at which the printed bag is loaded with the product being packaged. Although an upstream printer is adequate when loading identical products into bags such that the printing on each individual bag does not have to correspond to the particular product being packaged, drawbacks exist if the bag feeding and loading apparatus is used to package products that are specialized and require specific labeling for the product being packaged. For example, if the bag feeding and loading apparatus is used to package medical prescriptions for individual patients, it is critical that the information printed upon each individual bag matches the product being placed within the bag. In a feeding and loading apparatus in which several cycles of the apparatus take place between the printing of an individual bag and the loading of the same bag, an opportunity exists for misalignment between the printed product packaging and the actual product being inserted therein.
In addition to the possible misidentification that can occur due to the number of bags positioned between the bag being loaded and the bag being printed, the printed bags extending between the loading area and the printing area result in wasted product during changeovers from bag types or the type of printing being placed upon the bag. In many cases, as many as four to six bags can be wasted during each changeover.
Another drawback that exists in currently available packaging apparatus is the number of rollers and drive assemblies required to operate both the printer and the bag drive assembly. In addition to the increase in number of parts and cost, the complex path through which the continuous strip of bags travels increases the amount of time required to load a new strip of bags into the packaging apparatus. Further, the multiple drives require complicated timing arrangements to insure that the bag feeding and printer assembly operate at the same speed in order to position the printed material on the bag in the correct location.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that can be used to print, feed and seal individual bags with increased accuracy. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus that allows an article to be positioned into the bag immediately following the printing of the bag by the integrated printing assembly. Further, it is an object of the present invention to position the printing assembly directly above the bag feeding assembly. It is an additional object of the invention to provide a printer assembly that can be rotated away from the bag drive assembly to increase the ease of loading of the continuous strip of bags. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fully electronic apparatus that requires no compressed air to operate.
The present invention is a packaging apparatus for feeding, printing and sealing a bag from a continuous strip of bags. The packaging apparatus of the present invention is particularly desirable in presenting individual bags for loading individualized products into successive bags where each of the bags must be individually printed with information specifically related to the product being placed within the bag.
The packaging apparatus of the present invention includes a bag feeding assembly mounted to a stationary support frame. The bag feeding assembly receives the continuous strip of bags from a supply roll that is mounted to a bag tensioning assembly. The continuous strip of bags passes over a drive roller that is operable to pull the continuous strip of bags from the supply roll.
The bag feeding assembly further includes a platen roller positioned adjacent to the drive roller. Both the drive roller and the platen roller are commonly driven by an electric drive motor. The electric drive motor is coupled to the drive roller and the platen roller through a belt assembly such that both the drive roller and the platen roller are rotated at a common speed.
After the continuous strip of bags passes over the bag feeding assembly, the continuous strip of bags is received by a bag sealing assembly. The bag sealing assembly is operable to seal the open mouth of each bag after the bag has been loaded with a product.
The bag sealing assembly includes a pressure bar mounted between a pair of spaced side arms. The pressure bar includes a anvil plate that presses the open end of the bag into a heated wire to seal the open mouth of each bag after the bag has been loaded. Each of the side arms of the bag sealing assembly is movable toward and away from the stationary support frame of the packaging apparatus.
Specifically, each of the side arms includes a rack member that receives a rotatable drive gear. The pair of spaced drive gears are connected by a shaft that is rotatably driven by an electric drive motor. As the electric drive motor rotates, the teeth of the drive gears engage the spaced rack members to move the side arms of the bag sealing assembly into and out of the support frame. In this manner, the entire bag sealing assembly is fully electric.
The bag tensioning assembly of the packaging apparatus includes a support shaft that extends through the hollow core of the supply roll. The rotatable support shaft includes a bias member positioned to exert a rotational bias force on the support shaft. Specifically, as bags are unwound from the supply roll, the rotating shaft loads the bias member. When tension created by the feeding assembly is removed from the continuous strip of bags, the bias member exerts a rotational bias force on the supply roll to rewind the continuous strip of bags and maintain the proper tension on the continuous strip of bags.
In a first embodiment of the invention, the bias member of the bag tensioning assembly is a torsion spring having a first end coupled to the support shaft and a second end coupled to a slip clutch. As the support shaft rotates when the continuous strip of bags are withdrawn from the supply roll, the slip clutch operates to maintain the desired load on the torsion spring. Specifically, the inner race of the slip clutch is coupled to an adjustment spring that sets the amount of tension required on the torsion spring before the slip clutch will release. By adjusting the strength of the adjustment spring, the slip clutch can properly load the torsion spring.
In a second embodiment of the bag tensioning assembly, the torsion spring bias member has a first end coupled to the support shaft and a second end coupled to the fixed support stand. The support shaft includes a friction block that contacts the core of the supply roll. A friction collar is installed on the opposite, outer end of the support shaft and includes a tension spring positioned between the collar and the core of the supply roll. The tension spring exerts a bias force to press the core against the friction block. As the support shaft rotates when the continuous strip of bags are withdrawn from the supply roll, the friction block slips relative to the core when the tension force of the torsion spring exceeds the friction force between the friction block and the core of the supply roll to maintain the desired load on the torsion spring. By adjusting the compression of the tension spring, the amount of tension force stored by the tension spring before slippage between the friction block and the core occurs can be adjusted.
The packaging apparatus further includes a printer assembly that is pivotable between a loading position and a printing position. In the printing position, the print head of the printer assembly is positioned adjacent to the platen roller of the bag feeding assembly. When a bag is to be printed by the printer assembly, a printer drive motor causes the print head to move downward into contact with the platen roller. The platen roller is driven to advance the printer ribbon through the printer assembly at the same speed as the speed of movement of the continuous strip of bags. Thus, the bag feeding assembly insures that the printer ribbon is advanced at the same speed as the continuous strip of bags.
The printer assembly can be released and pivoted away from the bag feeding assembly to the loading position. In the loading position, the continuous strip of bags from the supply roll can be quickly and easily fed through the packaging apparatus of the invention. Further, the positioning of both the drive roller and the platen roller of the bag tensioning assembly on the stationary support frame allows for quick, easy loading without threading the continuous strip of bags through multiple rollers.
As discussed above, the packaging apparatus of the present invention is capable of printing and loading each pre-opened bag during the operation of the packaging apparatus. The packaging apparatus positions the driven platen roller on the stationary support frame while allowing the printer assembly to move out of contact with the bag feeding assembly.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.
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345/(-55). Let h = v + -374. Is h a prime number?
False
Let y be 2/(4 - 15/4). Suppose s - y*s = 28. Is ((-15)/6)/(s/1208) composite?
True
Suppose -5*d + 87 = 3*l, 4*d = -l - 0*d + 36. Suppose 13 - 308 = -5*q. Let y = q - l. Is y a prime number?
False
Let f = 19 - 15. Suppose 0 = f*m - 7*m + 12. Suppose -m*d = -9*d + 35. Is d a composite number?
False
Let p(x) = 11*x. Let v(h) = -22*h - 1. Let f(m) = -5*p(m) - 3*v(m). Let n be f(4). Suppose 2*c - 2*o - 44 = 0, o + n = 3*c - c. Is c a composite number?
True
Suppose 2908 = 4*i + 4*l, -13*i + 18*i - l = 3611. Is i prime?
False
Let r = 48 + -48. Suppose -6*t + 1380 + 14274 = r. Is t composite?
False
Let i = 3 - 2. Let g be ((-1016)/20)/(i/(-5)). Suppose -2*n - 4*w = -g, 0 = n - 2*w - 178 + 47. Is n composite?
True
Let n(s) = 6*s**3 + 5*s**2 + 2*s + 13. Let c(p) = -p**3 + p**2 - p - 1. Let z(w) = 5*c(w) + n(w). Is z(-10) a composite number?
True
Let a be 5*4*4/16. Suppose -3*b - b + 5*j + 13 = 0, -5*b + 5 = a*j. Suppose -4*n + 0*x - b*x = -532, 512 = 4*n - 3*x. Is n a prime number?
True
Let t be 1/(-5) - (-26)/5. Suppose t*b - b - 1196 = 0. Suppose 4*h + m = b - 29, 3*h - 205 = -2*m. Is h prime?
True
Suppose -j = -5*p + 2852, 3*j + 11393 = -j + 5*p. Is j/(-7) + 2/7 a composite number?
True
Let z = -970 - -1758. Suppose 3*c - 451 = z. Is c a prime number?
False
Let u(v) = 270*v**3 - 7*v**2 + 7*v - 7. Is u(3) a composite number?
True
Let k be 2/(-10) + 88/(-10). Let n = k - 0. Is (-2009)/n + (-18)/81 prime?
True
Let a be 5*7/(35/(-4)). Let o be (6/a)/((-2)/4). Suppose -o*h = -79 - 890. Is h composite?
True
Let v = -5509 - -8030. Is v a composite number?
False
Let n be 1 - (-7)/(28/(-16)). Let z be n/(-4)*(-3 + 127). Suppose -4*p = -z - 91. Is p prime?
False
Let t(c) = 970*c + 121. Is t(5) composite?
True
Let a be 9/(-21) + 354/42. Let o(l) = -a*l - 1 + 31*l**2 - 8*l**2 + 5*l. Is o(-2) a prime number?
True
Let v = -4 + 6. Suppose -j - v*j + 230 = 2*g, -5*g + 302 = 4*j. Suppose 5*t + j = 413. Is t a prime number?
True
Let c = -7 + 13. Suppose -10*a = -c*a + 708. Let p = a - -380. Is p a prime number?
False
Suppose 12 = 4*h - 3*z - 2, -4*h - z + 6 = 0. Let f = 0 - -1. Is 0 - (h - 37)*f composite?
True
Let w be 7/(-35) - 7428/10. Is w*2/(-2 + 0) prime?
True
Let z be 10/(-55) - (-72)/33. Suppose 4*y = z*y. Is (-53)/(1 - (2 - y)) a prime number?
True
Let t = 518 - 225. Is t composite?
False
Suppose -10 = 3*v - 1. Is 164/52 + v + (-3729)/(-13) composite?
True
Is 10 + (-24968)/(-4)*2 composite?
True
Is 1/(4/24)*(-1931)/(-6) a composite number?
False
Let r be 2 - (0 - -2) - -9. Suppose 4*q + 1595 = r*q. Is q a prime number?
False
Let j(h) = 21*h + 1. Let p(d) be the first derivative of 105*d**2/2 + 5*d + 2. Let x(s) = 11*j(s) - 2*p(s). Is x(2) prime?
True
Let w = -13281 + 21379. Is w a prime number?
False
Suppose -3*w = -5*w + 1760. Let q be 9*10/(-15)*(-190)/4. Suppose 0 = -j + 2*y + q, -3*j - 4*y = -5*y - w. Is j composite?
True
Let i(m) = m**2 + 16*m + 5. Let f be i(-14). Let p be f*((-3)/(-1) + -4). Suppose h = p + 228. Is h a prime number?
True
Let i = 168 + -253. Let k = i + 208. Is k a prime number?
False
Let c be (-10)/(-3)*(-6)/5. Is 847/(-22)*c/7 a prime number?
False
Let j be 4/(-14) - 480/(-112). Let b be (j/((-16)/28))/(-1). Suppose -p = -b*p + 570. Is p a prime number?
False
Let h(c) = -c**3 - 9*c**2 - 8*c + 34. Is h(-9) prime?
False
Let u be 6/(-2) - -3 - -5. Let z(b) = 2 + 13 - 2*b + 0*b + b**3 - 2*b**3 - u*b**2. Is z(-7) a composite number?
False
Let g(q) = -12 - 54*q - 6 + 15. Let l be g(1). Let x = 103 + l. Is x a prime number?
False
Suppose h - 6 - 5 = p, 3*h - 4*p = 32. Is h/18*6147/6 composite?
False
Suppose 34*h - 2715320 = -944566. Is h a composite number?
False
Let n = 13366 - 9303. Is n a composite number?
True
Let x be (-4)/1 - (-6 - 2). Let d be ((-4)/(-5))/(x/20). Let y(i) = 64*i - 3. Is y(d) a composite number?
True
Suppose 2 = s - 4. Suppose 2*b + 14564 = s*b. Is b a composite number?
True
Let w(s) = 2*s**2 - 4*s - 9. Let b(l) = l**2 - 2*l - 4. Let g(p) = -9*b(p) + 4*w(p). Let x be g(1). Is (-109)/x*-1*1 a prime number?
True
Suppose -6*t - 2511 = -i, -2*i + 14*t + 5030 = 10*t. Is i prime?
False
Let d(h) = -16*h**3 + 34*h**2 - 19*h + 34. Let r(w) = 7*w**2 - 36*w - 3*w**3 + 7 + 0*w**2 + 32*w. Let a(k) = -2*d(k) + 11*r(k). Is a(7) composite?
True
Suppose 8*a = -10228 - 1588. Let l = -692 - a. Is l a prime number?
False
Suppose 8 = -5*t - 4*y, 3*y = -t - 5 - 1. Suppose t = 2*d - 362 - 992. Is d prime?
True
Let t be 1548/((-12)/(-3)) - -2. Let u = 14 + -32. Let q = t + u. Is q prime?
False
Let d = -2 - 2. Let j be 1/d - 3819/(-12). Suppose 0 = 5*o - r - 548, -4*o + 7*o = -3*r + j. Is o prime?
True
Let n(r) = -11*r - 15. Let a(t) = -33*t - 44. Let j(s) = 6*a(s) - 17*n(s). Let k be -6*(3 - 5/3). Is j(k) a prime number?
True
Is (1 - 2)*(7 + -10 + -9598) a prime number?
True
Suppose -3*l = -1 - 23. Let m = 13 - l. Let d(o) = 12*o - 14. Is d(m) composite?
True
Is ((-100918)/(-10))/((-4)/(-80)*4) prime?
True
Let b = 648 + -37. Is b a composite number?
True
Let t(w) = w + 9. Let z be t(-3). Let j(u) = 21*u**2 - 7*u - 8. Is j(z) a prime number?
False
Suppose 6 = -4*h + 18. Suppose -3*o + 5*o = -5*r + 1890, -5*o + 1115 = h*r. Suppose -4*k - 4*a = -0*k - r, 5*k - 477 = -4*a. Is k a prime number?
True
Suppose 3*g - 12329 = -2*l, -7*l + 5*g = -10*l + 18494. Is l a prime number?
True
Let a be -2 + 0/(-1) + (-12)/(-3). Suppose s - 664 = -3*b, b - 4*s = a*b - 225. Is b a composite number?
True
Is ((-8)/(-20))/(7/40985) composite?
True
Let v(j) = -j. Let y(x) = 32*x - 9. Let g(k) = -2*v(k) + y(k). Let w = 8 + 2. Is g(w) a prime number?
True
Suppose -3*j + y = -16820 - 519, -2*j - 5*y + 11548 = 0. Is j a prime number?
True
Suppose 18*w - 267980 - 86494 = 0. Is w prime?
False
Suppose 4*n - 2*n - t = 5, -n = 2*t - 15. Let b = n - 2. Suppose -w + 562 = 5*l, -b + 0 = w. Is l composite?
False
Let c(t) be the first derivative of 29*t**3/3 - 2*t**2 + 13*t - 23. Is c(-8) a prime number?
True
Let a be 12/(-3) - (1 - 7). Let u(i) = 80*i + 1. Is u(a) a prime number?
False
Suppose 4*c = 11 + 13. Let m(r) = r**3 - 9*r**2 - r + 4. Let u be m(c). Is (3/6)/((-5)/u) a prime number?
True
Suppose 30*j = 5*j + 19100. Let a(i) = -93*i**2 - 2*i - 1. Let g be a(-2). Let y = j + g. Is y a composite number?
True
Suppose 76 + 281 = 3*g. Suppose g = k - 104. Is k prime?
True
Let r = 62742 + -28159. Is r a prime number?
True
Suppose 7*y = 3*y - 120. Let r = 79 + y. Is r composite?
True
Suppose -5*n = 5*t - 8700, 2*n - 5*t - 1934 - 1511 = 0. Is n prime?
False
Suppose -n = -5 + 2. Let f = -5 - -10. Suppose f*c - 655 = -3*g, n*c - 5*g = c + 262. Is c composite?
False
Let d = -12805 - -18647. Suppose 7*t = d - 263. Is t prime?
True
Suppose -8 = -5*y + 3*y. Let m(v) = -30*v - 9. Let l(u) = u. Let j(q) = 3*l(q) - m(q). Is j(y) prime?
False
Let p(w) = 21*w**2 + 2*w + 63. Is p(-14) prime?
False
Is (-1)/((-15)/(-5)*(-3)/51309) prime?
True
Let a = -23 + 25. Suppose -y - 1 = 3, 4*y = a*p + 28. Is p/(44/(-12) - -3) composite?
True
Suppose -8*g - 2*a - 81 = -9*g, -g - 2*a + 97 = 0. Is g composite?
False
Suppose 4*i + 3 = f - 50, -4*f + 5*i = -179. Let h be f - -1*(2 - -1). Let b = h - 23. Is b a prime number?
False
Let s be 1/(-2) + (-1)/(-4)*-6. Let g = -62 + 31. Is (g/2)/(s/4) prime?
True
Let x = 2016 + -453. Is x composite?
True
Is 1*(-7)/((-35)/24995) composite?
False
Let k be -228*((-3)/1)/((-10)/(-45)). Let y = k - -3727. Is y composite?
True
Let m(l) = -5*l**2 - 2*l**3 - 27 + 2*l**2 - 17*l - 5*l**2 + 2*l**2. Is m(-10) a composite number?
False
Let y be -7 + -1 - (3 + -2). Let p(s) = -s - 5. Let w be p(y). Suppose 5*m = w*m + 3. Is m composite?
False
Let c be ((-125)/1)/((-4)/8). Suppose -4*g + 5 = 3*k - 190, 2*g = -4*k + c. Suppose 0 = 3*x + 2*v - 219, -4*v + k - 333 = -4*x. Is x a prime number?
True
Let n(z) = -25*z - 29. Let t be n(-13). Let y = t + 233. Is y prime?
False
Let a = 179 + -77. Suppose -z - 4*z = -2*z. Suppose z*t + 2*t = a. Is t prime?
False
Let i(t) be the third derivative of -t**6/60 - t**5/5 - t**4/8 + 7*t**3/6 + 8*t**2. Is i(-8) composite?
True
Let d(h) = 70*h**2 - 14*h - 109. Is d(-19) a prime number?
False
Suppose -118 = 2*a - 4*a. Suppose a = 3*l - 190. Is l composite?
False
Let a(b) = -10*b - 7 - 295*b -
|
{
"pile_set_name": "DM Mathematics"
}
|
Proteomic analysis of S-nitrosylated proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana undergoing hypersensitive response.
Nitric oxide (NO) has a fundamental role in the plant hypersensitive disease resistance response (HR), and S-nitrosylation is emerging as an important mechanism for the transduction of its bioactivity. A key step toward elucidating the mechanisms by which NO functions during the HR is the identification of the proteins that are subjected to this PTM. By using a proteomic approach involving 2-DE and MS we characterized, for the first time, changes in S-nitrosylated proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana undergoing HR. The 16 S-nitrosylated proteins identified are mostly enzymes serving intermediary metabolism, signaling and antioxidant defense. The study of the effects of S-nitrosylation on the activity of the identified proteins and its role during the execution of the disease resistance response will help to understand S-nitrosylation function and significance in plants.
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{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
That Pakistan cricket has faced a unique set of challenges over the past decade or so is not in dispute, and Mickey Arthur believes its effects on the international team were obvious when he walked into the role one year ago. Speaking nearly 12 months on from his appointment as head coach of the Pakistan national side, Arthur said that Pakistan had been playing cricket "that belonged in the 20th century".
"This isn't just dressing room speak," Arthur said. "I've told the players that we were playing cricket that belonged in the 20th century. We hadn't embraced the new modern game yet, and that was for a number of reasons, like not playing at home, or [not] having the exposure to the IPL that the rest of the world has had. So there were a lot of mitigating factors, but the fact is, if we've got to compete with them, we have to start embracing the modern trend."
One aspect of the modern game that remains absent in Pakistan cricket is the presence of power hitters. Their scarcity has been noticeable in the Pakistan side, both at the top and tail of the innings, with Pakistan's ODI run rate in the first and last Powerplay the lowest of all Full Members, save Zimbabwe. Arthur acknowledged it was not something that could be coached into players overnight, and such players needed to be developed and groomed over time.
"It [lack of power hitters] is a worry. When we get on good wickets, we can't match the other countries. In Australia, I felt we always started 20-30 runs behind them because they could maximise the last ten overs. Teams are getting 100 runs in the last ten overs now. We're getting 70, at best. We didn't get a run-a-ball in the last five overs the other day in a T20 [against West Indies]. That's not good enough; that's not going to win us games. We don't have the ability to take on the power players, which is so disappointing, because we did with Sharjeel [Khan], so to lose him is a massive blow.
"But along those lines, those are things we have to get better at, and it's not going to happen overnight. You're not going to wake up one morning and become a power hitter. We're training it; we've got drills and techniques that we're putting into play. Hopefully, all that comes to fruition, because we've got two years till the World Cup, and in the World Cup, we've got to be as good as we can possibly be."
Sharjeel Khan appears at the offices of the Federal Investigation Authority Associated Press
Arthur also talked about the cultural challenges of managing an Asian team for the first time, saying he was fully prepared to embrace the culture around Pakistan's cricket. He clarified, however, that accepting the culture was not tantamount to tolerating mediocrity, and that he didn't believe his role as coach could be boiled down to a win-loss ratio, stressing that his main priority was setting up a professional structure in Pakistan's cricket, with fitness at the core of their preparation.
"Comfort zones are not tolerated within our environment anymore. We've tried to push the players, we tried to challenge the players, take them to limits they haven't been before in terms of fitness and preparation.
"I like to think that when people look at what happened for the last one year, they look at structure. You are always going to be judged as coach on win-loss ratio but for me it's a lot more than that. It's about the environment, it's about the standards and it's about challenging players. It's about not tolerating mediocrity and that's the stuff I would love to leave behind so the next coach that came in would come into a structure that functions. Players know what standards are and live up to those standards. Otherwise I'm wasting my time. Hopefully that's going to be my legacy - a thoroughly professional structure."
With Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan having announced that the Test series in the West Indies will be their last, Pakistan look set for a period of transition without two of their stalwarts. While that might be intimidating for some, Arthur said he was excited by the opportunity of managing a new team, pointing to his time with the South African national side, where he oversaw a young team emerge as a unit that is presently ranked No. 2 and No. 1 in Tests and ODIs.
"That's what you live for as a coach. I've been lucky in my team with South Africa, where we inherited a team with a couple of senior players, and we put in players like [AB] de Villiers, [Morne] Morkel, [JP] Duminy, [Dale] Steyn. To see them grow and get better is the most fulfilling thing that can happen for you as a coach. I'm hoping the same happens with this Pakistan team, and I'm incredibly excited about the future."
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{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
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Powerscreen: Mobile Crushing Equipment & Mobile Screening ...
New UH450E Crushing and Screening Unit - Mobiles
Construction's UH450E is a world-class track-mounted crushing and ... cost-effective and environmentally-friendly mobile solutions on the market today. ... This is integrated with the intelligent on-board canbus system, ensuring the...
Products - Powerscreen Mid-Atlantic
We now carry the full line of Telestack Ltd conveyor systems machinery. Therefore we can offer many sizes of track mounted & telescopic conveyors which complement our Powerscreen crushing & screening equipment. ... with them, we can offer mobile & stationary picking stations, C&D screens, conveyors and much more.
CSB Solutions Private Limited
MT track mounted plants-NMS Industries
NMS mobile crushing & screening plants are suitable for contracting, ... The proven MT series features an extensive range of track-mounted crushing plants ... fleet with a MT series primary crushing plant followed by a belt conveying system,...
Mobile Crushing and Screening Units Mid-range - Mining ...
The mid-range of tracked crushing, screening and scalping equipment ... automatic jaw lubrication system that is fitted as standard. On the job .... PAGE 11. The QI430 is a track-mounted mobile unit equipped with a field proven.
Hydraulic-Driven Track Mobile Plant - SBM stone crusher,mobile ...
Now it is more and more popular in the fields of crushing and screening assignments. ... Burcelik Remote Control System (RCS) makes mobile crusher more secure ... Track-mounted mobile design helps to meet higher demands for mobility at...
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{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
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This is a multi-center study to determine if Selegiline and/or Tocopheral will slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. It is a double blind, multi-center, placebo controlled study.
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{
"pile_set_name": "NIH ExPorter"
}
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Low-Dose Versus High-Dose Tranexamic Acid Reduces the Risk of Nonischemic Seizures After Cardiac Surgery With Cardiopulmonary Bypass.
The incidence of postoperative nonischemic seizures associated with the use of tranexamic acid (TXA) and the possibility of prevention with a low-dose regimen of TXA were evaluated. Retrospective study. Tertiary care university hospital. A total of 12,195 patients who underwent cardiac surgical procedures under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) were evaluated. The files of every clinical seizure case diagnosed in the surgical intensive care unit between April 2006 and April 2014 were reviewed. Patients who experienced a postoperative seizure underwent a cerebral computed tomography scan to exclude an ischemic lesion. Dosage and type of antifibrinolytic used and surgery characteristics were retrieved from perfusion files. Low-dose TXA was defined as 1,000-mg bolus, 400-mg/h infusion, and 500 mg in CPB priming. High-dose TXA was defined as 30-mg/kg bolus, 15 mg/kg/h, and 2 mg/kg in CPB priming. No seizure was observed in the 886 patients who did not receive antifibrinolytics. A total of 98 clinical seizures (0.8%) were recorded in the intensive care unit, and ischemic cause was excluded in the majority of them after computed tomography scan results were reviewed (91 patients [93%]). Low-dose TXA was associated with fewer seizures than was high-dose TXA (46 of 7,452 cases [0.70%] v 34 of 2,190 cases [1.55%], respectively; p < 0.0001). Open-chamber cardiac surgery also was linked to a higher incidence of seizures compared with revascularization (80 of 6,662 [1.20%] and 11 of 5,533 [0.20%], respectively; p < 0.0001). Lower doses of TXA were associated with a lower incidence of nonischemic seizures compared with higher doses of the drug.
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{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
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Title
Authors
Date of this Version
7-2005
Comments
A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Major: Educational Studies (Educational Leadership and Higher Education), Under the Supervision of Professor Marilyn L. Grady. Lincoln, Nebraska: July, 2005
Copyright (c) 2005 Natasha Hanako Chapman
Abstract
The purpose o f this study was to explore how biracial students described the role of the college campus environment on the development of their racial identity. The research questions were: 1) What is the biracial student’s self-assigned racial identity? 2) What life experiences have aided in the formation of the biracial individual’s racial identity? 3) How has the college experience contributed to the development o f the biracial individual’s racial identity? 4) What key factors in the campus environment were most salient to biracial college students in the development of their racial identity? 5) How do biracial college students perceive their racial identity options within the campus environment? A purposeful sample of 13 participants who were biracial or multiracial graduate students was chosen. Data collection occurred through semi-structured face-to-face and phone interviews. The data collected represented biracial experiences from 10 different undergraduate institutions. Three overarching themes emerged from the data: a) laying the foundation b) the college experience and c) visions for the future. The findings suggest that early childhood experiences laid the foundation for the racial identity of participants upon entering college. College courses, instructors and peers were salient factors in the students’ racial identity development on campus. Participants recommend that university administrators deconstruct traditional models of racial classification and develop programs and policy that are inclusive of all students.
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Va in porto la terza privatizzazione del governo Renzi. Dopo Poste e Fincantieri, anche Enav chiude la fase di sottoscrizioni e si avvia verso Piazza Affari dove sbarcherà martedì 26 luglio. Complici le tensioni di mercato legate a Brexit, il bilancio dell’operazione per le casse pubbliche è però decisamente magro: il Tesoro intascherà meno di 759 milioni dalla vendita del 42,5% della società che gestisce il traffico aereo civile. All’inizio del percorso di privatizzazione, il governo sperava che la vendita potesse fruttare fra i 765 e i 935 milioni.
L’incasso definitivo della privatizzazione Enav potrebbe comunque salire fino a 833,58 milioni nel caso in cui venisse integralmente esercitata la green shoe, l’opzione di acquisto in mano alle banche collocatrici (Mediobanca, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Banca Imi di Intesa, Unicredit e Jp Morgan) portando in Borsa il 46,6% dell’azienda. Tuttavia dalla somma finale andranno comunque sottratte le spese per il collocamento e le commissioni bancarie.
Complessivamente la società guidata da Roberta Neri è stata quindi valorizzata 1,78 miliardi, somma sensibilmente inferiore alle stime circolate nel pre-Brexit (1,8-2,2 miliardi). In compenso, secondo i dati diffusi dal Tesoro, la richiesta è stata elevata (otto volte superiore all’offerta). Anche se il prezzo finale di vendita si è attestato a 3,3 euro per azione, una somma che si piazza a metà della forchetta individuata dalle banche collocatrici (2,9-3,5 euro). In altre parole la domanda è stata alta, ma gli investitori istituzionali (il 90% del totale per un totale di 207 milioni di azioni) sono rimasti cauti sul prezzo orientandosi verso i valori intermedi suggeriti dal consorzio di collocamento. E questo anche a dispetto del fatto che la società abbia varato una generosa politica di cedole, mettendo persino mano alle risorse per pagare futuri dividendi ai suoi soci.
Non a caso Alessandra Pasini, responsabile banking di Barclays Italia, ha spiegato al Sole 24 Ore che “la natura stabile, regolata e resiliente, unita ad una politica dei dividendi progressiva, ha rappresentato un’opportunità unica per gli investitori” alla ricerca di rendimenti in un mercato borsistico nervoso. Peccato che ai piccoli risparmiatori sia andato appena il 10% dei titoli (23 milioni) di Enav, che dalla comunità finanziaria è invece considerata proprio un investimento per “cassettisti” orientati ad acquistare titoli solidi di lungo periodo con buoni rendimenti. E pensare che invece nel caso di Fincantieri, dove non c’era alcuna certezza nella politica di cedole, sfruttando una clausola ad hoc del prospetto i titoli sono stati venduti per il 90% ai piccoli investitori, causando loro a medio termine perdite importanti (-48% circa dal collocamento in Borsa).
“La privatizzazione di Enav si è chiusa con successo nonostante la fase di turbolenza che stanno attraversando i mercati per il dopo Brexit”, ha commentato il ministro dell’Economia Pier Carlo Padoan, che potrà contare sulla somma intascata dal collocamento per abbattere l’enorme debito pubblico italiano mantenendo le promesse fatte a Bruxelles. Tuttavia sullo sfondo resta l’esposto presentato dal sindacato sulle modalità di privatizzazione della società e la denuncia alla Corte dei Conti per danno erariale già anticipata dal Movimento 5 Stelle.
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"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
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Rich text editor, edit-body-und-0-value, press ALT 0 for help.
A memo from Maricopa County sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, who questioned Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during her testimony on allegations against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, revealed late Sunday that Mitchell would not advise a criminal prosecution for Kavanaugh—obscuring the reality of the consequences Kavanaugh currently faces if the FBI finds evidence that he has committed sexual assault or perjured himself in any way.
The memo claims a "reasonable prosecutor" would not pursue Ford's case, and includes five pages of Mitchell's observations about perceived holes in her story of the alleged sexual assault which took place in the early 1980s, when Kavanaugh and Ford were in high school.
But while Mitchell offered her thoughts on the believability of Ford's testimony, she included nothing about Kavanaugh's belligerent statement and refusal to answer direct questions from Senate Democrats during his appearance last Thursday—strongly suggesting that it was Ford, not Kavanaugh, who was on trial during the hearing.
Rachel Mitchell’s report confirms that as far as the GOP was concerned, Christine Ford was on trial. The memo contains not a single word on Kavanaugh’s testimony and its vast array of inconsistencies and outright lies. This is reprehensible. https://t.co/iMNYJR6nKx — Jeff Yang (@originalspin) October 1, 2018
The document's conclusion also flies in the face of what numerous political observers have pointed out in recent days—that the question of criminally prosecuting Kavanaugh is irrelevant, because a Senate hearing is not intended as a criminal trial. The purpose of Democrats in the Senate was not to build a case to bring charges against Kavanaugh, but only to help determine if he warrants a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.
1. This is a hearing on Kavanaugh's qualifications & fitness, not a criminal prosecution
2. Rachel Mitchell was rendered irrelevant once the men stopped yielding their time
3. A fair & uninterrupted cross of #Kavanaugh would've explored his lies under oathhttps://t.co/iC0k3kkB9p — Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) October 1, 2018
This is so irresponsible and plainly flawed. But this dishonest memo aside, the person Rachel Mitchell should be writing a memo about is Brett Kavanaugh. It’s the veracity of his claims that count. He’s the person being considered for a lifetime appointment. https://t.co/F8BxmuBS9P — Shaunna Thomas (@SLThomas) October 1, 2018
The memo was released as an FBI probe into Ford's claims and those of Deborah Ramirez, who alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her in college, got underway. The Senate Judiciary Committee was forced to call for an investigation on Friday after it became clear that the Republicans did not yet have enough votes to bring Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor for a vote. However, according to reports, the White House has severely limited the scope of the investigation.
Last week, Mitchell questioned Ford on her allegations, but her participation in the hearing was cut short when Republican senators began questioning Kavanaugh—and defending him against the claims.
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{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
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Shannon Baker-Branstetter
Our cars and trucks could and should be getting more miles to the gallon, but instead of investing in cost-effective, fuel-saving technology, some automakers are finding ways to cheat the system.
The latest incident comes from the Ford Motor Company, which is now being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice after whistleblowers inside the Michigan-based company spoke up about concerns with compliance methods. The target of their criminal inquiry: Ford’s emissions certification process, which is used to calculate claimed fuel economy.
We’ve been down this road before with Ford. Just five years ago, the company was forced to apologize for strikingly similar problems with their testing, after Consumer Reports alerted the EPA to inconsistencies. In the end, Ford was forced to send checks to about 200,000 owners of six vehicle models to make up the difference between the fuel economy consumers were promised and what the cars actually delivered. Other automakers have also reimbursed customers under similar circumstances, including Kia and Hyundai back in 2012.
Errors in fuel economy tests drive up fuel bills and mislead consumers, but cheating goes beyond misleading fuel economy claims.
Deceptive emissions testing practices can also be harmful to our health. A recent court-approved settlement now requires Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to update the software of several Jeep and Ram truck models because the EPA says the vehicles are emitting an illegal amount of nitrogen oxides, major contributors to smog. The most infamous case of emissions cheating is Volkswagen, whose cars were found to be emitting smog-causing pollution at rates up to 40 times higher than legal limits, leading them to pay each person who got fleeced anywhere from $5,000 to nearly $10,000 in some cases.
These kinds of cheating have become so widespread the problem risks becoming an industry-wide failure. As with other federally mandated safety and performance tests, automakers are currently responsible for assessing their own vehicles for emissions compliance and fuel economy ratings.
Yet, only about 10-15 percent of those vehicle ratings are independently verified by the EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory to confirm compliance. That means most of the vehicles on our roads haven’t been tested by the EPA. Instead, we’ve been relying on automaker honesty and accuracy, which seem to be in short supply.
The automotive industry has shown it can’t be trusted to police itself, so the government needs to step up auditing and enforcement, including assessing significant fines to deter bad corporate behavior.
Cheating on emissions and fuel economy standards is especially egregious because compliance isn’t difficult. Plenty of automakers already use fuel-saving strategies — such as improved aerodynamics, more efficient engines and transmissions, and hybrid drivetrains — that could be saving consumers more fuel and money. Unfortunately, according to the latest EPA Automotive Trends Report, some automakers are only installing them in a fraction of the vehicles they sell.
The Department of Justice is still investigating Ford for criminal wrongdoing, but the EPA doesn’t need to wait to increase scrutiny and hold corporations accountable. Meanwhile, Ford and other companies should recommit to follow through on their 2011 promise to meet federal fuel economy and emission standards instead of putting their money and energy into finding ways to mislead regulators and consumers.
Shannon Baker-Branstetter is manager of cars and energy policy at Consumer Reports.
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"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
Q:
Arrow in tikzpicture between two nodes with midway label
I'm trying to draw a series of labelled nodes in Tikzpicture, so far I have:
\begin{tikzpicture}[box/.style = {draw, semithick, minimum size=1cm}]
\node at (0, 3*3) [box] (0) {Node};
\node at (0, 3*2) [box] (1) {Node};
\node at (0, 3*1) [box] (2) {Node};
\node at (0, 3*0) [box] (3) {Node};
\draw (0) -> (1) node [midway, fill=white] {Label 1};
\draw (1) -> (2) node [midway, fill=white] {Label 2};
\draw (2) -> (3) node [midway, fill=white] {Label 3};
\end{tikzpicture}
But unfortunately I cannot figure out, despite looking on S.O and on search engines, how to get a arrow, rather than the straight line. What format should I use to achieve this?
A:
Here I put three different arrow heads in the code. You are to tell TikZ how it is supposed to draw arrows and other stuff in square brackets after \draw.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[box/.style = {draw, semithick, minimum size=1cm}]
\node at (0, 3*3) [box] (0) {Node};
\node at (0, 3*2) [box] (1) {Node};
\node at (0, 3*1) [box] (2) {Node};
\node at (0, 3*0) [box] (3) {Node};
\draw[->] (0) -- (1) node [midway, fill=white] {Label 1};
\draw[-latex] (1) -- (2) node [midway, fill=white] {Label 2};
\draw[-stealth] (2) -- (3) node [midway, fill=white] {Label 3};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
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{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
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Sodexo: Improving quality of life is key to a happy and efficient workplace
May 26, 2015
Survey finds that China’s corporate leaders value quality of life in their organizations, and believe it will become even more important in the future. Almost all of China’s corporate leaders interviewed in a recent survey, a resounding 98%, believed that improving the quality of life in their organization makes their employees happier.
According to a new Sodexo-Harris Interactive survey of 50 Chinese business leaders who manage enterprises with more than 2,000 employees, 66% say that the next generation of China’s workforce will be the most important lever in raising the quality of life in the nation’s corporations. And it found that 62% believe public authorities, laws and regulations will also play an important role.
The survey is the first of its kind to examine the impact quality of life can have on corporate performance. 780 business leaders and decision-makers in the corporate, healthcare and educational sectors in Brazil, China, France, India, UK and USA were surveyed during November 2014 to January 2015.
"Improving Quality of Life is already recognized as an important element in China’s corporations, and I am encouraged to see that corporate leaders believe our younger employees will further understand the impact it has on the success of a business. I am confident that work culture will change with time, so that the cost of designing and implementing Quality of Life programs will be seen as an investment, rather than an obstacle,” says Christophe Solas, CEO of Sodexo Greater China.
"This survey is the first barometer among key decision makers. It is a unique study in that we did not solicit the point of view of end-users or consumers, as has been done previously, but rather those who take the decisions that influence quality of life in their organizations,” says Delphine Martelli-Banégas, Head of the Corporate Department at Harris Interactive.
The Quality of Life International Survey, China results
1. How does Quality of Life impact performance in China?
Employee satisfaction was the most important impact in Chinese business leaders’ minds (98%), which topped staff efficiency (76%), image and reputation with external stakeholders (66%) and their corporations’ business and economic performance (64%). In the current war for talent in China, how job seekers’ view a corporate brand and reputation has a real impact on whether or not they will pursue a career with them. As a young generation enters the jobs market, investing in employee satisfaction contributes to building a stable and motivated workforce.
2. What are China’s priorities for improving Quality of Life in corporate organizations?
At the heart of corporate success is thinking into the future, and to this end the overwhelming majority of China’s leaders (84%) said Quality of Life is important and so they are actively promoting it (82%). What did they think were important ways of making the workplace experience better? Health and nutrition were vital (70%), which is on trend with the younger generation’s expectations of good healthcare as part of their employment package. The physical environment of the office, factory, or workplace was in leaders’ thoughts, with most (80%) saying it was one of their initiatives for improvement. It is apparent from the survey that China will focus on these issues going forward, as almost all (90%) of respondents said they felt Quality of Life will become more important in the future.
3. What challenges do corporations in China face to improve Quality of Life?
At a time when China’s young talent is creating new benchmarks in the workplace, the majority of business leaders (66%) thought the rise of the younger generation would be the most powerful lever for improving Quality of Life in the future. Most corporate leaders (62%) are looking to public authorities, new laws and regulations to facilitate the changes their young workers – who are increasingly moving to new cities in search of a better career – will be demanding. As corporations accept that the future shape of jobs and the workplace are changing, some employers (56%) felt that the cost of implementing improvements would be a challenge. But most (78%) have a dedicated budget for programs to improve Quality of Life, proof that they know such an investment will bring value to their enterprise.
Highlights of Sodexo's China survey
* 98% said improving quality of life impacted employee satisfaction
* 90% said it would become more important in coming years
* 84% of Chinese leaders interviewed said quality of life is important to their organization
* 78% have a dedicated budget for programs to improve quality of life
* 70% of organizations with initiatives in place had chosen to focus on health & nutrition
* 66% said next generation will be an important lever to improve quality of life in the future
* 56% said cost was the main stumbling block to improving quality of life in their organization
Quality of Life initiatives can be classified according to 6 categories:
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[Urodynamics of the upper urinary tract in urolithiasis patients with chronic pyelonephritis].
Urodynamics was studied in patients with chronic pyelonephritis with a various level of upper urinary tract (UUT) obstruction. 90% patients with concrements of the low ureter had high intrapelvic pressure (IPP)--21.8 +/- 0.8/25.2 +/- 0.8 cm of water column (basal/peristaltic) and enhanced UUT contractility. IPP was elevated in 50% patients with proximal UUT obstruction (11.8 +/- 1.3/15.5 +/- 1.5 cm of water column) and it rose noticeably (by 110-184%) in changing body position (orthostatic test) but changed little in the respiratory test. High IPP persisted despite functioning nephrostomic drainages in 84-86% patients exposed to extracorporeal and/or contact lithotripsy at the average level 16.2 +/- 0.8/19.7 +/- 0.6 cm of water column. Different mechanisms may be involved in formation of high IPP in patients with chronic pyelonephritis and varying level of UUT obstruction. In view of damaging influence of high IPP on renal function the physician should control this index during the treatment and take additional measures to prevent elevation of IPP.
|
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Accounting
About Accounting
Accounting is one of the options available to students pursuing the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. The Winthrop Accounting program flourishes in a small class environment where professors are dedicated to classroom excellence in guiding students through the program to provide a foundation for careers in accounting. The undergraduate degree is the first phase of an integrated program leading to an MBA with an accounting emphasis for those students who desire to pursue an MBA and become a Certified Public Accountant. The undergraduate Accounting option also prepares students for many entry-level positions in the accounting area while the graduate program complies with South Carolina's 150-semester-hour requirement to sit for the CPA exam. Following completion of general education requirements, students take a challenging curriculum of core business courses, finishing with in-depth classes such as intermediate accounting, individual and corporate tax, auditing, and accounting information systems.
Accounting at Winthrop
Here, you'll develop a strong background in business and get hands-on experience in modern accounting strategies and best practices. The program integrates strong accounting courses with opportunities for real world experience providing a solid business framework.
Our accounting program is dynamic and focused. You'll get started right away, taking core courses like Computer Applications for Business and continuing to progress to more courses requiring the development and application of critical and analytical thinking skills. Guided by highly accomplished faculty who care about your success, you'll build the foundation you need to pursue an accounting-track MBA and/or take one of the professional exams for certification, such as Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant or Certified Internal Auditor.
Here's what you will find at Winthrop:
Small classes and one-on-one contact with faculty mentors provides a unique, personalized experience
Significant emphasis on internships with all sizes of employers located locally and around the world.
Opportunity to gain experience through membership in Beta Alpha Psi, the International Honor Society for Accounting, Finance and Information System Professionals.
Opportunity to network with alumni and other professionals to gain help with making career choices
|
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Q:
How to do I print an arraylist to a JTextArea?
I can't seem to figure out how to print an arrayList<String> to a JTextArea and have tried using both append() and setText(). I have also tried to create a method which prints out the ArrayList through a loop, but it can't be added to the JTextArea because it is not of type String.
An applicant is supposed to take a student profile (name, grade, university selections) and add it to the ArrayList<String> Applicants. This is done through a JButton if it holds true for the following if statement:
if (studentsAverage > 74 && validInput && studentsAverage < 100) {
studentChoices.addAll(uniOptions.getSelectedValuesList());
person = new Student (namePromptTF.getText(), averagePromptTF.getText(),Applicants, studentChoices);
arrayCount++;
numberOfApplicants.setText(arrayCount +"/" +100+"students");
person.printProfile(); //dont need
person.studentProfileSort(); // dont need
displayAllApplicants.append(person.returnProfile());
Applicants.add(person);
The array is passed to a Student object that holds:
private ArrayList<Student> ApplicantArray;
ApplicantArray is then sorted through this method:
void studentProfileSort() {
Student profileLine = null;
int numberOfStudents = ApplicantArray.size();
ArrayList<Student> displayAllSorted = new ArrayList<Student>();
for(int i = 1; i<numberOfStudents - 1; i++){
for(int j = 0; j<(numberOfStudents - i); j++) {
if(ApplicantArray.get(i).getFamilyName().compareTo(ApplicantArray.get(i).getFamilyName())>0){
ApplicantArray.set(j, ApplicantArray.get(i));
}
}
ApplicantArray.get(i).returnProfile();
}
}
Is there a way to have a return statement inside of a loop so that I can change my method to a String type?
A:
At first your sorting algorithm does not seem to work
ApplicantArray.get(i).getFamilyName().compareTo(ApplicantArray.get(i).getFamilyName())
You compare the value with it self and this results always in 0. Even if this would work, in the next line you override the array by setting a value rather than swapping the two values or setting to a new ArrayList.
But if everything works, this is how you could print those students:
StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
for (Student student : applicantArray) {
b.append(student + "\n"); // this if you implemented toString() in Student
b.append(student.getFamilyName() + ' ' + student.getFirstName() + "\n"); // or something like this
}
textArea.setText(b.toString());
P.S.: you should never use UpperCamelCase for variables or parameters, use lowerCamelCase instead (e.g. ApplicantArray -> applicantArray)
|
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Benefits
On a cellular level , TA-65® has been shown to lengthen short telomeres and rejuvenate ageing immune systems. Studies have also shown increased bone density and improvements in other metabolic and cardiovascular biomarkers of ageing. Statistically significant improvements have been seen in glucose, insulin and cholesterol levels. Blood pressure and homocysteine were lowered while free testosterone was increased. Each individual is different and the results vary.
Anecdotally, our patients have reported:
Improved energy and feelings of vitality
Improved appearance as related to skin, hair, nails
Improved sexual performance
Improved memory and mental ability
Improved vision and has been clinically proven to reverse macular degeneration, and can also allow a change to weaker eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions
In clinical trials and in our patients’ test results we have seen a number of statistically significant changes including:
|
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|
The Seattle Seahawks fanbase are attempting to set the record but we, “The Chiefs Kingdom” believe Arrowhead Stadium is louder than any stadium in the world. We have submitted an application with Guiness World Book and will request the permission from the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL to be given a fair chance to put the record where it is truly deserved. Join in Chiefs Fans! GO CHIEFS!!!
Seattle’s bid for the record, already accepted by Guinness, will take place during the team’s home-opener on Sept. 15 against the San Francisco 49ers on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” It is still unknown when Kansas City would shout for its own shot at the record.
One thing is certain, however: This duel of decibels will surely be heard.
As the Seahawks’ team website indicates, the crowd at CenturyLink Field has measured as high as 112 decibels – nearly as loud as a Boeing 747. However, the standing record mark is 131.76 decibels, recorded in 2011 during a soccer match in Turkey.
While Seattle’s CenturyLink Field holds 67,000 fans, Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium seats 79,451 people at capacity — over 12,000 more than Seattle.
It’s yet to be seen if Seattle’s 12th Man can match the additional 12,000 voices, but in any case, consider it one more reason to scream for football season.
|
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|
**Editor:** **DAVID CASHION**
**Designer:** **EVAN GAFNEY**
**Managing Editor:** **DAVID BLATTY**
**Production Manager:** **ERIN VANDEVEER**
**Photo Research:** **MEG HANDLER**
**Library of Congress Control Number: 2013945690**
**ISBN: 978-1-4197-1097-1**
**Text copyright © 2014 Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein
Foreword copyright © 2014 Nick Rhodes
Afterword copyright © 2014 Moby**
**Photo credits:This page: courtesy of John Taylor; this page: Allan Ballard/Scopefeatures; this page: (l) REX USA, (r) Richard Young/REX USA; this page: Charles Charas; this page: Associated Newspapers/Associated Newspapers/ REX USA; this page: Charles Charas; this page: Paul Edmond; this page: EMI; this page: Paul Edmond; this page: Kevin Cummins/Getty Images; this page: Courtesy of Peter Hook Archives; this page: ABC Photo Archives/Getty; this page: Kevin Cummins/Getty Images; this page: Elisa Leoneli/REX USA; this page: Warner Bros.; this page: Kevin Cummins/Getty Images; this page: Charles Charas; this page: Warner Bros.; this page: Virginia Turbett/Getty ; this page: Ray Stevenson/REX USA; this page: Virginia Turbett/Getty; this page: Ilpo Musto/REX USA; this page: EMI; this page: Adrian Boot/Urbanimage; this page: Courtesy of Annabella Lwin; this page: poprockphotos.com; this page: Adrian Boot/Urbanimage; this page, this page: Mute; this page: Keystone Colour/Getty Images; this page: L. J. van Houten/REX USA; this page: courtesy of Kim Wilde; this page: David Corio/Getty; this page: 1980 © Laura Levine; this page: this page: Virginia Turbett/Getty; this page: Adrian Boot/Urbanimage; this page: ITV/REX USA; this page: Denis O'Regan/Getty; this page: Courtesy of Kim Wilder; p.183: poprockphotos.com; this page, this page, this page: Courtesy Terri Nunn; this page, this page: Fin Costello/Getty; this page: courtesy of Robbie Grey; this page: Sire; this page: Fin Costello/Getty; this page: Eugene Adebari/REX USA; this page: Gunter W. Kienitz/REX USA; this page: Eugene Adebari/REX USA; this page: Kevin Cummins/Getty; this page: Harry Goodwin/REX USA; this page: Warner Bros.; this page: Stephen Wright/Getty; this page: Kevin Cummins/Getty; this page, this page: Universal Archives; this page: Mike Prior/Getty; this page: Kevin Cummins/Getty; this page: Hulton Archive/Getty; this page: PHOTOREPORTERS INC/REX USA; this page: Rob Verhost/Getty; this page: courtesy of INXS; this page: Mike Prior/Getty; this page: Virginia Turbett/Redferns/Getty; this page: courtesy of Bill Wadhams; this page: Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty Images; this page: Retna; this page: Larry Ellis/Express Newspapers/Getty Images; this page: Columbia Records; this page: Courtesy of Moby; this page: (top) Julie Spinoso, (bottom) courtesy of Beatrice Colin.**
**Published in 2014 by Abrams Image, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.**
**Abrams Image books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.**
**115 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
www.abramsbooks.com**
**To John: "Your love is life, for love is land" (LM)**
**To Julius Bernstein, 1931–2013 (JB)**
**Foreword by Nick Rhodes**
**Introduction**
**Adam and the Ants: "Kings of the Wild Frontier"**
**Gary Numan: "Cars"**
**Duran Duran: "Girls on Film"**
**New Order: "Blue Monday"**
**ABC: "Poison Arrow"**
**Devo: "Whip It"**
**Echo and the Bunnymen: "The Killing Moon"**
**Spandau Ballet: "True"**
**The Human League: "Being Boiled"**
**Heaven 17: "Temptation"**
**Dexys Midnight Runners: "Come On Eileen"**
**Bow Wow Wow: "I Want Candy"**
**The Waitresses: "I Know What Boys Like"**
**The Normal: "Warm Leatherette"**
**Kajagoogoo: "Too Shy"**
**Thomas Dolby: "She Blinded Me with Science"**
**The Psychedelic Furs: "Love My Way"**
**Depeche Mode: "New Life"**
**Yaz: "Only You"**
**Kim Wilde: "Kids in America"**
**Howard Jones: "New Song"**
**Berlin: "The Metro"**
**A Flock of Seagulls: "I Ran"**
**Modern English: "I Melt with You"**
**Soft Cell: "Tainted Love"**
**A-ha: "Take On Me"**
**Joy Division: "Love Will Tear Us Apart"**
**The Smiths: "How Soon Is Now?"**
**Tears for Fears: "Mad World"**
**Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: "If You Leave"**
**Ultravox: "Vienna"**
**INXS: "Original Sin"**
**Thompson Twins: "Hold Me Now"**
**Simple Minds: "Don't You (Forget About Me)"**
**Animotion: "Obsession"**
**Band Aid: "Do They Know It's Christmas?"**
**Afterword by Moby**
**Acknowledgments**
he seventies were a remarkable time for modern music, producing an enormous diversity of artists across multiple genres. Rock was split into subcategories: progressive, glam, heavy metal, hard rock, and art rock. During the decade, strangely, these sounds co-habited the same airwaves alongside disco, reggae, electro, funk, and punk. By the late seventies, hip-hop and rap had begun to emerge. There were no rules, but somehow, having a unique identity was a requirement, and even the performers following a trend invariably carved out their own personalities. Everything was handmade: analog, no computers, and no digital vocal tuning.
My favored stick of rock was glam, where Bowie, T. Rex, Roxy Music, Sparks, and Cockney Rebel provided the soundtrack to my youth. Each had an individually captivating sound, and together they told the story I wanted to hear through those times in Britain. Other kids at school were lost in a haze of Pink Floyd and Genesis, or were queuing endlessly to secure Led Zeppelin tickets. We were all members of different factions, but wherever you belonged, the music was inspirational. It was an important voice in our culture, a way for our generation to express its singularity.
In 1976, suddenly everything else seemed "last summer." Punk exploded, blazing through much of the musical landscape that had come beforehand. It transformed the way we were. It was a revelation, an unprecedented surge of energy, but it also burned out fast. It was from these ashes that the music of the next decade was to rise. Bands like the Police, the Cure, and Siouxsie and the Banshees had already established their own sound and were able to drive smoothly into the eighties. Adam and the Ants remodeled and made the transition. Generation X did not—though Billy Idol had resurfaced as a solo artist by 1981.
In the afterglow of punk, there were unexpected outcomes. Being in a band now seemed startlingly possible; the obstacles had been removed. Everything was more accessible. Indie record labels were thriving. Small venues were springing up in every town. The music press was actively searching for the next sound. There were even opportunities to get played on late-night radio. Attitude and ideas had overthrown musical virtuosity. Just a few years earlier, when superstars were untouchable, none of this would have been attainable.
Technology was advancing fast, and the synthesizer was finally affordable, resulting in a stream of artists who integrated electronics into their organic sound. Gary Numan, Ultravox, and Japan were among those bridging the decades. The Human League became one of Britain's first purely electronic acts, and Joy Division fused punk, synths, and beats to pioneer the way for all that was to follow. Through the blurred edges of this period, a new wave of bands had been gestating and plotting their grand entrance. Those who materialized included U2, Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Tears for Fears, the Smiths, and Duran Duran. While we each had entirely distinctive sounds and outlooks, there was a common thread: We had all experienced the U.K. during the seventies, under the same gray skies, enduring political turbulence and social unrest. We were different reflections of similar views, reactionaries to our surroundings. Some chose to express the darkness, others looked toward the light. In Duran Duran's case, we attempted to strike a balance between the two. We wanted to lift people's spirits, rather than fight misery with misery. If you limit yourself to grainy black and white, you can create some beautiful imagery, but sometimes we simply wanted to use full, widescreen technicolor.
Although for a period of two years I was principally transfixed by punk, it was in 1977 that I properly discovered electronic music via Kraftwerk, who proved to be a lasting inspiration. Later that year, I also heard the song "I Feel Love," by Donna Summer, and this had a profound influence on how I perceived music from that point on. Additionally, it led me toward a greater appreciation of disco; Chic were now filed next to the Clash in my album collection. These elements, merged with many other stylistic references, formed the basic blueprint for Duran Duran: the raw energy of punk, disco rhythms, electro pulses, and the panache of glam rock, which was already deeply embedded in our consciousness. It was a band's manifesto that ultimately defined their characteristics and set them apart from their contemporaries. Broadly speaking, the artists who came up through this period took their influences from the same pool of musical predecessors. Yet there is no doubt that if all the members of those bands gathered together, opinions about the merits of those performers would vary enormously. That said, I am supremely confident that there would be one exception: We would unanimously agree upon David Bowie being the common pivotal influence on all of our collective musical styles.
Elsewhere in the world, Australia spawned INXS, who could have comfortably fit in with the British bands. However, in the United States, the musical DNA had metamorphosed in different ways. The Velvet Underground arguably invented alternative music. The Stooges and New York Dolls sowed the early seeds for a new wave. Patti Smith, the Ramones, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the B-52s, Television, Blondie, and Talking Heads were seminal artists evolving through the mid-seventies CBGB scene, the latter two acts going on to produce some of the most significant albums of the early eighties.
Despite inroads made by the New York scene and a few other isolated bands, such as Devo, America still had a national propensity to gravitate toward traditional rock music. It looked unlikely that any international artists were going to break the radio blockade in the eighties, but change was on its way over the airwaves. Several alternative stations began to surface, WLIR in Long Island and KROQ in Los Angeles being among the first. They developed a contemporary audio language in stark contrast to the old guard, showcasing the brave and the new. This provided a platform for aspiring U.K. bands who had ventured to U.S. shores for the first time with a dream to break it big. As the radio format grew exponentially, a second transmutation occurred, this time within cable television: the launch of MTV, a 24-hour music-television channel. These factors greatly contributed to a seismic change. A second British Invasion was well underway in America, and the combined force of its new sounds broke down the doors.
In today's music world, there are very different factors crafting the careers of aspiring musicians. These are a reflection of our times and social attitudes. If there were no reality TV, and the Internet had not become a central portal in our lives, then music would have advanced in different ways. In my opinion, while reality TV creates opportunities for some, it takes away chances from others. Commercial radio has increasingly narrow playlists, and what is broadcast to the listening audience is in many ways more conservative and formulaic. The few remaining major record labels now spend markedly less time and money on artist development. Through massive exposure on TV, acts are rapidly thrust into the spotlight, frequently unprepared, and then usually exploited to within a breath of survival. The fallout of this evolution has established a culture wherein the public has a short attention span, with artists becoming more ephemeral, finding it harder to sustain a career.
But the way we consume music now is probably the greatest change of all. Everything is available everywhere, 24 hours a day, online. There are ceaseless choices, from every conceivable period and genre. The difficulty becomes making a decision...
Of course, there have been some other spectacular developments too, like the ability to create a song in your bedroom with a basic computer program, then instantly broadcast it online to a potentially immense audience. This kind of freedom opened a Pandora's box for the digital generation and has undoubtedly produced some notable artists pushing musical boundaries, particularly within the urban and electronic dance-music genres.
Personally, I always embrace progress and have little time for nostalgia, but it is important to put everything in context and to appreciate the best things that every period has to offer. Each band has their own story. We were lucky enough to grow up during an era when invention, experimentation, style, and innovation were applauded. It was a culture where the predilection was for standing out from the crowd rather than fitting in. Artists were musically adventurous, less driven by commerce, and their main objective was to create extraordinary music. If you happened upon commercial success, fame was a byproduct, rather than a priority. Idiosyncratic and eccentric songs often mingled in the mainstream charts. The public was open-minded, and there was a true appreciation for the currency of ideas and imagination.
One thing that remains as true today as it was in the eighties: While those in their teens and early 20s have a limited musical vocabulary, they remain the key source for change in music. Possibly it's a youthful energy, a swagger, a blinkered belief that they are right. Or perhaps it's something truly intuitive that they have learned from closely studying a microcosm of eclectic songs from the past and present. For us, when we started Duran Duran, we were absolutely convinced we were right. Our sound was going to be the future. Maybe that is true of all young artists. If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will.
**NR, London, 2013**
**"New York to East California,
there's a new wave coming I warn you"**
**Kim Wilde, "Kids in America"**
**"Just don't call it 'new wave.'"**
**Mute Records supremo Daniel Miller to this book's authors**
****WHAT IS NEW WAVE?**** In the U.K., home to the majority of the artists featured in this book, new wave was initially code adopted by journalists and disc jockeys eager to be perceived as cool but too nervous to actually use the word "punk" with all its threatening implications.
In America, new wave was an umbrella the size of a circus tent. It covered synth pop, ska, goth, alternative rock, bubblegum, Eurodance, industrial, new romantic, blue-eyed U.K. soul, and electronic dance music. It was a Tower of Babel populated by American bands who wanted to be British, British bands who wanted to be German, and German bands who wanted to be robots. It was an insane asylum whose patients were predominantly ambiguous, untouchable males with sucked-in cheeks, 3-D makeup, and wedding-cake hair.
Perhaps America was overzealous in applying the term to anyone who didn't look or sound like George Thorogood and the Destroyers, but one thing united these two great nations: the shared understanding that the music produced between 1978 and 1985 marked the last golden age of pop.
This wasn't the first time that music was changed by maverick interlopers from another genre. David Bowie and Marc Bolan had both shrugged off the grubby vestiges of hippiedom and tumbled headfirst into glam. But it was the last time it would happen on a scale this massive and this weird. The biggest names who made the greatest hits were a generation of punks who turned themselves into international pop stars.
There are many compelling reasons why the punk proletariat seized the means of production and began poufing up their hair and slapping on the mascara. Here are a few:
**1. Boredom and snobbery** Once the initial shock value wore off, punk quickly decayed into a shout-y, guitar-banging dead end for its original practitioners. While there was an up-and-coming generation of bands in love with the prospect of forever being stuck in a shout-y, guitar-banging dead end (here's to you, Sham 69 and U.K. Subs), the first batch of British punks, most of whom were affiliated with London art schools, wanted to do everything they could to disassociate themselves with that unwashed mob.
**2. Disco didn't suck.** Not in the U.K., anyway, where black dance music had always been venerated and gay audiences had always been tastemakers. There, the summer of '77 wasn't just "God Save the Queen" and "White Riot," it was "I Feel Love" and "Staying Alive" too. As one-time punk rockers like ABC, Duran Duran, and INXS proved, disco and punk did not make strange bedfellows.
**3. The British music papers** You know how Fox News keeps its geriatric constituency in a constant state of paranoia and outrage by making sure every single day is the Worst Day Ever? (See: The War on Christmas! The New Black Panther Party! Death Panels!) The British music press operated in a similar manner. Only, to maintain a competitive edge, they went all out to make sure each week was the Best Week Ever. Punk was a massive shot in the arm for these papers; they had a revolution to write about, and all the main parties were easily accessible. Once the bloom faded from that rose, the papers had to find the next big thing. So every week there'd be a new trend—mod! psychobilly! cowpunk!—and a fresh crop of stars in the making. If this manic approach shone a spotlight on people who had no business listening to music, let alone making it, it also set the stage for 2 Tone, the ascendancy of electronic music, and the rise of Britain's new breed of pop groups. In addition, it created a generation of artists to whom good reviews and music-press credibility still mattered. They wanted to look good, achieve fame, make money, and still be respected. And they saw this as an attainable goal because of...
**4. Bowie** The voice, the hair, the videos, the clothes. The way he cut up words to construct lyrical collages. The way he juggled genres. Pretty much every musician who drew breath in the eighties owes everything to the career blueprint of David Bowie.
**5. _Top of the Pops_** It was a cheaply made, poorly produced BBC show that had been a staple of British Thursday nights since Beatlemania, and it didn't discriminate. If you had a hit, you got to mime it in front of an audience that, at its eighties peak, grew past the 15-million mark. Spandau Ballet, Human League, OMD: All of them saw their cult followings swell and their chart positions soar because of _TOTP_. And most of them got so big that they could restrict their appearances and rely instead on...
**6. Music videos and MTV** MTV was originally conceived as a radio station with pictures—a network that sounded like American radio at the start of the eighties. The British bands who fled punk, embraced Bowie and disco, and who were hailed by the music press and appeared on _Top of the Pops_ had no place on such a station. They were unknowns. They did not have significant live followings. The majority of them did not even have U.S. record deals. But the executives behind MTV were in such a mad scramble to get their new cable channel up and running that it never occurred to them to question whether there were sufficient videos by Journey, Loverboy, and Rod Stewart to fill out 24 hours of airtime. As it happened, there were not, which is why the network was forced to shift its gaze to Europe, where weirdly attired groups with indecipherable accents cavorted in overblown mini-movies. City by city, suburb by suburb, adolescent record buyers began pledging allegiance to Duran Duran, Eurythmics, and the Human League. A Flock of Seagulls followed, as did Depeche Mode and Simple Minds.
Were the artists ridiculous? Was the music overproduced? Was the influence of Bowie ubiquitous to the point of being suffocating? Guilty on all counts. But it was also an era of imagination, vaulting ambition, and incredibly memorable songs. The accidental British Invasion of the eighties created a world in which Madonna, Prince, and _Thriller_ -era Michael Jackson thrived.
We're not saying great pop songs aren't written anymore. It's just that a decade of TV talent shows has given us a breed of performer whose only personality characteristics are humility, gratitude, and an undying love for their mommies. And when those humble, grateful performers embark on their careers, any remaining traces of their individuality and autonomy are auto-tuned out of them by superstar producers.
Mock and ridicule the excesses of the eighties if you want, but don't try and deny that the stars of the era had personality. They may have been pretentious, pompous, and absurd, but it was their own pretension, pomposity, and absurdity. They didn't have to bow their heads and nervously wait for the approval of a jaded record executive on a judging panel. Love or hate them, they were their own glorious creations. They were not boy bands. They were not manufactured. They were, for better or worse—worse being Kajagoogoo—the last of the big pop groups.
And their songs are still with us. You might laugh at them. You might yelp your way ironically through them at karaoke (in which case, put this book down. No, don't. Your money's as good as anyone else's. It's just your personality that's lacking). Or you may unabashedly love them. But you never forgot about them.
Neither did we, which is why we wrote this book. We wanted to know the stories behind our favorite songs from our favorite era. To find out, we phoned, Skyped and met up with some of our favorite acts, and we ended up reminiscing about a whole lot more: the good times, the bad times, the hits, the flops, the money, the madness, the fights and, of course... the hair.
Here's what this book isn't: a definitive oral history of the new wave era deserving of its own floor in the Smithsonian. Here's what it is: a random sampling of the decade, a bunch of snapshots summing up songs and artists embedded in our hearts. Your favorite eighties anthem might not be here; some obscure oddity might be in its place. But then, there might be something you haven't thought about in years and can't believe we were smart and resourceful enough to include, i.e., not "The Safety Dance."
Here's how it works: Each chapter begins with an introductory paragraph that puts the artist and song into a broader context—where and how they fit in with the culture, their enduring influence, and so on. Following that, we, the brilliant authors, provide individual commentary. _Who are we, and what makes us think our opinions matter?_ Good question! We are Lori Majewski: American, obsessed past the point of sanity with Duran, Depeche, the Smiths, New Order and... you get the idea. She loves it all, unconditionally, wholeheartedly, and hysterically. We are also Jonathan Bernstein: Scottish, sour by nature, too uptight and suspicious of emotion to declare himself a fan of anybody, but a staunch supporter of the sheer oddball nature of the era. Next, the artists recall their songs, careers, regrets, memories, and journeys. Although we conducted these interviews in time-honored Q&A style, we run the answers as edited monologues. All of the interviews were conducted individually. Finally, each chapter concludes with a "mixtape" in which we recommend similarly themed songs by other artists.
We're all too familiar with the strikes against the eighties: It was the video decade; the visuals took precedence over the music; it was all style over substance. The prosecution rests. We can't refute any of these charges. However, no music video, no matter how gargantuan the budget or drug-crazed the director, can salvage a dud song. And none of the 36 songs in this book are duds! These are the new classics: 36 songs that still have life left in them, that don't sound like relics, and that continue to get airplay and show up on soundtracks, compilations, and reissues. We fought over these 36 songs. We fought even harder over the other 36 we had to leave off the list. And there's another, other 36 we're still grumbling about having had to jettison. Toni Basil, your day will come! **JB/LM**
**_"KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER"_**
dam Ant was the male Siouxsie Sioux. Like the Banshees, the Ants were among the last of the original U.K. punk bands to sign a record deal. Like Siouxsie, Ant cultivated a darkly sexual, proto-goth persona, enjoyed a voluble, devoted following, and refused to skimp on the eyeliner. Unlike Siouxsie, Ant got no respect. In the late 1970s, Britain was able to sustain four weekly music papers, all of which wielded a degree of influence and regarded Adam and the Ants as a lamentable vehicle for a narcissistic phony. They labeled Ant an inauthentic buffoon, an art student dabbling in S&M imagery. The Adam and the Ants responsible for the likes of "Whip in My Valise," "Red Scab," and "Deutscher Girls" deserved most of the derision they received. But the Adam and the Ants who recorded the likes of "Kings of the Wild Frontier," "Dog Eat Dog," and "Antmusic"? They're a principal reason this book exists. When Ant decided to retire the empty shock value of his previous incarnation, to recruit co-conspirator, guitarist, and former Banshee Marco Pirroni and to launch an all-out assault on the mainstream, he did it in the weirdest way possible. None of the musical and visual elements Ant plundered for his reinvention pointed to his subsequent ascendance to teen idol status, but the totality of his image, his theatricality, and the sense of community in his calls-to-arms struck a massive chord. Refusing to settle for life as a stalwart of the independent circuit unshackled Ant's imagination and his ambition. He went from a punch line in bondage pants to the man who would be king.
**JB: Forget the white stripe and the line "I feel beneath the white, there is a redskin suffering from centuries of taming." The only tormented minority Adam Ant truly identified with was the Entertainer. Adam and the Ants may have rebooted themselves with a chaotic new look and a vibrant new sound, but the dismissive treatment the old Ants had received at the hands of the media still rankled. "Kings of the Wild Frontier" is a squeal of outrage from a flamboyant, full-color performer freeing himself from a tawdry, foul-smelling, monochromatic post-punk universe. Ant basically had one theme: The artifice of show business was infinitely preferable to the music press–mandated notion of credibility. He rehashed that sentiment in "Prince Charming," "Stand and Deliver," and "Goody Two Shoes." But he never sounded so alive, so energized, and so hell-bent on writing his own legend as he did in "Kings of the Wild Frontier." It was a combination of the liberation he felt about throwing off his old (white) skin and the fact that no one had any expectations of him. It was the lingering resentment over the devious way momentary Svengali Malcolm McLaren made off with three of his Ants to form Bow Wow Wow. (For more on this sordid tale, see our Bow Wow Wow chapter on this page.) It was the way Marco Pirroni's guitar twanged over the drumming duo's thundering Burundi beat. It was the way Ant announced his second act with the declaration "A new royal family! A wild nobility! We are the family!"**
**LM: There were two singers who shook me up in the way I imagine Elvis Presley did my late-1950s teenage counterparts: Michael Hutchence and Adam Ant. Neither was textbook handsome like, say, John Taylor or Rick Springfield. And while both were usually bare-chested under their tough-looking leather jackets, neither was what you'd call buff. Still, the way they moved onstage and made eye contact with the camera suggested they were sex incarnate. Watching these two, I was never so sure of my heterosexuality. But while Hutchence's deep, conversational singing voice always sounded bedroom-ready, Ant was capable of screams and yelps that suggested you caught him in the middle of the act. That has to be why Sofia Coppola chose "Kings of the Wild Frontier" for the scene in _Marie Antoinette_ in which the queen finally finds coital satisfaction while cheating with the studly Count Fersen. When I met Ant for our interview, he made his entrance wearing eyeliner and eyeliner-drawn sideburns, and a pencil mustache that was more Captain Jack Sparrow than Prince Charming. Still, I couldn't help staring into his blue eyes and thinking, _Don't you ever stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome._**
****ADAM ANT:**** I was doing graphic design at Hornsey College of Art. I started up a college band called Bazooka Joe. I was playing bass and writing and singing. Bazooka Joe did their debut in London at St. Martin's College of Art in November 1975. That was the night I saw the Sex Pistols—they were the support act. They looked great, dressed in really great clothes. They played very simple songs: Small Faces and Who covers and a few of their own. It wasn't screaming, 15-minute guitar solos in denim-clad outfits; it was, like, 10-second guitar solos. They were really tight. And they had a complete disregard and contempt for the audience that I'd never seen before and quite liked.
That was the catalyst. I thought, _Something's happening here, and it's not that difficult._ There were very few people who were interested in the Pistols at the start. Bazooka Joe were too set in their ways—they were a rock band and didn't like punk. So I left the band that night and formed the Ants, and that was the start of the career. That was the sort of influence the Pistols had on people. Most of the people in that room went on to form their own bands.
The early Adam and the Ants got a lot of criticism from the media, so much so that we didn't get signed. We had a large following, but they didn't care about that. They just didn't like the idea of signing me. Our first big single, "Dog Eat Dog," was more or less a general assault on the public. I thought our music was better than everyone else's, as every band does, and I put it lyrically. "Only idiots ignore the truth" was a result of being ignored for three years.
In 1979 Malcolm McLaren approached me at a party, and I was quite surprised, really. I think he'd been watching what we were doing and certainly liked the following. After the Pistols, I think he wanted that following. I enjoyed my time with Malcolm. I learned a lot—his theories became very useful to me in my dealings after that time. He stripped it down to a realistic approach to the music industry: simple things like don't be so esoteric; if you want a hit record, put your face on the cover; the structure of a good hit single. He was a great historian of music, which you wouldn't have thought. He came across as an anti-music person, but he actually knew a hell of a lot. And he became a friend, so it was a great loss when he died a few years back.
It wasn't exactly as Zen as that, though. I think he had the idea for Bow Wow Wow before he met me. It seemed like a mutiny at the time. But if it had to happen, it was the right time to happen. And no one can force you to do that. The other three saw a better opportunity to work in their own setup, so they did. I could never have worked for Malcolm. Bow Wow Wow was pretty much Malcolm plus them backing his musical ideas. But they went off and did Bow Wow Wow, and I thought they did some good work. It also gave me an object of competition. I had my eye on them, and we had to blow them out of the water, and I think we did. ***** Annabella [Lwin, former Bow Wow Wow lead singer] is actually a friend of mine.
My songs tend to be a travelogue of my life. Every album has a different look, a different sound, different lyrical content. The hard, simple punk stuff of the first few singles was completely different from the first album, _Dirk Wears White Sox_ , which was quite a weird record. It certainly wasn't a punk record. Then _Kings of the Wild Frontier_ and _Prince Charming_ —every album's been different from the one before.
I liked Lenny Bruce a lot. I'd been listening to him a lot in the late seventies, and Jackie Mason too. And during an art history course, I'd tapped into the Futurists, who were doing some amazing work in sculpture. They all basically got killed in the First World War, so there was only a tiny body of work. I didn't particularly like their politics, but I thought their art was fantastic, marvelous. They were like the punk rockers of the art world, doing weird stuff, ballets and musicals where none of them could play at all. They'd just be blowing trumpets and beating each other up.
What I tapped into then and still do is history. I'm well up on the Regency dandy period. I love certain parts of military history: Napoleonic history, the Charge of the Light Brigade. I took all of these images that I'd grown up with and made a mutant, a hybrid. Punk got really dark by about '79—really druggie, really political, very gray, very nasty. I hated it. So I wanted to do something that was the reverse: colorful, heroic. Pirates and Native Americans were, in their pure essence, quite heroic themes. I'd done my homework on them, then blended them into this idea, and the music matched.
"Kings of the Wild Frontier" is really a mark on all sorts of colors and societies where you feel held back. The lyrics "I feel beneath the white, there is a redskin suffering from centuries of taming"—it's not just the color of your skin; it's the class you're born into. If you're born poor, if your parents don't have any money, it's quite a hard life for you. The Apache war stripe was a declaration of war, as I saw it, on the [record] industry I was up against. They were the enemy. But it was also quite a spiritual thing. I gained a great deal of comfort from studying their ways and philosophies.
*** LEIGH GORMAN, Bow Wow Wow, formerly of Adam and the Ants: I remember Adam came on _Top of the Pops_ with "Dog Eat Dog" with his white line on his face. I thought, _That's it. He's done it_. We'd just put out "C30, C60, C90, Go." The guy at the record label called up Malcolm and said, "These sales figures don't match your chart position. You guys should be at number 14 or 12 right now, and you should be going on _Top of the Pops_ , but they've held you back." So we went over to EMI and trashed the place. I think we threw Cliff Richard [gold] records out the window. Malcolm was trying to create a stunt like the Pistols. It completely backfired: They didn't promote the single. And Adam comes along with his image, his better-sounding production, and his more innocuous lyrical subject, goes on _Top of the Pops_ , and everyone goes nuts.**
**STYLE COUNCIL**
"[Michael Jackson] phoned me up and asked where I got the jacket from." Ant says, "I told him where to go, and he went and got it. It's a hussar jacket, a theatrical costume from Bermans in London. I sent him down to my friend who worked there. He said, 'I want an Adam Ant jacket,' and they gave him one."
When I came to the USA in 1981, I had a complaint from a Native American society in New York City, and I had to meet with them about it. They were concerned that I was using the stripe. They thought it was just me stereotyping Indians—I don't use the word "Indians"; it's "Native Americans." So I went to see them, I spent the day, and I said, "Look, come and see the show, and if you think I'm using it in a derogatory way, I'll take it off." They came to see it, loved it, and it was all right. I got the go-ahead. I wouldn't have felt comfortable if I thought I was offending people for no just reason, the fact you just don't know your subject. My father was a Romani Gypsy, so I'm very up on the way the Gypsy society is portrayed. They're quite dismissive—they say "Gyppo," which is a slur. It's not nice. So having dealt with that in my family, you respect other people.
I write songs for me. I don't write songs for other people. As far as "Prince Charming" is concerned, I was addressing myself. I wanted to present myself in a good way. My granddad may not have had a lot of money, he may have been born in a caravan, but he looked very smart, very clean, and that stayed with me. That was part of the "Prince Charming" idea. "Ridicule is nothing to be scared of" was a line I felt was quite apt, certainly being in the pop business.
"Goody Two Shoes" was a manifesto about what was happening at that point. "You don't drink, don't smoke"—purely because I didn't drink or smoke, people made assumptions. I thought that was quite a good lyric. And it worked. That certainly broke me in the States. "Two weeks and you're an all-time legend / I think the games have gone much too far," that was almost like saying, "Look, I've had enough of this," and I took all the makeup off.
When video came along, right there, there was a revolution that I was able to embrace. I had a film school training, so I storyboarded them myself, and I could co-direct them. The video became as important as, if not more important than, the music. It didn't hurt that I had had a video go out to homes in the USA before I arrived. When I did my first American tour, our record company commissioned a pirate ship to sail us up the Hudson River to our New York concert. They'd seen what was going on on MTV. People were dressing up like me before I even got here. That wouldn't have happened before video, because I would have had to go out and do the tours first. But those music videos... you can't put that on the radio.
In '81, I did a royal variety show. It was great playing for the queen, marvelous. It's very popular now—the pop world seems to fraternize a lot with the royals. But back then I got a lot of stick for doing it. They thought I'd sold out: "Oh, you've gone very straight." It was a very traditional thing for me to do. But the queen's very hip, as she proved with the [2012] Olympics. And she was then. I remember watching the Rolling Stones and the Beatles meeting the queen, so I thought it can be no bad thing.
**MARCO PIRRONI:** Adam and the Ants were basically the group I would dream about back in school. This wild, glam-rock, mishmash, looking-weird thing. I didn't have the pirates worked out, but I wanted everyone in the playground talking about us the next day. Like seeing Roxy doing "Virginia Plain" or Bowie doing "Starman" on _Top of the Pops_ —as soon as you saw that, you couldn't watch the rest of the show. You couldn't sleep because you were so excited.
I was completely done with punk by the end of '77. It became an excuse to be stupid. It lost style; it lost subversiveness; it got really conformist. I thought the early punk thing was that old Oscar Wilde thing: "We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Well, the second generation was basically just "We're all in the gutter." They never moved on. A lot of them still haven't.
I was sitting around waiting for another band to join when I got a call from Adam, which was a surprise. I knew him very vaguely. I'd seen all the incarnations of the Ants, and I thought they were really good. They had some great songs but, me being me, I was always like, "I could do better."
It's really strange, because the only two bands I really liked were the Ants and the Banshees, and I got to join both. But journalists loved the Banshees and hated the Ants. I didn't think the Banshees were that great, to be honest. I thought the Ants were better. I didn't understand why there was this constant slagging. It felt like every review was bad. But then, you know what journalists are like, especially back in the day. They were powerful—talk about make-or-break. But "Kings of the Wild Frontier" did get good reviews. They were like, "You are a genius now."
When I started working with Adam, he'd just been thrown out of his band. It must have been a right kick in the bollocks. He called me up the day after and said, "Look, I've been thrown out of the Ants." I said, "Eh? How could you be thrown out of the Ants? Adam and the Ants!" I don't think the band was particularly happy. They weren't going anywhere. They got Malcolm in as a last-ditch attempt, and Malcolm had other ideas. He had the Bow Wow Wow project. He thought, _I can use these three guys, but I can't use Adam—he won't do as he's told. He's going to be trouble._ I think Adam was curled up in the fetal position for at least an hour. I'm sure there were some tears. It was like, "Someone stole my girl! Fucking bitch, I'll show her!" Quite a normal reaction.
Malcolm had come up with all these ideas about the tribal drumming, and in my head, it was very much _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_. There was a stage show called _Ipi Tombi_ that was all African drummers, and Adam was like, "We should get these guys from _Ipi Tombi_ down." I was terrified: "I don't know anything about African drummers, or how to get them, or what I'm supposed to do with them." Bow Wow Wow also used African drummers, but we went about it in a completely different way. I didn't see them as rivals as much as Adam did, because he obviously had personal issues. It did turn it into a bit of a race. Until we actually heard them. Once our album was number one, Adam wasn't feeling any need for revenge.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Acts of Culture Plunder** 1. "Buffalo Gals," Malcolm McLaren 2. "Rapture," Blondie 3. "Aie A Mwana," Bananarama 4. "John Wayne Is Big Leggy," Haysi Fantayzee 5. "Tantalize," Jimmy the Hoover
"Kings of the Wild Frontier" was the first song we wrote together. It was just two guitars. We didn't have any recording equipment. There was no way of recording it. We didn't even have a Dictaphone. We had to remember it every time we did it. It wasn't a fully formed concept at all. I had no clue about songwriting. If it was now, we could just get the records we want to sound like and sample them. But back then it was like we were working on this formless thing that didn't exist: African drumming plus twangy guitar. It was just a thing in our heads. It took fucking ages. We were in my house, this little flat in Earl's Court. We worked a few hours a day—you can't do more than that because then your mind starts going.
**"None of us were averse to wearing makeup. Being glam rockers, Bowie and Roxy fanatics, we had no problem with it.... I'm still the world's greatest glam-rock obsessive."**
You start forgetting everything. When we recorded it with the band, it was the first time it sounded like an actual song. But we always had the title. It was from _Davy Crockett_ , which I used to love as a kid.
My guitar sound wasn't so much Duane Eddy; it's more James Bond. It also comes from Phil Manzanera's solo in the middle of "Needles in the Camel's Eye" [from Brian Eno's _Here Come the Warm Jets_ ]. There's a twangy guitar solo on _For Your Pleasure._ It was more John Barry and Ennio Morricone than Duane Eddy. That's the way I work: My mind is full of old records. It was also glam rock and Mick Ronson—he was my big guitar hero.
None of us were averse to wearing makeup. Being glam rockers, Bowie and Roxy fanatics, we had no problem with it. Having two drummers was totally Glitter Band–inspired. It also looked great. I'm still the world's greatest glam-rock obsessive. Totally pathetic. All my favorite records were made in 1972. _For Your Pleasure_ , _Transformer_ , _Electric Warrior_ —that's what I still listen to. It's amazing I still find things to steal.
The record company left us alone. There were these A&R men—I don't know how old they were; they seemed ancient to me, [though they were] probably 24 or 26. They just took everything from the _NME_. When we said, "Look, we want to be this pop band with two drummers and lots of makeup," they were baffled. We said, "Let us try and explain. You know pop stars, right? You know how they go on telly, and they like guitars and girls and money?" "That's what you want to do?!" 'Cause that was the uncool thing. But we said, "Yeah!"
We weren't marketed. We were just left to our own devices. I didn't know that musicians were interfered with by A&R men. I didn't know what an A&R man did. We never went through the traditional routes—we never had art direction, we didn't go to budget meetings. We only did what we wanted. When we did "Prince Charming," it was like, "We're known for records with lots of drums on them—let's do a record with just one drum."
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Ant and Pirroni's hit-making partnership continued through the eighties and into the nineties with Ant solo singles "Goody Two Shoes" and "Wonderful." Pirroni went on to work with Sinéad O'Connor on her acclaimed albums** _**The Lion and the Cobra**_ **and** _**I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got**_ **. Meanwhile, Ant dabbled in stage and TV acting and moved to Tennessee to raise a daughter.**
**In the early 2000s, he was plagued by a well-publicized series of mental problems that saw him institutionalized on several occasions, including following a 2002 incident in which he threw a car alternator through a pub window. In 2011, he started playing live again with his new band, which he took to America in 2012 for his first tour of the States in 17 years to support his album, _Adam Ant is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter._**
**ANT:** I went to see _This Is It_ after Michael Jackson passed away. I sat there and I thought, _A lot of the performers are going_. Poly Styrene had passed away, and a number of other musicians, and there is only a certain time in your life when you can physically keep doing this. I'm pretty fit, so I thought, _Now's a great time to get back on board_.
In 2013 [I released] a new album. It may have been 16 years between albums, but it's hopefully worth the wait. If I wanted to just do it for the money—and money's not a bad thing when you've got a family, you've got expenses—then I would've just done those eighties-hits tours where you get paid a lot to go out and sing your hits amongst other people from that generation. Once you do that, you can't really go back to being taken seriously as a competitive, contemporary artist. Fortunately, I've managed to steer clear of that.
**"Not taking any time off for 20 years, it's hardly surprising I'd succumbed to [mental breakdowns]."**
It's very tempting because I was offered the O2 Arena. Take Spandau Ballet. I was offered that kind of situation where you hire a massive venue, like the O2, with 10,000 to 15,000 seats; they spend a year promoting it, and that's it. You've made your comeback. Where do you go from there?
Not taking any time off for 20 years, it's hardly surprising I'd succumbed to [mental breakdowns]. The main thing with mental health is to realize the alarm bells and the triggers that cause it. In my case, it's primarily due to overwork. Anybody who's been through any kind of mental illness will tell you that you have to be very careful and live each day as it goes. I've learned to just say no. That was not the case before, where it was all, "Just do another few gigs," and "We've got to have the record out next Thursday." It was a [hamster] wheel. You've got to know how to get off. When I'm on tour, I'm really celebrating for myself. This is me having fun; this is me surviving. This is growing older with grace. There's still lead in the pencil.
**PIRRONI:** We were arrogant back then. We thought everyone else was shit. Looking back, they weren't all shit. That attitude was a reaction against bands like New Order, ****** which we hated. They were coming from exactly the same place we were. They had exactly the same records. But at the time, I hated all that gray, grim Northern bollocks. But now I can see it's just all _Low_ and _Heroes_.
As far as working with Adam again, it would be nice one day, but I don't see it happening. We'd have to speak to each other to find that out, wouldn't we?
**** PETER HOOK, New Order: Musically, I love Adam and the Ants. They're one of my favorite groups. But it was very difficult for me as a Northern male to relate to the dandy look. We would've been laughed out of Manchester had we even considered it. Bernard [Sumner] and I used to go out in London with all them lot—Siouxsie and the Banshees to the Embassy Club, Rusty Egan when he used to run the Blitz. We looked like working-class yobs, and everyone else was dressed up as a pirate. Leigh Bowery had a candle melted all over his head, and there's me and Barney in our motorbike jackets looking like greasers.**
**_"CARS"_**
he late 1970s were teeming with highly regarded synthesizer acts of which great things were expected. The original, enigmatic incarnation of the Human League had a ton of U.K. music-press credibility and a fan following that included the godfather of new wave himself. "Listening to the Human League is like listening to 1980," Bowie said—in 1979. Meanwhile, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's debut single on Factory, "Electricity," put them near the top of most major labels' sign-them-now lists, and Ultravox received raves for their album _Systems of Romance_ , which saw the group jettison their glam-punk origins and embrace the Teutonic android within. No one expected anything from Gary Numan. You could read your way through a small forest of British pop papers and magazines and never see his name. You could listen to months of late-night radio shows and never hear one of his songs. But Numan was the first and, albeit briefly, the biggest star produced by Britain's burgeoning electronic music scene. In 1979, less than a year after he made his recording debut, he had two consecutive number-one singles and albums in Britain, and by 1980 "Cars" hit the Top 10 in the United States. He was soon overtaken by the better-known electronic acts he had originally surpassed but, for one shining moment, Numan's out-of-nowhere success was like discovering an alien among us.
**JB:** **In 1972, David Bowie made his debut on _ **Top of the Pops**_ performing "Starman." The next day, legend has it, hardened British soccer thugs were slathering on nail polish and eyeliner. I was too young and clueless to have any lasting memory of that phenomenon. In 1978, Gary Numan, then the 20-year-old leader and focal point of synth act Tubeway Army, appeared on both _TOTP_ and boring elder-sibling _The Old Grey Whistle Test_ in the same week, performing "Are 'Friends' Electric?" While Numan didn't have quite the seismic generational impact that Bowie did, that one-two TV punch sired a vast cult of British Numanoids almost overnight—and that phenomenon, I was absolutely around for. Numan's glowering mass of worshipers, with their black hair, black suits, red ties, and mad, staring eyes, made quite the picture. Their idol may have lacked Bowie's performance skills, fluid sexuality, and unique vision, yet there was something about his chalky pallor, panicked gaze, and strangled yelp of a voice that made him seem like a genuine man who fell to Earth. Even when he tackled subject matter as universal as automobiles, he still seemed like an alien visitor awkwardly attempting to acclimate himself to human transportation. But whether you were entranced by his otherworldliness or felt outrage at his wholesale pilfering of leftover bits of Bowie, "Cars" is a compelling testimony to Numan's ability to pen a hook sturdy enough to last a lifetime.**
**LM:** **In 1980 I was nine years old, and my favorite group was Air Supply. My favorite album was the** _**Grease**_ **soundtrack. My father had Warren Zevon's** _**Excitable Boy**_ **on repeat. I knew nothing of Ziggy Stardust, so when "Cars" came out, I thought Gary Numan was the most original thing ever. He was like a space vampire. "Cars" was my introduction to new wave, and that momentous event occurred while I was simultaneously laying eyes on that space vampire! For me, that was the moment when video plunged a stake through the heart of the radio star. Although I didn't yet know what new wave was, I recognized this Gary Numan guy hailed the arrival of a new sound—music that was dance-y like disco, exciting, and futuristic. Later I found out that everything I thought was new and exciting about him had been ripped off from David Bowie. But I didn't care and still don't.**
**GARY NUMAN:** My introduction to electronic music was by accident. I got signed up by the Beggars Banquet label with my punk band, Tubeway Army, at the end of '78, pretty much as the punk thing had peaked and was on its way out. They sent me to record what had been my live set up to that point, 40 minutes of punk songs. When I got to the studio, there was a Minimoog synthesizer in the corner of the control room waiting to be collected by a hire company, which, luckily for me, never turned up, and I was able to use it for two or three days. I'd never seen one before, and I loved it. It had been left on a setting that sounded amazing, this huge bottom-end, roaring, rumbling sound. I wouldn't have known how to get that sound; I didn't know anything about synthesizers. They were just a bunch of dials to me.
Over the next day or two, I was able to experiment. I developed a massive passion for electronic music practically overnight. I very hastily converted my pure punk songs into electronic songs, and I went back to the record company with a pseudo-electronic punk album. It wasn't what they wanted, it wasn't what they signed me for, and, understandably, they were quite unhappy with it. When we presented the album, it got really silly. One of the directors stood up to fight me—it got that childish. The thing that saved me was the record company had no money whatsoever. Whatever tiny budget they had to put me in the studio, they'd blown it all. They couldn't afford to put me back in to give them the album they really wanted. It was one of the rare occasions that being on a label with no money was actually a good thing.
The album, _Tubeway Army_ , went out in 1978, and it didn't set the world on fire, but it didn't go down badly the way they thought it would. So they put me back in the studio to do another one just a few months later, and that one, _Replicas_ , went to number one. I had a number-one single ["Are 'Friends' Electric?"] and a number-one album at the same time, so I was vindicated.
Within a few months of "Are 'Friends' Electric?" going to number one in the U.K., "Cars" came out and went to number one. I went from never having seen a synthesizer to having two number-one singles and a number-one album in 12 months. It was pretty meteoric. I was doing interviews with technology magazines about programming synthesizers and didn't have a clue what they were talking about. They were asking me about envelopes and fills and boffin shit. I just blagged and bullshitted my way through it. I pretended I knew what they were talking about, then I'd go home and try to figure it out. It was a really exciting time, but I was hopelessly out of my depth.
I went from being absolutely unknown—I think I'd done one tiny interview with a little local punk fanzine—and then I was number one. There was nothing in between. It was like living in a bipolar world where people you've never met love you all of a sudden, then you walk around a corner and somebody hates the air that you breathe even though you've never met them. And you're suddenly doing TV shows with people you've loved and admired for years, and now you're one of them, but you don't feel like you're one of them—you feel like an intruder that snuck in the back door. I thought that I'd been very lucky to get where I was and that my songwriting needed to be much, much better to justify the amount of success I had. So I actually felt slightly embarrassed and guilty at times about finding myself in the position I was in.
I'm glad it happened, nonetheless. I look back on it now and think I probably could have enjoyed it so much more if I had just been a bit calmer and more worldly and definitely if it had happened a little more slowly. I'd made it on my second album, and I'd made it massive. At one point, in the U.K. alone, I was selling 45,000 singles a day. It was all down to _Top of the Pops_. You got on that program and you pretty much made it overnight. It was very difficult to get on; you had to have at least a small amount of success. Again, with me, I was very lucky.
**"Was 'Cars' easy to write? Piece of piss, innit? I'd wanted to learn bass guitar better....The first four notes I played on that guitar, and I thought, _That's all right_."**
For a month or two, _Top of the Pops_ did a thing they called "Bubbling Under," where they would take a song that wasn't on the chart but showed some sort of movement. It was between me and Simple Minds—we both had songs out that got to number 80 or something like that. And they picked me because my band was called Tubeway Army. They thought that was a slightly more interesting name than Simple Minds. Just luck. Suddenly, I was seen by 12 million people, and "Are 'Friends' Electric?" was number one.
After that, as far as I was concerned, Tubeway Army was finished. Tubeway Army was a punk band; this was a completely new thing. I wanted to be on my own. I wanted to be Gary Numan now. If I'd had my way, it would have been Gary Numan from the beginning, but Beggars Banquet said they'd invested money in the Tubeway Army name, and they didn't want to drop it. They made me stick with it through the first two albums. It wasn't until "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and _Replicas_ went to number one that I had enough clout to get what I wanted. I was eventually able to become Gary Numan when "Cars" came out.
Was "Cars" easy to write? Piece of piss, innit? I'd wanted to learn bass guitar better; I'd never written a song on the bass. So I went to Shaftesbury Avenue in London and bought myself a cheap bass called a Shergold Modulator. I've still got it—it hangs on a wall in my studio. I took it home, got it out of its case, and the very first thing I played was [sings the first four notes of "Cars"]. That was it. The first four notes I played on that guitar, and I thought, _That's all right_.
Honest to God, "Cars" took me 10 minutes—all the parts, all the arrangements. Another 20, and the lyrics were done. The whole thing took about half an hour, from opening the case to having the finished bass line, arrangement, lyric, and vocal line sorted out. The keyboard line came a bit later when I got to the studio, because I didn't have a synth; I had to rent one. It was the most productive 30 minutes of my life.
Out of all the songs I've written, "Cars" was by far the quickest. I've written 300 or 400 songs—that are available on CD; I've written a lot more than that—and only two on bass, one being "Cars," the other completely forgettable. It's become this electronic anthem, one of the most well-known electronic songs ever, but it was written on a bass.
One of the other things that's weird about it is it's almost an instrumental. It doesn't have a vocal chorus. All the singing happens in the first 60 seconds, then there's another three minutes of instrumental. I had a similar issue with "Are 'Friends' Electric?," but that was the opposite: That was five and a quarter minutes long, you couldn't dance to it, and it had a spoken-word chorus not a sing-along chorus. If you think of all the boxes you're supposed to tick to have a radio-friendly song, "Are 'Friends' Electric?" didn't tick any of them, and "Cars" didn't do that much better.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Synthetic Songs Filled with Paranoia and Alienation** 1. "Airwaves," Thomas Dolby 2. "Ghosts," Japan 3. "Suburbia," Pet Shop Boys 4. "Underpass," John Foxx 5. "Private Plane," Thomas Leer
**"I used to think that the car was a tank for the civilian. You could sit inside your car, lock your doors, and it would keep you safe."**
The problem I've always had with "Cars" is when I play it live, and especially when I do it on TV, I just stand on the stage, and my bit is over pretty quickly, and then I've got to stand there and try to look interested. I used to think, _What the fuck am I going to do?_ I can't dance—I dance like an idiot. When I play it live, even now, I'll often put another keyboard on stage just to give me something to do with my hands. For a few years I stood on the side and had a drink, or I'd go and sit down. I've always had an uncomfortable relationship with the last two or three minutes of the song.
Lyrically, "Cars" came from an incident that happened to me in London. I was in my car and in a bit of traffic, and there were a couple of men in front of me in a white van, and they got out. I'd obviously done some-thing—I must have cut them off a while back. I don't remember. But they were fucking furious, these blokes. They came back at me, shouting. I locked all my doors—I didn't want any trouble. They were kicking my car, banging on the handles, and swearing at me, for fuck's sake! I don't know what I did, but it must have been pretty bad. _Eventually_ , I thought, _I'm gonna have to get away from this._ There was enough room for me to get up on the pavement, so I drove up and I went along, with these people chasing me, scattering pedestrians in my wake, shitting my pants. I was really scared. I managed to get away up the high street. It was quite a shocking experience, and that's where the idea for "Cars" came from. In modern society, I used to think that the car was a tank for the civilian. You could sit inside your car, lock your doors, and it would keep you safe. It puts you in a little protective bubble. You can maneuver through the world, but you don't really have to engage. That's how it felt to me, and that's what the song's about.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Gary Numan continues to tour and record and has released 15 albums since 1980's** _**Telekon**_ **. His influence has been hailed by musicians like Damon Albarn and the Sugababes and comedians like Noel Fielding. His 1980 Top 10 chart showing with "Cars" marks the beginning and end of his American success, but if fate deigns to allow you only a solitary hit, "Cars" isn't a bad one to have. It single-handedly prepared the United States for the British-led electronic onslaught that was lurking just around the corner. In the ensuing decades, it has been sampled, covered, remixed, and reissued countless times. Long after there are cars, there will be "Cars."**
**NUMAN:** I've got a huge amount of credibility now, strangely enough. I never had it when I was selling number-one albums. It's been a slowly building thing for me. Marilyn Manson did one of my songs. I started to hear interviews with people like Trent Reznor talking about me being an influence on them—people I admired and had no idea they even knew who I was. It's given me a huge boost of confidence, and it's helped a lot of people to reevaluate me, the music press in particular. When my _Pleasure Principle_ album came out in '79, it got fucking crucified. It got pretty much slammed into the ground by everyone who reviewed it. Yet, a little while ago, the _NME_ —who've been unbelievably hostile toward me over the years—called it one of the groundbreaking electronic records of the last few decades.
There's been a fundamental shift in the way people see me and think of me, but the undeniable fact in the middle of all this is that I only ever had one single that was successful in America. Just the one. Better than none. But I never did better in America when I had that initial opportunity, and I live on in the vague thread of a hope that I might have something there again in the future.
**_"GIRLS ON FILM"_**
When MTV reluctantly opened the door to British and European acts, the ones that came stumbling through were by and large an odd lot. Some seemed provincial, others awkward; a few were just plain carnival acts (not to speak ill of the dead, but Falco). Duran Duran were none of these things. They were the MTV generation's Rolling Stones. This wasn't a band evolving away from its grubby, indie beginnings—Duran were born to be big. The so-called Fab Five (singer Simon Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor, and two other unrelated Taylors, drummer Roger and guitarist Andy) broke out of Birmingham, England, then promptly conquered the world. They saw it as their duty to live out the lifestyle they depicted in their wildly overproduced videos. The supermodels they squired, the luxury yachts and private jets, the rock-god decadence and debauchery—they bathed in it, and yet we didn't hate them for it. No band so synonymous with the overindulgent eighties transcended the decade better. They survived the vagaries of fashion, lineup changes, the passing of the years, and the profitable lure of the package-tour nostalgia circuit to become the era's distinguished elder statesmen. And their hair still looks immaculate.
**LM: Duran Duran chose me—I had no choice in the matter. I still remember, clear as day, the first time I saw the "Hungry Like the Wolf" video. It was like I was being possessed. From then on, everything was different: Everything I thought and felt was in the name of Duran Duran. I traveled to their concerts and waited outside their hotels and recording studios. I ran an internationally known Duranzine before pursuing a career in entertainment journalism just so I could be paid to be near them. I married a man named Simon, only to divorce him for an even hotter guy named John. I have lived for them, lied for them, and questioned my own sanity over them. And I'd do it all again. Don't say a prayer for me now—save it 'til the morning after!**
**JB: My Five Stages Of Duran Duran:**
**1. Denial. "Haven't heard them. Not going to waste my time. They'll be gone in five minutes. I don't like their puffy shirts."**
**2. Anger. "This is shit. It's shit! Why are people so hysterical about them? They're a one-hit, all right, two-hit wonder—at best. In a few years, you're all going to be embarrassed about liking them."**
**3. Bargaining. "Let me never have to hear their songs or see their videos again, and I swear I'll be a better, less selfish, more thoughtful, and caring person."**
**4. Depression. "Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm wrong about everything and everyone else is right. Is that possible?"**
**5. Acceptance. "Fine. They wrote a few good songs. They had staying power. They turned out to be way more consistent than groups I liked a lot better at the time. I have grudging respect for them. Okay?"**
**JOHN TAYLOR:** We were perfect, and very few bands come out of the bag perfectly formed. Whether you liked us or not, that was a question of taste, but we were fully developed. And the moment Simon stepped in, we became the band that made "Girls on Film." The serious press had such a hard time with Duran in the beginning, and one of the reasons is because there was nothing for them to do. A lot of other bands—and I hesitate to say Radiohead, U2, or even the Rolling Stones—it took them three albums to find their thing, and along the way, their journalist friends had become their champions. The press fueled a part of their story, so they could own them. With Duran, they were like, _What are we going to do?_
**NICK RHODES:** "Girls on Film" originated in 1979 in Birmingham. We had a rehearsal room in a squat where Andy Wickett, our singer at the time, was living. We'd recently parted company with Stephen Duffy. Andy had this phrase "girls in films": "Girls in films look better." John and I decided to change it to "girls on film." It just sounded better. There is a reason why it's been used so often as a phrase since. If you could hit on one of those every day, you would.
**TAYLOR:** After Andy Wickett left, we said to the next singer [Jeff Thomas], "We've got this chorus, write the verse as you see fit," and he wrote his own. Then we fell out with Jeff. The thing about "Girls on Film" is Nick and I trusted our instincts. We could have cast it away when we fell out with Andy, but Nick and I held on to it. With Simon, again we said, "We've got this chorus—write whatever you want for the verse." And his opening line was absolutely fantastic: "See them walking hand in hand across the bridge at midnight." There are so many little hooks—every line of the verse is a hook, you know? I know, because we play it every night, and I'm singing along, "Lipstick cherry all over the lens as she's falling." It's one long hook, which it needs to be, because the chorus is so simple. Simon had never even listened to the previous singers' versions. I guess that's testament to the crazy, evocative simplicity of the phrase "girls on film." It's actually mind-racing. It's that suburban view upwards to the catwalk, to the silver screen—to unattainable beauty on that level—that the suburbanite always dreams of.
**RHODES:** Girls have always been a thing, thankfully, for our species. Simon really did write the master lyric, which was much funnier, more clever, and more ironic than it had been previously. It was about girls in films; it was about exploitation. It was about the old Hollywood clichés of the casting couch but the excitement and the glamour of it, too.
**SIMON LE BON:** I wanted something that was a bit edgy, because I wanted the band to be edgy—not too soft. So an homage to girls in the movies was not what I was after. I wrote the song as a fantasy. It's a guy watching these models, and they're being exploited for the camera, for the producer, and for the guy who's at home watching them on telly while he's sitting in the bath. He feels that he's got his own special relationship with them, and he realizes that the girls can take him all the way. At the end of the third verse, when it goes, "Give me shudders in a whisper take me up till I'm shooting a star"—that, to me, was an orgasm. That is the guy actually coming, and whenever I sing it, I think about that. And the line "There's a camera rolling on her back, on her back"? He's repeating that line as sexual innuendo—because "on her back" definitely means she's having sex, right? But the song is also about the fact that women have to go through so much to make good photographs. And they're selling a product. "Wider baby smiling, you just made a million"—not a million for her, a million for the guy who's making it! So I wanted the song to be fun but have some substance as well.
**RHODES:** Simon's got a way of finding words that sound beautiful together. But the songs have always had a meaning—even the more abstract songs like "Union of the Snake" or "The Reflex." That period we certainly got more abstract than the first couple of albums, but they always had a story behind them. I'm all for surrealism in lyrics, but at the same time, if you can find something that truly touches somebody emotionally, that's when you're on the track to writing a good lyric, which often leads to a good song.
When Simon first came to meet us, he had this fabulous little notepad with the words "Rov Ostrov" [the name of his previous band] written on the front. That book, those lyrics, the name Simon Le Bon—we were thinking, _If only he can sing, it'll be perfect!_ Everything from the first album was written in that book, and probably the _Rio_ album too. How he never lost it, I don't know. We ought to make a facsimile.
**TAYLOR:** We were incredibly single-minded: We just wanted to be the best that we could be. I was there to craft the very best bass lines, Simon to craft the very best lyrics. The best bands are the ones where the members hold down their own corners. It's like, you take care of your shit, I'll take care of mine. You can't have any slackers.
**LE BON:** I spent a whole day and a half trying to come up with a new melody because our managers didn't think it was good enough. Finally I said, "That is the melody, guys." And John, Nick, Roger, and Andy backed me up. Because they understood—we were very natural musicians. We had an instinctive feel for what worked and what didn't. They trusted me and my instincts that much to say, "If he says it's right, it's right."
**TAYLOR:** It took us a long time to get "Girls on Film" right. We were learning to play at that time. There's a CD box set that has the Air Studios demo, on which we hadn't quite refined it yet. If you listen to what Roger and I are doing on that compared to the version that made the first album, we're playing much more cleverly on the album version. There's more playing—we'd really found our thing. If I had to encapsulate the best of the first few years of the band, I'd take three tracks: "Rio," "The Chauffeur," and the "Girls on Film" 12-inch.
**RHODES:** The camera clicking at the beginning was something I wanted to add. It was a 35mm Nikon that was put on motor drive. It was something that identified the song immediately. I've always felt that intros are incredibly important. Some of our songs have pretty elaborate intros, like "A View to a Kill" and "Wild Boys." I'm always taken by the thing that catches my ear that I haven't heard before, and that's what "Girls on Film" has—between the camera, that very distinctive drum beat, and one of John's greatest bass lines.
**TAYLOR:** I had been listening to a lot of Bowie's band of that period: _Station to Station_ and _Low_. Side one of _Low_ , which is the "Sound and Vision" side, was Roger's and my fantasy. If you listen to "Stay" off _Station to Station_ , that would give you an idea of what Roger and I were trying to emulate—the tightness of that rhythm section. Everybody says, "Bowie and Eno, the genius of their ideas!" But underneath you have George Murray and Dennis Davis, the greatest rhythm section of that time. You have Stevie Wonder's rhythm section basically slumming it, but everything that Murray and Davis did was incredibly funky. Chic was the other really important one. Chic turned me on to bass.
**LE BON:** I was brought up on T. Rex and Bowie, and moved on into Lou Reed, a little bit of Genesis on the way, and I was most definitely deep into punk. Look at the Damned—there's great poetry in some of those lyrics. Leonard Cohen, who is a poet—I was into his lyrics very much. I was a big fan of the Doors and Jim Morrison's lyrics. Then there was the humor of the Kinks. And Patti Smith must be mentioned. She was probably, at that time, the single most influential person upon my lyric writing. Now, you might not see any of Patti Smith in my lyrics, but I do. Actually, Patti could almost have written "Girls on Film," because she had that thing about money and sex and youthfulness, and also that whole sexual climax thing. That's straight out of Patti Smith, that is. If you listen to "Birdland" and "Horses," that sexual dynamic curve to climax is definitely there.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Sexy Songs About Sex** 1. "Into You Like a Train," Psychedelic Furs 2. "Total Control," The Motels 3. "Kiss Me," Tin Tin 4. "So Alive," Love and Rockets 5. "Master and Servant," Depeche Mode
**TAYLOR:** We knew "Girls on Film" was the strongest track on the album, and we fought with EMI. We said, "This has got to be the second single," and they were like, "No, no, no: 'Careless Memories' is the right second single." I look back now, and I feel like the guy who was doing that, Rob Warr—he used to run Fast Product with Bob Last, who had the Human League before—I was thinking he was trying to sabotage us. So we released "Careless Memories," and that was the last song we'd put out in a long time that wasn't a Top 30 hit. We forced their hand and put out "Girls on Film" when the album came out.
Then we did that six-minute-long video. The subject matter! Do you know how many guys have come up to me and are like, "I love that video!" I had somebody tell me recently, "In the early eighties, I was a thief. Me and my mate, we used to break into chemists' shops, rip off all the pills, and go back to his flat with these piles of speed and just watch the 'Girls on Film' video over and over and over."
There were not a lot of people doing videos, and we saw that opportunity in the rock clubs in America. We were in Memphis a week or so ago, and the guy who was driving me said, "We used to go to this club called Antenna, and they had this big video screen above the dance floor, and they would show your videos." It was that little window before MTV. There was the Rock America circuit of dance clubs, of which the Ritz in New York was like the flagship. You could fit, like, 1,500, 1,600 people in there. There was a screen above the dance floor, and around the end of the seventies, beginning of the eighties, they started playing music videos. The "Girls on Film" video was laser-guided to reach that audience dancing at one o'clock on a Saturday morning at the Ritz.
Our managers drove the video agenda. We were like, "Oh, man, a video?" They were like, "Chaps, this is something we need to do." The people who were getting MTV going had a meeting with [Duran managers] Paul and Michael Berrow, and they said, "We need content." If there had been videos for "More Than a Feeling" and Journey, for all the music that was on the radio at that point, that's what they would have played. But there wasn't, so they were forced to look to the edge, which was all coming out of London. They had to play the Buggles, Ultravox, Peter Gabriel, Duran Duran, because they were visual. They said to us, "What we really want is something like a James Bond video." That's what put the seed into Paul's mind that we should go to Sri Lanka [to shoot videos for the _Rio_ album].
The "Girls on Film" video—Jesus, we did that in one afternoon! Everything was shot on this T-shaped set. There was a catwalk, with the band on a stage at the end and the boxing ring at the other. It was conceived with a combination, I would say, of jocularity and foresight. But I didn't like that day. It was what I imagine it must be like to be on the set of a porno movie. It was exciting, on the one hand, having all these beautiful girls walking around without clothes on. But the band, we're tripping out, showing off, and not being ourselves. It wasn't comfortable for us.
**"The 'Girls on Film' video... was conceived with a combination, I would say, of jocularity and foresight.... It was what I imagine it must be like to be on the set of a porno movie."**
**RHODES:** We wanted to make a sexy video, but we wanted it to be funny as well. It's so ridiculous, the things that are in the video—the mud wrestling, the lifeguard, the [kiddie] pool. Some people may think it's politically incorrect, but it wasn't meant to upset anyone. It was made to make people smile, and there's still something about that that really works.
**LE BON:** What do I remember most about that day? The one with the dark hair. Some guys like blondes, some guys like dark-haired girls, and I realized absolutely which one I liked and was going for. It was very sexy, and then, watching it back, there was some turn-off as well as turn-on. Like, the sumo wrestler guy—I think that is universally the great turn-off in that video.
**RHODES:** When it got banned, it didn't do us any harm. When you get something banned, it throws a different light on it—like when the Sex Pistols were banned from everything in the U.K. The video became infamous. Everybody wanted to see it because they couldn't. Eventually we made it available on a videocassette, and to promote it we did a signing in Times Square at a place called Video Shack, where there were riots and police horses. The irony is, a lot of the young girls coming in to buy the video technically weren't allowed to watch it.
**TAYLOR:** After "Girls on Film" and the _Rio_ album, the success was so huge in the early eighties that when we lost that in the second half, we thought, _Oh my God, is that it?_ It was pretty terrifying. After Andy and Roger left in 1986, we lost a huge part of our firepower, and we had to try to find ways to get the chemistry back. ***** It wasn't easy. We took such a bashing in our late 20s from the culture. There was this period where everybody said, "Okay, you're out. Get out!" That's when you need Nick Rhodes. He was like, "I'm not moving!" If it were up to me, I'd be in a hole in the ground somewhere.
*** NILE RODGERS, producer: The only time I ever made an album that took a long time was Duran Duran, _Notorious_. The group had broken up—Andy and Roger had left. I had to figure out a way to keep these guys together. I absolutely loved them like brothers, and I couldn't watch Duran Duran just fade away. It was the only time I ever spent a million dollars making a record—that was almost blasphemous to me. But what we got out of it was one of my favorite records of all time. With _Notorious_ , I was able to shift the band from this cute boy-band sort of thing—and those [early albums] were great records, by the way. But I knew that, had they stayed in that area, their life span would be limited. I remember the _NME_ review of [ _Notorious_ ], and I never remember reviews. After working on that album and spending that amount of money and seeing how hated they were by the British press in those days, I was so proud. I actually have this memorized: It said, "Just when you thought it was time to count these jerks out, they not only make a record that's good but one that's worthy of respect." Duran Duran are, at their heart, really a band. They really are like the Rolling Stones or U2, guys who struggled to get better at what they did, and they struggled together. That's what makes a band, that sense of us against the world, and they have that.**
**** MARK RONSON, artist, producer, and DJ: John is quite modest as a musician. They got a lot of stick for being pretty boys—people forget they can really play. That amazing rhythm section being the backbone of "Girls on Film" is square one. Then to have that incredible guitar riff—there's nothing light about it. It's like a fucking Les Paul through a Marshall. It's as Steve Jones as anything, which is such a juxtaposition to the slinky groove. Then you have this incredible wall of synth and [lyrics] that are all about sex—that is the home run. It's not just about sex: The song _is_ sex. Obviously, it wasn't premeditated like they're mixing it in a lab. It just magically came out. You just know when you put the record on—when that guitar and groove come in, it's just alchemy.**
**RHODES:** I don't like giving in. By the early nineties we still had a lot of music left in us, so I wouldn't have seen any reason to bow out. John bought into grunge a lot more than I did. The whole movement left me cold. It looked unattractive and, aside from Nirvana, it sounded like something I'd heard before but not as good.
There was no space for us in the media at that time. A lot of journalists would have very happily locked the door on the eighties and thrown away the key with Duran Duran in the vault. But I knew there would always be space for really good songs. By the time we got to making _The Wedding Album_ [a.k.a. the band's second self-titled album, 1993's _Duran Duran_ ], I remember us sitting down and saying, "Okay, let's write songs just like we used to." So we really went back to basics and wrote "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone."
**TAYLOR:** That was the turnaround. But by the time _The Wedding Album_ came out, I'd really slowed down as a bass player. I remember spending a lot of time in New York, becoming aware of all those session musicians and a little ashamed of my own playing style because I wasn't "the real thing." It almost made me want to go and hide away. Whereas what you hear on the first few Duran albums—the first two, three—is that I was unashamed. I was like, _This is what I can do! Listen to me!_ One of the worst things is when you get self-conscious. It became about playing less and less until my playing practically disappeared. It took somebody I respected, Mark Ronson, ****** to say, "Look, nobody does that better than you. The way you played on 'Rio'—that's your thing, JT." I was like, "I don't know.... Can I still do that? We need to fit into the culture." But Mark said, "That's how you fit into the culture."
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**The original hit-making, multi-Taylor lineup reunited in 2003 to much fanfare. After shedding guitarist Andy Taylor for the second time, they collaborated with fans Timbaland and Justin Timberlake on 2007's** _**Red Carpet Massacre**_ **, an album that fans hoped would reignite the classic Duran sound. That didn't happen, but they rebounded spectacularly with 2011's Mark Ronson–produced** _**All You Need Is Now**_ **. They continue to age gracefully.**
**"It seems absurd to me that we are now in our fourth decade of Duran Duran."**
**TAYLOR:** It was a really interesting time when we put the reunion together at the turn of the millennium. Not only were we trying to write songs; we were also trying to reinvent the sound of the band. Since Roger, Andy, Simon, Nick, and I had last played together on "A View to a Kill," we'd had hip-hop, the Chili Peppers, Guns N' Roses, trip-hop. Everybody was super self-conscious. Roger would be the first to admit it: He didn't want to be Roger Taylor when he came back—he wanted to be [Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer] Chad Smith. I'm like, "But you're Roger Taylor! I can't play with Chad Smith!"
Also, we'd had this dark sense of our early years, because the culture, at that point, had not come back around to Duran yet. Nobody was giving us any props in 2000. But then Gwen Stefani came on board and Justin Timberlake. MTV acknowledged us with a lifetime achievement award, and suddenly there was a turn of the tide. Suddenly the _NME_ is saying "Hungry like the Wolf" is the most important song ever written.
But the thing is, by the time it changes, it doesn't matter. It's actually not really important to us anymore. All the things that I was desperate to attain I don't care about anymore. We're not desperately trying to seek anything from anybody. We're just doing our jobs as best as we can and trying to have a good time doing it.
**LE BON:** In the modeling world, ["Girls on Film"] has become Yasmin [Le Bon]'s song. No other catwalk girl could ever lay claim to it in the same way that she could. When we did the Fashion Rocks show in London [in 2003], we played the song, and she's one of the girls on the catwalk, and you can see the sense of ownership that she had. That made me very, very proud.
**RHODES:** It seems absurd to me that we are now in our fourth decade of Duran Duran. The other day I watched a video of us playing the song "Friends of Mine" dressed in military uniforms, and it was alien to me. I have a very good memory of almost all the things we've done—even small German TV shows—but this I didn't. I thought, _Wow, they were an interesting band. Look at what they were doing then!_
**_"BLUE MONDAY"_**
ou know how, when you graduated high school and went on to college, you got the chance to totally make yourself over? How you got new clothes, a new personality, and a new hairstyle, and you invented a whole new backstory to win yourself a cool new group of friends to replace all those losers you left behind? That's what happened to the most prominent guttersnipes of British punk when they outgrew spitting and safety pins. PIL were nothing like the Sex Pistols. Big Audio Dynamite were nothing like the Clash. The Style Council were nothing like the Jam. New Order, though, were exactly like Joy Division... until "Blue Monday." The first few records they made following the 1980 suicide of Ian Curtis sounded like the ghost of their singer was still haunting them. But "Blue Monday" changed everything. It turned New Order into a dance-floor mainstay, gave them a new, worldwide audience and the bestselling 12-inch single of all time, paid for the Haçienda (laying the foundation for their native Manchester to become Madchester), and kept them around for the next 30-something years. It also lit the spark for a simmering feud between creative collaborators Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook that would boil over more than three decades later.
**LM: When I saw New Order at Jones Beach on Long Island in the late eighties, it was like that moment in _The Wizard of Oz_ when Dorothy sees the real Oz behind the curtain. Unlike the other groups I liked, these guys wore regular-Joe clothes. Sumner was the most nondescript frontman I'd ever seen. _No wonder they don't put their photos on the record sleeves_ , I thought. Still, there was no denying Hooky's rock-god bass playing. Also, New Order had risen from the ashes of Joy Division, inarguably one of the coolest bands ever. And think about this: The list of musicians who graduated from one successful group to another includes Paul McCartney, Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, and Dave Grohl, yet none of them have been in two consecutive game changers like Sumner, Hook, and drummer Steven Morris.**
**JB: This isn't in my top-five New Order songs. I'd put it behind "True Faith," "Bizarre Love Triangle," "Subculture," and "Age of Consent." I'd probably put it behind "Regret" too. But that doesn't mean that I don't know what a monster it was or that I underestimate its importance. "Blue Monday" utilized all the traditional components of an electronic-dance record, except it omitted any sense of liberation, any chance of escape. Sounding weary and desolate has always been second nature to Bernard Sumner, but hearing him moan, "How does it feel when your heart grows cold?" accompanied by the remorseless grind of machines was especially chilling. "Blue Monday" was a big black cloud hanging over the dance floor. It was the soundtrack to a bleak, dehumanizing future. And it sounded fantastic.**
**BERNARD SUMNER:** After Ian Curtis died, we were all very upset and depressed and, obviously, in shock. When we started releasing stuff like _Movement_ , we got a completely negative response from the press, and that sadness turned into anger. It was like, "Come on, give us a break. Can't you just help us out in our hour of need instead of sticking the knife in?" Because the British press can be pretty sadistic. "Blue Monday" was kind of a response to that. It was like, "Fuck you! Here's what we can do."
"Blue Monday" came out, and the press really stuck the knife in—again! They said it was a pile of shit, and it was rubbish and that no one would buy it. And here we are, all these years later....
When we released "Blue Monday," a lot of people who knew us were like, "That doesn't sound like New Order." But that was the point. It's not really our best song, but it was designed like a machine to make people dance. I felt a bit uncomfortable doing music that was just like Joy Division. And as a singer, I felt uncomfortable stepping into Ian's shoes, because I didn't want to sound like an Ian Curtis impersonator. I think the first New Order album, _Movement_ , was kind of pseudo–Joy Division but with a different singer. It didn't feel true to me. I wanted to do something that had a different flavor. It was synergy, really, that electronic music—it wasn't born but it blossomed then.
After the death of Ian, we recorded two New Order tracks, "Ceremony" and "In a Lonely Place," in New Jersey somewhere, then every night we'd drive back into Manhattan and go out to nightclubs. So we were influenced by what we were hearing in New York nightclubs and by what we heard in London. I also had a friend in Germany who was sending me 12-inch singles from there.
And I was technically minded. You couldn't buy computers then, so I built a music sequencer. You could buy a music sequencer, but it'd cost you the same as buying a house. So with the help of a scientist who worked with us, I built this synthesizer and music sequencer on the cheap, and we put the two together. Just at that time, the DMX drum machine came out, so we got the scientist to design us a little box that could make them all speak to each other, and we made "Blue Monday" with it.
"Blue Monday" spread because it's a club record, and it caught DJs' attention. It was at the vanguard of electronic dance music. We were on Factory Records, who had a promotional budget of nothing. Zero. They didn't believe in promotion, we didn't do many interviews about it, and somehow we ended up with this worldwide hit.
In England, it kept going in the charts year after year as it got through to a different crowd. People would come back from their summer holidays, and it had been played in places like Ibiza, and suddenly it'd go back up in the charts again.
**PETER HOOK:** We find that most people are either Joy Division fans or New Order fans. It's very rare to find one who likes both, because they're quite different. Joy Division and New Order existed during very different periods. When New Order came about, times were more fun—everything lightened up.
New Order's way of coping with the grief of Ian's death was to ignore Joy Division. And you must admit, it worked. New Order became successful all around the world, if not more successful than Joy Division. The trouble was, because we were so young, we were happy to avoid the grief. Looking back now, as a 56-year-old man, I realize, with all of the people I've lost, that grieving is a very important process.
**"New Order's way of coping with the grief of Ian's death was to ignore Joy Division. And you must admit, it worked."**
When we did play the Joy Division stuff, Bernard didn't like it. He felt it was miserable. It's a bit of a crass way of putting it, but I understand what he meant. New Order is much poppier, much lighter, much more optimistic. Joy Division's stuff is very dark—you could say gloomy. Plus, he wrote the New Order stuff, so I suppose that means a lot more to Bernard than the Joy Division stuff did.
"Blue Monday" was an experiment in seeing how much we could get the sequencers to do, and we did get them to do a hell of a lot. The fact that "Blue Monday" still sounds as good now as it did 30 years ago is incredible. I'm going to blow me own trumpet: We certainly have a knack for making fantastic music. Me and Mike Johnson, who was the engineer, worked really, really hard, along with Bernard and Steven, to make "Blue Monday" sonically exciting. Bernard and Steven, in particular, were very interested in experimenting with the new technology. I must admit, I wasn't very interested in it. I preferred to rock out. It was that combination of me wanting to be in a rock band and them wanting to be a disco band that gave us our unique sound. We were listening to Sparks, Giorgio Moroder, Suicide, Kraftwerk. And also, in New York we were taken to many clubs: Tier 3, Hurrah. And you were like, "Wow, this is so different to England," that it had an influence on you.
"Blue Monday" was meant to be an instrumental closer to the show. In the studio we just thought we'd have a go at putting lyrics over it. The lyrics and the vocal were the absolute last things that went on. They were done at four o'clock in the morning, right at the end, when the song was written and nearly produced. The lyrics were very much an afterthought, and I think the reluctance to put them on can be heard. But strangely enough, it works. The deadpan, off-beat delivery actually works great as a contrast with the music: How. Does it. Feel. It's such a juxtaposition, isn't it?
With Ian gone, we all tried to be New Order's singer. Our producer, Martin Hannett, hated us all—Bernard just had the last go. But realistically, with Bernard adding the guitar after he sang, it managed to give you a new style. So he would sing, Steve and I would play, then, when he'd stop singing, he would play guitar. And that gave it the lift, the up and down, the light and dark, that became the New Order sound.
"Blue Monday" was recorded in conjunction with about 10 other songs: "Temptation," "Everything's Gone Green," "Thieves like Us."... It was competing with many other songs in our hearts, if you like. It was nearly seven and a half minutes long, and we were asked to cut it down, but we just didn't do it. However, we did agree to do a shortened version for _Top of the Pops_. _Top of the Pops_ was what you watched as a child, and it was one of the only music programs that was on mainstream TV. Everything was about _Top of the Pops_ —it was a religious ceremony. Even though you didn't like the acts on _Top of the Pops_ most of the time, you still watched it. It was the only TV program that you could guarantee would annoy your parents, and it would educate you as to what was going on musically. So to get our act on it was an honor, and [editing the song] was something we accommodated for that reason. If you played on _Top of the Pops_ , supposedly your single went up 15 places, guaranteed. Because we played live—we didn't mime—and sounded terrible and looked terrible, ours was the only record that went down. We were delighted about that, though. It was punk; it was chaotic; it was wild; it cocked a snoot, as we say in England. We were happy—even when the record went down the charts, we were happy.
I got the title "Blue Monday" from a book. Everybody thinks it's from the Fats Domino song, but it wasn't. It came from a fiction book. I would read voraciously in the studio. There was a sheet on the wall, and everybody would write ideas on it. _Power, Corruption and Lies_ came from the back of _1984_. "True Faith" came from a James A. Michener book on Texan Catholicism. The titles had very little to do with the songs. It was tradition, something we carried on, and a mark of excellence that we got from Joy Division. "Atmosphere," "The Eternal"—these words were never mentioned in the songs either.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Dark, Depressing, Doom-Filled Dance-Floor Classics** 1. "Dr. Mabuse," Propaganda 2. "I Travel," Simple Minds 3. "Der Mussolini," D.A.F. 4. "Sensoria," Cabaret Voltaire 5. "Living in Oblivion," Anything Box
It was me and Bernard who wrote the melodies. There's long been a personality conflict there. We certainly were not friendly, shall we say. I think Bernard ever only phoned me once. The only time was to ask for a lift to rehearsals because his car battery was dead. And I must admit, I've never phoned him.
It's also ego. It was always me and him fighting for the limelight, not only on stage but musically. To me, New Order wasn't New Order unless it had the bass guitar on it, and he would go to great lengths to try and mix me out. He started trying to get me out of the music a long, long time ago. If you listen, you can hear the bass getting quieter and quieter in the songs as the struggle evolved between Bernard and me. If you look at songs like "Thieves like Us" and "Blue Monday," the bass is as loud as the vocal. Further on, the bass is not as loud as the vocal; it's disappearing. The notable one was "Bizarre Love Triangle." That was the first stand-up fight we had about how much bass was in the song. Bernard felt that the bass dated it. And actually, it's the other way around now, isn't it? You hear the bass, and it gives it a timeless quality.
We went to do "Here to Stay" with the Chemical Brothers, who were great fans of the group. The way I normally work is this: I put bass through the whole track, and then we leave it to the producer to pick the parts. Well, when we went to listen to what they'd done, Bernard and I sat there and listened with the Chemical Brothers—and they had put every bass part in throughout the whole song. Because they loved it. Bernard went fucking mad! He told me the bass was interfering with the lead vocal. It was at that point that I thought, _Oh my God, this band is finished. It's only time before it goes._ He got his own way, like he always did.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**New Order's original lineup—which also included Morris's wife, keyboardist Gillian Gilbert—continued until 2007, when a frustrated Hook announced he was quitting. Sumner and Morris soldiered on without Hook and Gilbert, who'd departed to be a full-time mother. But then Sumner and Morris decided to form a new group, Bad Lieutenant. Despite Morris's declaration that "there's no future for New Order," 2011 saw a re-formation with Gilbert but not Hook. The bassist responded with a lawsuit accusing the others of touring and planning to record as New Order without compensating him. Then, in 2013, New Order released the long-delayed album** _**The Last Sirens**_ **, the final tracks recorded while Hook was still a member. Meanwhile, Hook tours the world with his band the Light, playing Joy Division and New Order albums in their entirety. Talk about confusion!**
**SUMNER:** We knew "Blue Monday" was a good song, but we didn't realize just how potent it was. You're too close to the trees. Go on YouTube and type in "the Jolly Boys, Blue Monday." It's two or three 80-year-old guys doing this weird, Jamaican-music version. It's fantastic.
We just played Mexico, and we had 50,000 people. Sometimes you get really young fans. I've spoken to some of them and said, "How have you heard about New Order?" This girl at the airport the other day must have been, like, 16. And they go, "Oh, my sister played it to me" or "My father played it to me." It's passed down through the family like a gold watch.
We'd been trying to get _The Lost Sirens_ out for a long time but that's when we had the falling-out with Peter Hook, and he refused to take part in it. He refused to come to the writing sessions and was busy DJing. So we never finished those songs.
**HOOK:** One of the main problems toward the end of my time with New Order—not New Odor, as they are now—was that Bernard was managing the band, and if anyone upset him, they were in trouble. He became like a dictator. There's an interview with Bernard where he said that one of the problems with New Order was he wasn't allowed to change the chemistry of it, and that was absolutely correct. The chemistry of it was that I played bass on every track. You're not messing with that. You want to mess with that, go form another band. And that was exactly what he did. They now have a bass player that they can tell what to do, whereas before they had a bass player they could not tell what to do and who did what he wanted. That's what made the band fiery and interesting.
If we had sorted it out before New Order had re-formed, I could have wished them the best, could've wished them well. But because of the way they did it, I could never wish them well. What makes me laugh is when journalists take great delight in asking, "Do you think you'll ever get back with them?" Because of the group that I loved and put 32 years into, I'm fighting them tooth and nail. This is a divorce. You know when you're going through the arguments, the splitting of the CDs, who's getting half the dog, and things like that? For someone to ask me if I'm going to get back with them, it does seem strangely ridiculous at this point in time. But in the future you would hope that you and your ex would get on well, if just for the kids. I hope that we can get on well because our fans, who are our kids, would love it if we did. At the moment, we aren't.
I watched the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics and heard "Blue Monday." It was fantastic, it really was. To be put into that context, part of a country's musical history, that was a fantastic compliment. What makes these arguments that New Order have between us quite stupid is the largeness of the thing we've created. To my mind, you're ruining it with the petty squabbles that you're having now, which are very, very sad.
If you read [Charlatans' singer] Tim Burgess's book, _Telling Stories_ , he spends the whole time, the rest of his career, looking for the dead keyboard player. In a way, both Bernard and I may be looking for someone to replace Ian Curtis. If somebody of that stature came in, then maybe we would have stopped fighting. It's just that it never happened, did it?
**"I watched the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics and heard 'Blue Monday.'... To be put into that context, part of a country's musical history, that was a fantastic compliment."**
**_"POISON ARROW"_**
In 1979, Sheffield was the home of Britain's steel industry. It was also the birthplace of oppressive experimental underground acts like Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, and the early, avant-garde, all-male Human League. Martin Fry, a worker in a baked beans factory by day and fanzine writer by night, went to interview another Sheffield industrial group, Vice Versa, and ended up joining their ranks. Dissatisfied with the music they were making, Fry and new bandmates Mark White and Steve Singleton changed the name of their group to ABC and made it their mission to write songs as slick and polished as their previous output had been clanging and thudding. They were not alone in their ambitions: The streets of the U.K. bustled with bands more than happy to trade their indie credibility for glossy productions and chart success (see Scritti Politti, the Associates, Thompson Twins). But with their first international hit, "Poison Arrow," and their debut album, _The Lexicon of Love_ , ABC left their contemporaries twisting in the wind. _Lexicon_ was a rich, overstuffed chocolate box of a record. Fry's extravagant wordplay was perfectly complemented by Trevor Horn's opulent, everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink production and his regular arranger Anne Dudley's lush orchestration. _The Lexicon of Love_ was the sound of a band reaching out to achieve their ambitions, and surpassing them. Expecting them to ever best such a spectacular debut would have been asking the impossible, but at the height of their powers, ABC appeared so unassailable that asking the impossible seemed appropriate.
**JB: I had ABC's number. Without hearing a note, I knew what they were: another new group who had put in hours practicing moody looks for their glossy spread in the _Face_. Another new group with a loquacious egomaniac frontman who had put in hours practicing self-aggrandizing quotes for his feature in the _NME_. Another new group who specialized in the sort of arthritic British funk that had reached pandemic status since Spandau Ballet drew up the blueprint with "Chant No. 1." ABC's first single, "Tears Are Not Enough," did little to alter my sullen adolescent prejudices. Singer Martin Fry proved, as predicted, considerably more accomplished at posing for artfully constructed photographs and hailing his band's greatness in the pop press than he was convincing as the soulful singer of a band who claimed global success as a birthright. Then they released "Poison Arrow." Everything, you, as a young person, might hope you're going to get in a pop record is right there. Emotion, ambition, humor, drama. A point of view. A sense of the ridiculous. A call-and-response bridge. Even a talky bit in the middle. The Julien Temple–directed music video was every bit the record's melodramatic equal, with a lovelorn Fry tormented and cheerfully abused by luscious femme fatale (and future Real Housewife of Beverly Hills) Lisa Vanderpump. I have gone on to be completely wrong about many other groups—and, indeed, many other aspects of life, in general—but initially dismissing ABC was the most rewarding mistake I ever made.**
**LM: Not sure if you realize it, JB, but _The Lexicon of Love_ is the reason we became friends. When you told me it was your favorite album of all time—back in the early nineties, when we were the only people who'd admit to liking new wave while working at a grunge-obsessed _Spin_ magazine—I thought: _Now, here's a guy I can hang with_. While I love Spandau and Culture Club, neither ever released a flawless long-player like _Lexicon_. The talky bits were my favorite parts, like in "The Look of Love," when Fry says to himself, "Martin, maybe one day you'll find true love." He always came across as such a hopeless romantic—it was the beautifully tailored suits, the way he referenced Cupid and Smokey Robinson in his songs, how he pined for a more chivalrous era. For an eighties teenager experiencing the thrill (and then heartache) of her first crush, ABC offered a vision of love that I could only hope the real thing would live up to.**
**MARTIN FRY:** Decades don't always begin at zero. They begin a couple of years in, the mood and style. A couple of years into the eighties, when I was forming ABC, I realized no one could be more Sex Pistol–y than the Sex Pistols or more Clash than the Clash. I loved punk, but it never seemed to go as far as it could have. Maybe Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes or Tony Hadley and Gary Kemp might say something different, but for me and for a lot of my generation, it was really frustrating the Clash were never on _Top of the Pops_. I wasn't going to try and be a proto-punk. I wanted to do the opposite.
That's why I got so excited by disco, which was a really dirty word at the time. I wanted to make music that was funky and radical. The early ABC was the "Radical Dance Faction"—that's what we called ourselves. I'd also grown up loving Motown, Stax, and Atlantic, along with Roxy Music—Roxy performing "Virginia Plain" on _Top of the Pops_ in 1972 was my road to Damascus. So it made natural sense to try and fuse those worlds. When I think back, looking at stuff like the Pop Group, James Chance and the Contortions, Pigbag, and all the bands that came through just before and just after ABC—Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Depeche Mode—there was a whole generation itching to make dance music, populist music. I don't think it was any accident that all those bands became internationally known.
I interviewed Vice Versa for my fanzine, _Modern Drugs,_ in 1979. They were kind of a fledgling Human League, only younger and less revered. When I went to interview Steve Singleton and Mark White, they said, "We're going on a train from Sheffield to Middlesbrough to open up for Cowboys International. We've not got a drummer, but we've got lots of synths in our holdalls. You can stand onstage with us." We got bottled off by these skinheads who didn't get us. We were mohair sweaters and post-punk and ironic, but I loved it. After that, they let me join the band.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Melodramatic Songs About Heartbreak** 1. "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye," Soft Cell 2. "Waves," Blancmange 3. "No More 'I Love You's,'" The Lover Speaks 4. "The Promise," When in Rome 5. "The Promise You Made," Cock Robin
Sheffield was full of experimental bands: Cabaret Voltaire, Human League splitting off into Heaven 17, Pulp were on that circuit, Comsat Angels. You felt really isolated in Sheffield. You didn't feel linked to the rest of the country. People didn't really go there for any reason. So the majority of the audiences you played to were musicians, guys in other bands. Those are the toughest people to play to. We once did a gig in the Heaven and Hell club in Birmingham. If you took out the 5 members of Duran Duran ***** who came to see the show, there'd be about 24 other people there. But Sheffield was entirely subsidized, so you could get on a bus for 10p and go anywhere in the city. It was a great place to be poverty stricken and function. That's why the band was able to change and develop.
Mike Pickering, who went on to be the DJ at the Haçienda, was working as a chef in Rotterdam and said he could get us some gigs there. So we went and slept on his floor. He had a shop and threw a party and let us jam. I started singing, and Mark White said I should be Vice Versa's singer. But then Mark White was dogmatic that we should drop everything, change the name, and become something else. It was destroy, disorder, disorientate—smash it all up. Vice Versa were being played on John Peel, they'd done an EP, they were going places, but we decided to destroy it. Virtually overnight, we hooked up with a drummer, bass player, sax, and keys. Looking back, it was really ambitious. We had a vision of how we wanted to be. We showed up onstage in Sheffield wearing cyclists' uniforms. People would show up expecting Vice Versa, and we were this new band, ABC: the Radical Dance Faction. Overnight, we wanted to be a funk band but with a sort of angular lyric. We wanted to be as polished as Chic and Earth, Wind & Fire, a band that was nurtured on _Diamond Dogs_ and Kool and the Gang. We didn't really have the musicality, but that's not something you think about when you're coming through. That's why they call it blind ambition.
It was a frantic time, 1980, '81. We always felt like we wanted to get there first. The Human League were an incredible band, but we'd seen how Gary Numan and Orchestral Manoeuvres had almost eclipsed them by having chart hits. Spandau Ballet and A Certain Ratio terrified us. Stimulin, Funkapolitan, Haircut 100—you'd hear about these bands on the grapevine and through fanzines and the _NME_ and _Record Mirror_. They were all unsigned. We were frantically writing songs and playing shows. We wanted to be a step ahead. It felt like we were running to a place we wanted to be. I look back, and it was like a mania. Everybody had their manifesto, and everybody had a big mouth back then. I used to do interviews and tell people we were going to conquer the world. It all boils down to wish fulfillment, making it a self-fulfilling prophecy. That's why Muhammad Ali did it: to try and psych himself up for the battle ahead. It was mildly irritating when Gary Kemp said Spandau Ballet were the best band in the world or when Simon Le Bon said the same thing about Duran Duran. But we all said it.
*** JOHN TAYLOR, Duran Duran: I remember that. They were amazing. That was before they made a record. I felt ABC were better than us. I mean, _The Lexicon of Love_ is a perfect record, as is "Poison Arrow." But they couldn't keep it together—that was their problem. But when I saw ABC at Holy City, I thought, _Holy fuck!_ They played so well. They were a great band.**
"Tears Are Not Enough," the first single we brought out as ABC, was great, but it was really angular. It was successful—it got into the Top 20—but we had greater ambitions. We were our own worst critics.
We spent the whole of the eighties being unsatisfied with everything we did. We wanted to make a record that was like "Good Times," and "Tears" wasn't as fluid, and it wasn't as funky. That's why we contacted Trevor Horn. He'd just done "Hand Held in Black and White" by Dollar, and it had this panoramic, wide-screen sound. That's what we wanted to sound like. We didn't want to be Dollar—they were cheesy. People said, "You had a Top 20 hit. That's an achievement. Why are you changing it around?" But we hadn't got to number one—that's how foolishly ambitious we were. That was definitely the spirit of the times. It wasn't really about any wealth that would follow from it. It was a competition. It was a game.
**STYLE COUNCIL**
"I really like Jerry Lewis in _The Nutty Professor_ ," Fry says. "He undergoes this transformation and becomes Buddy Love in the Purple Pit. I always thought that was very _Lexicon of Love_. I was this gawky, adolescent, invisible kind of guy, but in the gold lamé suit everybody was paying me attention."
**"Everybody had their manifesto, and everybody had a big mouth back then. I used to tell people we were going to conquer the world."**
Trevor got it straight away. He was amused by a lot of the stuff we were talking about, how we were going to take on the whole music industry and change it. He was really inspiring because he'd been a musician—he was a Buggle. He said, "If you make a record, it lasts forever, so you might as well make it as good as you possibly can."
Not to sound like Eminem, but you've got one shot. You've got to hit the bull's-eye. There is a big difference between "Tears Are Not Enough" and "Poison Arrow." The idea was to make "Poison Arrow" as un-rock 'n' roll as possible. It was a million miles away from the Pistols and the Clash. We didn't want to sound like anyone else. It was almost like a song from the 1940s but with bass parts from Chic and the drums... the idea was to have them as big as possible. They don't sound that big now, but at the time, it was operatic in the sense that it doesn't fade out; it builds to a climax. Lyrically, "Who broke my heart" is almost like a matinee idol singing. I'm looking at the sleeve—it's all tuxedos. In the middle of the song there's this bit where I go, "I thought I loved you, but it seems you don't care." And then Karen Clayton, the receptionist in [Trevor Horn's studio] Sarm East, she did the "I care enough to know I can never love you" part. It was an attempt to be like Clark Gable rather than Johnny Rotten.
As a singer, looking back, I was completely inexperienced. I'd done a few gigs but I wasn't developing. In "Poison Arrow," the idea of the vocal was to be histrionic. It wasn't just describing the emotions; it was reliving them. And it rhymed. This whole idea of making a song that rhymed was against the grain to a lot of the young bands that were writing songs back then.
"Poison Arrow" is a very emotional song, really. It's that feeling you get when somebody doesn't want to know you and you want to know them. It's that gut-wrenching kick in the teeth when someone walks away from you. That's the core of it, and I think that's why it's been successful over the years, because a lot of people have had that emotion. And another thing: "Poison Arrow" unlocked the door for the rest of the songs on _The Lexicon of Love_. The idea of writing something very emotional and not about toothpaste or electric pylons or the brutality of living in a high-rise block. Our songs were about heart and love and trying to make sense of that but, because we were very self-conscious, in an un-cheesy way.
I liked to write very bright, audacious, hyper-real love songs. But when I look back, I think I was hiding more than I was showing. Today's writers are very vulnerable and very specific about how they feel, but "Poison Arrow," "The Look of Love," "All of My Heart," they're kind of brash and larger than life. I wanted it to be art. I didn't mind the idea of being pretentious. What did Adam Ant say? "Ridicule is nothing to be scared of."
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**ABC made a classic eighties attempt to blow up the formula that made them successful by following** _**The Lexicon of Love**_ **with 1983's austere, unglossy** _**Beauty Stab**_ **, which was shunned by the mass record-buying audience who had previously embraced the group. (FYI: The title of this little recurring feature takes its name from** _**Beauty Stab**_ **'s famously alienating first single, "That Was Then But This Is Now.") Subsequently, they turned themselves into cartoon characters for the great** _**How to Be a Zillionaire!**_ **(1985); countered the confusion caused by the previous two albums with** _**Alphabet City**_ **(1987), a semi-successful attempt to rekindle the ABC that had won widespread acceptance; and tried their hands at a British house record that worked hard to sound jubilant and celebratory with** _**Up**_ **(1989). It was their last album of original material to make any chart appearance.**
**FRY:** In 1997 I started playing live again. I still play gigs with people like Belinda Carlisle and Heaven 17, and there's an element of competitiveness even now amongst the veterans doing their victory laps.
The audiences we're playing to, those songs meant a lot to them. That really illuminated things for me. Up to then, playing old hits was a millstone around my neck. I was like, "I want to leave the past behind, what's next?" But it was fantastic to stand in front of an audience and feel the reaction, to read an audience and learn some stagecraft again. You sense all of that when you're standing in the spotlight. I still take pleasure in singing "Who broke my heart—you did!" and pointing the finger, and all those fingers point back at me and sing along. Thirty years on.
_**"WHIP IT"**_
For Akron, Ohio, natives and fellow art students Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, and their various siblings and co-conspirators, the combination of multinational corporations, religion, government, and TV pointed them toward an inescapable conclusion: The world wasn't just getting dumber; it was actively devolving into a state of passive, drooling idiocy where any kind of atrocity was acceptable as long as it was wrapped in a bright package. Devo began life as an expression of outrage and disgust at the inevitability of a future where the world has mutated into unblinking blobs capable only of obedient consumerism. But that was a lot less fun than actually getting down in the dirt and wallowing inside the same corrupt, desensitizing system that was enslaving the nation. Devo should have been KISS's evil twin, a merchandisable monster that plastered its logo over every moment of our mindless existence. They were too weird to succeed. But with "Whip It," Devo collided with mainstream pop and allowed a momentary glimpse of what the world would have looked like if it danced in time to their tunes. It would have looked a lot like it does now.
**JB: Getting older has its drawbacks. You pay doctors to fumble their way around your prostate. Also, you will probably never again listen to a piece of music and think, "I have never heard anything like that before!" Such was my reaction the first time John Peel played "Jocko Homo" sometime in 1978. It blew my teenage mind. If the taste-making late-night BBC DJ had announced he'd just played a record made by aliens, I would have believed him. "Jocko Homo" sounded like a national anthem of a country I never wanted to visit. Devo's problem was their timing. If a group like that, with their visual aesthetic, their brand awareness, and their dud-free early repertoire, emerged now, when nerds rule the world, they would be ubiquitous and instantly accepted. Instead, they had to settle for being the house band of the outcast, the socially awkward, the overexcitable, and the conspiracist. My kind of people.**
**LM: Devo scared the hell out of me. The "Jocko Homo" video seemed like a trailer for some freaky, sci-fihorror flick, and to my innocent, preteen eyes, the "Whip It" video might as well have been pornography. Mothersbaugh whipping the clothes off the black woman. The cross-eyed Asian girl with the gun. The guy who forces himself on the Asian girl while his white girlfriend cheers him on: "Ride 'em cowboy!" I'd yet to learn about S&M or rape or masturbation, but I knew enough to run to the TV set to turn the dial if "Whip It" was on and my mother was coming down the hall. Years later, I'm impressed by Devo's brilliance and the obscure literary references and subversiveness they sank into their songs. Hard to believe that MTV, now a playground for reality-TV smut, was once the home of such edgy cultural commentary. But in the early eighties, those plastic-helmeted Devo dudes were as nightmarish—and as compellingly watchable—as Freddy or Jason.**
**MARK MOTHERSBAUGH:** Our goal wasn't to piss people off, but we were in a part of the world where there were a lot of things that were frustrating and crazy. Like people my age would sign up to go to Vietnam and defend democracy, and they'd come back and capitalism and democracy had decided that the reason why we were blasting away at people over in Asia was so it would be easier to set up factories over there so that our jobs in Akron could go over to Malaysia. It was a crazy time, and we decided that what we were observing was not evolution; it was more like de-evolution.
We were around for all the upheaval at Kent State. We were there for the shootings, and we saw all these people who had high ideals and wanted to change the world. Once people started shooting at them, they were like, "This is too heavy. I need to go back to being a student and not stick my head up and get shot at." We ended up looking around and saying, "How do you change things in this country?" It's not by rebellion. Rebellion gets hit over the head with a club and stopped very successfully. We were looking at who did change things and how they did it, and I remember feeing that the people who changed the culture the most were all on Madison Avenue. They were talking people into buying that new car they didn't need. They were convincing people there were germs in their sink even though they couldn't see them, but they could possibly be dangerous so you have to buy this special miracle blue cleaner. And yes, there is a cure for balding: It's called brown spray paint. You just spray it on the top of your head. They were selling all these insane products and doing it in an artistic way, and we thought that was subversive. We thought, _If we're going to effect any change, the way to do it is you go into the belly of the beast._
**GERALD CASALE:** We became a performance art group, and a lot of it was based on aesthetic confrontation that wound up in verbal and physical confrontation. The more that happened, the more excited we became. The kind of crowds we were able to get in front of irritated us. The feeling was, _If these people hate us, we're on the right track because we don't respect them either._ We wore black plastic trash bags, poked holes in them for our legs to come out, taped them up around our necks so they wouldn't fall down, and we'd be naked [underneath]. And we wore clear plastic masks; they were creepy, they had lips and eyebrows. We would play local bars, and it would get really nasty. A guy would scream, "You guys are assholes!" And I'd scream back, "No, you're the asshole." Then he'd go, "I'm gonna smack your fucking head in!" And the club owner would come over with a couple of roadies, and we'd be forced to leave the stage. A guy gave us $75 once to stop playing. We really enjoyed that.
At the end of 1976, we were in a basement in a house in Akron practicing many nights a week for many weeks over and over and over. We were getting excited by the fact that we could really play together, and the excitement of live performance sped up our music. We saw the Ramones when we were in New York, and we were suddenly becoming part of something.
[A&R man] Kip Cohen called from A&M out on the West Coast. We were invited out to L.A. to showcase. He famously rejected us and hated us when he saw us. But we weren't going to take no for an answer. At our first performance, I had met Toni Basil, and she was friends with Iggy Pop, and she had dated Dean Stockwell. They had been hanging out with Neil Young. Pretty soon, we had four or five gigs lined up. It snowballed when unscrupulous managers and entertainment lawyers and record company A&R men started attending those shows, and pretty soon we had a bidding war.
We thought about Devo from the beginning as a multimedia band. Mark and I were visualists. We were art students. We thought we were going to put out video discs. We were reading all this stuff about video disc technology, and we thought, _This is the future. We'll be like the musical version of the Three Stooges. We'll do short films that will feature a song we wrote. The productions will be music-driven, and we'll do enough of them to make an hour program, and we'll put one out every year_. Oddly enough, that's not the way it worked out.
**MOTHERSBAUGH:** The first thing Warner Bros. said to us was "Why are you wasting your time making these movies?" We said, "That's part of our art—we're visually oriented artists. We're not just writing songs; we're making pictures to go with them." It took a number of years before MTV showed up and record companies noticed and went, "Oh, that's what you tricky bastards were doing." For the most part, they would use terms like "wacky" and "quirky." "Quirky" was a term to take anything we talked about that was serious and marginalize it.
**CASALE:** With MTV, we were the pioneers that got scalped. We'd had five videos done before MTV existed. Then MTV was just starting out in 1981, and they came to us and blew smoke up our butts. They told us how we were the future and so were they, and how we had anticipated how things were going and they were going to show the whole world our videos and make us huge. MTV came on in three cities, and, yes, they were playing Devo videos all day long. Then, as soon as they went national, they tied themselves to Top 40 mainstream-radio hits, and they started pulling Devo videos because the songs weren't on the radio. That was their excuse: "You guys don't have hits."
**MOTHERSBAUGH:** For survival, we needed to have some kind of an income. We were so far ahead of the curve that it really made sense at the time to crawl into the colon of Hollywood and attempt to impart our message through that methodology, to allow ourselves to be on _The Dick Clark Show_ , to be on _The David Letterman Show_. We said, "How far can we get into this?" We thought the Devo aesthetic was strong enough, we believed in it enough and thought we were different enough that it could survive the acid test of Hollywood, and we had a modicum of success. We finally had a hit.
**CASALE:** We were still a band that cared about ideas and aesthetics, not sitting around trying to cynically write hits, and we didn't put something on a record unless we liked it. We didn't have any sense of "Oh, here's the hit!" The record company types came into the studio when we were making _Freedom of Choice_ , and they all decided either "Girl U Want" or "Freedom of Choice" were the only viable radio songs. They went with "Girl U Want," and it promptly stiffed. They didn't even want to put out "Freedom of Choice." They were still arguing about spending any more money on us when [legendary radio influencer] Kal Rudman, independent of all that, made "Whip It" a hit. It isn't like Warner Bros. paid some independent promo man $200,000. They didn't spend money on Devo.
Lyrically, it was a parody. We were all big fans of Communist and Red Chinese propaganda, because intellectually you can't help but be drawn to it, and because it's so funny and the graphics that go with it are so powerful. It was really Thomas Pynchon's book _Gravity's Rainbow_ that made me write the lyrics. In _Gravity's Rainbow_ , he's writing these poems and lyrics, and they are parodies of Horatio Alger: You're number one! There's nobody else like you! You can do it! Americans, pick yourselves up by your bootstraps and you can make it! We thought, _This is perfect. This is like the American version of Red Chinese propaganda_. Our graphics taste ran toward Russian constructivism and Chinese government propaganda but, obviously, lyrically, we were more American. So I thought, _I'm gonna write a Pynchonesque parody_ , and "Whip It" was my attempt at that.
Some people assumed it was an S&M song, so we wanted to fulfill their expectations with the video. Others thought it was about jacking off. Every time we'd do a radio interview, typically the DJs would be these leftover seventies hippies. They'd have the satin baseball jackets from the record company and the big pile of coke, and they'd go, "Whip it, dude. Heh heh heh!" and they'd make jerk-off moves. We'd start by telling them what it's actually about and that would bum them out, so then we realized we should just go along with it—"Right! Whip it! Heh heh heh! Ya know it!"—and then they liked it. We made sure the video reinforced the whipping idea by having Mark literally whip the clothes off the black woman in the ranch corral while the cowboys cheered him on. It was satire of all the horrible right-wing racist values.
Suddenly we were playing 10,000-seat arenas and getting taken a lot more seriously, and that gives you a lot more tools. But then, foolishly, we didn't change our aesthetic or our message or our disdain for stupid people or fundamentalist religion or power abuses.
**"We thought, _If we're going to effect any change, the way to do it is you go into the belly of the beast_."**
**MOTHERSBAUGH:** We were a divisive entity throughout our whole early record career. You would get people who were inspired by it—the future geeks, the people who turned into the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and the people who embraced technology and understood ironic humor. But Devo were never Bon Jovi–big. We were always on the outskirts of the culture. When we had a hit, it was a double-edged sword. When the next album came up, the record company, who had ignored us for the last three albums—it was great: They would give us enough money to put out another record, and we got to do what we wanted. By the fourth album, they were like, "Wait a minute. These guys brought in millions of dollars for us. We better keep an eye on them, make sure they don't fuck up." So the president of the company was like, "Hey, guys, do anything you want. Just do another 'Whip It.'" But we'd just done the same thing we'd always done, and "Whip It" just happened to connect with DJs.
We wanted our songs in commercials. People like Neil Young were like, "I would never let that happen to one of my songs." We thought, _We want kids to hear those songs_. "Freedom of Choice" is in a Target commercial. They go, "What is that song?" Then they go listen to the record, and they go, "Wait a minute. It says, 'Freedom of choice is what you got / Freedom from choice is what you want.' What does that mean?" We wanted kids to get sucked into our music, so we took advantage every time we got offered to license our stuff to commercials. That's how we'll affect people and change them. It would be kind of like letting evil Big Brother serve you up and Big Brother didn't even know he was doing it. These are the exact people who needed to hear our music and would never have heard it in a million years if it wasn't for one stupid song that fit into a dance club format. Some people came to our shows, and they're doing their stupid white-people dances to our song, and they're singing "Whip it good!" And then they buy the album, and they take it home, and they get served up a whole load of Devo.
**CASALE:** We were constantly trying to explain ourselves and present ideas, and they would get ignored or shot down. It was like the old TV series _The Prisoner_ —you can't get out of the village. That was the irony, and that was exactly what Devo had been telling everyone: All this fake rebellion rock 'n' roll was just posing, and corporations were selling it. It had all been totally co-opted. We were elevating the whole idea of co-option as satire. When we said, "We're all Devo," we meant it.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Devo split in 1991. Mothersbaugh went on to a successful career scoring movies and TV shows. Casale has directed commercials and music videos. "Whip It" lives on in many commercials for household products, including Swiffer. In 2006, Disney attempted to launch Devo 2.0, a group of child actors performing songs from the Devo catalog aimed at the preteen market. The project was not a success. Devo 1.0, meanwhile, having re-formed in 1995, continues to release new music and tour.**
**"We made sure the video reinforced the whipping idea by having Mark literally whip the clothes off the black woman in the ranch corral while the cowboys cheered him on. It was satire of all the horrible right-wing racist values."**
**CASALE:** Disney said, "We'd really like to do something with kids and Devo songs." They wanted the songs skewed for four- to seven-year-olds. I said, "What if we cast around for a kids band that can actually play, and we'll record them, and I'll shoot videos for the songs, and we'll make the kids into personalities and take them on tour for a year?" Disney loved it.
I spent a good part of a year getting the band together and ready to go out on a tour of middle schools. We were practically done, and the top brass at the Disney label wanted to see some of the video cuts. Suddenly, we were being asked to send over the lyrics to every Devo song that we'd shot. We get the big call: "You're gonna have to redo the lyrics." They were like, "'That's Good,' the whole third verse: 'Life's a bee without a buzz / It's only great till you get stung.' We know what you're saying. It means life's a bitch unless you're getting high, and life's only great until the cops pop you!" I was like, Wow, here's some suits that were raised on a breakfast, lunch, and dinner of hip-hop mentality, because those words were written in 1982, and it didn't mean any of that. We might as well be in Red China. The best was "Uncontrollable Urge." They said, "We know what an uncontrollable urge is!" We never said what the uncontrollable urge was. They said, "Exactly! It's the lack of definition. Those kids are going to think it means sex. Make it about junk food." This was going to play on the Disney channel in the afternoon. And what do they advertise: junk food and sugary cereals. I changed the lyrics. I wrote, "Before dinner and after lunch / I get so out of control I know I gotta munch," and our lead singer in Devo 2.0 is a 13-year-old girl, Nicole, and so they show it to their top brass, and they go, "We love it!" It sounded so filthy!
**MOTHERSBAUGH:** The Swiffer commercial was maybe the most pervertedly like a Devo video. Like, we would have found that footage and gone, "Let's use that!" 'Cause it was such hideous, moronic footage of a housewife dancing around her kitchen with a wooden floor mopping up with this stupid miracle mop. But by that point, "Whip It" had already been "Flip It," "Chip It," "Dip It." It's like they're injecting people with their stupid messages; they're the host mechanism for our virus. What did I just get? It wasn't "Snip It." Maybe it was "Clip It"? They did this commercial where they have factory workers singing "Rip It" for packaging things on pallets that are going to be shipped overseas. They have all these workers singing in this video that's one step above homemade. I really like it.
**CASALE:** Devo have been offered a ton of opportunities all the time that Mark scuttles, and I keep trying to see how many of them can survive. I'd be doing a Devo musical and a Devo movie, a Devo store, Devo products. Mark's the one that puts it into retirement. All he wants to do is composing for TV and films. At this point, I wouldn't even have the expectation of cooperation, just agreement not to stop it.
**MOTHERSBAUGH:** He's not being 100 percent honest. He is, in the sense that I put my attention in other places, but neither one of us can show the other a script they've come up with for a Broadway show that anybody wants to sign on to. Whatever the appearance is, my intentions are for the health of the band. If someone has a script that centers around the Devo songs or the band—although that, to me, seems less appealing than something that centers around de-evolution; you could do something very entertaining that talked about de-evolution—I haven't seen that script. If he knows about a script that I turned down, he should send it to me immediately.
**CASALE:** I just came to realize that what I think should be any opportunities and potentials that should define Devo are not reality.
**MOTHERSBAUGH:** I feel like Devo should have done what Kraftwerk did, connecting with the Museum of Modern Art. Maybe I am the source of all the problems, but I don't really think so. Who knows? Maybe there's still time for Devo, part 3.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs by Bands of Weirdos** 1. "Making Plans for Nigel," XTC 2. "Rock Lobster," The B-52s 3. "The Number One Song in Heaven," Sparks 4. "Human Fly," The Cramps 5. "Once in a Lifetime," Talking Heads
**_"THE KILLING MOON"_**
In London, they preened. In Manchester, they brooded. In Birmingham, they danced. But in Liverpool, the bands of the eighties hallucinated. You didn't even have to listen to the music; you just had to look at the names—the Teardrop Explodes, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Dalek I Love You, Pink Military Stand Alone, the Icicle Works, Nightmares in Wax—to know that someone had slipped something particularly potent into the Mersey. The city's most prominent act at that time, Echo and the Bunnymen, were on a different type of trip, and it wasn't a joy ride. The opening bars of their debut single, 1979's "Pictures on My Wall," are a portent of doom. For the next four years and the subsequent quartet of albums, the Bunnymen made music choking with paranoia, confusion, and despair. Few singers embodied heavy-lidded, drugged-up dread as convincingly as Ian McCulloch. The Bunnymen's brand of woe-is-me intensity is hard to maintain without collapsing into self-parody, and as the decade progressed, they evolved into a more traditional band. But to this day, those first four albums are like a long, scared shiver in the middle of a dark, lonely night.
**JB: I wonder what it must have been like to be Ian McCulloch back at the height of his U.K. fame, to show up for concerts and find himself confronted with crowds of clones, adolescent doppelgängers swamped by their oversize army coats and baggy camouflage pants, attempting to duplicate his graveyard pallor and painstakingly unkempt hairstyle. I imagine he was enough of a narcissist to enjoy the effort and exult in the failure. (It's possible he gave me a comprehensive account of what it was like while we were chatting, but that Scouse accent: impenetrable.) We live in a time when the words "rock star" are peppered liberally and inappropriately across all facets of everyday conversation. Actual living, breathing examples of rock stardom, though? They're way up there on the endangered species list. In his heyday, Ian McCulloch embodied most of the attributes we want from our rock stars: He was aloof, self-obsessed, arrogant, insecure, and convinced that he was the center of the universe. And with "The Killing Moon," he presented a cast-iron case that he was correct in that belief.**
**LM: When I saw Echo and the Bunnymen in concert a few years back, McCulloch introduced "The Killing Moon" by saying, "Some say this is the best song ever written. I happen to agree." You won't get an argument from me. Whenever I hear that eerie intro and he starts to sing about taking me up in his arms, it stops me dead in my tracks, whether I'm mid-work-out at the gym or mid-shop at Trader Joe's. "The Killing Moon" is mood music that never fails to remind me of what it's like to be young and wistful—not sad, exactly, but brimming with the kind of longing and melancholy that only a restless romantic can truly understand.**
**IAN McCULLOCH:** "The Killing Moon" came in stages. I had the chords and the verse and melody, then one day I woke up, and it was sunny, and I sat bolt upright—if you can sit bolt upright—with the words to the chorus, which I hadn't known any of before. I think it was the Lord himself saying, "It would be fantastic if you said these words." I woke up and there they were. It was the whole thing: "Fate / Up against your will / Through the thick and thin / He will wait until / You give yourself to him." That is up there with "To be or not to be." Whoever Him is, is up to you. For a long time the Him in the chorus was me, and then I realized, it isn't me at all—it's Him, the fucking higher power. It's basically a hymn or a prayer. It's probably my "How Great Thou Art." It sounds like a love song, it sounds adult, it sounds European—like it's got subtitles, and everyone's got fantastic hair. I've said a lot of times that it's the greatest song ever written, and the reason it is, is that it's more than a song. It's way beyond being a song. It's about everything. It's not about football or fucking celery, but it's about most other things.
I loved the Pistols and the Clash, but a lot of the punks were just dodgy Cockneys. It was backwoods music. At [legendary Liverpool club] Eric's, it was always a mixture. It inspired the likes of me, Holly Johnson, and Ian Broudie. It wasn't a fashion, leather-studded thing; it was more about listening to pretty obscure records that I'd never heard—everything from reggae to punk to shit like Roogalator. It was a melting pot. It started because of punk, but it wasn't drenched in that one-dimensional thing that the clubs in Manchester had. They all wore cloth caps with their hair sticking out at the back. And tank tops. [Editor's note: He doesn't mean tank top in the American sense of the filmy garment that clings to Kate Upton's curves. He means it in the grim, British sense of the shapeless, sleeveless, sludge-colored V-neck sweater that strained against many a British belly in the latter part of the previous century.] Liverpool was different. We had the Jobriath look amongst us with Pete Burns and Holly. It was a mad smorgasbord that I never got bored of. It was easy being in the same place as these... not weirdos, but lost souls. We couldn't play any instruments, but it was only a question of getting a guitar off someone. The Crucial Three [McCulloch's much-written-about-and-discussed first band with Julian Cope and Pete Wylie] didn't exist. The other two wanted it more than I did. It lasted for about an hour. We played one horrible song in my mum's front room. Julian had a silver bass. He'd painted graffiti on it, like "I Am a Punk" or "Get Punkitude." He was a dickhead extraordinaire. Wylie played some kind of Les Paul the color of fudge. I stood there with a bog roll [toilet paper] and a sponge on my head mumbling some kind of crap. It was an hour of abject bollocks. The other two still believe that we toured.
Then there was another group, A Shallow Madness. We rehearsed in my flat, in my bedroom, but I used to go to my mum's down the road to have my washing done to avoid being there. I'd go and have egg and chips, processed peas, HP sauce, bread and butter. I'd have eaten fucking rat rather than rehearse with them. They were rubbish. I thought, _I'll never do that show at the Rainbow, that David Bowie show I dreamed about. I'll never be Ziggy Stardust._ I thought at best I was going to be the tambourinist in XTC.
**"[ _The Killing Moon_ ] is up there with 'To be or not to be.'... It's probably my 'How Great Thou Art.'"**
But then I bumped into Will [Sergeant, Echo and the Bunnymen guitarist], and it was like, _Fucking hell, this fellow has befriended me in one of the least-friendly ways possible_. He was taciturn, and he was shy, but also he had an aura that could melt volcanic lava even more than it had already melted. He had a sneer—not even a sneer, just a kind of flick of his lip. I thought, _Okay, you're the cat for me_. This fellow, he said, "I hear you're a pretty good singer." I said, "Who told you that?" I hadn't ever sung in my life except when I was 14 in my bedroom to Bowie records. But I look like I'm a great singer. So he said, "Fancy doing some music? Come to my house in Melling." I was like, "Where the fuck is that? Somewhere near Hadrian's Wall?" It was not far off. It was a remote subcontinent outside of Liverpool. I took five buses to get there, carrying my Hondo guitar. I wanted all the people on the bus to look at me like I was a musician, but this was just a plank of wood with some strings on it. It wasn't going to further my stardom.
When I got to Will's, he had a drum machine and a guitar his dad made. I don't know how he made it—he had no background in music or making instruments—but it bloody worked. I had my acoustic. We plugged in, put the drum machine on. He said, "What do you think: Bossa Nova or Rock 1?" I said, "Let's try Rock 1." The drum machine went boom-cha-cha-boom-cha-cha. I went ching-ching-ching on my acoustic, and he went ding-ding-ding on his guitar. I said to him, "Hang on, we are the best band in the fucking world." I thought, _Fucking hell, it took five bus rides to get here, but there's something going on._ That brittle twanging and some kind of spindly outer-space guitar and me singing something—it sounded interesting already. I thought, _This sounds great. All I've got to do is recite or half-sing some pretentious crap over the top_. And lo and behold, "Pictures on My Wall," which sounded pretty decent: "People burning, hearts beating..." It was a bit like the apocalypse, Liverpool 11 stylee.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs from Liverpool** 1. "Reward," The Teardrop Explodes 2. "Touch," Lori and the Chameleons 3. "The World," Dalek I Love You 4. "The Story of the Blues," The Mighty Wah! 5. "Flaming Sword," Care
**"Liverpool was different....It was a mad smorgasbord that I never got bored of. It was easy being in the same place as these...not weirdos, but lost souls."**
The first time we played Eric's, we only had the one song. We got up and the drum machine wouldn't work, and we were wearing headphones, so none of us could really hear anything. I was ready to go with our one song that I didn't really know, but I had the line, "Talking to you about evolution / All you want to do is swing like a monkey." I thought the cognoscenti of Liverpool would be digging that, and then after that line I should try and come up with a few more so it would keep going. Will was on his knees, going, "It's not working! I plugged it into the PA, and it's not working!" I was like, "It's my first time, and your drum machine's fucking crap." He said, "Do you want to go into the dressing room and wait for me to fix it?" I said, "That'll look good, won't it? Leaving you onstage like you're the sodding electrician. No, I'm going to stand here." And it was pretty hot. I had this fantastic red polo neck on, the kind David Attenborough would have worn on the telly in the fifties. I was like, "Come on, get them ohms and watts going!" It could have been embarrassing. There were about 70 people. I just stood there and looked at them, and I think they all thought, _Fucking hell_. I didn't say much. I coughed, and I did a full-on whistle into the mic, and then finally, after about 10 minutes, the drum machine started and we were off and running. People were spellbound. We were in our flow. No, honestly, we were. Pete Wylie was like, "Bloody hell, Mac, that was out there. That was avant-garde." It was better than being in a proper band with a drummer churning out all that new wave bollocks. All those bands wearing school blazers and gray jeans? I mean, what the fuck have you got gray jeans on for?
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Echo had a modicum of modern-rock success with the singles "Lips Like Sugar" and the Doors' "People Are Strange" from _The Lost Boys_ soundtrack. In 1988 McCulloch split from the Bunnymen and embarked on a solo career. Nine years later the singer reunited with Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson. The group continues to tour and record. Meanwhile, McCulloch continues to be irritated by Bono (who's gone on the record as saying he's an Echo admirer) and the U2 singer's messiah complex.**
**McCULLOCH:** I heard they played "The Killing Moon" on _Dancing with the Stars_. That's the most difficult song to dance to. You can't even do a funeral march to it.
With my songs, I always like to push things and make them cryptic but also make them easy for moderately intelligent people to get. I always want to push on and make those lyrical delights that can stand alone outside the song. That, to me, is the longevity of it. I know there are people out there who appreciate it and love it. It might not be right for 100,000 people with cowboy hats on singing "Where the Streets Have No Name." I suggest they get their fucking local sheriff on the case if their streets have no name. Bono—Nobo, that's his fucking name. What a gibbering, leprechaunish twat. He's up to no good. He's more out of his mind than I've ever seen anybody, and that includes Mel Gibson on the David Letterman show when his head spun around 360 times. He's the most banal, buffooneried-up, fucking leprechaun. He's kissed more Blarney Stones than I've had hot dinners. I wish they'd been toxic so he'd fuck off.
**_"TRUE"_**
rom half-spoken shadows emerges a canvas. A kiss of light breaks to reveal a moment when all mirrors are redundant. Listen to the portrait of the dance of perfection: the Spandau Ballet." Thusly did scenester journalist Robert Elms announce the group's arrival, circa 1980. London's painfully exclusive, agonizingly fashionable Scala club served as the backdrop for their debut gig, quickly sealing their reputation as the most despised—and discussed—band in Britain. Inviting envy, derision, and open antagonism, Spandau Ballet (their name a term used by Nazi guards to describe the twitches made by Jewish hanging victims at Berlin's Spandau Prison) stretched an invisible velvet rope between themselves and a music media still infatuated with Joe Strummer and Johnny Rotten. As members of the notorious Blitz Club clique, the Spands positioned themselves as an androgynous fraternity, sneering down at the ripped T-shirts, dirty sneakers, and beer-soaked jeans worn by the nation's sheeplike, style-free rock audience. And their clannish demeanor proved a cunningly effective marketing tool. After initial success with a few chilly, Teutonic hits, Spandau started smiling and wearing sensible suits, and by the time they'd released the international number-one "True" in 1983, they were embracing a mass audience who would've never passed the rigid dress codes at the nightclubs the band once frequented.
**JB: One of the youthful pleasures of punk was the opportunity to tell your elders and betters, "You're a dirty hippie—you don't get it!" Ever the sharp operator, Spandau songwriter Gary Kemp flipped the script, addressing his detractors with a sneering, "You're a middle-class wannabe; we're working-class royalty—you don't get it." In the post-punk environment of the early eighties, hurling that "middle class" label was an insult tantamount to sinking a shiv between an opponent's shoulder blades. It meant you were inauthentic, that you were culturally blinkered, that you couldn't dance. It hurt. But Spandau Ballet weren't in the class-war business. Once they'd wedged an elegant boot in the door, they were all about transitioning from exclusive to inclusive. And there's no better way to win over the masses on whom you'd once looked down than with a sincere, hand-on-heart, "I'm just a poor boy" ballad. "True" is a classic end-of-the-dance song. It's one of the few legitimate examples of British baby-making music.**
**LM: Like the rest of America, my love affair with Spandau Ballet began with "True." Unlike the rest of America, my relationship didn't end there. Thanks to the glorious Newark, New Jersey–based video channel U68—a mid-decade, UHF alternative to MTV—I retroactively learned that Spandau had been New Romantics. There was their synthy 1980 debut, "To Cut a Long Story Short," and 1981's funky disco jam "Chant No. 1." But my favorite had to be 1982's artsy "She Loved like Diamond," a melodramatic mini-movie in which a black-veiled ghost of a woman drifts through dry ice and falls to the floor with blood pooling out of her mouth. "She loved like diamond," Tony Hadley crooned, "and cut so hard she died." (Even then I struggled to find meaning in Gary Kemp's lyrics.) Watching that today is like unearthing an ancient artifact, yet nothing about "True" feels like it belongs inside a time capsule—not the sharp, double-breasted suits they wear in the video, and certainly not the music. With that song, Spandau Ballet went from New Romantic to just plain romantic and, as a result, ended up with arguably the most timeless song in this book.**
**GARY KEMP:** In 1978 we found this wonderful little club called Billy's, which had a Bowie Night. It was put on by a guy called Steve Strange and another one called Rusty Egan, and they were playing records that they had found in Berlin—Kraftwerk, Gina X, Nina Hagen—mixed up with Bowie, Iggy, Lou Reed, and Roxy Music. It was the first time that a youth cult had begun without a band. It's really almost going back to the mod time, when they were dancing to Motown. They weren't interested in watching bands; they just wanted to dress up cool and watch each other. And suddenly a manager thought, I'll make sure there is a band for them, and the Who were formed.
In a way, we did that too. These kids were down in Billy's in Soho, dancing this extraordinary slow jive to this electronica music. We arrived and we thought, _This is our time. This is our generation. We have a responsibility._
We already had a band, but we were on a sort of post–power pop hiatus. The band that we liked up to that point, who we all wanted to be, was Generation X. We thought Billy Idol was the best thing we'd ever seen. Ironically, after Billy saw our first gig at the Blitz, he went up to Steve Dagger, our manager, and said, "This is the future of rock 'n' roll, man."
We decided we'd do a private gig for these kids in Billy's. By then we'd rewritten our entire set list. We'd bought a synthesizer, and we had a bunch of electronic songs—all four-on-the-floor drums, dance-y, groove-y, but with this very white, European sound to them. It was a mixture of Kraftwerk and what David Bowie had done in Berlin—that sort of extraordinary amalgamation of Iggy Pop and Edith Piaf.
Then we started playing these gigs in extraordinary places for our friends. We knew that they would not go to some rock 'n' roll pub. We did one on the HMS _Belfast_ ; we did one in a cinema. They were events. No record company had seen us at this point, and they all wanted to sign us. Record companies weren't allowed into our gigs.
The only way they could see us was through this documentary that Janet Street-Porter filmed in black and white. Nowadays you can't have a mystique. Somebody videos you on a phone, they put it up on YouTube, and someone else writes "bollocks" underneath.
When the club moved from Billy's to the Blitz in Covent Garden, our mantra to the press was that we are a movement; we're not just interested in being in a band. There are people in this club who will be photographers, filmmakers, clothes designers, and dancers—which is to say, you had Stephen Jones, the milliner; Michael Clark, the dancer; John Maybury, the filmmaker; Dylan Jones, the magazine editor; Robert Elms, the journalist; and it goes on. Boy George was there, Steve and Rusty. There was a sense that there was going to be a multimedia success, and I don't think that had happened since the sixties. A lot of the kids who became successes in the sixties had stayed in charge all the way up to the eighties. I remember that suddenly, in about 1980, everybody wanted to have someone with colored hair come and work for them. It was like media companies were just recruiting people as they walked out of the Blitz.
I clearly remember going up to Birmingham on our first gig ever outside London. It was December 1980, and our first single, "To Cut a Long Story Short," was out. We decided to play in this place called the Botanical Gardens. It wasn't even a venue—it was, literally, a botanical garden. We knew that there was a club up there called the Rum Runner and that everyone was doing a similar thing to us. So about a hundred of our lot all went up there, and it was like the Wild West: the two sides slowly approaching each other. I remember someone asking our manager if they could support us that night and, of course, he answered, "No one supports us. We're the only band onstage." Then, after the gig, we went back to the [Rum Runner owners] Berrow brothers' flat in Birmingham, and I was sitting on the floor, and we were all drinking, and I realized that some of these guys in the flat were in the band that had wanted to support us. I distinctly remember this blond boy I was talking to saying to me, "We've got this band—it's called Duran Duran." And we soon found out about them.
**"We arrived and we thought, _This is our time. This is our generation. We have a responsibility_."**
The electronic thing became popular very quickly, and we sidestepped it into doing a brazenly funky song called "Chant No. 1." I don't know why that worked. You just get things right sometimes. It was a song about Soho, a film noir of the Soho streets filled with drug-induced paranoia. It was sort of achingly, archly hip, and you can't sustain that. That's why we jumped ship. We could have been like Depeche Mode and just played the same music for 35 years and had great success with it, but we were bored. We wanted to move on.
For me, the only way to go after that was to write damn good songs, songs that would last forever. I'd been listening to a lot of Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Daryl Hall and John Oates. Steve Norman, who at that point was really Spandau's second guitarist as well as the percussionist, had picked up the saxophone and utterly fell in love with it. I found myself writing songs that weren't just for Tony but also for Steve's sax. Spandau has two things that make us sound like no other band: Tony's unique and powerful voice and Steve Norman's amazing saxophone that we always like to include. It's the sound of our soul, if you like.
"True" was about the fourth or fifth song I wrote for that album. Originally, Trevor Horn was going to produce, but I don't think he ever really got the idea of recording a band that was very into controlling their own sonic destiny, so we mutually dropped each other, and we found [Tony] Swain and [Steve] Jolley. They were white guys who were doing black music with a band called Imagination, and I loved the sound they were making. We thought we should get away from London, because we needed to find a sound for the album that wasn't reliant on Soho. We went to Compass Point in Nassau. Robert Palmer had recorded there, so had Bryan Ferry. Talking Heads were there when we were there.
Nobody thought "True" was going to be the single. Musically, it was me trying to write an Al Green song. What made the difference was the backing vocals. I went and started tracking up the backing vocals, and they became the unique selling point of that record. I put on this Motown-influenced guitar, we laid down the keyboard, and the drums were all done, and then we made this strange decision not to include my brother, Martin, on the song. We wanted a bass synth because we really loved the bass synth on the Imagination records. Martin stepped aside and let Tony Swain play it. If he had known it was going to be one of our biggest songs ever, he might have argued the point.
You never know what's going to make a record work, but there was something about the aural quality of that song that suggested it was just going to be important. But we still didn't think it was a single—it was a six-and-a-half-minute track. It was going to be the last song on the album. Can you imagine that now, sticking one of your best tracks last? No one would do that. In those days, though, you approached an album as an actual piece of work, and where you placed your tracks was all about how people heard the piece as a whole. Movies have denouements, plays have denouements, and albums had denouements too. Nowadays they just peter out.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Blue-Eyed British-Soul Songs** 1. "Careless Whisper," Wham! featuring George Michael 2. "Digging Your Scene," The Blow Monkeys 3. "Bad Day," Carmel 4. "Closest Thing to Heaven," Kane Gang 5. "Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry for Loverboy)," Scritti Politti
At the time, I was having a very unrequited romance with [Altered Images singer] Clare Grogan. It was unrequited on both ends. It was courtly—I think that's the expression I can correctly use—but it was romantic. She gave me a Nabokov book, _Lolita_ , and that sort of represented her. I took two lyrics that I based on lines in Lolita. One was "seaside arms," which was an expression that Humbert Humbert used about Lolita. I thought that was rather beautiful, and I was ridiculed for that for years. "What's that line about? It's stupid!" Well, go and argue with Nabokov. And the other one was "With a thrill in my head and a pill on my tongue," which I kind of paraphrased.
**"We were getting back reports from America that it was getting played on black radio. They had no idea we were a white band."**
"True" became a song about writing a love song. Why "Why do I find it hard to write the next line? I want the truth to be said"? Because I didn't want to write it down—because there's nothing more embarrassing. That's partly what the song is about. But it's hard to be truthful in a song. As a songwriter, you're not writing love letters all the time; you're using real life to help you fantasize about a greater, more powerful life. What you really love more than anything else are the songs you're writing.
Eventually "True" made number one in the U.K.—in those days no records went straight in at number one—and we were getting back reports from America that it was getting played on black radio. They had no idea we were a white band. The proudest legacy of that song for me is that it turned on black kids, and there are so many black artists—Nelly, R. Kelly, will.i.am, Lloyd, P.M. Dawn—who dug it and made it part of their aural landscape.
"Gold" was a little bit of a hit in America, but we had issues with our record company there. They weren't very powerful, and they made a lot of mistakes. I remember meeting John Taylor when Duran had their reunion in the early 2000s. I went along to the gig, and immediately afterwards, he said, "You guys had Europe, we had America." Which is kind of how it was. It's rather ridiculous that these two fey groups that sized each other up in the car park of the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham should then decide that one had one continent and one had the other, but musically that's what happened.
I'm not bothered by the fact that Spandau's American career didn't last as long as it did in the rest of the world, because what we ended up with was a song that has completely altered the American landscape of music. I'd rather have one of those than a much longer career that left less of a song legacy behind. That's really where my heart is, with my songs. They're my children.
**TONY HADLEY:** The name Spandau Ballet was chosen out of naïveté. Robert Elms had been to Berlin for the weekend, and he was having a leak in the bathroom in some grotty club, when there, graffitied on the toilet wall where he was standing, was "Spandau Ballet." Spandau is an area of Berlin—a region, like Brooklyn. He came back and said, "I think I've got the name for the band." We went, "Spand–what?" "Spandau" is not a word that trips off the tongue. He said, "It's great: It's got some sort of German vibe to it; it's ballet—it's about dance. It's creative." We were looking for a name that was going to really stick in people's minds. And Berlin was a very cool city. Everything was very angular, very stark. There was East Berlin and West Berlin—it was like the forces of good and evil pitted against each other.
By that time we'd all convinced ourselves it was brilliant. And it was brilliant, until we hit a bit of a roadblock in America. There's a massive Jewish community there, and certain people started to say that we were an anti-Semitic band. People have told me over the years that there is sort of a Nazi reference, which was nonsense from our point of view. But I could understand people who were a bit more knowledgeable than a bunch of 19-, 20-year-old kids going, "Hey, man, that's got an implication."
No one in America had had the prior history of Spandau Ballet. They just thought we were a nice bunch of guys who sang this really lovely ballad. They didn't realize that there had been previous albums— _True_ was our third album. Although, I don't think "True" or even the album is totally representative of the group. We were much tougher live than we were on record.
If we'd been signed today, we probably would have been dropped on the second album and never have gotten to _True_ , but in those days record companies kept the faith. So we were allowed to make the _True_ album, which obviously was a much more commercial-sounding album. That song and album took us from a cult band to an international success. It was number one in 21 countries around the world. All of a sudden we were traveling in a private jet and going, "Wow, this is amazing!"
I don't think "True" is Spandau's best song—for me, "Through the Barricades" is. But "True" had some connection, and I don't really know why. It's not a specific lyric, is it? "Head over heels when toe to toe"—sometimes you'd be like, "Right, Gary, what's this about, mate?" Is it "I'm head over heels in love?" "Am I in bed because our feet are touching and...?" I don't know. But then, I suppose, we grew up on David Bowie and Roxy Music. "Virginia Plain"—what's that about? Half of the Bowie songs, I couldn't tell you what they're about. With "True," you have to create the imagery for yourself.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Gary Kemp left Spandau Ballet in 1990 to pursue acting and a solo career. He and Martin starred as the notorious gangster twins in _The Krays_ before the latter joined _EastEnders_ as one of the soap's most popular villains. In 1999, Hadley, Norman, and drummer John Keeble failed in their attempt to sue Kemp, the group's sole credited songwriter, for unpaid royalties. After a decade of sullen silences and hurt feelings, all five embarked on a 2009 reunion tour. However, the curtain has since fallen on the Ballet yet again, with the singer returning to the Tony Hadley Band—featuring Keeble on drums—and his duties as a part owner of Red Rat Brewery.**
**KEMP:** As the decade wound down, there was a sudden interest in club culture, which was sort of inspired by us. Back in 1980, we used to say we wouldn't tour, we'd only release white labels, and DJs could play our records, and anyone dancing to them were the stars. In the end, that monster we'd built came back to destroy us all. The second summer of love and the rise of the DJ at the end of the eighties was really the death knell for the bands. Remaining at the top of the tree was going to be difficult. Even bands like U2 took a bit of time to regain their speed.
I had an opportunity with my brother to go into acting. I got bored with working with the band. I was frustrated at being the only songwriter. Ten years later, we ended up in a big court case punch-up. I'd had a child, my marriage [to actress Sadie Frost] was breaking up, and I was in the middle of a solo album. [Hadley, Keeble, and Norman] realized that the publishing makes lots of money, and the songwriter makes more money than the performers, and there's a bitterness that comes from that. We ended up in a dispute, and it took a judge to sort it out. Once that happened, there was going to be at least 10 years before we could face each other again.
I'm so glad we did, because we ended up coming back and selling more tickets on that tour than we ever sold in the eighties. I think there's a future for Spandau still, because if you fall in love with songs or an artist in your formative years, you pretty much love them for the rest of your life.
**HADLEY:** The reunion wasn't an easy decision. It took about six months of soul-searching before I thought I could meet with Gary. We met at the Flask in Highgate in North London, with John Keeble as the Henry Kissinger. We got a pint, and I said, "Right, before we go any further...." I launched a few grenades. Keeble was sitting there going, "Oh, Christ! It's all falling apart already!"
Then Gary said a few things, and we sort of looked at each other. "Is this going to work?" he said. I said, "I'll tell you what: I've said my piece. If this is going to work, then we have to draw a line under it and not talk about this again. What happened has happened. Do you think we could work together again?" And he said, "I'd really like that to be the case, and I think we can."
So, I agreed. I said, "Look, happy to get together again, but I'm a solo artist. I'm not going to go back in Spandau Ballet [full-time]." I mean, I've been a solo artist for longer than I was ever in Spandau Ballet, and I have a good career. My allegiance, really, is to my own band, the Tony Hadley Band, who have been with me for years.
I suppose the question on a lot of people's lips is, "Will we get back together again?" I would like to. There's still a little bit of politics.
The Christmas before last, John Keeble said, "Have you heard from the rest of the guys?" I'm, "No, no, and I'm not expecting to either." We're all older. What you were when you were focused on music when you were a young fella, and what you become when you get married and you have children—you pick up other friends, and they become more of your best friends.
But we're still old friends, which is great. We can all go out and have a pint and a meal, and we'd all laugh and joke and tell stories. But it's not the same, and it never will be.
**_"BEING BOILED"_**
ou know the famous Human League story? The one where the founder is pushed out, leading to the departure of its creative axis and leaving only the singer and the guy who operates the slide projector? And you know how the singer, Phil Oakey, recruited two teenage backing singers who'd never sung a note just because he liked the way they danced at the Sheffield disco the Crazy Daisy? And you know how, a year later, that version of the group beat ABBA out of the coveted U.K. Christmas number-one spot with "Don't You Want Me," a record that would go on to kick open the doors of America to all manner of British synthesizer bands with fascinating haircuts? This is not that story. We approached the Human League on numerous occasions—occasions numerous enough to be innumerable. And each time, Oakey politely but firmly turned down our request for an interview. So while we don't have that Human League story, we don't _not_ have a Human League story. We talked to Martyn Ware for our Heaven 17 chapter (see this page), and he spoke in some depth about the early days of the Human League, the singular talent of Oakey, and the writing and recording of "Being Boiled," which left us with a dilemma: Do we memorize this stuff to use as anecdotes during one of our enjoyable new wave dinner parties? Or do we cheekily run it under the Human League banner because "Being Boiled," released in 1978, is one of the foundations upon which the era we're celebrating was built? We're probably going to do both. So, this story does not appear with the cooperation of the current incarnation of the Human League. But it is a story about the first Human League single, told by a member of the group who helped write and produce it. Caveat emptor!
**JB: While I was interviewing Martyn Ware, I stated that the first two lines of "Being Boiled" are the electronic-music equivalent of Mick Jagger's opening couplet in "Sympathy for the Devil." Sometimes words just pop out of my mouth, but in this case, I made sense—at least to myself. When Oakey intones, "Listen to the voice of Buddha / Saying stop your sericulture," you instantly know you're in the hands of someone who sees the world in a very different way, and you've just made the decision to hang on for the ride. This early, indie version of the Human League was awash in nerd influences—Michael Moorcock, Dark Star, Gerry Anderson, the dot matrix printer—and together they coalesced into the woozy, nightmarish narratives of _Reproduction_ and the heartbroken, dystopian ballads of _Travelogue_. I've loved a lot of the music the Human League and Heaven 17 went on to make, but separately they never created a world quite as compelling as the one they built together back in their formative days.**
**LM: Nowadays, you know exactly what every pop song is about. It's right there in the title: You're a firework. You can stand under my umbrella. But there was a time that bands made us work for it. I had no idea what "Being Boiled" was about. _Sericulture_? But the music was so ominous and Oakey's voice so hypnotizing, so meditative, I really wasn't bothered. In the coming years, Oakey would be writing songs based on human emotions, but it's this low-fiwarning to the silk industry that really makes my blood flow.**
**MARTYN WARE:** Phil [Oakey] was my best mate from the fourth form, King Edward School in Sheffield. When I say "best mate," I don't mean there were a few of us who were best mates; I mean it was, literally, me and him. It was a real bromance thing. We used to ride around the Derbyshire countryside on motorbikes, [had] formative sexual experiences and drug experiences, parties at his house—all the things you go through when you're a teenager. We shared everything.
[I didn't know if he could sing, but] I knew he looked great. He had the floppy haircut, and he always dressed interestingly. He was a very quiet guy. He didn't seek approbation from his peers. He was kind of otherworldly, but then the other half of his character was very down-to-earth. He has always been like this, and he always will be a complete contradiction. He's like the best chum you could ever have, and at the same time, he's kind of distant and aloof. I've never met anyone like him.
We'd grown up in our musical tastes together, and I knew how weird his tastes were. He turned me on to Frank Zappa and Carla Bley's _Escalator over the Hill._ We both loved anything we could find that was electronic and experimental. I knew he was conceptually right [for the Human League]. What I didn't know was, could he write top lines to the backing tracks? That wasn't really a block anyway, because we could easily have written some lyrics together with him. But as a test, we gave him the backing track to "Being Boiled" and told him to go away for a couple of days. He came back with a bonkers lyric and his voice, not out of tune but a bit deadpan, without expression. It was clear he could hold a tune of some kind, and his voice was unusual. I likened it to the deeper-range side of Bowie. But really, his influences at the time were more like mine. He really liked Neil Diamond and Leonard Cohen and, to a certain extent, Peter Hamill. He was just a genuinely odd person who was very musical. He heard the musicality in everything without prejudice. We would apportion equal weight to the most banal disco tunes like "Let's All Chant" by the Michael Zager Band and also, from a lyrical point of view, we liked it. [Early Human League song] "Dance Like a Star" is based on that same idea of what is the blandest lyric we can think of? Can we get to that crystalline thing? Can we think down to that level of the great disco masters? And at the other end, we were experimenting with extreme philosophical sci-finarrative and a lot of philosophical musings.
I didn't know what to think [about "Being Boiled"], to be honest. I just liked it. I didn't think, _Fucking hell, we've hit the jackpot!_ It was more like, _Who the hell is ever going to hear this?_ I played it for Paul Bower, who was in a punk band called 2.3 in Sheffield, who were signed to [independent Edinburgh label] Fast Product. He sent a cassette to [label boss] Bob Last. Next thing we know, he's on the phone saying, "We want to put it out." We were actually going to have a record out—a real record. Even though I'd had no experience in graphic design, I immediately determined that we wanted to control artistically how we appeared. I went down to Andrews, the stationers in town, near the city hall, and bought a bunch of Letraset [sheets of transferrable lettering beloved by fanzine writers in the seventies], and knocked together the cover for "Being Boiled."
Culturally speaking, it was quite a different environment. It was in the immediate post-punk phase, and record companies were looking for acts that were unusual, as opposed to similar to something that was successful. It was a unique point in pop history in Britain. We just happened to be around at that moment. We thought what we were doing and the way we were using the limited tools we had was unique. The Korg, which I've still got in my studio now, cost 350 quid [about $500]. The main workhorse synth we used was a Roland System 100, which I still have as well. That cost nearer the 1,200-pound mark. They were both bought on hire purchase [lay-away]. That's why, when we were touring in the late seventies, Ian [Craig Marsh, League cofounder] built a structure out of steel frame and Perspex to protect them. The journalists at the time were going, "What a powerful indication of the alienation of contemporary youth," but it was just to stop the skinheads from gobbing on them.
We were pleasantly surprised by the open-mindedness of the punk audiences. But our punk epiphany was in the early to mid-seventies with bands like the New York Dolls, Suicide, even Parliament and Funkadelic, as well as the punkier bits of the German new wave of the seventies: Amon Düül, Can, Neu!, and Faust.
I was confused by the reaction to ["Being Boiled"]. I was amazed that anyone would be interested. I'm not being self-effacing; I just thought it was such an out-there piece of work. I felt like it was a novelty record, to be honest, but then when you get a couple of compliments from people you respect, like noted reviewers in music magazines, you start thinking quite differently quite quickly and thinking, _Maybe it is really good_. One of those music papers, _Melody Maker_ , had guest columnists who came in and did reviews. John Lydon reviewed "Being Boiled," and his review was "Trendy hippies." Two words. At first, I was really upset, but then I thought, _John Lydon's taken notice of us. It must be having some kind of impact._
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More End-of-the-Seventies Songs That Pointed the Way to the Eighties** 1. "Boys Don't Cry," The Cure 2. "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Bauhaus 3. "Hong Kong Garden," Siouxsie and the Banshees 4. "At Home He's a Tourist," Gang of Four 5. "Public Image," Public Image Ltd.
It sold something like 5,000 copies in three months, and that was a lot for an independent single. And of course, that's when the record companies start sniffing around, because they see something underground that might break big. EMI were interested, and though we could have got more money out of them, they were just too corporate, and we wanted to keep complete control. It wasn't because we were control freaks. We had such a clear artistic vision that we couldn't afford to sign to someone who was going to change it. So, besides the fact that Virgin wasn't the biggest advance we could have got, that was the home we wanted.
The Human League had a manifesto, a set of guiding principles. It exists as a written document. I can give you the gist of it: Only electronic instruments—there was no such thing as samplers or even MIDI at that point. No found sounds, although that's not quite true; we did use some sound effects on "Circus of Death." We were never going to sing songs about love or use the word "love." There was a list of words that were banned, and "love" was one. We created quite a challenge, because we had to find different subjects to sing about. If you take love, sex, and human relationships out of the game, you're not left with a whole heap. That's how you get science fiction and philosophical tales. We really wanted to create this holistic—although we didn't know the word at the time—almost hermetically sealed world of meaning and narrative. Right from the start, we wanted people who listened to us to regard it as entering into our world, where we could, over a period of time, flesh it out with our artistic content. So it's not just about music. It's about lyrical content, it's about the kind of films you watch, it's about the kind of novels you read, it's about the kind of visual art you like. It all fed back into a worldview.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**The Human League achieved cult success in the U.K. over the next couple of years before corporate machinations resulted in their implosion and the end of the Ware-Oakey bromance. As for "Being Boiled," British producer Richard X, renowned and dismissed as the godfather of the mashup, revived the seminal synth song twice: First in 2001, on his _Girls on Top_ EP, where it was used with the vocals from TLC's "No Scrubs" and titled "Being Scrubbed"; second, as a Top 10 single for U.K. reality show–reject supergroup Liberty X, where it was mashed up with Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" and titled "Being Nobody."**
_**"TEMPTATION"**_
fter producers-musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were ousted from the Human League, they seemed poised to steamroll their former workmates. They formed the production company British Electric Foundation, which they used to launch their new incarnation, the trio Heaven 17 (the name was taken from the fictional pop group invented by Anthony Burgess in _A Clockwork Orange_ ). They presented themselves as hardworking executives armed with spreadsheets and shoebox-size cellphones. Despite being showered with plaudits on its release, Heaven 17's 1981 debut, _Penthouse and Pavement_ , was not a source of successful singles. The music produced under the B.E.F. banner—the yellow cassette _Music for Stowaway_ s, the B.E.F. covers album _Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 1_ (which nevertheless helped relaunch Tina Turner's career)—were appreciated by similarly slim audiences. Meanwhile, the Human League's _Dare_ just kept getting bigger. However, the success of Heaven 17's second album, 1983's _The Luxury Gap_ , evened the playing field.
**JB: I'm not one of those people who weeps tears over the wonder of vinyl. I don't have a side in the analog vs. digital debate. I like not having to get up to turn the record over just as much as I appreciate not having to lumber over to the TV for the pleasure of manually changing the channels. But after listening to both sides of a record, it is a particular pleasure to realize that one of them is your favorite. Side one of Heaven 17's _Penthouse and Pavement_ is a smug, accomplished powerhouse. If you wanted to introduce your new incarnation and extinguish any lingering comparisons with your former workplace, you couldn't do better than the one-two punch of "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" and "Penthouse and Pavement," followed by "I'm Your Money" and "Soul Warfare." Side two has its highlights—"At the Height of the Fighting," "Let's All Make a Bomb," for instance—though it's hard to prevent the needle from returning to the breakneck beginning of "Fascist Groove Thang" a few more times. But as much as I love that side of that album, I have never been quite sure if Heaven 17 were a pop group or an ironic comment on being a pop group. When we spoke, Ware confirmed that I was correct to be confused, saying of "Fascist Groove Thang": "We thought it was a comedy record."**
**I was less confused about** _**The Luxury Gap**_ **. Thematically, it dealt less with corporate culture and socioeconomic downfall than with broken hearts and doomed relationships.** _**The Luxury Gap**_ **had the electronic age's own wee-hours Frank Sinatra song in "Come Live with Me," it had the tense "Let Me Go," and it had Heaven 17's first genuine hit, "Temptation." Glenn Gregory's deep, burnished voice has always sounded better alongside a female vocalist, and he's never had a better partner than session singer Carol Kenyon. Even without Kenyon's contribution, the track is punchy and melodramatic, but she inflames it, and she brought it even further to life via a series of star-making TV performances with the band. Heaven 17 may have adopted the image of captains of industry, but "Temptation" put them firmly in the executive suite.**
**LM: What he said!**
**MARTYN WARE:** The Human League were two albums into our deal with Virgin and tens of thousands of pounds in the hole, unrecouped because of tour support. The albums weren't particularly expensive to produce, but they were just about covering their costs. Despite the best efforts of Virgin to break us, in inverted commas, we were only appearing to be popular with the cognoscenti, as opposed to the general public, and we didn't know why. Our live following was still building, we were planning a European tour, we'd got all the slides sorted out, but there was pressure being exerted on us. [Manager] Bob Last was talking to the record company, and he was filtering it back to us through his perception: "You need to have a hit album, boys." We never felt that we were going to get dropped, but it did cause tension, and I'd known Phil [Oakey] as my best friend for God knows how long—six years, I think. That made the split even more upsetting.
Bob, unbeknownst to me but not unbeknownst to Phil and Ian [Craig Marsh], had secretly been having talks with the record company to destabilize the situation and dropping words in Phil's ear that maybe he could be a solo singer. Bob was confident he could manipulate the situation so that he could keep the band name and bring in new songwriters like his mate Jo Callis, who's a good friend of mine—no blame apportioned there. This was all presented as a fait accompli one day when I turned up at the studio. With no inkling there was anything going on, I said, "Hi, boys, what's going on?" and they said, "We're throwing you out of the group, Martyn." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Then my automatic Sheffieldness kicked in, and I said, "No, you're not. It's my group." Like Jack Black in _School of Rock_. Because it was my group—it was mine and Ian's. The presumption was that Ian was going to stay in the group, and the justification for him staying was that they needed the name, otherwise they'd be breaking the contract for the upcoming European tour. They were willing to compensate me somewhat; however, there was no money to do it. What threw a spanner in the works was, the day after that, Ian called me up and said, "I can't do it. I want to go with you and do something. I feel more of an empathy with what you're doing than all the machinations that have been going on behind the scenes, which I don't agree with." That was not what they reckoned on at all.
I tried to absorb it for a couple of days, then I thought, _Fuck 'em. Our success didn't depend on Phil. We'll just find another singer_. Within 48 hours I'd approached Glenn Gregory. Had Glenn been in Sheffield at the time we were looking for vocalists when we sacked Adi Newton from the Future [Ware and Marsh's pre–Human League incarnation], he would have been in. But he had just moved down to London with his little handkerchief on a stick, so it was impractical to ask him to move back to Sheffield. Glenn said yes and moved back up to Sheffield, and within a week, Heaven 17 was born.
I'd already got the name lined up. Bob's strategy had been to say to me, "Your strongest suit is in the studio. You and Ian should form a production company." Which was quite a forward-thinking thing. I immediately liked the idea and said, "If I'm going to form a company, I want it to sound like it's always existed, like a grandiose entity that has just slipped under public notice but is, in fact, gigantic." We tried a few names, and I quite liked the idea that it would have "British" in it, but it would be like some kind of brass plaque on the wall in the city of London. And I liked the word "electric," so we thought British Electric Company. Couldn't call it that, but we thought, _How about something that sounded like a phil-anthropic corporation?_ So we settled on British Electric Foundation. Bob Last was a graphic designer, so I said, "Bob, as part of your role in this, you've got to come up with a logo that is like a 1930s recording company." Hence the tape reel, even though tapes didn't exist back then, and the font looked like it was carved out of metal. Within a week of that, we'd formed Heaven 17 and started work on the first music we recorded.
The manifesto we had with Heaven 17 was suddenly this freeing from the shackles of electronic music—the ability suddenly to use anything you wanted. When we were off duty from the Human League, the music we'd all been listening to at parties and loving and buying was American dance music. Heaven 17 emerged from that set of influences. Kevin Saunderson and Chicago and Detroit house credited Tubeway Army, Kraftwerk, and Heaven 17 as influences more than they credited the Human League. I thought that was an enormous compliment.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs from New Groups That Grew out of Old Groups** 1. "Rush," Big Audio Dynamite 2. "Rise," Public Image Ltd. 3. "Oh L'Amour," Erasure 4. "My Ever Changing Moods," The Style Council 5. "Johnny Come Home," Fine Young Cannibals
_Penthouse and Pavement_ allowed us to incorporate our take on politics and socialist beliefs but keep it pop and shiny. The "Pavement" side, which was the electronic side, was largely tracks that we had already been writing for the Human League. Not the lead lines—we'd not written the lyrics or anything like that—but the actual backing tracks. Although we already knew Glenn could sing, the audition piece for Glenn to join Heaven 17 was "Wichita Lineman," which was to be on the B.E.F. album [ _Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 1_ ], which was something else we'd planned on doing with the Human League on the next album. The concept of "Penthouse" and "Pavement" sides happened because we thought, _If we try and evenly distribute tracks amongst the album, it might sound a bit disjointed. Why don't we use the electronics side almost as a good-bye to the purely electronic, easing our audience into a new era?_ The logical thing to do would have been to put the "Pavement" stuff on the A-side, which would have been the transitional thing, but then, in typical contrary manner, we loved the new direction so much that we decided to put the new stuff on the A-side.
**"I tried to absorb it for a couple of days, then I thought, _Fuck 'em. Our success didn't depend on Phil. We'll just find another singer_."**
[While recording _Penthouse and Pavement_ ,] we'd actually take a sneaky listen [to the Human League, who were recording _Dare_ at the same time and in the same studio]. The first thing we heard was "Sound of the Crowd," and we thought, _Mmm, this is a bit rubbish, isn't it?_ I was demented, of course. I was so motivated by the disrespect I'd received from the opposite team that I was bitter and twisted for a while. And I still think "Sound of the Crowd" is a bit rubbish, but charmingly rubbish. And they had to get a single out quickly. "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was about to come out. They were released at fairly similar times. We thought we'd got daring and sophistication while they were just sort of going through the motions. But then _Dare_ came out and went stone-cold big time, and the rest is history. But to give the Human League the right to use the name and to disavow ourselves of the rights, myself and Ian each took 1 percent of the next album, which happened to be _Dare_. That enabled me to pay for my first flat in London. So, hurrah.
We didn't really have any idea what huge commercial success was, so, to us, _Penthouse and Pavement_ was a huge commercial success. Compared to the first two Human League albums, it was massive. It was an album that people coveted, and it was in the [U.K.] Top 75 for a year and a half. That meant that they gave us carte blanche in order to do _The Luxury Gap_ album. If we were Rihanna, we wouldn't get an unlimited budget. There was a contractual limit, but in reality, if we'd said we'd run out of money halfway through, they'd have fronted the rest. _Penthouse and Pavement_ cost 40,000 pounds. _The Luxury Gap_ cost 180,000 pounds, and _How Men Are_ cost 300,000 pounds, because, by that time, we'd had massive hits. They thought we could do no wrong, which, of course, is always a fallacy.
**" _Penthouse and Pavement_ allowed us to incorporate our take on politics and socialist beliefs but keep it pop and shiny."**
_Dare_ had been out and been a big hit, so the motivation for us was very much direct competition. As far as we were concerned, all bets were off the table. "Temptation" was very much an idea I had about an Escher staircase that continually seemed to be going upwards and upwards and creating a kind of structural tension. The motivation was to make something that was timeless and classic, and that's what happens when you employ big orchestras. It's not only a stamp of quality but a stamp of timelessness. I remember going into Virgin and saying, "Wouldn't it be great if it sounded like one of these big sweeping Western soundtracks? An orchestra would be truly epic"—before "epic" was an overused word. It worked amazingly well. Virgin were open-minded. They didn't go, "How much is it going to cost?" They said, "When do you want it?" Within the week, we were in the studio with a 50-piece orchestra. Once we'd written the lyrics, it was always the idea that it would be a duet, even though we didn't have a girl member of the group. We'd always loved the delicacy of the female voice against Glenn's. Virgin didn't want to release it as a single because they didn't have Carol Kenyon signed up. We said, "We beg of you, please just release it, and it will be a hit." It was the only time in our entire career we didn't see eye to eye with [Virgin managing director] Simon Draper, and we were right and he was wrong. It was a most expensive enterprise, but we got a lot of value out of it. It made a lot of money, that album. It used to be a high-risk, high-reward business, and now it's a low-risk, low-reward business.
Carol Kenyon was a bit arrogant. Even though she knew what the deal was when we brought her into the studio—we paid her, and she signed a release form—she approached us after the fact and said, "I think I deserve some royalties on this." No: We wrote the song, we paid you to do a performance, you were happy with those terms—see ya. Fast-forward a few years. The Ibiza version of "Temptation," the Brothers in Rhythm remix, is a big hit. The day before we're due to go on _Top of the Pops_ , she attempts to blackmail us: "I'm not going on _Top of the Pop_ s unless you pay me a percentage of the record." And again we went, "See ya," and got the woman who'd been in the video, who couldn't sing a note to save her life, but she looked hot.
We were not typical pop stars. We never courted that. We carried on with our lives and our friends. All that happened was we had more money. We weren't trying to be celebs—in fact, we completely eschewed it because we viewed ourselves as valid artists and musicians. The flip side of that particular coin is we didn't perform live except for TV shows and MTV. We thought we could better spend our money making great videos. It enabled us to service different markets without having to tour the world for months on end. But it got to a point in the mid-eighties where we were using more session musicians, and we could easily have toured. That would have been the sensible time to move on to that, and we never did. It became a sort of dogma, which I regret because we had a shit-hot band. Around 1985, we were offered a million pounds to tour the West Coast of America with Coors sponsorship, and we turned them down because we said we don't do that. It made it very difficult for us to break America, because all we had were videos. Plus, the relationship with us and Virgin started falling apart. We found out that, by stealthy means, they had licensed us to Arista in America for three-quarters of a million dollars, and we didn't see a penny of it. It was added to our unrecouped account. We were so pissed off. We put out one more album, which, admittedly, wasn't all that great, and it all fell apart from there.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Heaven 17 went on hiatus at the end of the eighties. Ware produced Terence Trent D'Arby's multiplatinum debut album,** _**Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby**_ **. He turned down subsequent production work with Rod Stewart ("I didn't like his politics") and Bette Midler, but helmed records by Erasure and Marc Almond. He is also active in the hard-to-explain field of 3-D sound installation. A 1992 remix of "Temptation" returned the group to the U.K. Top 5. Ian Craig Marsh left the group in 2007. In 2008, Heaven 17 toured with the Human League. ("We're mates now," Ware says of him and Oakey, "but I wouldn't say there's been closure.") The group collaborated in 2010 with squeaky-voiced beanpole new wave revivalist Ely Jackson of La Roux on a new version of "Temptation" recorded for the BBC. In 2013, the third British Electric Foundation album,** _**Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 3: Dark**_ **, was released, featuring contributions by Boy George, Andy Bell, and Kim Wilde, among others.**
**WARE:** After I produced Erasure's _I Say I Say I Say_ [in 1994], Vince Clarke said, "Would Heaven 17 consider supporting us on our [1997] arena tour?" We'd never performed live, but the next thing you know, we're performing in front of 15,000 people at the NEC [National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England]—the first major gig we'd ever played. We've not looked back since.
I'm not surprised the material has lasted, to be honest. I'm flattered, but good songs are good songs. It makes no difference to me when they were made. We're not nostalgists, so we don't perform them in that sense. We're always looking to refresh the way they sound, and we keep getting younger and younger players in the band to make us look even more old. People go, "It's a nostalgia trip," and the majority of our audience is people of our age, but there is a significant proportion who caught on via their parents or who go to eighties clubs. There's an eighties club at least once a week in every town, village, everywhere in the U.K. The people who go to these clubs are 20-somethings; they're not people my age. The collaboration with La Roux, for instance, was instigated by her, not us. She was talking about how her major influence was Heaven 17. To her, we were almost as relevant as Bowie. The thought that you were being accorded that kind of status is almost inconceivable. Looking back, we always believed that we had longevity, but 30 years? I could have seen 10, but not 30.
**_"COME ON EILEEN"_**
has a worse problem than a one-hit wonder? An unjustified one-hit wonder. A group with a history, a following, and a bulging back catalog in their home country who are known elsewhere only for a single song whose success they are frustratingly unable to repeat. Spandau Ballet suffered from this stigma. So did A-ha. But no one was less deserving of this fate than Dexys Midnight Runners. America knows them for one song: a fiddle-and-banjo-fueled, knees-up staple at weddings, wakes, and bar brawls. But there was so much more to Dexys than that. "Come On Eileen" caught them in the middle of a constant evolution. The Dexys of 1980 were an enraged, Stax-style soul revue with a bludgeoning horn section who dressed like New York dockworkers. By the time they'd reached their third album, the horns were gone and the band were clad in preppy attire. Every musical phase, every visual transformation, sprang from the feverish, churning imagination of Kevin Rowland. A lightning rod for controversy and, on occasion, a laughable figure, Rowland took himself and his band deadly seriously. When he was unhappy with the quality of the band's debut album, _Searching for the Young Soul Rebels_ , he made off with the master tapes, refusing to return them until the label acceded to his demands. Unhappy at how he was portrayed in the British music press, he stopped doing interviews and had his hapless label pay for advertising space for him to pen essays about his various philosophies. Ironic that such a driven, obsessive, humorless figure would end up being best known for a silly sing-along song, but such is the fate of the unjustified one-hit wonder.
**JB: You know that Adam Ant lyric from "Goody Two Shoes," the one he addresses to a guy who's kneeling, crying words that he means, opening someone's eyeballs and pretending that he's Al Green? That's about Kevin Rowland. The image conjured up is one seared into the memories of British Dexys fans: Rowland, wild-eyed and unsmiling, clad in black, haranguing the audience over an endlessly repeating brass riff about soul and passion and some revelation he was forever trying to explain to us but could never find a way to express. We hung on his every word, or more accurately, every yelp, because the music was so consistently brilliant and so consistently different. The debut album, 1980's _Searching for the Young Soul Rebels_ , was a blast of anger and contempt that crucified hipsters and anti-Irish jokes while lionizing sixties soul footnote Geno Washington, the subject of Dexys' first U.K. number one. _Too-Rye-Aye_ emphasized strings over brass and uplift over outrage. The contentious _Don't Stand Me Down_ is a six-song epic featuring more monologues than actual singing. The 27-years-late follow-up, 2013's _One Day I'll Soar_ , is a stripped-down, affecting album that sounds like it was made by a man who's lived a long, hard life. There comes a time when you're happy not to hear any new music from your idols, no matter how much time, love, and money you've invested in them over the years. It's not like that for Dexys fans: We're in it for life.**
**LM: Rowland and my aunt Eileen are of Irish descent. So, I'd always believed, was Dexys and the knee-slapping, jig-inducing "Come On Eileen." I was shocked when I learned that Rowland and Co. actually hail from Birmingham, England—the same hometown as my beloved Durans, who would never be caught dead in Dexys' "Eileen"-era overalls. Decades and countless listens to "Come On Eileen" later, I still have no idea what the lyrics are beyond "Poor old Johnny Ray," but I have to hand it to Rowland: He penned the most well-known song in this book.**
**KEVIN ROWLAND:** I had nothing to lose. Nothing. I was going nowhere. I could have ended up in prison. That is not being dramatic. I miraculously escaped prison. I don't think I would have survived. Music saved me. I was the kind of guy who would get into a lot of trouble, a lot of fights. I felt I was a fuckup, and there was no way I was going to take this music thing lightly.
We started with a blank canvas. I remember waking up in the summer of '78, two or three weeks after [Rowland's punk band] the Killjoys had broken up, and thinking, _Hang on a minute, let's start something completely fresh. Let's dream it first._ I literally did just that. I dreamed, "It's going to sound great, it's going to have a brass section, and we've got to look great." I felt hemmed in by punk at the end, and I just thought, _Everything had been leading me to this. This is going to be more than a band._
It wasn't about aping soul. I know we said "soul" a lot. _Searching for the Young Soul Rebels._ We probably shouldn't have done. I think that limited us slightly. It was more than soul; it was soulful, it was pop. I think we just thought it was really cool to say "soul" at that time because nobody was talking about soul in 1978, so we saw the potential to be a bit radical.
It happened a bit too fast. Christ, it happened really quick. We did a tour in March–April [1980]. It was called the Straight from the Heart tour. It was fantastic. We really felt we were building something. You'd go on stage to about 400 people a night, and they didn't know anything about it except for the first single, "Dance Stance." We'd probably recorded "Geno" then, but it wasn't out. We'd win the audiences over every night—by the end of the show, they were all on our side. Then we had the number-one single, which was great. But then we did shows, and the album hadn't come out yet, so most people, all they knew was "Geno," and they'd come along to the show wanting 10 "Geno"s. But we had some versatility, some variety, different moods. I found that tour a bit of hard work.
We didn't really have much experience, we didn't have experienced managers, and we were going out on these tours and no one was looking after the money. We signed two 50-page contracts: one publishing, one recording. I started to read the front page: Hereafter... thereby... whereby... wherefore. In the end, I just said, "Give us a pen." That's show business.
I was a bit uptight. I don't think I was angry—I probably was. I was always trying to stop smoking. I was always two days on, two days off. I was forever withdrawing from cigarettes. I was probably angry about that. I probably wrote a lot of these songs when I was two days off the fags.
Before "Come On Eileen," we were on our uppers [U.K. slang for "going through hard times"]. It had been two years since the previous number one. We'd changed labels, and the records had done all right but not great, and at least one hadn't done anything at all. We weren't exactly flavor of the month at the record company. There was talk of them dropping us, and a lot of other people like Adam Ant had come through. I always want what I haven't got—or I used to. I was hankering after pop success at that point. I'm not saying we wrote it with that in mind. Oh, that I would be that clever. But we did write it, like everything we did, the best we possibly could. We worked our arses off. Every detail counted.
We weren't trying to make a happy song. I liked songs that reminded you of the summer, like the Beach Boys, like "Do Anything You Wanna Do" by Eddie and the Hot Rods, like "Concrete and Clay" by Unit 4 + 2—good songs that sounded good in the summer. And "Come On Eileen"] really worked. It's got so many different rhythms going on. It's got the [sings intro] bom-bom-bom, bom-bom-bom. It's got the banjos, and then you got the piano. We worked really hard on it. **[***
We really enjoyed it when it was going up the charts, but I must admit the tread-mill of going around touring everywhere and doing promotion I found exhausting. You're going to America and you're doing an interview while you're having your breakfast. I'm not very good as a pro, and I wasn't prepared to schlep around America. We did two three-week tours, and after that I was like, I want to go home.
We did the demo for the next album [1985's _Don't Stand Me Down_ ], and when the manager came round to my flat and I played it for him, he made that noise, that intake of breath, like "Oooh, are you sure about this? You could lose everything you've got." And I was thinking, _What the fuck have I got?_ I just felt like I was an arm of the record company. I felt I had to keep a smile up because everybody I knew was going, "You should be really happy. Things are going so well for you everywhere." And I was thinking, _Yeah, I should be happy, shouldn't I? What's wrong with me?_ I didn't think I deserved it. I thought other people would be jealous of me, and I thought the band would be jealous. I just got really paranoid and withdrawn, but I had to keep on smiling, or thought I did. I didn't even have a car. I was in Birmingham. I would get on the bus and the driver would say, "Can you come back to the depot and meet everybody?" That happened in taxis too. I didn't want to disappoint people, but everywhere I went, it just seemed relentless. I liked it on the way up, the first couple of months, but the workload coupled with pressure, and suddenly, a whole organization developed around us, all depending on you and all smiling at you.
*** "BIG" JIM PATERSON, Dexys trombonist, "Come On Eileen" co-writer: "I can't understand how people can dance to it. It's an awkward tempo—the slow-down, stop, speed-up thing. How can you keep up?"**
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
_**Don't Stand Me Down**_ **divided critics and ended the band as a U.K. commercial force. Subsequently, the album's cult following has blossomed, and it is revered as a neglected classic. The group called it a day in 1986. Rowland released two solo albums,** _**The Wanderer**_ **(1988) and, 11 years later, the notorious** _**My Beauty**_ **(a.k.a. the one where he wears a dress on the cover). After Rowland's protracted battle with cocaine and numerous attempts to reunite the band, Dexys started playing live again in 2003. Rowland announced a new album in 2005. Seven years later, that album,** _**One Day I'm Going to Soar**_ **, was released to acclaim. The band has been successfully touring Britain since the record's release, including a stint in London's posh West End. They play the entire album every show.**
**ROWLAND:** Not that I don't think ["Come On Eileen"] is a classic. It probably is. I'm not ready to look back. I'm just always thinking about now, and I'm grateful for the money. Not that we had the most amazing deal ever, but we get money from it, and it's enabled us to be where we are now. If I hear it, it's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's a really good song, and we're glad that it's been successful. But we're known as one-hit wonders in America, and that's not something I'm happy about. I know it's better than being a no-hit wonder, but over here [in the U.K., in case you forgot] we're known for a lot more. All right, the main thing we're known for is "Come On Eileen," and some would know us from "Geno," but there are quite a few people who know about our albums and what we're really about and who follow us now. We've had a great response to [ _One Day I'm Going to Soar_ ], and, God willing, that's going to change things for us in America. But who knows? I haven't got the highest expectations.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs Named After Girls** 1. "Louise," The Human League 2. "Christine," Siouxsie and the Banshees 3. "Charlotte Sometimes," The Cure 4. "Stand Down Margaret," English Beat 5. "Joan of Arc," Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
**_"I WANT CANDY"_**
You're Malcolm McLaren. The world sees you as the Situationist Svengali responsible for the Sex Pistols. But when your brainchild implodes as messily and unexpectedly as they exploded, what do you do for an encore? In 1980, McLaren kicked Adam Ant out of his own band and recruited a 13-year-old Anglo-Burmese schoolgirl to front his new creation. Like the refurbished Ants, Bow Wow Wow were a heady collision of Burundi drumming and twangy surf guitar. But in Annabella Lwin, the group found they'd recruited less a traditional lead singer and more a human popcorn popper. Her breathless shrieks, giggles, gurgles, and growls infused Bow Wow Wow's early material with a giddy innocence that, in the U.K. at least, would prove the group's salvation and undoing. McLaren's attempt to wring fresh outrage from the British public by putting his grubby fingerprints all over his underage leading lady's unspoiled youth was deflated by Lwin's natural effervescence. By the time America took notice, Bow Wow Wow had ditched the breakneck tempo and the flirtation with adolescent exploitation and evolved into a more muscular, more traditional pop band. A mere three years after they formed, the group unceremoniously kicked Lwin to the curb and brought the curtain down on Bow Wow Wow. It was a premature end to a career that might have had a little more mileage, but, then again, Bow Wow Wow was not a group that needed to grow up or get any older.
**JB: Was Malcolm McLaren a genius? Did he brilliantly choreograph every chapter in the Sex Pistols' short history? Did he simply hang on for the ride after the band swore up a storm on Bill Grundy's TV show in 1976? My inclination is to answer the preceding questions no, no, and yes. But the Malcolm McLaren of 1980? The one who got the then-mighty EMI Corporation to bankroll a band fronted by a girl singing about taping songs off the radio onto blank cassettes as if it were a seditious act that struck at the heart of the bloated music industry? That guy was a goddamn Nostradamus. I'm okay with "I Want Candy," and I appreciated producer Mike Chapman's steering the group in a mid-period Blondie direction. But the beautiful, frenetic music Bow Wow Wow produced between "C30 C60 C90 Go" and "See Jungle (Jungle Boy)" was the sound of a young woman's triumph over a charming charlatan who did not have her best interests at heart.**
**LM: Annabella was my first girl crush. She was my age, she had that Mohawk, she posed naked on that album cover, and in the video for "I Want Candy," her exotic, bronze skin glistened in the sun. I loved the way she emerged from the sea like a teenage Bo Derek. The guys in the group flashed a lot of skin too, but I barely noticed. Annabella was the epitome of new wave cool. In the summer of '82, "I Want Candy" was an anthem for being young and carefree. It captured the singer at her sassiest; she was provocative without being skanky. Naked, she exuded more innocence than a fully buttoned-up Rihanna. There were other female pop stars I admired—Olivia Newton-John, Pat Benatar, Annie Lennox—but none I could relate to as a teen. And now, three decades on, when I'm a mature, married woman, with all the responsibility that entails... I'd still do her.**
**LEIGH GORMAN:** I'd just joined Adam and the Ants, and Malcolm comes along and he goes, "Well, Adam, your music is rubbish." He had us spellbound in the rehearsal room, just sitting there smoking Marlboros and intimidating us. Malcolm didn't like me. He said, "He's too much of a muso; he's not a punk. You need to find some kid in a club who can't really play." Adam said, "No, this guy's good. He might come up with something." So they put me to one side and said, "If you want to stay in this band, you're gonna have to come up with some good ideas."
[Malcolm and Adam] put [drummer Dave Barbarossa, guitarist Matthew Ashman, and me] in the rehearsal room and said, "We want you to reinterpret these songs." There were 23 songs on a cassette that Adam put together. One was "Rave On," another was "Mystery Train," another was "Hello Hello" by Gary Glitter. There was some Turkish belly dance music, and there was a song called "Burundi Black," this drum record that was out in the seventies. I played a little African drum to it, and I thought, _Sounds like the little legs of ants going_. I drew a mind map of what I thought "Antmusic" [might sound] like. When Malcolm and Adam came down to the rehearsal room, we played "Hello Hello" and "Rave On," and Malcolm looked at us and said, "Your band's rubbish. You should fire them." Then someone said, "We've got one more song." It was the African thing. Malcolm went, "Right, that's your ticket."
Turns out Dave Barb was into Latin music, and he found he had a flair for coming up with all these different Latin roots. So we had the African and the Latin thing, and we combined them. Malcolm and Adam would give us a yay or nay. We all thought any one of us was going to get fired any minute if we didn't come up with the goods. But Adam wasn't getting in on our groove. His lyrics and vocals weren't fitting on top of the music. Malcolm has a cruel sense of humor. He would push us to one side and say to Adam, "You stand over there." He would look at us and go, "Yeah that's really good," and look at Adam and shake his head.
Then Malcolm brought someone who he said was an engineer and had a studio that we could record in. He listened to us play, then they took me and Dave to a pub, and Malcolm said, "This guy is not an engineer. He's a musical arranger from the West End, and I brought him down to evaluate you. He said you two are great, the guitar player is OK, but the singer is crap." He has no idea about punk rock or Adam's history. Then [McLaren] said, "I'm going to give you this option: You can be your own band and not just an employee of Adam. You find a new singer, you've got this sound, and I'll be your manager."
I wasn't happy. I thought, _Adam supported me when Malcolm tried to get rid of me._ But we also thought, _Malcolm must know what he's talking about._ But I didn't feel it was right, going behind someone's back. And I didn't think Adam was that bad, but I did feel that he wasn't fitting in with our music. But I thought that it would come in time. But I also thought maybe Adam wouldn't like me in a month and would fire me. So we decided to go with our own band. Looking back, though, it was a mistake to get rid of Adam. 'Cause Adam was definitely a star.
**"Malcolm had a saying: 'If you want to have a successful band, you have to have sex, style, and subversion.'"**
The next day, we came to rehearsals, and Adam knew something was up. Dave—he'd been with him for three or four years in Adam and the Ants—said, "Adam, I want to leave the band. We've got something special going on here, and it seems like you're not into it."
Then Adam said, "What about you, Leigh?" And I went, "Well, actually, I'm with Dave." So Adam went, "I suppose it's just going to be me and Matt." And Matthew said, "Well, actually, Adam..." And Adam went, "Oh my God! I'm getting kicked out of my own band!"
I could see Malcolm sitting at the back, smoking his Marlboro like a little Mephistophelian, a little devil smiling as all the smoke rose above him. I thought, _This isn't funny. It's cruel._ Adam was very, very upset. Then Malcolm said, "Okay, Adam. Let's go upstairs and have a cup of tea." I thought, _Well, good luck to him. I hope he does well._ I didn't realize he'd do that well!
When we were looking for a new singer, we didn't care whether it was male, female, black, white, Chinese. We wanted the band to be multicultural. We were looking for something like Frankie Lymon, like a black 13-year-old. We wanted someone special, someone who was different in some way. Annabella's being young, female, and Asian was different. She had a certain naïveté, and when she got on the mic, she just blasted it out.
**ANNABELLA LWIN:** I never wanted to be famous. I never had any of those aspirations. I wanted to be an air stewardess. I used to sing along to records and to Cliff Richard when he was on TV. I thought he could see me. The day I was discovered, I was working at my Saturday job [at Shamrock Express, a dry cleaner in North West London] and singing along to the radio. I was very, very shy, so why I was chosen to be in the band, I don't know. You'd have to ask Malcolm McLaren, but, God rest his soul, he's no longer here. I think he found my background interesting, because I am half Burmese, half English. I was a girl who was at school one day and, after the audition for Malcolm, I joined the band and was told I'd have to leave school.
My relationship with Malcolm was pretty good. I got on as well with him as any person could. I think he was 50 at the time. I was 14. He was in the studio when I was recording the early stuff, and he inspired me just by talking to me. I had a fondness for the English countryside; it was the most beautiful place to visit when I was a child. Malcolm heard me talking about the country, and that's where "Go Wild in the Country" came from. He told me, "This is you going down to the country, and how do you feel about that?" He really made me use my imagination. The only thing I didn't like about the lyrics to that song were the lines, "I don't like you / I don't like your town." I said to Malcolm, "Why would I say that? It makes no sense." He said, "You're talking about going from London to the countryside, where snakes in the grass are absolutely free." Some of the songs were written before I even came on board, like "Sexy Eiffel Towers." When Malcolm told me it was about falling off the Eiffel Tower, I believed it. Later, I found out it was from a French porno film. He was a great storyteller.
**GORMAN:** Malcolm had a saying: "If you want to have a successful band, you have to have sex, style, and subversion." That was his formula, and he tried to introduce that with Annabella. We rebelled against that a bit because she was too young. But a little didn't hurt. I thought [the 1981 _See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah. City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!_ album cover, where Lwin is sitting naked on a picnic blanket next to her fully clothed male bandmates] was a good, artistic idea. It wasn't too lewd; it wasn't too lascivious. You wouldn't get away with it now, 'cause standards are different. It's based on a painting by Manet called _Le déjeneur sur l'herbe—The Luncheon in the Grass_ —and it was risqué, obviously. But I thought it was tasteful, and it was an artistic statement. Annabella went along with it—she was a little trouper. I think her mum objected to it. I'm a parent now; I understand. That's why we dialed down a lot of the nonsense. I'm not sure she was quite aware of it. When she wasn't around, we would say, "No, no, that's too much." I felt like we were her older brothers.
**MIXTAPE: 5 More New Wave Cover Versions** 1. "Always Something There to Remind Me," Naked Eyes 2. "Rock 'N' Roll/ Nightclubbing," The Human League 3. "If You Want Me to Stay," Ronny 4. "Femme Fatale," Propaganda 5. "Memphis Tennessee," Silicon Teens
**LWIN:** The rest of the group were all in their 20s. I didn't really have any chemistry with them. Matthew was the only guy in the band I felt a connection with. How can I put this without it sounding really, really strange? It's like you meet people, and you either click or you don't, right? I didn't spend a lot of time with them. I got on stage, and whatever happened, happened. In those days, I didn't speak very much because I was told not to. I didn't really enjoy the experience with the guys in the band, let's put it that way. If you've seen any footage of interviews I've done back in those days, you can see I'm very short and sharp and pretty aloof. I've seen some footage, and I think I must come across like a really cocky young girl. But I was very shy, very unconfident. I had no idea what I was doing. I look at that girl now, and I don't know who she was.
**GORMAN:** Me and Malcolm took "Go Wild in the Country" round to the publishers, and they went, "Well, that's not quite strong enough." And the American branch of RCA said we needed a more radio-friendly song, otherwise they weren't going to give us any tour support.
So we were thinking, plotting: What could we do? I go, "Let's do a cover. What about a classic bubblegum song?" Bubblegum songs had great hooks, and we could update one with our percussive vibe. A guy called Steve Leeds, who worked with [Joan Jett and the Blackhearts manager-producer] Kenny Laguna, suggested "I Want Candy" by the Strangeloves. It had a fantastic hook, lots of connotations and meanings, and it's a love song about someone in a sunny way.
They flew us to Miami, put us in a posh house with a cook and a maid and a swimming pool. We'd never experienced anything like that. They'd spent a fortune—which, of course, we had to pay back over the years—and put us in a studio with Kenny, who was part of that era, so he seemed perfect for it. We hadn't actually heard it properly yet at that point, so we were given cassettes at the airport; we put 'em in our Walkman, and we were listening to it on the way to the house.
We arranged it live. We had it in an hour. It has a great rhythm, and it caught the moment of when we were recording it. It caught our performance style, our joie de vivre. We were used to working with producers in London, where it's gray and cold. And here we are, the sun is shining, we're in a big, expensive studio, we've got a funny, friendly producer who seems to manage our personalities and make us feel good. When we recorded, they had the lights, all my rig, tons of speakers all set up, Joan Jett in the control room, all their family, all the [Blackhearts]. When Annabella did her vocals, he made her feel special, made her feel comfortable, and I think that boosted her performance.
**LWIN:** I can honestly say when I first heard my vocals on "I Want Candy," I was stunned. I was thinking, _Is that me? Who's that girl singing?_ Because I actually sounded good. That was the first song on which I actually sounded like a singer. The way they produced it, it was brilliant. It stands the test of time. Such a shame it was the only song we ever did with them. I don't know what happened.
**GORMAN:** We tried to [work with Laguna again], but while we were mixing, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" went to number one, and I think they were inundated with too much to do.
**LWIN:** I wasn't involved in the decision-making process. I was just told to sing the song. But it brought us a new audience, and the difference over here [in the United States] is they really appreciate if you can perform live—more than they seemed to appreciate it in the U.K.
The original Ants kicked out Adam, who was the lead singer, and history repeated itself with me. [My firing] was sprung on me. I read in the music press that apparently I'd stormed off stage, which I've never done, even to this day, with any band I've worked with. I don't understand what happened. I've worked with the bass player [Gorman] since, and he keeps telling me, "I was in the hospital." You were in the band—what do you mean you were in the hospital? Things are not clear. People are avoiding the truth, and I speak the truth. I was a young girl in a rock 'n' roll band with three guys. The next thing I know, the three guys had basically kicked me out and formed another band. I'm certainly not going to take any blame for that.
**GORMAN:** It's true: I was in hospital. I don't know why she doesn't believe me. Annabella's mum was a head nurse, and they put me in the ward with people with lung cancer and TB, 'cause I couldn't breathe properly. Matthew was in a bad way too. He was coming down with diabetes—he didn't know it; it was undiagnosed. He was going blind, and it was probably affecting his mental state.
I got wind of what was going on from [Barbarossa and Ashman]. We were at our height, and they were dissatisfied with her. I think they wanted a guy singer and to be less pop. I actually called Annabella and said, "They're thinking of leaving the band and doing something else." And she said, "Oh, Leigh. You're making a mountain out of a molehill." Then they decided to [fire her] without me.
**LWIN:** Why would anyone break up a band that was doing well? Nobody at any record company wanted that to happen. I think the mistake that's made is when bands have a lead singer, they seem to get upset or, dare I say, jealous that the lead singer gets all the attention. The truth is, of course the lead singer will get a degree of attention, because that's who connects with the audience. It's the only human element in the equation. The bass player plugs in his bass; the drummer bashes away on the drums. With all due respect, I'm not demeaning them; I'm just stating a fact. Every lead singer since time immemorial will always get more attention. You need to understand this. If you cannot have that kind of relationship within a band, the band will split up, which is obviously what happened. I was in the band three years. I gave up school and my friends to be able to work on the road and sell the band and perform as lead singer as well as write songs, and I have to read they're getting rid of me in the _NME_? It was a huge blow at the time—a huge blow. It's a shock for anyone to realize the people they're working with don't have the courtesy to let you know. How would you take it if you were told, "Tomorrow, the job's finished," and you've got no money? And I was 17.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Gorman, Barbarossa, and Ashman spent a brief time playing together as Chiefs of Relief. Ashman died in 1995. Gorman reunited with Lwin, first in an attempt to launch her as a solo star, then as part of a rebooted Bow Wow Wow. The two recorded and toured together until December 2012, when Lwin suddenly departed mid-tour. In January 2013, Lwin appeared as the opening act—billed as Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow—on Midge Ure's U.S. tour. The band's version of "I Want Candy" has become the blueprint for terrible punk bands and awful teen acts to record. Among those failing to reach the heights of the '82 version: Good Charlotte, Bouncing Souls, Aaron Carter, Westlife, Melanie C, Cody Simpson, and Jedward. Among those succeeding: potato chip giant Pringles and its "I Want Pringles" jingle.**
**GORMAN:** Chiefs of Relief was a good band but nothing like Bow Wow Wow. We put out a single called "Holiday." They had a roundtable on BBC Radio on the new singles released, and on the panel was Adam Ant. Adam says, "God, is that what they're doing now? That's terrible." Then my mum called me: "What the hell are you doing? You had that great band—why have you faded?" I should have stuck with Annabella and carried on Bow Wow Wow without them.
**LWIN:** People tell me I was ahead of my time. I still get that today. And they seem to be getting younger. They have all-ages shows where I have these young girls, five- to eight-year-olds, looking at me.
I always sound like I was this bitchy, angry, attitudinal young girl when I was in my teens, and God knows, I was none of that. It's all down to collaboration and who you're working with. It doesn't always work out in bands. Our career was only three years. I hope I can continue to sing and write songs and perform. I went on to try and pursue a career in music in the U.K., but unfortunately they said I was too old. I really think that if the music industry is to survive, they need to get rid of this ageist thing. You can't package a human being to the extent where they become unreal. When you get on stage in front of 1,000 people, they just want to feel something, and that's where I come from.
**_"I KNOW WHAT BOYS LIKE"_**
ew York's achingly hip ZE Records was dubbed "the world's most fashionable record label" by the _Face_ , whose contributors knew of which they spoke. ZE's catalog was adored by tastemakers, critics, and DJs. It released smart, witty, cynical, self-satisfied dance records by the untouchably cool likes of Cristina, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Was (Not Was), Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and Material. ZE never courted mainstream success and would've professed to have been appalled had they achieved it. Fittingly, the closest ZE came to connecting with a popular audience was with a band that didn't exist—at least, not at first. An Akron, Ohio, art-pop outfit, the Waitresses were dreamed up by Chris Butler as a vehicle for a scratchy, stuttering, put-down song crying out for a female vocal. Butler would eventually find his voice and his muse in Clevelander Patty Donahue, who delivered his words with the sass and gum-chewing snap of a screwball-comedy heroine. As the Waitresses gradually evolved into an actual band, they occupied a unique position somewhere between the honking, atonal jittery rhythms of New York's no wave scene and the pop star allure of Donahue's trash-talking, tough chick. While ZE's back catalog is still adored by tastemakers, critics, and DJs, the Waitresses, almost by accident, are responsible for two of the label's best-known records—one a novelty hit, the other a Christmas song—which are kept alive by the love of the unhip.
**JB: There was a time I would leave the house. I would willingly go and see bands, and I would harbor the hope that they would be good. During this uncharacteristic period, I suffered through what seemed like a lifetime of bands who just stood there. The visiting American bands did not just stand there. The B-52s didn't just stand there. The Cramps didn't just stand there. And neither did the Waitresses. All I knew of them when I went to see them play Glasgow's Satellite City was that one taunting single. It's possible I caught them on an exceptionally good night, but what I saw was a very tight but also very chaotic group (like the Muppet Show band, in that respect) with a set list so preoccupied by the romantic misadventures of its wisecracking chick singer that it was almost like being at a musical—only without the terrible music. It's one of the few times seeing a band live persuaded me to purchase their album, and the only time it didn't turn out to be a huge mistake.**
**LM: Before _Valley Girl_ , before John Hughes's Molly Ringwald trilogy, there was _Square Pegs_. It aired for just one prime-time TV season, from 1982 to '83, but, _omigod_ , it was, like, the best show ever. Its cast of characters was awash in cool coifs and lurid new wave attire, their bedrooms were festooned with Berlin and Missing Persons posters. There was also a bat mitzvah performance by Devo, and of course, that catchy, singsongy theme tune by the Waitresses: "Square pegs, square pegs / Square, square." Head Waitress Donahue was like a real-life version of the show's Jennifer DeNuccio: aloof, scary, and seemingly slutty, but not really. Sure, she knew what boys liked, she knew what guys wanted, but she didn't let them have it. ("Sucker. Ha ha ha!")**
**CHRIS BUTLER:** Women's sexual power is pretty obvious. In this case, I was living in Akron, and there was a bar on our high street called the Bucket Street. It was our local watering hole, and it was an interesting mix of bohemians and lawyers and politicians and artists. At the time, I had a record deal, I didn't have a girlfriend, and all these lawyers were going home with hotties up the ying-yang, while I'm going home alone. I was getting a little bitter about that. The song is not polite, although it does seem to capture the empowering of women. The dirty little secret about "I Know What Boys Like" is that it's me going, "What's wrong with me? Go home with me! I'm horny!"
I liked Patty Donahue's deadpan delivery. She was a girl about town, and she was a firecracker and a fun person. She was willing to give it a try on my demo. I guess I can claim that I had a little bit of an idea what I wanted, but it wasn't that calculated. She could play that role really easily; she was a tough party girl. I was like, "Just do that thing where the guy comes up to you at the bar who you don't want to do the deal with," and she goes, "Oh yeah, I know how to do that." She brought a nonthreatening kind of puckish manner. The idea was "I'm gonna be playful here, but in the end I'm gonna say no. I'm gonna toy with you a little bit, but in the end, sorry. No score."
I was in a band from Akron called Tin Huey—very influenced by Kraftwerk, Matching Mole, anything with Robert Wyatt. As a song, ["I Know What Boys Like"] was the complete opposite of what I thought I wanted to do and nothing that Tin Huey would think was aesthetically correct. I presented the song to them as a goof—maybe Tin Huey should have a side project that does pop stuff—and they all just thought it was crap. But they were generous enough that, after a Tin Huey show, [Patty and I] would do it for an encore. We would put on these T-shirts that a wonderful diner in the town of Kent gave us that said "Waitresses Unite." It wasn't a real band. It was a fake name, and Patty would come up and Tin Huey would do a "Waitresses" set, two or three numbers, and have a laugh.
Tin Huey ran its course. We got dropped from Warner Bros. We had two records left in our contract, and they gave us a butt-load of money to go away, and we did. We split up the money and moved to the New York area. Tin Huey had done very well in New York. It was the only place we had done well. I had that version of "I Know What Boys Like," and I played it to a couple of people, and they thought it was a hit. This guy named Mark Kamins, who was a DJ at Danceteria, flipped over it. He played it a couple of times one night, then the next day he took it up to Island Records and said, "I want a job as an A&R man, because I can sign stuff like this." And they wanted to sign it. They said, "Where's the band?" I lied and said, "They're back in Ohio." Island said they wanted to sign the Waitresses for a single, and they needed a B-side. So I got some folks together. I convinced Patty. I sent her my last 50 bucks to come to New York. Her boyfriend drove her to the bus terminal, and she went off to the big city. She flew from Boston to New York, and we put a band together. I was able to cobble together some of the Contortions, and we recorded the B-side, "No Guilt." Then Island had its first number one, "Video Killed the Radio Star." The A&R guy in the U.K. did not like "I Know What Boys Like," and it got bumped down to Antilles, their sublabel. It did well enough to where they were thinking about putting out an album, and I thought, _Okay, maybe I should put together a real band._
Our contract was traded like a football star over to ZE Records, and we recorded our album [ _Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful_ , 1982], but "I Know What Boys Like" continued to crawl along. It never hit number one, but it got caught in the hierarchy of the social consciousness, and it stayed there.
With the Waitresses, there's a veneer of pop, but if you try to dissect the music, I think the musicians flatter the hell out of me. It's pretty fucking complicated and sophisticated for a "pop" band, but that was a bit of a sleight of hand I was trying to achieve because I wanted to keep my job and feed everybody, do something the record company liked and something Patty could handle. She was a great actress, but she didn't have great pipes. She wasn't a full-throated singer. She was great with character and story lines.
We talked a lot [about a male writing lyrics for a woman to sing]. It wasn't any big deal that there were once no women in Shakespeare's plays, but this was a little different because I came up with a character who was half based on the wisecracking school of comedy from the 1930s and half on me kind of wanting a big sister to explain what's going on. I wanted to—how shall I say this politely?—know the enemy. I tried to get it right as much as a man could. In hindsight, I didn't think there was anybody writing that type of character. I loved the confessional side of the stuff that Marianne Faithfull was doing. That was brutal in its honesty. I thought, _Gee, how come nobody else is doing that in the mainstream? How come it's either a rock tart or a party girl or a sensitive folk singer?_ How come there's no sort of manic pixie with a feminist streak who's just trying to get through life? It was part of my modus operandi.
**MIXTAPE: 5 More Quirky, Female-Fronted Songs** 1. "Give Me Back My Man," The B-52s 2. "How to Pick Up Girls," The Little Girls 3. "Who Does Lisa Like?," Rachel Sweet 4. "Lucky Number," Lene Lovich 5. "Call Me Every Night," Jane Aire and the Belvederes
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**The Waitresses released an EP, _I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts,_ and their final album, 1983's _Bruiseology_. The group disbanded in 1984. Donahue died of lung cancer in 1996. "I Know What Boys Like" has been covered many, many times, mostly poorly. Among the culprits: Tracey Ullman, Shampoo, Vitamin C, the Bouncing Souls (also responsible for roughing up the Bow Wow Wow version of "I Want Candy"). It was performed on _Glee_ —by that show's worst-ever character (and it sets a sky-high bar!), the overconfident Lauren Zizes. And Katharine McPhee sucked all the fun out of the song when she performed it in _The House Bunny._**
**The Waitresses recorded another song that never went away: 1981's seasonal classic "Christmas Wrapping," which was also performed on _Glee_ , this time by that show's best-ever character, Brittany S. Pierce.**
**BUTLER:** "I Know What Boys Like" is a period piece now, and I'm amazed. I thought it was a novelty record. It seems to make people laugh. It makes women feel sexy when they sing it. It's a gay anthem. It's a gift. I'm not living on the Riviera, and I'm not driving a Maserati. Harvard? Forget it. But my kid will be able to go to the finest trade school in America. I did hold on to my publishing. It goes up and down over the years, but I am very grateful that [the song's] stuck to the culture. It's evocative of an era. It's turned out to be utilitarian for sampling or setting the musical theme to supplement a movie scene or TV show.
I have two half-hits. I'm as flabbergasted about "Christmas Wrapping" as I am about "I Know What Boys Like." Thank you, world. Even the Spice Girls couldn't ruin it.
_**"WARM LEATHERETTE"**_
In the same way that we put blind faith in fresh offerings from HBO, AMC, FX, and occasionally Showtime, based on their previous output, we used to put trust in record labels. We bought releases from Rough Trade because its zero-budget track record was incredibly consistent, from ZTT because of the grandiosity of Trevor Horn's production and Paul Morley's bombard-and-confuse approach to marketing, and from Factory Records because of Peter Saville's iconic sleeves. And we purchased whatever Mute Records put out because of Daniel Miller's taste in electronic music. He brought us tunes that popped like bubbles; he brought us painful, dark industrial noise; he brought us groups who passed the test of time and continue to thrive—and he brought us groups who didn't. (We don't mean you, I Start Counting.) But before he did any of that, he put out a track under the name the Normal, and that 1978 record played a big part in changing music for the next few decades.
**JB: "Warm Leatherette" and "T.V.O.D." couldn't have come at a better time. I was obsessed with punk, but I hadn't realized there would be so many Cockneys—so many phlegmy, shouty Cockneys fronting what were little better than the boogie outfits they'd displaced. As Sham 69 supplanted the Sex Pistols and punk lost the power to shock, the Normal released a record that was genuinely disconcerting. I was the type of teenager who memorized record reviews, which meant I could drop J. G. Ballard's name as the lyrical inspiration of "Warm Leatherette" without having read a word he'd written. I responded to the noise. I liked the machines; it sounded like the lead instrument was a dentist's drill. And I liked Miller's dead, detached delivery. Several formative electronic tracks were released in 1978: the Human League's "Being Boiled," Cabaret Voltaire's "Nag Nag Nag," Dr. Mix and the Remix's version of "No Fun." "Warm Leatherette" was the one that pointed me in the direction of the others—and away from the Boomtown Rats.**
**LM: Whenever Dave Kendall would spin "Warm Leatherette" at Communion, the weekly freak fest at New York's infamous Limelight, every punk, skin, goth, drag queen, and collegiate would assemble on the dance floor. Madonna and her voguing had nothing on us. We'd strike and alter our poses in time to the whirring of the power-drill effect, miming every word and taking particular pleasure when pointing to the "tear of petrol" in our eye. "Warm Leatherette" has no intro and no outro, and there's barely a bridge—just a few droning verses and a highly repetitive chorus courtesy of an anonymous male voice. Yet, it was our new wave rave's version of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration," inviting even those not outfitted in skin-tight PVC to join... the car crash set.**
**DANIEL MILLER:** Punk rock inspired me because it was a real kick in the teeth to all the shit that I already hated. It wasn't an awakening for me, because I'd had that years before. By 1970, I'd already rejected most Anglo-American music. I only listened to Krautrock and electronic music. I think Krautrock actually inspired a lot of punk. The very first time I heard the Ramones on _John Peel_ , I thought it was Neu!.
I made music from the age of 12—very bad music. I had a lot of ideas; I just couldn't express them at all. I was making music in a very frustrated way for many years before I got my first synthesizer, which is what turned a corner for me. I'd figured out that electronic music was actually pure punk music. Not punk rock but punk music—that's two different things. Punk rock was a type of music that was very important for a short period of time: '76 to '77. The punk aesthetic or ideal, which is the same as the hippie ideal—that do-it-yourself thing—does things that will change people's perceptions. I was already in my mid-20s. I said, "This is my moment to do something. If I'm going to do anything, this is the climate, the atmosphere, in which to do it." I started mucking around and realized that I could do a lot of the ideas that I couldn't with conventional instruments.
I was able to make the sounds that were in my head, and that was a big moment for me. I had a synthesizer and a tape recorder, and I had to hire a couple of extra things to make it into a record. I could only afford to hire those things for a day, so I cut both ["Warm Leatherette" and "T.V.O.D."] in a day. I just came up with these songs out of the blue. Well, not really out of the blue: "Warm Leatherette" was very deliberate lyrically. I was a big fan of J. G. Ballard. I'd been working on a film script for _Crash_ with a friend. Nothing came of it, but through working on that, I had a lot of visual ideas, and I condensed what was in my head into that song.
Most people, when they sing, put on a voice, either an American accent or some drawl or some acting thing. One of the ideas of it was that I didn't really put on a voice. I wanted it to be as dispassionate as possible.
When I decided to do this project, I went back to film editing. That had been my job. I can't remember sleeping; I was either working overtime in the cutting room or I was working at home on music. I earned as much money as I could [so that I could get] some test pressings made. I was going to press 500 copies, because that was the minimum. I went to a couple of shops to see if they wanted to buy any of them. I went to Rough Trade, and they loved it and said they'd like to distribute it. They gave me some money to press up 2,000 copies.
I left a couple of test pressings at Rough Trade, and they played it to a journalist called Jane Suck, who worked at Sounds. She had a pretty vitriolic tone and didn't suffer any fools. She gave it an amazing review—called it "single of the century." Then John Peel played it, and that made everything worthwhile.
I wanted to make a statement with that record about the possibilities of electronic music—how I felt it was the most accessible, democratic music, except for punk—and I think I did that. I didn't really plan to have a recording career. I didn't have songs pouring out of me. It was just one moment in time, which happened to work, and I didn't really know what I was going to do next.
The single sleeve had my address on it, so I was getting sent demo tapes because people thought I was a proper record label. Then a friend introduced me to his flatmate, Frank Tovey—Fad Gadget—and his were the first demos I really liked. He was 21 at the time; I was 25. We met up and found we shared a similar aesthetic, and there was humor in what we were doing. So I said, "Let's make a record."
We went into the studio. I had no experience; he had less than me. He made the first single [1980's "Back to Nature"] and that was _Mute 002_ , which was the first non-me release. That was the start of Mute Records as a label for other artists. It was very day-to-day. I didn't have any contracts with any of the artists—it was like, "Let's see how this goes." I quite liked being the person in the background helping the artist realize their vision. I actually enjoyed that more than making music, and I realized that's what I should be doing.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Mute was founded in 1978. Over the years, the label's roster has included Depeche Mode, Yaz, D.A.F., Moby, Goldfrapp, the Birthday Party, Einstürzende Neubauten, Laibach, Nitzer Ebb, and Erasure. Although Miller never subsequently recorded as the Normal, he found further pseudonymous success as Silicon Teens, a fictional teen-synth band best known for their cover of Chuck Berry's "Memphis, Tennessee." "Warm Leatherette" also lives on as the title track of Grace Jones's 1980 album. "I thought it was so funny," Miller says of the first time he heard the cover. "The title was appropriate for her, maybe not the lyrics. Her voice suited the song, even though she overacted it slightly."**
**MILLER:** Bands like Depeche or Soft Cell, Blancmange, Human League, OMD, Cabaret Voltaire—we were creating something new. You look at some of the big dance techno artists or whatever you want to call it—EDM; I hate that term—they're all super-influenced by Depeche and Yazoo and Human League and OMD. The number of people who say, "We heard Depeche, and that's what got us started"—it makes me cry almost, it moves me so much. You speak to Richie Hawtin [Plastikman], and he says, "The reason I'm making music is because of Depeche and Nitzer Ebb." We did our job. We brought electronic music to a much broader audience.
**MIXTAPE: 5 More Songs from Trustworthy Labels** 1. "Is That All There Is?," Cristina (ZE) 2. "Moments in Love," Art of Noise (ZTT) "The 'Sweetest' Girl," Scritti Politti (Rough Trade) 4. "You're No Good," ESG (Factory) 5. "Song to the Siren," This Mortal Coil (4AD)
**_"TOO SHY"_**
ajagoogoo were the first British pop band of the eighties who seemed to fall out of the sky and achieve instant worldwide success. Human League, Depeche Mode, and OMD had indie singles to their names; Duran Duran took a little while to sputter off the launchpad; Spandau Ballet inspired months of discussion and debate. But Kajagoogoo suddenly materialized with a name that sloshed around in the mouth like molasses, a singer with a mass of two-tone hair, and a bass-dominated debut single produced by Nick Rhodes and Duran knob-manipulator Colin Thurston. Kajagoogoo's success was massive, mocked, and brief. Few mourned their loss. But Kajagoogoo were also a bellwether for what was to come: pop bands without a past, that didn't look back any further than 1978, and pop bands that wanted to look weird and shocking without actually being weird and shocking.
**JB: Here's one of the core differences between me and my coauthor: She's a people person. In fact, she's a "People Are People" person. I'm neither. But I sort of enjoyed talking to Kajagoogoo singer Limahl. He was fairly candid and had a wry sense of humor and a degree of self-awareness. Which makes it harder for me to act on my natural impulse and shit on his band. So I'll briefly channel Teen Me, who found "Too Shy" both tedious and grating, and that "Hey girl, move a little closer" bit especially murderous. Older, Decrepit Me is slightly more diplomatic. Yes, that "Hey, girl" line is shameful, but it scored a direct hit on the pleasure zones of the audiences it was aimed at. And one thing I will say in the song's favor: Along with Gary Numan's "Music for Chameleons," Japan's "Visions of China," and Visage's "Night Train," "Too Shy" is one of the decade's best bass records.**
**LM: Don't forget "Rio"! As for "Too Shy," I'd forgotten just how funky it is. Credit the greatness of bassist Nick Beggs. I can still recall Zappa/Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo going on at length about Beggs's ability. Of course, as a young, obsessive Duranie, I was preoccupied with the fact that "Too Shy" was produced by Nick Rhodes, garnering him his first U.K. number one a couple of months ahead of his own band's inaugural chart–topper, "Is There Something I Should Know?" Oh, and the lyrics, "Moving in circles / Won't you dilate." So dirty!**
**LIMAHL:** I was raised in Wigan [on the outskirts of Manchester]. My dad was a miner. My two brothers went down the mines. I was expected to do the same. You got a job, you got married, you had kids, and then you're trapped. Nobody went to college where I lived; there were no aspirations. I was obsessed with music—that's how I escaped. I'd do anything to get money when I was younger. I had a paper round, I used to deliver bread, I'd clip people's hedges. It would take me all day to earn 50p. At the end of the day, I'd go straight down to the record shop with my 50p and buy a vinyl single. My dad thought I was completely deluded. He used to say, "Why have you gone out all day working for that money and then you wasted it on that one record?" And I was going, "But I like music, Dad."
I'd auditioned for bands looking for singers. I was really into everything that was synthesizer-based—Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Human League, Kraftwerk—but every band I went to meet was just thrashing guitars. So I put an ad in _Melody Maker_ looking for musicians, and I got a call from Nick Beggs. He was in a band called Art Nouveau. He said, "I know you're looking to form your own band, but do you want to come up anyway?" I said sure and hopped on a train to Leighton Buzzard.
They were very welcoming, and they had a synthesizer: a Korg Pro 1. It was making all these weeee-ooooh-oooh sounds, and it made the band sound modern. The energy was good, everybody was superfriendly, and there was a general desire to make it work.
At the time, Nick was a dustbin man [garbageman], and over the next year everybody left their jobs. It's that age when you can take chances like that. It was a lovely period when you've got no deadlines, no record company breathing down your neck, saying, "Where's the album?" I've still got a little cassette of when we were writing "Too Shy" in Nick's living room. It didn't seem that special. We had this beautiful intro, and then it got to the verse, and it just went off on a tangent. I said to Stuart [Neale], the keyboard player, "You've got to keep that going." That was the bed, the cushion, the lace on the bed. Thankfully, we got it right.
The name Kajagoogoo shocked people a bit, but we loved to shock. I was quite theatrical. I'd go out to nightclubs in London with a spaceman's outfit on and weird oil paint over my face, which was a bit punk/Toyah/ Adam and the Ants. I'd spend two and a half hours getting ready. Choosing the name was an extension of that. I remember I'd been to see an Agatha Christie movie called _The Mirror Crack'd_ , and I said we should call ourselves the Mirror Crack'd. But when Nick walked in one day—and Nick's really left of center, very bright, really out-there—he said, "What do you think of 'Kajagoogoo'?" I immediately loved it. The other three looked puzzled, but they came round over a few days.
My name was Chris Hamill when I met the band. About six months into our relationship, I decided I wanted a stage name. I thought Sting was cool, because it was one word and nobody else had that name. Because I'd come from acting, I knew that Judy Garland was Frances Gumm, and I worked with actors who had stage names and they weren't even famous. I was a big fan of ABBA, and we all know now that they got their name from the first letters of every-one's Christian names. So I started thinking about letters, and I thought, Limahl. _Limahl_. I kept on saying it, and I thought, _That's clever that it's from my surname_. So I turned up to the band one day and said, "You've all got to call me 'Limahl' from now on." There was definitely a bit of sniggering, but, thankfully, they were respectful.
I worked at the Embassy Club in London. One night, Nick Rhodes came in. That changed everything. I was so tenacious; I always carried our demos around with me in case I met anybody. I said, "I'm such a big fan, and I'm also a singer, and I've done some demos of my band. Could I persuade you to have a listen?" And of course I was incredibly cute at 19. No, I was! I had this amazing energy, this wild look, perfect for London: all this hair with black bits here and there and this pretty face I'd inherited from my mum. He later said in an interview that he was very charmed by me. Of course, he could have just been blowing smoke up my arse, and I'd never hear from him again. But he was already thinking outside the Duran Duran box. He wanted to be a Svengali music character. I didn't find out till many years later that Nick had a family relation who worked on the board of EMI. And when he called his uncle, or whomever it was, and said, "I want to sign Kajagoogoo," somebody at the top said, "You better sign them." It isn't always just about talent.
I was in a gay nightclub in London called Heaven. I used to see Freddie Mercury in there, and nobody batted an eyelid. I went up to [expatriate American BBC DJ] Paul Gambaccini, gave him a cassette, and said, "Hello, I'm Limahl. I'm in a band, we've just been signed by EMI, and we've been produced by Nick Rhodes. Would you have a listen?" He was working at Radio 1 at the time. Paul fancied me. He was round there like a shot, mate—phoned me the next day and said, "I loooove your tape. Let's have dinner." Paul went to EMI and said, "I'm making a new TV show, and I'd like to include Kajagoogoo." And then he was telling Radio 1 about "Too Shy," and then the Duran Duran fans were interested in what Nick was doing. You know how fans are in that obsessive way.
**STYLE COUNCIL**
"The hair wasn't a calculated thing," Limahl says. "I didn't sit down and think, _In six months, I'll change everybody's hair_. But we were very image-conscious. I started messing around with the band's hair, and Nick went out and got the beads. They looked fantastic, but they were hard work. He said they were difficult to sleep on. Suffering for his art."
In the U.K., "Too Shy" went in at 33. The phone call came through on Tuesday: "You're going to do _Top of the Pops_." Everybody got straight on the phone to their mum and dad. It was like Christmas morning. It went from 33 to 17, then to 5, then to 2, then to 1. They couldn't press enough to sell them—30,000 copies a day. What a feeling to know you're number one. It's every orgasm rolled into one.
I was very androgynous. I was pretty. I wore makeup. To my family and the band, I was out. I did date a girl, briefly, in Leighton Buzzard, pretty much because there were no gay guys and I had to get some action somewhere. I hadn't decided if I was 100 percent gay, and it wasn't an issue. When you're that age, you love anybody playing with your cock. I wasn't embarrassed about being gay, but my role as Limahl, my pop star role, had to be more enigmatic. I didn't want to start talking about gay sex and gays in 1983 when most of our following was teenage girls. It didn't seem right. They were into our music. They were into our fashion. I don't think teenage girls really want to fuck you—they just want to love you. Our whole thing was very innocent. Maybe if the band had stayed together, if we'd been in the public eye a little longer, certainly the issue would have come up. But, also, I didn't feel equipped at 23. I think I would have been terrified if I'd started getting the third degree from journalists about "How can you be gay and be in this band that thousands of teenage girls love?" But nobody talked about it. Of course, looking back, I can realize anybody with a modicum of life experience would have said, "He's gay—he just doesn't know it yet."
For six months it became like Beatlemania: girls fainting at the front of the concerts; you couldn't hear the music for the screaming. That's when it all started to go wrong. The band considered themselves very credible, serious musicians, which they are. Nick didn't want to be a teen idol. I don't think they had any idea they would become teeny idols but, looking back, it's such a fucking cute bunch it was bound to happen. Of course, being naive and not having strong management, they made that fatal mistake to get rid of me, because they thought, _We've got this pretty-boy lead singer, and if we get rid of him, we can gain a new audience; we can be a bit more credible and change our direction_. They just fractured the whole thing, and it imploded.
**MIXTAPE: **5 More Songs by Bands with Interesting Names**** 1."Love Missile F1-11," Sigue Sigue Sputnik 2. "Papa's Got a Brand-New Pigbag," Pigbag 3. "The Smile and the Kiss," Bonk 4. "I Eat Cannibals," Total Coelo 5. "Doot Doot," Freur
**"They thought, _We've got this pretty-boy lead singer, and if we get rid of him, we can gain a new audience; we can be a bit more credible and change our direction_."**
I was living at Paul Gambaccini's house in North London. It was Monday morning, and I got the call. It was Paul, the manager: "Hi, Limahl. Having a meeting with the band—we're all here." I remember thinking, _Why are they having a meeting without me?_ And he said, "We've decided we're going to let you go, and we're going to do the next album without you." You could have knocked me down with a feather. My jaw just hit the floor. I had no idea it was coming. My diary for the next 12 months was full of Kajagoogoo events. I'd just played a huge festival in Finland—40,000 people. We were laughing, and they'd already decided before the festival to get rid of me, so they were backstabbing me.
EMI tried everything [to stop the split]. They tried to get Duran Duran to stop it. They tried to bring in Duran Duran's managers, the Berrow brothers. In the end, they called Paul Gambaccini and—he told me this only three years ago—said, "EMI called and said, 'Can you please step in and somehow save this band?'" To them, this was a major investment, an act that was making them lots of money. Paul said he managed to persuade everybody except the bass player. He wouldn't do it. Nick was the leader, and the others jumped like poodles when he said "Jump."
I was just, "Oh, fuck them. I'll go solo. I'll show them." Little did I know that when you lose your creative team, you lose your sound, you lose your direction. That's why my first solo album sounded nothing like Kajagoogoo. I didn't have that bass funk from Nick. You can have a great look and you can have a great voice, but you need all the other ingredients. That's why we were successful in the first place. And when they lost me as lead singer, they lost something as well.
**NICK BEGGS:** The elephant in the room here is the fact that Limahl never has and never will take responsibility for the way he behaved. If he had not treated us all like shit, we would not have fired him. Why would a band at the top of their success do that without good reason? None of us could bear to be around him at that point because he was impossible. I'm very disappointed he found it necessary to bring it up. I'd hoped he would have squared this away with himself by now. But...here it is again. He does himself no favors by raising this point ad nauseam.
As with so much music from that period, "Too Shy" sounds like the eighties. I think the Jupiter-8 synth and the production is what made it work in the end. It's not a great song; it's just a reasonable pop tune.
I remember [Gambaccini attempting to salvage the band]. However, I believe if we had worked with Limahl again at that time, it would have resulted in at least three of us serving custodial sentences and not just me.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**A Limahl-less Kajagoogoo had several more British hits before truncating their name to Kaja and calling it a day. Beggs formed a few more groups before becoming a freelance bassist for hire and working with everybody. Literally everybody. Limahl had an international hit with the Giorgio Moroder–produced theme from the nightmarish children's fantasy movie _The Never Ending Story._ He has popped up on numerous reality shows including _I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here._ The band re-formed in 2008.**
**LIMAHL:** They gave me a lump sum to leave. This was all very skillfully negotiated by their lawyer. In return, I would take a reduced royalty on the first album. I remember thinking, _Why the fuck would I do that? I've been fired!_ But the lawyer had negotiated the split for Haircut 100, and he told me it was quite normal. And I didn't know what I was doing at 24. So instead of being an equal fifth, 20 percent, I was 6 percent. It didn't matter until 1998. The eighties revival started, and "Too Shy" was on every compilation in the world, and it was used in _The Wedding Singer_. Every time I got my royalties, I'd think, _Oh God_. It was quite painful, and I lost out financially for quite a few years. That's why our reunion didn't happen sooner. They approached me to reunite twice, once in 1998 and once in 2000. Twice I said, "Yes, but I want my royalties reinstated to the full equal." And twice they said no. The third time—this was 2008—they said okay. So I got my royalties back. I'm so happy I held out. I can die happy now.
We all knew why we were doing the reunion. None of us had repeated even remotely the success we'd had as Kajagoogoo. It seemed like a lot of bands were reuniting. And, a bit like a vase from the sixties, it's now got this antique value. We never really discussed the past, because we all knew we can't undo it. All the emotion shit was stuffed in a big closet and a big padlock put on it. We didn't talk about anything. A lot of people have said, "They were their own worst enemies," but I would say, "They just made some mistakes."
And then Nick buggered off, which is why we're not working together again. After three years, he said, "I don't know what I want to do." We'd all worked so hard, made a new video, made a new EP, did a load of gigs trying to get the momentum going and telling everybody we're back together, and he just went off. I think he thought it was going to be bigger, and it may have been if we'd stuck at it.
**BEGGS:** Wow! He's gonna develop an ulcer if he's not careful. I'm sorry to say that, once again, that is not quite accurate.
Limahl had a list of demands that had to be met before he would agree to work with us again—top of the list related to money. We agreed to give him what he wanted. I'd just bought a new house and felt that, by giving him what he wished for, we would all make enough to justify the shortfall. It worked. And I'm glad we did it. I also think it brought us together as friends again.
We all discovered that, after 30 years, not a lot had changed. Subsequently, it resulted in us losing three managers and a lot of work. Where do you go after that? Truth is, I've had too many offers of other work to waste my time on continuing with something that is destined to fail. We should all look back on that period of our lives and remember it for the good times. Other than that, I'm over it. I also think Limahl should stop bitching about us in the media because it makes him look tragic, and the truth is even less palatable. I wish Limahl well, but he needs to take a long, hard look at himself.
"Too Shy" has stood the test of time for no other reason than, like perfume, music can transport us across the years to where we once stood. It had the x-factor for a few seconds back in 1983. Like the big bang, the background noise is still all around us. You can also see the debris if you look hard enough.
**_"SHE BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE"_**
you're a music consumer of a certain age—i.e., old—you heard Thomas Dolby long before you knew his name. That ethereal, lengthily gestating introduction to Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You"? That's him. That defibrillator of an intro to the same band's "Urgent"? Him as well. The vocoder and synths on Whodini's "Magic's Wand"? Same dude. Dolby also co-wrote Lene Lovich's hyper-caffeinated "New Toy" and was an early keyboard player with the Thompson Twins. But if you know his name as a solo artist, chances are it's for his 1982 Top 5 song "She Blinded Me with Science." Though Dolby isn't technically a one-hit wonder—the follow-up to "Science," 1984's "Hyperactive," went to number 17 in the U.K. but only 62 in the United States—the combination of a song about science, a tweedy, academic image, and an indelibly goofy video, featuring real-life eccentric boffin and British TV personality Dr. Magnus Pyke, tied a bit of an anchor around him. He would go on to dabble in many genres of music, but to the audience who first experienced Dolby through that video, he would forever be the guy who was to MTV what Dr. Bunsen Honeydew was to the Muppets.
**JB: One of the hallmarks of the decade was the willingness of artists to blow up the formula that had brought them success. I applaud Thomas Dolby's disinclination to stand still and repeat himself. I just like his earlier stuff better. "Europa and the Pirate Twins," that headlong propulsive rush set against nostalgic imagery of an idyllic childhood, is still thrilling. "Airwaves" is one of the great heartsick, paranoid laments of the era. "Radio Silence," "One of Our Submarines," "Urges"—I have warm feelings for them all. "She Blinded Me with Science" was a great leap forward: way more of a jam than anything else he'd done—hilarious concept, deranged vocal. And I appreciate someone selling himself as cerebral at a time when his contemporaries were unabashed in their superficiality.**
**LM: Science was never my favorite subject.**
**THOMAS DOLBY:** I left school at 16, and I sat in my bedsitter [studio apartment] in South London with my one synthesizer and two-track tape recorder trying to express myself. I'd program a kick-drum sound, then rewind it and program a bass-drum sound, and ping-pong back and forth. If you made a mistake, there was no unraveling it.
I needed to get out [so] I joined bands and got invited to do sessions. I got invited to do Foreigner's _4_ , and at the time, I was living in Paris, trying to make a few centimes on the Metro with my guitar, playing Dylan songs to Japanese tourists. Foreigner rescued me from that and got me to New York. I played on that album and earned enough money working in a month to go back to England and record my first album [ _The Golden Age of Wireless_ , 1982].
I had no idea about image at all. My very first appearances were with Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club, who were at the very early days of the New Romantic period, and we had outfits that made us look like we were in _Barbarella_. It became clear to me, seeing myself on TV or in the music papers, that I was not a pinup boy like Adam Ant or Simon Le Bon or Sting, and I thought, _There's no point in trying to be something you're not. I should go back and look at my background._ My father was an Oxford professor, and most of my siblings are teachers—there's no showbiz at all. So I came up with the idea of the mad professor character, this young scientist. I explored it a bit in my early photo sessions. Music videos were just starting to come in, and I talked my record company into giving me a budget for a day's worth of shooting. So I came up with a storyboard, which was "She Blinded Me with Science," before I had a song. I had the title. I very often come up with the title first—I have a notebook filled with potential song titles and I work backwards from there. I visualize an empty stage with a spotlight, and a guy walks into the spotlight and starts to sing a song called "She Blinded Me with Science": What does it sound like? What's the groove, what are the words, what's the chord sequence? I fill in the blanks from there, and it becomes like a crossword puzzle.
The song was like a soundtrack for the film. I viewed videos as silent movies with soundtracks and, in silent movie terms, my heroes were always the underdogs—Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin. These were not romantic heroes, but they were the underdogs you sympathized with, so that was the character I created for myself.
It was very easy getting Dr. Magnus Pyke to be in the video. I told him the concept, we agreed on a fee with his agent, and then he showed up on set and refused to do most of what was on the storyboard. I wanted him to wear a white lab coat, and he refused point-blank because that wasn't the way his audience saw him. I asked him to say, "She blinded me with science!" But he did it like a question, not a statement: "She blinded me with science?" I was like, "It's really more of a statement, Dr. Pyke," and he was like, "Yes, but it would be a bit surprising if a girl blinded _me_ with science." He was very concerned about whether his car would be there to take him off to his next appointment. He didn't exactly get in the spirit of it. The last time I saw him alive, he'd just come back from a lecture tour of the U.S., and I asked him how it went. He said, "Badly, Dolby." I asked why, and he said, "Every time I walked down the street, someone would come up behind me and shout, 'SCIENCE!' It frightened me out of my skin. Your MTV video is better known than my body of academic work."
Most of my first album was definitely new wave electronic rock, definitely pretty white. So why was "She Blinded Me with Science" a bit funkier? Maybe because it juxtaposes the geeky bookworm character with the funky dance groove. Also, this was after "Planet Rock." It was the time of DJs taking elements and turning them into different styles, so the groundwork was laid. It was an R&B hit, but I'm sure most of the R&B audience had no idea who I was. Michael Jackson thought I was black. I'm not sure whether that should be flattering or not.
"She Blinded Me with Science" was a one-off for the film that I made but, very much to my surprise and most other people's surprise too, it took off commercially. Suddenly the media and the industry were expecting the Dolby formula trotted out over the course of multiple hits and albums and tours and videos, and that was never really the intention. The record company wrang their hands when they heard _The Flat Earth_ , which I think is one of my best albums. Their point of view is, it takes so much hard work and effort to break somebody—once you're there, you've got to do a few more copycat hits. They said, "Look, Thomas, when you're on your third or fourth album, maybe you can start experimenting with jazz instrumentation and brushes on the cymbals and trom-bones. But, for heaven's sake, let's make hay while the sun shines." I think the middle-aged me with a mortgage to pay might think they have a point, but when I was 24, it was like, "Forget it." I will tap into different genres of music in order to help tell a story and set the scene. I've always been jealous of novelists who, with each book they write, get to pick a period of history or geographical location and a new cast of characters. It's like a dirty word in music, though. People get suspicious if you're too free with your leaping between genres—they think there's something fake about it.
I don't feel the boffin image encroached, but I do feel that if people only know one thing about me, it's the wacky boffin image, and maybe that was a turnoff for people if they couldn't see past it into the more organic and emotional side of my music. But the really loyal, long-term, hard-core fans don't talk about "Science" or "Hyperactive." They talk about "Screen Kiss" or "Budapest by Blimp," and those are the songs that mean the most to me. You sit at a piano and you come up with a chord change, and it melts your heart. And you just hope if you put it out there, it's going to melt a few other hearts as well. The difference between a few thousand and a few million is not apparent from the artist's point of view. The main thing is, you've made the connection.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**It's easier to make a list of what Dolby hasn't been doing. But that's another book. He led David Bowie's Live Aid band. He has produced records by Joni Mitchell and Prefab Sprout. He has composed scores for video games and movies, most notoriously George Lucas's _Howard the Duck_. He's worked extensively in Silicon Valley. He has been the musical director of the TED conferences, and he helped create the polyphonic technology that brought ringtones to the world. In 2011, he returned to music as a solo artist with the three-part album _A Map of the Floating City_ , the third section of which was available only as part of the accompanying video game.**
**DOLBY:** The record companies made themselves virtually extinct. The industry is now a cottage industry, and people are trying out all sorts of alternatives. It's like Detroit in the 1920s when there were 125 automobile companies. Stamping out records and putting them in trucks and shipping them across the country, that's a pretty hard thing to do. But making an album on a laptop from home and uploading it to YouTube or SoundCloud is something tens of thousands of people can do, which is fantastic. But then you have this sea of white noise. How do you rise above that? None of the old formulas apply anymore. It's like the Wild West. What I'm doing now is contrarian, which is what I love. You can argue, "Doesn't that make it hard to promote? Isn't it like pushing a rope or swimming against the current?" It certainly does. But just making an album with a cover and lyrics and getting it on the radio weren't going to work for _The Floating City_. That's why I came up with a multiuser game; that's why I came up with _The Invisible Lighthouse_ film that I'm doing now. These are all areas where I get to learn new skills and try out new forms of expression for myself, which is what keeps my creative juices flowing.
**MIXTAPE: 5 More Songs About Science, Technology, and Robots** 1. "Video Killed the Radio Star," The Buggles 2. "I Dream of Wires," Gary Numan 3. "Weird Science," Oingo Boingo 4. "E=MC2," Big Audio Dynamite 5. "Science," Berlin Blondes
**_"LOVE MY WAY"_**
The Psychedelic Furs were the most seventies of all the bands to make it in the early eighties. Many, many acts chronicled in these pages wore their David Bowie influence like badges of honor. The Psychedelic Furs seemed less like rabid fans and more like a band who could actually have been on the same bill as Bowie or Roxy Music or Mott the Hoople. They would have been pretty far down the bill, as the group, with their droning sax player and the singer with the nicotine-raddled larynx, began life making an ugly, muddy wall of sound. But they had that quality that Roxy Music, especially, used to have: They dressed the part but kept their distance. Part of them always remained in the shadows. Even when producer Todd Rundgren treated them like a mud-caked camper van with "Wash Me" written in the dirt, the lush, shimmering music they made still refused to wear its heart anywhere near its sleeve.
**LM: "Love My Way" and "The Ghost in You" are two of the most transformative, hypnotizing tracks in my record collection. "Love My Way" is the darker of the pair, but both radiate all the hope and optimism of a young girl who's yet to have her heart broken. Whenever I hear "The Ghost in You," I become that girl all over again. Richard Butler may look and, certainly on the first two Furs albums, sound like a more mature John Lydon, but after Todd Rundgren got a hold of him, the singer-songwriter parted ways with the petulance and morphed into one of the most romantic figures in music.**
**JB: lf I can indulge in a new wave career-trajectory version of Fantasy Baseball, I would liked to have seen the Furs continue in that wistful, vulnerable direction that so suited Butler's phlegmy tones. I would like to have seen them follow the path of latter-day Roxy Music, where they faded into tasteful anonymity and the music became almost mouth-watering in its sophistication ( _Flesh + Blood_ = awesome, underrated record. Reappraise!) until ultimately they made the Most Beautiful Album Ever ( _Avalon_ —no reappraisal needed). The Psychedelic Furs took another route, but in a parallel universe, "Love My Way" was just the first step to a glorious future.**
**RICHARD BUTLER:** The songs that were really important are the ones that changed the course of our careers, and that would be "Pretty in Pink" and "Love My Way." "Love My Way" turned things around a lot more than "Pretty in Pink" did, and that's why we went on to do songs like "Ghost in You."
I was working with [ex-Furs guitarist] John Ashton on the third album [1982's _Forever Now_ ]. I was supposed to have written some ideas before I went over, but I'd been out carousing instead. The next morning, I had one of those little xylophone things, and I picked out these three notes and made this little melody [sings the opening notes of "Love My Way"]. It was all done in about 10 minutes, and I thought, _That's good. I can go to John's now_. I loved the song; John wasn't so struck by it. Then Ed Buller, a keyboardist who was working with us at the time, put this marimba part on it, which became the bulk of the song.
I enjoyed the direction "Love My Way" took the band. We wanted cellos—I'd listened to Stravinsky's _The Rite of Spring_ —we wanted horns; we were using more keyboard-y sounds, and we looked for a producer who would be good at that kind of thing. Todd Rundgren came to mind because he had just done _Deface the Music_ , sounding like the Beatles, and I thought, _He's using those instruments. He knows what he's doing._
When we went to work with Todd, "Love My Way" wasn't the song you hear today. He said, "This song could be a great song, Richard, if you try and be less aggressive with it." The idea of singing had been anathema to me. Then he came up with the idea of using Flo and Eddie. Even though I liked Marc Bolan and T. Rex [to whom Flo and Eddie lent their trademark harmonies], I didn't know whether I loved the idea of these backup singers on the song. But [Rundgren] said, "If you don't like them, we'll take them off, I promise." So we recorded it with Flo and Eddie, and it sounded great.
I loved [working with Rundgren]. It's funny, because Andy Partridge apparently hated it. He came up to me in a coffee shop in New York and said, "How was your experience with Todd then?" Andy Partridge thought he was overcontrolling, but Todd consulted us every step of the way. He said, "What kind of sound do you want? Imagine for a minute you're playing in a room: What kind of room do you want it to be? A club? A theater?" We decided on a theater. We wanted it to be intimate and warm, of a certain size but not overblown. We've always been a band that pulls people in. You won't see me stomping up and down saying, "Can you hear me at the back?!" and "Hello, Chattanooga! It's great to be here!" The amount of words I will say to an audience during a tour is a page of a notebook, and they would mostly be "Thank you." I don't like talking much between songs. It's a degree of shyness and a degree of not seeing the point in saying any of those things. I don't feel the need to go, "Are you having a good time, fill in the name of the city." I first noticed a difference [in the Furs' core fan base] when "Love My Way" became a radio hit in America on the West Coast. We did an in-store in Seattle, and the place was absolutely mobbed. We had to go out the back entrance and get in this car, and it was like being in the Beatles. Up until then we hadn't really experienced that. It was more like being in a pop band rather than the rock band we'd been in before. There were a lot more girls down at the front of the stage. You have to be careful of that kind of popularity. We had had a very cool type of popularity, and "Love My Way" threatened that to a degree.
I was a big Dylan fan until art school. That's where I discovered the Velvet Underground, Bowie, and Roxy Music. [The Epsom School of Art and Design in Surrey, England] was a very old-fashioned type of art school—quite academic. In the last years, I got into Warhol and doing prints. Two years later, I was working in a screen-printing place doing prints of my own, and punk rock came along with the Sex Pistols. I got to see them at the 100 Club [in London]. The place was packed, even though punk hadn't quite caught on at that point. I formed a band and started to print the posters for the shows we were doing. I don't know how I ended up being the singer—probably because it was my big idea to form a band. [Our first gig] was at somebody's party in Leatherhead. We just decided we were going to play. We played about two songs, then everybody left and shut the door. They were hippies—they didn't know what was happening.
Eventually we were playing clubs [in London] like the Roxy, the Africa Centre, the Lyceum, Music Machine. Early on, our music was jaded and angry. It was the mood in England around that time: Margaret Thatcher, garbage strikes, the IRA bombing in Guildford, my hometown. It was an easy time to be jaded in. I used that feeling but didn't use the obvious political words. I always found obvious political songs don't ever seem to work. I was more into the poetry of lyric writing. I was inspired by T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, the Velvet Underground, David Bowie, and certainly Bob Dylan.
For the first album [1980's _Psychedelic Furs_ ], we worked with [producer] Steve Lillywhite. Steve had done the first Banshees record. He said that he would like to record us not using very many tricks, just make it sound how an amazing live show would sound. It was recorded very quickly—a lot of it was live—and I think the whole thing might have been done in a week or 10 days. I loved it!
While we were writing songs for the second album [1981's _Talk Talk Talk_ ], we improved as songwriters. "Pretty in Pink" just came to me, and I built the song around what that phrase conjured up. I always thought "Pretty in Pink" was a song about a girl who sleeps around a lot and thinks she's very clever for doing it and feels very desired, but people are laughing at her behind her back. I don't think the movie _Pretty in Pink_ did us any favors. It made light of and put a different spin on a song that actually had more to say than what the movie did. It's certainly less fluffy.
The story I heard [about how the song came to be the title of and theme song for the 1986 film] was that Molly Ringwald went up to John Hughes and said, "You've got to listen to this song. You've got to write something about this." Hughes [supposedly] loved it and went on to write the movie. The original version came out in 1981. It was a fairly well-known song, but in a college-radio situation. We rerecorded it for the movie. It was our idea. The record company was perfectly willing to go with the original version, which we should have. The original is better. It's not radically different, but I don't think it has the same rawness as the original.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**"Love My Way," a cover favorite for artists as disparate as Live and Korn, was the first in a U.S. hit parade that also included "Heaven," "The Ghost in You," the rerecorded "Pretty in Pink," and "Heartbreak Beat." In 1992 Butler and brother/fellow Fur Tim started Love Spit Love, which recorded a popular rendition of the Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" (see this page) for the film _The Craft_. It was later repurposed as the theme for a TV show with a similar hot-young-witches approach, _Charmed_. The Furs re-formed in 2000 and continue to tour. Meanwhile, Butler has also returned to his first love, painting, with his 2013 _ahatfulofrain_ show at a Chelsea gallery in Manhattan earning rave reviews, like this one: "Unlike the Ronnie Woods and Bob Dylans of the music-to-art crossover world, Butler actually has real talent for creating captivating artwork."**
**BUTLER:** We'd made [the Furs' fifth album, 1987's] _Midnight to Midnight_ , which I absolutely hated. We were very dry of ideas and under a great deal of pressure from the record company and ourselves. We were recording in Europe. It was a hellish adventure just to get it done. I felt it was a really subpar album that really didn't have that much direction to it, and that took a lot of the wind out of my sails as far as belief in the direction that we were going in. After that, we'd made a couple of records [1989's _Book of Days_ and 1991's _World Outside_ ] that were consciously very uncommercial to redress the balance to some degree, but then I felt I'd needed a break.
**MIXTAPE: 5 More Love Songs with Ice In Their Veins** 1. "I'm in Love with a German Film Star," The Passions 2. "Love Shadow," Fashion 3. "Another Girl, Another Planet," The Only Ones 4. "The Last Beat of My Heart," Siouxsie and the Banshees 5. "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart," Eurythmics
**_"NEW LIFE"_**
n their earliest incarnations, the synth-pop stars of the eighties lived in a bleak, oppressive, futuristic netherworld where emotions were forbidden and humanity was a faintly flickering memory. Gary Numan, the Human League, OMD, Ultravox, Soft Cell, the Normal—none of them were having much fun. But there was one group of electronic artists who were not crushed under the heel of robot overlords, who were not afraid of being assimilated into a giant hive mind, who were, if anything, uncomplicated and optimistic: Depeche Mode. Vince Clarke's Depeche Mode. Where their contemporaries shuddered in fear and lurked in the shadows like a doomed platoon of Winston Smiths, Depeche Mode were cheerful, wholesome boys, happy to have hatched an escape route out of the unpromising environs of Basildon, England. Depeche's single "New Life" was innocent, awkward, and eager to please. Their other Clarke-penned hits, "Just Can't Get Enough" and "Dreaming of Me," gleamed with confidence and charm. But exhilarating as it was, this iteration had a limited shelf life. Clarke chose to stay positive and, for the remaining members of the group, his departure signaled the end of the innocence.
**JB: The bald musician Moby wrote a witty and affectionate afterword for this book in which he—spoiler alert!—describes the music and artists of the new wave era under discussion as not alluding to "anything even remotely sexual." Being an argumentative sort, I took issue with that blanket dismissal, and my prime example was latter-day Depeche Mode and their S&M leanings. He replied to the effect that all the Mode really wanted was to cuddle. In retrospect, I think he's right, and that's why I've always found them a little bit laughable. No matter how much Martin L. Gore bares his diseased soul, no matter how dank and deviant their material, no matter how brooding and perverse Dave Gahan gets, I never quite got past my initial perception of them as clean-cut, obedient purveyors of chirpy electro-pop. The "Personal Jesus" video—the one where they're supposed to be snarling, smoldering gunslingers getting ready to drop their gun belts and do damage to the employees of a frontier cathouse? They looked more like pale, malnourished, middle-management types heading off to a sales conference. They may see themselves as debauched outlaws with insatiable appetites for the forbidden, but for me, Depeche Mode will always be the sound of the suburbs.**
**LM: If Duran Duran were my first crush and the Smiths wrote the soundtrack of my soul, then Depeche Mode provided the playlist for my sex life—or at least the one I'd imagined myself having. "Master and Servant." "A Question of Lust." "Strangelove." "In Your Room." But I wouldn't even have an imaginary sex life if it weren't for Vince Clarke. He built the foundation on which the mighty edifice of Depeche would flourish. A few months back, I bumped into Gahan at my Manhattan hair salon, where the smock-clad singer was about to have his grays covered before Depeche's upcoming international arena tour, and he and I reflected on how far they've come. Decades on, the band is the biggest electronic music act of all time. They're still making new music that sends albums up the charts, and still an influence on contemporary musicians and dance culture. They might not be the same band Clarke started all those years ago, but if it wasn't for him, Gahan might be the proud proprietor of a nice little upholstery business in Basildon.**
**VINCE CLARKE:** "New Life" was the first song that was played on the radio, and the first one that went into the charts in the U.K. That was a game changer. The first time we heard it on the radio, we were all in Danny's [Mute Records founder Daniel Miller's] car. It was the band, Daniel driving, and the synths in the back. We were going to get a train to Newcastle, where we were to do one of the first TV shows we'd ever done, a Saturday-morning kids show, and it just came on the radio. I think it was Radio 1, which is the most important radio station in the U.K. It was a great feeling.
Around the same time, we did our first appearance on _Top of the Pops_. The charts would be released on Sunday, and we got the call from Daniel that night saying we'd be on. We'd all grown up on _Top of the Pops_. I was 19 and wasn't living with my mum at the time. We had fallen out. But I decided to go round to her house and tell her. I don't think she believed me.
We lived in Basildon. ***** Basildon is a town that was built after the Second World War to house all the people who were bombed out of the East End of London, so it was a new town. It was built in the fifties, and it was built so quickly that they didn't bother to build anything kids could do—it was just housing. When I moved there, there was no grass, no gardens—there was just mud. You spent a lot of time being bored. There was no TV. So we started a band.
When Depeche Mode started, when it was just me and [Andy] Fletcher, we were playing guitars. The band that really influenced us the most, that we wanted to be, was the Cure. We'd play their first album, [1979's] _Three Imaginary Boys_. It's incredibly minimal. There were only three players on it. There was hardly any overdub, I think, just a single voice. We felt that we could do that sound because Fletch played guitar and I had a drum machine. We weren't really interested in synths until Martin, who was a friend of Fletch's from school, bought a synthesizer and decided to join the band. Martin joined two bands, actually: my band and my best friend's band. That caused a bit of a rift. Martin was hedging his bets. Anyway, when Martin chose the synth, we were super impressed. It seemed to be really easy to play, unlike guitar. It wasn't expensive, particularly because you didn't have to buy an expensive amp. We never could afford amps for our guitars, so we all bought synths.
*** ALISON MOYET: The Depeche boys, Fletcher and Martin, and I were in the same class. Perry Bamonte, who was in the Cure, was there as well. They were from the right side of the street in our town: They were all studious, they did their homework, they had blazers and briefcases when the rest of us had plastic bags. I remember being bemused when they got together with Dave Gahan. He was one of the punks who was in Southend College with me. We were mates, and he was a bit more lairy [British slang for aggressive, confrontational; master rather than servant].**
Synth music was really homemade. I don't think punk was as liberating as people make it out to be. They still needed to know how to play instruments. Synth music is more accessible 'cause you don't have to learn your three chords. On our first album [1981's _Speak & Spell_], no one played anything. It was all done on sequencers.
The synths gave us credibility. All the cool, alternative records—the ones that weren't charting—were all done with people messing about with synths: "T.V.O.D."/"Warm Leatherette" by the Normal, the first Silicon Teens album. They were breaking new ground. Those songs were an influence on "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough." Obviously there was Gary Numan too, but we didn't want to sound like Gary Numan because he was a sellout. You know what it's like when you're younger: Anyone who succeeds is no longer credible. Whereas, we thought the first two Human League albums were amazing records [in part because] they were commercially unsuccessful. Of course, way before any of that was Kraftwerk, but the thing that changed in the eighties was that people used synthesizers to make pop records rather than concept records. I'm a fan of Kraftwerk, but I'm more of a fan of people like OMD, because I like emotional records. Music affects me, changes my insides—it really does. The thing that really turned me on to synths was "Almost," the B-side to OMD's "Electricity." That was when I connected synthesizers with folk music. I'd realized that I wanted to play guitar when I heard Simon and Garfunkel singing on the soundtrack for _The Graduate_. That's what made me realize the power of songwriting. The next day I bought the songbook and learned how to play every song. Suddenly, music wasn't just a bunch of people doing it on TV—you could do it yourself.
We'd started a band, but we didn't really have aspirations to make a record. We had aspirations to play in the pub, and it went from there. Eventually we were playing a pub in London, and we met Daniel, and he offered for us to make a single. That was probably the happiest day of my life. If we had made that single and I died, I would have died in heaven.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 Favorite Synth Songs of Vince Clarke (in no particular order)** 1. "Always," OMD 2. "Dreams of Leaving," The Human League 3. "Cars," Gary Numan 4. "Warm Leatherette," The Normal 5. "Back to Nature," Fad Gadget
The first time we met Daniel, though, he didn't want to sign us. We had made a demo, and because Dave and I were both unemployed at the time, or Dave was in college, which is the same thing, really—I'm kidding—we got dressed in our best futurist clothes and got the train down to London. I think Dave had on leather trousers. He was studying fashion in college. (Our name was his idea; it was from a magazine he was reading.) Maybe mum had made me something—my mum was a seamstress. So we went to all these companies: Island, Virgin, all those people. In those days you could actually knock on the door, go into the office, and play them a cassette. When we went to the Rough Trade office, they said, "It's not really our cup of tea, but this bloke might be interested," and there was Daniel. And Daniel said no. Then we supported Fad Gadget at a gig in East London, and Daniel was there again. There were two guys who wanted us: Daniel and this guy Stevo, who used to manage Soft Cell. Stevo said, "If you sign with me, I'll get you on the next Ultravox tour." Daniel says, "We never sign anything, but I'm offering for you to make a single." We decided in about five minutes to go with Daniel and Mute. We knew the records he had made: both the Silicon Teens and the Normal. We knew his label because of Fad Gadget.
**"The synths gave us credibility. All the cool, alternative records... were all done with people messing about with synths."**
The first track we recorded with Daniel was "Photographic." It was for an album called _Some Bizarre_ , a compilation record [from Stevo], which was a fantastic record. Then we did the single, which was "Dreaming of Me." Because that did fairly well, Daniel said, "Let's make an album."
"Just Can't Get Enough" I had written ages ago. We were performing it for a long time before we met Daniel. It was written on guitar. We could do harmonies because Martin is quite a good singer. That made us a little more interesting for Daniel. It's certainly gotten more exposure [than other songs on the first album] because of commercials, and because Depeche has been performing it for years and years in concert.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Clarke departed Depeche after only one album. After a shaky start, Martin Gore grew into one of the era's most celebrated songwriters and oversaw his group's metamorphosis into Depressed Mode, the black-celebrating dance-floor juggernaut that's moved more than 100 million records. Clarke went on to form Yaz with Alison Moyet (see this page), then the Assembly, which produced one single. In 1985 Clarke finally found a permanent situation with singer Andy Bell: 30 years and 30 hit U.K. singles later, Erasure are still a functioning duo. In 2012, Clarke reunited with Gore as VCMG and made the instrumental techno record _Ssss_**.
**CLARKE:** When I decided to leave, it wasn't for another music band or to form Yaz—I just decided to leave. ***** We were just young, and things happened quite quickly for us, and there were a lot of egos flying around. I was just fed up. In retrospect, I'm really glad [I left]. No regrets at all, because I've worked with some really brilliant artists.
I did a single, [the Assembly's] "Never Never," with Feargal Sharkey. I was thinking that since I'd had the personality clashes with Alison I would move on with working with different singers instead [of being in a permanent group]. Then I met Andy. We had auditions. He came alone, and he was there for about 20 minutes and sang two songs I had written: "Who Needs Love Like That" and "My Heart So Blue." We had been through 39 or 40 singers by that time. They were really good, but the moment he opened his mouth and started singing, we knew it.
We had discussions about making dance-type music. He took me to a lot of clubs—the first time I had ever been to a gay club. These gay clubs were playing high-energy music. We were into the idea of making music like that so we could perform it live. But it wasn't really until the second album [1987's _Circus_ ] that we became friends, because then we started writing songs together. You can't write a song with somebody you don't trust. And we went through a lot together. We played some really shitty clubs, traveled in some shitty vans, we had a car crash once. We really were a band.
*** DANIEL MILLER: Creatively, could they have done more together? Yes. But the band started to change almost as soon as I started working with them. Vince was a restless soul. You could see that during the making of _Speak & Spell_. Vince was the leader: He was the songwriter, he organized the band, he was the one getting the gigs, he pretty much made all the records. Obviously Dave sang and Martin did some melody lines, but Vince led, he produced. I was credited as co-producer, but most of the big ideas came from Vince. I think the other members of the group were very happy for that to continue. I don't know for how long they would have been happy, but there was more to do if they wanted to do it. But Vince decided he didn't want to be in the band anymore. The touring, he felt there were limitations—there were lots of different reasons and those reasons were very fixed in his mind, so I don't think there could have been another Depeche Mode album from those four people.**
[Regarding reuniting with Gore for _Ssss_ ,] I've never really been interested in techno. I didn't know anything about it. But after I did a remix for Plastikman, I started to get interested in the genre. I did two or three tracks and got a bit bored, so I emailed Martin. That email that I sent him was the first I ever sent him. So we started exchanging files: I'd send him a written track, he'd send me a bass part....We did that over the course of a year. We didn't even talk at all until the very end, when we had a conference call with Daniel. Just before it was released, I went to L.A. to do some promotion. I had spoken more words to Martin in that meeting than I had when I was in Depeche Mode! Martin's really shy.
I love making music. It's the best job in the world. When you start making something from nothing, it's just an incredible feeling. Even now, with Erasure, it's always about the next record, the next song you're gonna write. I never stop.
**_"ONLY YOU"_**
he rich pageant of pop has no shortage of slight, sinister, Machiavellian male figures who made their millions ruthlessly manipulating the talents and emotions of the powerhouse women in their lives. Phil Spector had Ronnie, Sonny had Cher, Ike had Tina—the list is long and grim. But Vince Clarke was no master puppeteer and Alison Moyet far from his docile discovery. No romantic feelings fueled their relationship. Of the many duos littering the new wave landscape, Yaz (short for "Yazoo," a name already taken by an American rock band that filed suit and were never heard from again) were the most like complete strangers who had accidentally wandered into each other's personal space. And yet Moyet's malleable vocals—as impressive when they were angelic and intimate as when she was unleashing her trademark bellow of bluesy rage—caused blood to pump furiously through Clarke's airy, catchy compositions. Though he'd started his career with Depeche Mode and would go on to form Erasure—another duo, with a singer with whom he'd feel a far stronger connection—Clarke's best coupling was his brief, two-album (mis)matchup with Moyet.
**JB:** **Like Clarke, I was the male half of a boy-girl pop duo at the start of the eighties. Like Yaz, my group (April Showers—Google us!) demoed a song that was swiftly snapped up and released by a label. We, too, had insurmountable communication problems and couldn't cope with instant success... and the way it completely evaded us. And like Moyet and Clarke, my ex-bandmate, Beatrice Colin, and I are now good friends and comfortable enough to indulge in the occasional bout of "You were the bigger asshole" / "No, you were the bigger asshole!" without tears being shed. (Let's hope my current boy-girl duo—in which I'm clearly the bigger asshole—manages a similarly happy ending.) So I don't find it particularly surprising that Yaz didn't endure past two albums, but the amount of leeway they allowed each other is kind of amazing. Pre- and post-Yaz, Clarke was all hyper-caffeinated pop, all the time. While in the environs of Yaz, he was amenable to Moyet's goth fantasies and her penchant for moody balladeering. But Clarke's "Only You" is their song for all seasons.**
**LM:** **When I went to Clarke's Brooklyn brown-stone for our interview, I didn't know what to expect. Although he set the agendas for his various groups, Clarke has always seemed to avoid the spotlight, both on stage and in the press. His manager warned he'd be shy, but as Clarke followed close behind me while we descended the two flights to his sub-basement, I wondered if I was being led into the lair of a synth-pop serial killer. Even more disconcerting, Clarke refers to his studio as...the Cabin. (I've watched enough horror films to know that girls don't come back from places called the Cabin.) As I passed the snaking tangles of wires hanging from the walls, my mind started to race: strangulation at worse, electrocution at best? Finally, we arrived, and there they were: the cold, inert bodies of his keyboard collection. The man loves his machines—maybe more than he likes people? Which is why it's so reassuring that he's capable of writing such a plaintive little lullaby like "Only You."**
**VINCE CLARKE:** When I left Depeche Mode, I wrote "Only You." It's like a folk record with synths. The actual implement was a guitar; I transposed the riff into synth notes. It was a very simple arrangement. For the lyrics, I just formed words on a piece of paper. I was just hoping that Daniel [Miller, Mute Records founder] would like it.
**ALISON MOYET:** "Only You" has a nursery rhyme simplicity and a lack of pretension. You don't need to be a great singer to sing it; you don't need to be a great instrumentalist to play it. It's a universal, everyman song.
**CLARKE:** I kind of knew Alison. I'd seen her perform locally. She was in a punk band with my best friend, and she'd been in a couple of blues bands. I knew that she could sing with a huge amount of emotion, and "Only You" was supposed to be a ballad, so I asked her to demo it on a four-track tape recorder.
**MOYET:** I never intended to be in a band with Vince. I was hanging around on Canvey Island [in Essex, England] with the Dr. Feelgood lot doing the pub-rock thing, which seemed like a more natural progression for me to go from punk than New Romantic. I never aspired to be a pop star or to have a mainstream hit. I never listened to pop music. Basildon was a new town with no culture, and we had no money. Punk was an ethos that we could relate to because it didn't matter if you had money, education, or social standing. It belonged to us. I bought into that, but there was a time when I realized for a lot of people it was all about fashion and clothes. A lot of my friends who would have been wearing dishcloths the same as I was were then spending a lot of money when the New Romantics came out, and I felt quite betrayed by that. My ambition was to be part of the London pub circuit. When you say that now, it makes you think of some kind of nasty, gnarly old singer, but in the seventies, the pub-rock scene was really interesting. You had Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, and the Stranglers. I wanted to headline the places they played. So a part of me was thinking, _I'll never hear the end of it if I go and sing with this pretty boy_. But I had no money, no tape recorder, no way of making a demo, so I thought, _Okay, I'll use this as a demo._
**CLARKE:** I took the demo to Daniel. He seemed completely not interested. I thought I was going to have to go back to working in factories. Fortunately, there were four associates from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden [in the Mute offices] at the time. They got to hear the song and really liked it. That made Daniel pay attention.
**"A part of me was thinking, I'll never hear the end of it if I go and sing with this pretty boy. But I had no money, no tape recorder, no way of making a demo, so I thought, _Okay, I'll use this as a demo_."**
**MOYET:** Vince called and said, "The record company thinks we should record an album together," and two months later I was a pop star.
**CLARKE:** Alison and I weren't a real band. We barely knew each other. We wanted to use Black Studios, but Fad Gadget was recording their second album. [Frank "Fad Gadget" Tovey] would be in there from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., so Alison and I would go in around six in the morning and record from 6 to 10 a.m. That was quite stressful because we had to commute to London.
**MOYET:** The first thing Vince said to me was, "You got any songs?" He'd written "Only You," and we were going to release that as a single. He wrote "Don't Go" for the B-side, and that was obviously too good for a B-side, so we wrote "Situation" together, which ended up being flipped over [released as the A-side] in America. From that point, the songwriting was completely equitable. I wrote half of the material in Yaz. But Vince is a famous songwriter, so the assumption was that I was the voice and he was the creator. It wasn't the case, but you get tired of trying to explain. You just have to look at the difference between Yaz and Erasure to see what my input in the band was compared to what Andy [Bell's] influence is. I am very aware that the assumption is the female voice is the mouthpiece of the male creator. I was talking about "Nobody's Diary" to someone the other day, and he said, "You really interpreted that song well." I said, "No, I wrote that song when I was 16." Even with all the credits on the album sleeve, even now when it's on Google for anyone to see, the assumption is always that the vocalist is not the creative influence.
**CLARKE:** We fell out pretty fast. We just didn't know what to say to each other. We never went out for a drink—not one drink. We were quite different. We weren't in the same school. We didn't have anything in common. She was a bit younger than me. Alison was incredibly lacking in self-confidence. I think she felt a bit put out because I knew my way around the studio by then. I knew the record company. I don't think she felt like a part of the camp. I'm sure that was something she went through, that she was in "the boys club." We did the first record and a tour in the U.K., and by the end, we had pretty much fallen out, so the second album was really thrown together. We weren't even in the studio together.
**MOYET:** We always worked separately. He would play me a song on the guitar, and I would sing it in the way I chose to sing it. I would play him a song on the guitar, and he would arrange it in the way he chose to arrange it. I didn't mess with him, and he didn't mess with me. We were very different in the sense that I come from a French peasant family who have no problem expressing themselves loudly, and he was very reserved and English and was more of a passive-aggressive to my aggressive. And then we were famous, and I was getting a lot of attention. When Yaz started, there was a lot [of talk] that I was the great singer and Vince was the lightweight. Obviously, that [perception's] changed. Singers, schmingers—there's plenty of them about, and Vince is recognized as the great, consistent musical talent that he is.
The big shock was going from being a bit of a black sheep, the sort of person that people around town avoided, to being really famous. I was always remarkable, and obviously I don't mean that like, "Aren't I wonderful?" I mean it like people have always had something to say about me. You noticed me in a room, for good or bad. It was hard to get that sort of universal attention, to be recognized everywhere within a matter of weeks.
**MIXTAPE:** 5 More Songs by Duos 1. "West End Girls," Pet Shop Boys 2. "Since Yesterday," Strawberry Switchblade 3. "Club Country," The Associates 4. "White Horse," Laid Back 5. "Dream Baby Dream," Suicide
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Following the dissolution of Yaz, Moyet launched a solo career in the U.K. with 1984's hugely successful** _**Alf**_ **. She seemed geared for international success but instead chose a more idiosyncratic career path, recording what and when she wanted. In 2008 Moyet reunited with Clarke for a live Yaz album and tour. In 2013, after several grueling years of disinterest from British record labels that only wanted to work with her if she recorded cover versions or played the nostalgia card on reality TV, she released the critically acclaimed album** _**The Minutes,**_ **her highest U.K.-charting album in 25 years. Almost as much attention was paid to her weight loss, which saw her dwindle from an English size 22 to a 10. Meanwhile, Clarke started another duo, Erasure, which to date has sold 25 million albums—spawning the 1988 U.S. hits "Chains of Love" and "A Little Respect"—and continues to record and tour.**
**CLARKE:** Alison sent me an email saying, "Do you want to do this reunion thing to celebrate 25 years since the Yazoo releases?" I said, "No, not really." I was really busy at the time. Then the next year Andy said he'd like to take a break and maybe do a solo record. So I thought I could do the Yazoo thing, maybe do a few dates. The next thing you know, management is piling on all these shows.
**MOYET:** When we did the reunion, I was much calmer and more easy to get along with, and he was much more open and lighter. Consequently, we found that we had quite a lot in common in terms of our sense of humor, and we had a lovely, lovely time.
**CLARKE:** It wasn't until we did the reunion tour that we really got to know each other. We didn't do so much reminiscing as we talked about our kids. She has three, I have one, so she had a bit of advice for me.
**MOYET:** Looking back to the eighties, there was so much more room for diversity. A freak was more celebrated than it is now. There was less sexism, bizarrely, in the creative arena. Women could present themselves in a male light but not like the way they have to do it now. The way it's done now, it's almost like playing an aggressive sexuality and imagining that gives women parity, when truly all they're doing is playing to a sexual fantasy and they are no more esteemed and stronger—they're just being sex toys. Back then, women could employ a male aggressiveness that was far more about feminism and their independence. That had actually been achieved by the women's movement, which seems to have been lost in later years. Women seem to have given up. Young women seem to be giving it away. Once upon a time, our attractive girl pop stars were Bananarama, who presented themselves with light independent spirits, but you never felt they were whoring themselves. There are times now when I feel like it's shocking when you see someone with their clothes on. It's shocking when someone's not offering you their arse to imagine yourself penetrating as they sing.
**_"KIDS IN AMERICA"_**
t the end of the fifties, when the British attempted to get to grips with the rock 'n' roll phenomenon, the singer Marty Wilde was at the forefront of the homegrown movement. At the start of the seventies, when the British were enamored with all things Osmond, Wilde's son Ricky was launched as a domestic equivalent to Donny. When the eighties commenced and there were few solo female pop singers, Wilde's daughter Kim took her place in the family business. Signed by pop mogul and grumpy seventies-TV talent-show judge Mickie Most—everything you like or loathe about Simon Cowell originated with him—Kim Wilde saw instant success with her debut single, "Kids in America." More than a decade's worth of hits predominantly written by her father and brother followed, but her success was on a song-by-song basis: Five years elapsed between "Kids" entering the U.S. charts and her version of "You Keep Me Hanging On" climbing to number one. She didn't have a die-hard following, she didn't have a signature sound, but as far as new wave women are concerned, Kim Wilde was one of the first and lasted the longest.
**JB:** **Kim Wilde was a sullen, pouting British Bardot with a thin, inexpressive voice and a back catalog that is criminally easy to underestimate. "Kids in America" was as much a rarity upon its release as it is today: a crunchingly simple, super-poppy, three-minute single that sounds on first hearing like you've known it all your life. The Ramones could have done that song, Katy Perry could have done that song—but neither could have done it better than Kim Wilde did. And not just because she did it with an English accent. It was the way she sounded like she was just a little too cool, like she was doing the listener a favor. And she was! Especially in the final bridge, when she gave voice to the deathless couplet "New York to East California / There's a new wave comin' I warn you." The first line is geographically baffling, while the second accurately predicted the turn that American music was about to take.**
**LM:** **"Kids in America" is the 1982 version of "Smells like Teen Spirit" and "We Are Young": an adolescent anthem that encapsulated what it was like to be coming of age at a certain time. However, while Kurt Cobain pinpointed the apathy of Generation X, and Fun.'s "Let's set the night on fire" chorus is a sarcastic call-to-arms for overachieving millennials, Wilde's message was earnest and innocent: "Everybody live for the music-go-round." We didn't know about irony back then; we didn't have detachment or distance. We were all about fun (without the period). These days, Ferris Bueller wouldn't be cutting school; he'd be trying to raise seed money for his hot new app.**
**KIM WILDE:** When I was about seven or eight years old, I used to watch _Top of the Pops_ on a Thursday night, and that was my world. I remember making a deal with myself that one day I would be on it. Yes, my dad was one of the first rock stars ever [in the U.K.], but I'd already made a firm decision about my life.
My parents were only 20 when they had me. Rules didn't exist that much in our house. We were like kids growing up together, sharing each other's jeans and T-shirts. My dad had the most awesome collection of vinyl, and we had unlimited access to that.
I loved everything that was happening with punk, but I was just as happy listening to Kraftwerk as I was listening to the Sex Pistols, ABBA, and the Clash. I knew that my life was wrapped up with music one way or another, and even though it felt a bit slow to start, especially when I found myself leaving school and going to art college, I had this really strong sense of my own destiny. I'd done some backing vocals on my dad's stuff, and I'd been on the road with him. And I'd done backing vocals on a lot of the Ricky Wilde stuff. But really, deep down, what I wanted to do was get in a band. I remember going to London and seeing a band called the Mo-Dettes. I became a bit friendly with them, and I used to think that seemed the most fun: hanging out with a bunch of girls you love and making pop music.
Ricky had written some songs and had interest from Mickie Most at RAK Records. One day he was meeting with Ricky and I marched into the studio looking like a pop star. I remember making a special effort that day—my hair looked particularly spiky. I was already dying it and cutting it myself at art college. My tutor said it was the most creative thing I'd done while I was there. I went down the King's Road and bought myself some punky new wave trousers and a shirt. Things happened very quickly after that. Mickie asked Ricky who I was and started making noises to him that a couple of producers, Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, might do some stuff with me. Ricky thought, _Sod that. If anyone's going to be doing something with Kim, it's going to be me._ He went home that weekend and wrote "Kids in America."
He had the Wasp synthesizer in his bedroom. It was quite a new thing—we're talking about the dark days of technology, pre-Walkman, pre-cellphones. I don't know how he got his hands on this bit of kit, but the pulse inspired "Kids in America." Rick was a big Human League fan. He was the sound maker, and I was the one lending the vocals and the blonde hair.
A lot of people would give me shit for "Kids in America": "What are you singing about—you're not from America." I don't know that it matters that much. I loved the attitude of the song. Do you really always have to directly identify with the lyrics of a song? I didn't think so. I always thought it had something special about it that transcended having it make any sense that a girl from a village in Hertfordshire in the English countryside was singing it. Besides, I liked that it wound people up so much.
It went in the charts on its own steam and the BPI [British Phonographic Institute] or whoever put the charts together pulled it out. They thought it had been hyped [that the record company illegally purchased copies]. There was a lot of hyping that used to go on in those days, and they hadn't put it past Mickie that he might do that to his fledgling artist. So they had to reinstate the song. Mickie would come in every day and tell us the sales figures: 30,000, then 40,000, then 50,000, then 60,000 people were going out every day and buying it. Before we knew it, we sold over a million copies. At the time, I had no way of computing what that actually meant. I had nothing to compare it to, and it was irrelevant to me anyway. I wasn't interested in units and figures and business. All I cared about was the fact that I was going to be on _Top of the Pops_ for a few Thursday nights.
When it was a hit in America, they were like, "Why 'East California'? Why not all the way over to the west? Why miss out on that whole section of California that's not mentioned in the song?" And I said, "Well, they already got it. The people from the west side have already got it. We just had to bring it over to the east." I was finding myself trying to come up with any excuse as to why my dad might have written "to East California," and if you ask him, quite disarmingly, he'll just say, "'Cause it sounded better." If I'm honest, I didn't give too much thought to any of the lyrics. I was lost in this fantasy world that my dad had invited me into. I love how pop music can be completely nonsensical like that.
Musically, I found it really hard to put myself where I thought I should be. I loved too many different kinds of music. I really did struggle, and I think it shows in the early parts of my career. I look a little like I'm not sure where I should be, and it's true: I didn't know. By the time Ricky and my dad had started writing in earnest, I was far, far away. I was 20 years old living in airports all over the world with barely time to think about any aspect of my life other than making sure I didn't miss a flight. I barely saw them except to record. I figured my dad had a songwriting pedigree, so I just let them get on with it. I loved what they were coming up with for me, and even when I wasn't sure, I still went for it wholeheartedly. I played my part, but not in the creative process, putting songs together. It took me quite a few years to start thinking about becoming a songwriter myself.
I was always a bit of a tomgirl at school, a jeans and T-shirts girl. While the others were wearing eyeliner and miniskirts and platforms, I was the girl with the flared jeans and no makeup. As I became more of a woman, I felt more confident and sexy in photographs. They were absolutely tame compared to what's happening now, but that suited me. I liked that I could look pretty in pictures, but my main thing was I loved singing. Image always had a backseat for me, and sometimes I got it really spectacularly right—although most of the time that would be totally by accident—and then a lot of times I'd get it spectacularly wrong. There have been times in my career when I wish I'd been a bit more stylish. I wish I could have pulled it off and had all the top designers clamoring for my attention and begging me to wear their clothes. But they never did, and now I'm really glad I never got consumed by that.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs by British Women** 1. "Just What I Always Wanted," Mari Wilson 2. "It's a Mystery," Toyah 3. "Weak in the Presence of Beauty," Alison Moyet 4. "They Don't Know," Kirsty MacColl 5. "Eighth Day," Hazel O'Connor
Sometimes a career is driven very much by an artist and their ambitions. A really good example of that is Madonna. We both had a great start, but she had that ambition. I don't think I had that kind of voracious appetite. Had I had that, maybe I could have kept the momentum going a bit more. It was not for want of trying. Rick and Marty were always trying to come up with a hit record—that was the holy grail of each waking day. But all the aspects of creating an image and hype? I didn't have that energy to put into my career. It wasn't coming from me, and as a result, I didn't seem to attract that kind of input from anyone else.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Kim Wilde continued to have European hits into the nineties. She ended her recording career to marry actor Hal Fowler and raise a family. She appeared in** _**Tommy**_ **on the West End stage before going full-force into horticulture and becoming a celebrated TV gardener, presenting makeover shows for the BBC and Channel 4. Wilde then returned to music in 2001, joining various eighties revival tours. In 2003, she recorded the genuinely great "Anyplace Anywhere Anytime," a duet with fellow new waver Nena that went on to be a Top 10 hit across Europe. (Just because we call this one "genuinely great" doesn't mean we don't think similarly highly of other eighties acts' contemporary recordings. We just don't say it.) She is still signed to Sony Germany and continues to tour and record new material.**
**"Kids in America" resurfaced in 1995 when the Muffs recorded it as the theme to** _**Clueless**_ **. Subsequently, it's been performed by One Direction on the U.K.** _**X- Factor**_ **and recorded by acts as diverse as Tiffany, Cascada, Atomic Kitten, and James Last. ("Don't forget LawnmowerDeth," Wilde says. "They did a death metal version.") The song got a further lease on life in Christmas 2012 when a YouTube clip of a sozzled Wilde wearing reindeer antlers and serenading baffled London subway commuters with a boozy rendition racked up more than 2 million views.**
**WILDE:** My career was tough to deal with at times. It became a roller-coaster ride, and I'd been on the ride for long enough. I'd recorded an album for MCA, and there was not a lot of enthusiasm for it from them or anyone else. So I decided to leap before I was pushed. I found myself getting one of the lead roles in _Tommy_. I thought that was a perfect halfway house between where I'd been and where I needed to go. Also, I couldn't bear the thought of traveling anymore. My whole life had been spent living out of a suitcase. Then I met my husband, Hal, and that was the final nail in the coffin of my career. I really thought I'd never sing "Kids in America" again.
I was 36 and had my spiritual needs. My poor spiritual needs had gone unattended for some time. Falling in love and having children awoke a lot of feelings inside of me, and one of the most powerful was the sense that I needed to get my hands in the earth. It happened at the same time I got pregnant, this great desire to be closer to nature. I spent most of the eighties and nineties plastered in makeup, and I had this real desire to go out and plant roses.
My career began as a video artist, and I was one of the best mimers in the business when I was on TV. But when my career began again, it was focused on live music. I was utterly astonished when I discovered there was still a crowd out there who wanted to watch a middle-aged housewife singing "Kids in America." The feeling was euphoric. I said yes to tours and more tours, and music came back into my life.
The eighties has had a massive revival in the past 20 years—during the nineties, though, it was given short shrift. People quickly forgot the good things. There seemed to be a lot of cynicism, mostly to do with politics and Thatcher, but music got thrown in with it. Greedy and of no substance, shoulder pads, spiky hair—that was eighties music summed up in a few vacuous words. It took a good 20 years for people to go, "You know, those records were great, and that was a fantastic time for pop music."
When I feel really self-conscious about singing "New York to East California," I think of the Police singing "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da," and then I don't feel so bad. Some records have that special magic about them, and "Kids in America" has it in bucket loads. I'm really proud to be associated with the song, and I've fallen back in love with it after turning my back on it for years. The love affair's back on!
**_"NEW SONG"_**
oward Jones was a sensitive singer-songwriter sheep in a new wave wolf's clothing. If he'd sat at his keyboard and sung the same songs in the sixties, the seventies, or even the now-ties, he'd have been equally successful. But he blew up in the eighties, so he jabbed at a synthesizer and had a porcupine for a haircut while a white-faced mime named Jed cavorted around him, bringing the lyrics to life. A native of Southampton, England, Jones was not the only conventional artist to be new-waved up to suit the requirements of the decade; Nik Kershaw and Paul Young were similarly refurbished with gravity-defying 'dos. If Jones enjoyed a longer run of stateside success than many of his countrymen, it was because he gave his listeners more to chew on. He made more than just catchy records—he was a musical Tony Robbins, delivering self-help seminars through song. Howard Jones was just one man, but sometimes one man can make all the difference. (Well, he was actually two men if you count Jed the mime.)
LM: **Top 10 Life Lessons I Learned from Howard Jones:**
**1. Don't try to live your life in one day—don't go speed your time away.**
**2. Don't bite off more than you can chew. (Only so much you can do.)**
**3. Try and enjoy the here and now, the future will take care of itself somehow. The grass is never greener over there.**
**4. You can't change the world singlehandedly. Raise a glass, enjoy the scenery.**
**5. Treat today as if it were the last, the final show, get to 60 and have no regrets.**
**6. Don't be fooled by what you see. Don't be fooled by what you hear.**
**7. Don't crack up. Bend your brain. See both sides. Throw off your mental chains.**
**8. Challenge preconceived ideas. Say good-bye to long-standing fears.**
**9. A thousand skeptic hands won't keep us from the things we plan... unless we're clinging to the things we prize.**
**10. You can look at the menu, but you just can't eat. (As a vegan, I find this to be particularly true.)**
**JB: Zzzzzzz**
**HOWARD JONES:** There's a place I used to go when I was in my mid-20s: West Wickham Hill in High Wickham [Southeast England]. It is one of those places that has a fantastic view, and I used to take our dog walking there and reflect on how things were going. It was 1982, and I'd started to get interest from record companies, I was playing big club venues in London, and I got played on the radio in a BBC session. So I was setting out my agenda for my career, and I remember thinking about what I would like to say with my first single. That's where the "New Song" lyrics come from. They were inspired by the fact that I had been working in a cling-film [think Saran Wrap] factory on the shop floor and dreaming of getting my music going. I wanted to put that back into the music and say to people, "If I can do it, so can you—in whatever field you want to work in. Don't accept your second choice or Plan B. Go for what you really want to do and believe that you can do that."
There were a lot of people writing quite doom-laden music and being depressed about the future. That may be how they felt, but I didn't want to align myself with that. It seemed to me that a lot of people were being miserable to be cool. I'm not going to give any names of artists, 'cause I don't do that. And I don't even know if it was just music. It was just a general feeling within people that the future was not going to be good.
Now, if you just go, "Be happy and be positive," and it's done in a shallow way—if you do that without having grappled and fought the battle with yourself—then I don't think it carries any weight. If my music has any effect, it's because it was born from this battle I was having with myself, the general thinking that you have no control over your future. It's not true.
I didn't fit in with the other pop stars at the time, and I think the fans really picked up on that. I was swimming against the tide. I was married—happily. I didn't do drugs. Then, with the fashion stuff, that was all part of the same message: Don't be afraid to not wear T-shirts and jeans the whole time. If you have it in you to express yourself a bit more flamboyantly, then please have the courage and the joy of doing that. No record company ever told me what to wear, say, or do. It's always been difficult to be who you are, but I thought being a pop star is the best way to manifest that.
Having Jed onstage with me, that was another thing that was different. He was part of my act for all of the club dates pre-1983. To have a mime artist who dressed up as loads of characters for different songs—I don't think anybody else was doing that. He wasn't like Bez from Happy Mondays. Ours was more like performance art than a guy just dancing around. It was specific, and the costumes expressed the ideas of the songs.
"New Song" was the first song I ever recorded. It was started at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Oxfordshire. It didn't turn out as good as it should have, so we went up to Good Earth Studios in London to do some more work on it. It was Tony Visconti's studio; that was where Bowie and T. Rex used to record. I always liked David Bowie, but I really had a problem with his lyrics, because they meant nothing. They were just meaningless. He's definitely a fabulous artist, and the shows I saw him do were some of the best shows ever. I loved pretty much everything about him, but I was like, _What's that mean? What are you saying, David?_ Art for art's own sake is just not me. I like being able to relate to what people are saying.
"New Song" is probably my favorite. It is radically different from what you'd hear in most pop songs. The line "Challenging pre-conceived ideas"—you would never hear that in a pop song. That song is packed with stuff like that: "Don't crack up / Bend your brain"—don't be thrown or sidetracked, don't succumb to weakness, be strong. And "See both sides"—that's really important, to see both sides of an argument.
**"I realized I needed to work out what I thought about life and the world, how I was going to behave and what philosophy I was going to have. And that was documented in the albums."**
I used to read a lot of books about Eastern philosophy. I really related to Alan Watts's work. He was a Western guy who interpreted Eastern philosophical thinking. From the age of about 21, I realized I needed to work out what I thought about life and the world, how I was going to behave and what philosophy I was going to have. And that was documented in the albums. "What Is Love?" questions the idea that romantic love is the Holy Grail. "Maybe love is letting people be what they want to be"—not putting them in a box and tying them down and making them be what you want. To really love somebody, you've got to let them express themselves and not try and dominate them and want to make them be like you.
"No One Is to Blame" is a complex song. I was doing promotion in San Francisco with a record company guy, and he said, "Howard, what do you think of all the pretty women here in San Francisco?" I said, "They're great, but I'm happily married to Jan." And he said, "You can look at the menu, but you don't have to eat." That's what sparked the song. What I was trying to do was be honest on behalf of the listener. It was about being attracted to other people and admitting that. You are attracted to maybe half the people you meet, and that isn't a bad thing. You shouldn't blame yourself for that. No one is to blame—this is natural. This is what being a human being is like. So don't think you're the only one. But if you want to consummate that attraction to other people, then you have to be prepared to take what comes with it.
I thought "No One Is to Blame" had potential to be a big radio song. I played it to the head of Elektra Records in his office, on the piano, and I said, "I really think this could be huge," and he said, "No, it's a B-side." It turned out to be the biggest hit I had in America. It's just another example of how you need to stick to your guns and do what you think is right.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Thirty years after the release of "New Song," the prickly hair may be gone, but Jones continues to tour and inspire his faithful followers. A longtime vegetarian (though now closed, his restaurant Nowhere was a forerunner among Manhattan eateries with meatless menus), he is also a member of the 12-million-strong Buddhist movement Soka Gakkai and oversees one of its choirs, the Glorious Life Chorus, which performs Jones songs in its repertoire. And, true to the title of one of his biggest hits, he still believes that things can only get better.**
**JONES:** I am constantly surprised by the longevity of the music. The great thing for me is that I still feel very happy playing and singing my songs. Imagine if it was a bunch of lyrics that just didn't mean anything, and you had to do it over and over again for years—that would be torture.
I've been married to my wife for 35 years now. We have children, and I've always tried to get the ideas from the songs across to them. I say, "I have tried to train you to stand up to anyone if they're saying something that you don't agree with." And they've become really good at that—so good that they give me a hard time, they challenge me.
At the core, I'm the same person, but I've definitely changed over the years. I'm always trying to become a better human being every day. I've evolved and hopefully have become better at putting those philosophies into practice. It's an ongoing thing until I die.
**MIXTAPE:** 5 More Positive, Upbeat Songs 1. "Our House," Madness 2. "In a Big Country," Big Country 3. "Happy Birthday," Altered Images 4. "The Safety Dance," Men Without Hats 5. "Right by Your Side," The Eurythmics
**_"THE METRO"_**
here wasn't a whole lot of room in new wave for girls. Maybe it was because guys had taken over the makeup mirror, the hairspray, and the frilly shirts. When Annie Lennox first burst into our living rooms, she did so dressed in drag. Meanwhile, Alison Moyet wore shapeless muumuus, and early Bananarama were togged up like extras from _Oliver Twist_. In Los Angeles, though, there was no shortage of women who flaunted their femaleness—the Go-Go's, Martha Davis of the Motels, Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons. But Terri Nunn was the fairest of them all. A part-time actress (she'd auditioned to play Princess Leia in _Star Wars_ ) and one-time Penthouse Pet, Nunn—real name!—was so beautiful that she called to mind Deborah Harry, herself a onetime Playboy Bunny. Nunn planted saucy seeds in the mind of Berlin fanclub member Madonna with songs like the outrageous "Sex (I'm A...)." And yet, it's the haunting synth-made melodies permeating "The Metro" and the Giorgio Moroder gem "Take My Breath Away" we remember them for. Berlin may have hailed from sunny California, but their sound linked them to their namesake city 6,000 miles away.
**LM: I loved interviewing Nunn. We gossiped like girlfriends. We talked about how hot Bryan Ferry was, how stunning Debbie Harry (Nunn: "The closer I got, the more gorgeous, and it wasn't the lighting"), how fat Belinda Carlisle was ("She was a house. She would say so herself"). I mean, that's not the kind of stuff you can talk about with Roland Orzabal. I also loved Nunn's unapologetic love of her own music and legacy. Nunn was a hot chick in a cool band during the early eighties, and she knows it. And she had a voice that was almost as distinctive as she was beautiful. She may have started out chirping a silly song about sex, but by "Take My Breath Away," Nunn had matured into having one of the era's sultriest voices.**
**JB: As greedily (and indiscriminately) as the States gobbled up the latest British new wave export to come down the pike, the reverse was not the case. We treated Blondie, the Ramones, Television, and Talking Heads like deities, but we weren't about to give the phony, plastic, poser likes of Missing Persons, the Motels, the Go-Go's, or Berlin the time of day. We had our own phony, plastic, poser bands, groups like the Regents, Blue Zoo, Fiction Factory, and a plethora of other atrocities we won't sully ourselves by writing about in these pages. (See you in Book Two, guys!) But I'm more mature now. I live in America. I know the generosity of its people. I've traveled the vastness of its highways. Do I still feel the same about American new wave? Kinda. "The Metro'' is pretty good, though. Probably because it's so European.**
**TERRI NUNN:** Grace Slick got me into music. That was the call of the wild. I saw her on television and said, "I want to be her!" She was so different from all the other women. They were pretty and sweet and nice, but she was the epitome of both men and women in music, because she stood up with the men and went, "Fuck you!" She was throwing off her top and singing as strong as any of the guys—and just as irreverent and sexy and hot. I wanted the freedom that the guys had.
When I started doing music in the late seventies, it was a completely male-dominated job. Bands like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith were still ruling the airwaves, and punk had just happened. We opened for Iggy Pop once. I would have loved for us to have had a mosh pit. It always bummed me out because I'd see other bands get mosh pits in the front of the stage and we never had that.
Then the eighties happened. It was an amazing time, one of the best ever in Los Angeles. There were so many clubs to play, like Madame Wong's, Club 88. Any night of the week you'd have the best fucking live music you could possibly want. Punk was still happening: the Cramps, X. But the main thing was power pop, so the Go-Go's and the Plimsouls were initially much more viable than we were. Berlin was "synthesizer music," and people didn't really understand it. We got lumped together with Missing Persons because we were the closest to each other—the girl singer, the synthesizers. But we were very different image-wise. Dale Bozzio was more space-age, very Barbarella, with the plastic things over her tits.
We patterned ourselves after the European bands: Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Roxy Music. Oh, Bryan Ferry—he's a god! We got to open for him once, and I'll never forget it. That glamorous, romantic image: the cool guy with the cigarette and the suit, and all the beautiful women who were dressed up with martinis in their hands. It wasn't like the punk scene or the rock scene; it was classy, very grown-up. And that's really what I wanted Berlin to be: elegant but sexy. Old Hollywood. The guys in the band wore tuxedoes. I was usually in a dress. No one else was doing that. I wanted kids to look at us and think, _It's really cool to grow up,_ instead of _Look at my parents: They gave up on their dreams. Life sucks for them, and that's how I'm going to end up._
By 1982, KROQ was playing some really weird stuff: Oingo Boingo, Romeo Void, Talking Heads. These were bands that weren't played on any of the rock stations at all, ever. And KROQ was a strong supporter of L.A. bands, which gave us hope that they would play us if we could come up with something that would grab their attention. So we were like, "Okay, how can we be outrageous? What could be a really bold statement?" And that's how we came up with the idea of our first single, "Sex (I'm A...)."
I wrote it about a problem I was having with my boyfriend at the time. Sex wasn't that great. We hit a wall pretty fast, and I wanted to spice it up, but he really didn't. He said, "It's fine if you want to try some new things like role playing, but I'm not a burglar, and I don't want to be a pirate. I'm just a guy, and I like just really boring, normal things, like man on top." So that's what I wrote. I wrote that he's always just a guy: "I'm a man...," "I'm a man...," "I'm a man..." But I'm a lot of things! I imagined me dancing around him as all these different characters: "I'm a goddess," "I'm a virgin," "I'm a blue movie"... I had never heard something like that talked about in a song, but girls talk about that stuff all the time. Still, I had no idea how the public would respond, and it was pretty drastic. People were either, "You're the devil's children and should not be allowed to live on this planet for saying something like that" or, "Oh my God, this is awesome!" It was never in the middle. I should have had more fun with it, but I was horrified that people were thinking, "You're the girl on the back cover of the single who's wearing nothing except a stole around the important parts, and you have no brain." My mistake was rather than playing with it and laughing, I was like, "Oh, no! I'm a very serious songwriter and singer!" I got defensive. I was 22 years old.
But that song wasn't what Berlin was all about. That was "The Metro." It was '81 when we wrote it, and we were getting better as writers and playing live. When we finished it, we were like, "That's it! That's what we want to sound like!" I've heard that from other bands too, that there's that moment where a sound comes together and defines you. Bam! That's who we are. We had a template. *****
I had never heard anything like it before: deep, dark, romantic, completely unique, from the sparsity of the sound and the loneliness of David Diamond's keyboard to the female vocal, the European setting, and the sadness of the lyrics. John Crawford wrote that. He was so incredibly honest about his feelings. It wasn't just about "Let's go get laid and party, woo hoo!" It was "My girlfriend is going to Europe, and I'm probably going to lose her. She's going to meet some great Italian guy, and she's going to dump me." That's what that song's about. The way he talked about his insecurities was completely universal. That was the beauty of our collaboration: His feelings were not male; they were human.
*** RICHARD BLADE, former KROQ DJ and current host of Sirius Satellite Radio's First Wave: Terri and I nearly got married. She likes to tell the story about how I took "Metro" to KROQ and broke it there when they still were on an independent label. I found it at a record shop in Long Beach when I was doing overnights on KNAC and took the single with me to KROQ. [Program director] Rick Carroll called up and said, "What are you playing?" I said, "A song called 'Metro' from Berlin. They're either German or local, I don't really know." And he said, "Leave it in the studio: I want Jed [the Fish] to play it, and Freddy [Snakeskin]. Every three hours, I want it to come up." Terri's producer heard it too and called up and said that the band would love to meet me. I met Terri the next week, and we fell in love instantly and were never apart for a year and a half. "The Metro" was a perfect storm: great female vocals, a catchy chorus, and a story about lost love. It was exotic rather than erotic. It had a driving dance beat that still works to this day. It's about 168 beats per minute! You put that song on, and you cannot sit on your ass.**
The bridge between "The Metro" and our biggest hit, "Take My Breath Away," was Giorgio Moroder. Getting to work with him was a huge deal for us, because we loved his work with David Bowie, Blondie, Donna Summer. He was so unique that artists went to him to sound like him. When Bowie did "Cat People," that didn't sound like Bowie; it sounded like Bowie on top of a Giorgio Moroder song—and that's what he wanted! So we begged our record label to ask if he would work with us, and he was so huge at that point that we could only afford one song, "No More Words."
It was really just lucky that he was offered to produce and write songs for _Top Gun_ while we were working with him. But he didn't come to me first for "Take My Breath Away." He tried out a couple of other, more traditional singers—Martha Davis of the Motels was one—but the producers, including Jerry Bruckheimer, and the director, Tony Scott, didn't like their renditions. So Giorgio came in one day and played "Take My Breath Away" and asked if we'd be interested in doing it. I immediately said yes. Plus, it was the romantic peak of the movie. But John immediately said no. He just thought that great bands didn't do other people's songs, case closed.
While I didn't think it was the greatest song I'd ever heard, I thought it was good. But I never thought it would be a number-one hit around the world. The original demo was stilted, rigid. The words sounded syncopated, like they were coming from a Japanese singer: "Watching. Every. Motion. In my. Foolish. Lover's. Game." It was so... yuck. The words are so romantic and sad and longing. I just wanted to pull the notes out of the structure—"In my fooooolish loooover's gaaaame"—to open it up a bit. So that's how I sang it, and I thought, _Well, if they don't like it, fuck it—who cares? We've got Giorgio, we're working on our album._ I had nothing to lose to make it mine, so I did. And they loved it.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs from L.A. Women** 1. "Destination Unknown," Missing Persons 2. "Johnny, Are You Queer?," Josie Cotton 3. "Only the Lonely," The Motels 4. "This Town," The Go-Go's 5. "Valley Girl," Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa
The song was nominated for an Academy Award, and when it came to performing at the Oscars, that was when I went on my ego trip. They said, "We're going to do a medley, and we want you to sing a verse and a chorus of the song, then we're going to cut to the next song, and they're going to sing a verse and a chorus.... That way we can condense everything. And I said to them, "Well, no. If I can't sing the whole song, I'm not doing it," totally expecting them to just be so in love with me that they would go, "Okay!" Well, what they said was, "Oh, well, okay, thank you very much. Click!" And they went and got Lou Rawls. Can you fucking believe that? I watched the awards on television while we were on tour overseas somewhere in Taiwan, and I saw that it won. I look back on that with regret.
While "Take My Breath Away" didn't single-handedly destroy Berlin, it was just one more disagreement between John and me. We were going in different directions on everything. We were the two who were signed by Geffen. We always presented it as a band, but it was really the two of us, and we crumbled. We couldn't agree anymore. By the last tour, we weren't even speaking.
And we were exhausted. That's why record labels want kids, because they want endless energy. They want somebody they can just throw on the road, then put in a studio, then throw back out on the road. It's this endless cycle, and you don't know that you need a life until you fall apart or you become a drug addict. It was five years of that cycle and, holy god, both of us were just tired of everything. We were tired of each other; we were tired of not having a real relationship in our lives. We had no friends, we had nothing except each other and this band, and that doesn't hug you at night, you know? Getting laid once in a while with people you're not going to see again the next day, that loses it real fast. We were just sick of it all.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Although 1986's** _**Count Three and Pray**_ **contained the international smash "Take My Breath Away," the album never gained traction, and Berlin disbanded a year later. Nunn released a solo album, 1991's** _**Moment of Truth**_ **, before obtaining the rights to the band's name and rebuilding Berlin with an all-new lineup of musicians. Nunn continues to tour and record under the Berlin banner and released the album** _**Animal**_ **in 2013. She also co-hosts a show on L.A. radio station KCSN with friend and comedienne Wendy Liebman.**
**NUNN:** I'm still fired up about Berlin. This writing partner, Derek Cannavo, and I have that kind of thing like John and I had. Derek and I wrote [ _Animal_ ], and I'm just so excited by EDM music—it's where electronic music has gone. On this album we covered "Somebody to Love," and Grace Slick has heard it! Yes! I played it for her, and she said, "Wow." That was fucking huge for me.
_**"I RAN"**_
Hip-hop had Vanilla Ice. Hair metal had Quiet Riot. Bloated, inspirational arena rock had Creed. Whatever your taste in music, it will at some point be misrepresented by a monster hit from an artist who makes you cringe and who causes contemporaries to beg, "Please don't judge us by that!" So it was with A Flock of Seagulls. Even in a genre as ridicule-prone as new wave, A Flock of Seagulls made an easy target, thanks to the name, the singer's hair, and the absurd sense of B-movie drama permeating "I Ran." Decades later, though, we remember their name, we certainly remember the hair, and we remember the way Mike Score bleated his way through that "I never thought I'd meet a girl like you-ooo-ooo" lyric. A Flock of Seagulls may have been a punch line, but at least they were an unforgettable one.
**JB: As we age, our priorities change. We worry about our bank balances, our aching backs, our prostates. (By we, I mean everyone else. Not me. I'm in tip-top shape. Never better. Well, there's the odd twinge...) We place less and less importance on cool—knowing what's cool or being up-to-the-second on cool music. The dwindling importance of cool is a weight off our sagging shoulders. But even in my dotage, when my day consists of when I have to pee and when I don't have to pee, I still wince a little at the thought of A Flock of Seagulls. In my U.K. homeland, they were seen as a joke act, like a band formed by a bunch of oafish characters in a British soap opera. The fact that they were snapped up without a qualm by American audiences almost devalues the success of stratospherically superior British bands of the same vintage. Objectively, I know that attitude is imbecilic. People are free to enjoy whatever they please, and more than that, I'm absolutely able to appreciate that the 12-inch of "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" is a long, luxurious wallow. But they're still not cool to me. Sorry.**
**LM: Being one of those qualmless Americans you speak of, I thought they were cool. Prior to the Hairstyle, there was the "I Ran" video, a welcome respite from dull concert-performance clips like Springsteen's unbearable "Rosalita." The latter seemed like it was 20 minutes long, and it was so dingy and seventies-feeling it may as well have been in black and white. But "I Ran"—that was full-on, resplendent Technicolor. The revolving mirrored room with the aluminum foil floor! The alien women with the crazy makeup and dresses made out of Hefty bags! The freaky frontman in the red secretary blouse with the singed blond coif singing about the aurora borealis! I couldn't get away!**
**MIKE SCORE:** In the late seventies, early eighties, I owned a shop in Liverpool called Oz the Magic Hairdresser. We were the punk hairdresser in town—crazy perms, crazy colors. I witnessed the music scene from the outside: I wasn't really a clubgoer. I was 25 and married with a child. But I was involved with people in local bands who would come in and get their hair done: Teardrop Explodes, the Icicle Works. That got me interested. In '78 or '79, Hambi from Hambi and the Dance came into the shop and said they needed a bass player. I was just learning to play, but I told them I was the best bass player in Liverpool, and, probably in their desperation, they believed it. I ended up joining them.
One thing I didn't really like about the after-punk Liverpool scene was that everything was dark. We called it the Raincoat Brigade, because they all wore long coats and hangdog expressions. But they were stylish in their own way. Almost like the hipsters are now. But Hambi were more Talking Heads than Echo and the Bunnymen: not as dark, a bit more fun, and tinged with sixties psychedelia. Then Hambi got a deal with Virgin Records, and they said there were two of us who didn't fit the style of the band, and I was one of them. But they said, "Maybe start your own band and come back to us." I told my brother, Ali, and he goes, "Great, I'll be the drummer!" Frank Maudsley, who worked for me, was like, "Well, let me join too." Synths had just come out, so I said to Frank: "Here, play my bass. I'm going to get a synth." Frank's friend Paul Reynolds slotted in on guitar, and, basically, that became A Flock of Seagulls.
I wanted to call the band Level 7 because I was reading a sci-fi book with that title. It felt really techno and electronic. Then another band came out called Level 42. We were like, "Shit! People will think, _You're just copying Level 42_." I'd also read _Jonathan Livingston Seagull_ , and it said a lot of things that I was thinking. In the book, the seagulls squabble over food, and one of them realizes he has wings and can fly. He looks at all the other birds flying and says, "They have wings, I have wings. Look how high they're flying. Why aren't I flying that high?" That was the inspiration. I went, "OK, now I want to be a seagull, and my band will be A Flock of Seagulls. We all want to fly that high."
We were never really a part of the Liverpool scene. As I said, Liverpool was into darker bands like Teardrop Explodes and Joy Division. We were more into Devo and the Cars. We'd seen Duran Duran on TV, and they were more in the path that we were going down, except they weren't as electronic as we wanted to be. It sounds big-headed now, but we didn't think Liverpool was ready for what we were doing, though we thought the rest of the world might be. So we made a mutual decision: We're going to London. What we want is to be world-big, not Liverpool-big.
The four of us went and lived in London for two weeks in a van. We went to every gig we could and gave tapes out. One of the guys that got the tape was Tommy Crossan, a soundman for a band called the Yachts. They did a gig in Liverpool, and we opened for them: A Nautical Extravaganza with the Yachts and A Flock of Seagulls. We found Tommy's address and parked outside his door. One morning I said, "Have you listened to the tape?" He said, "No, I haven't." I said, "Well, we're not moving until you listen to it." Tommy ended up co-managing us.
**STYLE COUNCIL**
"I didn't wash it for a couple weeks at a time because it was just so locked into place—a can of Aquanet every night," Score says. "Once it was up and we had gigs, it never came down. One show, a girl jumped onstage, ran over to me, touched my hair, and fainted. I came offstage that night, and my manager said, 'I think you've got something there!'"
Ninety-nine percent of the record companies rejected us. I don't think it was that we weren't good; it was that they didn't understand what we were doing. One of the labels we were trying to get a deal with was Zoo Records in Liverpool, which had Teardrop and Echo. One day we went up to their offices, and they had a picture on the wall of two people running away from a flying saucer. It was probably from a fifties movie. They said it was going to be the cover of Teardrop Explodes' new album. I mentally put myself in the position of the people running from the flying saucer. Then we went to see the band Fischer-Z, and they had a song called "I Ran." [Editor's note: It was actually called "Wristcutter's Lullaby."] When things are right, they line up. I went, "I ran from the alien girl in the flying saucer who was chasing me," and within a few minutes the whole song came together. "I Ran" wrote itself, as all good songs do.
People used to say to me, "What is the aurora borealis?" and I was like, "How could you not know?" Then, secondly, they would say, "How did you get those words to fit into a song?" You've seen _Close Encounters_. You know when the ship breaks through the clouds and the rainbow-effect thing happens? That's like in the song: "A cloud appears above your head / A beam of light comes shining down on you." When she's coming down on her beam of light, it breaks through the clouds, and there's the aurora borealis.
The concept for our debut album [1982's _A Flock of Seagulls_ ] is sci-fi too. It's a love album, but it's not about loving the girl around the corner. When you watch _Star Trek_ , Captain Kirk always got the green girl, the alien girl. So that was my concept, to be the guy that was in love with the alien, not the girl who works on the checkout at the Publix. Of course, being into sci-fi, we also loved stuff like Ziggy Stardust, "Starman" and "Space Oddity." Bowie's clothes and hairstyle made me realize that if I wanted to be in a band that was going somewhere, I had to have a look.
We were the first band Clive Calder signed to a new label called Jive Records. Clive said to us, "There's a new thing they're putting on in America called Music Television, and they want videos from new bands. Let's make a clip for 'I Ran' and see what happens." We were given a hundred pounds each to get some clothes to wear in the video. The first thing we did was we went to some girls' shops in London. Guys' clothes just weren't up to looking very fashionable or new wave-y. The whole new wave thing was to look pretty. We were like, "Let's grab a few things that make us look different. We don't want to look like we're not happy and not interested. And we don't want to look dark; we want to look bright and sci-fi."
MTV was a little gift from the gods. By the end of that year, "I Ran" had hit the U.S. Top 10, and we'd toured with the Go-Go's and played Madison Square Garden twice. It was meteoric. It was nothing, then everything. By '83, we were supporting the Police on their _Synchronicity_ tour, playing to 100,000 people a night.
In the "I Ran" video, I wore my hair curly. After that, I decided to go for a Ziggy Stardust blond, punk look. We were getting ready to do a show, and I'd spiked my hair up. Frank put his hand on top of my head, basically to say, "Let me see in the mirror as well." He collapsed the whole top of my hairdo by putting his hand on it, with the sides still sticking up—and it stayed like that. Mick Rossi, our manager, was trying to shoo us on stage, so I just went out with it like that. I noticed a few people looking and pointing. When we came off stage, I looked in the mirror, and I remember feeling a bit like, _That looks awesome!_
**MIXTAPE** : **5 More Songs from the Past About the Future** 1. "Together in Electric Dreams," Phil Oakey and Giorgio Moroder 2. "Major Tom," Peter Schilling 3. "Einstein a Go-Go," Landscape 4. "Living by Numbers," New Musik 5. "Living on Video," Trans-X
The next gig, I went for that look and made it even more so. Frank said "God, that's so sci-fi!" So it became my image, to have the aerials at the sides, the wings, and the big thing hiding my face, which I thought was great, because that made me more mysterious. That's how I wore it in the video for "Space Age Love Song." "Space Age" wasn't as big of a hit as "I Ran," but it's definitely one of our best songs—actually, it's a rewrite of a song I wrote called "Nagasaki." It was based on watching a show about the dropping of the atom bomb. My idea was to have beautiful music and horrendous lyrics. Maybe one day I'll redo it with the original lyrics: "A bomber flies, a baby dies, a mother cries. Nagasaki." Now, if you go to "Wishing," I remember when I played it to a friend of mine, she said, "This is going to put you in the top songwriters in the world." It's timeless. Even when I hear it on the radio now, that one stands up to anything. You can put a Beatles song in front of it, you can put a Tears for Fears song in front of it, and it still sounds as good as any of those.
Everybody thought I'd developed this huge ego, because when we did interviews, people wanted to talk to me. Onstage I have a way of controlling the band—I will look at people as if to say, "Start the song now," and sometimes that gets read wrongly. A lot depends on your opinion of the person who's looking at you. I would look at my brother as if to say, "Let's start the song now," and he would never take it as just a look. He would always take it as me trying to control him. As the band gets bigger, you tend to lose that camaraderie. I think that led to the downfall.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**By the end of '85, Reynolds, Maudsley, and Ali Score departed the band, leaving Mike Score to employ various musicians so he could continue to tour under the name A Flock of Seagulls. In 2003, all four original members patched things up for VH1's Bands Reunited series, but the re-formation was short-lived. "It wasn't long before all the old problems resurfaced," Score says, referring to the others' desire for democracy and his need to exert control. Soon after, he was again a lone Seagull, but he also began writing and recording his own material, which he describes as "better than any Seagulls stuff." In July 2013, all Score's music equipment and tracks for an upcoming solo record were stolen. Though he now sports a shorn pate, his hairstyle lives on as a go-to joke for bad-eighties style. "I Ran" has been covered by artists including Nickelback and Bowling for Soup, and was featured in a commercial for Cape Cod potato chips, in which the song was performed by a flock of CGI seagulls.**
**SCORE:** When the hairdo became more important than the band, I stopped doing it. People would say, "What happened to your hair?" and I would say, "It might be important to you, but it's not important to me." For a long time I had it waist-length, snatched back. Then, of course, you start to lose it. I woke up one day and said, "It's all got to go today," and I shaved it off. I looked in the mirror and said, "Now you look better than you did in 1982."
Because of my hair, I'm like a legend of the eighties, right? So I was like, "Why not open a restaurant and have every table have a legend on it?" In 2007, I opened the Legends Cafe in Cocoa Beach, Florida. I had this idea to have a Muhammad Ali table, a Beatles table, a Rolling Stones table, an astronaut table. It had a Mexican bar, Italian dining room, a sushi bar—it was a fusion situation. People loved it, because the girlfriend could have sushi and the guy could have burgers. But I don't think the world that I put it in was ready for it. We had it open for about a year, and because I knew nothing about running restaurants, I ran it into the ground.
Everybody who's had a big hit resents it at some point. You go, "Hey, that song was 25 years ago. Why are you still hanging on to it?" As a listener, you go, "Oh, in '82 I was going out with Billy, and 'I Ran' was on, and we had a great time." I don't play "I Ran" for me anymore; I play it for the people who like it. At least it keeps me being able to be a musician. I'm not digging ditches, and I'm hoping to retire with a small pension.
_**"I MELT WITH YOU"**_
ou know those young-adult novels that today's kids love so much? The ones based in dystopic universes where doomed lovers try to snatch a fleeting moment of romance before dark forces snuff out their young hearts forever? We didn't have those in the eighties, but we did have songs about nuclear paranoia, which served more or less the same purpose. As the arms race intensified, as Reagan and Gorbachev stared each other down, fears grew that these might be our last days. But at least we had a stellar soundtrack to keep up our spirits as we awaited the arrival of rockets from Russia. These were the days of "Atomic" by Blondie, "1999" and "Ronnie, Talk to Russia" by Prince, "Missiles" by the Sound, and "Breathing" by Kate Bush, to name a few. These were also the days of "I Melt with You," which painted perhaps the most idyllic picture of romance in the apocalyptic age. Over the decades, many fresh fears emerged to turn us into twitching, hollow-eyed wrecks, but the jangly headlong rush of "I Melt with You" remains an uplifting reminder that a catchy tune can outlive presidents and their space-defense initiatives.
**LM:** **Whenever I tell people I'm working on a book about the most beloved songs of new wave, they respond with a litany of tracks—"Is this one in it? Is that one in it?" Invariably, "I Melt with You" is one of the first mentioned. Idealist lyrics like "Making love to you was never second best" recall a more innocent time before twerking and choruses like "Tonight I'm fucking you" (thank you, Enrique). And "Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace" is a lyric that could have been written only during the eighties. (When else might someone have attempted to mix two such unlikely fabrics?) At the same time, the music could have been made last week by a U.K. band like White Lies. Ecstasy in the face of Armageddon set to a danceable beat: It's the only way to go.**
**JB:** **"I Melt with You" for me falls into the same category as "Under the Milky Way" by the Church: I like it, I sing along to it, it never feels dated, and I'm sufficiently satisfied by it that I never feel the need to listen to another song from their catalog.**
**ROBBIE GREY:** Punk was kind of dying off; it had become very commercialized. A lot of bands who used to play better music started playing three chords just to jump on the band wagon. We just decided to do something a bit more experimental. Other bands, like Joy Division, Wire, they started to do the same thing just to get away from punk's straightforward chord structures.
What we were doing, it felt very modern and very English. It felt special to be British because of the record labels like Factory and 4AD. And I remember when we first went to America, they called it the Second British Invasion. But England was a very bleak place back then. We came from Colchester, in Essex, a small town about an hour from London. They talk about a recession, but there is nothing like England in the late seventies and early eighties. There were times when people were only working three days [a week] because there was no money. There'd be no power—you'd be at home with candles. I used to go watch bands just to steal a microphone if I could get close to one.
So that's what the feel of England was, and I write about things I know. On the first album, [1981's] _Mesh and Lace_ , "Black Houses" is all about the nuclear threat and all the nuclear pamphlets that were around at the time. You know, "In case of nuclear attack, paint your windows black and get under the table." [When "I Melt with You" was first released as a single in 1982] I don't think many people realized it was about a couple making love as the bomb dropped. As they make love, they become one and melt together. I remember writing the lyrics in my room in Shepherd's Bush in London in about two minutes. I was stoned. I remember kneeling down on the floor and writing on a scrap of paper these first lines: "Moving forward using all my breath"—so easy to say but so much content—and then: "Making love to you was never second best." They coupled together really nicely. And then, the bridge: "The future's open wide," [because] you've got a lot of negative stuff with the idea of the nuclear bomb.
"I Melt with You" was a love song, but it was also about the good and bad in people. "Mesh and lace" was the hard and soft. I liked the idea of having these different images in a pop song. The last thing we wanted was to write a song where boy meets girl, they go to the cinema and make love, and that's the end of it.
The music was put together in a rehearsal room in London. We just put pieces of music together, almost like classical music. We'd say, "Let's try that piece and that piece together." That's why [1982's _After the Snow_ ] is such an imaginative and special album. We really do have to doff our cap to Hugh Jones, the producer. He stopped me shouting. I used to just get on the microphone and just shout my words 'cause I wanted to tell people what I felt. He was the one who said, "Hold on a minute, Robbie. You can still tell people how you're feeling, but you can just say it." And "Melt" is the first song I did it on. That's why it's got that very close, not-very-well-sung feel to it on the verses. Let me be straight about this: When we were in the studio, the band had never written a pop song. We were looking at this creation that was coming out of the speakers and thinking, _Oh my god, this is different!_ You know, the whole song just glides. If you took my vocals off, I think it sounds a bit like the Byrds.
**MIXTAPE:** 5 More Songs About Nuclear Bombs 1. "99 Luftballoons," Nena 2. "Two Tribes," Frankie Goes to Hollywood 3. "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes," Ultravox 4. "The Last Film I Ever Saw," Kissing the Pink 5. "Red Skies," The Fixx
Someone picked up an import from England and started playing it on mainstream radio in America, and it just went like wildfire. We used to play to 200 people in art college; the next thing we knew, we were in Daytona Beach playing to 5,000 people who know all the words to "I Melt with You." When we showed up at spring break, we had never played outside before, and we were so scared of losing all our atmosphere without a roof and walls. The promoter said, "You can play to 10,000 people out here or you can go inside and play to 5,000." We said we would go inside instead. That night, all the water was running off the walls, it was so hot. We were wearing coats coming off the plane in Florida—we didn't even know it was going to be hot, that's how clued up we were. And I'll never forget coming off the stage and saying to my manager: "That's it!
That's what it's all about!" I'd imagine if you spoke to most of the [British] bands from that period who went to America, [they'd say] they were blown away by the difference of audience reaction. European audiences were very thoughtful, very interested in the music—they wanted to see our artistic side. Whereas, when we got to America, people just wanted to have a good time.
**"They talk about a recession, but there is nothing like England in the late seventies and early eighties....I used to go watch bands just to steal a microphone if I could get close to one."**
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Fondly remembered as the song that accompanied the closing credits of** _**Valley Girl,**_ **"I Melt with You" has never really left the airwaves. In 1990, when Modern English rerecorded "I Melt with You" for** _**Pillow Lips,**_ **their debut with TVT Records, the song made a reappearance on the Billboard Hot 100. Then, in 2010, the group recorded yet another version to be the title track of the male midlife-crisis drama starring Jeremy Piven and Rob Lowe. The band still tours and wouldn't think of leaving their most popular song off the playlist.**
**GREY:** "I Melt with You," for me, was a bit of a burden for a few years early on. We were so big a band from about 1983 to about 1986—we were as big as U2—and we used to get a bit pissed off because everyone wanted to hear "I Melt with You." But not anymore—it pays all our bills. One of the biggest money moments of our career was when Burger King used it. We got $90,000 for that. To be honest with you, Burger King was a strange one. I think they just used [the humming part] to symbolize a [tasty] burger. We said no to a few things. One was a motorized bunny rabbit that was gonna sing "I Melt with You." We just wanted to say no to something.
I suppose "I Melt with You" can sometimes be a pain in the ass 'cause you want people to listen to your other music, but we don't complain about it. When you're onstage and you see people and they're full of ecstasy when you're playing it, it's fantastic. People say, "The first time I made love was to that song." Or "Thanks very much. I managed to get a load of women thanks to you and that song."
**_"TAINTED LOVE"_**
For Soft Cell, the synth duo of Marc Almond and David Ball, their greatest hit was both an albatross and an anomaly. Although they would rack up a total of 10 chart hits in their native U.K. by 1984, around the world Soft Cell is synonymous with a single song: "Tainted Love." An electronic cover of an obscure sixties soul record, the track was not only an international number one but also a Guinness Book of World Records–breaking, 43-week fixture on the Billboard singles chart. "Tainted Love" was impassioned and melodramatic, and featured a deliciously overwrought vocal from Almond, but it was nothing like the rest of their debut album, 1981's _Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret._ That revealed Soft Cell in their true colors—and they were sort of milky white with a hint of faded yellow. Small wonder _Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret_ was so fixated on smut, ugliness, and decay. Almond and Ball came of age in a country where the daily tabloids feature bare breasts on one page and editorials preaching morality on the next, and the prominent television personalities were flabby, grotesque middle-age comics who pawed and leered at younger women paid to tolerate them. While their New Romantic colleagues were painting neon pictures of divine decadence and parties that never ended, Soft Cell were forever stuck out on the street, drunk, depressed, and wearing the wrong clothes.
**JB: The difference between pop music now and in the eighties is the difference between stage school and art school. It's the difference between wanting to be successful and wanting to be different. Soft Cell were a total art school band. They were pretentious, they were show-offs, and they wanted to shock. There may have been nothing remotely controversial about "Tainted Love," but the first time Almond minced on to _Top of the Pops_ and gave a camp, eye-rolling, lips-pursed performance of his big hit, he single-handedly extended Britain's generation gap by a good 18 months. Middle-aged dads raised on rock erupted in fury at the sight of him. No other band before, or since, was that commercially astute and that enthusiastic about wallowing in the tawdry. When today's concerned parents wring their hands about the likes of Miley Cyrus prematurely sexualizing their precious offspring, I think back to 1981. In the U.K., Soft Cell were on every kiddie TV show, every preteen wall, and every radio station, and for a lot of that audience, "Tainted Love" was the gateway drug that led to them hearing Almond singing about seedy films and sex dwarves.**
**LM: The banned video for "Sex Dwarf" makes "Girls on Film" look like something you'd see on the Disney Channel! There are bare breasts, raw meat, chainsaws and, true to the song's title, a little person outfitted in S&M gear. I know because I just YouTubed it. And that was the first time I'd ever seen a Soft Cell music video. Although "Tainted Love" ruled American radio alongside the Human League's "Don't You Want Me," it did it without the aid of accompanying visuals. Still, "Tainted Love" exhibited more than enough new wave–ness to seize my attention: a sinister, synthesized melody on top of an I-dare-you-not-to-dance beat, and pained, angry lyrics sung in an English accent by a sensitive man who'd been wounded by a careless lover. Now if I could only erase the picture of that miniature gimp from my brain!**
**MARC ALMOND:** "Memorabilia" [produced by Mute Records' Daniel Miller and released in 1978] had been a big dance club hit, and a buzz was starting to happen about us. We'd gone through our cold, robotic, electronic music phase; we'd done our songs about consumerism and suburban nightmares. We wanted to bring a lot more passion to electronic music, a lot more soulfulness, and to bring a punk ethic back where it would be wilder. We thought, _What's the most un-electronic-band thing we can do? How about a soul song?_
Dave was a fan of northern soul music, which was very rare, collectible soul in the North of England in the late sixties. It was very much of the Tamla Motown era—black music for a white audience. People were in competition to get these very rare, obscure records, of which only a handful of copies had been produced. But because these records were very rough and ready, there was a real punky-poppiness to them. We said, "Wouldn't it be great if Soft Cell, for an encore, did a northern soul song?" It was so out there as an idea.
Dave played me a song by Gloria Jones, and another version of it by Ruth Swann. It was called "Tainted Love." I'd been a huge Marc Bolan fan, an obsessed T. Rex fan—I still am—and of course, Bolan was married to Gloria Jones, and she sang backing vocals on all the T. Rex records. So here was a Gloria Jones song, and there was just something immediately infectious about this record. We played it as our encore for a while, and it went down so well that our own tracks became much catchier and more danceable as a result. Myth has it that we based it on the Gloria Jones version, but if you listen to Ruth Swann's, it's much more in keeping with the Soft Cell version. We just gave it our sound: a cold, electronic sound with a passionate vocal.
We recorded all our singles at the time as 12-inch records. We didn't record them as three-minute singles and add to them; we recorded them as 12-inchers and edited them down. We were in the studio messing around with different ideas and came up with segueing into this breathy, sleazy version of "Where Did Our Love Go?" with a breakdown in the middle. We'd hear it in clubs, and it drove people crazy. It was a life-changer for us.
I'd met David Ball in 1978 when I was doing a fine arts course at Leeds Polytechnic. You're given the facilities and told to create your own art, and at the end of the year, you have to present a show. I tried painting and sculpture but was never very good, so I gravitated toward performance art. I made Super 8 films, and that's what led me to working with David.
I was very influenced by trash culture: Warhol and Lindsay Kemp, decadent theatrical stuff but with a punk bias. I did quite a bit of performance art that usually involved films, and I wanted experimentally different soundtracks, so I brought in different musicians to create them. Dave had a synthesizer—which was still an exotic instrument at the time—and we had a lot of musical likes in common. So I said, "Would you do some electronic music to one of my performances?" Dave was writing these songs about consumerism—they were like shopping adverts, great little two-minute pop songs. He said, "If you do the vocals for my songs, I'll do the music for you."
We were quite avant-garde at first. Our early concerts were in the art college and Leeds punk clubs. We got a small following, as well as some quite adverse reactions. We showed films as a backdrop behind us, as did groups like the Human League at the time. Some of them were quite upsetting to people. They weren't pornographic, but they were typical art-student: nudity and cutting up bits of meat. They were very visceral. We were arty and pretentious, but as we went on, the song side developed more, and I started writing lyrics.
We wanted to show the glamour in mundanity. We wanted to sing about things like bedsitters [efficiency apartments] and going shopping and collecting trash and souvenirs. Our songs were about going to supermarkets but imbued with a sense of escaping to a nightlife. When I wrote "Memorabilia," I was DJing at the time, and I was listening to this James Brown record that had this funky repetitive riff. I thought, _Let's turn that funk riff into an electronic riff._ Then I wrote a list of things that I liked collecting and sang them the way I used to sing, in a very bored and flat kind of way. It was very punk. The first Siouxsie and the Banshees album, _The Scream_ , made a real impression on me. I loved the way they turned these suburban things into nightmares—that was a great influence on the early Soft Cell stuff.
We were signed [to Sire Records] as part of a package deal. [Soft Cell manager] Stevo was really keen on another group called B-Movie, who were much more like a Duran Duran. They were very good, but they weren't Duran Duran. Stevo said, "If you sign B-Movie, you have to sign Soft Cell." We were given an advance of 1,000 pounds and told to spend it on new equipment.
Then suddenly, "Tainted Love" got played on the radio and went up and up the chart, and B-Movie became forgotten. But they still thought we were a strange novelty act. They were panicking that we were so art student–y and unpredictable and had this punk ethic. They thought we were going to mess the whole thing up. I remember, before going on _Top of the Pops_ , I was trying to see how many of these funny bracelets I could get on my arm. I thought it was a great look. The record company was freaking out: "You can't go on like that! Please, please don't!" That made me more determined to go against them. They tried to bring in choreographers to tell me how to move. From the get-go, we were off-kilter with them.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Sleazy Songs About Sex** 1. "Relax," Frankie Goes to Hollywood 2. "Can't You See," Vicious Pink 3. "No GDM," Gina X 4. "Turning Japanese," The Vapors 5. "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight," Dominatrix
After "Tainted Love" went to number one [in the U.K.], all hell let loose. I was still living in a shared student squat in Leeds, but one day I was on the outside of television looking in on _Top of the Pops_ , the next I was on the inside looking out. I think the record company wanted us to do endless northern soul songs all sounding like "Tainted Love," but Dave and I had ideas of developing and doing something that was a bit more lasting. "Tainted Love" was a double-edged sword: It was great to have the success, but it brought this teenybop attention that we didn't feel very comfortable with. We started to get very, very young fans, yet we were quite strong in our performances—we were aggressive and confrontational. It became a strange situation where we were thrown into this no-man's land between pop and experimental electronic music.
We realized that we could try and put some subversion into pop—depressing lyrics with an upbeat sound so you could dance through your tears. Like "Bedsitter": You're dancing because it's Saturday night, and you're forgetting your mundane life of living in a bedsitter. That became the ethos of what we were about on the first album, _Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret_. Living in sleazy, eighties Britain, repressed people leading secret lives, frustrated living in bedsits—it was the total antithesis of what Duran Duran were doing, which was singing about this glamorous life, and living in Rio, and sailing in ships on beautiful seas. We didn't see life like that. We were in the backstreets. We were very much children of the seventies; we still had that seventies-going-into-the-eighties culture. We'd lived through power cuts and grim times and glam rock. When we went to New York [to record _Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret_ ], we were drawn to the dark underbelly, and that started to influence our sound and our ethos. It became a real war between us and the record company. They wanted us to be these clean-living guys, and we wanted to see how much we could get away with in our lyrics and our videos. It was like, "Let's see how extreme I can be or how camp I can be."
Dave and I have always been very different people, and our relationship had become quite distant when we were doing _Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret_. We brought very different influences to Soft Cell. Dave brought experimental electronic music. He loved things like Devo, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire. I brought things like glam rock and Jacques Brel and T. Rex, and chansons, ballads, blues, and a sense of theater. While doing _Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret_ , we were thrust together, put in the same hotel rooms. When we moved to New York, Dave found his own place to stay and his own circle of friends, I found my own circle, and we started to drift. Drugs played a part. We'd both become very, very heavily into the New York drugs scene, which was fun, then the London drugs scene, which was much darker for us. It became very destructive.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Soft Cell made two more albums, 1983's** _**The Art of Falling Apart**_ **and 1984's** _**challenging This Last Night in Sodom**_ **. As a solo artist, Marc Almond has amassed a considerable catalog in a dizzying variety of styles, from cabaret to Russian folk songs to rock and electronica dance music. His hits include "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart," "Tears Run Rings," "Jacky," and "The Days of Pearly Spencer." Ball formed the Grid in 1988. They saw their biggest success with 1994's** _**Evolver**_ **album, which included the hits "Texas Cowboys" and "Swamp Thing." Soft Cell re-formed in 2002 for the album** _**Cruelty Without Beauty**_ **. Their version of "Tainted Love" has been covered by, among others, Marilyn Manson, the Pussycat Dolls, and Paul Young. Rihanna's "S.O.S." was built on a sample of the song.**
**ALMOND:** When we did _The Art of Falling Apart_ , we knew Soft Cell was falling apart, and we didn't know how much longer we could hold it together. We put a lot of that anger and frustration into that album, which was a hard, visceral record, and that reflected in our live performances, where we'd throw equipment all over the stage. It was the gradual destruction of the band.
We pulled out our final anger with _This Last Night in Sodom_ , which is one of my favorite records. We recorded it in mono just to be bloody-minded, and it brought Soft Cell back to an electronic-punk feel. Then Dave decided he wanted to do studio stuff, and I wanted to do my stuff—I'd already branched out into Marc and the Mambas. There was no animosity. It was just drift. Me and Dave were still friends, but we thought, _We can't go on like this_ , so we split in 1984. We did our final tour of America after we'd split because we were contracted to. We'd so had enough of the whole thing that we refused to play "Tainted Love."
After 17 years, Dave had done some mixes for me, we'd been in touch again, and it felt like the right time to do something again. We wrote some songs, and we thought about calling it another name. But Marc Almond and Dave Ball—everybody's going to call it Soft Cell. So, Soft Cell it was.
It's a great feeling for us that people have covered the Soft Cell version [of "Tainted Love"]. If you have a big record like that, it takes over your life for a while. You have to turn your back on it because it becomes bigger than you. You have to move aside from it for a time. But you fall back in love with it, and you have to embrace it, because people will always associate you with it. You can't fight it, so you have to learn to love it as a record, and I do. I have this real love affair with it now. If my life's a show, then "Tainted Love" would be my theme tune. I can't deny people it; it's the thing that got me on _Top of the Pops_ and on people's minds. When I'm onstage, I give people my new stuff and they're very patient. Then I have to give them a reward and say, "Thanks for listening to my new songs, now here's 'Tainted Love.'"
**_"TAKE ON ME"_**
ert Kaempfert, ABBA, Blue Swede, Silver Convention, and the Singing Nun enjoyed sporadic hits, but a European artist's presence on the U.S. charts was rare until the early eighties. Suddenly, horizons broadened, language barriers were breached, and America opened her arms to her fellow man from across the Atlantic. More Germans, Austrians, Belgians, Swedes, Welsh, Irish, Scots, and even Englishmen invaded and colonized radio (and MTV) airwaves in numbers not seen since the sixties. Also aboard the boat were a trio of Norwegians, though their country had no prior history of exporting contemporary pop music. But the combination of Steve Barron's eyeball-grabbing video, Morten Harket's cheekbones and quiff, and the bracing burst of menthol freshness that was "Take On Me" made A-ha impossible to resist. Decades after its release, the song is still irrepressible, still instantly recognizable...and Norway has still made no other significant impact on the international pop marketplace.
**LM:** **From that indelible riff that forces you to play air synthesizer to Harket's soaring final falsetto—"in a, in a daaaaaaaaaaay!"—"Take On Me" is a relentlessly catchy pop tune, albeit one with a split personality. There are days when it's the perfect grab-your-gals-and-get-drunk-on-the-dance-floor tune; on others, it's the ideal sit-by-the-window-while-it's-raining-and-sigh selection. As a lover of** _**Hunting High and Low**_ **, the 1985 A-ha album that evokes the atmospheric and ethereal beauty of Roxy Music (Harket's elegant and unusual voice calls to mind an** _**Avalon**_ **-era Ferry), I'm able to appreciate the deeper, more wistful side of "Take On Me." Plus, it's a beckoning door beyond which lies darker, more pensive material like the title track and, despite its title, "The Sun Always Shines on TV," two gems that are as seductive and affective as any of my new wave faves and as ageless as Harket's boyish countenance.**
**JB:** **Judd Apatow is so open-minded, adventurous, and youthful in his attitude to comedy yet so dull and conservative when it comes to music. In one of the many Apatow family arguments restaged by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann in** _**This Is 40**_ **, he harangues her for what he deemed her simple-minded taste in music. The offending tune playing in her car that signaled his tantrum? "Take On Me." Rudd's archive-label exec deems it a brainless jingle and vastly inferior to the Pixies, which he castigated her for not being well-rounded enough to appreciate. I think Apatow was pretty evenhanded parceling out the blame and the flaws to that movie couple, but where "Take On Me" is concerned, he was totally taking sides. Clearly, the guy hates pop. But in terms of its vocals, its lyrics, and its arrangement, "Take On Me" is far from a dumb-ass formulaic pop record.**
**MAGNE "MAGS" FURUHOLMEN:** "Take On Me" was a song I lived with for almost 10 years before it became a hit. I wrote the hook in '77, when I was 15 years old. [A-ha co-founder Päl Waaktaar and I] started when we were 12 or 13. We were called Bridges at the time. We were heavily immersed in the Doors. We didn't really go for the poppy side of the sixties. We sort of liked the Beatles, but it was _The White Album_ and the more experimental stuff that was the focus. When the riff for "Take On Me" came about, it was like a guilty pleasure—there was a little bit of shame attached to it. Päl thought it was way too commercial for us. I remember arguing that it was really catchy. We used to call it "The Juicy Fruit Song" because it reminded us of the Juicy Fruit commercials in the seventies.
It was left by the wayside for a long time. Then, when we recruited Morten around '82, he said, "This is a really big hit song!" We had the verse and the riff but a very flat chorus. After we started working with Morten, his incredible range really influenced the chorus—we wanted to see just how [high] he could go. His voice was very elastic and very powerful in all registers, and that influenced our writing greatly.
"Take On Me" stands out from the rest of our catalog. It stood out through all of its history, even as it changed from being sixties psychedelic retro-pop to eighties synth-pop with a vengeance. One of the allures is it brings people in who wouldn't normally go for the upbeat, happy, pop stuff because it has that melancholy streak. The verse and the riff are in a minor key. It's not a happy song—it's quite sad if you listen to it. I never considered it to be a dance track, even though, ironically, the riff is used in "Feel This Moment" with Pitbull and Christina Aguilera. We used to joke about A-ha being ideal for wooden-legged dancers because there was never any groovy approach.
If you grow up in Norway, melancholy is nothing to do with being sad; melancholy is a sense of yearning, a longing, and, probably historically, a transport away from hardship. It has manifested itself in folk music and in art. Think about Edvard Munch and his very expressionist, intense dark landscapes. Think about the musical works of Edvard Grieg: very declarational, very big emotions, very melancholy in essence. The same goes for literature. Knut Hamsun's _Victoria_ and _Hunger_ were as influential to us as pop music was. Our way into music came about through that blend of Beatles energy with Doors melancholy, and the way we sounded came from the time we spent in England, but the core, the foundation of the writing, comes from the Norwegian culture. Päl's parents would take him to the opera. My grandfather was a musician.
When I was about 14, we [were featured] in a little article in my local newspaper, and when they asked, "What are you going to do when you grow up?" we said, "We're gonna go to England, become huge pop stars, and be bigger than the Beatles." There is [something] very beautiful about kids from this suburb in Norway thinking they're gonna be the first out of the country that hadn't produced any international pop stars. But my father was a musician, so I got a sense that it was possible. Sadly, he died young. When I was six, he passed away on his way to his first gig abroad through a plane accident, which, incidentally, Morten saw as a child. First time I met Morten, we ended up walking three hours through the forest because we'd missed the night bus. Once we'd exhausted our music knowledge, we started talking about our families. I told him my father died in 1969, that he fell down outside of Oslo. He said his family was on a bridge and saw that plane go down. It was weird to realize he had been witnessing my father's death 10 years before we met. I remember walking away from that meeting thinking either he's a pathological liar or it was just the strangest coincidence that we had this kind of connection straight off the bat.
When we came to England as A-ha in '82, there were multiple radio stations playing all this new music: Depeche Mode, Yazoo, ABC, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Blancmange, Thompson Twins. Our synth sound happened partly by necessity. Before we left Norway, we used to have bass and drums and someone else playing a second guitar, but when we came to the U.K., it was just me, Päl, and Morten, so we had to find a new way of making music. Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" was the first song that made us realize, "We can make music with a lot of emotional impact by using synths."
"Take On Me" has been recorded twice. The first version, we were in with a big producer, Tony Mansfield [Aztec Camera, Naked Eyes, the Damned], and we would listen to everything he said. Gradually we became disenchanted. One of the songs that suffered the most was "Take On Me." It didn't sound like the hit we thought it should sound like. The chorus didn't sound soaring. There was very little emotion; it was too mechanical-sounding. But the record company had the belief that it was a strong contender, so it was released as a first single. We made a video for this version. [One of our managers] was afraid that three Norwegian guys with very dubious fashion sense would come off as gay. His cure was to rent strippers for the video.
We don't like this video, we don't like that version of the song, but we went with it. It was played on BBC Radio a couple of times, but nothing really happened. We convinced our manager to give us a chance to rerecord "Take On Me" with another producer. Alan Tarney had been suggested earlier in the game, but we had not been too keen. But we saved the day with that second recording. I took this new version up to Baker Street where the American Warner Bros. office was and said, "This is how we should sound," and [they] loved it. Then we were allowed to rerecord "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and the single for "Hunting High and Low" with real strings. We recorded the next couple of albums with Alan Tarney.
**MIXTAPE:** 5 More Songs by English-as-a-Second-Language New Wavers 1. "Rock Me Amadeus," Falco 2. "The Great Commandment," Camouflage 3. "Big in Japan," Alphaville 4. "Firecracker," Yellow Magic Orchestra 5. "Da Da Da," Trio
Of course, if you say "Take On Me" to anyone, they probably immediately think of the other video. The thing that makes it so special is the hand-drawn aspect. Steve Barron made 20,000 drawings—it was, like, 5 drawings per second. It took three months of postproduction just making the animated sequences. Steve came up with this love-affair story line, the idea of [Morten] coming in and out of an animated world and the real world. At the end, when he's looking about in the hallway and meeting [the video's leading lady] in the real world—that was stolen from _Altered States_ , the film by Ken Russell. It was a perfect setup, especially with someone as good looking as Morten. This is what triggered the whole idolization thing, which threw us a bit at the time. But in hindsight, it's easy to see why this real world–versus–cartoon world love affair between an idealized superhero-type figure and the innocent English girl would trigger what it did.
**THAT WAS THEN**
_BUT THIS IS NOW_
**"Take On Me" scooped up six 1986 MTV Video Music Awards and helped earn A-ha a Grammy nod for Best New Artist. However, its follow-up, "The Sun Always Shines on TV," was only a modest hit stateside, and the band's U.S. career pretty much ended there. But that was only the beginning of A-ha's success around the world. They released a total of 39 singles—including the James Bond theme "The Living Daylights"—and nine studio albums, the last being 2009's U.K. top-five** _**Foot of the Mountain**_ **. The band split after their final live performance, which was at a 2011 national memorial service in Oslo dedicated to the 77 people massacred that year by an antigovernment terrorist. Harket has released five solo albums and continues to tour on his own. He and Furuholmen still livein Norway, where all three members were honored with knighthoods in 2012. Waaktaar, a painter, moved to Manhattan and changed his first name to Paul and hyphenated his last to Waaktaar-Savoy to include his wife's, as is Norwegian custom. Once a tight-knit trio, the former bandmates now barely speak, but "Take On Me" lives on: There have been ska, punk, and boy-band versions, as well as Italian progressive power metal, Latvian instrumental cello-rock, and Trinidadian soca renditions.**
**FURUHOLMEN:** I'm totally at peace with "Take On Me," but I know there are other people in our group who would rather not talk about that song. At one point we all had a kind of strained relationship to it, but that happens to anyone who has massive success with one song. As much as we don't like to hear it, in America that is our one big hit. You feel for all the songs that you bled for, and the ones that didn't get attention. It's like you have two kids, and someone always talks about how great that one kid is. Although we've had our times of feeling confined by this idea that it was so defining for us, we just have to accept it and embrace it.
We've had our breaks before. In the nineties we disbanded, although it wasn't formally done. This time it was, and it would take a hell of a lot for me to go back. We exhausted a few lifetimes together. We don't really stay in touch, although I did spend two hours with Morten a week ago—we hadn't sat down for two hours since 2010. We happened to be in the same hotel in Oslo. He keeps it alive. He's been out there touring—he's been playing "Take On Me" without me and Paul. He can do that. He's the only one [of us whom] people would come and see perform those songs.
There are some bands who continue on just to keep making money. Every year they'll do the summer tour. They don't talk to each other backstage, they sneak in separate sides of the room. I'm not against people doing that. But the three of us have, subsequent to ending the band, given ourselves the opportunity to look at A-ha from the outside, and I'm quite proud of that. It's like a marriage: When you're in it, you tend to take things for granted. It feels like we could have made it work better if we had been a little less careless. But I'd rather look at all the great things that did happen. I'm totally satisfied with what A-ha achieved. I celebrate the idea of what we made together, resting secure in the knowledge that it couldn't have happened without all three of us.
**_"LOVE WILL TEAR US APART"_**
anchester's music scene has long been dominated by oddballs, eccentrics, misanthropes, depressives, villains, and grotesques. The Buzzcocks, Magazine, the Fall, John Cooper Clarke, the Smiths, A Certain Ratio, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Oasis. What a parade of impenetrable accents, incompetent dental work, unruly eyebrows, surly attitudes, and black, black hearts. But no Manchester band better embodied their rain-spattered, concrete environment than Joy Division. The year 1979 was a banner one for bleak, nightmarish post-punk classics, like Gang of Four's _Entertainment_ , Public Image Ltd.'s _Metal Box_ , and the Cure's _Three Imaginary Boys_. These records were made to be moped to in the confines of a predominantly (but not exclusively) adolescent male suburban bedroom. That same year, Joy Division's debut, _Unknown Pleasures_ , dealt with similar themes—the ever-popular alienation and despair—but it did so in a transcendent fashion. The combination of Ian Curtis's disembodied growl, Peter Hook's brutally melodic bass, the band's machinelike precision, and producer Martin Hannett's desire to make a record that sounded both spacious and terrifying turned _Unknown Pleasures_ into a ghost train ride to hell. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" offered a glimpse of a group capable of forging an emotional connection with a larger audience. But by then, Joy Division were already frozen in time.
**JB: You know why I liked Joy Division? Because other people did. No point in lying about it: I was a sheep. If I read about a band in the _NME_ , and John Peel was playing them, and their records were stocked in one of Glasgow's indie-friendly stores, I would buy them and take them home and play them continuously until either I genuinely liked them or a post-punk version of Stockholm syndrome set in. The 1979 version of me was devoid of a mind of my own—to the degree that I purchased an olive-green thrift-store raincoat that flapped down around my ankles because that was the requisite uniform to properly appreciate the existential anguish of Joy Division. (Having said that, the skies of Glasgow are gray and overcast approximately 11 months out of the year, so that raincoat turned out to be a smart and practical investment.) You know why I eventually came around to liking Joy Division? Because they sounded like disco. They sounded like the Teutonic disco records I bought along with the post-punk indies: Silver Convention, Donna Summer, Munich Machine—stuff I didn't need to make an effort to enjoy. Joy Division's music was gruesome, claustrophobic, unpleasant disco, but it had a pulse that I recognized, and that caused me to respond.**
**LM: As embarrassing as it is to admit, the first time I heard "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was Paul Young's 1984 cover. I liked his version then, as I still do now. But I can understand the horror with which it was received by Joy Division's army of gloomy fans, not to mention the surviving members. The band, their legend, and that song are precious and seem to remain unexploited, no matter how many T-shirts they sell at Hot Topic. It wasn't until I heard the original that I understood how desperately sad a song it is. This isn't my favorite Joy Division song—that would be the even more haunting "Atmosphere"—but I get why "Love Will Tear Us Apart" universally tops so many best-songs-of-all-time lists. It's a living document that details the hopelessness Curtis felt in his dead-end marriage before he took his own life. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" marked a real turning point for Joy Division...and we'll never know what could have come next.**
**BERNARD SUMNER:** Ian almost died making that song. It was the story of his demise. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was kind of Romeo and Juliet for real, put down in lyrics. I think the reason for that being a hit [in the U.K.]—apart from the melody, which is brilliant—is that it was such a romantic story. You can't get more real; you can't get more surreal.
**PETER HOOK:** I would not want someone to write a song about me like that. The lyrics are so poignant and so hurt, it really is shocking. And I never realized for years. When Ian used to sing it, it looked to me like he was having a great time; when Bernard was singing it [years later, with New Order], same. Then, when I came to sing it [with Peter Hook and the Light], I thought, _Oh my god, these lyrics are really dark._ It's a very sad love song—it's an anti-love song—but it sounds like a joyous love song. And I suppose that's its secret. If your heart's broken, you need to fight your way through it.
Ian always had a bag of lyrics with him, scraps of papers with ideas written on them. As we were playing, he'd just delve into this bag and pull something out, mumble it—at least, that's what it sounded like to us—and then he'd elaborate, and it built up from there. The next minute, you had a song. The great thing about Ian was that you didn't really need to hear what he was saying; you could just look at what he was doing and know that he meant it. That fire, that passion in his body language and his delivery, let you know that everything was okay.
On more than one occasion, Tony Wilson asked Ian to refer to Frank Sinatra. [Before recording "Love Will Tear Us Apart," Tony] gave [Ian] a double LP [of Sinatra's] and said, "Listen to this." It's plainly ridiculous at first sight, but now that I'm a fan of Frank Sinatra—as these things happen as you get older—I can see what Tony meant. He was referring to Sinatra's soul and passion and the delivery. But I think Ian had that anyway, unless maybe he did get it from Frank.
The lyrics always came afterwards. The music always came first, and Ian was very, very involved in orchestrating the music and telling us what sounded good. He didn't tell us what to play; he just told us that what we were playing was great. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is very simply written. It took us something like three hours from start to finish. Ian went away, thought about the vocal, came back the next day, and we had the song. It came very, very naturally, very easy.
You didn't write songs with a view to recording them in those days. You only wrote songs with a view to playing them [live at a gig]. The first chance you got to play it, you would play it, and judging the audience's reaction was quite a delight, really, because it was the best way to tell if you're going in the right direction. And they loved ["Love Will Tear Us Apart"]. It's very up-tempo. It's very, very in-your-face—you could say it has like a punk ethic to it. It went down great every time we played it. "Atmosphere" is also a favorite with many Joy Division fans. The reason it's not my favorite song is it's always associated with funerals. Every funeral I go to, they play bloody "Atmosphere." The most popular song at weddings is "Angels" by Robbie Williams, and the most popular song at funerals is "Atmosphere." When I went to [Factory Records boss] Tony Wilson's funeral and they put "Atmosphere" on at the end, I wished we had written fuckin' "Angels."
The thing with Joy Division's music is that each member was playing like a separate line. We hardly ever played together; we all played separately. But when you put it together, it was like the ingredients in a cake. When you eat the ingredients separately, they don't taste very nice, but when you mix them together, they taste wonderful—if you do it right, of course. And in Joy Division, you got that right very easily. Once we got to New Order, we had three of the ingredients, but there was always an ingredient missing.
The only problem with Joy Division was Ian's illness. If Ian hadn't been ill, he'd probably still be here today. The degenerative effects of the drugs he was taking for the illness heightened his depression and made him unable to cope with all of the other things in his life, I think.
But the thing is, I was dealing with Ian on a day-to-day basis, and even though he wasn't well, he looked like he was coping. I know it doesn't seem like that now, and that's one thing I realized when I'd written [the memoir _Unknown Pleasures_ ]: It really was plainly obvious that he wasn't coping. But the problem was that whenever you asked him, he always told you he was okay, and in your heart, that's what you wanted. You wanted this guy, whom you loved and cherished and revered, to tell you everything was okay. You'd ask him, and he'd say, "Yes, Hooky, everything is fine. Don't worry. Let's carry on." And you'd go, "Phew. Thank God for that." I've seen friends of mine who've been ill succumb to it and just go into a pit, and it's very, very difficult. But with Ian, it was never like that. He fought it so well, and his whole reason for living seemed to be to make sure you heard what you wanted to hear.
Most of the time that you spent with Ian, though, was relaxed, and we used to have a lot of laughs. It was just us in the back of a van, playing great music. And just when you're getting to the point when it could have been poisoned [by success], it stopped. There weren't wild parties; there weren't drugs, particularly; there were no girls. I wasn't drinking that much, because we had no money—we couldn't afford it!
[After Ian died], we couldn't replace him. That would have been absolutely 100 percent impossible. There was no chance, and we all knew that. We knew that immediately. It's not like when INXS got that guy [J.D. Fortune] in. We could have gotten someone who sounded like Ian, but it wouldn't have been the same.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs from the Cold, Dark, Rain-Soaked Streets of Manchester** 1. "Hand in Glove," The Smiths 2. "Homosapien," Pete Shelley 3. "Time Goes by So Slow," The Distractions 4. "A Song from Under the Floorboards," Magazine 5. "Beasley Street," John Cooper Clarke
**SUMNER:** We were New Order for 10 years before we played any Joy Division songs [in concert]. We didn't want people to say, "Oh, they've only made it because of Ian's death—that's propelled them along, and they're living off their heritage." We wanted to make it on our terms, so we spent 10 years doing that. Then one night, I think it might have been Irvine Meadows in California, it was Ian's birthday—not the anniversary of his death, which I don't think is something to celebrate—and we decided to play "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and another Joy Division song. People were like, "Are these new songs?" They didn't get much of a response. When we play them now, people go wild.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**"Love Will Tear Us Apart" was a posthumous U.K. hit. The surviving members of Joy Division went on to form New Order (seethis page). Aside from their not-insignificant contribution to Manchester's musical heritage, the band poured a ton of money into the city's legendary nightspot, the Haçienda. While the club was the epicenter of the city's vibrant rave culture, its financial mismanagement drove the band to the brink of bankruptcy. Tony Wilson's easy-come, easy-go approach to the finances of Factory Records drove them the rest of the way there. Joy Division's story, as well as the rise and fall of Factory and the Haçienda, were wittily chronicled in Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film,** _**24 Hour Party People**_ **. Curtis's biography was handled in more somber fashion in Anton Corbijn's 2007 film,** _**Control**_ **. Peter Hook published a memoir of his Joy Division years,** _**Unknown Pleasures**_ **, in 2012.**
**HOOK:** Paul Young's was the most famous cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart"], and at the time, I hated it. **[*** But then, we made more money off of that rendition than we ever did as Joy Division. It's quite painful, isn't it? It was smoochy, and it was everything we didn't want to be—cabaret.
**SUMNER:** New Order was a more commercial success than Joy Division, but Joy Division just keeps selling and selling. It's kind of a self-propelling brand. I hate to use the word "brand," because Joy Division was not a commercial product, but it's kind of a self-regenerating brand. A friend brought his daughter around to my house; she was like 13 or 14, and she had an iPod. I said, "Oh, what are you listening to?"—expecting her to say "Justin Bieber" or something. No: "It's this band called Joy Division." I didn't tell her I was in Joy Division, but her father told her, and next time she came around, she was like, "Can I have your autograph?"
**HOOK:** Joy Division were an absolutely unique group. We stayed independent, on an independent record label; we didn't go to London like everybody else—we stayed in the place that made us and stayed true to it. We actually entertained a whole fucking city at our own expense for 16 years. I think that is changing the world of musical and world culture.
We wrote fucking great music. The chemistry between the individuals [in the band] was absolutely fantastic, and the individual playing styles of each one of us has been much emulated. Some groups will be like, "I really like Stephen Morris's rhythms," or "I really like Bernard's melody lines and his lead guitar style," or "I really like Peter Hook's melodic bass playing." That actually is very unusual in a group, and everybody tries to emulate that. I hear U2 rip off Joy Division even now. If you look at bands like White Lies or the Editors, some of them take the fixation a little too far. I don't think they capture the naturalness, the relaxed fitting-together that Joy Division had. They have a very manufactured sound; it doesn't sound very natural. One of the most natural-sounding bands I've heard that sound like Joy Division is the Chameleons.
When you're writing music, it's like you have nothing but this blank canvas. You use the influence and the inspiration to create something. That's what people do with Joy Division. They love the songs. They love the story of the band. The tragic ending is very rock 'n' roll, very alluring, very romantic—that "live fast, die young" story. It's like the perfect ending to your life to go out in a blaze of glory, blowing up on stage at Glastonbury in front of 125,000 people. Rock 'n' roll, man!
*** PAUL YOUNG: Somebody said, "Why don't we find a new song and throw it back into the soul idiom?" Which ended up being "Love Will Tear Us Apart." We asked ourselves: How would Levi Stubbs sing "Love Will Tear Us Apart"? Normally people are like, "You can't do that." But there's me on the first album saying, "I'm going to do a punk song and imagine the Four Tops doing it."**
**_"HOW SOON IS NOW?"_**
ou could say that Morrissey and Marr were a Mancunian Morrison and Manzarek. Only, instead of demanding the world worship him as a snakeskin-clad shaman, Morrissey sang from the perspective of an invisible outsider, forever ignored and underestimated, and he did it while brandishing a bunch of gladioli and sporting National Health Service specs and a hearing aid. The world worshipped him anyway. The Smiths were the first serious, critically revered, independent act with a giddy, overemotional following forever on the verge of hysteria. The Smiths made big boys cry like little girls, and they made big girls wish the men in their lives were more like Morrissey. He was wittier. He felt more. He suffered more. He understood more. The Smiths may never have reached the same arena-filling heights as the Cure and Depeche Mode, but they earned their place in the Mount Rushmore of modern rock, and it was "How Soon Is Now" that put them there. If the decade has three great doomed love songs—"Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "The Killing Moon" being the other two—"How Soon Is Now?" is the most isolated, the most hopeless, the most alone. But while Morrissey sounds resigned to his loveless destiny, Johnny Marr's music has never been this big, rich, and deep. "Epic" is an overused word—especially in this book—but "How Soon Is Now?" is an epic of adolescent angst: It takes a handful of hurt feelings and makes them into a masterpiece.
**LM:** **The Smiths didn't have a lot of the things I looked for in a band: escapist music videos, male members with makeup, at least one keyboard player. And their name was the most ordinary moniker a group could possibly have. But the Smiths were like no one I'd heard before—or since. Almost immediately upon hearing "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," they launched straight into my top-five favorite bands and never left. I didn't have to apologize for liking them. And being a Smiths fan reflected well on your movie taste and your literary quotient. Yes, Morrissey was divisive (some might say whiny), but no one ever captured loneliness, insecurity, and fumbling immature awkwardness like he did. No one ever sang my life like he did. I had no idea what a vegetarian even was before I heard "Meat Is Murder"—Morrissey's done more for animal rights in the past 30 years than anyone on the planet! And you know what the best thing he ever did was? Not get back together with the Smiths. Court cases and ill feelings notwithstanding, I'm happy I don't have to see them tainting that immortal legacy. Because no financially motivated reunion of the four now-50-something Smiths could ever equal the show in my head.**
**JB:** **Not a fan.**
**JOHNNY MARR:** I think "How Soon Is Now?" is unusual because it sounds really, really good in a club when you're fucked up—and that's okay. "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" is a really loved song also, and "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" has a different kind of love for it. But "How Soon Is Now?" sounds really good in American clubs, and it was made late at night with a kind of swampy, sexy vibe going on. I don't think I've ever said "vibe" and "sexy" in the same sentence—the song must have something good going for it if it makes me use those words!
It was written over a three-day period. On the Friday, I sat down around noonish with my little Portastudio and wrote "William, It Was Really Nothing" and recorded it on a little four-track for the A-side of the next single. Because that was such a fast, short, upbeat song, I wanted the B-side to be different, so I wrote "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" on Saturday in a different time signature—in a waltz time as a contrast. I was kind of happied out after writing "William."
On Sunday night I kicked back and treated myself to writing something completely different from both those songs. I had a short, upbeat one and a short, sad one, so I decided to write a long, swampy one with a groove. I always wrote songs in batches of three and usually still do.
**MORRISSEY:** The song was recorded in North London, in the old Decca studios. It established a certain turning point for the band, even though we were still oddly associated with timidity. I think the lyrics embarrassed the other Smiths, and the producer [John Porter] said nothing, and greater emphasis was placed on the guitars. I'd reached the point where I had to register whatever it was I felt, and Angie Marr [Johnny's wife] was the first person who complimented me on the lyric.
**ANDY ROURKE:** I've never been embarrassed by his lyrics. They were truthful and down to the bone. I was embarrassed to show my dad the first Smiths 45, "Hand In Glove," because it had a guy's naked butt on the cover.
**MARR:** I was really excited when I first heard the lyrics to "How Soon Is Now?" But I always was really excited when I first heard the lyrics of all the songs. I expected that the lyrics would be fantastic for every song that we wrote, and they always were.
**ROURKE:** Usually we would do a very basic run-through in the recording studio, then Morrissey would take a cassette tape and go off to his room or house or wherever and work on [the lyrics] for a day or two. We'd finish the songs, and then he would come in and do his thing over the top. We didn't know what the hell Morrissey was going to sing. It was always a great moment, waiting to see what he would come up with.
**MARR:** We made the record until dawn. I got a taxi home from Finsbury Park in London to Queensgate and got into bed around 8 or 9 a.m. Then I woke up, and it was dark the next evening, and I realized that we had done something that was really different. I remember thinking, _Did that really happen?_ We just caught it in a sort of 24-hour kind of time capsule when we recorded it. The demo was what it was, but things happened in the recording session that really took it up several degrees. It was a real team effort.
**MORRISSEY:** When the final mix was finished, I took a tape of the song by taxi to Rough Trade Records, played it to Geoff Travis [the head of the label], and when it finished, he said, "What is Johnny doing? That's just noise!," and the song became a B-side [to "William, It Really Was Nothing"]. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Sire released it as a single, but couldn't get it on the Top 100 even though it had great radio play [on modern rock stations] and we were selling out large arenas. Also, Sire couldn't secure the Smiths a television spot anywhere! We were paralyzed by the dumbness of the times. So we did our best to change them.
**STYLE COUNCIL**
"Morrissey used to buy his—I was going to say 'shirts,' but they were actually blouses," Rourke remembers. "He used to buy them from a women's clothing place called Evans Outsizes that was for fat women in Manchester. These women's blouses that nobody wanted became Morrissey's trademark. He used to like tearing them up and throwing them into the crowd."
**MARR:** We formed the group as a positive thing to represent our generation who weren't mainstream. A lot is made of the difference between us and bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet and Culture Club. It's right to point out those differences between those mainstream groups and groups like the Smiths and New Order, who were just a different kind of people full-stop. We were independent groups from the start—the others were very much major-label groups. Pretty much everyone you see on the Band Aid record, almost all of those people, with the exception of Paul Weller, represented straight, mainstream aspirations. Those bands just aspired to be big, big pop stars. Without having to discuss it, we knew we were all alternatives, and we didn't even consider that we were all on the same page. When I say "we," I'm talking about not just the four individual members of the Smiths; I'm talking about people like Bernard Sumner and Billy Bragg too. You were either on the side of the Cure and Depeche and the Smiths, or you were on the side of the more mainstream acts.
It just so happened that some of the alternative acts got very popular. Depeche Mode got to be a very, very big, well-known group playing stadiums in America. That's the great thing about pop music: Guys with interesting ideas who might be more subversive or challenging can get into the mainstream. So if the Pet Shop Boys have huge hits across the world, it's a great thing. Because it's people who do have something to say and aren't just there purely for fame but can wrap up great attitudes and interesting politics—conceptual and social politics and ideas—in a mainstream, four-minute song. That infiltrates Middle America and the homes of people who need to wake up a little bit. We weren't mainstream people; we didn't like "jock culture," sexism, and homophobia. We didn't like all that nasty stuff, and that's what we'd like to sing about. And we assumed our audience was made up largely of people like us.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 Cover Versions of Smiths Songs** 1. "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want," The Dream Academy 2. "Hand in Glove," Sandie Shaw 3. "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby," Kirsty MacColl 4. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," Act 5. Back to the Old House," Everything But The Girl
**"We weren't mainstream people; we didn't like 'jock culture,' sexism, and homophobia."**
**ROURKE:** When we appeared on TV, people saw normal people. We didn't wear fucking chains or six-foot hair and shoulder pads. They saw normal, almost vulnerable people, especially Morrissey. It screamed out to vulnerable people that they had an ally, somebody who speaks their language instead of this bullshit, plastic-fame stuff. The first time we went on _Top of the Pops,_ we were dressed in Marks and Spencer sweaters and black jeans that our manager made for us. We went to the makeup room, and I think John Taylor was next to me, or somebody from Duran Duran who had these thick fucking shoulder pads, chains, and hair 70 feet high. The makeup woman said, "So, what are you gonna be wearing for the performance?" I was like, "This is it: I'm wearing it." She was like, "Huh?" She thought I was crazy. A lot of it was down to the fact that we were from Manchester. Someone would punch you in the face—or kick you in the face—if you dressed like that. Our shared Irish heritage also played a part. We were all good Catholic boys, altar boys. Although, I don't think Morrissey was an altar boy. I can't imagine Morrissey in a dress. In a tutu, maybe....
I met Johnny when I was 11. When we first started playing music together, we were listening to the Bothy Band and Fairport Convention—really traditional folk music. I don't know how we ended up sounding like we sounded with the Smiths. We were listening to Richard Thompson, early Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, James Williamson. Johnny loved Rory Gallagher. Speaking for myself, I got really into black funk music—a lot of the Smiths bass lines are very funky. Chic was definitely an influence.
I met Mike [Joyce, drummer] and Morrissey when we did a demo for "Handsome Devil" and "Miserable Lie." Mike was this punk drummer who was kind of brash. Johnny was the studious one who always came up with a plan. Morrissey was different, put it that way. He's a very shy and reserved person, but charming at the same time. Luckily, he became a different person when he went on the stage—he had this alter ego. After "How Soon Is Now?," he took it to a different level and gained a lot of confidence and started going crazy onstage and doing all this crazy dancing and rolling around on the floor.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**The Smiths have only grown in popularity since Marr's sudden departure in 1987, a move that led to the dissolution of the group and may have taken decades for Morrissey to get over (if he's indeed over it). He has since released nine albums as a solo artist and continues to draw arena-size crowds; he keeps the legend of the Smiths alive by including "How Soon Is Now?" and other classics in his concert set list. So does Marr, who—following a long and fruitful post-Smiths career playing with Electronic, The The, Modest Mouse, the Healers, and others—saw a brief reunion with Rourke during a 2013 tour stop while promoting his solo debut. To date, Morrissey (whose autobiography,** _**Autobiography**_ **, was published in the U.K. in 2013) and Marr have never performed together again.**
**MORRISSEY:** I've never felt fully present in my own life. I've always felt like a ghost drifting through. I'm not actually flesh. So autobiography is a therapeutic act of self-loyalty, even if, like me, you end up with chapters of self-disgust rather than reams of narcissism.
**ROURKE:** Last time Johnny was here [in New York City], he came around my house for a cup of tea, and he was on the sofa for seven hours. We were just reminiscing like a couple of old guys. There's never any animosity or anything like that. I still speak with Mike too. I think he still drums occasionally. It's a shame that I don't speak to Morrissey anymore, but I don't think anybody really does. That's his choice.
**MORRISSEY:** A lot of people are homesick for the Smiths, and not because everyone else is abysmal, but because the songs of the Smiths are so good. With most bands, if they have two decent songs, they end up with five-star reviews. There are so many easy victories these days for other bands, but the Smiths were never promoted and almost never received radio play, and this mystery has protected them in the long run. But a re-formation will never take place because re-formations can only work if the same spirit that made the band form in the first place still exists. But it doesn't.
**_"MAD WORLD"_**
he eighties was the decade of the duo: Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell, Yaz(oo), Erasure, Naked Eyes, and Blancmange, 2 Name a Few (which would be an awesome name for an eighties duo. Still available). Then there was Tears for Fears. Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal fancied themselves a far more serious proposition than those other twosomes. Not for them all the excesses emblematic of the era. They took their name from psychotherapist Arthur Janov's primal therapy, which suggests that emotionally scarred adults can heal by giving voice to their repressed adolescent pain. Tears for Fears' debut album, 1983's _The Hurting,_ was a monochromatic expression of resentment and anxiety, most notably the seminal single "Mad World." The multiplatinum follow-up, _Songs from the Big Chair_ , was a brilliant litany of complaints led by "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Shout." For a time, these two damaged individuals had such a sure hit-making touch that they turned the world into one big psychiatrist's couch.
**JB:** **Neil Tennant once described the Pet Shop Boys as "the Smiths you can dance to." Tears for Fears were the Smiths with all traces of irony, humor, and self-awareness stripped out. TFF were unhappy, sullen, alone, and neglected. Devotees of primal therapy they may have been, but Tears for Fears did not express their inner agony in an endless, ragged whine. Rather, they made their misery as seductively melodic as possible. Morrissey and Tennant were capable of writing a lyric like "The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had," but they would have brought a degree of mockery to the delivery of such a line. Tears for Fears found nothing to laugh at. But at the same time, they took care to ensure that such sentiments were delivered in as sumptuous a setting as technologically possible. _The Hurting_ and** _**Songs from the Big Chair**_ **are incredibly accomplished records that manage to be both instantly memorable and endlessly replayable. Their best songs seeped into the culture and have lasted a lifetime. And that's any unhappy adolescent's best revenge.**
**LM:** **Overexposure to Tears for Fears during their** _**Big Chair**_ **period—"Shout" was easily the most played-out song of my teen years—caused me to unfairly dismiss their entire discography for at least a decade. It wasn't until the stripped-down Gary Jules version of "Mad World" in the early 2000s that I was finally able to see TFF for what they really are: timeless songwriters. "Mad World" is a classic, dark, brooding slice of self-pity, the kind of song I cried over as an insecure, open wound of a teen, and the kind of song I cry over now when, amazingly, I'm still an insecure open wound of a teen.**
**CURT SMITH:** I was born in the southwest of England: Bath, Somerset. There wasn't really a Bath scene. There was one place to play; it was called Moles. We relied less on fashion, unlike Manchester, Liverpool, or London. There was no competition between bands in Bath. We were kind of it. To this day, I think I'm the most famous person born there. Roland was born in Portsmouth, but he moved to Bath with his mother when he was about 11, after his parents split up. He lived where I lived, in a council estate called Snow Hill.
**ROLAND ORZABAL:** What did I think of Curt right at the beginning? Well, he was dark-skinned. I thought he was from Eastern Europe or something. He was a friend of a friend who I was staying with, so we went along to see if Curt would come out. But he wasn't allowed out because he'd done something bad or wrong. So my first impression wasn't particularly good. I mean, we got on very well, but I think Curt was a bit of a petty criminal.
The guy I was staying with, I had a band with him. I was the guitarist, he was the bass player, we had a drummer. We were no good. But I heard Curt singing along to a record in his bedroom, which was "Last Days of May" by Blue Öyster Cult, and I thought, _We should try him as a singer_. And we did.
**SMITH:** When we were 18, mod music was happening—Madness, the Specials. We had this band, a five-piece called Graduate. We wore the eyeliner and the suits. We signed our first record deal when we were 18, with no success other than in Spain, where Graduate had a number-one hit: "Elvis Should Play Ska." We toured Europe in two vans—we were humping the gear and everything. But Roland and I, we were interested in honing our recording skills, making good records. When we left Graduate, we were 19, and there were three pivotal records that really influenced the way we were going to move forward: Peter Gabriel's third album, _Remain in Light_ by Talking Heads, and _Scary Monsters_ by David Bowie. And Gary Numan was a big influence in the sense that you could actually make records without a band.
We did a demo of a couple of songs, "Suffer the Children" and "Pale Shelter," and started doing the rounds of record companies. Only one wanted us: a guy called Dave Bates, who signed us to Phonogram for a two-single deal. We released both songs as singles. Neither was a hit. The industry in those days—it's not like it is now, where if both flop, you're finished. Dave had heard all the other songs we'd written and convinced the record company to let us make an album. We did the majority of _The Hurting_ at Abbey Road, but it took us a year to make, with many fights with the record company about their money we were spending.
Once we'd finished, we got to "Mad World." No one thinks it's quirky now, because it's part of history, but it was very quirky then. There was a plan on the part of the record company: We had to build up our credibility and become hip, and "Mad World" was picked to do that, to get us some press. No one ever expected it to become a hit. They believed there were other songs on the album that would be bigger, like "Pale Shelter" and "Change."
**ORZABAL:** "Mad World" was a shock. It was supposed to be the B-side of "Pale Shelter." But when I played it to Dave Bates, he said, "That's a single." Thank God.
I never particularly liked "Mad World" very much. But that's why I mucked about with it so much in the studio—programmed it up, spent a long time getting it into the state that it ended up in on _The Hurting._ I couldn't sing it. I still can't sing it—it just doesn't work. I did a quick double track and hated it. I said to Curt, "You sing it." And it was much, much better. He's got a soft resonance to his voice. "Mad World" is, I think, the best vocal he's ever done. It was recorded brilliantly, and it's just incredibly haunting.
In the early days, I'd just write the songs, and if I couldn't think of some lyrics, I'd ask Curt to do them. When we started off, it was very much Curt as frontman and me as studio boffin. It was like that until "Shout." Because it was such a big hit, when we got to America, people saw us more as co-frontmen. Certainly, in the early days in England, Curt was the pop star, and I was in the background.
**SMITH:** The recording of "Mad World" took a while, but writing it took an afternoon. We were sitting on the second floor of the Bath flat that Roland used to live in, looking down on people dressed in suits going to work, coming back from work, thinking, _What a mundane life these people must live._ Although since then, I've longed for that.
**ORZABAL:** That's what kicked the lyric off. I wrote "Mad World" on an acoustic guitar, and I think one of the songs on the radio was "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran. I was thinking, _How did I get from the celebratory glam sound of Duran Duran to this really sort of introspective song?_ Although we were trying to look like pop stars, our lyrics were far more melancholic and, some might say, depressing. The line "The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had," that comes from Janov and his primal scream theory. I remember reading once that your most powerful dreams—in essence, the ones that are life-threatening dreams—are the ones that release the most tension. And I found that myself, when I was 18, 19. Certainly I had some pretty vivid dreams, and I always woke up feeling rather refreshed.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Sad, Sniveling Slices of Self-Pity** 1. "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," The Smiths 2. "10:15 Saturday Night," The Cure 3. "Heaven (I Want You)," Camouflage 4. "Victims," Culture Club 5. "Voices Carry," 'Til Tuesday
Janov's theories go along with the tabula rasa theory—that we're born, then life etches our character through experiences, good and bad. So that's what Curt and I believed at the time. We both felt that the child was sacred, especially the child that was suffering, hence the curled-up little child on the front of _The Hurting_.
I think that we couldn't really help but be a little deeper than what was going on [in music at the time]. Journalists didn't like it; we were called "po-faced." We had people like Gary Kemp saying, "They're too young to be writing about what they're writing." But [Kemp's and Spandau Ballet's] London scene, with all the glamour and glitz, was not something that allowed for that kind of introspection.
**SMITH:** After the [1983] release of _The Hurting_ , we toured the world for a year. That widens your musical horizons and changes you. The only place I'd been outside England prior to us having a band was Spain: a holiday in Torremolinos, full of bad English people. We were 20 when that song came out, so we had a lot of screaming girls, but we also had a lot of shoegazers. Half the audience wouldn't make eye contact; the other half were trying to rip our shirts off.
**"We were 20 when that song came out, so we had a lot of screaming girls, but we also had a lot of shoegazers. Half the audience wouldn't make eye contact; the other half were trying to rip our shirts off."**
_The Hurting_ was big everywhere apart from America. When we came back to England, we felt like we wanted to make something bigger. We'd grown up a lot and weren't just concentrating on primal theory. The last thing we wanted to do was _The Hurting, Part 2_. We started listening to different stuff, thanks to our producer, Chris Hughes. We were introduced to people like Steely Dan and Lynyrd Skynyrd. We listened to a lot more Frank Zappa. But it wasn't a conscious decision to sound American. The only conscious part was that we never wanted to make the same album twice.
**ORZABAL:** Everything changed between _The Hurting_ and _Songs from the Big Chair_. It was an incredibly difficult album to make. We were working every day, seven days a week, mainly at Abbey Road's Penthouse studio. We would be working until two in the morning. We would be doing vocals over and over and over again. These are the days before Auto-Tune. I remember Curt being in tears in the toilet. There was this new kind of ambition around the band. It was like, "No, you're not going to be introspective anymore." And there was a push for, as Dave calls it, the drive-time single. *****
**SMITH:** "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was the last song we did. We needed one more track for the album. We said, "What would go really well with this album is a song that's lighter and has more of a shuffle beat that moves away from the intensity of the rest of the album."
**ORZABAL:** I had a song, which was originally called "Everybody Wants to Go to War"—not quite so catchy. It didn't fit with the fragile, insular music that we'd done before, so I was a little bit suspicious. But when we came to record it, we did a bit of improvising—myself, Chris [Hughes], and Curt—and it became so simple.
At the time, there were songs coming out—"Two Tribes," Frankie Goes to Hollywood; I think they did a cover of [Edwin Starr's] "War." It was the era of the Cold War, when it was pretty much at its peak, and everyone was worried about the nuclear threat and the possible nuclear exchange between Russia and America. At the same time, the band was starting to become more global in our outlook.
*** DAVE BATES:** "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was not originally on _Songs from the Big Chair_. We had "Mother's Talk," "Shout," "Head Over Heels," "I Believe." We were getting close to finishing the album, and it was already great, but we missed what I called the American drive-time single. I explained to them what the American drive-time single was—sun roof off, driving through the desert or driving home during rush hour with a tune coming out the radio and your arm stuck out the window—and Roland replied, "I know the kind of thing you need," and he played this riff. I went, "That's it! That's the one!" And he said, "Well, I ain't doing it." What Roland didn't realize was Dave Bascombe, the engineer, recorded him playing that riff. When Roland went home, [producer] Chris Hughes, [keyboard player] Ian Stanley, and Bascombe put a loop together using that riff; they put the drumbeat together and keyboards over it. When Roland came back, we said, "Check this out." We pressed the button, and there was the basis of a song. Roland could see the possibilities of it. In the end, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" went on the album.
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was about me putting pressure on them to be the biggest group in the world, and the whole idea of world domination and them becoming huge. I believe "Shout" is also about me, because I used to shout a lot. I don't care. It's fine. I just wanted them to be incredibly successful.
The lyrics were written the day before. We were in Germany mixing the record, and I had to stay in the hotel room and quickly come up with the lyrics for Curt to sing the next day. The only line of any significance is "So glad they had to fade it." That was a reference to a conversation with Dave Bates in his A&R office. It was about the "Shout" edit for radio, that they didn't like playing anything eight minutes long, because they had to pay more money for it. We were arguing with him, and Dave decided to reduce the song by five seconds.
**SMITH:** Five seconds. You're really telling me it won't be a hit unless we take five seconds off? It was that stupid. We said, "Why can't the radio stations just fade it earlier?" It was a whole power play. That's what A&R men do: They feel like they have to stick their two cents in, otherwise they're not doing their jobs.
We became insular after _Songs from the Big Chair_. It was so huge everywhere, and when we were on the road, we were getting a bit cocky. We realized, in retrospect, the downside of having that much success, which is you're then surrounded by yes men who are making a living off you and coaxing you into doing it again without consideration for the music, just purely to capitalize on the money they've already made.
**ORZABAL:** Our manager went bankrupt during the _Seeds of Love_ tour. We were no longer a unit. Also, the relationship with Bates became strained. And then there was a change of personalities at the U.S. record company [Mercury Records]. Our success in America has an awful lot to do with Dave Bates and his relationship with the U.S. company, and with a change of personnel, it was no longer there for _Seeds of Love_.
We spent too long touring _Songs from the Big Chair_. In hindsight, we should have done a short tour and pretty much gone straight back in the studio. I think we would've been happier. I think it would have been far more successful. There was such a loathing of going out into the world and doing the same songs over and over again. We never changed a set on the _Big Chair_ tour.
Personally, I wanted to reinvent Tears for Fears after _Big Chair_ , hence coming back with a completely different sound— _Seeds of Love_ sounding like the Beatles. I had absolutely no sense—no commercial sense and no business sense—and no one was really arguing with me. So we drifted for four years making _Seeds of Love_. I think everyone expected _Seeds of Love_ to be as big as _Big Chair_.
**SMITH:** During the making of _Seeds of Love_ , I was going through a divorce from my first wife, who I'd been with for seven years. We were separated, and I was left with the realization that I got no support from anyone around me. It became very obvious their prime concern was to get me back in the studio to finish this album as opposed to my personal sanity. I had no normal life, and I got no support from anyone. Including Roland. The downside of a duo is you've only got each other to argue with, and we butted heads quite often.
**ORZABAL:** I'm not sure if I would agree. Moody silences were more the case than butting heads.
**SMITH:** We'd been in bands together since we were 13; now we were 27. The chemistry between Roland and myself had changed over the years. We were definitely kindred spirits, but bar our humor and our musical taste, we're now very different people. We needed a break from each other. I realized life is too damn short: _I can't do this anymore._ I had to leave the band.
**ORZABAL:** When you get to the age of 28, 29, lots of things change, especially as you start thinking about kids. I had a very close relationship with Curt, and it was almost as if that had to go before I had kids.
**SMITH:** I told Roland before we went on tour that I was leaving at the end, which in retrospect was a mistake. It didn't make for a particularly enjoyable tour, and we had nine months of it. Our relationship was horrible. We were hardly even talking. Front of the bus was Roland, back of the bus was me and the rest of the band. I did say goodbye when it was over, but it was an awkward one. The last show we did was Knebworth in 1990: big show in front of 120,000 people. We flew in a helicopter back to London, and literally the next day, me and my now-wife went to Antigua on holiday and never looked back.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Tears for Fears are survived by their back catalog, particularly "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"—now a go-to track on classic rock and adult-contemporary radio as well as all-eighties stations—and "Mad World." The latter was rejuvenated by Gary Jules's mournful voice-and-piano rendition, which was recorded for Richard Kelly's 2001** _**Donnie Darko**_ **. The movie's leisurely gestating cult status helped the song become a hit in 2003, when it saw the year out as the U.K.'s most depressing Christmas number oneof all time. "Mad World" continues to be covered, most memorably by Adam Lambert on** _**American Idol**_ **and most recently by Susan Boyle. The Jules version has become a definitive soundtrack staple; whenever a crime show needs a bleak song to accompany the aftermath of a killing spree, "Mad World" is never far away. In 2004, Smith and Orzabal reunited for an album of new material,** _**Everybody Loves a Happy Ending**_ **, which has led to semi-regular Tears for Fears world tours and, according to Orzabal, another album of new material coming soon.**
**SMITH:** We didn't talk to each other for 10 years. I moved to L.A. Eventually his manager called me out of the blue and asked if I'd be interested in doing another record with Roland. My initial reaction was "No way! Life's too good!" But then I talked to my wife, and I thought, _That's kind of unfair. It's been 10 years. I don't even know what he's like anymore._ It's unfair to judge someone on the person you left 10 years before. I'm not the person I was 10 years before.
**ORZABAL:** Well, we didn't have a manager at the time. It was a case of Curt had sent me a fax—I had to do something for him that involved a notary in Bath, some sort of business thing—and he thanked me and said, "Now you have my number; call me at some point." So I called him. Once we spoke and I heard his mid-Atlantic accent, I realized that things had completely changed. We were a lot more grown up. But we've been back together for longer than we've been apart.
**"I had no normal life, and I got no support from anyone. Including Roland. The downside of a duo is you've only got each other to argue with, and we butted heads quite often."**
**SMITH:** We met up in Bath. It wasn't weird at all. I mean, it was weird for the first 10 minutes, but after that, it was fine. I was just about to have my first kid, and it became obvious that he'd mellowed considerably. In the first three albums there was definitely ego involved: You're vying for your position and making sure you have 50 percent of the say. But it's the balance of the two of us that brings out the sound that is Tears for Fears.
**ORZABAL:** When we started playing together [again], we played one show, and Curt said, "Right, let's switch positions on stage." I had always been on the left, and he always on the right, and we switched over. It was like him saying, "This isn't going to be like it was."
Does the title _Everybody Loves a Happy Ending_ refer to our reunion? Yes, because it was a happy ending. Of all of the albums we've made together, I'd say _Happy Ending_ is the only one that we really enjoyed [making]. We just had a blast. We'd grown up, no pressure from a manager, no pressure from a record company, no expectations, and just getting back together purely for the sake of seeing what we can do and to enhance your history.
**SMITH:** "Mad World" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" have lasted because of the emotion. You see that in Gary Jules's version of "Mad World" and in Adam Lambert's. He sold it, and Gary did as well. It's one of those lyrics you can get your teeth into. Although sometimes those songs are hard for us to do live because we're not miserable adolescents anymore. We're cranky old men.
**ORZABAL:** In some ways, "Mad World" has been more successful as a cover version, especially the Michael Andrews–Gary Jules rerecord, which was never how I saw the song. I always saw it as an upbeat song. When they slowed it right down and made it heart-wrenching, the lyrics all of a sudden popped out at me, and I realized for the first time that they were pretty good lyrics. The first time I heard it, my friend had brought a copy of the _Donnie Darko_ soundtrack from America and played it in the kitchen. My son at the time was six years old, and he started singing along to the lyrics: "Children waiting for the day they feel good / Happy birthday, happy birthday." And it was like, _Oh my God!_ Suddenly I knew what it was like to be a father instead of a child. When Curt and I first started, we had embraced Arthur Janov and primal scream therapy; our idea was to get rich, get famous, and get therapy. Having both come from difficult childhoods, it was very easy for us to sing from what I now call the woe-is-me area. Parents were to blame, the establishment was to blame, children were innocent. Of course, I don't believe that now.
I went through primal therapy in my mid- to late 20s, and when my first child was born, he came out, and it was like everything that I had believed was clearly not true. Because here was someone with a soul, with a character, already, at day one. So I don't believe those things anymore. I don't believe the child is a victim. I think the character of the child is predetermined.
**SMITH:** We toured South America last year, two weeks in Brazil. Our audience was from 18 years old up to 45. The younger demographic, it's all people discovering _The Hurting_ now and relating to it because it's what they're going through. It means the same to those 18-year-olds as it did to us when we wrote it. I hear people saying, "Music's not what it used to be," and I'm like, "Yeah, it is. Don't you remember back then?" The majority of the stuff we listened to sucked. What you take with you is the really good stuff. But there was a ton of shit in the eighties. For every one of us, there was a Flock of Seagulls. *****
*** MIKE SCORE, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS: The one word that springs to mind is jealousy. Maybe they didn't see a band like us coming up beside them? Tears for Fears I don't think wrote great songs; they were helped along by a brilliant producer, Chris Hughes. He took the little things that they had and turned them into absolute works of art, little bits of genius. Kind of like the Beatles wrote incredible songs, but I don't think the Beatles would've been anything like they were if it hadn't been for George Martin. I'm not going to slag Tears for Fears. _Songs from the Big Chair_ was one of the best albums I'd ever heard. _The Hurting_ was good too, but it just showed you where they could be. The thing is, where did they go after that, you know? I think they went kind of downhill. Like I said, I don't want to slag them, because I really did enjoy their stuff, but Curt Smith may be living in a little fantasyland that Tears for Fears was something spectacular.**
**_"IF YOU LEAVE"_**
Were they the coolest band in Liverpool? Perhaps not. Did audiences adopt their dress sense? No. Did they surpass their peers in terms of pretension, artiness, and absurdity? Again, no. But Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark—who began life making chilly, remote, yearning music—ultimately racked up more hits than anyone else in their competitive city. Long before Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys found American success soundtracking _Pretty in Pink_ 's climactic prom scene, they were European chart fixtures with songs about telegraphs, telescopes, and typewriters that sounded like songs about girls. Even when the duo caved and penned an actual love song, the blushing recipient was Joan of Arc.
**JB:** **I don't believe there are Beatles people and Stones people and that the two are mutually exclusive. I do, however, think that there are OMD Phase 1 people and OMD Phase 2 people, and that those two parties have no truck with each other. OMD Phase 1 people came on board when they heard "Electricity" on John Peel. This was a song about electricity, but it was not bloodless or mock-robotic like so many records by bands who overidentified with the android lifestyle. OMD Phase 1 people were further rewarded with signature hits of the caliber of "Messages," "Red Frame White Light" and "Enola Gay." The Phase 1 constituency got a little uncomfortable when the rest of the U.K. muscled in on their territory and helped to make** _**Architecture and Morality**_ **a blockbuster album. At least it was a weird blockbuster album. All the same, it was a relief for Phase 1 people when OMD released the difficult _Dazzle Ships_ album and scared off all the dilettantes. Unfortunately, it scared off so many people that it ignited OMD Phase 2. Which is where I made my excuses and left. OMD Phase 2 wrote solid commercial songs, but I could get solid commercial songs anywhere. Still, even though I was a Phase 1 person, I was also an eighties teen-movie person—an eighties teen-movie person who wrote an eighties teen-movie guidebook called** _**Pretty in Pink**_ **. So, in the case of "If You Leave," which still packs an enormous amount of emotional impact ("I believed in you, I just didn't believe in me. I love you... Always"), I'm an honorary OMD Phase 2 person.**
**LM:** **By virtue of my being American, I'm a born OMD Phase 2 person. However, as much as I love "If You Leave"—I, too, am an eighties teen-movie person ("If you don't go to him now, I'm never going to take you to another prom again, you hear me?")—that song was merely the entry point for my OMD obsession. After seeing them open for Power Station, Thompson Twins, Psychedelic Furs, and Depeche Mode, not even McCluskey's onstage jerky jig could prevent me from delving deeper into their back catalog. That's when I became an honorary OMD Phase 1 person.** _**Architecture and Morality**_ **is so original, so special, so sublime, that if there were no other new wave bands to speak of, the entire genre could still hang its hat solely on that record.**
**ANDY McCLUSKEY:** We'd had "Tesla Girls" in a John Hughes movie [ _Weird Science_ ]. He was a huge Anglophile music lover. He'd had _The Breakfast Club_ and "Don't You (Forget About Me)," by Simple Minds, then he approached us and said, "I would like you to write a song for my new film [ _Pretty in Pink_ ]." Our management and record company were over the moon. We went down to Paramount Studios and met him, Molly Ringwald, and Jon Cryer on set. They were kids, and they both said, "I love you." Because even though we hadn't had any hits in America, we had alternative and college radio station play. You could still be alternative in America and sell 100,000 records and be off everyone else's radar. In L.A., KROQ were playing us, but we weren't in the charts. Then John Hughes said, "Here's the script. Write me a song for my big prom-scene ending."
So we did. We came back armed with our two-inch tape of this song we'd written, "Goddess of Love." And John Hughes said, "There's a bit of a problem. Since I last saw you, we finished the movie and did some test screenings, and the teenage girls didn't like the ending." The original ending had Andie and Duckie dancing together. "Goddess of Love" lyrically bore no relationship to the new ending of the movie. He said, "Can you write me another one?" We were about to start a tour with Thompson Twins in two days, but we went into Larrabee Studios in Hollywood. We had nothing—we just knew how the movie ended. We knew that the tempo had to be 120 beats per minute, because they'd filmed the new ending with a song that was 120. Although, when I saw the final version, I thought, _Who the fuck edited this?_ , because nobody's dancing to the beat.
We worked till four in the morning, and we banged onto a cassette the rough demo, then called a motorcycle to take it to Paramount. We got a phone call at half-past eight the next morning from our manager saying, "John's already in the office—he's heard the cassette and he loves it. Can you finish it off?" We'd just gone to sleep. It was our day off. But we went back to the studio and finished it; then, after three weeks on tour with the Thompson Twins, we came back and mixed it. That's how "If You Leave" was created—completely off the top of our heads in one day in Hollywood. It was bizarre that we managed to pull something like that out of the bag. If I knew how we did it, we would have done it more often.
And there we were flying in on a Pan Am jet from London to come to the premiere of _Pretty in Pink_ , and who's on the plane with us? New Order! The guys from Joy Division who we supported during our first-ever gig eight years earlier in [Liverpool club] Eric's! We're all getting out of limos, off our faces, living the Hollywood lifestyle down the red carpet, all the famous people off the telly telling us how much they love our music. In eight years, the crazy journey we'd been on...
At the same time I got my first bass guitar, I had my Eureka! moment: I heard "Autobahn" by Kraftwerk on the radio in the summer of '75. That was when I went, _Now this is interesting. And it's different. I'm inspired! I might be able to do something like this!_ Then I got their _Radio Activity_ album. I bought the vinyl import, and Paul had a stereo because he'd built one. I only had my mother's mono Dansette. _Radio Activity_ became our bible. I was 16, he was 15, and we were listening to this record, going, "They've used a Geiger counter, and chopped-up recordings of people speaking, interfering radio noises. We can do that!"
Paul knew a bit about electronics. He used to make things that made noises that didn't even have keyboards attached so we couldn't play melodies. It was just noises and ambient weirdness. Finally we got a cheap Vox Jaguar keyboard and a Selmer Pianotron—I've only ever seen one—from a combination of part-time jobs and a lot of dole money. We wrote songs for almost three years in Paul's mother's back room on Saturday afternoons when she was at work. Our friends thought they were shit. It was just a little art project of weirdness inspired by German music. We had to invent our own way of doing things that wasn't necessarily conventional. In hindsight, that is what led to people having to invent a way of songwriting that ended up being much more creative than just sitting at a computer trying to copy someone else.
Paul and I had thought we were the only people in England listening to Kraftwerk, Neu!, some other German bands—all the stuff we'd been listening to since 1975. It turns out we weren't. We were in Eric's in 1978, and the DJ played "Warm Leatherette," and we went, "Holy shit! Somebody's been listening to what we've been listening to, and they've made a record, and it sounds great!" We went to have a chat with Roger [Eagle] and Pete [Fulwell], who ran the place. We said, "Hi, we're Andy and Paul. For years we've been writing these songs.... Could we play your club with just us and a tape recorder?" And they said, "Sure. We'll book you in for a Thursday night in October." If Eric's hadn't existed, we would never have thought of starting Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
There was a conscious thing going on. Young people of an artistic nature who gravitated toward the idea of making music as their chosen art form wanted to establish the fact that they were doing something different. Whether you were influenced by punk or art or electronic music, there was this absolute determination you were going to do something different. The name of your band was part of that. We consciously chose a preposterous name. We were only going to do one concert, and because it was a mad idea—a new wave club, two guys, one playing upside-down bass, keyboards, tape recorder—we thought, _We'll give ourselves a weird name so that people will know we're not rock or punk._ My bedroom wall was my notebook, much to my mother's chagrin. There were song titles and poems and all sorts of stuff on there. So we consulted the wall and came up with the most preposterous title we could think of. It was my idea. "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark" was the title of a song we never wrote. There were a lot of other things on that wall, and it certainly could have been very different, because right underneath "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark" was "Margaret Thatcher's Afterbirth."
We were not cool. Paul and I were very much the outsiders. Our hair was longer than most people's in Liverpool. We were from the other side of the river and still lived with our parents; we didn't live in bedsits. We didn't know all the cool people. The Bunnymen and the Teardrops signed to Zoo Records, and they didn't want to sign us. [Zoo Records boss] Dave Balfe to this day says it was the worst mistake he ever made.
**"We were not cool. Paul and I were very much the outsiders. Our hair was longer than most people's in Liverpool. We were from the other side of the river and still lived with our parents."**
So we did our one gig at Eric's supporting another band. There were 30 people there, and most of them were our friends and family, and even then the response was [slow hand clap]. Afterwards, Roger and Pete said, "That was interesting. Would you like to do another gig, because the guys that you supported tonight have come over from our friend's place in Manchester." We'd just supported Joy Division. So even though we'd only planned on doing the one gig, we decided to make it two. We went to Manchester and played at the Russell Club, which was called the Factory that night. We supported Cabaret Voltaire and met Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, and Peter Saville. We cheekily sent Tony a cassette with two tracks, "Electricity" and "Almost," the next week because he used to present _Granada Reports_ and sometimes they had bands on. We said, "Hey, we met you last week. Could we get on the telly?" Cheeky bastards. He was like, "We've come to the end of the season, but we're starting a record label called Factory. Do you want to make a record?" So we went from one gig to a second gig to "Do you want to make a record?"
I didn't know this at the time, but I later found out he left our cassette in his car, and it was his then-wife Lindsay who wanted to know what was on it. He said, "Some fellows from Liverpool. Two Scouse scallywags pretending to be Kraftwerk." She thought it was great and told him to listen to it again. By the time he finally called us, his wife and Peter Saville had talked to him, and he'd gone from not liking it to saying, "You guys are the future of pop music." To which we replied, "Fuck off, we're experimental. Don't call us pop."
**"Were we arrogant? Yeah, we probably were. We were arrogant in the sense that we believed in our art, and we were pleasantly surprised that we were selling lots of it."**
Tony said, "We'll do a record. It will basically be your demo, and I'll send it to all the major labels." They made 5,000 copies of "Electricity." We went round to 85 Palatine Road, which was their office—i.e., Alan Erasmus's flat—and we took them all out of the white sleeves and put them all in the black thermograph sleeves that Peter Saville designed. Every single one was handbagged by myself, Paul Humphreys, or our then manager. The only person to play it was John Peel, who played it every night on the week it was released, and 5,000 sold out in a week. One of them landed on the desk of a lady called Carol Wilson, who had just started a label called Dindisc, which was part of Virgin. She contacted us, and we didn't have any more gigs at the time, so she came up to Liverpool. She stayed in Paul's mother's back room, which was appropriate because that's where all the songs were written. She sat on the sofa, and we played her all of our six songs. About three weeks later, we were playing in Blackpool on a Factory night with Joy Division and A Certain Ratio. She turned up late while we were loading our gear into the van, and she said, "Read this on the way home." So we got in the van and got out the torch...and it's a seven-album contract. This was eight months after we'd played our one-off gig.
We were absolutely adamant that we were going to make music, but we were going to avoid what we considered rock clichés. We were not going to write "I love you" or "You love me." If we were going to write relationship songs, they were going to be so shrouded in metaphor as to be almost unfathomable. Obviously, "Electricity" was inspired by Kraftwerk's "Radioactivity," and when I finally confessed to Kraftwerk, they all went, "Ja, ve know." We could only get inspired enough to write music if it was inspiring to us conceptually. It's hard to imagine in this day and age of _X-Factor_ and banjo music being the future that somebody would insist on writing songs about airplanes and oil refineries and telephone boxes. This is what we wanted to write about. We wouldn't allow our drummer to use cymbals because they were rock clichés. I tortured myself for months that I'd finally conceded to use the word "love" on our third album, and I just couldn't find another monosyllabic word to replace it. So "Joan of Arc" became the first song I used the word "love" on. Carol Wilson used to say to us, "Can you tell me whether you want to be ABBA or Stockhausen?" We were like, "Both."
The first album was a load of songs that we wrote from the ages of 16 to 19 that our friends thought were crap and that went gold and had one hit off it, "Messages." Then we have an album [ _Organisation_ , 1980] that also goes gold, and we have a song that sells 5 million around the world ["Enola Gay"]. The next album [ _Architecture and Morality_ 1981] sold 3 million. So we just thought, _This is incredible—we have the Midas touch. We do exactly what we want to do by our own rules and nobody at the record company ever second-guesses us._
Were we arrogant? Yeah, we probably were. We were arrogant in the sense that we believed in our art, and we were pleasantly surprised that we were selling lots of it. Having said that, by this time we'd sold 15 million singles and 4 million albums, and I was still living in the box [storage] room of my mother's house, seven feet by six feet, with all the platinum albums on the wall. I was like, "You know that seven-album deal we signed? Was it really shit?" It was, actually. It was a better deal than some of the bands in the seventies signed, but "Enola Gay" sold 5 million. Now, for argument's sake, let's say each one cost a pound. We were on a 6 percent royalty, so we got six pence. Now, most of them sold in Europe, so, because Virgin were licensing us in Europe, we were on a two-thirds deal, so we had four pence. The producer, Mike Howlett, who just helped us get a nice sound, was on three points, so he got three pence, and we were left with one—out of which we had to pay the recording costs and all of the video costs and any advances we'd had. So that's why I was still living in the box room at my parents' house, driving a second-hand car that had mushrooms growing in the footwell because it was damp.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More John Hughes Soundtrack Songs** 1. "Oh Yeah," Yello ( _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_ ) 2. "Eighties," Killing Joke ( _Weird Science_ ) 3. "If You Were Here," Thompson Twins ( _Sixteen Candle_ s) 4. "I Go Crazy," Flesh for Lulu ( _Some Kind of Wonderful_ ) 5. "Catch My Fall," Billy Idol ( _Some Kind of Wonderful_ )
We actually weren't that bothered by it, because we hadn't gotten into it for the money. This was our art project, and it's why we confidently set out on the ship Dazzle, thinking, "Well, we started with synth garage-punk, we then went kind of gothic and wrote songs about airplanes and atom bombs, then we went all religious with choral music and Edinburgh Tattoo drums. Every time we decide to do something different, we sell even more records." Then somebody at the record company made the catastrophic mistake of saying, "If you just make _Architecture and Morality 2_ , you're going to be the next Genesis." Wrong. Thing. To. Say! We went, "Right, we're going in completely the opposite direction." We decided... well, when I say "we,"... I—'cause it took Paul about 25 years to forgive me for _Dazzle Ships_ ***** —I decided we were going to make lots of recordings of politics and shortwave radios and cold war Radio Prague call signs, and this time, for whatever reason, we left it kind of stripped. It was bare-bones, and it wasn't sugar-coated with the melodies and the choirs. We picked the song "Genetic Engineering" for a single, which probably did freak people out. We went from 3 million sales to 300,000. We lost 90 percent of our audience between two albums.
Consciously or unconsciously, we dialed ourselves back a lot. By this time, we were old men of 24. Paul was married, and we both had houses, and it was our job. We still thought we were going to try and make art, but I think we got a little more conventional in our songwriting. It was the beginning of us following other people's rules in order to sell records.
*** PAUL HUMPHREYS: I definitely forgive him. I love _Dazzle Ships_. It was a spectacularly successful album in its complete commercial failure. We had to do that album in order to advance ourselves musically. We pushed our boundaries, and even though we reeled ourselves in from those boundaries, we had to go through that process.**
To a lot of people in America who just have a passing musical interest, "If You Leave" is our only hit. We're like a one-hit wonder. To a lot of people in Europe, it was anathema. They hated it: "Our wonderful alternative electro band has sold out. They've got this cheesy song about teenage relationships in a teenage movie in Hollywood." It wasn't a hit in most of Europe. It didn't even make the Top 50 in the U.K. American audiences cannot contemplate the fact that when we play Europe, we usually don't even play "If You Leave." Can you imagine us playing in America if we didn't play it? We'd be shot.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Paul Humphreys left the group in 1989. Andy McCluskey continued to lead OMD with varying degrees of success until walking away in 1996. He dabbled in manufactured pop, assembling the Liverpudlian girl trio Atomic Kitten and penning their biggest hit, "Whole Again." McCluskey and Humphreys reunited in 2006. They have released two albums, 2010's** _**History of Modern**_ **and 2013's** _**English Electric**_ **, and continue to tour the world.**
**McCLUSKEY:** In America, there are three albums they know: our _Best Of,_ so at least half a million of them caught up with all of the European hits; _Crush_ ; and _The Pacific Age_. Now, _The Pacific Age_ is our musical nadir. That was the one where we were writing songs because we had to make an album. We were going round and round America in buses for months on end, and the record company said, "It would be great if we had a new album for Christmas." We were on the treadmill. We were going back to an empty well. We were exactly the sort of band we promised we never would be. There were no concepts, no weird ideas, no "Enola Gay" and oil refinery songs and Catholic saints. I was dragging out lyrics that I would have been appalled by 10 years earlier. And yet Americans love _The Pacific Age._ It was almost like we traded our European success for American success. But all of the success we put into breaking America effectively broke us. By the end of the eighties, we just imploded.
Paul and I were always different guys—personally, socially, emotionally, musically—yet we complemented each other. But we had spent 10 years together, and we were sick of each other. The whole vibe had atrophied. We knew that we weren't making good-enough music, but our solutions were different. It just fell apart. The band stopped, and for six months that was it. Then Paul and drummer] Malcolm Holmes and [keyboard player] Martin Cooper came back to me and said, "There is value in the name OMD. There's three of us and one of you, and we want to continue." I was horrified. I really didn't like what they were doing musically; admittedly, they didn't like what I was doing, either. I went to Virgin Records, and they said, "We own the rights to these records under the name OMD, and we think of you as the frontman. So if there's going to be either/ or, how about you be OMD?" For Paul, in particular, that was hard, because people who'd signed him when he was 19 turned round and said to him, "We choose Andy, not you." That must have been galling in the extreme. **[****
I released the _Sugar Tax_ album in 1991. That sold close to 300,000—as many as _Architecture and Morality_ —and almost reestablished us in America. And then I unlearned my own lesson. I disappeared up my own backside again, trying to make an album too quickly. It was starting to be a struggle, because it was the mid-'90s: grunge, Britpop. We could get our heads around the fact that fashion had changed, that electronic music that was supposed to be the future was now the past; what we didn't get was that we were now in the postmodern era where the future sounded like 1969. I was banging my head against a brick wall, so I stopped.
Then we got into the new millennium, and there was a new generation of people who were bored with the resurgence of rock clichés. They rediscovered electronic music, and people started talking to us. Agents started saying, "Hey, would you like to do a tour? I reckon you could sell out." I'd gone grudgingly—I didn't want to retire in 1996. It was like a soccer player who'd got to the age of 36 and had to hang up the boots and get off the field. Then suddenly, at the age of 46, people were like, "Hey, get your boots back on! You can play again!" And I'm like, "Really? On my own team? With the same guys?''
We booked some gigs across Europe in 2007, and they all sold out, so we did 40 more, and then the problem set in. Being OMD and starting out as a conceptual band, we thought, _Is this it? Have we become a tribute band to ourselves? Are we just going to play the old stuff?_ Because some of our contemporaries, their management tell them they need to release a new record because they need a name for their new tour, they can't just play the hits again. I'll mention no names, but there are a lot of bands who make records who shouldn't be allowed to—they don't have anything left to say, they're just addicted to the lifestyle, and they can't stop. We promised ourselves we wouldn't do that. So, once again, we had to be conceited enough to believe that we actually had something to say. Paul and I agreed that we really needed to unlearn the previous 30 years since _Dazzle Ships_ and the more conventional songwriting that we'd grown into and go back to songs that didn't have a chorus. We started with a sample of Voyager 1 going through Jupiter and three minutes of synths and me singing about the contrast between perfect clarity and machinery and how imperfect the world is. And then the big drums and the choir come in, and we fade out. That's how we used to write songs, and that's what we used to write songs about.
**** PAUL HUMPHREYS: We had no money; we didn't have any ideas. I just said, at the end of the eighties, "Look, I'm exhausted. It's not working, I'm not so happy with the records we're making. Let's take three years off." Which was what I wanted to do. But the record company and management were all horrified because they're making money, and they wouldn't let us do it. There were a lot of divisive people around, and they threw a wedge between me and Andy. They said, "If Paul's not going to do it then, Andy, you should continue with the band." And I said, "Andy, if you want to do that, then you do it. I'm stopping." And that's how it happened. Obviously, Virgin were happier to take OMD with Andy as the frontman because it was a lot easier. He was a more recognizable face, which was always fine with me. That's the way it works with bands and frontmen.**
**_"VIENNA"_**
group bore the brunt of bad timing more than Ultravox. In 1977, they were marketed as a punk band, but they were not really a punk band. As much as singer John Foxx sneered and postured, he was a little more cultured and fey than he let on. Plus, they had a violinist! By the time Ultravox released their all-electronic third album, 1978's _Systems of Romance_ , the hearts and minds of the U.K. had already been captured by a plethora of synth acts from the North of England who made Ultravox, the quality of their music notwithstanding, seem like yesterday's men. Frustrated, John Foxx departed the group for a semi-successful solo career. Then Ultravox recruited Midge Ure as their new frontman and gave it one last shot. The highly adaptable Ure brought emotion and melodrama to a band lacking in both. If rebooting the Human League brought out their inner ABBA, adding Ure to Ultravox transformed them into something akin to a computer-age Walker Brothers.
**JB: Midge Ure is the Zelig of British pop. Back in the post-glam seventies, when the Bay City Rollers were in the ascendant, young Glaswegian Ure capitalized on the brief mania for groups of unthreatening Scottish boys with his teenybop band Slik. Signed by the Rollers' producers, Slik dressed like extras in _Happy Days_ and had hits with songs that sounded like Gregorian chants mixed with drunken pub sing-alongs. Fate knocked on Ure's door when Malcolm McLaren approached him on the streets of Glasgow about becoming the frontman for an embryonic version of the Sex Pistols. He demurred, but when the insipid Scottish pop bubble burst, Midge joined forces with an actual ex-Pistol, Glen Matlock. Their band, the Rich Kids, teetered under the weight of enormous and unrealistic media attention and expectation. When the Rich Kids ship began to take in water, Ure and the band's drummer, Rusty Egan, developed an interest in electronic dance music, which led to the formation of Visage. He slotted in a brief stint as Thin Lizzy's live guitarist before becoming the singer of Ultravox—which is the one that stuck. Elsewhere in these pages, I mention telling Human League founder Martyn Ware that his song "Being Boiled" reminded me of "Sympathy for the Devil." When I spoke to Midge Ure, I compared "Vienna" to "A Whiter Shade of Pale." He bought the comparison more than Ware did. Both songs fly in the face of what a hit record is supposed to sound like. Both create their own sense of space and time. Both are disasters to sing at karaoke ("mumblemumblemumble... Pizzicato strings!"). Both are ridiculous. And yet, both songs have lasted a lifetime. And, for a shorter time, "Vienna" gave Midge Ure a steady job.**
**LM: While many women my age spend endless hours on Facebook posting shirtless photos of Channing Tatum, my idea of the perfect man is Midge Ure. He's romantic and woman-worshipping (see his solo singles "If I Was" and "That Certain Smile"), an unabashed idealist ("Dear God," "Answers to Nothing"); he's cause-minded and humanitarian ("Do They Know It's Christmas?"). Never mind his diminutive stature and the fact that he no longer has hair: Midge owns me the second he begins to serenade me. When he sings, he may as well be ripping his heart from his chest and offering it to you on bended knee. And I'll take it!**
**MIDGE URE:** Slik were about to disappear. We were out scouting for a new record deal and, of course, it wasn't going to happen. I was incredibly fortunate that Glen Matlock, the ex–Sex Pistol, had been talking to Caroline Coon, a writer for _Melody Maker_ , who had given Slik a nice bit of coverage, and she suggested that I was the elusive fourth member, the frontman for his group, the Rich Kids.
The band was bigger before they were a band than when they were a band. They were getting front covers even before I joined. I remember reading about them. They were widely anticipated as the saviors of British rock and roll. Glen was incredibly brave asking me to join because it was like tying your hands and your feet and sticking your neck in the noose at the same time because of my background. It stunted the growth of the band instantly. People would look at the covers of magazines and think, _What's this twat doing in a band with a Pistol?_ The moment I walked in it put the band back quite considerably, even with Mick Ronson producing the album. Glen was a great songwriter and the sound the band made was pretty vibrant, but it just fell on stony ground. The press called it power pop, which is a dreadful, dreadful term.
[Rich Kids drummer] Rusty Egan was DJing in a little pub called Billy's and he played this stuff he'd been listening to coming out of Belgium, Germany, and France—this electronic stuff. I was so excited by the sounds coming out of the speakers that I went out and bought a synthesizer, and that synthesizer well and truly split the band down the middle. I saw the Rich Kids and this synthesizer as a bubbling cauldron: modern technology incorporating all the traditional rock instrumentation. You merge them together and come out with this really powerful sound. Glenn and [guitarist] Steve New just absolutely hated it. When I joined Ultravox, that was the aim, that was the noise I was hearing in my head.
Ultravox, as they were, were still in existence. I saw them go off to America to start their second tour and come back a broken band. John Foxx had quit. Robin Simon had met some girl in America and stayed there. I was putting the finishing touches on the Visage project when Rusty Egan said to Billy Currie, "The guy who should be in Ultravox is standing right here." And that was it: I was a committed member of the band. Although nobody was particularly interested, because they had been and gone by that time. They'd just come off of _Systems of Romance_ , which I loved, and then were dropped by the record company. It's very demoralizing, that kind of scenario. They were still incredibly capable guys. They were just a bit lost. Billy was a bit miffed with the direction Dennis [Leigh, John Foxx's God-given name] was pushing the band in, and Billy didn't feel like he was getting his way, although his talents are all over those records.
The moment we got into the rehearsal room and started making a noise, we turned into a rock band, and I'm not saying that to blow my own trumpet. Something happened, something gelled between the electronics that they had and the guitar playing that I brought to it, and this thing just became incredibly powerful. It went from being a bit lost and despondent to incredibly excited and very, very vibrant.
"Vienna" is pure fantasy. I'd never been there. I didn't know an awful lot about it other than the fact that it had, in its day, been a cultural center. It just seemed to me to be a fairly beautiful, fantastic place to write about, steeped in this mid-European mysticism, this ancient, crumbling facade.
The idea is very basic: Boy meets girl. You're there, and you feel a certain way when you're there, and you vow this wonderful feeling will carry on. But when you come back to your cold, gray miserable life, it just disappears. Like all holidays, you come back home, and it's gone. It was that wrapped up in Billy's fabulous melodies and chord structures.
It started with an idea. I was out to dinner with my old Rich Kids manager and his wife, who was a bit pissed [inebriated]. She said, "You know what you need to do? You need to write a song like that 'Vienna.'" And I was like, "What song 'Vienna'?" She said, "You know, that Fleetwood Mac song: Vieennnnna." She was singing "Rhiannon."
The image of Vienna—the name, the title, singing about the city—that sparked the whole thing. I went into the rehearsal room with Billy later on, and I said, "I've got this thing that I keep singing over and over in my head, "This means nothing to me / Oh, Vienna." And that was the start it. "Vienna" is one classic example of all four members of the band contributing something that's unique to them. "Vienna" wouldn't be "Vienna" without the drumbeat, Warren [Cann] making those ca-cow noises with his syndrums. It wouldn't be "Vienna" without Chris [Cross]'s echoey bass thing, that dug-dugga-dugga. It's certainly not "Vienna" without Billy's piano part and viola solo. And my contribution is the vocal melody and the lyrics. I can't say that every song we ever did together came equally that way, but that one certainly did.
Naïveté is a wonderful, wonderful thing. When you're young, you're doing what you absolutely feel is right. You think you can do anything. The reality is that "Vienna" is an extralong, atmospheric, empty-sounding electronic ballad that speeds up in the middle with a viola solo—and it could have gone absolutely nowhere. Luck played a huge part. The record company saw it as a hit...if we edited it. This was still the time of the three-minute single. We'd already released "Sleepwalk" [highest U.K. chart position: 29] and "Passing Strangers" [highest U.K. chart position: 57]. We were playing Hammersmith Odeon, and the record company were there. The moment we played "Vienna," which was an album track, the place erupted. So there were three-and-half thousand people proving the record company wrong. I'll give Chris Wright, the head of the record company, his due: We'd been arguing about the edit for six months, and he came up to us and said, "Put it out the way it is."
It was an instant hit. It came out in January [1981]. The charts freeze over the Christmas period, so people were desperate to hear something new because they've had enough of Christmas songs. "Vienna" came out and just captured people's imaginations. Professional songwriters would love to know what the right combination is, what's the combination that makes something quality and interesting to a very wide spectrum of people. I think that's what happened here.
"Vienna" was kept off the number-one spot for a couple of weeks by the comedy record, the Joe Dolce thing [the immortal "Shaddup You Face"]. Only in Britain would people buy tripe like that. Then, of course, John Lennon was shot, and ["(Just Like) Starting Over"] went straight to number one. We sat at number two for five weeks. But in the end, "Vienna" outsold both of them.
It doesn't take a genius to look out at an audience and figure out that it's the "Whiter Shade of Pale" of our career. It's something that captures people's imaginations. It still gets played throughout the world today. It still sounds as fresh as it did when we made it. It hasn't really dated. It's got its own kind of peculiar time, kind of like _Blade Runner_ —you don't know what century it's set in. It's kind of classical, it's kind of electronic, it's kind of atmospheric. It's just this mishmash of ideas, but it's all Ultravox.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs About Cities** 1. "Moskow Disco," Telex 2. "Drowning in Berlin," The Mobiles 3. "The Paris Match," Style Council 4. "Get Out of London," Intaferon 5. "Walking in L.A.," Missing Persons
****THAT WAS THEN**
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Midge Ure—sorry, Midge Ure OBE—co-wrote and produced the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (seethis page) and helped organize the Live Aid concert. His plaintive 1985 solo single "If I Was" went to number one in the U.K. and his album** _**The Gift**_ **was a number two. Ultravox disbanded in 1987. Ure continued to release solo records with decreasing impact. He got back into the world leader–shaming business when he and Bob Geldof put together 2005's Live 8 concerts. Ultravox re-formed in 2008 and have been sporadically touring and recording since.**
**URE:** I'd been extremely reluctant to reunite in the past. It was a bit like getting back together with your ex from 30 years ago. It happened because somebody said to us, "It's 30 years since you wrote 'Vienna'—don't you think you should go out and celebrate all the work you made together?" And, weirdly, we all felt that it would be fun. It would be interesting to go out one more time and play all those songs. We went back and looked at them and we, not re-created, but we recaptured the essence of what it was we did and that led to the inevitable new album [ _Brilliant_ , 2012].
I think we probably are an electronic Spinal Tap. There's no escaping that. There's always the danger of becoming a substandard caricature of yourselves. People saw Ultravox as a bunch of po-faced scientists as opposed to a bunch of musicians, but we do have a very good sense of humor.
[The eighties] was a different planet. It was a planet where people cared about music. Music was a be-all and end-all to young people. It was our lifeblood. You waited for the next album you were into, you saved up your pennies, and you waved it around proudly when you bought it, and you played it to death. That world doesn't exist anymore. There's only a few old-timers and Luddites who do that these days. There are kids walking around with 20,000 songs on their phones, and they haven't got a clue what any of them are called because they've been downloaded—they've just been passed from person to person. Everyone can afford the same equipment, but not everyone can write a song and make an interesting piece of music. Sometimes when you're limited to very basic tools, you have to be creative; you have to invent rather than just go to a file in your computer and listen to 2,000 bass drum sounds. You have to create your own with your Minimoog and start bouncing it around with echoes to make a pattern. That's how we used to do things in the old days.
**_"ORIGINAL SIN"_**
Like their British counterparts, Australia's INXS were as influenced by funk as by punk. Unlike their British counterparts, they weren't afraid of getting their hands dirty. INXS were sweaty, dirty, and sensual, and most of that sweat, dirt, and sensuality emanated from their snake-hipped lead singer. Without Michael Hutchence, INXS would have been a hardworking traditional Australian rock band. Without INXS, Michael Hutchence would have been a tousled, enigmatic singer who fancied himself a bit of an artiste. Together, they were a potent mixture of muscle and mystery, a band of brothers that came from a land Down Under to dish out hit after international hit for more than a decade.
**LM:** **Watching Michael Hutchence was my sexual awakening. He was a pockmarked ruffian with greasy hair, but I couldn't deny the fire he lit inside me as I took in my first INXS concert at Manhattan's Felt Forum. Yet for all that rock-god smolder and swagger, Hutchence had the soul of a poet. My favorite INXS songs reveal a Romeo who yearns for lasting love and a life partner. Some say that this may have been his undoing. Hutchence's death was the first time I'd lost one of my idols. The day after, I was in Prague, so I thought it apt to visit the Charles Bridge, the setting for the "Never Tear Us Apart" video. There were already a few dozen fans there. That's when I realized he was our generation's Jim Morrison. While interviewing Andrew and Tim Farriss for this chapter, I could tell that they were still dealing with the loss 16 years later. But they weren't melancholy conversations, because we were talking about the part of Hutchence that will never die: his songs.**
**JB:** **I started wondering about who INXS's closest modern equivalent might be. A funky rock band proficient at writing pop songs led by a spotlight-hogging singer who makes the ladies itch and drool. The only band anywhere in the vicinity of that description would be Maroon 5. And Maroon 5 don't even measure up to INXS's shoelaces. I listen to "Devil Inside," "What You Need," and "Never Tell Us Apart," and I think,** _**Boy, could we use a band like that today.**_
**ANDREW FARRISS:** "Original Sin" was a song that Michael and I wrote. Michael had written a lyric about watching white and black kids playing in a schoolyard, and we both knew we didn't want it to be some gratuitous holding-hands, love-song thing. We wanted a song that was funky, which is part of the reason we'd approached Nile Rodgers.
**TIM FARRISS:** Nile loved the funk in the band, and the fact that we were obviously big fans of his had a lot to do with [his wanting to work with us]. Nile was my hero—that is, Nile Rodgers the producer. I'd heard his stuff with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, and I was like, "It's the same guitar player. Who is that guy?" Then it blew me away when Bowie used him, and Madonna. I used to drive the rest of the band crazy playing his solo album [1983's _Adventures in theLand of the Good Groove_] on the tour bus. In fact, we used to sing one of the songs, "Yum-Yum," right before we went onstage every night: "Poontang, poontang, where you want it / Slept all night with my hand on it / Give me some of that yum yum / Before I sleep tonight."
**NILE RODGERS:** I was in Canada going to check out U2, and INXS were opening. I had never heard a bass drum sound like the bass drum in INXS. I was like "Wow, who is this guy?" I went to their dressing room, and they were huge Nile Rodgers fans. They started singing a song from my solo album in four-part harmony! I was like, "Hey, guys, you want to work together?"
**ANDREW FARRISS:** [Having Rodgers produce "Original Sin"] really was a big deal, a defining moment. We knew exactly the importance of what that meant, and we put everything we could think of into that recording. We had never been treated with that kind of respect by that level of musician and producer. He was mixing funk up with jazz and blues. In 1983 these guys were the guys—they were top-line, front-end, on-the-radio-all-the-time people and in the consciousness of music, fashion, everything right-there-and-then. So we were no longer skirting the edges of the scene, we were in it. We couldn't believe he'd want to work with a bunch of young people from Australia. At first people thought we were British because we had funny accents. People would say to us, "Are you guys from Austria?" And then you had Paul Hogan throwing a shrimp on the barbie... The funny thing is, we don't call it "shrimp," we call them "prawns."
**TIM FARRISS:** We were the first young white band to use Nile. I remember seeing John Taylor, and he was saying how much [Duran Duran] would love to work with him: "You used Nile Rodgers, eh? How was he?" I was like, "Awesome, man, but I don't think he likes bass players." I was trying to turn him off to the idea. Sure enough, they ended up using him. That trick didn't work.
**ANDREW FARRISS:** When we tracked "Original Sin" in the Power Station [in New York City], I remember Kirk [Pengilly, saxophone], Jon [Farriss, drums], and Michael had done some backing vocals, and Nile said, "Yeah, that's pretty cool, but you know what? I think we need a different kind of voice on one section of this." The next minute, Daryl Hall walks through the door, and we're like, "Daryl Hall's in the room?!"
**RODGERS:** When I walked into the studio, they were intimidated. I said, "I can't make a record with people who are in awe of me." They had already done a vocal arrangement of one of my songs that was a flop. That's some kind of weird hero worship. I picked up the guitar and said, "We're gonna rehearse the song." Then I went out and secretly told the engineer to record the rehearsal. This is a true story: "Original Sin" is a one-take record. After we finished rehearsing, I said, "We're done." They said, "What do you mean?" I was like, "That's it, that's the take."
**ANDREW FARRISS:** The song caused some difficulty for us—not so much everywhere else in the world, mainly in North America. It was virtually banned from U.S. radio, and the record company freaked out. We'd had quite a lot of success with the first two singles, "The One Thing" and "Don't Change." Then, when we pulled "Original Sin" out, they were like, "You're going to do that?" It just wasn't the kind of song that people would have had on the radio at that particular time. We loved the song. Michael was very proud of his lyrics. We sought our own way of putting an idea of love and peace and humanity into a song. It's not that the lyrics were crazy, but I think once you get close to identifying something or talking about a subject, it's like the elephant in the room: No one wants to get into it, so you just don't go there.
**RODGERS:** Michael always thanked me, because I'm the one who changed the lyrics to "Original Sin." The lyrics were not [originally] "Dream on black boy / Dream on white girl." They had written "Dream on white boy, dream on white girl, wake up to a brand new day / Dream on black boy, black girl..." I felt bad, like I was superimposing too much of my own life. I was raised by interracial parents, and I've always seen the conflict of interracial relationships. I was like, "Guys, wait a minute. If we talk about original sin, we can make this even more taboo by making it an interracial couple?" What's really funny is, I get Daryl Hall to sing, and his manager, who was Tommy Mottola at the time, called me up and said, "Nile, are you trying to get my guy killed? What do you mean by all this 'Dream on black boy, white girl' stuff?" I said, "Well, you know, Tommy, it's a better song like that."
**ANDREW FARRISS:** "Original Sin" was the most important song at the early part of our career. It helped us to define what we wanted to do musically. We took it much further with [producer] Chris Thomas. We really developed that funk rock. We were always experimenting and chopping and changing with our big melting pot of music influences. It's not that we stopped doing that—it's just that we found something we thought was a magic formula, and it worked.
**TIM FARRISS:** Michael and Andrew were a great team. They were like chalk and cheese as people, and that is important, because you'd have yin and yang in the room. Andrew would be pensive and withdrawn and very thoughtful, deep-thinking, whereas Michael was more vivacious and very spontaneous. They started out as close friends. Michael was quite the shy person. I think that some people do that because then they're the dark horse or the quiet mouse that roared. Once fame and fortune became involved, Michael would prefer to be sitting at the runway at an Yves Saint Laurent thing surrounded by models, where Andrew would rather be at home on his farm putting in fence posts.
**ANDREW FARRISS:** Michael and I were unlikely friends. We met in a schoolyard [in Sydney]. He came from Hong Kong, and he didn't know anybody. I think he was feeling very intimidated, and I helped him through that. I was interested in sports, which Michael was never really interested in. He liked motocross and dirt bikes, and poetry, Hermann Hesse and _Siddhartha_. We didn't talk about music much at all when we first met. Then he went to live in Los Angeles for a while. When he came back to Sydney, I realized that his experiences of going to school in Hollywood made him a lot different than a lot of the other young people I was playing with in my high school bands. He'd experienced cultural things that none of us could have dreamed of. He'd already spent some of his childhood growing up in Asia, and that was very unusual. Also, girls were crazy about the guy.
Michael probably wasn't a great singer when he started, and I don't think he was a particularly good stage guy. But he was always a good lyricist, and later on he became a great lyricist and a great live performer and a fantastic singer. Michael wrote the bulk of the lyrics—he usually came up with all the music and feels and grooves, and sometimes melodies. His lyrics changed [over the years]—they became more and more important to him. Michael felt he could actually talk to people through the lyrics and discuss things without someone judging or misquoting him. One of the most beautiful legacies is a song that millions of people know, because you're like, "Well, there you go. No one's going to screw that up, because they all know the lyrics, and they know exactly what I was thinking."
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs from Down Under** 1. "Under the Milky Way," The Church 2. "I Got You," Split Enz 3. "Down Under," Men at Work 4. "Send Me an Angel," Real Life 5. "Streets of Your Town," The Go-Betweens
We liked all kinds of music and, as a young INXS, we used to mix it all in together. In Australia, when we grew up, you wouldn't have different formats of radio stations like you have now. Back then, you would hear every style of music—pop, rock, sometimes even classical—on the same station. So I was a fan of David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, but the other guys in INXS and I, we were also fans of blues-based music, straight rock, and our own Australian pub scene. The scene that we came out of, it's very much a big pub environment where you have large rooms with working-class men smoking cigarettes and just getting drunk all of the time. If you wanted to play music and make it, you'd have to survive in that environment.
For the first album with Chris Thomas, we recorded "What You Need," another big game-changer for INXS. That was our first Top 5 hit in North America and a Top 10 around the world. I remember getting a call at the time from our manager, Chris [Murphy]. He said, "Aren't you excited? We should be opening a bottle of champagne." I said, "Yeah, that's great. Thanks for calling," and put the phone down. I suddenly became really uncomfortable. I thought, _What's wrong with me? I should be thinking, "I'm awesome" or something._ Then it hit me like a freight train: "If we don't do that again, then that's as far as we got." It hit Michael too. We thought, _Holy shit, we're going to have to try and better that somehow. How the hell are we going to do that?!_ That's where the next album, _Kick_ , came from. We were on a bus in Germany, and we said to the others, "Look, we know everyone's a songwriter. But we really need you guys to seriously consider letting Michael and I run with this next album artistically and creatively. If you just trust Michael and I, we'll give you the album you want." I'll never, ever forget that moment.
**TIM FARRISS:** We could have made vocal objections, but we didn't. We said, "Cool. Whatever's clever for Trevor."
**ANDREW FARRISS:** To give Michael and me that nod of approval was very wise of everybody. We just had to write some great songs. _Kick_ was a monster album for us. It had four Top 5 hits in the United States and also had another song, "Mystify," which went Top 10 in Europe and other places in the world. There are three brothers in the band—we've had our differences, but as brothers, we sorted all of that shit out when we were young.
**THAT WAS THEN**
_ **BUT THIS IS NOW**_
**INXS was one of the biggest bands on the planet through the mid-nineties, ultimately selling more than 40 million records and racking up a total of 61 singles from 12 studio albums. Their driving, guitar-funk sound was buoyed by Hutchence's rock-god persona, which he cultivated via glossy, high-profile romances with Helena Christensen and Kylie Minogue (reportedly the inspiration behind the hit "Suicide Blonde"). Hutchence was dating British TV presenter Paula Yates, the mother of his daughter, Tiger Lily, when he was found dead in his Sydney hotel room in 1997. The coroner concluded that it was a suicide. The surviving members subsequently performed with several singers, including J.D. Fortune, the winner of the ill-fated reality-TV competition** _**Rock Star: INXS**_ **, before calling it quits during a 2012 concert in Perth, Australia.**
**TIM FARRISS:** The last tour we did was with Matchbox Twenty. We got such respect from those guys—clearly they were influenced by us to a large degree. Rob Thomas ***** worked with us on the [2010] album _Original Sin_ that has remakes of a lot of our songs. We had a different song choice picked out for him, but he said, "Sure, I'll do that song if you give me a go at 'Original Sin.'"
**ANDREW FARRISS:** When I think about many acts, some of whom I really love, I can think of maybe one, two, three songs of theirs that I would know why they would be in people's consciousness or memories. But I think that one of the interesting things with INXS is that we had different songs in different countries that attracted different people, and over a long, long period of time—decades.
**TIM FARRISS:** [I remember when] Queen took us under their wing. We did the opening for them all over Europe, doing stadium after stadium. I remember sitting in Freddie Mercury's big, palatial hotel suite overlooking Lake Geneva after the Montreux Pop Festival. Freddie was playing some new material that he'd written on this huge stereo, and he and Michael were singing at the top of their voices into each other's faces with their noses literally an inch apart. It was like a sing-off. It was one of those moments where I felt like, "What am I doing here?"
*** ROB THOMAS, Matchbox Twenty: We got to see them play with Michael once at a radio festival we played together. To see them play is to realize, "Holy shit, this is one of the best pop-rock bands on earth." Years later, Jon Farriss came out to a show in Australia. That led to them asking me to sing on the remake of "Original Sin." I wasn't going to try to "do" Michael. He is impossible to imitate, so you don't even try. Michael is hands down one of the greatest frontmen in music. The style, the voice—all of it. Any way that I was ever influenced by him really comes down to small, pale imitations compared to the real thing. There is a fearlessness about him. Watching him at Wembley Stadium with 70,000 people, he looks as comfortable as if he were in his own living room.**
Michael's close friends were of the notoriety hall of fame: Simon Le Bon] **[**** and his wife; toward the end, Bono and [his wife] Ali. I think other celebrities could understand Michael, and he felt more comfortable around them than hanging out with people who just wanted to adore you because of who you are, whereas [other] celebrities don't give a shit. They're leading the same life you are.
I took my son to see AC/DC—or Acadaca, as we call them in Australia. We went back[stage], and we're hanging out with Angus Young, and I said to him, quietly, "How did you guys deal with the loss of Bon? How long does it take you to get over that?" And Angus said, "Oh, about three weeks." I went, "God, it's been six years for us," which it had been at that time.
We were collectively openly discussing [coping with Michael's death] only when people asked, like media. It's been our own journey and one that we had to discover for ourselves without being influenced by too many other people. My wife said, "Maybe you guys, particularly Andrew, should get counseling on how to deal with this." It has affected him in just the way you think it would: floundering, looking for a song...It was very hard for him when we worked with other singers. He couldn't work with [INXS singer from 2000 to 2004] Jon Stevens, so that wasn't going to happen. Even though Jon was a great friend and an amazing singer, he wasn't the frontman Michael was. But then, who is?
**ANDREW FARRISS:** It was my younger brother, Jon, who was the one who got up on stage [in 2012 to announce that the band was splitting up]. Having been touring for 30-something years on and off, we figured it was about time we did some other things. It doesn't mean we don't want to be INXS; it doesn't mean we may not record together again. We probably will. We just wanted some time out to explore other things. I like the guys in INXS. I know what they've been through, because I went through it too. They're good musicians, and they're good people. If I'm not with them, I miss them.
**** SIMON LE BON, Duran Duran: Michael was my best friend. We were two singers who didn't feel that we were in competition with each other. We had a great love of life, and a lot of our passions were very, very similar. [Duran and INXS] were two bands who really embraced that rock star lifestyle. Michael and I just clicked with each other, and we just had a fantastic time together—we really did.**
**_"HOLD ME NOW"_**
At the start of the decade, the Thompson Twins were a seven-strong band of Dickensian scruffs whose heavily percussive shows inevitably ended with drunken British students invading the stage and pounding trashcan lids and empty soup cans not quite in time with the beat. And then suddenly they weren't a seven-piece, and they weren't scruffy. The Thompson Twins evolved quickly and skillfully into a Benetton advert made flesh, an unthreatening three-piece hit machine with big hats and even bigger hair. The Twins' output also evolved: Where once they were rhythm-driven, their greatest hits emphasized their melodic strengths. No one heard "Hold Me Now" and started banging on a trashcan lid.
**JB:** **The Thompson Twins were my hate-watch—my** _**Newsroom**_ **. Even in that age of artifice, I found them suspect. I didn't buy their skin-shedding. To me they would always be one of these bands that wasn't good enough to be Pigbag. I found Tom Bailey's voice devoid of emotion. Their image turned my stomach. The hair made me heave. And as for those songs... I still remember every note, every intro, every chorus. I will say this for the Thompson Twins: Their best songs were built to last. Even though I professed to hate them, I still had a tiny place in my tiny heart for "Hold Me Now" that pleaded for the chance to be understood, forgiven, and loved.**
**LM:** **One of the most romantic moments in cinematic history has to be when Samantha Baker thanks Jake Ryan for getting her undies back. "Make a wish," he says, the titular sixteen candles ablaze on a birthday cake between them. "It already came true," she answers.** _**Kiss**_ **. Have to admit, though, I wouldn't love that scene half as much if the Thompson Twins' "If You Were Here" weren't playing in the background. That Tom Bailey knows romance—and he knows women too. That's what I always think when I hear "Hold Me Now." I miss the Thompson Twins. They are one of the few bands in this book who've truly disappeared—no reunion tours or acoustic reimaginings of their greatest hits for them. For that reason, we forget how massive they were. But whenever I hear one of their big, perfectly produced smashes, I'm transported back to a time when they were kings for a day, presiding over a sold-out Madison Square Garden like the Black Eyed Peas of the eighties.**
**TOM BAILEY:** Although we could be accused of being somewhat formulaic, we were trying to express ourselves—in a cartoonish way, maybe, but in a real way. In those days, there was a rule of thumb that to give an album a fair crack at achieving maximum sales you needed four hit singles. You would write songs until you were pretty sure you had four or five that fit the bill, then you could maybe stretch out with some of the other material, make it longer or slower-paced or more experimental. It was a formula in the sense that the industry presented a gateway filter to you: Your songs had to be radio-friendly, they had to be a certain length, they didn't have to have long intros, you had to go out on a chorus—all those standard song-writing things that are nothing more than conventions but you have to learn about them in order to seriously have a go at it.
You know you're writing [songs about] the same subject that's been written about a thousand times before. It's how you stop it from becoming clichéd and try to retain some kind of credibility for the cultural demands of the moment. "Hold Me Now" came partly from a real situation. Alannah [Currie] and I at this time were lovers. We'd gone somewhere to do some writing, and after an argument, we kissed and made up, and that song came out of it. No one sets out to say, "What would we do if we'd fallen out? How would we write a song about making up again?" But it actually happens, so you just latch on to that moment. It's a precious thing that you can write about quite easily, and it's something people want to hear about, even though it is a little sentimental. It's a part of human nature.
There were difficulties being part of a couple and being in the band, and you manage those. But there are also great advantages. Your business doesn't take you away from your home when you're both in it together. We thrived on that for a long, long time. We always had separate hotel rooms, which is something we started doing because we didn't want people to assume we were a couple and we wanted to keep that side of our lives private. So we pretended that we were separate, but then we found that it was a great way of not burning out on each other. So we were together when we were together, but we also built in this time apart. It led to a rather strange way of conducting our relationship. Even subsequently, when we bought a house, we had separate bedrooms because that's the way our relationship had developed. It was quite odd looking back, but it seemed to be very healthy for us at the time.
The band started in Sheffield [in 1977]—it was three school friends: myself and a couple of friends [Pete Dodd and John Podgorski]—then we decided to move to London and try to make it. I'd gotten in touch with an old friend and told him I was moving, and he said, "Well, I'm squatting, and there's a place around the corner." I squatted in South London for years and years. I had... it wasn't exactly the dole but supplementary benefit, which was 16 pounds a week plus 4 for paying my housing co-op fees. I had to be really careful about whether I bought a packet of cigarettes or a bag of chips, and I'd jump over the barriers of the Tube. It was slightly embarrassing because I never quite got round to leaving the squat until our third album.
When you listen to those earliest recordings, you can hear we were a guitar, bass, and drums outfit, and the songs we were keen on were very much in that punk or post-punk vein. I remember being a big fan of Wreckless Eric, that chugging guitar and relentless spewing of lyrics. I became interested in what was known as world music and, in particular, Indian and African music that had something going for it in terms of everyone getting involved. There was an underground enthusiasm about our first album [1981's _A Product of... (Participation)_ ], which I like, but it sounds small and a little bit fragile compared with how the band sounded onstage, which was raucous and noisy. It got to the stage where we were making instruments out of tin cans, and there were so many lying around that other people joined in. We encouraged that, but it's a funny thing to be famous for. In fact, it became destructive in the sense that people would show up just to jump on stage. When we became the stripped-down version, the three of us [the recognizable lineup of Bailey, Currie, and Joe Leeway] decided we couldn't do that anymore. It was dangerous.
**"We wrote almost a manifesto and said, 'Instead of hoping or pretending to be pop stars, we're actually going to be pop stars. We're going to treat it as a serious job.'"**
We were coming to the end of our second album [ _Set_ , 1982] with Steve Lillywhite. That felt like a big moment for us, with the big-name producer and working in an expensive studio, and it happened so quickly that we hadn't had enough material. I had finally earmarked enough money to buy a synthesizer and a little drum machine. I wrote "In the Name of Love"—every single part including the percussion—lying on my bed with the synthesizer on the mattress next to me. It was the writing on the wall for that version of the band. Instead of seven people writing it, only one person had written it and it was very much the fruit of technology. They all got to play a little bit on it, but they were basically playing the things I told them to play.
I got a phone call: ["In the Name of Love" is] number one in the Billboard dance chart." I said, "What does that mean?" My interpretation was kind of naive and British, which was that it was like the dance chart in the back of _Smash Hits_. But people said it was a really massive thing. The searchlight of interest had wandered around various departments of music, and suddenly every-one was very interested in knowing what was going on in nightclubs.
We toured that album in Europe and the U.K. quite successfully in terms of getting bigger audiences, but I don't think the band really knew what to do next. By that stage, Joe, Alannah, and myself were living in squats on the same street. When everyone else went home, the three of us would carry on scheming and coming up with ideas. We had become a central core of activity. The original band ground to a halt, and it left the three of us to pick up the new direction. The new version had a very strange division of labor: I did all the music, Joe designed the live show, and Alannah wrote lyrics, but her main job was looking after the visual side: videos, photographs, that kind of stuff.
I remember someone in the Human League saying they woke up one day and it was okay to be a pop musician. "Pop" had been a dirty word for so long during the punk era, then someone said, "It's okay, you can have intentions to be popular. You can make music that's not for enthusiasts only." We decided that we must have a solid idea. We wrote almost a manifesto and said, "Instead of hoping or pretending to be pop stars, we're actually going to be pop stars. We're going to treat it as a serious job. If we haven't had a major hit in the next 12 months and been on _Top of the Pops_ , then we've failed in our intentions and can go back to being experimental musicians." It seemed like an interesting thing to do—not because we were hell-bent on being famous, but it seemed like the serious way of approaching that task. It was the template for everything we subsequently did over the next three albums.
In terms of MTV, "Lies" was the first hit. I think MTV were just looking for something wacky and British, and they picked half a dozen things and put them into rotation. "Lies" failed in the U.K., but "Love on Your Side" became a bona fide _Top of the Pops_ hit, and one of the promotions guys said something like, "Enjoy the next couple of weeks because it only ever happens once"—that kind of giddy ride to the upper atmosphere. At the time, I had no idea what he was talking about; for me, it was just more of the same. But in retrospect, it's something you never really recover from—suddenly aspects of normal life are taken away from you.
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Songs by Three-Piece Groups** 1. "Smalltown Boy," Bronski Beat 2. "Tunnel of Love," Fun Boy Three 3. "Robert De Niro's Waiting," Bananarama 4. "Life in a Northern Town," The Dream Academy 5. "Sonic Boom Boy," Westworld
For me, the era that I look on fondly as a golden age of synth pop started with the Human League and ended with Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Something happened there with the celebrity hype machine. It had become so powerful and so effective and so silly. I remember Frankie Goes to Hollywood releasing a different mix of their record every week, and it was just to keep their chart position. I thought, _Wow, has it really come to this?_ Also at that time, videos had become the most effective way of selling music, and I realized I spent more time and more money on videos than I did on music. I didn't want to do that anymore. I spent half my time hanging around video and photographic studios spending a fortune on looking good.
That was around the time of Live Aid. I was in New York recording 1985's _Here's to Future Days_ ] with Nile Rodgers, and we took a break from the session to drive to Philadelphia to do Live Aid, which is how come the band we played with was members of Chic, Madonna, and Steve Stevens from Billy Idol's band—all people who were hanging around Nile's empire, which was very exciting. I thought that was an amazing event but also completely overblown, and I didn't feel that we had a successful performance. I met Joan Baez, who had been a massive influence on me as a kid, so that was my biggest thrill of the night. Nile was under strict orders not to go drinking after the gig, because that had been a problem. Can you believe we went back to the hotel after the show and played Scrabble? We didn't even stay for the rest of the night. Maybe our enthusiasm for the big time was waning. **[***
*** NILE RODGERS: Tom Bailey was right. You could watch history change in front of your face from the post-punk, club-kids, gothy thing to more glam, like Madonna. Everybody talks about the Queen–David Bowie performance in the U.K., but I was at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, and there was nothing more rousing than when Madonna said, "I ain't taking off shit today." The set was almost irrelevant. I'm sitting here with the biggest record of my career [ _Like a Virgin_ ], a 20-million seller, and this woman walks on stage and delivers that line, and you could see that the crowd was loving this new type of vulnerable, highly sexual thing. It was no longer about being dark and mysterious; it was about being upfront and open and "Fuck you!" Madonna was bringing in more of the R&B dance groove that has really never left our spirits, but in America we didn't want to admit it because of the whole "Disco Sucks" thing. The eighties music is still rooted in groove R&B music, and that stuff had never gone away. When you think about records like "Relax" or ABC's "The Look of Love," you can see these guys are heavily influenced by American R&B.**
****THAT WAS THEN**
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Following the departure of Joe Leeway in 1986, Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie (who married in 1999) carried on as a duo. In 1993, they changed their name to Babble, releasing two albums. Bailey—now divorced from Currie—continues to arrange and record music under the name International Observer. Currie upholsters furniture using the carcasses of animals who died naturally or were run over by unobservant drivers. Leeway works in hypnotherapy.**
**BAILEY:** I've no particular interest in being the Thompson Twins again. People are calling me all the time and trying to get me to do it and arguing about the benefits—how much I'd enjoy it and what a thrill it would be and how the fans are dying to see me—and I just don't get it. I have to find some personal trick, some strategy for enjoying it. Otherwise I'd just feel, _Why am I here? Why am I doing this?_ It has the risk of being embarrassing for me.
Essentially, what it comes down to is money and to see if bands re-form after they've split up under acrimonious circumstances, whether there might be a strange, experimental thrill to see whether it can be put back together again. But when someone like, say, Culture Club, re-forms to go on tour, it's because they actually want to do it. I do quite a lot of work with Indian musicians, and one day I said to an agent, "I've got this great idea. I'll go back and perform Thompson Twins songs but, get this, we're going to be sitting cross-legged, and I'll have a sitar and a tabla playing with me, and it'll be fantastic." The agent said, "No, you won't." He said those things are about people who want to relive the past, not to be challenged with some new creative endeavor.
I don't see much of Joe because he's in California. Alannah, I see from time to time, partly because we have a couple of kids together, so we have an interest in looking after them. But we once said, "Should we do it?" And within 10 minutes we were arguing about which songs we should do and what we should be wearing, and I thought, _Oh my God, it's too much stress._ But when Alannah's out of money, she'll be on the phone wanting to do it.
**_"DON'T YOU (FORGET ABOUT ME)"_**
he year 1982 was an amazing one for music. ABC's _The Lexicon of Love_ came out that year. So did _Sulk_ by the Associates, _A Kiss in the Dreamhouse_ by Siouxsie and the Banshees, _Pornography_ by the Cure, and _A Broken Frame_ by Depeche Mode. And so did _New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84)_ , the fifth, and finest, album by Scotland's consistently evolving Simple Minds. This was epic music. Minds frontman Jim Kerr has no illusions about exactly how epic and influential his album was: "If you read the book about the making of _The Unforgettable Fire_ , when U2 worked with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois for the first time, both of them comment on how the guys played them _New Gold Dream_ and said, 'We want some of that.'" But despite the hugeness of Simple Minds' sound, and the vastness of their vision and ambition, the song that actually elevated them to the status they long deserved was written about five snotty American teens stuck in detention on a Saturday morning. Kerr's themes were enormous—Love! Miracles! Great cities! "Don't You (Forget About Me)" is small in scope but ultimately proved to be the group's most universal song.
**JB:** **You know that Morrissey song, "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful"? And that line, "And if they're Northern, that makes it even worse"? Multiply that by a million and that's how natives of Glasgow feel about anyone from their hometown achieving even the slightest degree of success. Anything that makes us think they're better than us. We're bloody-minded that way. I certainly was when I first encountered Simple Minds. Didn't they used to be tragic local punk band Johnny and the Self Abusers who played in the pub down the road from me? And suddenly they were pretending to be this pale, enigmatic, icy synth outfit? Pull the other one! I—and it must be said, most of Glasgow and the other bits of Britain not worth mentioning—afforded Simple Minds zero attention and respect until their second outing. While 1979's** _**Real to Real Cacophony**_ **may have one of the all-time groaners for a title, something had happened to this band between albums. Something that made even the most resentful and pigheaded of Glaswegians—i.e., all of us—grudgingly admiring. Somehow, the group had managed to outgrow the suffocating Bowie-isms that made their first album,** _**Life in a Day**_ **, so easy to mock. Somehow, they'd grown muscles of their own. The next album, 1980's** _**Empires and Dance**_ **—the one with "I Travel" and "Celebrate" on it—was even stronger. But Simple Minds were never cool, not like the fey, jangly bands from the West End of Glasgow who recorded for Postcard Records. So I still acted like I found them nonsensical (though, to be honest, Jim Kerr's drunk-actor-playing-Hamlet frontman persona didn't make it that difficult). Then they recorded the theme to** _**The Breakfast Club**_ **, which was, at the time, my favorite film by my favorite writer-director, and that was all very confusing. But, with hindsight and maturity, I can now say, hand-on-heart, that the incarnation of Simple Minds who were active from 1979 to 1985 were the best band to ever come out of Glasgow. But that doesn't entitle them to think they're any better than the rest of us.**
**LM:** **Ally Sheedy was wrong: I grew up but my heart didn't die. I'm not even that big of a** _**Breakfast Club**_ **fan (I'm more of a** _**Pretty in Pink**_ **girl), but whenever I hear the first few seconds of "Don't You (Forget About Me)," I'm back in high school and waiting for my life to start.**
**JIM KERR:** Being in any working-class city in the U.K. [in the seventies] and being a male in any working-class city, there wasn't much going on. We were brought up with both the church of football and the church of _Top of the Pops_. Of course, being in Glasgow, _Top of the Pops_ seemed a universe away, nothing that any of us could touch let alone enter until the punk movement came along. For me, punk's most potent thing was not the music especially, but the DIY manifesto that you could beg, borrow, or steal a guitar and make a noise. Whether you were any good or not was subjective, but it put an end to the notion that you had to be able to play like Rick Wakeman or Eric Clapton or go to a music conservatory in Vienna.
Johnny and the Self Abusers were the much-maligned precursors to Simple Minds; on the other hand, some people would say we've been downhill ever since. Had that not been the catalyst it was, we'd still be sitting in the pub saying, "One day we're going to do this," which was what had been happening until then. Music was very centralized in London, so the Scottish bands would all go there, saving up whatever they could before, staying in a squat, endure a miserable existence for a few months, and then split up. We were the only band that started playing in Glasgow pubs, doing our own material and having queues around the block, albeit it was free to get in. There was such a thirst for the whole punk/new wave thing that led us to think, "You can do that from up here." You could get a review in the _NME_ or _Sounds_ or _Melody Maker_ , all those bibles. You could get a buzz going from your hometown without having to move to London. In fact, the A&R men, for the first time ever, were starting to get on the plane and come up and see you in your natural environment. It laid the ground for scenes to develop where it wouldn't have been possible before.
Within the first few minutes of the first-ever Johnny and the Self Abusers gig, both Charlie Burchill, my songwriting partner in Simple Minds, and myself looked at each other and thought, _Hang on, wouldn't it be great if we could really do this?_ Even though no one could play or hear a note, it was just white noise, people were jumping up and down. We thought, _There can't be anything better than this, so we'd better try to work out how we can make this work in the long term and take it around the world_. After six months, we began to be serious about it, which is when we stopped Johnny and the Self Abusers. Two days after that, we were writing songs—some of which were featured in Simple Minds' debut album—but certainly the seeds had been sown with that first-ever gig.
**"Sonically, the heartbeat behind 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' is total Simple Minds. It will never be ours, but, in a good way, the song belongs to everybody now. It belongs to that generation."**
The success, especially in Europe, of _New Gold Dream_ had taken us into these much bigger venues. We were playing arenas for the first time. They put us out in front of crowds at festivals of 60,000 to 70,000. It definitely wasn't overnight but [headlining our own shows] went from playing to 3,000 to playing to 12,000 within a year. At times we were probably trying too hard, but there was the thing of trying to reach the back of the hall, trying to master an audience. For instance, when we played some of these festivals, there would be much bigger acts than us at the time: Elvis Costello, Van Morrison. Very good artists, but they weren't cutting the mustard. It wasn't happening. The music was going up in the air—they weren't involving the audience. I don't know if it even dawned on them. But we wanted everyone to get involved, and I think that showed. A huge thing happened with the band when we got a drummer like Mel Gaynor, who is as heavy as John Bonham or Keith Moon. The fact that we'd got this guy who could not only groove but rock—we were like kids with a new train set. We wanted to use it every song, so we lost a lot of subtlety, but we were excited with the noise that was coming out.
_New Gold Dream_ and _Sparkle in the Rain_ had got a lot of college radio action, and that was great, but no money was spent on them, which was frustrating because some of our contemporaries were starting to break through. Money we were making elsewhere we were putting into tours of America, and we were continually losing it. We were starting to feel gypped, to say the least.
**MIXTAPE:** 5 More Songs from Scotland 1. "Party Fears Two," The Associates 2. "Don't Talk to Me About Love," Altered Images 3. "Forest Fire," Lloyd Cole and the Commotions 4. "Candy Skin," Fire Engines 5. "Oblivious," Aztec Camera
The whole thing with "Don't You" was a bit of a comedy of errors. We had an A&R guy at the time called Jordan Harris, who said, after _New Gold Dream_ and _Sparkle_ , it was good news, bad news. He said, "We should have got behind these records. Too late now. But there's a buzz growing on a daily basis." We were about a year away from a new record. He said it would be great to have something meanwhile to feed the machine and keep the momentum going. We didn't have anything ready, and he said, "Well, actually, there is something happening that would be great for you." [Simple Minds' label] A&M were starting to do movies. He introduced _The Breakfast Club_ to us, then he slipped in the notion that there was a song that would be right for us to do. We said, "Wait a minute, we don't do anyone else's songs." He said, "Don't worry, this'll work because it really sounds like a Simple Minds song." Well, that made it worse because we thought, _We're Simple Minds!_
It turns out that we'd played L.A. a few months earlier and [composer-producer] Keith Forsey had come backstage and given Mick MacNeil, our keyboard player, a cassette of the song. Mick had played it, didn't think much of it, and forgot to tell us. But Keith had been waiting to hear from us. Finally, Jordan, who was a smooth operator and a lovely man, managed to get us to consider the track. As far as the demo went, Keith sang on it, and it sounded like Richard Butler—like a Psychedelic Furs thing. I could see them doing it, but I couldn't see Simple Minds ever, and it wasn't the kind of lyric I would write. So we, as it's well known, knocked it back a number of times. People have said it was offered to Bryan Ferry, but I asked Bryan and he said he never got approached with it, so I don't know if that's true.
What turned it around wasn't the fact that we woke up and smelled the coffee. The thing that did it was Keith came over to London off his own back. He knew we weren't doing it, he got in touch and said, "I'm a big fan of the band anyway; maybe we could work together in the future. I hear you're in London, can I come and hang out for a couple of days?" Lo and behold, we liked Keith more than his song. You know when you like someone, it's like, "He's our new pal." We thought he was great, and at the right moment, he said, "Why don't we nip in and do this thing and get the record company off your back? If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. If it does work, who knows? "It was literally a few hours in a drafty studio in Wembley, and the rest is history. *****
**"It sounded like a Psychedelic Furs thing. I could see them doing it, but I couldn't see Simple Minds ever, and it wasn't the kind of lyric I would write."**
As soon as that song starts, it's Simple Minds. We put our heart and soul into it. A lot of people could have done that song. Richard Butler could have done it. But he couldn't have done it like that. It wouldn't have jumped out the radio at you like that did, and it wouldn't have had you jumping out of your seat at the end. Sonically, the heartbeat behind it is total Simple Minds. It will never be ours, but, in a good way, the song belongs to everybody now. It belongs to that generation and it's a pleasure to play it, and every night we play it with full gusto. We never just go through the motions, because it's a song from a movie that means a lot to a fair amount of people and you want to respect that.
Sometimes I get in a cab and the driver will say, "Where do I know you from?" I usually say _Crimewatch_ [the U.K.'s version of _America's Most Wanted_ ]. Or they'll say, "Are you in a band? Is it Simply Red?" And if I say it's Simple Minds, they'll say, "I love that song." And people ask if it gets on my nerves that it's always that song. If we'd been a one-hit wonder, then maybe it would—and they might say, in the States, that is the case. Well, you know, we've sold gazillions of records and we've played to gazillions of people. You don't have to love all the albums. It's an honor to us if you even like one of them. People fell in love to that song; they got married to it. The song never strangled us. Jimmy Iovine, who produced _Once Upon a Time_ , said, "Look, this thing's a monster! You'd better have something to follow it up." Well, "Alive and Kicking" got to number two in the Billboard charts. It was held off by Michael Jackson. We did all right.
*** DEREK FORBES, original Simple Minds bassist: "Don't You" wasn't on _Once Upon a Time_ because Jim was reluctant to do it. He felt detached. He treated it more like an advert. But I know that he grew to like it. The start with all the Hey-hey-heys, the bit that people love, and all the la-la-las at the end, were down to Jim, and that was genius. That's what helped make it as big as it still is today.**
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Simple Minds was a fixture on the global stadium circuit well into the nineties. Latter-day albums like 1989's** _**Street Fighting Years**_ **and 1991's** _**Real Life**_ **were as colossal and pompous as the band's earlier work, but a certain spark was missing. As seriously as Kerr took himself, his romantic life made him a U.K. tabloid fixture—especially after his marriage to Chrissie Hynde ended and he took up with pouty blonde starlet Patsy Kensit. Still, Simple Minds remains an internationally popular live act. The band, which now consists of the original core duo of Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, currently plays shows that give equal weight to the hidden gems from their early days and to the anthems from their heyday.**
**KERR:** By the early eighties, it was not only cool to be in the _NME_ ; you wanted to be in _Smash Hits_ as well, because the Associates were, Echo and the Bunnymen were, and Orange Juice were, and ABC were, and the Human League were. There was just a lot of shiny new pop that had an edge to it but was still very much pop in the melodic sense. For a long period, the eighties were much maligned. Whenever anyone talked about the eighties, it's usually for a crappy pop show you get at two in the morning, Oh this is the eighties! And it'll be Bananarama, and it'll be Doctor and the Medics, and it'll be A Flock of Seagulls or whoever had the most outrageous hair. I'm not saying that wasn't a part of it, but it wasn't the eighties.
The Associates, ABC—they were actually staying at the same down-market hotel in London we used to stay in. As they were doing their records, we were doing ours, so there was definitely a feeling, a collectiveness. At night you would meet up, "We're number 30 this week!" "We're number 15!" Depeche Mode would come in—even though they were from Basildon, they'd hang in the bar because the Bunnymen would be there, Teardrop Explodes, the Human League. There was a whole feeling of new pop, and whenever people ask me about it now, I think all those people were mates and not one of those bands sounded like each other. There wasn't a collective sound like there was a sound of the sixties, but there was an amazing imagination. That was a very potent collection of kids—and we were kids at the time—and I still listen to a lot of that music to this day.
**_"OBSESSION"_**
A common thread unites the majority of the artists in this book. They were their own creations: They made their own music and smeared on their own makeup. Were there behind-the-scenes machinations to which we will never be privy? Of course. But, by and large, they plotted their own careers. Something else they have in common: Many of the songs featured in these pages came about by accident, by sudden burst of inspiration or through unforeseen circumstances. They weren't molded and manipulated by record company men. But as the eighties wore on and new wave's accidental exposure to suburbia via MTV became less of a surprise, labels began seeking out and snapping up bands who could keep the party going. These last-gasp new wavers were watered-down, less weird, less pretentious, less unpredictable and more grateful, more suggestible, more generic—groups like Breathe, Boys Don't Cry, Johnny Hates Jizz (as they were originally called. Perhaps), Curiosity Killed the Cat, Brother Beyond. Animotion came in with the first wavers but went out with the last-gaspers. Their name is wretched, their videos shoddy, their discography forgettable. But their sole hit, "Obsession," was bombastic, ridiculous, blustery, and borderline porno—in other words, a new wave classic.
**JB:** **Though I have traveled this great nation far and wide, though I have ventured to strange and exotic territories, one thing never changes: There's always a strip joint near the airport playing "Obsession." And when it comes on, the girl on the pole wakes from her torpor, just a little, and even I am sufficiently moved to fork over a few crumpled-up bills. What does bad-eighties-movie sex sound like? Erotic thriller sex? It sounds like "Obsession." Holly Knight co-wrote my all-time favorite American new wave pop song, "New Romance" by Spider (also performed by Lisa Hartman's singer character Ciji on** _**Knots Landing**_ **!). But "Obsession" is her Hall of Famer—and, also, her Hall of Shamer.**
**LM:** **As a fan of the Power Station, I thought it'd be interesting to talk to Knight's "Obsession" co-writer, Michael Des Barres. And he was as funny and creepy and dirty as I'd hoped he would be. I thought,** _**Case closed. We have our chapter**_ **. Then I thought,** _**Shouldn't I be talking to the group that had the hit?**_ **For me, Animotion were an afterthought. They were no more and no less than a vehicle for a hit song. Nothing wrong or shameful about that. But, as it turns out, there** _**was**_ **something wrong and shameful about the Animotion story. It is a tale of heartache, backstabbing, disloyalty, and despair—almost as melodramatic as obsession itself.**
**MICHAEL DES BARRES:** Every era produces classic songs that people lost their virginity to. I wrote one that stuck in people's heads because the idea of it is, "Who do you want me to be to make you sleep with me?" Which is: "I'll be anything you want—just fuck me," which is a big human notion.
I wrote the words to that song in L.A. six months into '81. It's tied in with my sobriety. The word that was being bandied around in these 12-step rooms was "obsession." At the same time, there's a movie I saw that made an enormous impression on me: _The Collector_. The brief narrative is a young, working-class boy cannot find a girlfriend. He wins the pools, which is the lottery in England, and buys a country house, where he collects butterflies. Then he decides to collect a lover. He kidnaps a girl, takes her back to the house, and keeps her in the cellar.
Mike Chapman introduced me to Holly Knight, [who] had written "Better Be Good to Me" and "Love Is a Battlefield." She said, "What have you got?" and I said, "You're like a butterfly, a wild butterfly / I will collect you and capture you." She had no idea what I was talking about, but she could write a hook. I knew it was a duet. The song came, and it came really fast—which is not an expression I particularly like. I sang it in one take, she sang it in one take, Chapman mixed it in an hour, and it made millions for all of us.
[It was] in a [1983] movie called _A Night in Heaven_. It starred an eighties guy called Christopher Atkins, who played a male stripper. Some A&R dude heard it and decided to recut it with a band called Animotion.
**BILL WADHAMS:** Halfway through the [recording of our debut] album, "Obsession" comes in, and it was nothing like the rest of the album. Everything else was written by me, and the sound I was going for was similar to early Police. Andy Summers came from a classical guitar background and so did I. One of my favorite bands was Steely Dan. Our A&R man at Polygram Records, Russ Regan, said, "I think you guys could be a Fleetwood Mac for the eighties." Then our producer [John Ryan] went to London, and when he came back, he said, "Have you heard of Frankie Goes to Hollywood? Have you heard this song, 'Relax'? Well, I've got this song called 'Obsession,' which I think could be a hit for you guys." He played me Holly and Michael's version over the phone. The male part is spoken. I said, "That's kind of interesting, but could I sing it?"
**ASTRID PLANE:** When I heard "Obsession," it knocked me over the head as a huge hit. I got a tingle up my spine, and I just knew we needed to record it. Though it wasn't the direction that Bill was writing his songs in, I felt it would be well received, and I thought it was the direction we should be going in.
**WADHAMS:** Our guitarist and keyboard player put a huge stamp on that song. We had just brought in a keyboard player named Greg Smith—Greg did the demos for the _Thriller_ album—and he put in a whistling flute sound that wasn't on [the original]. Then guitarist Don Kirkpatrick came in, and he was just absolutely blazing. He was just warming up his guitar, [but] the producer said, "That's it. Done. Print it." It was just one take from beginning to end.
**PLANE:** The song was kind of spooky—that obsessive, driving thing that wouldn't give up. My only reservation, and it sounds so silly now, was that lyric, "Who do you want me to be to make you sleep with me?" My fear was that it wouldn't be played on the radio because of it being too racy. Being that the lyric could have been interpreted as very dark, we decided we wanted a more fun, kooky, colorful video. We got access to one of the Hollywood movie-costume places, and they gave me Cleopatra's headpiece that Elizabeth Taylor had worn.
**"But by the time we got into the teens and still had a bullet, the phone was ringing off the hook. I said, 'At this point, I don't care who wrote it. We're about to go on the ride of our life.'"**
**WADHAMS:** [Astrid] was the girlfriend of the bass player [Charles Ottavio], and I was about to get married to someone else. But various directors submitted their video treatments, and almost all of them said, "Bill and Astrid meet and they're obsessed with each other." I didn't want that. I didn't want my first song released and put on MTV to be "I love Astrid," because I loved someone else. It's not just that it creates some problem at home; it's not how I want to represent myself in this band. I wanted to be my own person, more like Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham... well, they were a pair, but by the time they really hit, they were already broken up. They're not really singing love songs to each other.
Then one director said, "Let's make it like a Fellini movie. We're going to take the line 'Who do you want me to be' and we're going to bring in all these random characters." They went down to Hollywood Costume Supply and started picking out Antony and Cleopatra, a samurai warrior, a spaceman. After the thing was shot, my youngest brother said to me, "I just saw the video, and I can't tell whether it's really cool or really stupid."
In the video I'm in a suit, and she's got wild makeup and her hair is sticking off to the side. Stylistically, she was much more of a Cyndi Lauper, wild, wacky thing, and I wanted to be more Mr. Cool, like Bryan Ferry, Sting, Robert Palmer. Even through our first or second tour, we had a difficult time, [Astrid] and I. We were not at ease with each other.
**PLANE:** We were these two very strong personalities with very different ideas about what should be happening. To me, there's nothing more boring than a guy standing there playing guitar looking at his shoes. I want to see stuff happening. I feel like I had a better sense of the big picture, like what is interesting for the audience to see. They want to see us interacting, and Bill wasn't used to that. But over time, we got more comfortable. And, strangely, that tension between us actually seemed to work onstage.
**WADHAMS:** It wasn't until years later that I realized that that was kind of cool, that we were coming from two different places and there was a tension between us that created a bit of mystery.
**PLANE:** There were a lot of politics going on as far as the timing of the release of the record. We wanted it to come out, and the record company was stalling, saying, "It's right before Christmas. We really ought to wait until the new year." Living in L.A. and having other friends in bands that had been signed and then shelved, I had this fear that they would just forget about it. So we really pushed. There used to be this thing called Battle of the Bands that they did on [L.A.'s] KROQ: They would play two songs, and the public would vote. Well, "Obsession" was up against "Relax," and we were thinking, _We don't stand a chance_. But actually, "Obsession" did beat "Relax"!
**WADHAMS:** When it hit the charts, every week it was jumping almost 10 points. At first, I was like, _Shit! I am going to be a part of a hit song, but I didn't write it._ But by the time we got into the teens and still had a bullet, the phone was ringing off the hook. I said, "At this point, I don't care who wrote it. We're about to go on the ride of our life."
**PLANE:** The fans started going crazy. We played one underage club in L.A., and we were in the dressing room getting ready. My boyfriend at the time, the bass player, had already taken to wearing makeup. He was putting the powder on and the foundation, little bit of blush, eyeliner. Then, all of a sudden, Bill and the guitar player are like, "OK, give us that eyeliner. We want some of that." That was a turning point. We went onstage and the fans were grabbing jewelry off us. One girl shredded the tights off of my legs!
**MIXTAPE:** **5 More Last-Gasp New Wave Songs** 1. "Shattered Dreams," Johnny Hates Jazz 2. "How Can I Fall," Breathe 3. "(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight," Cutting Crew 4. "Your Love," The Outfield 5. "Two of Hearts," Stacey Q
**"We went onstage and the fans were grabbing jewelry off us. One girl shredded the tights off of my legs!"**
**WADHAMS:** But Animotion had some inherent problems. You had the Animotion that really was, and the Animotion that was on "Obsession." That song is so different from my writing. Our original drummer didn't play on the track; it was done by Fairlight drums. Our original bass player did not play on "Obsession"; it was done by a session player. It started with firing our original drummer, firing a keyboard player who was a great guy and great keyboard player, but he didn't play on "Obsession." We just wanted Greg, the session guy who'd played with Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, to be in the band.
**PLANE:** There was also a problem with John Ryan. He did a great job on "Obsession," but his methods were cutthroat as far as getting what he wanted, bringing in outside players and pretty much running the show without asking our input. John would try to drive wedges between all of the band members. He would tell me, "Oh, you don't need Bill. You're the star." As a band, we agreed we weren't going to work with John Ryan again, but when the [recording] started, people started caving.
The other problem was that we hadn't written "Obsession" ourselves. The record company felt it was fair game for every songwriter in town to pitch songs for our [second] record. So here we were, having to compete with all the top songwriters to get songs on our own record.
**WADHAMS:** Once again, the producer comes in with another Holly Knight song, which was "I Engineer." The record company says, "That's the one we'll put out first, because she's the hit writer." "I Engineer" came out, and it looked like we were on our way to another hit. Then one of the in-house promotion people [at Polygram] said, "Your record's gonna die. We've been given a priority of making this band Level 42 a hit in the U.S." So the second album tanked. Then our A&R man left, and this new guy came in, Bob Skoro. Our first meeting with him, he said, "I don't like your first two albums. I don't like your live performance. I like 'Obsession,' but I don't like anything else." I thought, _We're screwed._
**PLANE:** It was still that same old problem of "What musical direction are we gonna go in and who's gonna have a say in it?" The songs that they were going to be putting on our third record, I was horrified. The record we were making didn't represent us, [and the bass player and I] were at very bad relations with Bill.
**WADHAMS:** We hired new managers, and they said, "We think you should replace Astrid and her boyfriend, the bass player. We think you could get a stronger woman. Polygram London doesn't like Animotion because Astrid upset them when she was there for interviews. They didn't like her character. You guys are never gonna make money as a five-, six-piece band. Cut it down to size, bring in a stronger woman, and the record company will get behind you again." After some deliberation, we met with Astrid and Charles. We said, "The band is breaking up, and we're taking the name."
**PLANE:** I will never forget it. We've never really talked about it in depth because it was so painful, so awful, so ugly.
**WADHAMS:** We felt bad about it, but we went back to [our managers] right afterward, practically shaking. We said, "The deed is done." They said, "Cool. Matter of fact, we've already told Polygram that this is happening, and we told them that you guys were going to get someone to replace her—like Cynthia Rhodes." They were managing Richard Marx, and Cynthia Rhodes was Richard Marx's fiancée.
We had another meeting with the record company, and Skoro said, "You gotta go with Cynthia Rhodes. If we put Cynthia Rhodes in front of this band, we can't lose." Immediately, we looked at each other and said, "We're going to be sidemen to Cynthia Rhodes!" I actually liked Cynthia a lot. If we'd been able to choose, we might've chosen Cynthia, but we were sort of forced to choose her.
**PLANE:** It was a very terrible time. On the one hand, we had our hit, we were famous. But on the other, we had no say in our career, and we were making a record, but it wasn't a record that I wanted to be on. And the way that Bill was being manipulated by the management company, it pierced a big hole in the dream of what it was to be a pop star. You were nothing. You were an item that was going to be on a shelf to be sold, and if they felt like you weren't sales-worthy, then [they'd] toss you in the trash.
**WADHAMS:** Sadly, we wanted to be the Fleetwood Mac of the eighties, but at a certain point, we realized we were the Monkees.
****THAT WAS THEN**
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**Wadhams left Animotion before the release of their third album. Led by Cynthia Rhodes—a.k.a. Penny from** _**Dirty Dancing**_ **—Animotion had one more Top 10 hit, 1989's deplorable "Room to Move." In 2001, Wadhams convinced Plane to join him in reviving Animotion for sporadic live dates with eighties package tours and appearances at nightclub nostalgia nights. Wadhams currently makes his living as a graphic artist. Plane, who married and then divorced bassist Charles Ottavio, is a vocal coach. Des Barres achieved notoriety as the villain Murdoc on TV's** _**MacGyver**_ **and as the Power Station's concert tour and Live Aid fill-in for Robert Palmer. He still receives sizable royalty checks from "Obsession."**
**WADHAMS:** A radio station here in Portland called me and said, "Would you appear at an eighties night at this club? We'll give you a thousand dollars to show up and sign some autographs." I called Astrid and said, "Would you like to fly to Portland and maybe we'll lip-synch 'Obsession'?" We've been playing together ever since.
We wouldn't be able to do this if it weren't for "Obsession." It's like a muscle car that sits in the garage, and everything about it is shiny.
I go on YouTube and see Michael Des Barres performing at SXSW, and he prefaces "Obsession" by saying, "This is a song that I wrote that made me a bloody fortune." The year that "Obsession" [was a hit for Animotion], each member of the band made about $50,000; the next year, just about nothing. Whether it's fair or not, it doesn't matter because I don't know that Michael Des Barres ever sang a song that was an international hit. I wonder whether he would trade having been the singer of the hit song for the money, if he would've been able to walk out on stage, sing "Obsession," and have people go, "That's the voice, that's the hit that we love."
**DES BARRES:** I've never had to struggle since. When I got the first check, I remember looking at [my ex-wife] Pamela and our baby, and we just sank to our knees. It's put my kid through college, [supported] two wives, and more besides. One song enters the lexicon of American consciousness, and it will take care of you for the rest of your life.
**PLANE:** We are still in debt to the record company to this day.
**_"DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?"_**
On October 24, 1984, the BBC's African correspondent Michael Buerk presented a six o' clock news report on the famines devastating Ethiopia. Bob Geldof, the voluble, charismatic frontman of the Irish post-punk band the Boomtown Rats, was part of the viewing audience. Geldof's recording career was sputtering to a halt, but his new incarnation as a rabble-rousing agent of change was just beginning. Buerk's report motivated Geldof to recruit Ultravox singer Midge Ure to assist in rounding up every available British pop star for the purposes of making a fundraising record to aid Africa. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" quickly grew bigger than the sum of its parts—and its parts were pretty huge: Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Bono, George Michael, Sting, Boy George, and Paul Weller, to name a very few. It evolved beyond a song and became a means by which the nation could ease its conscience. It also altered the face of what pop music had become. After Band Aid and Live Aid, the world looked and sounded a little different. There was less flaunting of wealth and less overt escapism. There was less exhibitionism, less makeup, and less fun. In retrospect, it seems "Do They Know It's Christmas?" brought down the curtain on the new wave era. It was a wake-up call that the delirious five-year party was drawing to a close.
**JB:** **Here's how completely consumed the U.K. was with the give-till-it-hurts spirit of Band Aid. The week before the release of "Do They Know It's Christmas?," the number-one record in the country was "I Should Have Known Better" by a little Glaswegian guy named Jim Diamond. He'd had a taste of success a couple of years earlier with the group Ph.D., but this was his first solo hit. He was already in his thirties; he didn't fit the pop star mold in either looks or sound. It was obviously a big deal that he'd made it. When he performed his chart-topping hit on** _**Top of the Pops**_ **, he did so wearing a "Feed the World" T-shirt and imploring the audience at home to put "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in first place the following week. I was a cynical prick in those days, but even I—even I!—reacted in shock and disbelief whenever anyone dismissed Band Aid as a publicity stunt intended to revive Bob Geldof's music career. First of all, it was obvious to anyone with or without ears that nothing was going to revive Geldof's music career. Second, there was something about being part of a mass audience that was galvanized into a community through the power of pop music that was exhilarating, even to the more uncharitably inclined of us. Third, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a pretty bleak seasonal charity record. "The clanging chimes of doom"? "A world of dread and fear"? "Tonight, thank God, it's them instead of you"? If Band Aid did, as its last-chapter placing in this book would suggest, signal the end of the era, what better, what colder, what more overdramatic way for new wave to go out?**
**LM:** **The morning that "Do They Know It's Christmas?" premiered on the radio, I snuck my Walkman into Mr. D'Angelo's science class. All of my new wave heroes on one record? No way was I going to miss that. A few months later I found myself having arguments with my classmates over which was better, Band Aid or USA for Africa. They argued that America had the bigger stars—Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper. I argued that their song had no soul. Even worse, it turned charity into an excuse for patriotism: "Only we Americans are strong enough to save the world." Today, if we are to compare the tracks purely as competing pop songs, the Brits are ultimately triumphant. Even though some of its stars are in need of a little charity themselves (whatever happened to Marilyn?), "Do They Know It's Christmas?" reemerges as a radio favorite each and every December. When was the last time you heard "We Are the World"?**
**MIDGE URE:** I was doing _The Tube_ [the TV pop show co-presented by Paula Yates, then Bob Geldof's girlfriend] up in Newcastle when I spoke to Bob and he said, "I've just seen [Buerk's] report." That was the start of it. Then Bob and I met up. He'd written something the Boomtown Rats had turned down—which shows you how good it was. He turned up with this half-baked song and played it at me, and every time he played it, it was different. He had the basic lyrics, except his original version was, "There won't be snow in Ethiopia this Christmas," which, even for him and his rubbish timing, doesn't fit. You can't make that scan.
I knocked together an arrangement of this basic idea, and I spent four days in my studio with my electronics, sampling and lifting. The drum sound at the beginning of that track is lifted from "The Hurting," by Tears for Fears. I lifted it straight off their track and told them about it 10 years later. All the multitracked vocals at the beginning, it's me sampling my voice and doing all the trickery and stuff that you do. Within the week, we had the song written. I played all the instruments of the record in my studio. We glued it all together, all these bizarre ideas, and we had the "Feed the World" bit at the end. Then, of course, we had one day for everyone to do the song. We had to turn it around stupidly quickly to get it to pressing plants, so that we would have it ready in time for Christmas release. We had 24 hours to record all the vocals, Phil Collins's drum parts, mix the track, and get it next morning to the pressing plants, otherwise we'd miss the deadline.
When I finished the demo, I wasn't convinced it was a good song. I've now got to go in and sell the biggest artists in the world on singing this thing. A couple of them had been over to my studio earlier: Le Bon ***** had heard it, Sting had heard it. They came and sang a couple of bits beforehand. So they had heard the track, but the majority of people who turned up that day hadn't heard a thing. So they walked in expecting to sing on this dreadful piece of crap. Fortunately, it wasn't that bad.
Because of my background—I'd already produced umpteen artists, production was in my blood; I'd dealt with Visage, for God's sake!—I knew most of the singers. I knew the Duran ****** guys and the Spandau ******* guys, and they were just as petrified as I was. They're the ones who had to stand up in front of their contemporaries and sing this thing on a Sunday morning. That's not so easy to do. Nobody was feeling the grandiosity of their existence.
*** SIMON LE BON, Duran Duran: My favorite thing was Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt from Status Quo, who weren't really part of that whole new wave scene at all but were a popular rock band from the 1970s. They couldn't stop giggling. They got fits and giggles on the microphone and really couldn't sing their part. It started to piss off some of the people in the studio, but the rest of us were just falling around laughing.**
**"Bob wrote the line 'Tonight thank God it's them instead of you,' and Bono had a problem with it: 'Why would you sing that?'"**
We worked blind to give everyone a line each, and Bob and I don't even appear on it. We're on the chorus somewhere. It was really just down to getting people to sing a couple of lines each and see what we had. Paul Young ended up with more lines than anybody because he was hugely popular at the time, and he's just got such a great voice. Whereas with Bono, U2 were still an up-and-coming college band. Bob wrote the line "Tonight thank God it's them instead of you," and Bono had a problem with it: "Why would you sing that? Why would you say that?" Bob quite calmly explained, "It's not them rather than you. It's thank God, it's not you. You don't have to face that. We'll be sitting on Christmas Day with our families and turkeys, and these people haven't got any choice."
Lots of people couldn't make it on the day or didn't get it. We were desperate to get Bowie, we'd have loved to get more females, we'd love to have gotten more black artists, and it just didn't go that way. We only had the rest. It wasn't a bad selection we had. Given time, we could have balanced it out a little more.
**** NICK RHODES, Duran Duran: We were one of the first people to say yes, which I am proud of. Because I think it helped to say "I've already got Duran Duran" to get other people on board. It was such a bizarre mix to have us, Spandau and Status Quo. You had Boy George and Marilyn, and you had Paul Weller, who I seem to remember arrived on the bus. I remember Simon singing with Sting, and I loved how great their voices sounded together. I thought, _Wow, that sounds great. We should work with him again._ So we invited Sting to work with us on one song on the _Arcadia_ album, on "The Promise."**
***** TONY HADLEY, Spandau Ballet: The night before we were in Germany on the piss with Duran, having a real good drink. By the morning, we were all pretty rough. We didn't look great. I remember arriving back at Heathrow, and someone said, "God, there's all the press, there's cameras out there, there's about 400 screaming fans." We were like, "Oh, shit!" All of a sudden we're all in the bathroom trying to make ourselves look presentable—you know, Nick Rhodes putting stacks of makeup on. I think we all put a bit of makeup on that day, actually. So we went to the studio [Sarm West in Notting Hill], and it was a very British affair. It was like, "Cup of tea and a biscuit?" We all crowded into the control room, all the singers, and Geldof said to me, "Go on in, Tony. You go and do the bit first." I went, "What?!" then, "Okay, all right, fine." So everyone's watching me as I go down the stairs into the [recording] area. At one point I was going to sing a higher bit, but I hadn't had much sleep and was a little fragile. Anyway, luckily, two takes and that was it: My bit was done.**
The moment I heard Bob and Maxwell [Lord Robert Maxwell, owner of the U.K. _Daily Mirror_ tabloid] scream at each other down the phone at four o'clock in the morning about who was going to get the rights to the official Band Aid shot of the artists—I think the Mirror Group wanted to sell the poster for their AIDS campaign, and Bob was saying, "Not on your fucking life. We'll take it to the _Sun_ "—I knew something big was happening.
When we'd finished the record, it was eight o'clock in the morning. The master went off to the cutting rooms and then straight to the factory, and Bob went to Radio 1 with a cassette. He went on the Simon Bates show and played the cas-sette, and I heard it getting played over the air as I'm driving back to my little house in Chiswick. I thought, _That's something else. I've never seen anyone do that before._ I went home and had a couple of hours sleep, and when I woke up, all hell had broken loose.
**THAT WAS THEN
_BUT THIS IS NOW_**
**"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was number one in the U.K. for five weeks. It sold more than 3 million copies. The following year, the Live Aid concerts in Britain and the United States were watched by an estimated 1.9 billion people across the globe, raising more than $283 million. Acts performing on the day included Adam Ant, Style Council, Ultravox, Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, U2, Spandau Ballet, Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones, Paul Young, Simple Minds, the Pretenders, the Power Station, the Thompson Twins, Duran Duran, and the Boomtown Rats. It still didn't help Bob Geldof's music career. But it did get him an honorary knighthood and a reputation as a man the very mention of whose name causes governments to quake in fear. His tireless endeavors in the field of activism have been a clear influence on Bono and countless other celebrity philanthropists.**
**URE:** After Band Aid and Live Aid, there was a whole slew of Farm Aid and Ferry Aid that all came out. ******** People suffered from charity fatigue. They just got tired of it. For Band Aid and Live Aid, there was something in the air that was tangible, that was real and honest. It wasn't a cheesy "Aren't we wonderful, hey let's all get together and make the world a better place" song. It was actually quite a harsh, brutal thing. It was a very British thing to do, to come out with a song like that and punch above your weight.
It worked then, but if it's repeated and it's not an original idea, the gloss comes off it. You could see that a couple of years after Band Aid with the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday concert at Wembley. All the artists that we'd tried to get for Live Aid were all queuing up to get on the Mandela thing. It didn't quite sit right. All the record company execs outside sitting in their limos were rubbing their hands because they thought it would sell a gazillion records the way U2 did after Live Aid.
****** NICK RHODES: I don't wish to sound disingenuous, but I think the British one was very heartfelt and naive, and then suddenly America stormed in with "We Are the World." The title alone says something to you. I wouldn't want to belittle anybody's effort. All I'm saying is that the Band Aid thing was put together very quickly. It's got a charm to it. "We Are the World" was this big, lush production. And in many ways it does define the differences between American music and British music at that time.**
Is it too cynical now? Is it too easy to put something like that together now? It wouldn't be a couple of huge concerts. It would be a simulcast. It would be a pay-per-view performance. It would be on the Internet. It's a very different world. I don't know if the necessity of something like that would happen now. The necessity for doing something like that exists all the time, but whether there'd be a desire for it, I don't know. People consume music in a very different way. It doesn't seem to be as all-important as it used to be for us. Kids have got computer games and a million other things to keep themselves entertained. We had music and our imaginations, and that was it.
'm not sure if growing up with new wave was a blessing or a curse. It was a blessing, sure, in that, as a movement, it was new and interesting and relatively erudite and filled with amazing, endearing, and sonically novel music. It was a curse, though, in that it completely screwed up my idea of what men and musicians are supposed to do and be.
See, new wave was gentle. It was introspective and, almost always, fairly yielding and soft. I mean, the toughest that new wave ever really got was Echo and the Bunnymen's "Do It Clean" live, which is still pretty gentle, all things considered. Great, but gentle.
New wave wonderfully and shamelessly (and gently, of course) borrowed (i.e., stole) from its idols and influences. Everyone, almost en masse, loved Kraftwerk and Bowie and Roxy Music. And everyone, almost en masse, shamelessly borrowed from Kraftwerk and Bowie and Roxy Music. Personally, I tried to have it both ways and straddle the early-eighties genre fence, as I was into hardcore punk at the same time I was into new wave. So I'd be listening to Black Flag and Bad Brains and then put on Spandau Ballet and Haircut 100. I loved hardcore, and I still have some facial scars from early-eighties Black Flag shows, but new wave was what spoke to me and my little postadolescent heart. I loved the idea of Circle Jerks' "Wild in the Streets," but Ultravox's "Vienna" was what I listened to over and over again.
New wave was, for me, also about geographic escapism. I lived in the suburbs of Connecticut, and new wave represented Berlin and London and Manchester and Paris and parts of the world that seemed as glamorous and far away from Connecticut as one could possibly get while still remaining on the planet. I'd put OMD's _Architecture and Morality_ on my Walkman and drive around Connecticut at night pretending I was in Berlin or Manchester, wearing a black suit and talking about semiotics and synthesizers with anyone associated with Factory Records. Being a broke suburban new wave fan meant making do with whatever I could get my hands on. I couldn't afford records, so I'd tape them from my friends. I couldn't afford new clothes, so I'd try to make oversize suits from the thrift store look like something Midge Ure would wear while wandering around Prague. I couldn't afford real equipment, so I'd play my cheap Casio keyboard, imagining I was Vince Clarke playing synths with Daniel Miller somewhere in London.
One thing new wave wasn't was libidinous. The classic new wave romance songs not only didn't mention sex, they didn't even really allude to anything even remotely sexual. It was as if the new wavers decided that sex and dirty clothes were passé and that their halcyon future and present were going to be populated by sensitive androgynes wearing cool suits. This was confusing to me, as I'd try to date girls (and, later, women) and wonder why I wanted to have sex, when clearly my new wave idols only encouraged me to put on some black trousers, sit with my girlfriend, hold hands, and maybe cry a little while listening to "Charlotte Sometimes."
See, new wave had some clear "pros," like Kraftwerk, Bowie, Roxy, old suits, synthesizers, drum machines, sensitivity, gentle vocals, etc. And some clear "againsts," like work boots, jeans, pub rock, long hair, denim vests, distortion pedals, guitar solos, etc. It took me a few years in the late eighties to realize that not all pub rock made by musicians with long hair was terrible (even though, to be fair, most of it was).
And beyond the eyeliner and nice old suits and gentle lyrics, there was the actual music. Which was, to a suburban Connecticut youth, revolutionary. It was nuanced and textured and sounded like nothing else. My schoolmates were listening to "Lola" by the Kinks, and I was listening to "Joan of Arc" by OMD. My schoolmates were listening to "Sugar Magnolia" by the Dead, and I was listening to "Original Sin" by Theatre of Hate. My schoolmates' music sounded kind of old to me. Midtempo seventies rock music with no subtlety and nuance just couldn't compete, sonically or emotionally, with what was being made by Brits and Europeans with drum machines and synthesizers and analog delays. And new wavers even had the decency to make guitars not really sound like guitars. It took me a few records to figure out that Gary Numan and Ultravox even had guitar players.
New wave was its own world, with its own influences, its own sonic landscape, its own codes, its own lyrical bailiwick(s), its own aesthetics. And to a teenager growing up in sad and dry suburban Connecticut in the early eighties, new wave represented the most perfect and complete escape I could've ever hoped for. So to everyone in this book who made the records that made adolescence bearable: Thanks.
| This book simply would not exist without the passion and support of the following: David Cashion, our Abrams editor and fellow new wave obsessive; Tina Wexler and Dan Kirschen, our ICM agents; Meg Handler, our trusty photo editor; Evan Gaffney, our designer; David Blatty, Maya Bradford, Melissa Esner, Claire Bamundo, Jeffrey Yamaguchi, and everyone at Abrams; and Paul Adams, Tracey Davenport, Shirley Halperin, Moby, Patty "Punk Masters" Palazzo, Nick Rhodes, and Rey Roldan.
---|---
| Thanks also to Gina Achord, Kitty Amsbury, John Ares, Tom Brennan, Zena Burns, James Carrier, Charles Charas, Beatrice Colin, Terry Cooney, Katja Deiters, Amy Galleazzi, Brian Greenspan, Brian Hayes, Jeremy Helligar, Peter Hook, Matt Isom, Katy Krassner, James Masters, Dawn Miller, Thom Monahan, Ken Phillips, Cheryl Plambeck, Julie Pocock, Lisa Revelli, Record Runner, Christopher Sacco, John Taylor, Bryan Thomson-Di Palma, Len Vlahos, Mike Wehrmann, Amy Wolfcale, and Candice Yusim.
|
Lori would also like to thank: her husband, John, and Baxter and Little Boy; the Majewskis and Cliffords; Susan Vaughan, Rotem Bar, Christina Ferrari, Elizabeth Stone, and Anthony "Pete" Colasurdo; Duran Duran and all her Duranie buds, including the late Patti Neske (née Girvalo) and Greg Stanuszek; and her BFF and curmudgeonly co-writer (I say that with much love), Jonathan Bernstein.
|
Jonathan would also like to thank the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service.
|
Finally, thanks to all of our new wave idols (and their many weird and wonderful fans), who so generously gave us their time, their memories and, most of all, their music.
|
madworldbook.com
facebook/MadWorldBook.com
@MadWorldBook
@LoriMajewski
@JBpeevish
|
{
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|
Polymer coatings that display specific biological signals while preventing nonspecific interactions.
Control over cell-material surface interactions is the key to many new and improved biomedical devices. It can only be achieved if interactions that are mediated by nonspecifically adsorbed serum proteins are minimized and if cells instead respond to specific ligand molecules presented on the surface. Here, we present a simple yet effective surface modification method that allows for the covalent coupling and presentation of specific biological signals on coatings which have significantly reduced nonspecific biointerfacial interactions. To achieve this we synthesized bottle brush type copolymers consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate and (meth)acrylates providing activated NHS ester groups as well as different spacer lengths between the NHS groups and the polymer backbone. Copolymers containing different molar ratios of these monomers were grafted to amine functionalized polystyrene cell culture substrates, followed by the covalent immobilization of the cyclic peptides cRGDfK and cRADfK using residual NHS groups. Polymers were characterized by GPC and NMR and surface modification steps were analyzed using XPS. The cellular response was evaluated using HeLa cell attachment experiments. The results showed strong correlations between the effectiveness of the control over biointerfacial interactions and the polymer architecture. They also demonstrate that optimized fully synthetic copolymer coatings, which can be applied to a wide range of substrate materials, provide excellent control over biointerfacial interactions.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Three-body wear of light-activated composite veneering materials.
The in vitro wear of two types of composite resin veneering materials was determined by use of a three-body wear testing device. The wear of a microfilled high-filler content composite resin (Dentacolor) was less than that of a hybrid low-filler content one (Visio-Gem). The worn surface of Dentacolor material was smoother than that of Visio-Gem material. The wear-testing results and scanning electron micrographs demonstrated that the findings obtained by this wear-testing device correlated well with clinical findings.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Q:
Adding frame to picture in Javafx
i would like to add a frame to a picture using Java and Javafx and then save the framed picture. What would be the best way to do that?
For example say I have a photo of a landscape and want to add a frame to it. The framed photo should look like this:
A:
You could add two images, first the frame, then the image, to the same canvas like this:
GraphicsContext gc1 = canvas.getGraphicsContext2D();
gc1.drawImage(frameimage,0,0,image.getFitWidth()+20,image.getFitHeight()+20);
GraphicsContext gc = canvas.getGraphicsContext2D();
gc.drawImage(i,10,10,image.getFitWidth(),image.getFitHeight());
and then save them as png (or whatever format you like) using the canvas.snapshot function:
FileChooser fileChooser = new FileChooser();
FileChooser.ExtensionFilter extFilter =new FileChooser.ExtensionFilter("png files (*.png)", "*.png");
fileChooser.getExtensionFilters().add(extFilter);
Stage primaryStage = (Stage) canvas.getScene().getWindow();
File file = fileChooser.showSaveDialog(primaryStage);
if(file != null){
try {
WritableImage writableImage = new WritableImage((int)canvas.getWidth(), (int)canvas.getHeight());
canvas.snapshot(null, writableImage);
RenderedImage renderedImage = SwingFXUtils.fromFXImage(writableImage, null);
File file1 = new File(file.getAbsolutePath()+".png");
file.renameTo(file1);
ImageIO.write(renderedImage, "png", file1);
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
SOCHI, Russia – As if what he did on the ice wasn't special enough, T.J. Oshie gave a postgame interview that swelled a lot of hearts back home.
Asked by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Dejan Kovacevic how he felt about being called a national hero after his four-goal performance against the Russians in the United States' dramatic overtime victory, Oshie immediately dismissed the idea.
"The American heroes are wearing camo," he replied. "That's not me."
It was a thoughtful and appropriate response. There are heroes in the military who serve every day and get little or no credit. Some of them were in Afghanistan, watching the Team USA game on Saturday, and a photo of them cheering Oshie's game-winning goal quickly went viral. In fact, there are members of the military on Team USA, including luge doubles partners Preston Griffall and Matt Mortensen, who competed a few days ago.
[Photos: Off the ice, TJ Oshie is a regular guy]
"It's really incredible," Mortensen told Yahoo Sports. "Being a soldier and being an athlete. It's an honorable position to be in."
Kovacevic's tweet on his interchange with Oshie hit a nerve, getting more than 2,000 retweets. The first reply came from Ron Johnson, who wrote "Oshie – this retired Senior Master Sergeant (USAF) salutes you and Team USA!"
We'll see if Oshie's comment gets the same amount of attention as the other famous postgame interview of 2014: Richard Sherman's rant about Michael Crabtree after his big play clinched a Super Bowl berth for the Seattle Seahawks. Oshie's remark did not happen on national television, but it's just as newsworthy, if not more so. It came immediately in the aftermath of an enormous win that seemingly everyone watched.
The instant curiosity about Oshie rivals the sudden fascination with Sherman. And there has been debate over the use of the term "hero" and where it applies. MSNBC host Chris Hayes was criticized in 2012 for saying he was "uncomfortable" applying the term to soldiers because "it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war." Hayes later apologized.
[Video: Epic USA-Russia showdown an instant classic]
The Miriam-Webster definition of "hero" is listed as "a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities" or "a person who is greatly admired." Oshie fits those characteristics not only for his bravery under pressure but also for his awareness that bravery in a sports setting is not like bravery in battle.
There are sports heroes and then there are real heroes. There's always room for both, but it's nice when athletes like Oshie remind us of the difference between them.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
Q:
How to secure a web API from being accessed from unauthorized SPAs
I am building a B2B service whose API can be accessed by third-parties on a subscription basis. Basically, we provide a customizable widget that our customers can embed on their website to make it available to their customers (e.g. a button that opens a modal). While it is clear how to make this work in a traditional web app, I am not sure how to guarantee this in a single-page app. Is it at all possible to make this work without a redirect URI as used in OAuth? That is, the modal triggers AJAX requests to our API and we want to make sure it comes from a script from an authorized origin without redirects. We could of course simply check Origin header, but what is there to prevent someone from constructing a request with such a header on their backend manually, even though they couldn't do it in the browser.
A:
The Problem
While it is clear how to make this work in a traditional web app, I am not sure how to guarantee this in a single-page app.
From a web app you only need to see the html source code to be able to find the API keys or other secrets. Even if you use a traditional web server, cookies can also be obtained to automate attacks against it.
While this series of articles about Mobile API Security Techniques are in the context of mobile devices, some of the techniques used are also valid in other type of APIs, like APIs for Web/SPAs apps, and you can see how API keys, OUATH tokens and HMAC secrets can be used to protect an API and bypassed.
Possible Solution
You can try to make it hard to find the API key with a Javascript Obfuscator, but bear in mind that this only delays an attacker in succeeding.
So, how can I block an attacker?
Well the cruel truth is... You can't!!!
But you can try, by using reCAPTCHA V3 from Google, that works in the background, therefore doesn't require user interaction. The drawback here is that all your B2B clients would need to implemente it across all pages of their websites, thus may not be the way to go for your use case...
reCAPTCHA V3:
reCAPTCHA is a free service that protects your website from spam and abuse. reCAPTCHA uses an advanced risk analysis engine and adaptive challenges to keep automated software from engaging in abusive activities on your site. It does this while letting your valid users pass through with ease.
If your B2B solution really needs to protect it at all costs then you need to employ Web Application Firewalls(WAF) and User Behavior Analytics solutions, also know as UBA, that use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to prevent abuse, but once more they cannot guarantee 100% blocking and both have false positives.
WAF:
A web application firewall (or WAF) filters, monitors, and blocks HTTP traffic to and from a web application. A WAF is differentiated from a regular firewall in that a WAF is able to filter the content of specific web applications while regular firewalls serve as a safety gate between servers. By inspecting HTTP traffic, it can prevent attacks stemming from web application security flaws, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), file inclusion, and security misconfigurations.
UBA:
User behavior analytics (UBA) as defined by Gartner is a cybersecurity process about detection of insider threats, targeted attacks, and financial fraud. UBA solutions look at patterns of human behavior, and then apply algorithms and statistical analysis to detect meaningful anomalies from those patterns—anomalies that indicate potential threats. Instead of tracking devices or security events, UBA tracks a system's users. Big data platforms like Apache Hadoop are increasing UBA functionality by allowing them to analyze petabytes worth of data to detect insider threats and advanced persistent threats.
Conclusion
In the end of the day you can only protect your B2B back-end in a best effort basis, that must be proportional to the value it holds for the business.
A 100% solution doesn't exist for the web, due to the way it was designed to work!!!
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Gunnar Grendstad
Gunnar Grendstad (born 1 May 1960 in Kristiansand, Norway) is a Norwegian political scientist and Professor at the University of Bergen, Norway. He has researched methodological aspects of political science and American politics, and specializes on judicial behavior on the Supreme Court of Norway. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and Purdue University.
External links
Biography from the University of Bergen
Category:1960 births
Category:University of Bergen faculty
Category:People from Kristiansand
Category:Living people
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
|
Diagnosis of bowel and mesenteric injuries in blunt abdominal trauma: a prospective study.
Currently, nonoperative management is the procedure of choice for solid organ injury in patients with a blunt abdominal trauma. Missed blunt bowel and mesenteric injuries (BBMIs) are possible because diagnosis is difficult. The aim of our study was to test a new algorithm for BBMI diagnosis using abdominal ultrasonography (AUS), computed tomography (CT), and diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL). We reviewed cases of blunt abdominal injuries over a 10-year period, then we designed an algorithm that was prospectively tested in hemodynamically stable patients over a 2-year period. An abnormal AUS led to helical CT. When the CT showed more than 2 findings suggestive of BBMI, laparotomy was performed. In case of 1 or 2 abnormal CT findings, we performed a DPL and calculated the ratio of white blood cells (WBCs) to red blood cells (RBCs) (WBC/RBC ratio) in the lavage fluid and divided this by the WBC/RBC ratio in peripheral blood. A ratio of 1 or higher was considered positive for BBMI, and a laparotomy was immediately performed. Patients with a ratio of less than 1 were managed nonoperatively. In the retrospective study, 26 (1%) of 2126 patients admitted to our trauma center for blunt trauma had a BBMI, including 15 (58%) diagnosed after a median delay of 24 hours. In the prospective study, 531 patients were admitted for blunt trauma with multiple injuries, including 131 with abdominal trauma. Computed tomography was performed in 40 patients. There were 2 criteria or more of BBMI in 1 patient, 0 criteria in 27 patients (with an uneventful follow-up), and 1 or 2 criteria in 12 patients who had DPL with a median ratio of 0.82 (ranges, 0.03-9). Five patients had a ratio of 1 or higher. They underwent immediate laparotomy. In all 5 cases, BBMI was found. The 7 patients who had a ratio of less than 1 were observed in ICU and treated for extra-abdominal injuries. No BBMI injury was missed in these patients. The accuracy of the algorithm was 100% (95% confidence interval, 0.99-1.00). The proposed algorithm (based on AUS, CT, and DPL) had a high accuracy to diagnose BBMI while requiring the performance of DPL in only a few (2%) patients.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Electrical conduction through DNA molecule.
Several disorder parameters, inside the DNA molecule, lead to localization of charge carriers inside potential wells in the lowest unoccupied and highest occupied molecular orbits (LUMO and HOMO) which affects drastically the electrical conduction through the molecule, and demonstrates that the band carriers play an essential role in the conduction mechanism. So, a model is presented to shed light on the role of electrons of the LUMO in the electrical conduction through the DNA molecule. DC-, AC-conductivity and dielectric permittivity experimental data are well fitted with the presented model giving evidence that the free carriers in the LUMO and HOMO are responsible to make the DNA molecule conductor, insulator or semiconductor. The obtained results show that the localized charge carriers in the DNA molecule are characterized by four different types of relaxation phenomena which are thermally activated by corresponding four activation energies at 0.56 eV, 0.33 eV, 0.24 eV, and 0.05 eV respectively. Moreover, the calculations after the model, at room temperature, show that the time of the relaxation times of the current carriers are in the order of 5 × 10(-2)s, 1.74 × 10(-4)s, 5 × 10(-7)s, and 1.6 × 10(-10)s, respectively.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Introduction
============
The petri dish and test tube methods are the two sub types of microbiological inhibition methods. Compared to petri dish methods, the test tube methods are more suitable for high-throughput screening of antimicrobial drugs residues in animal food because it is neither time consuming nor laborious ([@B15]). *Geobacillus stearothermophilus* is the most widely used indicator bacterium in microbiological inhibition methods in terms of test tubes, as it is not easily contaminated, demands high incubation temperature (55°C) and grows faster in a short time (less than 4 h) than other bacteria. Moreover, it is more sensitive to antimicrobial agents, particularly, β-lactam ([@B10]). Additionally, spores of *G. stearothermophilus* are more resistant to adverse factors than vegetative cells and show stable activity for a long time. Therefore, spores of *G. stearothermophilus* can be added into kit's medium during the kits preparation process, which simplifies the detection procedure and prolongs the shelf life of kits. However, *G. stearothermophilus* is not sensitive enough to many commonly used antibiotics except β-lactam ([@B16]). In past years, a number of studies by microbiological inhibition methods in terms of test tubes were developed to improve the sensitivity of *G. stearothermophilus* to different kinds of antibiotics residues in milk. There are brilliant black reduction test (BRT AIM) ([@B13]), Copan milk test ([@B11]), Doveltest SP-NT ([@B1]), Eclipse100^®^ ([@B2]), and Charm^®^ Blue-Yellow II ([@B12]). Among these kits, Charm^®^ Blue-Yellow II can detect more antibacterial drugs including β-lactam, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, sulfonamides, and macrolides. However, this method is not sensitive enough to aminoglycosides and macrolides, and extremely insensitive to quinolones. The chicken egg and honey are also consumed daily and important for human health. However, little research by microbiological inhibition methods in terms of test tubes is known about chicken egg and honey. Even Premi^®^Test, the test tube method is widely applied for the detection of antibiotics residues in milk, muscle, kidney, egg, honey and feed etc. However, Premi^®^ Test is not considered ideal to detect residual antibiotics in chicken egg and honey, as it does not show enough sensitivity to aminoglycosides, macrolides and quinolones ([@B19]). Therefore the aim of the present study was to develop a new test tube method with *G. stearothermophilus var* C953, which was more sensitive to a different kind of antimicrobial agents especially aminoglycosides, macrolides and quinolones in milk, chicken egg, and honey.
Materials and Methods {#s1}
=====================
Antimicrobial Standards
-----------------------
β--lactam: penicillin G (PEN), cefquinome (CEF); aminoglycosides: neomycin (NEO), streptomycin (STR); tetracyclines: doxycycline (DOX), tetracycline (TET); macrolides: erythromycin (ERY), spiramycin (SPI); sulfonamides: sulfadiazine (SDZ), sulfadimidine (SDM); lincosamides: lincomycin (LIN); quinolones: danofloxain (DAN), enrofloxacin (ENR); trimethoprim (TMP); and chloramphenicol (CAP) were all purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, United States). Drugs for the preparation of antimicrobial solutions were stored and handled according to the manufacturers' instructions before use. In addition, the methods for the preparation of stock solutions and working standard solutions of antibiotics were shown in [Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}.
######
Methods for the preparation of stock solutions and working standard solutions of antibiotics.
Antimicrobial agents Solvents Diluents
---------------------- -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
β --lactams Phosphate buffer, pH 6.0, 0.1 mol/L Phosphate buffer, pH 6.0, 0.1 mol/L
Aminoglycosides Tris, pH 8.0, 0.01 mol/L Tris, pH 8.0, 0.01 mol/L
Tetracyclines HCl, 0.1 mol/L Phosphate buffer, pH 6.0, 0.1 mol/L
Macrolides Phosphate buffer, pH 8.0, 0.01 mol/L Phosphate buffer, pH 8.0, 0.01 mol/L
Sulfonamides NaOH, 0.1 mol/L Sterilized distilled water
Lincosamides Phosphate buffer, pH 8.0, 0.01 mol/L Phosphate buffer, pH 8.0, 0.01 mol/L
Quinolones NaOH, 0.1 mol/L Phosphate buffer, pH 8.0, 0.1 mol/L
TMP Glacial acetic acid Sterilized distilled water
CAP Methanol Sterilized distilled water
Test Organism
-------------
*Geobacillus stearothermophilus var* C953 was obtained from American Type Culture Centre (ATCC), Rockville, MD, United States.
Recovery, Preparation and Conservation of Test Organism
-------------------------------------------------------
A freeze-dried strain of *G. stearothermophilus var* C953 was dissolved in sterile physiological saline (0.85% NaCl). A 100 μL of *G. stearothermophilus var* C953 suspension was inoculated into nutrient agar with 0.035 g/L MnSO~4~ ⋅ H~2~O and incubated in incubator for 24 h at 55°C. After three generations recovery, a single culture from nutrient agar with 0.035 g/L MnSO~4~⋅ H~2~O was inoculated into a new same medium and incubated in incubator for 72 h at 55°C. At the end of incubation, the cells were washed from medium by 10% (v/v) dried skimmed milk. After collection, the cells suspension was dispended into amber vials. Aliquots of cell suspensions stored at 4, -20, and -80°C for 6 h respectively step by step. After that, the frozen cells suspension was freeze-dried by freeze vacuum dryer and stored at -80°C until usage.
Preparation of Kit's Medium Components
--------------------------------------
Plate Count Agar (Becton Dickinson) fortified with glucose (6 g/L; Sigma^®^) was used. The medium was sterilized at 121°C for 15 min. After the medium was cool down to 50 ± 1°C, its pH was adjusted to 7.8 ± 0.1. After that, *G. stearothermophilus var* C953 spore suspension (5 × 10^9^ CFU/L), along with bromocresol purple (0.1 mg/L, Mallinckrodt^®^) and sensitizers such as 50 μg/L trimethoprim (TMP), 40 μg/L chloramphenicol (CAP), 45 μg/L streptomycin (STR) and 60 μg/L enrofloxacin (ENR) were added. A 150 μL of medium was added into each well of microtiter plates by using an electronic pipette (Eppendorf Research^®^Pro) after kit's medium components mixed well. Finally, these microtiter plates were sealed with aluminized film and conserved at 4°C until use.
Control Samples
---------------
Milk samples were collected from the dairy farm of Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), Wuhan, Hubei, China. At the time of samples collection, the cows did not receive any antimicrobial substances in the last 9 weeks and were at postpartum stage (between 60 and 90 days). Because bovine milk presented normal values of chemical composition, total bacterial counts (CFU \< 100,000 mL^-1^) and somatic cell counts (SCC \< 400,000 mL^-1^) ([@B5]) during these days. Milk samples were kept at 4°C for approximately 2 days throughout the experiment. The chicken eggs were collected from laying hens (30 weeks old) with a history of no antimicrobial drugs used either in the form of treatment or growth promoter in last 6 weeks at the chicken farm of HZAU. And chicken eggs were kept at 4°C within 1 week before use. Honey samples were purchased from the local bee farmer and the absence of any antimicrobial substances was confirmed by high performance liquid phase tandem mass spectrometry ([@B5]). Moreover, honey samples were stored at 4°C for less than 1 week before use.
Spiked Samples
--------------
Spiked samples were prepared from the respective antibiotics working standard solutions in a single step using antimicrobial drugs-free respective antibiotics diluents, milk, homogeneous eggs and diluted honey (spiked levels see [Tables 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}--[5](#T5){ref-type="table"}). In addition, eight concentrations at different levels were prepared for each drug, and 24 replicates were prepared for each concentration.
######
Limit of detection (LODs) of microbiological system in antimicrobial agents' diluents (3.75 h).
Antimicrobial agents Spiked levels /(μg/L) EU/CODEX MRL in milk^1,2^/(μg/L) This kit /(μg/L)
---------------------- -------------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------
Penicillin G 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 4 2
Cefquinome 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 20 20
Neomycin 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 1500 50
Streptomycin 0, 50, 100, 200, 250, 500, 750, 1000 200 200
Doxycycline 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 0 50
Tetracycline 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 100 100
Erythromycin 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100 40 40
Spiramycin 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 200 200
Sulfadiazine 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 100 50
Sulfadimidine 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 100 100
Lincomycin 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 150 150
Danofloxain 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 30 100
Enrofloxacin 0, 50, 100, 180, 200, 220, 250, 280 100 180
1
(
The European Commission (2010)
).
2
Food, 2015
.
######
LODs of microbiological system in milk (3 h).
Antimicrobial agents Spiked levels /(μg/L) EU/CODEX MRL in milk^1,2^ /(μg/L) This kit /(μg/L)
---------------------- -------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ------------------
Penicillin G 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 4 2
Cefquinome 0, 10, 20, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 20 40
Neomycin 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 1500 50
Streptomycin 0, 50, 100, 200, 220, 250, 280, 300 200 200
Doxycycline 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 0 100
Tetracycline 0, 100, 200, 250, 300, 320, 350 100 300
Erythromycin 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100 40 40
Spiramycin 0, 50, 100, 200, 220, 250, 280, 300 200 200
Sulfadiazine 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 100 150
Sulfadimidine 0, 100, 200, 250, 300, 320, 350 100 300
Lincomycin 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 120, 150, 180 150 120
Danofloxain 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 30 100
Enrofloxacin 0, 100, 200, 300, 400, 430, 450, 480 100 400
1
(
The European Commission (2010)
).
2
Food, 2015
.
######
LODs of microbiological system in chicken egg (3.5 h).
Antimicrobial agents Spiked levels /(μg/L) EU/CODEX MRL in chicken egg^1,2^ /(μg/L) This kit /(μg/L) Premi^®^ Test ([@B19]) /(μg/L)
---------------------- -------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ ------------------ --------------------------------
Penicillin G 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 \- 4 \<2.5
Cefquinome 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 \- 40 /
Neomycin 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 500 100 /
Streptomycin 0, 50, 100, 200, 250, 500, 750, 1000 \- 200 /
Doxycycline 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 \- 100 200
Tetracycline 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 200 300 200
Erythromycin 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100 150 40 /
Spiramycin 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 \- 200 /
Sulfadiazine 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 \- 150 \<25
Sulfadimidine 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 \- 300 50
Lincomycin 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 50 50 /
Danofloxain 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 \- 100 /
Enrofloxacin 0, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 \- 400 /
"-"means no MRL. "/" means not detected.
1
(
The European Commission (2010)
).
2
Food, 2015
.
######
LODs of microbiological system in honey (3.25 h).
Antimicrobial agents Spiked levels /(μg/L) Recommended concentration (RC) ([@B4]) /(μg/L) This kit /(μg/L) Premi^®^ Test ([@B19]) /(μg/L)
---------------------- -------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------ ------------------ --------------------------------
Penicillin G 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 \- 4 5
Cefquinome 0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80 \- 40 25
Neomycin 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 40 50 /
Streptomycin 0, 50, 100, 200, 250, 500, 750, 1000 200 \>400
Doxycycline 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 20 100 10
Tetracycline 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 300 10
Erythromycin 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100 20 40 15
Spiramycin 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 200 /
Sulfadiazine 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300 50 150 25
Sulfadimidine 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 300 25
Lincomycin 0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, 100, 150 \- 30 25
Danofloxain 0, 50, 75, 100, 200, 250, 300, 400 \- 100 /
Enrofloxacin 0, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 \- 200 200
"-"means no recommended concentration. "/" means not detected
.
Evaluation Protocol
-------------------
The whole evaluation protocol of the kit was shown in [Figure 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}. Firstly, the number of wells in microtiter plates needed were cut off and their aluminum foil were removed carefully from wells. Secondly, a 50 μL control and spiked samples were added into each well of microplates. Thirdly, the microplates were pre-incubated at room temperature (RT) for 20 min to allow the sample to diffuse through the medium. Fourthly, the remaining sample on the microplates medium surface was eliminated by inverting microplates and the wells were washed thrice with distilled water. Fifthly, the wells were sealed with an adhesive sheet and the microplates having milk and chicken egg samples were incubated in water bath for 10 min at 80°C while the microplates having honey samples were incubated in water bath for 1 h at 45°C. Finally, microtiter plates were incubated in microplates incubator at 65°C until the negative control sample had turned into yellow (approximately 3--4 h). The end-point is determined by visually assessing the color change in wells of microtiter plates. During the incubation period, the wells agar bed can be divided into three theoretical vertical zones, a score is assigned to the sample based on the zone color action pattern. An example is presented in [Figure 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}. 3 zones yellow and 2/3 yellow = negative (-), 1/2 yellow = detection limit (+/-), 2/3 purple and 3 zones purple = positive (+).
{#F1}
{#F2}
Validation Protocol
-------------------
### Limit of Detection (LOD)
The dose--response curves of the antimicrobial agents were established according to the ISO13969: 2003 guidelines. Eight concentrations were prepared with different levels for each drug, and twenty-four replicates were prepared for each concentration. The LOD were estimated as the concentration that was 95% of positive results ([@B8]).
### Specificity and Selectivity
One hundred control samples of milk, chicken eggs and honey respectively were analyzed with this kit for the determination of false-positive rate. The sample pre-treatment method was same as described in the "Evaluation Protocol" section. Moreover, the false-positive rate values were calculated as follows:
False-Positive Rate = (Numbers of Positive Samples/Total Control Samples) × 100%
However, one hundred control samples of each animal origin food spiked at the level of interest (MRL or LOD) were analyzed with this kit for the determination of false-negative rate. The method of sample pre-treatment was similar to described in the "Evaluation Protocol" section. Additionally, the false-negative rate values were calculated as follows:
False-Negative Rate = (Numbers of Negative Samples/Total Spiked Samples) × 100%
Ruggedness
----------
To determine the ruggedness of this kit, the effects of five factors including five different wells in one microplate, five different microplates in same batch, five different batches microplates, two different breeds (buffalo milk, Holstein milk), three different analysts on the false-positive rate, false-negative rate, sensitivity and detection time were evaluated. The ruggedness experiment was repeated three times for each factor. Moreover, the robustness study focused on seven representative antimicrobial agents of seven different kinds of antibiotics. In addition, the ruggedness of the kit was represented by the coefficient of variations (CVs).
Stability
---------
The kit stability was determined on the basis of appearance, smell, detection capability, detection time, which were evaluated with same batch kits stored at 4°C over 6 months (0, 7, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180 days). The kits stability experiment was performed for three batches kits. Additionally, the validation experiment focused on seven representative antimicrobial agents of different kinds of antibiotics and milk.
Confirmation by Liquid Chromatography -- Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS-MS)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seven Holstein cows at the stage of postpartum (between 60 and 90 days) and with a history of no antibiotics exposure in last 9 weeks were raised in an ideal environmental condition of standard temperature and humidity at the dairy farm of HZAU (Wuhan, Hubei, China). The seven cows were treated with PEN, STR, SDZ, LIN, and ENR by intramuscular injection, however, TET and ERY by intravenous injection respectively. Three milk samples from each cow were collected and tested for the presence of antibiotics residues at intervals of 0, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h respectively after drugs administration. All samples were analyzed by the kit in present study as described in the "Evaluation Protocol" section and by a multi-residue LC/MS-MS method ([@B9]).
Results
=======
Detection Capability
--------------------
The detection capabilities of the kit used in present study against 13 different antibiotics belonging to seven different groups in respective antibiotics diluents was shown in [Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}. It was observed that the LODs of the kit were less than or equal to MRL in milk for β-lactam, aminoglycosides, TET, macrolides, sulfonamides and lincosamides, however, the LODs for DOX and quinolones were higher than MRL in milk.
The LODs of the kit for different kinds of antibiotics in milk were given in [Table 3](#T3){ref-type="table"}. It was revealed that the LODs of the kit were less than or equal to MRL in milk for β-lactam, aminoglycosides, macrolides, lincosamides. However, the LODs for tetracyclines, sulfonamides and quinolones were higher than MRL in milk.
The detection capability of this kit for different kinds of antibiotics in chicken egg was given in [Table 4](#T4){ref-type="table"}. There are MRLs only for NEO, TET, ERY, LIN in chicken egg. It indicated that the LODs of this kit for all kinds of antibiotics in chicken eggs were same like determined in milk. Moreover, the LODs for NEO, ERY, LIN were less than or equal to MRL in chicken egg.
The LODs of this kit for various antibiotics in honey were shown in [Table 5](#T5){ref-type="table"}. In the case of honey, there are no MRLs for antibiotics residues, but the recommended concentration of aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, macrolides, sulfonamides were used as such ([@B4]). It was known that the LODs of this kit for different kinds of antibiotics in honey were similar to those determined in milk. However, the LODs for aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, macrolides, sulfonamides were higher than the recommended concentrations ([@B4]).
Specificity
-----------
Results showed that the false positive rate of this kit used in milk, chicken egg and honey all were 0%. The false-negative rate results of this kit used in milk, chicken egg and honey were given in [Tables 6](#T6){ref-type="table"}--[8](#T8){ref-type="table"}. It indicated that the false-negative rate of this kit used in three animal foods all were 0%.
######
False negative rates of the kit in milk.
Antibiotics MRL /(μg/L) LOD /(μg/L) Spiked concentration /(μg/L) Sample numbers Negative sample numbers False negative rate/%
--------------- ------------- ------------- ------------------------------ ---------------- ------------------------- -----------------------
Penicillin G 4 2 4 100 0 0
Cefquinome 20 40 40 100 0 0
Neomycin 1500 50 1500 100 0 0
Streptomycin 200 200 200 100 0 0
Doxycycline 0 100 100 100 0 0
Tetracycline 100 300 300 100 0 0
Erythromycin 40 40 40 100 0 0
Spiramycin 200 200 200 100 0 0
Sulfadiazine 100 150 150 100 0 0
Sulfadimidine 100 300 300 100 0 0
Lincomycin 150 120 150 100 0 0
Danofloxain 30 100 100 100 0 0
Enrofloxacin 100 400 400 100 0 0
######
False negative rates of the kit in chicken egg.
Antibiotics MRL /(μg/L) LOD /(μg/L) Spiked concentration /(μg/L) Sample numbers Negative sample numbers False negative rate/%
--------------- ------------- ------------- ------------------------------ ---------------- ------------------------- -----------------------
Penicillin G \- 4 4 100 0 0
Cefquinome \- 40 40 100 0 0
Neomycin 500 100 500 100 0 0
Streptomycin \- 200 200 100 0 0
Doxycycline \- 100 100 100 0 0
Tetracycline 200 300 300 100 0 0
Erythromycin 150 40 150 100 0 0
Spiramycin \- 200 200 100 0 0
Sulfadiazine \- 150 150 100 0 0
Sulfadimidine \- 300 300 100 0 0
Lincomycin 50 50 50 100 0 0
Danofloxain \- 100 100 100 0 0
Enrofloxacin \- 400 400 100 0 0
"-" means no MRL
.
######
False negative rates of the kit in honey.
Antibiotics Recommended concentration (RC) ([@B4]) / (μg/L) LOD /(μg/L) Spiked concentration /(μg/L) Sample numbers Negative sample numbers False negative rate/%
--------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------- ------------------------------ ---------------- ------------------------- -----------------------
Penicillin G \- 4 4 100 0 0
Cefquinome \- 40 40 100 0 0
Neomycin 40 50 50 100 0 0
Streptomycin 200 200 100 0 0
Doxycycline 20 100 100 100 0 0
Tetracycline 300 300 100 0 0
Erythromycin 20 40 40 100 0 0
Spiramycin 200 200 100 0 0
Sulfadiazine 50 150 150 100 0 0
Sulfadimidine 300 300 100 0 0
Lincomycin \- 30 30 100 0 0
Danofloxain \- 100 100 100 0 0
Enrofloxacin \- 200 200 100 0 0
"-" means no recommended concentration
.
Ruggedness
----------
Results indicated that three factors of different wells in one microplate, different microplates in same batch, different batches kits had no effect on the ruggedness of the kits. However, different breeds and different analysts had some effect on the ruggedness of kits. Moreover, the CVs of different analysts for false positive rate, false negative rate, detection time, and sensitivity of kits all were less than 4% (see [Table 9](#T9){ref-type="table"}). In addition, the difference of different breeds among false positive rate, false negative rate, detection time and sensitivity of kits were shown in [Table 10](#T10){ref-type="table"}. It indicated that the kit in present study showed weaker sensitivity to different kinds of antibiotics in buffalo milk than those determined in Holstein milk with longer detection time. And the false positive and false negative rates of kits used for detecting antibiotics residue in buffalo milk were higher than 0% and less than 5% while the false positive and false negative rates in Holstein milk all were 0%. However, these performances of this kit used in buffalo milk all were up to the standard requirements of residues screening methods.
######
The CVs of different analysts for false positive rates, false negative rates, detection time and sensitivity of kits.
Indexes Different analysts/%
----------------------- ---------------------- -----
Sensitivity/(μg/L) Cefquinome 3.4
Streptomycin 3.4
Tetracycline 3.0
Spiramycin 3.7
Sulfadimidine 3.6
Lincomycin 3.3
Enrofloxacin 3.5
False negative rate/% Cefquinome 3.0
Streptomycin 3.4
Tetracycline 3.2
Spiramycin 3.3
Sulfadimidine 3.6
Lincomycin 3.6
Enrofloxacin 3.5
False positive rate/% 3.8
Incubation time/h 3.6
######
False positive and negative rates with detection time and sensitivity of kits in different breeds of milk.
Indexes Different breeds
----------------------- ------------------ ------------------- -----
**Buffalo milk** **Holstein milk**
Sensitivity/(μg/L) Cefquinome 45 40
Streptomycin 220 200
Tetracycline 320 300
Spiramycin 220 200
Sulfadimidine 320 300
Lincomycin 150 120
Enrofloxacin 430 400
False negative rate/% Cefquinome 3 0
Streptomycin 3 0
Tetracycline 4 0
Spiramycin 3 0
Sulfadimidine 4 0
Lincomycin 3 0
Enrofloxacin 4 0
False positive rate/% 4 0
Incubation time/h 3.4 3.0
Stability
---------
Results showed that the appearance, smell, detection time, detection capability of this kit had no change over 6 months at 4°C. It indicated that the quality guarantee period of the kit is over 6 months.
Confirmation and Quantification of Incurred Samples by LC/MS-MS
---------------------------------------------------------------
The results of confirmation and quantification of incurred samples by LC/MS-MS was shown in [Table 11](#T11){ref-type="table"}. It indicated that the samples detected negative with this kit contained antimicrobial drugs residues such as ERY, SDZ, ENR at concentrations lower than LODs of this kit after the LC/MS-MS confirmation. Because LC/MS-MS with a sample pre-treatment of solvent extraction was more sensitive to all kinds of antibiotics than the kit in present study. Additionally, there was no false positive result of the kit. The positive samples, which were confirmed by LC-MS/MS, contained antibiotics residues at concentrations higher than or equal to LODs of this kit. Therefore, the kit in present study was reliable to screen antibiotics residues in incurred samples.
######
Results of confirmation of incurred tissues by LC/MS-MS.
Antimicrobial agents Sample numbers This kit LC/MS-MS/ (μg/L) MRL/ (μg/L)
---------------------- ---------------- ---------- ------------------ -------------
Penicillin G 15 N(13) / 4
P(2) 10
Streptomycin 15 N(3) / 200
P(3) 200
P(2) 205
P(3) 212
P(4) 220
Tetracycline 15 N(10) / 100
P(3) 320
P(2) 350
Erythromycin 15 N(5) / 40
N(3) 30
P(4) 46
P(3) 52
Sulfadiazine 15 N(2) / 100
N(7) 110
P(4) 168
P(2) 200
Lincomycin 15 N(10) / 150
P(2) 170
P(3) 187
Enrofloxacin 15 N(3) / 100
N(5) 200
P(4) 400
P(3) 450
"N" means negative results. "P" means positive results. Numbers in brackets means numbers of negative or positive results. "/" means not detected
.
Discussion
==========
Detection Capability
--------------------
In past years, several microbiological inhibition methods were developed to detect antibiotics in milk. The detection capabilities of different microbiological inhibition methods in terms of test tubes in milk were shown in [Table 12](#T12){ref-type="table"}. It indicated that the kit in present study was sensitive to β-lactam as previous studies determined. Moreover, the kit was more sensitive to aminoglycosides and macrolides than BRT AIM ([@B13]), Copan milk test ([@B11]), Delvotest SP-NT ([@B1]), Eclipse 100 ([@B2]), Charm Blue Yellow ([@B12]), and Premi^®^Test ([@B19]) at MRL levels. Furthermore, several commercial kits such as BRT AIM ([@B13]), Copan milk test ([@B11]), Delvotest SP-NT ([@B1]), Eclipse 100 ([@B2]), Charm Blue Yellow ([@B12]), and Premi^®^Test ([@B19]) cannot detect quinolones in milk for that *G. stearothermophilus* is extremely insensitive to quinolones. However, the kit in present study was at least ten times more sensitive to quinolones than previously reported studies ([@B14]; [@B12]). And the detection capability of the kit for lincosamides was similar to determined by Delvotest SP-NT ([@B1]), Charm Blue Yellow ([@B12]). Additionally, the LODs for tetracyclines and sulfonamides were slightly higher than Copan milk test ([@B11]), Delvotest SP-NT ([@B1]), Charm Blue Yellow ([@B12]), and Premi^®^Test ([@B19]).
######
The detection capability of different microbiological inhibition methods in term of tubes in milk.
Antibiotics EU/CODEX MRL in milk /(μg/L) LOD /(μg/L)
--------------- ------------------------------ ------------- ------ ----------- ------- ----------- ----- -------
Penicillin G 4 2 2 3 5 2 2 \<2.5
Cefquinome 20 40 / 100 / / 40 /
Neomycin 1500 50 3700 500--2000 9100 100-200 150 /
Streptomycin 200 200 6000 1000 10100 300-500 / /
Doxycycline 0 100 390 150 260 100 75 100
Tetracycline 100 300 6200 250-500 480 100 100 100
Erythromycin 40 40 630 \>200 750 50 150 \<100
Spiramycin 200 200 / \>2000 18100 200 500 \<125
Sulfadiazine 100 150 5400 50-100 / 50 100 50
Sulfadimidine 100 300 / 100-200 750 25 125 \<25
Lincomycin 150 120 / / / 100 150 /
Danofloxain 30 100 / / / / / /
Enrofloxacin 100 400 / / 4000 1000-1500 / /
1
Molina et al. (2003)
;
2
Le Breton et al. (2007)
;
3
Beltrán et al. (2015)
;
4
Althaus et al. (2003)
;
5
Linage et al. (2007)
;
6
Stead et al. (2004)
. "/" means not detected
.
Both of chicken egg and honey are important for human health and consumed daily, however, there was few research by microbiological inhibition methods reported about chicken egg and honey. For example, Premi^®^Test is a commercially available kit and widely used for screening of antibiotics residues in milk, muscle, kidney, egg, honey and feed etc. Actually, Premi^®^Test is insensitive to CEF, aminoglycosides, macrolides, LIN and quinolones in chicken egg. However, the kit in present study can detect CEF, aminoglycosides, macrolides, LIN and quinolones in chicken egg, even the LODs for NEO, ERY, LIN were lower than or equal to MRL in chicken egg. Additionally, the LODs of the kit for PEN and DOX were less than or similar to those of Premi^®^Test. But the LODs for tetracyclines and sulfonamides were higher than those determined by Premi^®^Test ([@B19]). When it comes to honey, the LODs of this kit for β-lactam, ERY, LIN, ENR were less than or similar to determined by Premi^®^Test. Additionally, the kit was more sensitive to aminoglycosides, SPI and DAN than Premi^®^Test. However, Premi^®^Test was more sensitive to tetracyclines and sulfonamides than the kit in present study ([@B19]).
When compared to previous studies, it was observed that the kit in present study was more sensitive to aminoglycosides, macrolides and quinolones in milk, chicken egg and honey. The CAP can improve the bacteriostatic activity of tetracyclines by synergistic reaction; however, higher concentration of CAP will antagonizes macrolides by competing the subunit 50s site of bacterial ribosomal. Therefore, improvement of the detection capability of the kit in present study for macrolides was operated by lowering CAP concentration in kit's medium. *G. stearothermophilus var* C953 is only sensitive to β-lactam and lincomycin ([@B10]). As a result, in this kit, TMP and CAP was used to improve the sensitivity of the kit to sulfonamides, and tetracyclines separately. At the same time, STR and ENR were used to improve the sensitivity to aminoglycosides, macrolides and quinolones based on the research that improvement of the detection capabilities to ENR by adding moderate concentration of ENR into kits ([@B18]). A small quantity of STR in the kit can improve the sensitivity of the kit to aminoglycosides and also work with macrolides by synergistic reaction. Even a small amount of STR in this kit can work with tetracyclines by the same reaction principle as tetracyclines do. It was the reason that the kit with high pH value was still sensitive to tetracyclines in antimicrobial agents's diluents shown in [Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}. Similarly, adding moderate ENR into this kit to improve the detection capability of this kit to quinolones. And the bacteriostatic mechanism of TMP, CAP, STR, and ENR are different, which will produce synergistic reaction, but not antagonism. At same time, the detection capability of this kit to β-lactam and lincosamides was also improved by TMP, CAP, STR, and ENR.
Results showed that the LODs of this kit were less than or equal to MRL in milk for β-lactam, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, macrolides, sulfonamides, lincosamides, however 1.8--3.4 times MRL in milk for quinolones when the kit in present study was used for screening residual antibiotics in respective antibacterial drugs diluents. However, the LODs of the kit for tetracyclines, sulfonamides and quinolones were higher in milk, chicken egg and honey than determined in respective antibacterial drugs diluents. Moreover, the detection capability of the kit for β-lactam, aminoglycosides, macrolides, lincosamides in milk, chicken egg and honey was same as determined in antimicrobial agents diluents. The reasons can be divided into two aspects: the differences among matrix and the detection capability of the kit in present study. The differences among matrix are pH and matrix components. The matrix's pH will affect the bacteriostasis effect of all kinds of antibiotics and the detection time of the kit. In addition, the chicken egg, milk and honey are weak alkaline, weak acidic and acidic matrix separately. According to results, the bacteriostasis of all kinds of antibiotics was almost same in chicken egg, milk and honey. Therefore, the pH of matrix was not the main reason. Moreover, the detection time of the kit in the four matrixes were as follows: 3 h for milk; 3.25 h for honey; 3.5 h for chicken egg; 3.75 h for antimicrobial agents diluents. It indicated that the pH of matrix affected the detection time of the kit obviously. The detection time for the matrix with higher pH was longer while the detection time for the matrix with lower pH was shorter. Additionally, compared to antimicrobial agents diluents, the milk, chicken egg and honey are rich in nutrition, which can promote the growth of bacteria in kit's medium and shorten detection time. It was also reported that dissolution of the final extract in a microbiological growth medium (i.e., Lab Lemco broth) facilitate the bacterial growth cycle and improve the results ([@B19]). Above all, the main reason maybe that the kit in present study was not enough sensitive to tetracyclines, sulfonamides and quinolones. Because improvement of the detection capability of the kit in present study for macrolides was operated by lowering CAP concentration in kit medium. Moreover, a small quantity of TMP, STR, and ENR in kit medium was adopted to avoid false positive result. Therefore, the bacteriostasis of tetracyclines, sulfonamides and quinolones were weaker with a small quantity of sensitizer such as TMP, CAP, and ENR. Then tetracyclines, sulfonamides and quinolones with sensitizer in kit separately cannot completely inhibit the growth of *G. stearothermophilus* spores in kits. Moreover, the part of the spores produced little acid, which cannot support enough acid for bromcresol purple to change color from purple to yellow under the existing nutritional condition of this kit. Thus, it was shown to be antibioitcs residues positive results of tetracyclines, sulfonamides and quinolones. However, negative results of tetracyclines, sulfonamides and quinolones were indicated when this kit was used for detecting antibiotics residues in milk, chicken egg and honey. Because milk, chicken eggs and honey are rich in nutrition, which made the part of the spores to produce enough acid for bromcresol purple to turn into yellow from purple. Therefore, in the future, further study could be conducted to optimize the kit components such as a mixture of nutrients and sensitizers, and sample pre-treatment methods on the basis of the previous research.
Specificity
-----------
Animal derived food contains natural bacteriostatic substances, which can inhibit the growth of microorganism in microbiological kits and result in false positive results ([@B7]; [@B3]). In this study, the method of pre-permeation at RT was used to prevent excessive natural bacteriostatic substances in animal food from permeating through the kit's medium. BRT AIM and Eclipse 100^®^ had used the similar sample pre-treatment method of pre-permeation at 4°C for 1 h ([@B13]; [@B14]). But the kit in present study did pre-permeation at RT to shorten the pre-permeation time, and thus shorten the whole operation time of the kit. After pre-permeation, the remaining matrix was poured out and then the microplates were cleaned by water, which will remove the impurities on the microplates medium surface. Finally, a small quantity of natural antimicrobial substances infiltrated into the kit during pre-permeation were denatured by water bath at proper temperature for a certain time, which can avoid the false positive results caused by natural bacteriostatic substances in animal food. The microplates having milk and chicken egg were incubated in water bath for 10 min at 80°C, however, the microplates having honey were incubated in water bath for 1 h at 45°C. High temperature can destroy natural antimicrobial substances in animal food. And the incubation temperature and time for milk and chicken egg were 80°C and 10 min separately. However, enzymes especially amylase in honey are extremely unstable to heating. Therefore, the way of incubation at 80°C for 10 min was not compliant to denature natural antimicrobial substances in honey. And the way of incubation at 45°C for 1 h for honey was decided by optimization experiment. In addition, [@B17] detected antibacterial agents in bovine kidney fluid and serum by Premi^®^Test with similar sample pre-treatment. Microbiological kits were incubated in water bath at 80°C for 10 min after adding samples into test well, which effectively inhibit natural antibacterial substances in animal food. Additionally, microbiological kits heated at proper temperature for little time will not affect the sensitivity of the method ([@B17]).
Ruggedness
----------
The reproducibility of kits was determined by the experimental materials, preparation process and test operators. Thus, it deserved consideration that the ruggedness of kits in different breeds of animal food, different wells of each microplate, different microplates of same batch, different batches of microplates and different analysts. The CVs of different wells of microplate and different microplates of same batch both were 0%, which indicated that the same standard production process was adopted throughout the whole preparation process of kits. Moreover, the CVs of different batches microplates was also 0%, which revealed that the standard production process was adopted not only throughout the whole preparation process of kits, but also throughout the whole preparation process of *G. stearothermophilus var* C953 spores with the stable performances in kits. The operation results of different operators were not quite different. Because the detection operation flow of this kit was simple with no special training required except the sample procedures according to the instructions the kits. Bovine milk was used as repeatability test because there was a difference in the milk composition of buffalo milk and Holstein milk. Results showed that the false positive rate, false negative rate, detection time and sensitivity were different between buffalo milk and Holstein milk. Because buffalo milk contains more fat, protein and lactose than Holstein milk. Minerals and vitamins in buffalo milk are also dozens of times higher than that of Holstein milk. Therefore, buffalo milk caused more interference to microbiological inhibition methods from matrix than Holstein milk.
Stability
---------
The stability of kits is important for the transportation, preservation and usage. Results showed that the quality guarantee period of kits was more than 6 months at 4°C. The stability of kits was determined by the production process of kits and the stability of the indicator bacteria. A 150 μL of the culture medium was added into individual wells of microtiter plates using an electronic pipette in a sterile condition. Then these microplates were sealed with aluminized film and stored at 4 °C until use. The purpose of the sealing was to maintain the moisture in kits' medium and prevent the bacteria and CO~2~ in the environment from contaminating the inner medium. Additionally, *G. stearothermophilus var* C953 spores with stable properties were inoculated into kits during the production process of kits and stored in 4 °C. Moreover, the acid-producing ability of the spore and its sensitivity to antimicrobial agents remained unchanged for a long time. Therefore, the medium of this kit was more stable and the shelf life has been extended.
Author Contributions
====================
QW, YW, and ZY conceived and designed the experiments. QW, DP, and QL performed the experiments. QW, MS, and AS analyzed the data. QW, ZL, YW, and ZY contributed reagents, materials, and analysis tools. QW wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
Conflict of Interest Statement
==============================
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer IM and handling editor declared their shared affiliation.
**Funding.** This work was supported by 2018 National Risk Assessment of Quality and Safety of Milk (GJFP201800804) and the Key Project of the Ministry of Agriculture (2011-G5).
[^1]: Edited by: Eugenia Bezirtzoglou, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
[^2]: Reviewed by: Ioanna Mantzourani, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece; Beatrix Stessl, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria
[^3]: This article was submitted to Food Microbiology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
}
|
Q:
AJAX xmlhttp.send parameters
I have created an AJAX function that when called it changes the color of a specific button. However, I have only managed to do it in a static way, meaning that I put the values sent to the corresponding php script manually.
What I want is to call the function through my html body with some parameters and then these parameters should be passed through the xmlhttp.send method. I tried but it doesn' work.
For example a call to the below function ajaxFunction() will work OK (it will pass two parameters x=0 and t=1)
$ function ajaxFunction() { ... xmlhttp.open("POST","example.php",true);
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = handleServerResponse;
xmlhttp.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
xmlhttp.send("x=0&t=1");}
But when I try to call the function with some parameters (ajaxFunction(0,1) then how can I put these values in the xmlhttp.send method?
Any ideas?
Thanks anyway.
A:
did you mean:
function ajaxFunction(arg0, arg1) {
// ... new + open + setRequestHeader
xmlhttp.send('x=' + encodeURIComponent(arg0) + '&t=' + encodeURIComponent(arg1));
}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Among the reasons we mentioned was the velocity of credit downgrades for both European banks and governments.
How vicious has the downgrade cycle become?
So vicious, that the European Central Bank (ECB) is now mulling a new and improved plan (by “new and improved” we mean just the opposite) to become an ad hoc credit rating agency. You read that right! Instead of relying on outside credit rating agencies, the ECB will set the value of sovereign bonds as collateral it accepts in lending operations based upon the ECB’s own internal assessment, according to a Reuters report.
During the credit boom, rating agencies were everyone’s best friend. However, now that ratings can no longer be bought and paid for with gift cards from the Capital Grille, they’re universally despised.
Agencies like Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) and Standard & Poor’s (NYSE:MHP) have been strongly criticized by the ECB’s members. Doesn’t that sound familiar? The same thing happened less than a year ago when the U.S. Treasury objected to the negative outlook given to U.S. debt by Standard & Poor’s.
Spanish banks (NYSE:EWP) will be immediate beneficiaries of these coming changes by easing the collateral requirements for debt they need to put up.
No doubt, the ECB’s credit rating regime will make the previous establishment look saintly. It will also usher in an entirely new era of financial perversion.
The ETF Profit Strategy newsletter provides market insight and technical analysis that’s boiled down to actionable advice with key the support/resistance for the euro and other key asset classes.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Ruby McCollum
Ruby McCollum, born Ruby Jackson (August 31, 1909 – May 23, 1992), was a wealthy married African-American woman in Live Oak, Florida, who is known for being arrested and convicted in 1952 for killing Dr. C. Leroy Adams, a prominent white doctor and state senator–elect. The judge restricted her testimony, but she did testify as to their sexual relationship and his paternity of her child. The judge prohibited her from recounting her allegations that Adams had repeatedly raped her, and forced her to bear his children. She was sentenced to death for his murder by an all-white jury. The sensational case was covered widely in the United States press, as well as by international papers. McCollum was subjected to a gag order. Her case was appealed and overturned by the State Supreme Court.
Before the second trial, McCollum was examined and found mentally incompetent to stand trial. She was committed to the state mental hospital (Florida State Hospital) at Chattahoochee, Florida. In 1974 her attorney, Frank Cannon, obtained her release under the Baker Act, as she was not considered a danger to herself or others.
In the 21st century, McCollum and her case received renewed attention, with books and four film documentaries exploring the issues of race, class, sexual violence, gender, and corruption in local politics from a modernist perspective. McCollum's case is considered a landmark trial by these people in the struggle for civil rights as they believe she was the first black woman to testify against a white man's sexual abuse and paternity of their child. It is considered to have helped change attitudes about the practice of "paramour rights”. McCollum's attorney, Releford McGriff, became part of a team who worked to change Florida's Jim Crow practice of selecting all-white juries. (Black people were still disenfranchised at that time and thus not eligible to serve as jurors, who were limited to voters.)
Early life
Ruby Jackson was born in 1909 to Gertrude and William Jackson in Zuber, Florida. She was the second child and first daughter among her six siblings. They attended local segregated schools. Ruby's parents recognized her intelligence and sent her to a private school, Fessenden Academy, where she excelled in bookkeeping.
Marriage and family
In 1931 Ruby Jackson married Sam McCollum. They moved to Nyack, New York as part of the Great Migration of rural blacks out of the South in the early 20th century. During the few years that they lived there, they had a son, Sam, Jr and a daughter
Business activities
In 1934, the couple relocated to the area of Fort Myers, Florida. Sam's gangster brother Buck McCollum had amassed considerable wealth managing a Bolita gambling business. Sam went into business with him and was reported to be a player in North Florida crime, including gambling and liquor sales. These were illegal in the county, but flourished because of payoffs to local law enforcement. In a related sideline, McCollums also sold burial policies and owned a local funeral home. By the 1940s and early 1950s, the McCollums were reported to have "amassed a fortune." based on their criminal activities.
Sam and Ruby owned a "stately, two-story home," in Live Oak, Florida, a small town of 4,000 people, which they acquired from the prior bolita operator in the county when he was run out of town. Ruby McCollum drove a new Chrysler automobile each year. The McCollums owned several "jooks" (juke joint), served illegal liquor, collected money from the juke boxes, and had a farm outside of town with the largest tobacco allotment in Florida. It was at this time that Ruby developed an addiction to heroin. The McCollums also owned a farm near Lake City, where Sam stocked fields with quail for hunting with his prized bird dogs.
Ruby McCollum was described as the wealthiest black woman in town. The couple were considered financially successful and well respected in the community, where they contributed liberally to their church. Their son and oldest child, Sam Jr., had started college at UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) by 1952.
The couple had four children together: Sam, Jr., Sonja, Kay, and Loretta. McCollum later said that her youngest, Loretta, was a biracial child fathered by Dr. C. Leroy Adams in a forced relationship.
Background
Florida was a segregated state where black people had been essentially disenfranchised since the turn of the century amid passage of a constitution and laws imposing poll taxes, literacy tests, and other barriers to voter registration and black voting. The exclusion from voting meant that African Americans could not serve on juries, and they were generally excluded from any political office. The white Democrat-dominated state legislature following Reconstruction had passed laws to create legal segregation and Jim Crow. African Americans were kept in second-class status until passage in the mid-1960s of civil rights legislation following their decades of activism and support from the national Democratic Party led by President Lyndon Johnson.
The power relations of some White men taking sexual advantage of Black women had a long history dating to slavery times, when female slaves were frequently raped by their White owners.
From the late 17th century, Virginia and other colonies established laws that children of slave mothers were born into slavery, regardless of their paternity, under the principle of partus sequitur ventrem. An assumption that powerful white men could take black women as sexual partners, regardless of their desires or social status, continued to underlie many 20th century relations. This was called "paramour rights" at the time of the trial.
Dr. C. Leroy Adams had a reputation as a "benevolent and popular doctor who administered to the needy." In 1952 he was elected to the state senate. His associate, Dr. Dillard Workman, campaigned for him. Adams was considered to have a potential political future as governor. Workman was Ruby McCollum's physician when she was pregnant with Adams' child. He performed the autopsy on Adams and testified to McCollum's sanity during her trial.
Shooting of Dr. C. Leroy Adams
On August 3, 1952, Ruby McCollum met Dr. C. Leroy Adams, a white physician and state senator-elect, in his office in Live Oak, Florida. She had driven there with her two young children. She later admitted that she shot him four times with a revolver, and said it was because he would not agree to leave her alone. She said that over a period of years, he had repeatedly forced her to submit to sex and to bear his child. She said that her two-year-old daughter, Loretta, was fathered by him.
In notes and letters, McCollum said that Adams had abused her, and that she was pregnant with another child by him when she killed him. She also said that Adams took part in her husband Sam's "illegal gambling operation." An employee at the doctor's office later described seeing the doctor accept "large deliveries of cash in examination rooms."
McCollum was arrested and taken to the state prison 50 miles away. This was temporary and for her protection, according to contemporary accounts.
The day after her arrest, her husband Sam died of a heart attack in Zuber, Florida. He had taken their children there for safekeeping with Ruby's mother. Zora Neale Hurston, a black anthropologist and writer on assignment from the Pittsburgh Courier, was the first person to report on the trial for a newspaper outside Florida. She was required to sit upstairs in the segregated gallery of the courtroom. There were likely Ku Klux Klan members attending the trial. Her coverage helped McCollum's case gain a national and international audience.
First trial
McCollum was defended by Frank Cannon, a District Attorney from Jacksonville, Florida. The case was prosecuted by state's attorney Keith Black, and presided over by Florida's Third Circuit Court judge, Judge Hal W. Adams. (He was not related to the doctor, but had been an honorary pallbearer at his funeral). It was an all-white jury, some of whom had been Dr. Adams' patients. (As blacks were disenfranchised and generally not registered to vote, they did not qualify for the jury pool.)
McCollum testified that Adams had forced sex upon her, that they had sex at her home and in his office (located immediately across the street from the courthouse), and that he insisted that she bear his child. The court prevented her defense attorney from presenting more complete information about their relationship. All of Cannon's efforts to introduce the doctor's pattern of repeated physical abuse of her at the office were objected to by the prosecutor and upheld by the judge. She was allowed to testify only to events on the day of the murder. She said that Adams had struck her repeatedly that day and they struggled. Essentially McCollum was silenced in court regarding additional testimony that would have established mitigating circumstances.
According to Zora Neale Hurston, who reported on the trial for the Pittsburgh Courier:
Ruby was allowed to describe how, about 1948, during an extended absence of her husband, she had, in her home, submitted to the doctor. She was allowed to state that her youngest child was his. Yet thirty-eight times Frank Cannon attempted to proceed from this point; thirty-eight times he attempted to create the opportunity for Ruby to tell her whole story and thus explain what were her motives; thirty-eight times the State objected; and thirty-eight times Judge Adams sustained these objections.
The judge also imposed a gag order on McCollum, preventing the press from interviewing her. This also prevented her attorneys from the opportunity to determine whether speaking with the press would aid her case.
Hurston writes that defense attorney Frank Cannon, frustrated by the court's upholding the state prosecuting attorney's objections to most of the evidence he tried to introduce about McCollum's relationship with Dr. Adams, turned to the judge and said, "May God forgive you, Judge Adams, for robbing a human being of life in such a fashion." While this is written by Hurston, and quoted by Huie, there is no record of the statement in the trial transcript. Hurston reported that Thelma Curry, a witness, was told to leave the witness stand and go back where she belongs. This does not appear in the trial transcript.
The prosecuting attorney said that McCollum had shot Adams in anger over a disputed bill, an account supported by three witnesses during the trial. McCollum testified that she had discussed a bill with Adams that day, but maintained that she fired at the doctor in self-defense when he attacked her. The prosecution questioned this, pointing out that Adams was 100 pounds heavier than Ruby McCollum and all of the shots were fired into his back. Residents of Live Oak knew that McCollum was a wealthy woman, and she and her husband were known to pay their bills promptly.
McCollum was convicted by the jury of first degree murder on December 20, 1952. She was sentenced to death in the electric chair.
Her case was appealed. During the period before the appeal was decided, McCollum was held in the Suwannee County Jail.
Her conviction and death sentence were overturned on a technicality by the Florida Supreme Court on July 20, 1954. The court cited Judge Hal W. Adams, the presiding judge, for failing to be present at the jury's inspection of the scene of the crime.
Second trial
Concerned for her mental health, defense attorney Frank Cannon arranged for McCollum to be examined in the county jail, where she had been held for about two years. At the second trial, he entered a plea of insanity. Upon receiving the results of an examination of McCollum by court-appointed physicians, including Dr. Adams' associate Dr. Dillard Workman, the state attorney Randall Slaughter agreed to the plea.
McCollum was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. She was committed to the Florida State Hospital for mental patients at Chattahoochee, Florida. She was held there until 1974, when her attorney, Frank Cannon, successfully filed for her release under Florida's recently enacted Baker Act. It allowed release of mental patients who were not judged to be a threat to themselves or the community.
Coverage
There was extensive coverage of the trial, but the judge put McCollum under a gag order. The press was never allowed to interview McCollum. Ellis, who remembers the trial in his hometown, emphasizes that this isolation of McCollum from the press was done less to cover up the affair between McCollum and Adams, which was already making the gossip circuits of the town, than it was to conceal the illegal dealings between whites and blacks in the community related to gambling and liquor. The IRS was in town to collect taxes on unreported gambling and liquor sales. Ellis writes that this attempt to silence McCollum proved in the long run to be totally unsuccessful. Following his publication of the annotated transcript of the trial, McCollum and her case have been the subject of a number of books and documentaries published since his release of the annotated transcript of the trial.
The noted African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston covered the trial for the Pittsburgh Courier from the fall of 1952 through Ruby McCollum's conviction just before Christmas that year. She was forced to sit in the segregated second-floor gallery of the courtroom. From January–March 1953, the Courier published Hurston's series entitled, "The Life Story of Ruby McCollum".
Hurston, who was unable to attend the appeal or the second trial for financial reasons, contacted journalist William Bradford Huie to interest him in the case. They had worked together before and he had taken on controversial cases. She shared her notes from the first trial and corresponded with him to furnish additional information. She also asked for bus fare to attend the trial, but Huie did not respond.
Huie did investigate the story and, after attending the appeal and second trial, published Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwannee Jail (1956). This book became a bestseller. Huie asked his publisher not to distribute the book in Florida due to his continuing legal troubles there. Huie's book also addresses his effort to fight Judge Adams' gag order against the press. He filed a First Amendment challenge, claiming freedom of the press to speak to the defendant, but did not succeed in his suit.
At one point, Judge Adams charged Huie with contempt of court for attempting to influence Dr. Fernay, a witness scheduled to testify as to McCollum's sanity. The journalist served overnight in jail as a result of not paying a fine the judge had imposed in the contempt charge. During that period, Huie met the director, Elia Kazan. In 1960 they had discussions about Kazan's directing a film to be adapted from Huie's book and entitled The Ruby McCollum Story. While other films based on Huie's books were produced in the 1960s and later, none was made from his account of the Ruby McCollum story.
Huie says in his updated, fourth edition of his work (1964) that he was denied entrance to the Florida State Mental Hospital in Chattahoochee, Florida where Ruby McCollum was held. Jet Magazine reporters visited Ruby McCollum there in 1958 and published their interview with her. Huie never interviewed McCollum.
Later years and death
In 1974, attorney Frank Cannon, who was her primary attorney during her murder trial in 1952, visited McCollum in the mental hospital. Without asking for any legal fees, he filed legal papers to have her released under the Baker Act. This allowed mental patients who were considered not to be a danger to be released to their families. Her initial commitment had been due to her having been found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
McCollum lived after her release in a rest home in Silver Springs, Florida, funded by a trust set up by author William Bradford Huie. He had paid her $40,000 for the movie rights for a feature film which he hoped to have adapted from his book about the case, Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwannee Jail (1964, 4th edition).
McCollum was finally able to see her children again. Sam Jr. had been convicted in 1975 in federal court on 10 counts of gambling. He had been living in the McCollum homestead, from which the FBI confiscated $250,000. They later returned a good portion of it to him, after the IRS deducted appropriate taxes and penalties. McCollum's daughters Sonja and Kay both married and lived in Ocala, Florida. Kay (McCollum) Hope died in a car accident in 1978 and Sonja (McCollum) Wood died of a heart attack in 1979.
In November 1980, Al Lee of the Ocala Star Banner interviewed McCollum at the rest home in Silver Springs. Lee wrote that McCollum had no memory of her ordeal. He reported that psychiatrists said that she may have suffered Ganser syndrome, or the suppression of painful memories. In those years, the State Mental Hospital at Chattahoochee was investigated more than once over issues of patient treatment, overuse of medications including thorazine, and the administration of electroshock therapy, which can affect memory.
On May 23, 1992, at 4:45 a.m., McCollum died of a stroke at the New Horizon Rehabilitation Center, at the age of 82. Her brother, Matt Jackson, had died less than a year before. The family arranged for her to be buried beside him and his wife in the cemetery behind Hopewell Baptist Church in Live Oak. Her name was mistakenly spelled on her death certificate as "Ruby McCollumn".
Aftermath
The case has haunted people, in part because of Judge Adams's gag order. Some commentators said the silences were to keep quiet the fact that there had been some white participation in Sam McCollum's illegal bolita operations, source of untaxed money to help finance the participants’ businesses in town. As Judge Adams upheld prosecutor's objections during the trial, the defense attorney Cannon was prevented from introducing most of the evidence related to Adams' sexual abuse of McCollum. She was allowed, however, to testify to being forced to have Adams' baby. This was the first time that a black woman had testified to a white man's paternity of her child and other circumstances of her defense. This established the trial as a landmark case, since no other black woman who had shot and killed a white man had ever been allowed to testify in her own defense.
In the 21st century, new non-fiction and fiction books continue to be published about McCollum and the case.
C. Arthur Ellis, Jr. published a compiled and edited transcript of the trial in 2003, with a revised edition in 2007. His associated commentary describes the importance of this trial in the history of civil rights as the first time that an African-American woman testified in court against a white man to say that he had forced sex upon her, and testified to his paternity of their child. Until this time, Ellis notes, African-American women were afforded no protection under the law for rape by a white man. Ellis said he published the transcript because many scholars had mistakenly said that McCollum did not testify at her trial; they had noted that the court upheld most of the objections of the prosecution to introducing testimony about the abusive relationship. A 2014 episode of the Investigation Discovery show A Crime to Remember, "The Shot Doctor," perpetuated this error.
In his annotated edition, Ellis explores the intertwining of personal and professional relationships among the figures prominent in the case and the trial. He noted that late 20th and early 21st-century professional standards related to conflict of interest would likely classify certain figures as having violated those standards. As an example, he notes that Dr. Dillard Workman was Adams' medical associate. He treated McCollum for her prenatal care of her child by Adams. Workman had campaigned for Adams in his state senatorial race. He was commissioned to conduct Adams' autopsy and testified about it during the murder trial of his patient, McCollum, the defendant. In addition, at the second trial of McCollum, he testified as an expert witness as to her sanity. He would likely be considered today to be violating his obligation to her as his patient in these actions. In addition, the judge who presided over the trial was a pallbearer at Dr. Adams' funeral.
In 2006, Tammy Evans published The Silencing of Ruby McCollum: Race, Class, and Gender in the South through University Press of Florida. Reviewer Elizabeth Boyd writes, "The starkness of the crime was matched only by the evasiveness that characterized its aftermath, and it is this prevarication--this collective dissembling on the part of Live Oak folk, white and black--that is the true subject of the book." Evans focuses on the silencing of Ruby McCollum by the court placing a gag order on her and prohibiting her from speaking to the press. She said this freed whites to create a "cover story."
Ellis says that the town's silence towards "outsiders" was out of fear of the IRS, whose agents were scouring the town to uncover covert gambling revenues for which taxes went unpaid. Ellis also points out that the "cover story" of Ruby McCollum murdering Dr. Adams over a doctor bill resulted from McCollum and Adams arguing over a bill at the time of the murder. Witnesses to the argument testified to the argument, leading to the assumption that the murder was because of the argument.
In 2015, Ellis published a book, Hall of Mirrors: Confirmation and Presentist Biases in Continuing Accounts of the Ruby McCollum Story. He explores the biases of filmmakers and academicians in their interpretations of McCollum's story. Ellis published, for the first time, the letters of Ruby McCollum, written from prison and the Florida State Mental Hospital, and the letters of Dr. Adams's nurse, Edith Park. Ellis notes that one of McCollum's letters to her attorneys speaks of her turning down an interview with a reporter from a Jacksonville newspaper who visited her in prison at Raiford. This had not been noted by other writers who cited Judge Adams's gag order. Ellis also cites reporters who spoke with residents of Live Oak at the time, dispelling the notion that the townspeople of Live Oak did not speak to any of them.<ref name="ReferenceA">Ellis, C. Arthur, Jr., Hall of Mirrors: Confirmation and Presentist Biases in Continuing Accounts of the Ruby McCollum Story, Gadfly Publishing, 2015</ref>
Representation in other media
In 1999, Thulani Davis wrote a play, Everybody's Ruby: Story of a Murder in Florida, which premiered in New York at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre, directed by Kenny Leon. It starred Viola Davis as McCollum and Phylicia Rashad as author Zora Neale Hurston. The play is described as highly artistic, but departing significantly from the historical facts.
In 2009, C. Arthur Ellis wrote a historical novel, Zora Hurston And The Strange Case Of Ruby McCollum, based on Hurston's articles for the Pittsburgh Courier and his own research for his non-fiction book on the trial.
In 2010, "The Ballad of Ruby McCollum", a song performed by Peg and Chip Carbone, written by Peg and Chip Carbone and David Schmeling, was recorded at Reveal Audio - Atlanta. The Other Side of Silence is a 2012 documentary film about McCollum and her case by Dr. Claudia Hunter Johnson, a writer and teacher. (She was nominated for a 1995 Pulitzer Prize for her memoir, Stifled Laughter.) The film contains an interview with A. K. Black, the prosecutor in the McCollum case. Johnson reported receiving a death threat while working on the film. The film was the official nominee at several film festivals in 2012.Curtain of Secrecy: The Story of Ruby McCollum (documentary) (2014), a feature-length documentary about Ruby McCollum, premiered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is produced by the Art Institute of that city, and directed by Ramona Ramdeen. She interviewed Dr. C. Arthur Ellis, Jr., the only living historian who personally knew all of the figures in the case.
In November 2014, '"The Shot Doctor", an episode in the A Crime to Remember series airing on Investigation Discovery, included historian, Dr. C. Arthur Ellis, Jr. The narrator mistakenly said that McCollum was not allowed to testify at her trial. Ellis correctly noted that she was allowed to testify that Adams forced sex upon her, that she bore his child. Other details her defense tried to introduce were prevented by the judge upholding prosecutor's objections.You Belong to Me: Sex, Race and Murder in the South (2015), a feature-length documentary about Ruby McCollum and her case, was released on video on demand and DVD, in conjunction with Black History Month and Women's History Month. The film was produced by Hilary Saltzman, Kitty Potapow, and Jude Hagin (former state film commissioner) through Hummingbird Film Productions, LLC. It was written and directed by John Cork. It was the first film for which members of the McCollum and Adams families spoke on the record about the case. The last surviving juror from the trial and others involved in case also participated in the film.
C. Arthur Ellis, Jr. published a monograph, Hall of Mirrors: Confirmation and Presentist Biases in Continuing Accounts of the Ruby McCollum Story (2015). It explores how the events have been interpreted in print and film.
References
Bibliography
Diaz, John A. "Woman Chased by Mob After Slaying Doctor: Murder of White Medico Touches Off Powder Keg." (Pittsburgh Courier, August 16, 1952)
Ellis, C. Arthur (Jr.) and Leslie E. Ellis, The Trial of Ruby McCollum: The True-crime Story That Shook the Foundations of the Segregationist South! 1st Book Library, 2003. .
Ellis, C. Arthur (Jr.), State of Florida vs. Ruby McCollum, Defendant (Morrisville, N.C.: Lulu Press, 2007). .
Evans, Tammy. The Silencing of Ruby McCollum: Race, Class, and Gender in the South (Gainesville, Fla.: University Press of Florida, 2006). .
Huie, William Bradford, Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwannee Jail (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1956). 2nd Edition (title change only): The Crime of Ruby McCollum. (London: Jarrolds Publishers, 1957). 3rd Edition: The Crime of Ruby McCollum. (London: Grey Arrow, 1959). Fourth Edition (revised and updated): Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwannee Jail. (New York: Signet Books, 1964).
Hurston, Zora Neale. Series of articles covering the trial: Pittsburgh Courier, October 1952-January 1953. Also, "The Life Story Of Ruby McCollum", Pittsburgh Courier, Jan-March 1953.
Fiction
Davis, Thulani. Everybody's Ruby (Samuel French, Inc., 2000, 79 pages), drama play, .
Ellis, C. Arthur (Jr.). Zora Hurston And The Strange Case Of Ruby McCollum, historical novel based upon events. (Chattanooga, TN: Gadfly Publishing, 2009). .
Further reading
"Psychiatrists Report Woman Slayer Insane", Daytona Beach Morning Journal, September 24, 1954.
"Ruby McCollum's Fate Is Mulled", St. Petersburg Times, December 10, 1973.
"Woman may be freed in Fla. doctor's death", The Afro American, January 26, 1974.
"Judge strips 135G McCollum Estate", Baltimore Afro-American, March 31, 1953.
External links
Interview with C. Arthur Ellis, re: novel, Zora Hurston and The Strange Case of Ruby McCollum, NPR, available on YouTube, June 5, 2009
"A Guide to the Documents Relating to the Trial of Ruby McCollum for the Murder of Dr. LeRoy Adams, Live Oak, Florida, 1954", University of Florida Smathers Libraries
Ruby McCollum story movie rights, Ocala Star Banner''
Official website for the documentary, You Belong to Me: Sex, Race, and Murder in the South
Ruby McCollum's headstone at New Hope Baptist Church, Findagrave
Dr. C. L. Adams, Jr. headstone, Live Oak, Florida city cemetery, Findagrave
Category:African-American people
Category:People from Marion County, Florida
Category:American prisoners sentenced to death
Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Florida
Category:People convicted of murder by Florida
Category:1992 deaths
Category:1909 births
Category:People from Live Oak, Florida
Category:People from Fort Myers, Florida
Category:People from Nyack, New York
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A compound semiconductor is not a single element such as silicon and germanium but a compound having two or more kinds of combined elements serving as a semiconductor. Various kinds of compound semiconductors have been developed and used in many fields. For example, a compound semiconductor may be used for thermoelectric conversion devices using a Peltier effect, light emitting devices such as light emitting diodes and laser diodes using a photoelectric conversion effect, solar cells, or the like.
Among these, the thermoelectric conversion device may be applied to thermoelectric conversion generation, thermoelectric conversion cooling or the like. Here, in the thermoelectric conversion generation, a thermal electromotive force generated by applying a temperature difference to the thermoelectric conversion device is used for converting thermal energy to electric energy.
The energy conversion efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion device depends on ZT which is a performance index of the thermoelectric conversion material. Here, ZT is determined according to a Seebeck coefficient, electric conductivity, thermal conductivity, or the like. In more detail, ZT is proportional to the square of the Seebeck coefficient and the electric conductivity and is inversely proportional to the thermal conductivity. Therefore, in order to enhance the energy conversion efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion device, development of a thermoelectric conversion material with a high Seebeck coefficient, a high electric conductivity, or a low thermal conductivity is desired.
Meanwhile, a solar cell is environment-friendly since it does not need an energy source other than solar rays, and therefore are actively studied as an alternative future energy source. A solar cell may be generally classified as a silicon solar cell using a single element of silicon, a compound semiconductor solar cell using a compound semiconductor, and a tandem solar cell where at least two solar cells having different band gap energies are stacked.
Among these, a compound semiconductor solar cell uses a compound semiconductor in a light absorption layer which absorbs solar rays and generates an electron-hole pair, and may particularly use compound semiconductors in the III-V group such as GaAs, InP, GaAlAs and GaInAs, compound semiconductors in the II-VI group such as CdS, CdTe and ZnS, and compound semiconductors in the I-III-VI group represented by CuInSe2.
The light absorption layer of the solar cell demands excellent long-term electric and optical stability, high photoelectric conversion efficiency, and easy control of the band gap energy or conductivity by composition change or doping. In addition, conditions such as production cost and yield should also be met for practical use. However, many conventional compound semiconductors fail to meet all of these conditions at once.
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Legislating collaborative self-regulation in Canada: A comparative policy analysis.
To encourage interprofessional collaboration and to improve the regulation of healthcare providers, Ontario and Nova Scotia, Canada, have each adopted legislation calling for collaboration among the regulators of their self-regulating health professions. Ontario's legislation is "top down": it came from government and stresses the obligation of regulators to collaborate. Nova Scotia's legislation is "bottom up": it was proposed and developed by regulators and emphasizes voluntary regulatory collaboration. This article considers the theoretical strengths and weaknesses of both models. It argues that Nova Scotia's approach may be stronger because of its relative consistency with core strengths of self-regulation and interprofessionalism and its grounding in soft law and a governance approach to collaborative self-regulation and to healthcare policy more broadly.
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LncRNA-TP53TG1 Participated in the Stress Response Under Glucose Deprivation in Glioma.
Gliomas are the most common brain tumors of the center nervous system. And long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-protein coding transcripts, which have been considered as one type of gene expression regulator for cancer development. In this study, we investigated the role of lncRNA-TP53TG1 in response to glucose deprivation in human gliomas. The expression levels of TP53TG1 in glioma tissues and cells were analyzed by qRT-PCR. In addition, the influence of TP53TG1 on glucose metabolism related genes at the mRNA level during both high and low glucose treatment was detected by qRT-PCR. MTT, clonogenicity assays, and flow cytometry were performed to detect the cell proliferation and cell apoptosis. Furthermore, the migration of glioma cells was examined by Transwell assays. The expression of TP53TG1 was significantly higher in human glioma tissues or cell lines compared with normal brain tissue or NHA. Moreover, TP53TG1 and some tumor glucose metabolism related genes, such as GRP78, LDHA, and IDH1 were up-regulated significantly in U87 and LN18 cells under glucose deprivation. In addition, knockdown of TP53TG1 decreased cell proliferation and migration and down-regulated GRP78 and IDH1 expression levels and up-regulated PKM2 levels in U87 cells under glucose deprivation. However, over-expression of TP53TG1 showed the opposite tendency. Moreover, the effects of TP53TG1 were more remarkable in low glucose than that in high glucose. Our data showed that TP53TG1 under glucose deprivation may promote cell proliferation and migration by influencing the expression of glucose metabolism related genes in glioma. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 4897-4904, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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The long-term goals of this work include developing methods to image the stress response in the brains of experimental animals and humans, and to develop methods of manipulating the stress response in order to protect the brain against ischemia and other injuries. Experiments will determine whether local protein synthesis decreases in non-infarcted regions of cortex following focal ischemia in the rat and following global ischemia in the gerbil; and will determine whether the changes of protein synthesis correlate regionally and temporally with the induction of the HSP70 heat shock protein. It is proposed that the decreases in total protein synthesis could be used to indirectly image the stress response in non-infarcted human tissues. Studies of stress gene induction in ischemic human brain will be performed to show that the patterns of HSP70 and other stress gene induction are similar in human and rodent brain. The induction of the heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) mRNA and protein will be examined in ischemic brains of normal mice, SOD transgenic and SOD knockout mice. Since HO-1 is induced by oxidative and ischemic stress, it is predicted that HO-1 will be induced to a greater degree in ischemic brains of SOD knockouts compared to SOD transgenics. Suppression of HO-1 induction with HO-1 antisense oligonucleotides is predicted to exacerbate ischemic injury more in SOD knockout compared to SOD transgenic mice. Since heme proteins induce the hemeosygenase HO-1 stress protein, it is proposed that prior treatment of animals with heme proteins will protect the brain against ischemic injury, Blockade of HO-1 induction may block protection produced by heme. Lastly, the cloning of the stress gene, methyl malonyl CoA mutase, will be completed and its induction following focal and global ischemia will be characterized, as well as the factors including lipid peroxidation that regulate its expression, Methods used will include rodent focal and global ischemia models, protein synthesis, cloning, DNA nick end-labeling, in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry.
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Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor was named the first full-time
Geographic Channel, nationalgeographic.com, and a
editor of National Geographic magazine and served the
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Over time, the magazine redefined itself as a committed
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Partners, which would be majority-owned by 21st Century
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once a month since her dad started taking her when she was nine. Her favorite
books are Wind, Sand & Stars and The Little Prince, by Antoine de SaintExupéry. She is excited about what the future and its new technologies will
bring for humankind on earth and beyond.
02°03’038’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
THE E X PE RI MEN TER
JADA : 28 : BIOCHEMIST
Jada is a Biochemist currently leading her entire research team. Her motto
in life is “trial and error”, she believes she can try everything at least once
and go from there. Her dream and goal has always been to expand human
knowledge in her field. She enjoys her lab work but dreams of working in
the field where she can be in direct contact with nature and the environment.
Jada has worked at her current job for about six years now and she wants
to find something more exiting soon. She loves to hang out with her family
and expects to settle down pretty soon. She is a hardcore fan of sciencefiction and she is also a vegan because she loves animals. She strongly
believes that ecological sustainability should be less about politics and
more about finding equilibrium and being mindful of our own planet and its
biological resources.
02°03’039’’N
NGS
THE I NQUI SI TI V E
MARÍA : 30 : ANTHROPOLOGIST
María is an Advisory Research Anthropologist at Ricoh Innovations. She
has a background expertise in User Experience Design Research, Medical
Anthropology, and Science and Technology Studies. In the past she has
worked as a freelance Anthropologist and Ethnographer for several S T E M
companies and as a Research Analyst at
U C S F.
She graduated from
Stanford University, and U C Berkeley. She constantly seeks to improve the
quality of life and enhance wellbeing of others through her work. She is
a very committed individual and active member of different organizations
and community initiatives. Always investigating further into problems in
order to fix them or help in any way she can. Has recently found a new passion for learning new things outside her area of expertise in order to further
expand her knowledge.
02°03’040’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
THE OBSE RVE R
JOSÉ : 36 : UI/UX RESEARCHER
José is passionate about making everyday interactions with technology
more innovative, he has worked two decades in user research and has managed
numerous international research studies. He enjoys developing strategic
partnerships with UX research firms in other countries. José has a graduate
certificate in Human Centered Design and a background in engineering.
Most of his work consists of observing and recognizing thoughtless acts
withing his subject studies. When not at work, he can be found watching
his daughter climb high in their backyard cedar tree. His hobby is watching
the stars with his homemade telescope and daydreaming about what lies
further beyond the most remote galaxies and universes.
02°03’041’’N
NGS
THE E X PE RI E N CE D ES IG N ER
FRANK : 42 : ARCHITECT
Frank is a strong believer and practitioner of sustainable architecture, with
an
MIT
degree. He seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of
buildings by efficiency and moderation in the use of materials and energy.
He is always thinking of how to enhance the environment rather than suppress it. His idea of sustainability is to ensure that our actions today do not
inhibit the opportunities of future generations. His hobby is reading scientific
journals and he looks at every day as a chance to liven up his workspace
and environment.
02°03’042’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
THE DRE AME R
CASEY : 20 : COLLEGE STUDENT
Casey works at a local coffee shop in her neighborhood and is a college
student. She is unsure as to which path to follow because she is currently
a double major in two very different fields: biological anthropology and
mechanical engineering. She wishes she could be a student forever and just
keep expanding her knowledge and doing research. In the meantime, when
she is not studying, she is an avid amateur photographer, always looking
for her next adventure and escapade. Her platonic job since she has memory
was to become a National Geographic photographer. She was a girl scout
when she was little and she believes her hunger for exploration and knowledge was ignited by her adventures as a girl scout. She loves traveling, reading,
and daydreaming about the future and what it will bring with it.
It’s often hard to tell the differences, successes, and weak-points in anything
until it’s held up against another for comparison. In looking at our new
brand, we want to ensure that it is understood how our brand is evolving
and stacking up against the competition. By using a Brand Comparison
Chart, which uses two axis lines in a typical “four-square” diagram, we will
visually project how
NGS
stacks up against two polar measures — and
against the competition — in order to better see areas of opportunity, places
where voids could be filled, and expanses that could be improved.
02°04’046’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
i n n o vat i v e
• NASA
• F UTURE NGS
• V irgin G alac tic
• S p aceX
DIAGRAM 01 :
• Gre enp eace
• PAST NGS
individual
• 3 5 0.org
• Worldwatch Ins titute
• Wild Aid
c o l l a b o r at i v e
• W WF
• S miths onian Ins titution
c o n s e r vat i v e
Diagram 01 represent s NGS ’ innovation and
collaboration relationship with its past and with
its old and new competitors. A s the diagram
shows, our past was more user focused and little
bit conser vative but in order to take innovation
to the next level we need to harness the power of
team work and interdisciplinar y research, to
place ourselves outside the “limits” of innovation
and collaboration.
02°04’047’’N
NGS
adventurous
• F UTURE NGS
• S p aceX
• NASA
• V irgin G alac tic
DIAGRAM 02 :
• W WF
• Wild Aid
• PAST NGS
LOCAL
GLOBAL
• Gre enp eace
• 3 5 0.org
• Worldwatch Ins titute
• S miths onian Ins titution
INACTIVE
Diagram 02 represent s NGS ’ ad venturous and
and geographical qualities relationship with
its past and with its old and new competitors.
T his char t shows how far beyond the most
ou t r ageous ad v en tur es imanigables w e w ill
go versus how far away, pushing the limits
of the speed of light and the territories known
to mankind.
In order to visually represent our what and where we are headed as a new
organization we have created the N G S ’ Brand Grid, a tool to help describe
the brand at a glance and to help evoke the feeling of our core brand.
Take a look at our past brand one last time. Note what we have left behind
in order to reinvent ourselves for the future. We were National Geographic,
a brand once focused on the expanse of knowledge but that lost its soul
along the way. We are
NGS
a leading research organization and a future-
focused society with the exploration, expansion, and conservation of all
knowledge as our North Star.
02°05’053’’N
03
HOW WE LOOK
NEW LOO K
058
LO G O S P E C I F I C ATIONS
060
C OLORS
074
TY P O G RA P HY
076
B U SINESS SYSTEM
080
“MAN CANNOT DISCOVER NEW
OCE ANS UNLESS HE HAS THE
COURAGE TO LOSE SIGHT OF
THE SHORE.”
—ANDRÉ GIDE, FRENCH AUTHOR
NGS
OUR NE W LOOK
The ngs signature is an accurately designed combination of the Polaris Star
and the elegant proportions of our previous logo.
The anatomy of our logo is based upon the North Star or Polaris Star, a star
that has accurately guided explorers, astronomers and scientists across the
planet for centuries. The star lies nearly in a direct line with the axis of the
Earth's rotation “above” the North Pole — the north celestial pole — reason
why it stands almost motionless in the sky, and all the stars of the northern
sky appear to rotate around it. Therefore, it makes an excellent fixed point
from which to draw measurements for celestial navigation for explorers all
around the globe.
The enclosing space, the curves and the flares of the star are based on the
Golden Ratio, same proportions as our previous logo and symbolize a sudden
burst, and gradual expansion of knowledge, while paying homage to our past.
03°01’058’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
03°01’059’’N
NGS
NGS’ LOGO
LOGOMARK
LOGOTYPE
03°02’060’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
L OG O A N AT OM Y
ngs’ logomark can be used either with or without the logotype and may be
represented in one color only or Summit Black and white. Use the mark only
when simplification of the signature is needed for very large or really small
branding spaces.
NGS logotype is a sans serif custom-made face designed to project NGS’
modern, technological, and elegant new image. The logotype must always
appear centered-justified when placed underneath the mark. It may stand
by itself depending on the branding space. The logotype can only be represented in one color or Summit Black and white.
Our logo is a combination of out logomark and logotype, as indicated to the
right. The signature may be used in all promotional materials and can be
displayed in its original two-color combination (Zenith Gray & Knowledge
Turquoise) or Summit Black and white, depending on the need. Logo usage
guidelines are further explained on the following pages.
03°02’061’’N
NGS
L OG OM A R K A N AT OM Y
The new NGS mark is a combination of our past and our future. The mark is
constructed using the Golden Ratio Rectangle, whose side lengths are in
the Golden Ratio and in the proportions of our previous logomark. For it's
connection to infinite growth, dependable proportions and our history, its
the perfect bases on which to build our new identity mark.
Some of the brightest minds of all ages, from Pythagoras and Euclid in ancient
Greece, through the medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa and
the Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler, to present-day scientific
figures such as Oxford physicist Roger Penrose, have spent endless hours
over this simple ratio and its elegant properties.
03°02’062’’N
A=8X
A=8X
GOLDEN R AT IO
A
A+B
=
B
B
2X
X
O
/ =X
½X
O
/ =1 6 X
X
B=5X
O/ = ½ X
O/ = X
2X
L OG O T Y P E A N AT OM Y
NGS’ logotype is a sans serif face designed to project our modern feel and
new technological, and elegant new image. It was custom tailored form the
typeface Forza Medium, redesigned to fit the brand aesthetics: the proportions and the elegant curves of the Golden Ratio.
X
NGS
X
X
7½X
7½X
½X
½X
X
X
X
X
X
3X
3X
X
X
2X
2X
X
03°02’066’’N
8X
8X
X
BRAND GUIDELINES
LOGO SPACING
Let our logo breathe. Always allow the value of X around the logo to ensure
that out mark stands out and is not cluttered. No elements should be within
the turquoise-bounding box pictured to the left. When dealing with negative
space in and outside the logo always remember it will be proportional to the
given value of X.
03°02’067’’N
NGS
LOGO SIZING
Please, refer to the following chart when sizing the NGS logo. Always keep
in mind how size variations are proportional to each other and how the star
flares are affected by size. Always use your best judgment when choosing
a size for any format.
BR AND COLORS
NGS’ color identity is a combination of colors that represent the exploration
and conservation of knowledge and nature.
The primary palette should be used as a first line solution when making
color decisions. The secondary palette should be used only to accentuate
or highlight in unison with the primary palette.
Geogrotesque is a semi modular with a subtle rounded finish typeface family.
DESIGNER : EDUARDO MANSO
All the characters are based on the same formal principle with its corre-
YEAR : 2008
sponding optical adjustments in order to adapt the system to an alphabet
PUBLISHER: EMT YPE FOUNDRY
for texts.
Although the type family has a geometric or “technological” construction,
the rounded finish provides it a warm appearance, making the typefaces
nicer and nearby.
It is available in Open Type format and includes ligatures, tabular figures,
fractions, numerators, denominators, superiors and inferiors with support
for Central and Eastern European languages.
The Sweet Sans typeface family is based on antique engraver’s lettering
DESIGNER : M A RK VA N BRONK HORS T
templates called “masterplates.” Professional stationers use a pantograph
YEAR : 2011
to manually transfer letters from these masterplates to a piece of copper
PUBLISHER: MVB FONTS
or steel that is then etched to serve as a plate or die. This demanding technique is rare today given that most engravers now use a photographic
process to make plates, where just about any font will do. But the lettering
styles engravers popularized during the first half of the twentieth century
—especially the engraver’s sans—are still quite familiar and appealing.
Though rich in history, Sweet Sans is made for contemporary use. It is a
handsome and functional tribute to the spirit of unsung craftsmanship.
BUSINESS SYSTEM
ngs’ business system naturally combines the brand's visual system.
Smartly combining our typefaces, colors, and graphic elements to evoke
a feeling of futuristic technology and elegance. The business system is
an example of how our visual system comes together cohesively.
04
W H AT W E E X P L OR E
N G S REBORN
084
BRAND EXTENSIONS BRIE F
086
EXTENSIONS
092
00°00’083’’
NGS REBORN
NGS is now pushing the boundaries of technological
innovation even further to carry out, support and catalyze
collaborative, interdisciplinary research in order to safe
keep humankind; we are training the next generation of
explorers, scientists, researchers, and anthropologists
to provide scientific and technical leadership on astrobiology, biomimicry, and other areas of investigations for
current and future explorations; We are exploring new
approaches using modern information technology to
conduct interdisciplinary and collaborative research
amongst widely-distributed investigators and support
learners of all ages by implementing formal, informal,
and higher education programming and public outreach.
NGS
OUR BR AND E X TENSIONS
In keeping with the soul of the brand. NGS is now pushing
and main organism of bright minds and professionals
that collaborate in taking care of Earth and humanity.
Our team includes professionals from multiple fields
who work together in search for a better tomorrow.
When the world changes we will be ready. Our Command
center will serve as the main organism of our organization guiding all of our endeavors and exploration towards
the future and making sure knowledge is our guiding star.
04°03’092’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
NG S E DUC AT ION S Y S T E M
◼◼◼
: EDUC ATION
A complete Geo-education involves both in-school and
out-of-school learning. Based on a balance between
the STEM and Humanities learning combines with a
local-global spectrum. Geo-education is a guided
experience in both the human and natural worlds for
young minds and professionals.
04°03’097’’N
NGS
04°03’098’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
04°03’099’’N
K NO W L E DGE D ATA B A SE
◼◼◼
: PRODUCT
Our main knowledge database is the organism that
holds and constantly updates any past or recent
discovery and knowledge for the humanity to use and
conserve forever. NGS’ database is an extensive
collection of any kind of knowledge ever known to
mankind. The database hold information in the areas
of engeneerinf, biology, chemistry, antrhopology,
history, art, physiscs, technology, etc., and it is an
open sourse of information available to anyone
eager to learn and contribute.
NGS
SIMUL AT E D E N V IR ONME N T S
◼◼◼
: PRODUCT
NGS’ simulated environments are a state of the art
research technology that superimposes a virtually generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus
providing a composite view. This seamless overlay of
virtual images on the real world has many possible
applications in a wide variety of fields, including education,
engeneering, and manufacturing, but at NGS it is
mainly used as an extraordinary resource for research
and exploration of different environmets that may
be hazardous or dangerous for human contact.
04°03’102’’N
NGS
04°03’104’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
04°03’105’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
NGS E XPEDITIONS
◼◼◼
: EXPERIENCE
NGS’ expeditions are a very important extension our
organization and activities. NGS is working on the
concept of a high-tech moving laboratory combining
ideas of land, space, and sea navigation. This concept
is envisioned as a sort of aquatic research, carrying
scientists on long treks through environments non-inherently friendly to human life.
Technology and discoveries developed in our expeditions allow us to further develop all technology on a
smaller scale, for every day use in our laboratories. It
also puts us one step further in allowing human habitation in environments that are typically impossible
long term habitats.
04°03’107’’N
GEO EXPEDITIONS
◼◼◼
: EXPERIENCE
Our Monthly expeditions to Earth’s most extreme
environments in search of new resources and endangered minerals. These series of land expeditions
are meant to safe keep our planet's environment and
for the discovery of better energy sources and
minerals for human survival.
GE O-WAT E R E X P E DI T IONS
◼◼◼
: EXPERIENCE
Our biannual underwater explorations objective is
to search for new resources and endangered species.
Our underwater expeditions are an intrinsic part of
out expedition program because they serve as the
practice and foundation upon which to base our
space expeditions.
GEO-SPACE E XPEDI T IONS
◼◼◼
: EXPERIENCE
Our outer space expeditions go in search of new
habitable environments for humankind and better
resources to sustain life.
NGS
DISCOVERY RIGHTS
◼◼◼
: SERVICE
NGS’ Discovery rights encompass discoveries on land,
space, and underwater and the management of area
and expanse discovered, as well as naming the naming
rights for any biological discovery on our planet and on
far away galaxies for future human habitation.
04°03’114’’N
NGS
04°03’116’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
04°03’0117’’N
L IF E VA U LT S
◼◼◼
: SERVICE
All of our vaults cryogenically preserve life organisms for mankind’s survival here on home planet or
intergalactically. Our fauna vaults preserve a wide
variety of genetic material and frozen embryos form
many different animal species —including human
embryos—. Our flora vaults preserve a range of plant
seeds that are duplicate samples of seeds held in
gene banks worldwide. The seed vault is an attempt
to insure against the loss of seeds in large-scale
regional or global crises and to provide for humanity’s survival in outer space.
NGS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
◼◼◼
: PRODUCT
Artificial intelligence is transforming the world as we
know it. AI is an extremely powerful technology, powerful
enough to make a dramatic difference in human life. It
has the possibility of enhancing human endeavor by
complementing what people can do. ai’s impact is
especially dominant in areas of science and engineering for outer space and underwater expeditions.
Recognizing the objectives of NGS’s is quite logical
that we spend large amount of our resources in collaboration with scientists and research centers around
the world to come up with the best AI technology there
is to help us in our often dangerous explorations on
land, water and outer space.
04°03’120’’N
NGS
04°03’122’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
04°03’123’’N
BRAND GUIDELINES
BIOMIMICRY L ABS
◼◼◼
: ENVIRONMENT
Biomimicry is a scientific design discipline where patterns and strategies found in nature are emulated/mimicked to find sustainable and better solutions to human
challenges. This discipline encourages us to approach
nature with humility and dig deeper into her systems
and processes to extract design principles, apply and
innovate in a manner aligned to the planet and not
against it.
NGS’ engineers and researchers often use the natural
world as inspiration for design. Biologically inspired
designs include air- and sea-going vessels, navigation
tools such as sonar and radar, expedition imaging
devices, biological technologies, and water and pollution treatment processes.
The exploration, expansion, and conservation of
knowledge requires working together towards a
common goal. At NGS we do not underestimate the
power of collaboration and take it as serious as we
can. Getting to innovation —true innovation—
requires a long process of trial and error and a support community. Reason why at NGS we have solid
partnerships and collaborations with leading institutions such as the National Administration for
Scientific Advancement (NASA), MIT, Cal Tech,
Harvard, and the Smithsonian Institution, amongst
many others.
“ WE SHALL NOT CE ASE FROM
E X P L OR AT ION , A ND T HE E ND OF
ALL OUR EXPLORING WILL BE
T O A R R I V E W HE R E W E S TA R T E D
AND KNOW THE PL ACE FOR
T HE FIRS T T IME.”
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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|
NFL Analyst: ‘Whisenhunt’s going to get another shot’
When the Arizona Cardinals fired Ken Whisenhunt on Monday, many pundits around the league believed he would get a second chance as an NFL head coach.
Less than a week since his firing, Whisenhunt has already completed interviews with the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns. With the Browns close to hiring Oregon innovator and one of the hottest head coaching candidates on the market, Chip Kelly, many wonder if Whisenhunt will indeed wind up taking the reins in Buffalo.
CBS Sports NFL Analyst Steve Tasker told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug & Wolf Friday he hasn’t been privy to the talks between Whisenhunt and the Bills, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the former Cardinals head coach landed with the Bills.
“Don’t be surprised when Ken Whisenhunt gets another head coaching job and it may well be in Buffalo,” Tasker said. “I am sure that he’s on their short list and we’ll see how it comes out. I don’t have any special insight into how that interview process went with Whisenhunt.”
Tasker said he understands Cardinals fans might be unable to fathom how Whisenhunt could potentially get another head coach gig so quickly, but he believes with the right personnel the 50-year-old could be quite successful in a new environment.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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|
129 F.3d 1254
Nelson Fernandesv.U.S., I.R.S.
NO. 97-5192
United States Court of Appeals,Third Circuit.
Sept 08, 1997
Appeal From: D.N.J. ,No.9603246 ,
Politan, J.
1
Affirmed.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "FreeLaw"
}
|
Q:
Is there a function in Emacs to search the filesystem for a file by its name?
I want to open a file that is somewhere deep in my project tree. I know the name of the file, however I don't want to go searching the tree for it. I would like a way to enter just the file name, and have emacs search for me. I should also be able to enter the base directory I want to start the search from, and emacs should remember that for future searches.
A:
Sounds like you are looking for the equivalent of Textmate's Command-T functionality. The closest I have found for emacs is find-file-in-project. It can be bound to C-t or a similar key for convenience: (global-set-key "\C-t" 'ido-find-file-in-tag-files)
A:
M-x find-name-dired is the built-in solution for this. The default directory changes according to the current buffer, but the minibuffer history contains the previous selections.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
package io.digdag.core.database.migrate;
import org.skife.jdbi.v2.Handle;
public class Migration_20160602123456_SessionsOnProjectIdIndexToDesc
implements Migration
{
@Override
public void migrate(Handle handle, MigrationContext context)
{
handle.update("create index sessions_on_project_id_desc on sessions (project_id, id desc)");
handle.update("drop index sessions_on_project_id");
}
}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
Comment on The Deer Hunter: F*** It
Michael (Robert De Niro) and the boys try to strike up a conversation with a soldier at the bar, the soldier doesn't want to talk just drink.
Movie Description
A group of working-class friends decides to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in love with the same woman. But all three are different men upon their return.
Studios
Universal Pictures, EMI Films Ltd.
Starring:
Welcome to Klipd.com
Here at Klipd.com, we are a team of loyal movie enthusiasts who are devoted to sharing one of our favorite past times, viewing movie scenes, with you the viewers. Have you ever found yourself watching a movie and..
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Classification of morphologically similar algae and cyanobacteria using Mueller matrix imaging and convolutional neural networks.
We present the Mueller matrix imaging system to classify morphologically similar algae based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The algae and cyanobacteria data set contains 10,463 Mueller matrices from eight species of algae and one species of cyanobacteria, belonging to four phyla, the shapes of which are mostly randomly oriented spheres, ovals, wheels, or rods. The CNN serves as an automatic machine with learning ability to help in extracting features from the Mueller matrix, and trains a classifier to achieve a 97% classification accuracy. We compare the performance in two ways. One way is to compare the performance of five CNNs that differ in the number of convolution layers as well as the classical principle component analysis (PCA) plus the support vector machine (SVM) method; the other way is to quantify the differences of scores between full Mueller matrix and the first matrix element m11, which does not contain polarization information under the same conditions. As the results show, deeper CNNs perform better, the best of which outperforms the conventional PCA plus SVM method by 19.66% in accuracy, and using the full Mueller matrix earns 6.56% increase of accuracy than using m11. It demonstrates that the coupling of Mueller matrix imaging and CNN may be a promising and efficient solution for the automatic classification of morphologically similar algae.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Najibullah
Najibullah () is a male Muslim given name, composed of the elements Najib and Allah. It means distinguished (servant) of God. It may refer to:
People
Mohammad Najibullah (1947–1996), President of Afghanistan
Najeebullah Anjum (born 1955), Pakistani film and television actor
Najiballah Zarimi (born 1979), Afghan footballer
Najibullah (militant leader) (born ca. 1979), leader of Taliban splinter group Fidai Mahaz in Afghanistan
Najibullah Zazi (born 1985), Afghan imprisoned in the USA for terrorist offenses
Najibullah Lafraie, Foreign Minister of Afghanistan between 1992 and 1996
Najibullah Quraishi, Afghan journalist and film maker
Najibullah Zadran, Afghan international cricketer
Places
Kot Najeebullah, town in Pakistan
Category:Arabic-language surnames
Category:Arabic masculine given names
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
|
1. Statement of the Technical Field
The invention concerns antennas and more particularly aperture coupled antennas that can be dynamically modified to operate over a relatively large bandwidth by controlling a shape of a ground plane.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patch antennas are well known in the art and are used in a wide variety of applications. They can be manufactured in a nearly unlimited number of shapes and sizes, and can be made to conform to most surface profiles. Patch antennas also possess an omni-directional radiation pattern that is desirable for many uses.
One negative aspect of patch antennas is that they usually have a relatively narrow impedance bandwidth. For a typical classically fed patch antenna, bandwidth is usually about 2% to 3%. Patch antennas that are fed with an aperture or slot can have slightly higher bandwidths, in the range from about 4% to 6%, but this is still too narrow for many applications. The impedance of a patch antenna is also noteworthy as it can depart significantly from 50 ohms. Consequently, most patch antennas need proper matching in order to ensure efficient power transfer, particularly when fed with coaxial cables that can be lossy at high levels of VSWR.
Impedance matching for a patch antenna can be accomplished using several different approaches. For example, a quarter wave high impedance transmission line transformer can be used for this purpose. Alternatively since the impedance is at a minimum at the center of the patch and increases along the axis, a 50 ohm microstrip line can be extended into the interior of the patch to achieve a suitable match. In yet another alternative, a center conductor of a coaxial line can be routed through a dielectric substrate on which the conductive patch is disposed to contact the underside of the patch at a selected impedance point.
Still, the operation of most conventional matching circuitry will be frequency dependent. Accordingly, the input impedance of the antenna system will tend to vary considerably over a relatively large bandwidth. Consequently, the usable bandwidth of the conventional patch antenna will remain relatively limited.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
680 F.2d 1387
*Calzadillasv.Pat O'Brien's Bar
81-3410
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Fifth Circuit
6/7/82
1
E.D.La.
AFFIRMED
2
---------------
* Fed.R.App.P. 34(a); 5th Cir. R. 18.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "FreeLaw"
}
|
Interaction between estrogen receptor alpha, ionizing radiation and (anti-) estrogens in breast cancer cells.
Estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) plays a major role in breast cancer development. It acts as ligand-inducible transcription factor which determines growth, survival and differentiation of breast cancer cells. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential interference between radiotherapy and estrogen receptor responsiveness. Materials and methods. The effect of ionizing radiation was assessed on the estrogen receptor alpha status, growth (proliferation and apoptosis) and sensitivity of MCF-7 breast cancer cells to estrogenic (17beta-estradiol (E2)), selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) and anti-estrogenic compounds. Results. We have observed a ligand-independent decrease in ERalpha expression after radiation, resulting from a specific reduction in mRNA level and protein synthesis. This ERalpha disappearance occurred 72 h post-irradiation at 8 Gy and decreased the transcriptional activity in ERalpha of these cells. On the other hand, E2 impedes the growth inhibitory effects (essentially on proliferation) of ionizing radiation in MCF-7 cells, which potentially decreases radiosensitivity of these cells. This effect was totally blocked by SERM and anti-estrogenic treatments. Moreover, this growth effect of concurrent anti-estrogenic drugs and ionizing radiation appeared to be strongly synergistic. This study may increase general comprehension of ERalpha modulation by radiotherapy and improve adjuvant therapeutic approaches based on co-administration of radiation and endocrine therapy.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
About US$ 5
Estimated delivery Oct 2014
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
“This is your last year. You can do this!”
Those were the words my aunt whispered to me softly, holding me in her embrace as I cried. I was getting ready to board my flight from LaGuardia International Airport, thereby leaving the comfort of New York, a city which made me feel closer to the Caribbean during the summer months.
My reason for crying? The crippling realization that I had to return to Indiana for another year.
This sentiment is not new. For the past two years, each return flight I have boarded has been an exercise in severe anxiety management, as I dreaded returning to a state that seemed overtly hostile toward people who look like me.
There have been a few positives from my experience living in Indiana: I've made lifelong friends, found my passion for social justice and enriched my soul with academic experiences I probably would not have gotten anywhere else. At the same time, returning to Indiana is always dreadful because of a single thought: “What ignorant comment will I have to deal with this time?”
I came to understand quickly that living in this state meant being asked questions such as: “Do airplanes land on trees in Haiti?” Remarks like this are a glaring reminder that, in many people's eyes, I don't belong in this community. These comments have also been made personal. On one occasion, as I spoke to my mother on the phone, our conversation was tainted by a stranger yelling at me to speak in English, because this is “America.” Being thousands of miles away from the Caribbean, the last thing I want to tell my parents is that I am depressed because I'm being mistreated by my peers.
I did not leave my country so I could be subjected to harassment, physical and verbal threats, property vandalism and assault. Such inquiries and comments, while they may not appear harmful to some on the outside, can be detrimental to someone's career and personal life.
People have been judged on the basis of their name, skin color, hair texture, accent, national origin, ethnicity and culture – all characteristics we cannot choose for ourselves.
Unfortunately, I am not the only person suffering the consequences of overt racism and xenophobia while living in Indiana. I had the opportunity to speak to alums of color from various Hoosier institutions over the summer, and almost all of their stories echoed mine: Our mental health was severely affected by our experiences navigating racism and other forms of discrimination while in college.
To other immigrants and people of color: You are worth it.
To those community members who interact with us: One small act of kindness will brighten our day.
I am now a senior in college and, sadly, I am contemplating never returning to Indiana after graduation.
Diversity is not a threat; it's what makes our communities stronger. As more people not feeling welcomed leave the state, I urge Hoosiers to be hospitable to every person they encounter. I will always cherish some of the experiences I've had in Indiana; however, as I embark on my last year of college, I've become doubtful that those experiences were worth the trauma I and many others have inflicted on us during our time in Hoosier communities.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
Q:
How to print a large canvas across multiple page widths in browser?
My application needs to print out an arbitrarily large canvas that can span multiple page width and height widths.
There was a similar question some time back where it was claimed the browser won't print to multiple page widths.
Since this was a while back I am wondering if it is still true. Also, what strategies are available to print out a large canvas without splitting it up?
var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas1");
function draw_a() {
var context = canvas.getContext("2d");
// // LEVER
//plane
context.fillStyle = '#aaa';
context.fillRect(25, 90, 2500, 400);
}
$(document).ready(function() {
draw_a();
});
canvas {
border: 1px dotted;
}
.printOnly {
display: none;
}
@media print {
html,
body {
height: 100%;
background-color: yellow;
}
.myDivToPrint {
background-color: yellow;
/*
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
position: fixed;*/
top: 0;
left: 0;
margin: 0;
}
.no-print,
.no-print * {
display: none !important;
}
.printOnly {
display: block;
}
}
@media print and (-ms-high-contrast: active),
(-ms-high-contrast: none) {
html,
body {
height: 100%;
background-color: yellow;
}
.myDivToPrint {
background-color: yellow;
/*
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
position: fixed;*/
top: 0;
left: 0;
margin: 0;
padding: 15px;
font-size: 14px;
line-height: 18px;
position: absolute;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
-webkit-transform: rotate(90deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(90deg);
-o-transform: rotate(90deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(90deg);
transform: rotate(90deg);
}
.no-print,
.no-print * {
display: none !important;
}
.printOnly {
display: block;
}
}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<button onclick="window.print();" class="no-print">Print Canvas</button>
<div class="myDivToPrint">
<div class="Aligner-item">
<canvas height="2500px" width="4000px" id="canvas1"></canvas>
<div class="printOnly Aligner-item--bottom"> Print Only</div>
</div>
</div>
A:
@media print {
@page {
size: 297mm 210mm; /* landscape */
/* you can also specify margins here: */
margin: 25mm;
margin-right: 45mm; /* for compatibility with both A4 and Letter */
}
}
var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas1");
function draw_a() {
var context = canvas.getContext("2d");
// // LEVER
//plane
context.fillStyle = '#aaa';
context.fillRect(25, 90, 2500, 400);
}
$(document).ready(function() {
draw_a();
});
canvas {
border: 1px dotted;
}
.printOnly {
display: none;
}
@media print {
@page {
size: 297mm 210mm; /* landscape */
/* you can also specify margins here: */
margin: 25mm;
margin-right: 45mm; /* for compatibility with both A4 and Letter */
}
html,
body {
height: 100%;
background-color: yellow;
}
.myDivToPrint {
background-color: yellow;
/*
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
position: fixed;*/
top: 0;
left: 0;
margin: 0;
}
.no-print,
.no-print * {
display: none !important;
}
.printOnly {
display: block;
}
}
@media print and (-ms-high-contrast: active),
(-ms-high-contrast: none) {
html,
body {
height: 100%;
background-color: yellow;
}
.myDivToPrint {
background-color: yellow;
/*
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
position: fixed;*/
top: 0;
left: 0;
margin: 0;
padding: 15px;
font-size: 14px;
line-height: 18px;
position: absolute;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
-webkit-transform: rotate(90deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(90deg);
-o-transform: rotate(90deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(90deg);
transform: rotate(90deg);
}
.no-print,
.no-print * {
display: none !important;
}
.printOnly {
display: block;
}
}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<button onclick="window.print();" class="no-print">Print Canvas</button>
<div class="myDivToPrint">
<div class="Aligner-item">
<canvas height="2500px" width="4000px" id="canvas1"></canvas>
<div class="printOnly Aligner-item--bottom"> Print Only</div>
</div>
</div>
A:
It does seem that browsers will split up a large canvas into multiple pages. I tested on MacOS Sierra using latest chrome and safari browsers.
A possible approach for printing a canvas is to first transform it to a data URI containing a representation of the image using canvas.toDataURL(). You can then manipulate the image dimensions prior to printing.
"<img src='" + canvas.toDataURL() + "' height='500px' width='500px' />'"
In the following example, the large 4500px by 4500px canvas is translated into an img and placed inside an iframe, used for printing. You can probably append the image to the original document and than print that specific element, but the iframe may be more flexible to handle print output. You can manipulate the img dimensions according to your requirements and print a scaled representation of the canvas. Note that I hardcoded the width and height of the image but this can be calculated and changed as needed for printing.
Due to iframe cross-origin restrictions, the code snippet below will not work here, but it does work on this jsfiddle.
The scaled 500px by 500px image representing the canvas fits on one page when printed.
var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas1");
function draw_a() {
var context = canvas.getContext("2d");
// // LEVER
//plane
context.fillStyle = '#aaa';
context.fillRect(25, 90, 4500, 4500);
}
print = function() {
window.frames["myFrame"].focus();
window.frames["myFrame"].print();
}
function setupPrintFrame() {
$('<iframe id="myFrame" name="myFrame">').appendTo("body").ready(function(){
setTimeout(function(){
$('#myFrame').contents().find('body').append("<img src='" + canvas.toDataURL() + "' height='500px' width='500px' />'");
},50);
});
}
$(document).ready(function() {
draw_a();
setupPrintFrame();
});
canvas {
border: 1px dotted;
}
.printOnly, #myFrame {
display: none;
}
@media print {
html,
body {
height: 100%;
background-color: yellow;
}
.myDivToPrint {
background-color: yellow;
/*
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
position: fixed;*/
top: 0;
left: 0;
margin: 0;
}
.no-print,
.no-print * {
display: none !important;
}
.printOnly {
display: block;
}
}
@media print and (-ms-high-contrast: active),
(-ms-high-contrast: none) {
html,
body {
height: 100%;
background-color: yellow;
}
.myDivToPrint {
background-color: yellow;
/*
height: 100%;
width: 100%;
position: fixed;*/
top: 0;
left: 0;
margin: 0;
padding: 15px;
font-size: 14px;
line-height: 18px;
position: absolute;
display: flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
-webkit-transform: rotate(90deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(90deg);
-o-transform: rotate(90deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(90deg);
transform: rotate(90deg);
}
.no-print,
.no-print * {
display: none !important;
}
.printOnly {
display: block;
}
}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<button onclick="print()" class="no-print">Print Canvas</button>
<div class="myDivToPrint">
<div class="Aligner-item">
<canvas height="4500px" width="4500px" id="canvas1"></canvas>
<div class="printOnly Aligner-item--bottom"> Print Only</div>
</div>
</div>
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
What’s the action I’m committing to? What am I going to do differently as the result of coming across work that should change my thinking and my behavior? If all I do is share, the implication, at best, is that I’m hoping that someone else is more willing to act on something than I am.
Maybe we need a little help.
I fantasize about a Do button at the bottom of every article and viral video. Maybe this button links to a condensed Ship It book by Seth Godin and generates an email (or Evernote, or Google doc, or it gets pulled into Slack) describing exactly what I am going to do with this new thinking, with who, by when. The button helps us shift from “hey, this is interesting” to “this is what we’re going to do.”
To get us started, anyone out there seen a Do button that I’ve missed? Or want to make one?
And, if you like this idea, please DON’T just forward this blog post along.
Share this post, and any like it, with a commitment: think back to that one best idea you came across last week and write down what you’re going to do about it. As in (feel free to copy/paste/edit):
Hey Marcus,
Sasha Dichter’s blog post today got me thinking about that article I shared with you last week. We really need to change the way we run our team meetings, and my proposal is ________, which I want us to try at our meeting next week. As a next step, I’m going to….
(Bonus: commit to figuring out what your Do button is going to look like so that the next time a big idea rocks your world, you’ll take the steps to implement that idea to change your world for the better.)
The bottom line is that we are letting ourselves off the hook, and, in so doing, we’re not doing right by the people whose thinking we so deeply respect. The truth is, these people aren’t interested in being a little bit famous; they’re interested in making something happen. The best way to honor them is through the actions you take.
A powerful post, Sasha . . . powerful because of its very truth. I’ve been wondering, if we as a society really think we can change the world and our own sphere of influence by simply clicking? By liking? Isn’t this limiting ourselves and denying our capacity for living creatively ? Information and causes and suggestions are so omnipresent these days it seems that inaction can be a result. For myself, I decided a few weeks ago, because I was feeling disempowered and ineffective — that I would take action based on observations/instructions posted by a few local friends who are well versed in local ecology/environmental work. Small actions. But at least something.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
[The "SYNAPSY" project: where psychiatrists and neuroscientists meet].
The National Center of Competence in Research project "SYNAPSY" aims at identifying certain mechanisms of psychiatric and cognitive disorders, in order to improve the understanding and the genesis of such pathologies, and to promote the development of better diagnostic tools and of new therapeutic approaches. It provides an excellent opportunity for clinical psychiatrists and neuroscientists to develop a synergic mode of collaboration. On the basis of questions stemming from clinical practice and in the frame of patients cohorts, various research projects in neuroscience should lead to progresses that may have a considerable impact on clinical practice.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Q:
Complex Numbers....
Suppose a is a complex number such that:
$$a^2+a+\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{a^2}+1=0$$
If m is a positive integer, find the value of:
$$(a^2)^m+a^m+\frac{1}{a^m}+\frac{1}{(a^2)^m}$$
My Approach:
After I could not solve it using the usual methods I tried a bit crazier approach. I thought that as the question suggests that the value of the expression does not depend upon the value of m, provided it is positive, hence the graph of the expression on Y-axis and m on X-axis would be parallel to X-axis and thus the slope be zero. So I differentiated it with respect to m and equated it to zero and after factorizing and solving I got $a^m=-1$ or $a^m=1$ or $a^m=\left(\frac{-1}{4}+i\frac{\sqrt15}{4}\right)$ or $a^m=\left(\frac{-1}{4}-i\frac{\sqrt15}{4}\right)$. But if $a^m=1$ then $a=1$ which does not sattisfy the first equaion. Thus the value of $$(a^2)^m+a^m+\frac{1}{a^m}+\frac{1}{(a^2)^m}=\frac{-9}{4}$$
OR
$$(a^2)^m+a^m+\frac{1}{a^m}+\frac{1}{(a^2)^m}=0$$
What other approach would you suggest? What are the flaws in my approach (if any)?
A:
If we multiply
$$a^2 + a + \frac1a + \frac{1}{a^2} + 1 = 0$$
with $a^2$, we obtain (since evidently $a \neq 1$)
$$0 = a^4 + a^3 + a^2 + a + 1 = \frac{a^5-1}{a-1},$$
so $a^5 = 1$,
$$a = e^{(2\pi ik)/5},\quad k \in \{1,2,3,4\}.$$
Then, if $m$ is a multiple of $5$, we have $$(a^2)^m + a^m + \frac1{a^m} + \frac{1}{(a^2)^m} = 1+1+1+1 = 4,$$
and if $m$ is not a multiple of $5$, the four numbers
$$a^{2m},\, a^m,\, a^{-m}\, a^{-2m}$$
are the numbers $a^2,\, a,\, a^{-1},\,a^{-2}$, possibly in a different order, then the sum is $-1$.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Rated 5 / 5 stars2004-06-23 03:19:38
Rated 0 / 5 stars2004-06-19 01:11:17
BAD
Okay Legendary Frog will be highly offended, and hopfully Tom Flup would be offended, cause this is more like a huge spoof of his characters. I hope Tom, and Wade Flup, and the staff of newgrounds reads, and watches this. you're be in big trouble.
Rated 5 / 5 stars2004-06-16 23:48:44
Dude!!!
That was Not only Funny But Twizted LOL make More But this time make it whare NENE Had Biiiiiiiiiiiig Titties good work man and hope you reply to me review......Or I'll Haut you in your sleep mwwwahahahahahahahahahahaaaa >:D
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Anonymous asked: Edward Feser wrote a blog piece entitled 'Eliminativism without Truth.What do you think of this critique of eliminative materialism? I think Feser has pretty much destroyed it
Based on this series of posts, Feser seems to be motivated by little more than a semantic commitment to what counts as “real”.
He’s not the first person I’ve read who doesn’t get it. The problem is marketing. “Eliminativism” has pretty awful connotations, doesn’t it? It sounds like something Stalin tried.
A better word might be Other-izing. It’s not that mental states like beliefs and thoughts have been eliminated, annihilated, never to be seen again. Rather, they’re just not metaphysical objects anymore. They’re something other than metaphysical.
Supervenience is an even better word. It’s uncontroversial that the macroeconomy supervenes on the aggregate decisions of all the individuals in the market. That doesn’t mean every predictive model of the economy has to be micro-founded. But it does mean that we should be suspicious of theories that treat the aggregate as a kind of sui generis substance, metaphysically separate from its component parts. Further, recognition of this fact helps prevents category mistaken claims or the fallacy of composition.
Similarly, does Feser disagree that mental states are macro-phenomenon which supervene to neural computation and configurations of matter over a timeline of efficient causes? That’s the substantive issue at stake.
In Part 1, Feser distinguishes between “real” intentionality and “as if” intentionality without ever actually explaining the difference. Materialists have very detailed schematics of their “as if intentionality.” All Feser has to do is point out what’s lacking. Instead he just hand waves by demanding that elusive substance known as “intrinsic”.
Maybe an example comparing the two views would be helpful. Take a mental state like having a memory.
A believer in mental materialism would predict that:
After experiencing a memory, the memory must continue to persist in an inactive state of some material description if it is to be called upon again down the road.
Is a dormant memory still a mental state; is it intrinsic or derived or neither? If inactive memories count, do inactive beliefs count? What does a belief look like without the believing, a memory without remembering, in Feser’s view?
Depending on the properties of the substrate and the method of storage, memories should become less reliable overtime, damaged or forgotten (eliminated? deleted?) as the substrate deteriorates.
As a memory fades or becomes compressed, is the mental state correspondingly less real; is the memory intrinsically worse or is its worse-ness derived from cellular damage and age?
Memory’s physical contingency implies it has location and takes up space, which suggests the possibility of more than one type of memory based on material efficiency trade-offs.
How does an intrinsic view of memory explain the disunity between working memory and sensory memory? Is procedural memory of a skill or activity (aka muscle memory) part of a mental state or is it actually intrinsic to the muscle? How does an intrinsic view of memory explain the supervenience of long term memory onto other systems of memory, like declarative and episodic memory? Is memory necessarily self-contained, or is an intrinsic theory able to explain the ways memory systems interact with other systems, like language, vision and olfaction?
It’s not possible to look into the brain and see a memory. In fact, to the naked eye, the brain looks like a homogeneous kludge of grey and white matter. If you’ve ever looked at a computer’s hard drive, it looks like a homogeneous substance as well. While it’s easy to take the brain/computer metaphor too far, in this case it’s instructive. If our brain is at all like a computer, the homogeneity of the substance belies a deeper heterogeneity of the integrated circuitry.
In the case of computer memory, it’s possible to build a circuit that stores or “maintains” a bit of information using two NOR gates and feedback (an S-R latch). I don’t have a computer science background so I won’t risk botching the details. But as far as the metaphysics is concerned, it’s enough to know that the final state of system is determined by the electrical properties of the gates.
Needless to say, human memory is way more elaborate than a single storage element. Like computers, human memory has a more permanent, longer term storage (like a hard drive) as well as shorter term, working systems (like RAM or virtual memory). Our daily capacity to remember stuff is also pretty finite, benefiting from a night sleep to give our brains a chance to de-frag, as it were, via synaptic pruning.
Now, as long as we have our metaphysical caps on, it’s arguably incoherent to point at an S-R latch and say “look, there is memory!” Quantitatively, a logic gate is nothing more than the physical parts that compose the circuit, be it computer parts or networks of neurons. “Memory” as such is an abstraction. It is a function we ascribe to the system given its particular use in a larger system.
In fact all computation is abstract. Programmers are even taught to think in abstraction, i.e. semantically, before diving into the details of how to write their program. No one thinks out a computer science problem at the scale of physics. Instead, one takes off their metaphysical cap and puts on their higher-abstraction cap whenever it is more useful.
This suggests computation is something other than its metaphysical reality. Computation is a higher level of description of processes that ultimately supervene to purely physical phenomenon. Understanding this is important, as physical reality imposes truly intrinsic limits on computation. Even human information processing must obey the limits imposed by thermodynamics.
Feser’s incoherence thesis is based on the premise that we must do all our discourse as metaphysicians – that materialists are, in everyday life, committed to translating words like “belief,” “intention” and “memory” to their neural correlates. This is like insisting meteorologists are incoherent because they don’t describe weather patterns in terms of elementary particles. We know metaphysically that a cloud is simply a macro-view of the dynamic physics of swirling atoms, but building weather models that way is intractable. Instead, sophisticated meteorologists use abstract methods from statistical physics. Perhaps abstract concepts and ideas are a form of mental statistics.
If scientists are ever going to understand how the mind works they will have to be willing to set aside the abstract phenomenon like belief and intention that come to us naturally from the alluring sensations of phenomenology. I for one don’t care if you continue to call a memory “real” as long as you understand that it is not the same sort of “real” as the physical processes that underlie it.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
ND-BS003 Reactive Stationary Jammer
The ND-BS003 is designed for blocking remote controlled improvised explosive devices (RCIEDs) used by terrorist.
Having considered the variety of jamming targets and the wide range of uncertainties, the more advanced and effective jamming signal modulation method is adopted, which significantly increases the jamming efficiency in each band, for the purpose of providing security protection and ensuring the safety of VIPs.
By adopting the unique Smart Power® technology, the wideband frequency coverage range of the system can be from 20 to 2700MHz (up to 6GHz based on requirements) and its total response time is less than 200μs. Besides, automatic self-protection mechanism effectively supports stable operation and long service life by preventing the system from overheating and over-current.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Q:
DocuSign Composite Template -- uploaded document is not displaying
I am using DocuSign RestAPI, trying to create an envelope using Composite Template.
My intent is to append a PDF document to the end of an existing template.
Using the below JSON to POST /v2/accounts/{accountId}/envelopes, I am able to get the template to show, but not the appended PDF document.
What am I missing?
{
"status":"sent",
"emailBlurb":"envelope_body",
"emailSubject":"envelope_subject",
"compositeTemplates":[
{
"serverTemplates":[
{
"sequence":"1",
"templateId":"{TEMPLATE_ID}"
}
],
"inlineTemplates":[
{
"sequence":"1",
"recipients":{
"signers":[
{
"clientUserId":"1234",
"email":"applicant@example.com",
"name":"applicant",
"recipientId":1,
"roleName":"Applicant",
},
{
"clientUserId":"2345",
"email":"underwriter@example.com",
"name":"underwriter",
"recipientId":2,
"roleName":"Underwriter",
}
]
}
},
{
"sequence":"2",
"documents":[
{
"documentBase64": "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",
"documentId":"10",
"fileExtension":"PDF",
"name":"addendum",
}
],
"recipients":{
"signers":[
{
"clientUserId":"1234",
"email":"applicant@example.com",
"name":"applicant",
"recipientId":1,
"roleName":"Applicant",
,
{
"clientUserId":"2345",
"email":"underwriter@example.com",
"name":"underwriter",
"recipientId":2,
"roleName":"Underwriter",
}
]
}
}
]
}
]
}
A:
If you want to just append the document, then below JSON structure will help you:
You need to have two composite templates. First CompositeTemplate will be for adding document from the serverTemplate and providing the recipient Details. Second Composite template will just add a PDF document to the envelope.
{
"status":"sent",
"emailBlurb":"envelope_body",
"emailSubject":"envelope_subject",
"compositeTemplates":[
{
"compositeTemplateId":"1",
"serverTemplates":[
{
"sequence":"1",
"templateId":"{TEMPLATE_ID}"
}
],
"inlineTemplates":[
{
"sequence":"2",
"recipients":{
"signers":[
{
"clientUserId":"1234",
"email":"applicant@example.com",
"name":"applicant",
"recipientId":"1",
"roleName":"Applicant"
},
{
"clientUserId":"1234",
"email":"underwriter@example.com",
"name":"underwriter",
"recipientId":"2",
"roleName":"Underwriter"
}
]
}
}
]
},
{
"compositeTemplateId":"2",
"inlineTemplates":[
{
"sequence":"3",
"documents":[
{
"documentBase64": "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",
"documentId":"10",
"fileExtension":"PDF",
"name":"addendum",
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
[Clinical analysis of 30 patients with perineal endometriosis].
To investigate the diagnosis and treatment of perineal endometriosis. The clinical date of 30 patients with perineal endometriosis, aged 32.3 (23 approximately 44), who were admitted 1983 - 2006, operated on, and followed up for 0.5 approximately 13 years, were analyzed. The incidence of perineal endometriosis was 0.32% among the total endometriosis cases. Five of these 30 patients (16.7%) suffered from perineal endometriosis combined with pelvic endometriosis. The latent period was 4 months to 13 years. There was no significant difference in onset of age. All patients had cyclical and painful lesions. The level of CA125 was normal. All patients were cured after complete surgical excision. Diagnosis of perineal endometriosis can be made based on the patients' history and clinical manifestations. Surgical excision is the first choice of treatment. The recurrent rate of the cases without anal sphincter involvement is lower than that with anal sphincter invasion since the complete incision can be made. It is important to evaluate pre-operatively if the anal sphincter is involved.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
is the first ending song in Kill la Kill. It served You can help Kill la Kill Wiki by expanding it. The full version served as the ending theme for the final episode. 8 Jul This sound mod replaces the credit song to the Kill la Kill first ending "Gomen ne, Iiko ja Irarenai." by Miku Sawai (Full Version) Sounds really. Kill la Kill is a anime television series created and produced by Trigger. The series .. As Ryuko furiously attacks her, Nui recalls six months ago how she killed Isshin with the Rending Scissors Unable to fight at her full strength out of fear of losing control again, Ryuko is defeated by Nui, and Senketsu is torn to pieces.
Hiroyuki Sawano - KILL la KILL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - bevydigital.com Music. ending songs, but that didn't bother me since the whole soundtrack is simply. Looking for information on the anime Kill la Kill? Edit Ending Theme likely at least heard of them and the impact that they've had on anime as a whole. I never quite felt satisfied the with the ending. The 'evil' mom was Rules PM the mods» Full rules». Everything . ago (1 child). Kill la Kill. Kill la Kill Lyrics: *endy adlibs* / I been working hard but it seems its not enough / But I'm feeling fine just because I'm It's real in the field either kill or be killed.
Plot Summary: Ryuuko Matoi carries a large weapon shaped like half of a pair of scissors. She's looking for the woman with the other half, who killed her father. Read Kill La Kill Op from the story Anime & VG Lyrics by Satomi_z (Satou) with reads. videos, opsandeds, manga. Kill La Kill Op Sirius: Aoi Eir. 8 Jan I gotta find out who killed my dad. I hear the voice of you in my mind so. My blood is pumping. I'm ready to fight when you are. Let's let no. Animation Kill La Kill Poster. A young .. She is looking for the woman who holds the other half of her sword who killed her father. See full technical specs ».
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
module Listen
# Allows two threads to wait on eachother.
#
# @note Only two threads can be used with this Turnstile
# because of the current implementation.
class Turnstile
# Initialize the turnstile.
#
def initialize
# Until ruby offers semahpores, only queues can be used
# to implement a turnstile.
@q = Queue.new
end
# Blocks the current thread until a signal is received.
#
def wait
@q.pop if @q.num_waiting == 0
end
# Unblocks the waiting thread if there is one.
#
def signal
@q.push :dummy if @q.num_waiting == 1
end
end
end
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
Q:
How to store the data within java application?
I am using H2 database which is embedded in my java application. I'm creating the connection to the server as:
jdbc:h2:file:/mydata
Where mydata is the database name. This seemed to tell the database connection caller to find the database within the same directory as of the application running from. But it cant find it on client computers. Why? What to do? Where to save the database so as to I don't lose data when I distribute my application?
A:
According to documentation you do not need / before mydata you you need to look up for a file in the same directory
The database URL for connecting to a local database is jdbc:h2:[file:][path]. The prefix file: is optional. If no or only a relative path is used, then the current working directory is used as a starting point. The case sensitivity of the path and database name depend on the operating system, however it is recommended to use lowercase letters only. The database name must be at least three characters long (a limitation of File.createTempFile).
http://www.h2database.com/html/features.html#embedded_databases
So in your example you are trying to connect to file named mydata in the root folder. Looks like you forgot a dot (.) before /mydata. Try with the following jdbc:h2:file:./mydata
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Added 2 lane road night time strip
Added new car group
Added 10 new scenarios
Fixed car balances
Fixed start text
Added function to turn on car lights at the start (this also keeps pressing the lights every time you restart so if you have no lights just retry again.)
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Q:
Why are changes to my WebJob not being picked up when publishing the Web App?
I have an ASP.NET MVC Web App which is deployed to Azure. The solution within VS 2013 Pro has 3 projects:
the Web App project
a Webjob project
a Common project which stores code which is common to both the App and the Webjob.
The Webjob project was added to the main App project via the Add --> New Azure Webjob Project context menu, which actually adds a new project within the same solution, which is fine.
When I initially published the app to Azure, the Webjob was deployed too and all is working as expected. The Webjob runs on schedule once per day.
Now I've made some local changes to the Webjob and need those changes to be published. I follow the same process to deploy the App (rtClick main App --> Publish) which should also pick up changes to the Webjob, but the Preview pane is not picking up the changes and the changes are then subsequently not published to the Webjob.
Incidentally, any changes I make to the Common project are picked up successfully so looks like there is something weird about making changes and publishing Webjobs.
Has anyone come across this before?
A:
I've found the cause of the problem. It's actually very simple but also pretty frustrating.
When publishing the web app, you have the option to Remove additional files at destination. I have always left this checked because I don't like old files hanging around for no reason.
You also have the option to Exclude files from the App_Data folder which I also always leave checked so that files from App_Data are not deleted based on the remove configuration above. I then usually configure things like NLog log files, ELMAH xml files etc to go into App_Data safe in the knowledge that anything in there won't be deleted.
So the issue with Webjobs is that they're deployed into App_Data. So if the Exclude files from App_Data folder is checked then when the app is published, it's doing what it's told and ignoring App_Data and hence ignoring the changes to the Webjob.
So the simple solution is to uncheck this option and the Webjob is deployed successfully. However the issue now is that all other files in App_Data will be deleted (log files etc).
So you could uncheck the remove files config but that then potentially leaves other unwanted files lying around. Not ideal.
The other option is to leave the remove config checked, click the Preview button within the Publish dialog prior to publishing, then manually unchecking every file you don't want deleted. However the publish process fails if any of the files you want to keep are within sub-folders within App_Data e.g. App_Data/logs.
So the other option is to move all of the files within App_Data that you want to keep into the root of App_Data, then uncheck each of them within the Preview window prior to publishing. Not a huge deal when done once but becomes tedious when publishing lots of times.
I realise I could move log files etc to Azure storage, SQL DBs etc but what if it's the case that other files are in App_Data which need to be kept? App_Data isn't solely intended for Webjobs but using Webjobs creates a bit of an awkward situation if you also use App_Data for other things.
Be keen to know if I'm missing anything obvious here?
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
st ignatius college masterplan
a low budget master plan project we produced for a high profile boys school in nsw . . . which was quite a fun project to work on over a 4 week period and was shown to the entire st ignatius college as part of their 30 year plan end of year general assembly.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Blog
14Apr
NEW PARTNERSHIP
At Spring Valley, our vision for the camp is that it will be considered a ministry in itself, not just a place where ministry occurs. It is with this vision that we are excited to announce a new partnership with Flickinger Learning Center. The learning center, currently located in downtown Muscatine, operates an after school program for elementary students. Due to the overwhelming response for this type of program, a second location is needed and Spring Valley is happy to provide that location. The initial phase of this program will begin on April 18, 2013. Staff from Flickinger and students from the Muscatine School District will meet daily after school in the Recreation Building for a healthy snack, homework assistance and a structured reading intervention program. With this partnership, plans will need to move forward on the addition of bathrooms to the Recreation Building. The current bathrooms are in need of upgrade and repair and located in a separate building. This does not allow for year round use of the bathrooms. Plans for construction on adding bathrooms to the Recreation Building are tentatively scheduled for August. We look forward to the opportunity we have to reach out to families in the Muscatine community through the partnership with Flickinger Learning Center.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
/*
* Copyright (c) 2016 The WebRTC project authors. All Rights Reserved.
*
* Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license
* that can be found in the LICENSE file in the root of the source
* tree. An additional intellectual property rights grant can be found
* in the file PATENTS. All contributing project authors may
* be found in the AUTHORS file in the root of the source tree.
*/
#ifndef WEBRTC_RTC_TOOLS_EVENT_LOG_VISUALIZER_PLOT_PROTOBUF_H_
#define WEBRTC_RTC_TOOLS_EVENT_LOG_VISUALIZER_PLOT_PROTOBUF_H_
#include "webrtc/rtc_base/ignore_wundef.h"
RTC_PUSH_IGNORING_WUNDEF()
#include "webrtc/rtc_tools/event_log_visualizer/chart.pb.h"
RTC_POP_IGNORING_WUNDEF()
#include "webrtc/rtc_tools/event_log_visualizer/plot_base.h"
namespace webrtc {
namespace plotting {
class ProtobufPlot final : public Plot {
public:
ProtobufPlot();
~ProtobufPlot() override;
void Draw() override;
void ExportProtobuf(webrtc::analytics::Chart* chart);
};
class ProtobufPlotCollection final : public PlotCollection {
public:
ProtobufPlotCollection();
~ProtobufPlotCollection() override;
void Draw() override;
Plot* AppendNewPlot() override;
void ExportProtobuf(webrtc::analytics::ChartCollection* collection);
};
} // namespace plotting
} // namespace webrtc
#endif // WEBRTC_RTC_TOOLS_EVENT_LOG_VISUALIZER_PLOT_PROTOBUF_H_
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Carter called US military policies regarding transgender people "outdated"
The US military is considering a plan that would allow transgender people to serve openly in the armed forces.
"The Defence Department's current regulations regarding transgender service members are outdated and are causing uncertainty," US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Monday.
Transgender people now serve in the military, but their experiences vary.
Over the next six months, a group will study whether lifting the ban will adversely affect the military.
But Mr Carter said the group will begin with the presumption that transgender people should be able to serve openly.
"We have transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines - real, patriotic Americans - who I know are being hurt by an outdated, confusing, inconsistent approach," Mr Carter said.
In 2011, the US military ended its policy of "don't ask, don't tell" allowing gay people to serve openly. Military officials cited that successful transition when discussing the transgender changes.
However, the repeal of ban raises questions about whether the military would conduct or pay for the medical costs of surgery and other treatment associated with any gender transition.
Military officials said the six-month evaluation period would allow the services to figure out health care and housing and provide training to troops to smooth the transition.
Guidelines require that transgender people be dismissed from the military, but many serve in secret or under supportive commanders.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
Q:
Range-based intersection of n-number of arrays
Lets say I have the following three arrays:
[
[100, 110, 200, 300, 400],
[40, 90, 99, 150, 200],
[101, 202, 404, 505]
]
how would I go about writing a function getIntersectingRanges(arrays, range) which would return all ranges of max 'width' of range containing 1 or more elements from all arrays.
So, if range=15 then it would return [[100, 90, 99, 101], [100, 110, 99, 101], [200, 200, 202]]. Each of those arrays contains at least one element from each input range and the total 'width' of the range is less or equal to 15 (first one is 11, second one 11 as well and the third one just 3).
It's conceptually incredibly simple but I have been having a really hard to figuring out how to write such a function. Like I am not looking for a fully fleshed out solution, all I need is the basis of the algorithm allowing me to do so (though I will obviously also gladly accept a fully written function).
As some people seem to have a problem understanding this, let me give a few more simple examples (though writing these by hand is a bit hard, so excuse me if I make a mistake somewhere):
input: [[10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90], [55, 84]]
range: 5
output: [[50, 55], [55, 60], [80, 84]]
input: [[10, 20, 30], [40, 50]]
range: 10
output: [[30, 40]]
input: [[15, 30, 699], [16, 800], [10, 801], [11, 803]]
range: 10
output: [[15, 16, 10, 11]]
So my approach has been to first only take the first two arrays, next search for all elements from the first array in the second array ± range. So far it seems to make sense, but given this start it seems impossible to match both the first and the second result from the example above... so any help would be greatly appreciated.
A:
This solution features an object with the values as key and as value the indices of the array of the given arrays.
The additional approach is the speeding of the lookup items, which have a short circuit if the index is outside the area of a possible finding.
Example
Given array:
[
[100, 110, 200, 300, 400],
[40, 90, 99, 150, 200],
[101, 202, 404, 505]
]
Given range: 15
First sort the given values ascending.
Then iterate from the smallest value to the highest and look if values in range are in all arrays.
Array Values Comment
----- ---------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
0 100 110 200 300 400
1 40 90 99 150 200
2 101 202 404 505
1 here is no other value in this range
1 1 0 2 <- first group, values are in all arrays
1 0 2 0 <- second group, values are in all arrays
0 2 0 only values of two arrays
2 0 only values of two arrays
1 here is no other value in this range
01 2 <- third group, values are in all arrays
2 here is no other value in this range
0 here is no other value in this range
0 2 only values of two arrays
2 here is no other value in this range
Result:
[
[[100], [90, 99], [101]],
[[100, 110], [99], [101]],
[[200], [200], [202]]
]
function intersection(arrays, range) {
var result = [], // result array
items = [], // all distinct items from arrays
indices = {}, // object for the array indices
temp, // temp array, for pushing a result
i, // counter for pushing values to temp
left = 0, pos = 0, lastPos, // look up range
allArrays, // temporary array for indicating if index is included
arraysLength = arrays.length, // arrays length
itemLength, // length of all items
leftValue, // literally the value from the left range
emptyArrays; // template for the test if all arrays are used
emptyArrays = Array.apply(Array, { length: arraysLength });
arrays.forEach(function (a, i) {
a.forEach(function (item) {
indices[item] = indices[item] || [];
indices[item].push(i);
});
});
items = Object.keys(indices).map(Number).sort(function (a, b) { return a - b; });
itemLength = items.length;
do {
temp = [];
allArrays = emptyArrays.slice(0);
leftValue = items[left];
pos = left;
while (pos < itemLength && items[pos] <= range + leftValue) {
temp.push(items[pos]);
indices[items[pos]].forEach(function (i) {
allArrays[i] = true;
});
pos++;
}
pos !== lastPos && allArrays.every(function (a) { return a; }) && result.push(temp);
left++;
lastPos = pos;
} while (pos < itemLength);
return result;
}
function test(arrays, range) {
var result = intersection(arrays, range);
document.write("<br>arrays:", JSON.stringify(arrays));
document.write("<br>range:", range);
document.write("<br>result:", JSON.stringify(result));
document.write("<br>---");
}
test([[100, 110, 200, 300, 400], [40, 90, 99, 150, 200], [101, 202, 404, 505]], 15);
test([[10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90], [55, 84]], 5);
test([[10, 20, 30], [40, 50]], 10);
test([[15, 30, 699], [16, 800], [10, 801], [11, 803]], 10);
// taken from the answer of http://stackoverflow.com/a/32868439/1447675 from DzinX
var LARGE_TEST_SIZE = 1000,
largeTest = function () {
var array = [];
for (var i = 0; i < LARGE_TEST_SIZE; ++i) {
var innerArray = [];
for (var j = 0; j < LARGE_TEST_SIZE; ++j) {
innerArray.push((i + j) * 10);
}
array.push(innerArray);
}
return array;
}(),
startTime;
startTime = Date.now();
document.write('<br>' + intersection(largeTest, 20).length + '<br>');
document.write('Duration [ms]: ' + (Date.now() - startTime) + '<br>');
Comparision with the solution from DzinX
I just changed the console.log to document.write('<br>' ....
Please watch Duration in the result windows.
function findRanges(arrays, range) {
// Gather all items into one array:
var items = [];
arrays.forEach(function (array, arrayNumber) {
array.forEach(function (item) {
items.push({
value: item,
arrayNumber: arrayNumber
});
});
});
items.sort(function (left, right) {
return left.value - right.value;
});
var countByArray = [];
arrays.forEach(function () {
countByArray.push(0);
});
var arraysIncluded = 0;
var i = 0,
j = 0, // inclusive
spread = 0,
arrayCount = arrays.length,
itemCount = items.length,
result = [];
function includeItem(pos) {
var arrayNumber = items[pos].arrayNumber;
++countByArray[arrayNumber];
if (countByArray[arrayNumber] === 1) {
++arraysIncluded;
}
}
function excludeItem(pos) {
var arrayNumber = items[pos].arrayNumber;
--countByArray[arrayNumber];
if (countByArray[arrayNumber] === 0) {
--arraysIncluded;
}
}
function allArraysIncluded() {
return arraysIncluded === arrayCount;
}
function extractValue(item) {
return item.value;
}
function saveSpread(start, end) {
result.push(items.slice(start, end).map(extractValue));
}
// First item is already included.
includeItem(0);
while (j < (itemCount - 1)) {
// grow j while you can
while ((spread <= range) && (j < (itemCount - 1))) {
++j;
spread += items[j].value - items[j - 1].value;
includeItem(j);
}
if (spread <= range) {
// We ran out of items and the range is still OK, break out early:
break;
}
// Don't include the last item for checking:
excludeItem(j);
if (allArraysIncluded()) {
saveSpread(i, j);
}
// Include the violating item back and try to reduce the spread:
includeItem(j);
while ((spread > range) && (i < j)) {
spread -= items[i + 1].value - items[i].value;
excludeItem(i);
++i;
}
}
// last check after exiting the loop (j === (itemCount - 1))
if (allArraysIncluded()) {
saveSpread(i, j + 1);
}
return result;
}
function test(arrays, range) {
var result = findRanges(arrays, range);
document.write("<br>arrays:", JSON.stringify(arrays));
document.write("<br>range:", range);
document.write("<br>result:", JSON.stringify(result));
document.write("<br>---");
}
test([[100, 110, 200, 300, 400], [40, 90, 99, 150, 200], [101, 202, 404, 505]], 15);
test([[10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90], [55, 84]], 5);
test([[10, 20, 30], [40, 50]], 10);
test([[15, 30, 699], [16, 800], [10, 801], [11, 803]], 10);
// A large test (1 million items):
var LARGE_TEST_SIZE = 1000;
var largeTest = (function () {
var array = [];
for (var i = 0; i < LARGE_TEST_SIZE; ++i) {
var innerArray = [];
for (var j = 0; j < LARGE_TEST_SIZE; ++j) {
innerArray.push((i + j) * 10);
}
array.push(innerArray);
}
return array;
})();
var startTime
startTime = Date.now();
document.write('<br>' + findRanges(largeTest, 20).length); // 3
document.write('<br>Duration [ms]: ' + (Date.now() - startTime));
Speed comparison, with different browsers
Machine: Win 7/64, Core i7-2600 3.40 GHz
Version IE 11 Chrome 45.0 Firefox 40.0.3
------- -------------- -------------- --------------
DzinX 375 ms 688 ms 1323 ms
Nina 335 ms 122 ms 393 ms
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Follow Me
Tag: arachne
Africa’s greatest hidden terrors hide in the rainforest, and like a web they have woven unseen a trap around our collective subconscious. Humanity’s most enduring fear is given life. Arachnophobes beware – giant spiders are here to stay.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Electroanalytical determination of acetaminophen using nano-TiO(2)/polymer coated electrode in the presence of dopamine.
We report a new method for selective determination of acetaminophen (AP) in physiological condition. A new hybrid film modified electrode was fabricated using inorganic semiconducting nano-TiO(2) particles and redox active polymer. Redox polymer, poly(acid yellow 9) (PAY) was electrochemically deposited onto nano-TiO(2) coated glassy carbon (GC) electrode. Surface characterizations of modified electrode were investigated by using atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscope. The PAY/nano-TiO(2)/GC hybrid electrode shows stable redox response in the pH range 1-12 and exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activities towards AP in 0.1M phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.0). Consequently, a simple and sensitive electroanalytical method was developed for the determination of AP. The oxidation peak current was proportional to the concentration of acetaminophen from 1.2 x 10(-5) to 1.20 x 10(-4)M and the detection limit was found to be 2.0 x 10(-6)M (S/N=3). Possible interferences were tested and evaluated that it could be possible to selective detection of AP in the presences of dopamine, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), ascorbic acid and uric acid. The proposed method was used to detect acetaminophen in commercial drugs and the obtained results are satisfactory.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
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