...I'm positive your version was much better, Douglas.
― Andy K., Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
A what? A small child or a moist towelette?
― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
"disc one, track two: the normal - "warm leatherette"
if kraftwerk represent the elegant refinement which would mid-wife detroit techno into existence, feeding the bellville three's need for europhilia and class, then the normal were on some punk rock shit. wheezing and gallumphing like a contact-mic'ed iron lung, "warm leatherette" is of a piece with other proto-synth pop of the era like the human league of "being boiled" and reproduction. it sounds impossibly crude and barbarous now; when lounge-act cover bands like add n to x deliberately enfeeble their tracks with dirt, grit, noise and potholes, they're paying tribute less to a particular aesthetic than the fault-ridden static of newborn technology. chimes in perfectly with our glitch ridden times, no?, when the makers of synths like the wasp provide in-built noise functions and low-res filters to appeal to a new generation of feedback jockeys.
the cribbed ballard of the lyrics (with it's final exhortation to "join the car crash set") gave liscense to many a dark night of the black eyelinered soul. it's impossible to imagine depeche mode without the normal's prior influence. but depeche mode (like the human league, like cab volt, like the normal if he had continued to produce music we assume) went glossy when the technology caught up (or became available to them financially), never looked back, and generally released their best work after the fact (notable exception: cab volt.)) it's problematic at best to slot these bands in with the current love for digital (or analogue) distortion, because fetishizing a crippled sound wasn't their intention. they just wanted to play with their boxes and tape machines and keyboards. the mistakes they produced, the noise they brought...was incidental at best, even when it was exhillarating. pounding a juno or abusing a moog now is about as exciting as playing in a barroom sabbath cover band. when the internal metronome of cubase or protools starts to run out of time, when bootleg or sharewear crashes or freezes up, when files corrupt...are these the normal of the 21st century? if so, could we please get farmers manual some leather pants? it might make them a bit more interesting."
i luuuuuuv this stuff.
― jess, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I don't need no
TV screen
I just stick the aerial
into my skin
let the signal
flow through my veins
t v o d
Also worth checking out in a similatr vein - "Ricky's Hand" by fad gadget - awesome times.
― Norman Phay, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― mark s, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Momus, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I get the image of Monsieur G. singing this line in a mid-seventies revival of said song on a TV production, picking up a spoon with what looks like some white ash, and then snorting it up. I would pay money.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Simon, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
(the chicks on speed version doesn't rate compared to either IMHO.)
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 20 August 2004 04:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 20 August 2004 06:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― zappi (joni), Friday, 20 August 2004 06:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Friday, 20 August 2004 08:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 16 May 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Monday, 16 May 2005 22:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 16 May 2005 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― James.Cobo (jamescobo), Monday, 16 May 2005 23:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Monday, 16 May 2005 23:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― James.Cobo (jamescobo), Tuesday, 17 May 2005 00:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― stirmonster (stirmonster), Tuesday, 17 May 2005 00:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 17 May 2005 02:22 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.urthespokesperson.com/?page_id=69
Equally sexy with the same Mise-en-scène.
― MParadis, Friday, 20 July 2007 04:03 (sixteen years ago) link
holy shit this is so bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16GDuWBlkQM
― jaxon, Monday, 7 February 2011 22:36 (thirteen years ago) link
this one kinda makes me laugh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk_-qfvMDBs
― jaxon, Monday, 7 February 2011 22:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Nice shiny suits.
― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 7 February 2011 23:02 (thirteen years ago) link
loved this relevant song id thread
What Is This Kraut-ish Song?!
― bouquet brigade (electricsound), Monday, 7 February 2011 23:09 (thirteen years ago) link
war... and the rat
― scraping Doritos off the wheel (haitch), Monday, 7 February 2011 23:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Forgot Duran Duran even did that Kraftwerky set during their last tour.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 7 February 2011 23:33 (thirteen years ago) link
I only really came to appreciate how monumental this song was within the last few years. As said above, way way ahead of its time, I still find it fairly astonishing the way it sets this incredibly creepy yet compelling mood.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 00:02 (thirteen years ago) link
80s commercial that sounds like it was inspired by this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw1LfI5kATk&feature=share
― 뉴 메탈은 나머지 모든 보지 똥, 거기입니다 최고의 음악이다 (Eisbaer), Wednesday, 3 September 2014 15:37 (nine years ago) link
hope daniel miller got royalties
― Nothing less than the Spirit of the Age (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 3 September 2014 16:08 (nine years ago) link
Great version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do-aFMySFos
― Boulez, vous couchez avec moi? (Tom D.), Monday, 9 September 2019 07:14 (four years ago) link
The music playing at my office has been set to some 80s alternative internet radio station for the last week and--among the likes of the cure, the smiths, and depeche mode--this gets played once most days, rather incongruously.
― Kim Kimberly, Thursday, 29 September 2022 23:22 (one year ago) link
Saw Grace Jones performing it live in SF in the 1980s, she placed spotlights on the stage to blast out into the audience, it was amazing
― Dan S, Thursday, 29 September 2022 23:29 (one year ago) link