Sigue Sigue Sputnik

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Sigue Sigue Sputnik
Image:Siguesiguesputnik.jpg
L to R: Neal X, Tony James, Martin Degville, Ray Mayhew, Chris Kavanagh
Origin London, UK
Years active 1984 — present
Genres Pop, Post-Punk, Punk, Glam Rock
Labels Sputnikworld Ltd (2001- )
EMI (1986-1989)

Sigue Sigue Sputnik is a British pop-cyberpunk band that achieved moderate fame in the mid- to late 1980s, when the song "Love Missile F1-11" hit the pop charts around the world. "Love Missile F1-11"'s success was due in part to the song's use in the cult-hit movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Led by former Generation X bassist Tony James, the band created a unique style of new wave music by layering vocals, yelps, guitar riffs, electronic sound effects, and short samples over pulsating synthesizer bass lines.

The themes and imagery in the band's songs were often influenced by futuristic, dystopian, or post-apocalyptic films such as A Clockwork Orange, The Terminator, Blade Runner, and the Mad Max trilogy. The band's music and image also mashed together a range of other pop culture influences, including the New York electronica duo Suicide, Marc Bolan's T-Rex, and the swagger and sex appeal of Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley, and glam rock.

Contents

[edit] 1980s: Early years

The original line-up featured Tony James, Martin Degville, Neal X (Whitmore), Chris Kavanagh, and Ray Mayhew. Tony James' friend Mick Jones, a former member of The Clash, gave James advice about starting the band and selecting musicians. While searching for members, in 1983 Tony James tried out Andrew Eldritch from The Sisters of Mercy and, on Mick Jones' suggestion, auditioned the then-unknown Annie Lennox. As well, Jones gave James a Roland G-707 synth guitar, which at the time was a new and rarely-used device. The futuristic, electronic sounds of the synth guitar helped James to create Sputnik's new wave-cyberpunk sound.

The band took its name from a Moscow street gang called Sigue Sigue Sputnik, which means "Burn, burn, satellite." Their outlandish appearance and image, which included towering, multicoloured mohawk hairstyles, wigs, makeup, and gender-bending fetish clothing (plastic, rubber, or leather outfits, fishnet stockings, and stiletto heels) garnered a great deal of attention from the media. While these styles have since been used by a number of gothic or glam bands, in the mid-1980s, Sigue Sigue band members' appearance was unique and startling.

The "packaging" of the band's appearance and presentation was carefully considered well before the band ever performed in public. Inspired by the Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren's unorthodox methods of promoting a band, Tony James generated a great deal of hype about Sigue Sigue Sputnik, while wisely not allowing anyone from the music industry a chance to hear the band. Tony James famously showed record executives a short video collage of futuristic and science-fiction movie clips as a "demo tape" of the band. The buzz became a frenzy as several record labels began a bidding war to sign Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Tony James finally settled on EMI which was rumored to have given the band a £1 million advance.

[edit] Mid-1980s: Singles and Albums

In a flurry of publicity, Sigue Sigue released their first single, the classic "Love Missile F1-11". It climbed to number three in the British charts and hit the charts in a number of other countries. The single, as well as the album that followed, was produced by Giorgio Moroder, an Italian record producer and film composer known for his innovative work with synthesizers during the 1970s and for producing disco hits such as Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby."

The band underlined their cynical attitude towards the music business (expressed by the slogan "fleece the world") by auctioning advertising space between the tracks on their first album Flaunt It (released in 1986). Advertisements that did sell (including spots for i-D Magazine and Studio Line from L'Oreal) were complemented by ironic spoof ads including an advert for the Sputnik corporation itself claiming that "Pleasure is our Business".

James' claims to the media that the group members were selected solely based on image and appearance, coupled with the group's use of computers and synthesizers in the studio led critics to claim that the band mimed their live performances over prerecorded music. However, live concert footage shows that the band does appear to be playing their instruments.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik lyrics combined futuristic imagery ("saturn dreams, laser beams," and "space cowboy") with campy, erotic, references to fetishized violence and B-movie imagery. Songs referred to a "love rocket red," "21st century sex machines," "Chinese-speaking strip TV's," and a "psycho horror show." This line could also be read as "freako psycho horrorshow (Russian: Хорошо)", a reference to A Clockwork Orange. They also created images such as "hips and lips and beauty queens," and "venus ramp, sexy tramp...vegas vamp." "Love Missile F1-11"'s lyrics pushed the boundaries of parental tolerance and gained media attention with its repeated double-entendre entreaties to listeners to "Shoot it up, Shoot it up, Shoot it up."

The group split soon after the release of their second album, Dress for Excess (the initial single from which, "Success", was produced by British hitmakers Stock Aitken Waterman). Tony James stated that the band "...couldn't sustain this pretend bastardized version of Sputnik." James also blamed the media for the band's fall from grace. When Sputnik's first singles were released, the media and James' promotional efforts worked symbiotically, sharing the mutual benefits of the band's hype and shock value. Once the initial shock and tabloid outrage over the band's unusual image and appearance had worn off, media coverage became dismissive, criticizing the band's focus on image and style.

[edit] 1990s and 2000s

Tony James went on to become a member of The Sisters of Mercy in 1989-1991. Chris Kavanagh went on to Big Audio Dynamite II joining Mick Jones. Ray Mayhew formed Mayhem Deranged - a number of tracks are available to download from the website. Tony James reformed Sigue Sigue Sputnik twice, albeit without all the original members. The band was reformed once in the 1990s (featuring Tomoyasu Hotei on guitar and Christopher Novak singing) releasing Sputnik: Next Generation and once again in 2001 with Martin Degville and Neal X, which resulted in the release of Piratespace. The reformed Sigue Sigue Sputnik continues to play live, and it has also produced a number of remixes of other artists' work. In 2004, Martin Degville left the band to pursue a solo career (see Sputnik2 link below). Neal X has been playing with Marc Almond

In 2005 Tony James teamed up with Mick Jones to form the group Carbon/Silicon. The band has toured the United Kingdom and has performed a number of anti-fascist benefit concerts and have recorded three, as yet unreleased, albums: Sample This, Peace, Dope Factory Boogie and the Grand Delusion. The band encourage their fans to share their music on P2P networks, and allow the audio and video taping of their shows. Their first song, "MPFree" is an anthem for P2P file sharing.

[edit] Members

[edit] Discography

Albums

Singles

  • 1986 Love Missile F1-11 (UK sleeve)
  • 1986 Love Missile F1-11 (US sleeve)
  • 1986 Love Missile F1-11 (German sleeve)
  • 1986 Love Missile F1-11 (Japanese sleeve)
  • 1986 Love Missile F1-11 (Russian sleeve)
  • 1986 Love Missile F1-11 (The Bangkok Remix)
  • 1986 21st Century Boy
  • 1986 21st Century Boy (German Remix)
  • 1986 Sex Bomb Boogie
  • 1986 Massive Retaliation
  • 1986 Sci-Fi Sex Stars
  • 1988 Success
  • 1988 Success (Acid Mixes)
  • 1988 Success (Pete Waterman Cover)
  • 1989 Albinoni vs. Star Wars
  • 1989 Dancerama
  • 1989 Dancerama (Remixes)
  • 1989 Dancerama (Picture Disc)
  • 1989 Rio Rocks
  • 1989 Rio Rocks (Samba Remixes)
  • 2002 Everybody Loves You
  • 2004 Grooving With Mr. Pervert

[edit] Videography

Videos

[edit] External links

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