Sigue Sigue Sputnik

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Sigue Sigue Sputnik
Origin	London, UK
Genre(s)	Pop, Post-Punk, Punk, Glam Rock, New Wave
Years active	1984 — present
Label(s)	Sputnikworld Ltd (2001- ) EMI (1986-1989)

Sigue Sigue Sputnik is a British pop-cyberpunk influenced band led by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band played a style of new wave music similar to New York electronica duo Suicide and Swiss techno-rock duo Yello, by layering vocals, yelps, guitar riffs, electronic sound effects and short samples over pulsating synthesizer bass lines. Their use of video montage, as well as their music, is similar to that of the American New Wave act Devo. The band achieved moderate fame in the mid- to late 1980s, when the song "Love Missile F1-11" hit the pop charts around the world, in part to the song's use in the cult-hit movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

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 electronica/Krautrock influences of Kraftwerk, Marc Bolan's T-Rex, and the swagger and sex appeal of Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley and glam rock.

1 1980s: Early years
2 Mid-1980s: Singles and Albums
3 1990s and 2000s
4 Members
5 Discography
- 5.1 Albums
- 5.2 Singles
6 Videography
7 External links

[edit] 1980s: Early years

The original line-up featured Tony James, Martin Degville, Neal X (Whitmore), Chris Kavanagh, Ray Mayhew and Yana Yaya. Tony James's 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 Annie Lennox.^{[citation needed]} As well, Jones gave James a Roland G-707 synth guitar, which at the time was a new 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 rumoured to have given the band a substantial advance (£4 million).

[edit] Mid-1980s: Singles and Albums

In a flurry of publicity, Sigue Sigue released their first single, "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 "I Feel Love".

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's 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 pre-recorded music. However, live concert footage shows that the band does appear to be playing their instruments. Live concerts were routinely cancelled and indeed part of an entire UK tour. Allegedly this was because of violence at gigs. Rumours persisted that (1) this violence was planned, orchestrated and blown out of proportion to maintain a high media profile, (2) "because of violence" was a cover to obscure that cancellations were due to very low ticket sales, or (3) that the novelty of being on the road rapidly dwindled with having to participate in the tiring "sharing amongst fellow bandmembers" that touring is notouriously known; especially for 6-10 member band (including the "Ultra Vixens") who had not been together long and had no strong artistic bonds. Moreover, Tony James later mentioned he regarded touring as "a waste of money".

Sigue Sigue Sputnik lyrics combined futuristic imagery ("saturn dreams, laser beams," and "space cowboy") with camp, erotic, references to fetishized violence and B-movie imagery. Songs referred to a "love rocket red," "21st century sex machines," "Chinese-speaking strip TVs," and a "freako 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 repeated double-entendre entreaties 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 and 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's promotional efforts worked symbiotically, sharing the 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. 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.

In 2004 Martin Degville formed Sputnik2 or Sputnik2 The Future, a solo act with collaborations with other artists and stage shows across Europe. Collaborators included UK cyberpunk pop producers DiscoKingz who produce & perform cyber-pop rock tracks as a band. DiscoKingz are currently recording their first studio solo album for release 2008 and have a football anthem with sputnik like production "Totally United" on sale now. The track, for Scottish Premier League team Dundee United FC, is a mix of SSS, Techno & Trainspotting.. Martin Degville is recording his first album since World War Four entitled Prophet of Freak (2008).

The song Love Missile F1-11 is featured in the 2002 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as part of the New wave radio station Wave 103.

[edit] Members

Tony James - synth 'space' bass guitar (Roland G707). (Now rhythm guitarist with Carbon Silicon)
Martin Degville - vocals (no longer with band, now solo artist)
Neal X - Gibson semi-acoustic lead 'Stun' guitar (now lead vocalist with SSS & guitarist/producer for Marc Almond)
Ray Mayhew - electro drums (Simmons)
Chris Kavanagh - electro drums (Simmons)
Yana YaYa (Jane Farrimond) - Space Echo (Roland). Since stylist for bands including pop act '5ive'.