Warriors of the Wasteland
"Warriors of the Wasteland" is the sixth single from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in 1986. It was taken from the album Liverpool.
Having already referenced literary heavyweights like Coleridge in "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" and Thomas in "Rage Hard)", for "Warriors of the Wasteland" Holly Johnson turned to T. S. Eliot for inspiration. Johnson cited Eliot's The Waste Land poem, the 1981 Mel Gibson film, Mad Max 2, and the 1979 film, The Warriors as inspirations.
Even though it featured 3 different 12" singles, "Warriors of the Wasteland" reached number 19 in the UK singles chart (making it the group's first UK hit not to go Top Five), #7 in Germany (for two weeks) and #13 in Switzerland.
Track listings
(All discographical information pertains to UK releases only unless noted)
7": ZTT / ZTAS 25 United Kingdom
- "Warriors of the Wasteland" - 5:01
- "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" - 3:55
- The 5:01 side is the album version, featuring the band's original instrumentation; the 3:55 flip is a 7" mix recreated digitally using samples and synths.
12": ZTT / 12 ZTAS 25 United Kingdom
- "Warriors" (Twelve Wild Disciples Mix) - 9:45
- "Warriors" (instrumental) [unlisted] - 4:50
- "Warriors" (return) - 1:22
- "Warriors" (end) - 3:29
- As with many ZTT releases, unlisted tracks have created confusion as to which track has which title. "Warriors" (return) can be taken to be the full 6:12 instrumental track, or just the 1:22 reprise.
- "Warriors" (end) began life as an unreleased track called "Pocket Vibrator".
- On the sleeve notes to this release, producer Trevor Horn noted: "On Liverpool the members of Frankie Goes to Hollywood played Warriors with their own notoriously fair hands ... This so-called 12" is in fact a total cheat ... No-one played anything, in any orthodox sense. It was all done by computers, very powerful computers ... juggling and organising pre-recorded sounds."
12": ZTT / 12 ZTAX 25 United Kingdom
- "Warriors" (Turn of the Knife Mix) - 8:09
- "Warriors" (instrumental) [unlisted] - 4:50
- "Warriors" (return) - 1:22
- "Warriors" (end) - 3:29
12": ZTT / 12 ZTAK 25 United Kingdom
"Heavy Mental"
- "Warriors" (attack mix) - 6:30
- "Warriors" (instrumental) [unlisted] - 4:50
- "Warriors" (return) - 1:22
- "Warriors" (end) - 3:29
- The "Attack Mix" featured additional guitar parts by Gary Moore.
12": Island / 0-96799 United States
- "Warriors of the Wasteland" (Twelve Wild Disciples Mix) - 9:42
- "Warriors of the Wasteland" (Turn of the Knife Mix) - 8:11
CD: ZTT / ZCID 25 United Kingdom
"Warriors" (Compacted)
- "Warriors" (introduction) - 2:25
- "Warriors" (Twelve Wild Disciples Mix) - 9:45
- "Warriors of the Wasteland" [fewer lyrics] - 5:02
- "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" - 3:57
- "Warriors" (Monopoly Re-Solution) ['rats in a cage'] - 2:21
- The CD is one track without a title list, and the titles above are for convenience of reference, apart from "Warriors" (Twelve Wild Disciples) and "Warriors" (Of the Wasteland).
- "Introduction" starts with various vocal sounds, then sped-up samples re-edited, then slowed down samples, moving into what sounds like the Return Mix and some re-edited instrumental bits.
- "Twelve Wild Disciples" is the first 12" mix - a reconstructed version with additional keyboards.
- "Fewer Lyrics" is the album version with verse lyrics missing.
- "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" sounds similar to Twelve Wild Disciples, but a 7" edit.
- "Monopoly Re-Solution" is a stand alone track.
MC: ZTT / CTIS 25 United Kingdom
"Warriors (Cassetted)"
- "A Matter of Life and Death" - 0:04
- "Warriors of the Wasteland" [instrumental] - 2:59
- "Warriors (Of the Wasteland)" [7" version] - 3:09
- "Warriors" (Twelve Wild Disciples) [instrumental] - 8:32
- "we're rats" [various noises from 'Introduced'] - 0:43
- "Warriors" [excerpts from 'Return'] - 1:27
- "Warriors" (Monopoly Re-Solution) ['rats in a cage'] - 3:03
- As with the CD single, no individual tracks are listed on the sleeve, which simply states "... featuring Warriors (twelve wild disciples mix) and a phenomenon of megabytes". The latter could be taken to be an unidentified track, or a description of the production process.
- The opening voiceover and the instrumental version of the Twelve Wild Disciples mix were unique to this cassette, until CTIS25 was finally released on CD in 2011 as part of the Liverpool deluxe edition.
Chart performance
| Chart (1986) |
Peak
position |
Total
weeks |
| Dutch Singles Chart[1] |
26 |
5 |
| French Singles Chart[2] |
50 |
8 |
| German Singles Chart[3] |
7 |
17 |
| Irish Singles Chart[4] |
12 |
3 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[5] |
30 |
4 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[6] |
13 |
8 |
| UK Singles Chart[7] |
19 |
10 |
References
External links
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