"Behind the Mask" is a 1979 song by Japanese

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

group

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...

. Initially an instrumental written by band member

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...

for a 1978

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors, jewelry, and optical products. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced one of the first quartz watches and the ...

commercial, the song was elaborated upon with bandmates

Haruomi Hosono , sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop for ...

and

Yukihiro Takahashi Yukihiro Takahashi (高橋幸宏 ''Takahashi Yukihiro'', born June 6, 1952) is a Japanese musician, singer, record producer and actor, who is best known internationally as the drummer and lead vocalist of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and as the fo ...

and lyricist

Chris Mosdell Christopher John Mosdell (born 9 November 1949) is a British lyricist, poet, author, composer, vocalist and illustrator based in Tokyo, Japan, and New York City, United States. He has collaborated with an extensive array of musicians and artist ...

for inclusion on ''

Solid State Survivor ''Solid State Survivor'' is the second album by Japanese electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, released in 1979. Later, ''Solid State Survivor'' was released in 1982 in the UK on LP and cassette, also in 1992 in the United States on CD, bu ...

'' the following year. The song was later featured on the US release of ''

X∞Multiplies is a mini-album and the third studio album by Yellow Magic Orchestra released in 1980. It contains a mixture of songs and instrumentals by YMO (including a humorous reworking of Archie Bell & the Drells' "Tighten Up"), interspersed with comedy ske ...

'' in 1980, which combined tracks from the Japanese version and ''Solid State Survivor'', and was released as a single in the US and UK to promote the album. In the early 1980s, producer

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

brought the song to the attention of American pop singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, who rewrote Mosdell's lyrics and added an accompanying melody. The Jackson version was planned for inclusion on his 1982 album '' Thriller'', but was dropped following legal disputes. Since then, artists including

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

, and

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

have recorded versions based on Jackson's updated version. Clapton's single was a top 20 hit in some markets in 1987, and a remixed version of Jackson's recording was released on his 2010 posthumous album ''

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

''. Jackson's original 1982 demo was first made available on the second disc of ''

Thriller 40 ''Thriller 40'' is the 40th-anniversary edition reissue of '' Thriller'' (1982), the sixth album by the American singer Michael Jackson. The original album has sold 70 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of all time. '' ...

'' in November, 2022.

Yellow Magic Orchestra version

The first studio rendition of "Behind the Mask" was recorded by Ryuichi Sakamoto's band

, and appeared on their 1979 album ''

''. The Yellow Magic Orchestra version features music composed by Sakamoto and English lyrics written by poet and lyricist

, which were sung by Sakamoto using a

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

. Sakamoto had already composed the primary melody line when he asked Mosdell to write lyrics for the song. Mosdell based his lyrics on the imagery of a Japanese traditional

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

mask, as well as a poem by Irish poet

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

called "The Mask". Mosdell has said of the lyrics that "I was talking about a very impersonal, socially controlled society, a future technological era, and the mask represented that immobile, unemotional state." Yellow Magic Orchestra made use of synthesizers for the melodies and digital

gated reverb Gated reverb or gated ambience is an audio processing technique that combines strong reverb and a noise gate. The effect is often associated with the sound of 1980s British popular music. It was developed in 1979 by producer Steve Lillywhite and e ...

for the

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...

s. In 1980, the song was released as a single in both the United States and the United Kingdom in support of those regions' versions of ''

'', which featured tracks from both the Japanese version of the album and ''Solid State Survivor'' (which was not initially released outside of Japan). The US release of the single included the ''X∞Multiplies'' track "Citizens of Science" as the B-side, while the latter used the ''

'' track "Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)"; the UK 12" release of the single additionally featured "La Femme Chinoise" as a second B-side.

Track listing

US promotional 7" single # "Behind the Mask" (mono) – 3:35 # "Behind the Mask" (stereo) – 3:35 US promotional 12" single # "Behind the Mask" - 3:35 # "Nice Age" - 3:55 # "Technopolis" - 4:15 US 7" single # "Behind the Mask" – 3:35 # "Citizens of Science" – 4:33 UK (yellow vinyl and promotional black vinyl) and Italy 7" single # "Behind the Mask" – 3:35 # "Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)" – 6:20 UK 12" single # "Behind the Mask" – 3:35 # "Yellow Magic (Tong Poo)" – 6:20 # "La Femme Chinoise" – 6:05 Argentina 7" single # "Cerca de la Mascara (Behind the Mask)" – 3:35 # " Vacacion de un Dia (Day Tripper)" – 2:39

1987 Ryuichi Sakamoto version

Following the breakup of Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1983, Ryuichi Sakamoto re-recorded "Behind the Mask" in 1987 with Michael Jackson's additional lyrics and lead vocals by

Bernard Fowler Bernard Fowler (born January 2, 1960) is an American musician. He is known for a long association with The Rolling Stones, providing backing vocals since 1989 and on their studio recordings and live tours. Fowler has been a featured guest vocal ...

. A similar arrangement had been performed (with Fowler) during Sakamoto's Media Bahn Live tour the previous year. A CD single with three tracks and a CD

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

with six tracks entitled "Behind the Mask +3" were released.

Track listing

Japan CD single # "Behind the Mask" – 5:29 # "Risky" – 6:22 # "Field Work" – 5:07 Japan CD maxi single ("Behind the Mask +3") # "Behind the Mask" – 5:29 # "Risky" – 6:22 # "Field Work" – 5:07 # "Steppin' into Asia" (

TV track A TV track is usually a song or a sequence used as accompaniment during a scene or visual sequence on television (i.e., commercials or television show). If a song has vocals, part of the vocals may be removed for voice-over or dialogue, while the ...

) – 3:39 # "Field Work" (edit) – 2:34 # 両眼微笑 (instrumental) – 3:57

Greg Phillinganes version

Michael Jackson's keyboardist

recorded a version of "Behind the Mask" for his 1984 album ''

Pulse In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

''. Phillinganes first met Michael and his brothers during the sessions for

The Jacksons The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

' ''

Destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

'' album in 1978, and went on to serve as musical director for Michael's

Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being * Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored troll ...

world tour. Phillinganes released his version of the song as a single in 1985, and in the United States it reached number four on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart and number 77 on the ''Billboard''

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart.

Track listing

7" single # "Behind the Mask" – 4:07 # "Only You" – 6:16 12" single # "Behind the Mask" – 6:27 # "Behind the Mask" (instrumental) – 5:13 # "Only You" – 6:16

Personnel

* Greg Phillinganes – lead vocals, keyboards * John Arrias – additional engineering * Brian Banks – synthesizer programming *

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthesi ...

– vocoder *

– arrangement *

Anthony Marinelli Anthony Marinelli (born March 19, 1959) is an American musician, composer and conductor. In his early career, he composed and performed accompaniment on the synthesizer for albums including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'' (1983). Marinelli has ...

– synthesizer programming *

Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and from December 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the son of Victor Charles Page, he went to the independent Hu ...

– additional backing vocals * Howie Rice – clap effects * John Vigran – additional engineering * David Williams – guitars

Charts

Eric Clapton version

English musician

recorded "Behind the Mask" for his 1986 album ''

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

'', and his version was released as a single in 1987.

Background and release

Greg Phillinganes, who had previously covered "Behind the Mask" himself, brought the composition to Clapton's attention. Phillinganes played keyboards and performed background vocals on Clapton's recording. This version failed to credit Michael Jackson as one of the song's co-writers, but Chris Mosdell has confirmed that Jackson's estate does in fact take 50% of the songwriting royalties from the recording. Clapton's version of "Behind the Mask" was released as a single in January 1987. It peaked at number 15 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on 21 February 1987.

Track listing

UK 7" single (928461-7, W8461) # "Behind the Mask" (edit) – 3:38 # "Grand Illusion" – 4:30 UK 12" single (W8461) # "Behind the Mask" (LP version) – 4:47 # "Grand Illusion" – 4:30 # "Wanna Make Love to You" – 5:36 UK 2 × 7" single (928461-7, W8461F) # "Behind the Mask" (edit) # "Grand Illusion" # "

Crossroads Crossroads, crossroad, cross road or similar may refer to: * Crossroads (junction), where four roads meet Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a 1930 Brit ...

" (live) # " White Room" (live)

Personnel

* Eric Clapton – guitar, vocals *

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals, production *

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

– associate production *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degr ...

– bass * Paul Gomersall – engineering * Peter Hefter – engineering *

Katie Kissoon Mac and Katie Kissoon are a pop soul duo, consisting of brother and sister Mac Kissoon (born Gerald Farthing, November 11, 1943, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) and Katie Kissoon (born Katherine Farthing, March 11, 1951, Port of Spain). Ea ...

– backing vocals * Magic Moreno – engineering *

Tessa Niles Tessa Margaret Niles ( ''née'' Webb; born 27 January 1961 in Ilford, Essex) is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of contemporary artists. She began her professional singing career in 1979. Early life and ca ...

– backing vocals * Terry O'Neill – photography *

– keyboards, backing vocals

Charts

Michael Jackson version

recorded a version of "Behind the Mask", with extra lyrics and an extra melody line, during the recording sessions for his album '' Thriller'' after the song was brought to his attention by producer

, but the track did not make the album due to a royalties dispute with Yellow Magic Orchestra's management. A remixed version with extra overdubbed production by John McClain was eventually released on Jackson's 2010 posthumous album ''

''. McClain's overdubs over the original 1982 tape include a newly recorded saxophone solo and crowd noise from the 1992 '' Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour'' TV special. The singer

Shanice Shanice Lorraine Wilson-Knox (née Wilson; born May 14, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and dancer. Shanice had the ''Billboard'' hit singles "I Love Your Smile" and "Silent Prayer" in 1991 and "Saving Forever for You" in 1993. ...

provides background vocals on the song. On February 21, 2011, the song was released by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

as the third single from ''Michael''. It was released as a single to radio and as a limited 7" for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

, and a music video edited together from fan contributions was released under the title "The Behind the Mask Project". On November 18, 2022, the original demo of this song was released on the anniversary album, ''

'', as "Mike's Mix (Demo)".

Background and release

heard Yellow Magic Orchestra's version during the ''Thriller'' sessions, and brought it to

, who recorded the song, added an extra melody line and a few extra lyrics to

's original. Mosdell has said of the collaboration, "when Michael Jackson took it, he made it into a love song about a woman. It was a completely different premise to me, I was talking about a very impersonal, socially controlled society, a future technological era, and the mask represented that immobile, unemotional state. But hey, I let him have that one." An agreement to share the royalties equally between Sakamoto, Mosdell and Jackson broke down when the management of Yellow Magic Orchestra disagreed and it prevented the song from being released on Jackson's sixth studio album, ''Thriller''. It remained unreleased for 28 years. However, as a part of Sony Music's 10 album recording deal with the Estate of Michael Jackson, the song was announced to be released on the posthumous album of Jackson's, titled ''

''. It was also as a radio single not only in France, but also the United States, Canada, and Japan.

Critical reception

The song received mainly positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

Jody Rosen Jody Rosen (born June 21, 1969 in New York City) is an American journalist and author. He is a contributing writer for ''The New York Times Magazine''. Career Journalism Rosen served as critic-at-large for '' T: The New York Times Style Magaz ...

from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' called the song "a fiercely funky cousin to "

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson recorded for his sixth studio album '' Thriller'' (1982). It is the opening track of the album and was released as its fourth single on May 8, 1983, by Epic Records. It was ...

." Dan Martin from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' thought the song was "an absolute revelation, a swirl of psychedelic, orchestra-twinged R&B", and said "Jackson howls a solid-gold melody at his fearsome best, and blippy production and robotic backing vocals dancing behind it." Jason Lipshutz with Gail Mitchell and Gary Graff from ''

'' thought the song was "a must-listen songs on ''Michael''", and it "holds the highest number of Jackson's signature 'hee-hee!' exclaims". Joe Pareles from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said, the song was originally a 1979 hit by

’s group

with Jackson's lyrics about a coldhearted woman, but the final version which was completed by Mr. McClain was mixed with applause and squeals from concert crowds from '' Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour'' DVD. Leah Greenblatt from

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

thought the song seemed "oddly dated by sax flourishes — though perhaps that makes it a good companion to the lilting closer ''Much Too Soon,'' an actual relic of the early ’80s". The author of the forthcoming book, ''Man in the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson'', Joe Vogel thought John McClain's update to the song was skillful, making it sound brand new and retro at the same time. And he thought the song is "definitely one of the highlights of the album".

Music video

As the single release officially announced, a music video for this song was also announced to be released worldwide. On February 28, 2011, a project for this song's music video titled "Behind the Mask Project" was announced: "the Estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Music will provide everyone who likes music an opportunity to help create online a unique groundbreaking music video for the single 'Behind the Mask'." All the world can use a simple online tool to take part in making the music video since March 7, 2011. On March 30, 2011, a 17-second video of what Sony Music had been doing with some of the thousands of submissions for the "Behind the Mask Project" was released. On April 29, 2011, another video teaser for the project was released on michaeljackson.com, and it is announced that the final day to submit for the Behind the Mask Project is Tuesday May 3, 2011. On June 6, 2011 was published the official trailer announcing when the final video would be published. On June 14, 2011 the official and final video was posted on the official Michael Jackson's channel on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, but only accessible on the King of Pop's page on social networking site

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. A day after, the video was classified and is now more widely available. This video has become in the most international, multi-collaborative of all times. In the 1600 clips that compose it can be seen people from the

Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

to the main cities of the world, through the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

and the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

. The clip is currently under evaluation for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records as the music video with the largest audience of participants. The oldest screen of this music video was recorded in 1996 by a Turkish boy Turgay Suat Tarcan. An alternate video was originally shot and completed, featuring masked dancers in a nightclub, but the "Behind the Mask Project" was released instead of this video. This alternate video directed by the Grammy-winning directing duo

Aggressive Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...

leaked on July 31, 2013. The video was eventually uploaded to Jackson's

channel on August 3, 2018.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Track listing

Official versions

* Album Version 5:02 * Mike's Mix Demo Version 5:01 * Edit / Radio Edit 3:39 * Instrumental 5:02 * Edited Instrumental 3:39

Personnel

* Michael Jackson – solo vocal, beat box, background vocals, production * Alex Al – bass * Paulinho da Costa – percussion * Khaliq Glover – mixing, engineering * Alfonzo Jones – background vocals * John McClain – production * Jon Nettlesbey – additional keyboards, drum programming, sequencing, digital editing, mixing, engineering *

– drums, additional keyboards * Mike Phillips – saxophone, saxophonic percussion *

– background vocals * Allen Sides – engineering * Leon F. Sylvers III – background vocal arrangement, engineering * David Williams – guitar * Big Jim Wright – drums, keyboards, drum programming

Charts

Release history

Other versions

It was covered by The

Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

in 1993 with Yellow Magic Orchestra. A sample of the Greg Phillinganes version formed the basis for

Goldie Lookin Chain Goldie Lookin Chain are a Welsh comedy hip hop group from Newport, south-east Wales. The group produces humorous, controversial and often explicit songs that satirise hip hop, today's consumer society, the "chav" culture and life in Newpor ...

's 2004 single "

Your Mother's Got a Penis "Your Mother's Got a Penis" (referred to as simply "Your Mother" on BBC Radio 1) is a song by the British rap act Goldie Lookin Chain from their ''Greatest Hits'' album, released In November 2004. The song reached number fourteen on the UK Sing ...

Señor Coconut Uwe H. Schmidt (born 27 August 1968), also known as Atom™, Atom Heart, or Señor Coconut, is a German composer, musician and producer of electronic music. He is often regarded as the father of electrolatino, electrogospel, and aciton musi ...

had a cover version released in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behind The Mask (Song) 1979 songs 1980 singles 1985 singles 1987 singles 2011 singles Songs written by Ryuichi Sakamoto