"Burning Car" is a song by

John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the new wave band Ultravox, before leaving to embark on a ...

, released as a single in 1980. It was his third solo single, following "Underpass" and "No-One Driving" earlier in the year. The track was not included on Foxx's debut solo album ''

Metamatic ''Metamatic'' is the debut solo album by John Foxx, released in 1980. It was his first solo project following his split with Ultravox the previous year. A departure from the mix of synthesizers and conventional rock instrumentation on that band ...

'', post-dating its January 1980 release, but has been included as a bonus track on the 2001 and 2007 CD reissues. It was Foxx's last 1980s record in a hard-edged

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

style (his next single, " Miles Away", featured acoustic drums and a somewhat warmer production). "Burning Car" developed the

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

style of ''Metamatic'' and was pacier than most of the album's material. Its staccato introduction was reminiscent of the metallic guitar notes that kicked off the track "Some of Them" from ''

Systems of Romance ''Systems of Romance'', released on 8 September 1978, is the third album by British New wave music, new wave band Ultravox (an exclamation mark having been dropped from the moniker earlier in the year). It was the final recording for the group ...

'', Foxx's last album with former band

Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...

. The title came from a chapter in

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...

's SF novel ''

Concrete Island ''Concrete Island'' is a novel by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1974. Plot introduction A car accident leaves Robert Maitland, a wealthy architect in the midst of concealing his affair with a colleague, stranded in a large a ...

'' and its automobile reference was shared by a number of tracks on ''Metamatic''. The B-side, "20th Century", was used as the theme for the

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

arts and music show ''20th Century Box''. The songs were recorded in the same "eight-track cupboard in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

" as ''Metamatic'', and again engineered by Gareth Jones. No instrumental credits appeared on the original single, however Foxx's studio equipment at the time included

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "perf ...

and

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s, an Elka 'String Machine', a

Roland CR-78 The Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 is a drum machine launched in 1978. Although primitive by later standards, the CR-78 represented an important advance in drum machine technology at the time, in particular by allowing users to program and store thei ...

drum machine, an ARP Analog

Sequencer Sequencer may refer to: Technology * Drum sequencer (controller), an electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events automatically * DNA sequencer, a machine used to automatically produce a sequence readout from a biological DNA sam ...

and various phasing and flanger units. The recording of "Burning Car" features a prominent use of the "metal beat" hi-hat sound from the CR-78; Foxx used the name MetalBeat for his own

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. The single made #35 in the UK charts and was also released in picture disc form with a different image to the original cover. "Burning Car" appears on the John Foxx compilations ''Assembly'' (1992), ''Modern Art'' (2001) and ''

Metatronic ''Metatronic'' is a retrospective compilation of recorded audio and visual material by British musician and recording artist John Foxx. It was released in 2010 by Edsel Records to mark the 30th anniversary of Foxx's debut solo album ''Metamatic'' ...

'' (2010), and both the A- and B-sides are included on the 2001 and 2007 reissue of ''Metamatic'' (the 1993 edition had featured only "20th Century"). Extended live versions of both songs appear on Foxx's album ''Subterranean Omnidelic Exotour'' (1998) with Louis Gordon (reissued in 2002 as the second of a 2-disc set, ''The Golden Section Tour + The Omnidelic Exotour''). "Burning Car"'s style and subject matter have been echoed in Foxx's recent original albums with Louis Gordon: ''Shifting City'', ''Pleasures of Electricity'' and ''Crash and Burn''. An "early version" of "Burning Car" is included on the 2010 ''Metatronic'' compilation. The song remains a John Foxx

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

and is regularly performed live, also by the new formation of

John Foxx and the Maths John Foxx and the Maths is a musical project featuring electronic music pioneer John Foxx, Benge and more recently Hannah Peel. The group specialises in the use of analogue synthesizers and drum machines. It was initially a studio based proj ...

featuring additional violin played by

Hannah Peel Hannah Mary Peel (born 27 August 1985) is a British artist, music producer, Mercury Music Prize and Emmy-nominated composer and BBC Radio 3 broadcaster. Her solo music is primarily electronic, synthesiser-based and often includes classical scor ...

as documented on the 2010 live performance ''Analogue Circuit'' CD/DVD (issued 2013).

Track listing

#"Burning Car" (

) – 3:13 #"20th Century" (John Foxx) – 3:05

Picture disc

The single was also issued as a 7" picture disc with the same catalogue number. The A side features a reflected image of Foxx against venetian blinds while the B side features a burning car, the same image as used for the reverse of the regular 7" picture sleeve.

Japanese EP

"Burning Car" is also the title and lead-track of a six track John Foxx vinyl EP issued in 1981 in Japan only. # Burning Car 3:14 # 20th Century 3:05 # This City 3:06 # Miles Away 3:26 # A Long Time 3:50 # Mr. No 3:16 The record is housed in a grey die-cut sleeve with over-sized 6" picture photo labels of John Foxx. " Miles Away" is John Foxx's successive single release with "A Long Time" as the B side. However this version of "Miles Away" is slightly different from the standard 7" single and can be found on the Edsel Records reissue of '' The Garden'' CD album (EDSD 2014) where it is known as the "Alternative Version".

Karborn Dubterror remix

* A: Burning Car (Dubterror remix) * B: 20th century (Dubterror remix) September 2008, Metamatic Records, META 17, 12" vinyl limited edition. This remix of Burning Car also available on '' Glimmer (Best of John Foxx)'' compilation album.

20th Century

An edit of "20th Century", the B side to "Burning Car", was used as the

theme tune Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

to the

Janet Street-Porter Janet Vera Street-Porter (''née'' Bull; born 27 December 1946) is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and media personality. She began her career as a fashion writer and columnist at the ''Daily Mail'' and was later appointed fashion e ...

produced LWT series ''20th Century Box'' (later ''Twentieth Century Box''). The weekly programme hosted by reporter

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fam ...

covered topical issues for young people. Musical trends were also covered, including an early episode on the group

Spandau Ballet Spandau Ballet () were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European Da ...

before they had a recording contract, and

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

as part of the new "electro-disco" scene. The show ran from June,

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

to September,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. The track was revived by Foxx for live performances with

Louis Gordon Louis Gordon (born 1965) is an English musician notable for his collaboration with John Foxx. He has worked with Foxx on a number of albums since 1995. His solo work has also been released on the Toffeetones record label. Biography John Foxx had ...

from 1998 onwards, as documented on the albums ''Subterranean Omnidelic Exotour'' (1997), ''Retro Future'' (2007) and ''A New Kind Of Man'' (2008). In later live performances the single lyric "twentieth century!" is modified to "twenty-first century!". The studio version of "20th Century" was included on re-issues of the ''

'' album in 2001 and 2007.

Personnel

* John Foxx – rhythm machine (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Notes

External links

Metamatic
- the official John Foxx website (discography section) * {{authority control John Foxx songs 1980 songs Songs written by John Foxx Songs about cars Virgin Records singles