''Flaunt It'' is the debut studio album by British
new wave band
Sigue Sigue Sputnik
Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40 hit singles, including "Love Missile F1-11" and " 21st Century Boy".
The band's music, image and insp ...
, released on 28 July 1986 by
Parlophone. The album featured remixes of their hit singles "
Love Missile F1-11
"Love Missile F1-11" is the debut single by British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik, released in 1986 from their debut album '' Flaunt It''. It was the band's biggest hit, reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart. The track was produced by Giorgio ...
" and "
21st Century Boy" and peaked at number 10 on the
UK Albums Chart.
[
]
Adverts
''Flaunt It'' was unique in that the band sold spots between songs for advertisements. Ultimately, ads for L'Oréal, i-D magazine, the short-lived London pirate television station NeTWork 21
Network Twentyone, is a training and support organization for distributors working with the Amway business. It was founded in 1990 by Jim and Nancy Dornan, distributors with Amway, originally to support their Amway network in the United States and ...
, and London's Kensington Market clothing shop Pure Sex were complemented by fictitious ads for the Sputnik Corporation and the (unreleased) Sigue Sigue Sputnik Computer Game; a spoken word advertisement (narrated by the Sputnik Corporation voiceover) for EMI closes the album. All original CD versions and the version released in Germany also include an ad for Tempo, a lifestyle magazine. The liner notes include small print ads for the various advertisers, as well.
Originally, the album was going to feature eight different adverts for the UK, US and Japan releases. However, band member Tony James was unable to secure different adverts, so the releases in the US and Japan featured the same adverts as the UK version. The eight adverts lasted up to 30 seconds long and reportedly each cost $1,500. Before the album's release, James said "We could earn $150,000 before we sell a single copy. Ultimately, the profits could be used to reduce the price of records".
Release
The first 20,000 copies of ''Flaunt It'' were released in a special edition box, based on Japanese toy robot packaging, and came with a 12-page booklet.
Several singles were released from the album. Their debut single, "Love Missile F1-11" was a Top-10 hit in numerous countries, including the UK, where it peaked at number 3 on the Singles Chart
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...
, and Spain where it topped the charts. The subsequent single "21st Century Boy" did not achieve the same amount of success, peaking at number 20 in the UK.
There was a lot of pressure to release "Atari Baby" as the third single. However, James refused as he wanted " Sex Bomb Boogie" released as "the third in the trilogy". Also James' idea was to release "Sex Bomb Boogie" as a video-only single in the UK, which made it ineligible to chart. The video featured footage from the James Cameron
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...
film ''The Terminator
''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whos ...
'' (1984). The single, however, was released in Germany, but failed to chart. Sigue Sigue Sputnik decided to release the double A-sided single " Rockit Miss U.S.A."/"Teenage Thunder" under the pseudonym 'Sci-Fi Sex Stars' on their short-lived label 'Who M I?'. It was a limited release of 1000 copies and featured different mixes of the two songs compared to their album versions. The final single, "Massive Retaliation", was only released in the US.
On 9 October 2020, Cherry Red Records
Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as well ...
reissued this album in a 4CD deluxe edition featuring remixes, B-sides and unreleased material, including a live performance recorded at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...
. The content was remastered with input from James and fellow band member Neal X
Neal X (born Neal Whitmore) was the guitarist with the British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik. They had a No. 3 UK hit single with "Love Missile F1-11" in 1986. He has also worked as a sideman for Adam Ant and Marc Almond. Whitmore founded the Montecri ...
.
Critical reception
The album was slated by British press and critical reaction was negative. Reviewing for '' Record Mirror'', Roger Morton wrote that "it was a mistake to put out 'the album' at all" and that "somebody should have told Giorgio Moroder what a wild, writhing sex flash this was supposed to be, because most of it sounds pretty tame." He concluded that it "doesn't mean it's a dead horse that Tony's flaunting, but the tired old rock'n'roll nag is bound to limp a bit under the weight of all that techno-junk clutter and global domination boasting."
Reviewing for ''Smash Hits
''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...
'', Tom Hibbert
Tom Hibbert (28 May 1952 – 28 August 2011) was an English music journalist and film critic. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a regular writer for music magazines such as ''Smash Hits'', '' Q'' and ''Mojo'', and reviewed films for ''Empire'' magaz ...
wrote that "apart from one attempt at "atmospherics", "Atari Baby", the whole thing proceeds at an identical pace and similar jerky level and, once you've got the joke, it's really quite enjoyable: not as good as Adam Ant but a birrovalaff anyway – even if you do know that it'll all sound horrendously dated by this time next year."
Anthony Naughton for '' Number One'' wrote that the band "seem to be caught in a Dan Dare
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the ''Eagle'' comic story ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'' from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in repri ...
time warp, and regard space, violence and sex as being fundamental features in life (unlike Dan Dare)" and that "the bubble hasn't burst yet, it's just let out a little wind."
Track listing
* On download and streaming services
An over-the-top media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributors of s ...
, "Love Missile F1-11" is the 7-inch single version with a duration of 3:44.
2020 deluxe edition
Personnel
Sigue Sigue Sputnik
* Martin Degville – vocals
* Tony James – synth guitar
* Neal X
Neal X (born Neal Whitmore) was the guitarist with the British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik. They had a No. 3 UK hit single with "Love Missile F1-11" in 1986. He has also worked as a sideman for Adam Ant and Marc Almond. Whitmore founded the Montecri ...
– electric guitar
* Ray Mayhew – drums
* Chris Kavanagh – drums
* Miss Yana Ya Ya (Jane Farrimond) – special effects
Technical
* Giorgio Moroder
Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...
– producer
* Brian Reeves – engineer
* Syd Brak – illustrations
* Mike Morton – photography
* Joe Shutter – photography
* Frank Griffin – photography
* Dave Thompson – liner notes
* Brian Carr – legal counsel
Popular culture
"Love Missile F1-11
"Love Missile F1-11" is the debut single by British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik, released in 1986 from their debut album '' Flaunt It''. It was the band's biggest hit, reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart. The track was produced by Giorgio ...
" was used in the 1986 hit film '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' and the 2002 video game '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City''. A version of the song is featured in the South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
episode "Super Fun Time
"Super Fun Time" is the seventh episode in the twelfth season of the American animated television series '' South Park''. The 174th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 23, 2008. In t ...
", with Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom '' South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main chara ...
singing along "I'm having a super fun time". The song also features on the trailer for '' Stretch'' (2014).
Pop Will Eat Itself released a cover of "Love Missile F1-11" as a single in May 1987, before including it on their debut studio album''Box Frenzy
''Box Frenzy'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Pop Will Eat Itself. It was released on 26 October 1987 in the United Kingdom by Chapter 22 Records and in the United States by Rough Trade Records.
At the end of 1987, the ''NME'' ...
'' in 1988. David Bowie covered the song as an outtake during the sessions for his 2003 studio album, '' Reality''. It was then released as a B-side for the single " New Killer Star".
The robot depicted on Syd Brak's cover art was ranked as the 17th best robot of all time on the January 18th, 2017 episode of The Best Show with Tom Scharpling
''The Best Show with Tom Scharpling'' (formerly ''The Best Show on WFMU'') is a combination music, call-in, and comedy Internet radio show/podcast hosted independently by Tom Scharpling since 2014, which previously aired on New Jersey-based radi ...
.
Charts
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1986 debut albums
Sigue Sigue Sputnik albums
EMI Records albums
Albums produced by Giorgio Moroder