"Mirror in the Bathroom" is a single by British

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

band the Beat released as a single in 1980 from their debut album ''

I Just Can't Stop It ''I Just Can't Stop It'' is the debut studio album by British ska band the Beat, released on 23 May 1980 by Go-Feet Records in the United Kingdom. It was released the same year in the United States on Sire Records under the band name "The Engl ...

''. It reached number 4 in 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 ...

and consequently was their highest charting release in the UK until 1983. It was released again in 1995 as a 12" single and early in 1996 as a CD single (both containing contemporary club remixes) to promote '' B.P.M.: The Very Best of the Beat''. The reissued single reached number 44 in 1996. The song was ranked at #3 among the top ten "Tracks of the Year" for 1980 by ''

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 ...

''.

Composition

According to composer and singer

Dave Wakeling David Wakeling (born 19 February 1956) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his work with the band the Beat (known in North America as the English Beat) and General Public. Career Wakeling began his professional career ...

, the song originated when he was working on a construction site and he got up for work one winter morning after "a couple of drinks" and found his clothes still wet on the bathroom floor. While shaving, he says, On his way to work on his motorbike, he thought about the idea of "The door is locked, just you and me"; and reflected on the nature of

narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

: When he first heard David Steele's "revolutionary" 2/2 bassline, he thought, "Wow, that poem I was writing on the motorbike fits it like a glove." The title of the song led some to believe, mistakenly, that it was about drawing lines of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

on a mirror. Wakeling says that "in America in the early '80s, everybody gave me knowing winks and said, 'Oh, I know what that one's about, then, Dave.' And it wasn't that mirror in the bathroom at all, it was the one on the wall, and not the one on your knee."

Release

Jerry Dammers Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers GCOT (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who was a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry-based ska band The Specials (also known as The Special A.K.A.) and later The Spatial AKA Orches ...

wanted The Beat to release "Mirror in the Bathroom" as their first single for his company 2 Tone Records, but

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

, 2 Tone's parent company, refused to allow them to release it as a single. Instead, they released a ska version of the

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

song "

The Tears of a Clown "The Tears of a Clown" is a song written by Hank Cosby, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder and originally recorded by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for the Tamla Records label subsidiary of Motown, first appearing on the 1967 album '' Make It H ...

". When that record was successful, The Beat formed their own label,

Go-Feet Records Go-Feet Records was an English record label founded by, and predominantly used to release recordings by, the ska revival band the Beat (known as the English Beat in North America). The band had some chart success in the United Kingdom in the ...

, which released "Mirror in the Bathroom". It was released in April 1980 and reached No. 4 in the UK Charts.

Reception

"Mirror in the Bathroom" was ranked at No. 3 in the ''

'' "Tracks of the Year" list for 1980, and at No. 24 in ''Sounds'' magazine's "Singles of the Year" list for 1980.Acclaimed Music - Mirror in the Bathroom
/ref> In 2003, ''

Q magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...

'' ranked the song at No. 517 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2002, Gary Mulholland included the song in his list ''This is Uncool: The 500 Best Singles Since Punk Rock''. In 2001, Michaelangelo Matos included it in his list of "The Top 100 Singles of the 80s." In 2006, 97x ranked it at No. 186 in their list of "The 500 Best Modern Rock Songs of All Time."

Covers

A cover of "Mirror in the Bathroom", by

Ethan Stoller Ethan Stoller is an American composer, music editor and producer from Chicago, Illinois. Stoller's first film score was for the independently produced ''Roadrunner'' (dir. Christopher Blasingame) in 2001. Stoller has composed three film scores: ' ...

and

SuperKnova Ellie Kim, artist name SuperKnova, is a singer, activist, physician and musician. She has released two studio albums, ''American Queers'' and, most recently, ''superuniverse''. As a physician, she is noted for speaking out publicly against non-con ...

, appeared in Season 1, Episode 4 of Showtime series ''Work in Progress''.

Later releases

The single was re-released on 21 April 2012 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 ...

2012 as a limited edition 750 run of 7" copies. Its B-side is "

Too Nice to Talk To "Too Nice to Talk To" is a non-album single by British ska/ new wave band The Beat, released on 5 December 1980 by Go-Feet Records. It peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. The song has since been included on CD reissues of the band's se ...

Ranking Roger Roger Charlery (21 February 1963 – 26 March 2019), known professionally as Ranking Roger,Strong, Martin C. (2002) ''The Great Rock Discography, 6th Edition'', Canongate, , p. 72Huey, Steve " Ranking Roger Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 17 Febru ...

's album 'Pop Off The Head Top' includes a new remix version of 'Mirror in the Bathroom' produced by Gaudi. The song is included in the soundtracks of the 1987 film '' Someone to Watch Over Me'', the 1997 movie ''

Grosse Pointe Blank ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' is a 1997 American black comedy action film directed by George Armitage from a screenplay by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink and John Cusack. It stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd and follo ...

'', and the 1999 film ''

SLC Punk! ''SLCPunk!'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by James Merendino. The film centers around Steven "Stevo" Levy, a college graduate and punk living in Salt Lake City during the mid-1980s. ''SLCPunk!'' was chosen as the open ...

'', by a project called Fifi.

1990s reissues

;12" single, 74321232061 (1995) # "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Sure is Pure Remix) # "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Tic Tac Toe Remix) # "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Simon and Diamond Remix) # "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Adelphi Remix) A promo 12" containing only the first two tracks (VAIN 001) was also released.

;CD single, 74321232062 (January 8, 1996) # "Mirror in the Bathroom" (

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed She ...

Remix) (3:28) # "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Tic Tac Toe Remix) (5:41) # "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Adelphi Remix) (4:45) # "Mirror in the Bathroom" (Original Version) (3:08)

Charts

References

{{authority control 1980 songs 1980 singles 1995 singles The Beat (British band) songs Record Store Day releases Songs written by David Steele (musician) Works about narcissism Songs written by Ranking Roger Song recordings produced by Bob Sargeant