Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British
new wave band formed in 1982 by former
Generation X
Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
bassist
Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40
hit single
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...
s, including "
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".
The band's music, image and inspiration drew from a range of electronic and glam bands such as
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
and the
New York Dolls
New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial succe ...
.
History
Early years
The band, which is often just called "Sputnik",
was formed by Tony James, ex-bassist of the defunct
Generation X
Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
,
[Handelman, David (1986)]
Sigue Sigue Sputnik: 'Fantasy band?'
, ''Gettysburg Times
''The Gettysburg Times'' is an American newspaper in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania owned by the Sample News Group. It published daily, except for Sundays, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
The ''Times'' was founded in 1902 as ''The Progress'', but i ...
'', 8 August 1986, p. 26. Retrieved 25 September 2010 and
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
Peter Mark Sinclair "M ...
(Whitmore), who recruited singer
Martin Degville
Martin Degville (born 27 January 1961Strong, Martin C. (1999) ''The Great Alternative & Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 564-5) is the lead singer and co-songwriter of the UK pop band Sigue Sigue Sputnik, which had a worldwide hit single in ...
. Degville was a clothes designer and supplied the band's wardrobe, and YaYa, the store where he worked, became the band's base.
Their first gig was in Paris, supporting
Johnny Thunders
John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played with ...
, with James' former Generation X colleague and then drummer for Thunders,
Mark Laff
Mark Laff (born Mark Red Laffoley; 19 May 1958) is a retired English drummer and former member of several rock bands, including Generation X.
Early life and career
Mark Red Laffoley was born on 19 May 1958 at Barnet General Hospital, at Chip ...
, on drums.
Mick Jones, formerly of
the Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...
, worked with the band as live sound engineer, helped manipulate their sound, and appeared with them when they opened for
New Model Army
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...
.
Fachna O'Kelly, manager of
the Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line ...
who had provided much of the band's equipment, provided the band with the name
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 in ...
, a reference to a
Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
street gang and meaning, in rough translation "go, go satellite" ("sigue" coming from
Tagalog, and from original
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
meaning "go on", and
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...
referencing the first man-made satellite launched by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in 1957).
The band's sound was, according to James, arrived at by accident, when he inadvertently mixed elements of film soundtracks with their demo track "Love Missile F1-11" while putting together a video compilation from his favourite films.
Commercial success (1984–1989)
Interest in the band increased sharply in 1984 after James was interviewed by the ''
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 ...
'', with several record companies sending representatives to their next performance at the Electric Cinema in London, and they were invited to perform on ''
The Tube''.
The band were signed by
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
, with the band themselves claiming in the press that they had signed for £4 million, though in fact revealed to be £350,000.
James wanted the band to be produced by
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
or
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
, with the latter rejecting the offer because the band's material was "too violent."
Also shortlisted were
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
and
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 ...
because of their soundtrack work.
The band's first single, the Moroder-produced "Love Missile F1-11", was released in February 1986, and reached number 3 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 ...
, number 2 in South Africa and was a major hit in several countries in Europe and Asia.
Its popularity was boosted by its inclusion in the
John Hughes film ''
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck with supporting roles by Jennifer Grey ...
''. The samples used in the single had not received copyright clearance, and were replaced in the US version,
a move that James says "killed the record" in America.
Their second single, "21st-Century Boy" reached number 20 in the UK, a relative disappointment James blamed on audiences tiring of the band due to overexposure in the media.
Despite largely negative reviews, their debut album, ''
Flaunt It'', also produced by Moroder, made the top ten in the UK, and reached 96 in the US.
The album included paid commercials between tracks,
[''Newsweek'', Volume 108, p. 43] James stated prior to its release that they would sell 20–to-30-second advertising slots for between $2,500 and $7,000.
[Goddard, Peter (1986) "Sigue Sigue Sputnik is out to sell the sounds of silence", '']Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', 27 July 1986 He explained this by saying "commercialism is rampant in society. Maybe we're a little more honest than some groups I could mention," and "our records sounded like adverts anyway".
Advertisements that did sell (including spots for ''
i-D Magazine
''i-D'' is a British bimonthly magazine published by Vice Media, dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. ''i-D'' was founded by designer and former '' Vogue'' art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the fo ...
'' and Studio Line from
L'Oréal
L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...
) were complemented by ironic spoof ads including one for the Sputnik corporation itself claiming that "Pleasure is our Business".
A subsequent tour was characterised by poor ticket sales and crowd violence,
Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Where Are They Now?: Yahoo Music, 20 May 2010
/ref> but James claimed the tour was also affected by an alleged vendetta by the UK tabloid Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
, which created a negative public perception of the band as a live act.
It was two years before the band followed this up, and subsequent releases fared less well. The Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...
produced " Success" peaked at number 31 in late 1988, with James blaming the track's underperformance on its generic pop production and a poor quality video. The singles that followed peaked outside the top 40. Second album ''Dress for Excess
''Dress for Excess'' is the second album by British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik, released in December 1988 in Brazil and in April 1989 in the UK and US.
Release
The album was released in Brazil before anywhere else, to make way for the band's Brazi ...
'' peaked at number 53 in the UK but sold well in Brazil. The band split up in July 1989, with James joining The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasin ...
later that year. Chris Kavanagh went on to Big Audio Dynamite II
Big Audio Dynamite (later known as Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio, and often abbreviated BAD) were an English band, formed in London in 1984 by Mick Jones, former lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. The band mixed various mu ...
joining Mick Jones. Mayhew formed Mayhem Deranged.
A collection of early demo recordings from 1984 and 1985, along with three tracks from 1990, ''First Generation'', was released in 1991.[Popson, Tom (1991) "Early Sigue Sigue Sputnik unearthed", '']Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', 5 April 1991
Reunions
In 1995, James and X formed a new version of the band with Christopher Novak (vocals) and John Green (keyboards). Their song "Cyberspace Party" was a hit in Japan; an album, ''Sputnik: The Next Generation'', was also released there, selling 50,000 copies. In 1998, with Degville back on vocals and with Claudia Cujo on drums, the band started to perform again, resulting in the 2000 release of ''Piratespace''.["Sputnik set to go into orbit again", '']Evening Times
The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.Marc Almond
Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He ...
band, and went on to form his own group, the Montecristos, which released its debut album "Born to Rock n' Roll" in 2015 following a successful crowd funding project.
Tony James formed the group Carbon/Silicon with Mick Jones which has released a number of free tracks digitally via www.carbonsilicon.com as well as selling music commercially, including the 2007 album release ''The Last Post''.
Image
James claimed he had chosen his bandmates for their looks, and the band's slogan was "Fleece the World".[Sanderson Healy, Lauren (1986]
With Cynical Hype, Five British Rockers Ride Sigue Sigue Sputnik to Semistardom
, ''People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'', Vol. 26, No. 8, 25 August 1986. Retrieved 25 September 2010 James billed the band as "Hi-tech sex, designer violence, and the fifth generation of rock 'n' roll".
The themes and imagery in the band's songs were often influenced by futuristic, dystopian
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
or post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
films such as ''A Clockwork Orange
''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to:
* ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess
** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel
*** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the 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 ...
'', ''Blade Runner
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...
'' and the ''Mad Max
''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...
'' trilogy.[Schabe, Patrick (2003)]
TONY JAMES AND THE ARGONAUTSSS
, ''PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'', 29 May 2003. Retrieved 25 September 2010 Visually, their image included fishnet masks and brightly coloured hair.
Members
* Tony James – space guitar, electric guitar, synth guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1982–1990, 1995, 1998–2004)
* Martin Degville
Martin Degville (born 27 January 1961Strong, Martin C. (1999) ''The Great Alternative & Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 564-5) is the lead singer and co-songwriter of the UK pop band Sigue Sigue Sputnik, which had a worldwide hit single in ...
– lead vocals (1982–1990, 1998–2004)
* 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
Peter Mark Sinclair "M ...
– guitar, backing vocals (1982–1990, 1995, 1998–2004)
* Chris Kavanagh – drums, electronic drums(1982–1990, 1995)
* Ray Mayhew – drums, electronic drums (1982–1990)
* Yana YaYa (Jane Farrimond) – keyboards, special effects(1982–1990)
* John Green – keyboards (1995)
* Christopher Novak – lead vocals (1995)
* Claudia Cujo – drums (1998)
* Jenny Z – effects (2001–2004)
Discography
*'' Flaunt It'' (1986)
*''Dress for Excess
''Dress for Excess'' is the second album by British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik, released in December 1988 in Brazil and in April 1989 in the UK and US.
Release
The album was released in Brazil before anywhere else, to make way for the band's Brazi ...
'' (1988)
*''Sputnik: The Next Generation'' (1996)
*''Piratespace'' (2001)
*''Blak Elvis vs. The Kings of Electronic Rock and Roll'' (2002)
*''Ultra Real'' (2003)
References
External links
Official site, includes history by Tony James
{{Authority control
English pop music groups
English new wave musical groups
British Hi-NRG groups
Cyberpunk music
Glam punk groups
Musical groups established in 1982
1982 establishments in England
Parlophone artists
EMI Records artists