True (Spandau Ballet song)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"True" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released in April 1983 as the title track and third single from their third studio album. It was written by the band's guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp to express his feelings for Altered Images lead singer
Clare Grogan Claire Patricia Grogan (born 17 March 1962), known professionally as Clare Grogan or sometimes as C. P. Grogan, is a Scottish actress and singer. She is best known as the lead singer of the 1980s new wave music group Altered Images, as well as ...
, influenced musically by songs of
Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
and
Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...
he was listening to at the time, and lyrically by Green and The Beatles. It eventually reached number one on the UK chart in April 1983 and made the top 10 in several other countries, including the US, where it became their first song to reach the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Kemp wanted to shift the sound of Spandau Ballet into soul and incorporated band member Steve Norman's newfound interest in the saxophone into his writing; the band also updated its look to suits for the song's music video and tour. "True" was recorded with most of the other tracks from the album at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas. The ''True'' album was then released as " Communication", its first single, was climbing the UK Singles Chart. DJs were so enthusiastic about playing the title song that the band knew it would be their next single. The song has since become the band's signature hit. It has been covered by Paul Anka in a
swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...
style, and used in films such as '' Sixteen Candles'' and ''
50 First Dates ''50 First Dates'' is a 2004 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Peter Segal and starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore with Rob Schneider, Sean Astin and Dan Aykroyd in supporting roles. It follows the story of Henry, a womanizing m ...
'', as well as TV series like '' Modern Family''. Other artists have sampled it in their own hits, most notably
P.M. Dawn P.M. Dawn was an American hip hop and R&B act that formed in 1988 by the brothers Attrell Cordes (known by his stage name Prince Be, sometimes credited as Prince Be the Nocturnal) and Jarrett Cordes (known as DJ Minutemix) in Jersey City, New J ...
, who went to number one in the US with " Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" in 1991.


Background and writing

In 1981, Spandau Ballet guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp met Altered Images lead singer
Clare Grogan Claire Patricia Grogan (born 17 March 1962), known professionally as Clare Grogan or sometimes as C. P. Grogan, is a Scottish actress and singer. She is best known as the lead singer of the 1980s new wave music group Altered Images, as well as ...
and felt an "instant connection" in part due to their conversations about writers. For his birthday that year, she gave him a copy of the novel ''
Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humber ...
'' by Vladimir Nabokov, whom they had discussed. He intended the relationship to be platonic since he already had a girlfriend, but he was also competing for her attention with two other men: actor John Gordon Sinclair, who starred with her in '' Gregory's Girl'', and artist David Band, who had designed cover art for Altered Images; he would later do so for Spandau Ballet with the single " Communication". Spandau Ballet's first album, '' Journeys to Glory'', was released in 1981. It reflected their desire to represent the clientele of the trendy London nightclub the Blitz with its focus on what Kemp called "white European
disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
music". Their second album, '' Diamond'', had a successful stab at funk with its lead single, "
Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On) "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)" is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 10 July 1981 as the first single from their upcoming second album, ''Diamond''. The band's guitarist/songwriter, Gary Kemp, wanted t ...
", but otherwise disappointed critics with its more experimental material. The poor chart performance of its next two singles, "
Paint Me Down "Paint Me Down" is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 2 November 1981 as the second single from what would be their second album, ''Diamond''. Their guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp copied some of the elements of the ...
" and " She Loved Like Diamond", resulted in a remix of its more
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...
-sounding track " Instinction", which became a number 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart in spring 1982. That rebound brought a stark realisation for Kemp: the nightclub crowd Spandau Ballet originally catered to was no longer interested in them. He told John Wilson in a ''
Mastertapes ''Mastertapes'' is a BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy ...
'' interview in 2013 that, because they were unable keep the audience they initially attracted, " ere was a sense of, ' have to move on from here,'" a desire to expand to a broader audience. This later inspired the "True" lyric "I bought a ticket to the world". allowing him to focus more on the melody. He told '' Creem'' magazine in 1984, "For the first time, I was trying to write songs that were emotional release for me—me just writing about myself and the way I felt." Kemp was primarily listening to soul artists
Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
and
Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...
as he developed songs for the band's next album. His love of their music factored heavily into writing the title track, even to the point of paying tribute to Gaye on a first-name basis: He wanted to write a
blue-eyed soul Blue-eyed soul (also called white soul) is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly-black Motown and Stax ...
version of what Gaye and Green performed, something "with that kind of vulnerability and atmosphere of uncertainty", with music like Green's " Let's Stay Together" and lyrics from his own experience, particularly with regard to his feelings for Grogan. Kemp began the music for what became "True" in mid-1982 after watching the 1970
Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
documentary ''
Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album It may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...
'' on television; afterwards the song "
Dig a Pony "Dig a Pony" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album ''Let It Be''. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The band recorded the song on 30 January 1969, during their rooftop concert at th ...
" stuck in his head. In a 2017 interview with '' The Wall Street Journal'', he described how the song opens: " John Lennon sings 'I, hi-hi, hi-hi, I dig a pony.' I loved how he took that one word—'I'—and turned it into a snaking melody." Kemp took to his Eko acoustic guitar that evening wanting to avoid the dance rhythms he was used to writing and instead structured a melody around the word "I" the way Lennon had. He reworked the opening line from Green's hit, "I'm, I'm so in love with you", as "Ah ha-hah hahh-hi / I know this / much is / true-oo." "'True' is about how difficult it is to be honest when you're trying to write a love song to someone", Kemp later admitted. "Hence: 'Why do I find it hard to write the next line?'" In his 2009 autobiography ''I Know This Much: From Soho to Spandau'', he explained that even conveying his feelings in lyrics he "felt inhibited, shy even, so I started to write about that very thing: the fear of revealing oneself, of saying in song what was true." Of the infatuation that he was uncomfortable confessing, he later told '' The Daily Telegraph'', "I didn't want to write it down—because there's nothing more embarrassing." After reworking Green's opening line, he decided the song would not focus so much upon what he knew was true regarding the subject as it would on the issue of how much of the truth he was going to tell. He wanted to use the song as a way to tell Grogan how he felt by choosing phrases no one else would understand and looked through the copy of ''Lolita'' she had given him. He found the underlined phrases "pill on my tongue" and "seaside limbs", the latter of which he modified for the lyric "Take your seaside arms and write the next line / Oh, I want the truth to be known." Parsing the other selection, he thought, "'A pill dissolves, doesn't it? And the pill was trying to dissolve the nerves that I have, because I'm nervous when I'm with you or thinking about you'". He wrote the lyric "With a thrill in my head and a pill on my tongue / Dissolve the nerves that have just begun." After he had finished writing the song, he felt it was more about the process of creating something "with a blue-eyed soul feel" than it was about Grogan. Spandau Ballet had already released two albums and several singles, but Kemp and his brother,
Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...
, the band's
bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...
, were still living with their parents. Once finished with "True", Kemp sang and played it on his guitar for Martin, who liked it and thought it was ready to record. When Gary performed it for the rest of the band, he was accompanied by an old friend from his years at Dame Alice Owen's School, pianist Jess Bailey. Kemp had discovered a
Rhodes Chroma The ARP Chroma is a polyphonic, multitimbral, microprocessor controlled, subtractive synthesis analog synthesizer developed in 1979-1980 by ARP Instruments, Inc. just before the company's bankruptcy and collapse in 1981. The design was purchase ...
keyboard that gave him the sound he wanted, and Bailey adapted Gary's guitar chords so that he could play more than just single notes on the new
polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
synthesiser 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 f ...
. Kemp wrote in his autobiography that "by far the slickest musician in the band" was Steve Norman, who had played guitar on '' Journeys to Glory'' but switched to percussion instruments on '' Diamond''. They enlisted the help of
Beggar & Co Beggar and Co (also written Beggar & Co) are a British jazz-funk group formed by Kenny Wellington, David Baptiste and Neville 'Breeze' McKrieth, originally members of the group Light of the World. Overview Beggar and Co's first single was "(S ...
as the horn section on that album for tracks such as "Chant No. 1", which inspired Norman to take up the saxophone. Kemp called it "another voice within the band" and that he "would purposely write to elevate his saxophone into its own space" by changing keys, "and that just steps it out of the track and puts it somewhere else." Kemp wrote "True" in the key of G major with a tempo of 98 BPM and a chord progression of G, Em9, CMaj9, Bm7. The song modulates to the key of
E♭ major E-flat major (or the key of E-flat) is a major scale based on E♭ (musical note), E, consisting of the pitches E, F (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A♭ (musical note), A, B♭ (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, and D (musical note), ...
for the sax solo, after which it returns to G Major. Norman told '' The Guardian'' in 2012 that his solo combined two takes; at the time the band began working on "True" he had been regularly listening to the
Grover Washington Jr. Grover Washington Jr. (December 12, 1943 – December 17, 1999) was an American jazz-funk and soul-jazz saxophonist. Along with Wes Montgomery and George Benson, he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre. He wr ...
Bill Withers hit " Just the Two of Us", explaining, "The solo is a reply to that: at the key change things just lift off, giving the song a moment of elation." The interest in the saxophone went beyond "True" for Kemp, who recalled how, as teenagers, he and Norman had appreciated its use on hits by
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 ...
and
Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
and, specifically, on Evelyn "Champagne" King's " Shame". He thought the instrument epitomized soul music and should be prominently featured on the new album.


Recording

The band wanted to record at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas because of the soul music that had been recorded there; Kemp also felt that the tropical surroundings would help give the music the feeling he was trying to achieve. They also decided to get assistance in producing what would be '' True'' from Tony Swain and Steve Jolley, who had recently worked with Bananarama and
Imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...
. The band appreciated the use of the synth-bass on the latter's hit single " Body Talk" so much that they had Swain play the instrument on the recording of "True" instead of having Martin Kemp play electric bass. In describing how the change lent itself to the new sound they were after, Kemp insisted, "Martin didn't mind. We all loved the synth bass's sound. It was of its time and had a disco, funk-soul feel. We were trying to rebrand ourselves in a slightly different direction." The backing vocals for the song were recorded using a
Dolby noise-reduction system A Dolby noise-reduction system, or Dolby NR, is one of a series of Audio noise reduction, noise reduction systems developed by Dolby Laboratories for use in analog audio tape recording. The first was ''#Dolby A, Dolby A'', a professio ...
, but the band decided not to use the decoder that would remove the hissing from the recording because they liked the sound of the "airy, breathy fizz on top". The result gave Kemp a sense of the success they would be enjoying: "When we listened to the playback in the studio, everyone suddenly started singing along, the road crew and everything. I think we knew then it was a number 1." Hadley's lead vocal was recorded with Steve Jolley producing at Red Bus Studios in Paddington after returning from Nassau. In his 2004 autobiography ''To Cut a Long Story Short'', Hadley wrote, "It's quite a complicated song to sing in terms of phrasing and timing, and we soldiered on for ages before we felt we'd got it right." When asked in a 2017 Professor of Rock interview about the high note he reaches while singing, "Oh, I want the truth to be said," at the point between the sax solo and the final chorus, he responded, "I don't do that big note at the end now. I just play it down." The plan was to open the song with just a string synthesizer, but Swain was unhappy with how it sounded and came up with the idea of using the chorus for the beginning without the lead. Kemp attributed the album version's six-and-a-half-minute length to their love for the finished product with the lead vocal finally included.


Cover art

Kemp asked Band to work with Spandau Ballet on the design for the new album. Because they were both seeing their careers take off during their attempts to court Grogan, they went camping together a few times in the English
Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
as a way of escaping their success. Kemp recalled, "We first started to devise a cover together for the '' True'' album when we were up in the mountains, in one of the pubs one evening. He was drawing in his sketchbook and a dove appeared, this little dove." Band later added alongside it the outline of a man's head with a brimmed hat, which the band loved; a variation was used for the sleeve of the "True" single. His work was described as "a marker for the look of the time, a jazz-influenced style that could also be seen in an exaggerated fashion in the
New Romantic The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...
look." Kemp credits him with having "the skill of coming up with simple, figurative graphics that would set a visual tone for the decade." In 2012 he told '' The Herald'': Kemp was unaware of some of the fun poked at the song: "Our friendly in-house press girl, Julia Marcus, even told us that she and a friend had boldly graffitied the toilet at Camden Palace with the Spandau dove and the word True." In his autobiography ''Pop Stars in My Pantry: A Memoir of Pop Mags and Clubbing in the 1980s'', her friend, music journalist Paul Simper, recounted that the text written under the dove actually read, "This Much Is Poo".


Release and commercial performance

When the ''True'' album was completed, the band's label,
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 ...
, was pleased with the results and felt it would succeed on the strength of " Gold" and the title song. The first single, "
Lifeline Lifeline or Lifelines may refer to: Support, care, and emergency services * Crisis hotline ** Lifeline (crisis support service), Australia-based, now international ** National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, United States * LifeLine (medical tran ...
", had been recorded at Red Bus in August 1982 and released on 24 September. It peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart and made its last appearance there at the end of November. The album was completed the following month, but Kemp explained that when the next single needed to be chosen, the band's manager, Steve Dagger, "didn't want to go with a ballad next and recommended another up-tempo first. 'Communication' got the band vote. Why we didn’t go straight for 'True' or 'Gold' as the next single, I'm not sure. Maybe we felt their success would be automatic and wanted to save them for later, during the album's release." It was released in early February 1983, with the album following in the UK a month later, debuting on the UK Albums Chart on 12 March, the same week "Communication" peaked at number 12. Kemp felt the success of "Communication" was hampered by the fact that "radio DJs were all playing the album track 'True' instead". Hadley recalled one instance in which Simon Bates of BBC Radio 1, having just played the album version of "True" on the air before it became a single and predicting to his listeners that it would go to number one when it did, played it again immediately. For Kemp, the decision had been made for them: "By public demand, 'True' would be our next single." Norman thought the band had a "friendly rivalry" with
Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...
: "In the studio, we used to leave each other insulting messages, jokes and caricatures." After "True" was released in mid-April 1983, however, they left Spandau Ballet a message to let them know that they thought the song was "fantastic". Despite Kemp's feeling in the Bahamas that it would be a hit, Hadley never even thought it would be released as a single. In 2014, he revealed that he did not think it was their best song—he preferred 1986's "
Through the Barricades ''Through the Barricades'' is the fifth studio album by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 17 November 1986 by CBS Records in the United Kingdom and by Epic Records in the United States. The album reached number seven and remain ...
"—and that he was still confused by lyrics such as "Head over heels when toe to toe", concluding "But then, I suppose, we grew up on David Bowie and Roxy Music. ' Virginia Plain'—what's that about? Half of the Bowie songs, I couldn't tell you what they're about. With 'True', you have to create the imagery for yourself." In his autobiography, regarding his initial skepticism, he admitted, "No one was more surprised than me when it went on to become our biggest hit." The day before Spandau Ballet learned that "True" had reached number one on the UK Singles Chart at the end of April, they had heard that the single had sold over 60,000 copies in one day and that their closest competitors had only sold one-third of that. They were on tour in Sheffield when Dagger heard the announcement of their chart feat, so he called their hotel to give them the news. Kemp spoke to him, excitedly woke drummer John Keeble with whom he shared the hotel room to spread the news, and snuck into Hadley's room to spray him awake with champagne. Remembering Keeble riding a room-service trolley down the hotel corridor in celebration, Hadley conceded that they "were all in high spirits" but that the rambunctious activities seemed "slightly flat" in light of their recent success. His surprise over selecting the song as a single had given way to certainty that it would top the charts, "It had such momentum the overwhelming feeling was, how can this not be a number 1?" Once "True" had finished its third week as the most popular song in the UK, another goal came into view: the British music chart television programme '' Top of the Pops'' would be celebrating its thousandth episode the following week, so a fourth week at number one would mean that their performance of "True" would close out the milestone show. The success of "
(Keep Feeling) Fascination "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" is a song by British synthpop group the Human League. It was composed by Jo Callis and Philip Oakey, and produced by Martin Rushent (which would be the last song he produced for the band for seven years). The song ...
" by the Human League seemed like it might prevent that from happening Dagger met with Danny Glass, the head of radio promotion at Chrysalis New York, to discuss distributing the song to stations in the US, and Glass proposed starting with those focused on the Black market so that the fact that the band were all white would initially go unnoticed and not deter the potential audience there. Adult contemporary and
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...
stations would be next on the list. The first chart the song appeared on in ''
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 ...
'' magazine, however, was the
Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
, the US equivalent of the UK Singles Chart. "True" debuted there at the beginning of August and peaked at number 4 during its 18 weeks there. Later in the month it debuted on the magazine's Adult Contemporary chart, where it spent 22 weeks, one of them at number 1. Its eight-week run on the magazine's list of the most popular
Black Singles 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 ...
in the US began at the end of the month and included a peak position of 76, and the mid-October edition marked the start of four weeks on the Top Tracks rock chart, where it reached number 34. In addition to its 4 weeks at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart "True" also reached the top spot on the pop charts in Canada and Ireland and made the top 10 in several other countries. It received Gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry in May 1983 for shipping a half-million units and came in at number 6 on the list of the UK's best-selling songs that year. In 2011, it received a BMI award as one of the most played songs in US history with 4 million airplays. It received Platinum certification from BPI for 600,000 units on 22 July 2022. A new mix by Tony Swain and Gary Kemp was released in 2002 on the compilation album ''Reformation''. In April 2008, the single celebrated its 25th anniversary, and in honour of that occasion, EMI released a brand new ''True'' EP including the original single, the new mix found on ''Reformation'', and the remastered album version, plus live recordings of "True" and "Gold" from the last show of the group's 1983 tour at Sadler's Wells.


Critical reception

When Betty Page reviewed the ''True'' album for '' Record Mirror'', she wrote, "Kemp proves himself a softie beyond all doubt with final track 'True', a smoochy 'I am just a poor boy' epic, hand firmly on heart." Her colleague at the magazine, Daniela Soave, was less ambiguous in her review of the single, calling it a "genuine pearl of a song that deserves to be at number one" and summarizing, "Suffice to say 'True' makes you melt. Sentimental but not slushy, warm but not stifling, Spandau Ballet have hit the nail well and truly on the head and got it absolutely right." A few of the retrospective reviews were complimentary. In 2009,
Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...
wrote in '' The Spectator'' that the song was "a giant of its time and remains a standard today". In 2015, Peter Larsen wrote for '' The Orange County Register'' that the band's formula of mining "a vein of soulfulness tinged with nostalgia and romance" had "reached perfection" on the track, describing it as "the one Spandau Ballet song everyone knows ... It's truly a perfect song, as moving today as ever it was." Stewart Mason of AllMusic mixed in negative comments in an otherwise positive review: There were, however, critics who showed complete disdain for the song, including a few different writers for '' The Guardian''. In dismissing Spandau Ballet as " Thatcherism on vinyl", Michael Hann described "True" as "dreadful wine-bar soul". Ian Gittins reviewed the band's 2014
Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
concert and, in criticising the section of the setlist that focused on their later material in which they "ditch cult status and agenda-setting futurism in favour of slick, chart-friendly shoulder-heaving soul", called "True" a "juggernaut power ballad". Luke Williams referred to the song as "the biggest load of musical tosh ever" and answered Kemp's question about finding it hard to write the next line by saying, "It's because you're a crap songwriter, idiot." In '' The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', Paul Evans complained that "Kemp, with 'Gold' and 'True', provided Hadley perfect songs for hamming it up: lush
MOR Mor or MOR may refer to: Names and titles * Mór (given name), a list of people named Mór or Mor * Mor (surname), a list of people named Mor or Mór * Mor (honorific), or Mar, in Syriac Radio and television * Middle of the road (music) genre * ...
that would've been clever if it had been intended ironically."


Music video and tour fashion

When Spandau Ballet were filmed for the "Lifeline" music video, Kemp acknowledged that the clothes they wore were "drab" and that the shift to pop left them "caught in a moment of not knowing what to wear". With an upcoming tour of Europe they felt they needed to update their style and met with an old friend from Soho, Chris Sullivan, for guidance since they felt out of touch with the latest trends. They wanted uniformity and decided on suits since no one else was wearing them at the time. Sullivan presented them with sketches of his ideas, and Kemp described the look they settled on and its lasting impact on their image: "He'd come up with the idea of the gambling gunslinger, a sort of Wyatt Earp meets City Boy; five
Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...
West-enders. And in good
cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...
fashion, it was to brand us forever." The band wore a variation of this look for the "True" video and had only their instruments with them on an otherwise bare soundstage. The original video incorporated a series of scenes filmed in black and white involving a young man who evolves from anguish as he roams city streets to jubilation as he is joined by animation renderings of the man and the dove from the album cover. When Kemp spoke to '' Creem'' magazine in 1984, he summarized the version that only showed the band, saying, "I didn't want to dictate what
he video He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
should be like. I'm sure when people hear that record they've got their own idea of what it means and what it looks like. So we just performed it and lit it well—shooting light through water and broken glass—and it worked." Although Kemp is not credited with playing piano on the song, he is shown doing so in the video, and brother Martin is shown playing guitar even though he had been replaced by Swain on the synth-bass for the studio recording. "True" was listed on
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's reports to ''Billboard'' indicating what videos were in rotation on the cable network, making its first appearance there in the 9 July 1983 issue, which indicated that it had been added to their playlist as of 29 June.


Aftermath

" Gold", the next single released from the ''True'' album, entered the UK Singles Chart in August 1983 to begin a nine-week run, reaching number 2. But while it also made the top 10 on the pop charts in several countries its number 29 showing in the US was the first signal to Kemp that Chrysalis America was not promoting them. "Communication" only reached number 59 in the US in 1984, and "
Only When You Leave "Only When You Leave" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released as the first single from their fourth album '' Parade''. It peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and made the top 10 in several other countries but only rea ...
", the first single from their next album, ''
Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
'', became their last Hot 100 entry when it peaked at number 34 later that year. Kemp was unhappy with their performances as well and blamed the low numbers on a perceived conflict between Chrysalis founders Chris Wright and Terry Ellis distracting them from promotional efforts. Wright refused to license the band to a bigger label in the US, so they sought legal advice to get out of their contract. The disappointing chart performance in the US led Spandau Ballet to leave Chrysalis for CBS Records, which released their ''Parade'' follow-up, ''
Through the Barricades ''Through the Barricades'' is the fifth studio album by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 17 November 1986 by CBS Records in the United Kingdom and by Epic Records in the United States. The album reached number seven and remain ...
'', in 1986. Hadley felt that the band's inability to sustain the interest of the American public resulted from a few other factors working against them, primarily that their big US hit was very different to what they had already succeeded with elsewhere. Kemp had said in an interview before "Gold"'s US release that he hoped it would give Americans a more balanced view of Spandau Ballet. Although some American concert attendees knew their old songs, he hoped their upcoming US tour would show the rest who came that "True" was not the sort of song they normally did. In retrospect, however, Hadley felt they needed to spend several months touring the US so that more audiences could hear that back catalogue and not doing so also hurt their record sales there. They played "True" at the 1985
Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...
concert, but instead of using their brief time on stage to showcase one of their earlier hits, Dagger wanted them to play "Virgin" from their upcoming ''Through the Barricades'' album, which even Kemp admitted was not a good idea. Hadley felt Dagger was inexperienced, but whenever he suggested getting a manager with more knowledge about the business, the rest of the band balked. Kemp told ''Creem'' in 1984 that he would continue to write for the larger audience Spandau Ballet had acquired with "True" but it would not be making albums that sounded just like the last. But, just as he had developed writer's block in 1981 after "Chant No. 1" became their highest-charting single, having a UK number 1 put pressure on Kemp to churn out more chart-topping hits and left him feeling that the band would always judge his future output against "True". When the ''Through the Barricades'' album and its singles failed to chart in the US, Kemp chided himself for exploring so many genres and not simply trying to write more hit songs that were imitations of "True".


Legacy

In 1984 writer-director John Hughes featured Spandau Ballet's recording of "True" in the school dance scene in '' Sixteen Candles'', and his selection elicited responses decades later. In 2009 ''
LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...
s Art Tavana noted that when it was used in that particular moment, the song "crossed over into the permanent teenage scrapbook". Also in 2009 Todd Martens of the '' Los Angeles Times'' described the emotion created by playing the song over the scene as "Totally crazy this-is-the-end-of-the-world heartache". Julian Kimble of the '' Washington City Paper'' wrote in 2014 that its inclusion "made Spandau Ballet's imprint on popular culture permanent" and that the song "adopted new significance, especially among suburban teens". The 2009 episode of '' Modern Family'' titled "
Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
" featured Edward Norton playing fictional Spandau Ballet bassist Izzy LaFontaine and beginning a performance of the song, which is then followed by part of the original recording. " Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" by
P.M. Dawn P.M. Dawn was an American hip hop and R&B act that formed in 1988 by the brothers Attrell Cordes (known by his stage name Prince Be, sometimes credited as Prince Be the Nocturnal) and Jarrett Cordes (known as DJ Minutemix) in Jersey City, New J ...
, a duo of brothers Jarrett and Attrell Cordes, prominently sampled "True" and went to number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in November 1991. They had heard "True" in the studio where they were working on their debut album, and Attrell, known on stage as Prince Be, thought it was "so beautiful". He said, "I wanted Prince Be's version. I basically reincarnated the spirit of 'True' for me. I reshaped it as if I wrote it myself." Kemp received a writing credit with Prince Be for "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss", and Hadley appeared briefly in the music video. The duo's hit also went to number 1 on New Zealand's
pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...
chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
and made the
top 10 A top ten list is a list of the ten highest-ranking items of a given category. Top Ten or Top 10 may also refer to: Media *Top 10, a common record chart for the ten most popular songs of the week in the musical chart of a country *''America's Top ...
in several countries. Kemp also received songwriting credit when "True" was sampled on the 2007 hit "
You In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...
" by
Lloyd Lloyd, Lloyd's, or Lloyds may refer to: People * Lloyd (name), a variation of the Welsh word ' or ', which means "grey" or "brown" ** List of people with given name Lloyd ** List of people with surname Lloyd * Lloyd (singer) (born 1986), American ...
that featured Lil Wayne and peaked at number 9 on the Hot 100. The Professor of Rock surprised Hadley in the 2017 interview by pointing out that the Backstreet Boys' " I Want It That Way" lifts the piano section at the end of "True"'s sax solo for the melody line of its chorus. In 2015, "True" was voted by the British public as the nation's 10th-favourite 1980s number 1 in an
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
poll; NPR characterised it as a " karaoke staple". Other surveys were not favourable: ''Billboard'' selected "True" as one of the "Most Overplayed Songs in Movies", '' NME'' included the line "I bought a ticket to the world but now I've come back again" in their list of the "50 worst pop lyrics of all time", and it also made the '' Houston Press''s list of "10 Songs We Never, Ever Want to Hear Again, Ever". Sean Daly of the ''
St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
'' named "True" the worst song of all time, while '' Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' columnist Robert Jamieson selected it as the worst ever love song. Kemp did find one famous fan: "I remember when I did ''
The Bodyguard A bodyguard is an individual who protects another from harm or threats. Bodyguard may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * The Bodyguard (1944 film), ''The Bodyguard'' (1944 film), a Tom and Jerry short * Bodyguard (1948 film), ...
'', Kevin Costner said to me, 'You know, that song belongs to me and my wife.' And I thought, wow, I thought it belonged to my plumber and his wife… Anyway, it didn't keep he Costnerstogether, did it?"


Cover versions

Will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...
and Fergie of the American pop-rap act
Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...
covered "True" for the 2004
Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...
Drew Barrymore film ''
50 First Dates ''50 First Dates'' is a 2004 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Peter Segal and starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore with Rob Schneider, Sean Astin and Dan Aykroyd in supporting roles. It follows the story of Henry, a womanizing m ...
''. Matthew Sheby of
Soundtrack.net Soundtrack.Net (originally SoundtrackNet) is a website dedicated to film and television music. History Created in 1997 by Amélie E. Koran and Dan Goldwasser at Carnegie Mellon University, Soundtrack.Net has grown over the past decade to become ...
liked their hip-hop version, and Spence D of
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
thought it was a "pretty true rendition". American indie rock singer-songwriter
Cary Brothers Cary Brothers (born 1974) is an American indie rock singer-songwriter originally from Nashville, Tennessee, United States. After moving to Los Angeles and becoming a regular performer at the influential Hotel Cafe venue, Brothers first gained ...
recorded it for the 2005
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
comedy film ''
Sky High Sky High or Skyhigh may refer to: Business * Sky High Aviation Services, an airline based in the Dominican Republic Film and television * ''Sky High'' (1922 film), an American silent film * ''Sky High'' (1951 film), a US Air Force comedy wit ...
'' and received differing opinions. Soundtrack.Net's Brian McVickar thought it was "certainly a winner among this oundtrackcollection", while Heather Phares of AllMusic only found it "blandly pleasant". Canadian-born American singer Paul Anka released a version of the song in 2005 on his album ''
Rock Swings ''Rock Swings'' is an album by Paul Anka. Recorded in November 2004 and released on May 31, 2005 in Canada and June 7, 2005 in the United States, it contains swing jazz covers of popular rock and pop songs from the 1980s and 1990s. The idea of ...
'', with most critics noting that his cover was one of the better songs included.
Michael Fremer Michael Fremer (born 1947) is an American music journalist, YouTuber, and voice actor from New York City, known for writing about audiophile equipment and vinyl. He is the editor of ''The Tracking Angle'' and Senior Editor at ''The Absolute Sound ...
of Analog Planet speculated that the arrangement was inspired by "
Li'l Darlin' "Lil Darlin" (copyrighted in 1958 as "Lil' Darlin") is a jazz standard, composed and arranged in 1957 by Neal Hefti for the Count Basie Orchestra and first recorded on the 1958 album, '' The Atomic Mr. Basie'' (Roulette Records). Style The com ...
" and felt that it "gives the melancholic song a sophisticated lilt, over which Anka sells the lyrics with a powerful, assertive reading. If you didn't know the original, you'd think the tune was originally written for big band treatment." '' Jazz Times''s Christopher Loudon wrote, "When ''Rock Swings'' is good, it’s very good – most notably on introspective ballads like Spandau Ballet’s 'True'." John Kappes of '' The Plain Dealer'' explained, "Some of the material works as well as you might think; Spandau Ballet's 'True' was, after all, an easy-listening track waiting to happen from the start." '' The Village Voices
Franklin Bruno Franklin Bruno (born December 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, academic and writer originally from Upland, California. He has been a member of Nothing Painted Blue since its inception in 1986. Bruno has written music criticism for on ...
, however, felt that the album's "several attempts to negotiate impressionistic lyrics (Spandau Ballet's 'True,' Billy Idol's ' Eyes Without a Face') as though they possessed narrative content are comically misguided." Upon confessing that he had heard the Anka version, Hadley chuckled, "It was a bit strange," and admitted to performing the song with a swing orchestra. He could only concede, "It kind of works. It's very unusual. I think when people wanna hear me sing it, they wanna hear me sing the straight version."


Formats and track listings

*UK 7-inch single # "True" – 5:40 # "
Lifeline Lifeline or Lifelines may refer to: Support, care, and emergency services * Crisis hotline ** Lifeline (crisis support service), Australia-based, now international ** National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, United States * LifeLine (medical tran ...
(Edited Remix for USA)" – 3:34 *US 7-inch single # "True" – 5:40 # "Gently" – 4:01 *12-inch single # "True" – 6:30 # "Lifeline (Remix for USA)" – 5:15 # "Lifeline (A Capella)" – 2:01 *1991 CD single # "True (Edit)" – 5:36 # "Lifeline (Edited Remix)" – 3:39 # "Heaven is a Secret" – 4:24 # "Pleasure" – 3:30


Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes for '' True'': Spandau Ballet * Tony Hadley
lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...
* Gary Kempguitar and backing vocals * Martin Kemp
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
* Steve Normansaxophone and percussion * John Keeble
drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
Additional musician * Jess Bailey – keyboards Production * Tony Swain – producer, engineer *
Steve Jolley Steve Jolley (born October 15, 1975) is a retired American soccer defender, who spent ten seasons in Major League Soccer and one in the Premier Development League. Today, Jolley provides color commentary for the New York Red Bull’s games on ...
– producer * Spandau Ballet – producers * Richard Lengyel – engineering assistance * Tim Young – mastering * David Band – art direction, illustration * Stephen Horsfall – typography * Mixed at Red Bus Studios (London) * Mastered at CBS Studios (London)


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


See also

*
List of number-one singles of 1983 (Canada) ''RPM'' was a Canadian magazine that published the best-performing singles of Canada from 1964 to 2000. During 1983, twenty-seven singles became number-one hits in Canada. Toni Basil commenced the year with her single "Mickey" while Paul McCart ...
*
List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1980s The UK Singles Chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Until 1983, it was compiled weekly by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) on behalf of the British record industry with a two-week break each Christmas. The BMRB used ...
* List of Billboard Adult Contemporary number ones of 1983


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * *


External links

* * {{Authority control 1980s ballads 1983 singles Chrysalis Records singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Music videos directed by Russell Mulcahy New wave ballads RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Jolley & Swain Songs about Marvin Gaye Songs written by Gary Kemp Soul ballads Spandau Ballet songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles