"Vanity Kills" is a song by English new wave and synth-pop band

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, released as the third single from their third studio album, '' How to Be a ... Zillionaire!'' (1985). It peaked at No. 70 on 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 reached No. 91 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Composition

The song is in a C key and a major mode with a BPM of 125.

Music video

Two

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

were made by the band ABC. The UK video shows the four band members moving against a dark background, using simple

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

camera tricks. The US version, directed by

Peter Care Peter Alan Care (born 28 April 1953) is an English director of music videos, commercials and film. He has directed music videos for Cabaret Voltaire, R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen, Roy Orbison, Depeche Mode and New Order, amongst others. Biogr ...

, has a spoken prologue and epilogue, and presents

Martin Fry Martin David Fry (born 9 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, composer, musician, and record producer. Fry's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the pop band ...

and Mark White as noir detectives, investigating a variety of shady characters.

Track listing

* UK 7" Single #"Vanity Kills" #"Judy's Jewels"

Chart performance

References

External links

* {{Authority control ABC (band) songs 1985 singles Songs written by Martin Fry Songs written by Mark White (musician) 1985 songs Mercury Records singles