"What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" is a song by American

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

band

Information Society An information society is a society where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid inf ...

that was released as a single in 1988. The "Pure Energy" subtitle derives from a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, then ...

's voice from the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' episode "

Errand of Mercy "Errand of Mercy" is the twenty-sixth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek''. Written by Gene L. Coon and directed by John Newland, it was first broadcast on March 23, 1967. It was the first ...

". There are also samples of

DeForest Kelley Jackson DeForest Kelley (January 20, 1920 – June 11, 1999), known to colleagues as "Dee", was an American actor, screenwriter, poet, and singer. He was known for his roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the in the televisio ...

and Richard Tatro's (The Android Norman) voices from the episode "

I, Mudd "I, Mudd" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series ''Star Trek''. Written by Stephen Kandel (based on a story by Gene Roddenberry) and directed by Marc Daniels, it was first broadcast on Novem ...

". John Leland of ''Spin'' magazine called it a "pretty potent dance record". In 2009, VH1 ran a countdown of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '80s. Information Society's "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" placed at number 74 on the countdown despite the fact that the group had two other top 40 hits: "Walking Away" (number 9) and "Think" (number 28). The song was a big hit in the US, spending 25 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number three in October 1988. The single was certified gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on January 18, 1989, selling 500,000 copies. The song was featured in ''

Loverboy Loverboy is a Canadian rock band formed in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta. Loverboy's hit singles, particularly " Turn Me Loose" and "Working for the Weekend", have become arena rock staples and are still heard on many classic rock and classic hits r ...

'' and ''

American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by Patrick Bateman, a serial killer and Manhattan investment banker. Alison Kelly of ''The Observer'' notes that while "some countr ...

''. A remixed version was included in ''American Psycho''s soundtrack. In 1989, Pittsburgh radio station WYDD-FM played this song non-stop in a loop for 25½ hours—focusing on a repeat of the "Pure Energy" sample from Leonard Nimoy as ''Star Trek''s

Mr. Spock Spock is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as science officer and first officer (and Kirk's Second-in-command) and ...

. The marketing stunt caused listeners to call emergency services, concerned that some calamity had befallen the DJs and other station employees. Bob Hank, general manager at the time, told reporters he was only trying to draw attention to the station's switch in format and new call letters WNRJ (N-R-J = "energy"). "We were just trying to draw a little bit of attention," Hank said. "We never dreamed it would go this far". The song also samples ''Star Trek'' in the intro, with the character

Dr. McCoy Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, known as "Bones", is a character in the American science-fiction franchise '' Star Trek''. McCoy was played by actor DeForest Kelley in the original ''Star Trek'' series from 1966 to 1969, and he also appears in the an ...

saying "it's worked so far, but we're not out yet."

Composition

The song started out as a 10-minute instrumental jam, when Information Society was trying to record their first album.

Tommy Boy Records Tommy Boy Entertainment is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digital U ...

grew frustrated that the band was spending so much money in the studio but had nothing to show for it, and pressured them to make a hit.

Paul Robb Paul Jason Robb is a synthesizer player, producer, songwriter and one of the founding members of the band Information Society. Biography Robb was a member of Information Society from its inception in the early 1980s until 1992 (after its thir ...

came up with a chorus he said was partly inspired by "Sledgehammer" by

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

, as well as

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 ...

. After the chorus, he wrote verses with

Kurt Harland Kurt Harland is an American singer, songwriter, and audio engineer and is the lead singer of Information Society. He also works on video game scores, including two of the soundtracks for the ''Legacy of Kain'' video game series ('' Legacy of K ...

. Robb emulated minimalist New Wave artists such as

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

and

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

by trying to write lyrics that "said as little as possible". He said the verses were "just sort of a random collection of emotional impressions. ... But when you look back at it now, it's a clear narrative about the difficulty that people have communicating with each other. At the time, we weren't writing it with that in mind, but it's so clear when you just read through the lyrics. It's a very simple and very clear-cut story."

Track listings

1988

7": Tommy Boy * London / 886 420-7 (Netherlands)

# "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Pure Energy Radio Edit) – 3:35 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Club Radio Edit) – 3:15

12": Tommy Boy / TB 911 (US)

# "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Club Mix) – 8:00 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (The 54 Mix) – 5:12 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Percappella) – 4:09 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Pure Energy Mix) – 4:33 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (What's on Your Dub Mix) – 6:22 * tracks 1–3 remixed by "Little" Louie Vega, Roman Ricardo * track four is the album version. * also available on MC (TBC 911) * also available on CD (TBCD 911)

12": London / LONX 211 (UK)

# "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Club Mix) – 8:00 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Pure Energy Mix) – 4:33 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (What's on Your Dub Mix) – 6:22 * also available on CD (LONCD 211)

1998

12": Cleopatra Records CLP 0327

Side A # "What's on Your Mind" (Girl Eats Boy Mix) # "What's on Your Mind" (Remixed by

David J David John Haskins (born 24 April 1957, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England), better known as David J, is a British alternative rock musician, producer, and writer. He is the bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus and for Love and Rock ...

of Love & Rockets) Side B # "What's on Your Mind" (Remixed by Christian B./Daren Kramer for CKB Production) # "What's on Your Mind" (Remixed by Judson Leach and Exhibition) *All of these remixes would make a second appearance on the remix album '' InSoc Recombinant''.

2001

CD single: Tommy Boy silver label

# "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Pure Energy 2001 Edit) – 3:48 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Boris & Beck Exit Edit) – 3:58 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

's Blue Zone Club Mix) – 9:08 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Boris & Beck Exit Mix) – 8:46 # "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (Sugarpussy Psychic Funk Mix) – 6:38

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control Leonard Nimoy 1988 singles 1988 songs Information Society (band) songs Music videos directed by Mark Pellington Tommy Boy Records singles