The first Tubeway Army single, That’s Too Bad, came out early in 1978, but it was quite a different sound from the likes of Cars, wasn’t it?
Yes. That record came out on 10 February, and I stayed in my job right up to the date that it came out. I was working for WH Smiths, driving a lorry and a forklift truck. At that point all I’d done was just write songs and put a band together to try to get a contract, and it was a bit punky because that was what was happening and what I thought I needed to be doing to get signed.
The first album wasn’t what the record company expected, was it?
They thought I’d be delivering a punk album. When I got in the studio and discovered the synthesizer in the control room, that was when everything changed. When I took the album to the record company, it really wasn’t what they wanted. I had a really big, quite heavy, argument with them that was almost aggressive at times. It was not a good meeting. About three-quarters of the way through, Martin Mills, who was the director who wasn’t shouting at me, said, “OK, why not release it and see what happens.” I’m embarrassed to say, and this was part of my argument with Beggars Banquet when I delivered the first album, that I said to them that this synth-based approach was a brand-new thing. I actually said, almost word-for-word, “Very soon other people are going to find out about this.” I was that ignorant of what was going on [laughs].
So, you weren’t influenced by the likes of Human League and Kraftwerk?
This story is from the October 2023 edition of Record Collector.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 2023 edition of Record Collector.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
"THINGS CAN GO VERY BADLY WRONG"
But not too often. The Iron Maiden singer, aviator, business mogul and awardwinning everyman, Bruce Dickinson, returns with a new solo album, The Mandrake Project – Top 10 across the planet at the time of writing – and a ton of anecdotes about his extraordinarily successful career. Just don’t try and put him in a box. “I’m not a number, I’m a free man!” he warns Joel McIver.
Out Of The Darkness
Long-anticipated solo debut from Portishead singer is worth the wait
Clearing The Way
The end of an era for Bolan's glam-rock trailblazers.
SOCK IT TO ME DISC-ITS! WHEN TWO TRIBES VINYL AND CD (AND CASSETTE) WENT TO WAR
Dream, if you can, a courtyard. An ocean of violets in bloom. Alternatively, a 1984 record shop and all its pristine treasures. Close your eyes, let’s go there together. What do you see? From chest-level down – vinyl.
Steve Harley 1951-2024
As frontman for Cockney Rebel, the singer-songwriter crafted one of the glam rock era's greatest singles in Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me).
The Collector
Swiss-based Icelander Sunna Margrét is a rising force in experimental pop. Having begun her career as a teenager touring with electro-pop ensemble Bloodgroup, she is about to release her debut full-length solo LP, Finger on Tongue.
She'd only Just gun
With their rapturous harmonies, the Carpenters dominated the 70s’ airwaves, selling over 100 million records with hits like Close To You and Yesterday Once More. But by 1979, lead singer Karen was seeking a new direction… Biographer Lucy O’Brien recounts her attempts to move out of the restrictive environment of the family band that had made her a star
PNEUMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE
Forming in West Berlin in 1980 and achieving their greatest notoriety circa 1984, industrial noise-punks Einstürzende Neubauten have far e xceeded t he i r p ro jec ted l i fe expectancy. Founding frontman Blixa Bargeld traces the evolution of the metalbashing pioneers. Jeremy Allen is all (suitably protected) ears
FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUTES
Bananarama had their first Top 3 hit in 1984, Robert De Niro's Waiting. Rob Hughes meets lifelong friends and bandmates Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward as they look back on their career, album by album
Being Soaring.
In April 1984, the original, faster Bobby Oproduced version of West End Girls was released.