From an issue of i-D magazine dated Aug ’86, this recently turned up in an expedition in the Secret Oranges archive (incidentally it’s Steve Cook‘s birthday today). A rather risqué ad for Sigue Sigue Sputnik‘s debut album, ‘Flaunt It’, which I seem to remember got banned from most publications at the time. I’m a big fan of Sputnik, especially this Giorgio Moroder-produced album and its surrounding singles, so you’ll occasionally see posts about them featured here.
Tony James, band leader and general mastermind behind them recently wrote up their history at length on their newly-launched website and it’s a candid, no-holds-barred read. As with any history, it’s his version of events and I’m sure there’s another side to it but he’s very forthcoming about the failings of the second album and the record industry crap that went with it. There are also all sorts of outtakes and demos up online under the heading ‘Demobomb’ which are pretty illuminating in terms of how they got their sound.
Also below is the news piece from Sounds the week the band signed their ‘million pound’ deal. This was quite something at the time as the band had a lot of hype surrounding them without a recording to their name but had managed to get the sort of double page features in the music press usually reserved for established artists. Also if anyone has a sealed copy of the cassette on card version of this album, (see above) packaged to look like a toy, then I’m still looking for a copy.
@Mobil_1 – I agree entirely, read my thoughts on the second album as I experienced it here
http://www.djfood.org/the-second-coming-of-sigue-sigue-sputnik/
This band was one of my first band obsessions when I was a teen. It was unique, mysterious, obnoxious, arrogant, and nonsense.
They were an odd duck, but so was everyone at the time. Bands were creating their own culture and lifestyles back then. Culture Club, The Cure, Duran Duran.. They created these worlds on MTV and invited the fans to live there a few minutes at a time. Sigue Sigue created their own world, a hyper-realistic, over-commercialized, cyberpunk world. Sometimes I think it was a warning about what culture could become, and indulgence in it at the same time. Other times I think they were just spoofing something I wasn’t hip to. But whatever it was, it was cohesive and even a bit prophetic.
But beyond their image was the music. Their drums were muted and pumping, at a time when electronic music was clangy or soft or slow or poppy. Sigue Sigue had the drive of a good early punk or metal band, like The Ramones or Motorhead. That, combined with random arrangement changes and samples which surprised you when you least expected it, gave it an almost punk feel.
The Sputnik story is a great read, cheers. Still remember buying that album for the cover and trying to explain it to friends in primary school. Bought it on CD a years ago and realised how avantgarde it is.