| "Born to Be Sold" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Transvision Vamp | ||||
| from the album Velveteen | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | 23 October 1989 (UK) 29 January 1990 (Australia) [1] | |||
| Recorded | 1989 | |||
| Genre | Pop Rock | |||
| Length | 3:45 | |||
| Label | MCA Records TVV9 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Nick Christian Sayer | |||
| Producer(s) | Duncan Bridgeman | |||
| Transvision Vamp singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Born to Be Sold" was the ninth single to be released by UK band Transvision Vamp. It became a hit in late 1989, peaking at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. [2]
Members of Swing Out Sister left ironic review on this single for British music newspaper Record Mirror . As per Andy Connell the song is "a dictionary of every rock'n'roll cliché" that readers "ever heard". But it is "resounding hit nevertheless". [3]
All songs by Nick Christian Sayer, except where noted.
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart [4] | 12 |
| UK Singles Chart [2] | 22 |
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart [5] | 108 |
Transvision Vamp were an English alternative rock band. Formed in 1986 by Nick Christian Sayer and Wendy James. The band enjoyed chart success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with their pop/punk sound. James, the lead singer and focal-point of the group, attracted media attention with her sexually charged and rebellious image. They scored 10 UK chart hits. They also enjoyed considerable success in Australia. Their top single was 1989's "Baby I Don't Care", which reached number three on the UK and Australian charts.
Yazz is an English pop singer, who remains perhaps best known for her 1988 UK number one single "The Only Way Is Up". Some of her records are credited to Yazz and the Plastic Population.
Wendy James is an English singer-songwriter most notable for her work with the pop band Transvision Vamp.
Shampoo were a British English female pop musical duo in the 1990s, formed by Jacqueline "Jacqui" Blake and Caroline "Carrie" Askew. Their 1994 song "Trouble" reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and was featured in 1995's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.
"You're the Voice" is a song written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson, and recorded by the Australian singer John Farnham and released as a single in September 1986 ahead of his album Whispering Jack. "You're the Voice" was one of the biggest hits of 1986 in Australia, topping the Kent Music Report singles chart for seven weeks from 3 November to 21 December. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1987 it won Single of the Year.
"Tell That Girl to Shut Up" is a song written by Holly Beth Vincent and originally recorded by her band Holly and the Italians in 1979. A cover version by UK pop rock band Transvision Vamp was released in 1988 as the second single from their debut album Pop Art.
"I Want Your Love" is the third single from the English rock group Transvision Vamp, released in 1988 from their debut album Pop Art. It was the band's first UK top 40 hit, reaching number five in July 1988. It also peaked atop the Norwegian Singles Chart the same year and reached number one in South Africa the following year.
"Baby I Don't Care" is a song by English pop rock band Transvision Vamp and the first single taken from their second album, Velveteen. It was released in 1989 and remains their highest-charting single, peaking at number 3 in both the United Kingdom and Australia. It was ranked at number 25 on the Australian end-of-year chart for 1989. The song was later featured as the title track on the band's 2002 compilation album, Baby I Don't Care.
Velveteen is the second album by English rock group Transvision Vamp. Released in 1989, a year after their debut album Pop Art, the album provided such hits as "Baby I Don't Care" which reached number 3 in the UK and Australia. Velveteen went on to peak at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart in 1989 and number 2 in Australia where it became the 39th highest selling album of the year.
Pop Art is the debut album by English alternative rock band Transvision Vamp. It was released in October 1988 and features the band's first top ten hit "I Want Your Love". The album reached No. 4 in the UK, and peaked at No. 13 in Australia, where it was the 25th highest-selling album of 1989.
Anthony (Tex) Doughty is an English rock musician. He was a member of a number of punk bands in the late 1970s, including Peroxide Romance, The Outpatients and The Moors Murderers. In 1986, he and Dave Parsons joined fellow musicians Wendy James and Nick Sayer to form Transvision Vamp in which he adopted the pseudonym Tex Axile. After they split up, Doughty joined a band called Max with Matthew Ashman, Kevin Mooney, John Reynolds and John Keogh in which he played keyboards. They released a Trevor Horn produced album, Silence Running in 1992.
Mixes is a 1992 remix album by the British band Transvision Vamp that was released on the MCA Records label in Japan on CD only. The album contains extended and remixed versions that originally appeared on a variety of formats together with exclusive mixes and rare US promotional releases.
Baby I Don't Care is a budget compilation album by the British pop rock band Transvision Vamp comprising all their singles, selected album tracks and extended versions. It was released on CD in 2002 on the Spectrum Music label.
"(I Just Wanna) B with U" was a single released by UK band Transvision Vamp in 1991 and was the first to be taken from their final studio album, Little Magnets Versus the Bubble of Babble. It was also the first of their singles to be co-written by Wendy James. After a two-year gap since their previous UK single "Born to Be Sold", it fared poorly on the UK singles chart reaching #30, although it fared better in Australia where it peaked at #16.
"If Looks Could Kill" was the final single from Transvision Vamp and the second to be taken from their third album Little Magnets Versus the Bubble of Babble. Although released in a variety of formats it only managed to reach number 41 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2009, it became the theme song for Channel Ten Australia's summer programming line-up.
"Landslide of Love" was the third single to be taken from Transvision Vamp's second album Velveteen. It was a top 20 UK hit in 1989, spending five weeks on the UK Singles Chart and peaking at #14.
"The Only One" was the second single to be taken from Transvision Vamp's second studio album Velveteen. It was a UK Top 20 hit in 1989 and peaked at #15, spending a total of six weeks on the chart. The sleeve design was similar to that of the previous single "Baby I Don't Care", this time featuring the band against a panelled backdrop printed with a large photo of Marilyn Monroe.
"Revolution Baby" is the debut single by Transvision Vamp and was originally released in August 1987 when it only managed to reach #77 on the UK Singles Chart. After the band's breakthrough in 1988 with the release of "I Want Your Love", "Revolution Baby" was subsequently reissued in September of that year, this time reaching #30 in the UK and #24 in Australia. The sleeve design differed radically between the 1987 and 1988 issues as did the track listings.
"Sister Moon" was Transvision Vamp's fifth single release and the final single to be taken from their debut album Pop Art. It was a minor hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1988, peaking at #41.
"The Nameless One" is the debut solo single from former Transvision Vamp lead singer Wendy James. It was released in the first quarter of 1993 as the lead single from James' debut solo album Now Ain't the Time for Your Tears. Written by Elvis Costello, the song marked a more alternative direction in sound, slightly different from the pop/rock stylings of Transvision Vamp. The single met with limited success, only peaking at number thirty-four on the UK Singles Chart and spending just three weeks in the top one-hundred.
