"Computer Games" | ||||
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Single by Mi-Sex | ||||
from the album Graffiti Crimes | ||||
Released | September 1979 (Australia/NZ) | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Genre | Synth-pop | |||
Length | 3:54 | |||
Label | CBS | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Peter Dawkins | |||
Mi-Sex singles chronology | ||||
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"Computer Games" is a song by New Zealand band Mi-Sex, released in September 1979 in Australia and New Zealand as the second single from their debut studio album, Graffiti Crimes (1979). The song peaked at number 1 in Australia and 5 in New Zealand. The music video was filmed on location at what was at the time Control Data Corporation's North Sydney centre and included gameplay from the 1979 arcade games Speed Freak , Basketball and Star Fire . The single won the award for Best Australian Single at the 1979 TV Week/ Countdown Music Awards. [1]
The single was also released in Europe and North America, as well as South Africa where the band's name was altered to MS to satisfy censorship.
The song was also re-recorded as the final track for the band's 1983 album Where Do They Go? , a dub version was the 12" B-side of their 1983 single "Lost Time" [2] and again on the 2016 EP Extended Play .
Musicologist Ian McFarlane opined that it was an "electro-pop anthem... with its simplistic, brain-teasing riff and Gilpin's mannered vocal yelps, "Computer Games" boasted little substance but was constructed for maximum effect. It came to epitomise the one word which has plagued the memory of Mi-Sex: 'contrived'." [3]
Stewart Mason from AllMusic said "Steve Gilpin's theatrical vocals, full of Brian Connolly-style hiccups and leaps into falsetto, are an interesting counterpoint to the unvarying electronic rhythm, particularly on the memorable stuttering chorus." [4] Cash Box said, "This avant-pop band has taken the sound first pioneered by Eno and Ultravox and molded it into more of a hard rock sound. The band employs witty future-orientated lyrics to augment the swirling synthesized sounds." [5]
Australia/New Zealand 7" (BA 222563)
Australian 12"
Spanish version
United Kingdom dance version
Chart (1979–1981) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [6] | 1 |
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [7] | 16 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [8] | 44 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [9] | 5 |
US Hot Dance Club Songs [10] | 61 |
Chart (1979) | Rank |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [11] [12] | 19 |
Chart (1980) | Rank |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [13] | 68 |
Stephen Ellis Gilpin was a New Zealand singer and a founder of new wave band Mi-Sex.
Mi-Sex is a New Zealand new wave band originally active from 1978 to 1986, and led for much of its existence by Steve Gilpin as vocalist, Kevin Stanton as guitarist and songwriter, Murray Burns as keyboardist and songwriter, and Don Martin as bassist. The group's manager for much of its career was Bob Yates. Mi-Sex achieved two top 10 hit singles in 1979-80: "Computer Games" in October 1979 and "People" in 1980. Their first two albums both reached the New Zealand top 10, Graffiti Crimes and Space Race. They were known for their cutting edge production and dynamic live shows. Gilpin died in January 1992, two months after a serious car accident from which he never recovered. Mi-Sex have periodically reformed, including in 2011 with Steve Balbi (ex-Noiseworks) on lead vocals. Stanton died on 17 May 2017, Martin on 10 August 2020.
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