Paint Me Down

Last updated

"Paint Me Down"
SpandauBalletPaintMeDown.jpg
Single by Spandau Ballet
from the album Diamond
B-side "Man with Guitar"
Released2 November 1981
Recorded1981
Genre New wave
Length3:44(7" version)
7:06 (12" version)
6:54 ("Re-Paint" (dub) version)
6:22 (Diamond box set version)
Label
Songwriter(s) Gary Kemp
Producer(s) Richard James Burgess
Spandau Ballet singles chronology
"Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)"
(1981)		"Paint Me Down"
(1981)		"She Loved Like Diamond"
(1982)

"Paint Me Down" is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 2 November 1981 as the second single from what would be their second album, Diamond . Their guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp copied some of the elements of their previous hit, "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", and the conflict between producer Richard James Burgess and lead singer Tony Hadley that began with that song continued as they recorded the vocals for "Paint Me Down". A controversial music video for the song was rejected by the British music chart television programme Top of the Pops , and its number 30 peak position on the UK Singles Chart was not enough to justify airing the studio performance they had filmed for the show either.

Contents

Background

As Spandau Ballet's first album, Journeys to Glory , was being completed, the band's guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp noticed a resurgence of funk in the clubs around Soho that he wanted to emulate in his own songwriting, [1] and an encounter with the British jazz-funk group Beggar and Co led to their collaboration on one of his first attempts to do so, "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)". [2] When that song became a number 3 hit in the UK it also put pressure on him to write more hits for their second album. [3] In his autobiography I Know This Much: From Soho to Spandau, he explained how the songs for their debut came much more easily, having been written, re-written and then tested in front of club audiences for months before they were signed to a record label. [4] But as "Chant No. 1" climbed the charts, he suffered from writer's block and decided to copy its use of the Beggar & Co. horns and group vocals on what would be their next single, "Paint Me Down". [3] In a May 1982 interview with New Sounds New Styles magazine, Kemp was asked about the themes of artistry and sensuality in "Paint Me Down" and confirmed that the song was "very sexual". [5]

Recording

"Paint Me Down" was a difficult track for Spandau Ballet lead singer Tony Hadley to record. He recalled, "I just could not get the vocal right. The phrasing was wrong, and I was struggling to sing in tune." [6] He could tell that his bandmates were getting frustrated, and producer Richard James Burgess wanted to try having Hadley lie down in a sort of makeshift tent in the studio with candles lit to help him relax while he was singing. [7] When the rest of the group started performing the chorus, Hadley pointed out to Burgess that their singing was off-key and became even more agitated when Burgess replied, "'It will be fine'". [8]

Critical reception

Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg
Spandau Ballet - "Paint Me Down"
The song was described as "all chattering rhythm guitar and popping bass".
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The song received a variety of responses from critics. In his review of the 7-inch single, Johnny Black of Smash Hits magazine wrote, "This cringeworthy blooper can barely crawl out of the grooves of its own lethargy." [9] Sunie Fletcher of Record Mirror described it as "the slickest yet of [Kemp's] funk facsimiles and the most sterile; the groove has already become a rut." [10] When "Paint Me Down" was released as part of the Diamond album in 1982 with a separate box set of additional remixes, Richard Cook of the New Musical Express found its remixed version to be something of an improvement: 'Paint Me Down', originally a rather plain and dolorous clap-chant, is stretched on a tightrope between rock and dub, the instruments cued in and out with ironic precision until the morse of the concluding vocals seems to combine with the brass (inverting the customary call and response style) for a climax that has power in reserve." [11] In an otherwise critical review of the original LP, Billboard magazine concluded that "when Spandau is in its element, as on the brilliant 'Chant No. 1' or incessant 'Paint Me Down,' there are few better." [12]

In retrospective reviews on AllMusic, Dan LeRoy described it as a "tuneless single" that was "all chattering rhythm guitar and popping bass", [13] but in dividing the band's oeuvre into "the Funky years and the wimpy ones", Dave Thompson felt that "Paint Me Down" "represented the peak of Spandau's ambition". [14]

Release and commercial performance

Because their previous singles had charted well enough to earn a spot on the British music chart television programme Top of the Pops , the band went into the studios of the show to shoot a performance of "Paint Me Down" before it was released [15] on 2 November 1981, [16] but because the song only peaked at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart, [17] the performance never aired. [18] In his autobiography To Cut a Long Story Short, Hadley confessed, "It was sobering for all of us. However much I had hated the [Diamond] album, I wasn't prepared for ["Paint Me Down"] to flop." [19]

Music video

Spandau Ballet again chose to work with director Russell Mulcahy [20] and decided to combine two genres for the "Paint Me Down" video—the large-scale feel of an epic like they did in the video for "Muscle Bound" and the look of a documentary that would provide a recap of the band's career. [21] Kemp came up with the idea for the latter approach from watching the 1981 UK documentary series Years of Lightning. [22] The band's recent stardom was summarized in "Paint Me Down" using brief clips from the "Muscle Bound" and "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)" videos and a documentary for London Weekend Television as well as screen shots of newspaper and magazine clippings that profiled them, which were all tightly edited together. [23] New footage re-enacting their busy schedule was filmed at King's Cross railway station [24] and Heathrow Airport. [25]

The other visual thread for the clip centered around paint. Hadley was filmed lying in bed ostensibly naked for his lip synching segments with, as Kemp described it, "so much paint flying around and so many really quick cuts and edits required [that] Tony had to keep running upstairs to shower himself clean while the technicians changed all the sheets so that we could start again and get it right." [26] Music journalist Paula Yates was scheduled to interview them on the day of the shoot and agreed to appear in the video with a drop of paint running down her back. [27] Kemp heard later that the BBC banned the video because of nudity, [28] but the explanation from Top of the Pops for rejecting it was that it was "too sexually suggestive". [26] "I'm still not sure why they thought it was unsuitable," Hadley wrote in 2009, "unless they were trying to protect viewers from what, to me, was self-indulgent claptrap, in which case I see their point." [29]

The band was in loin cloths for filming at Primrose Hill as the dawn was breaking behind their silhouettes while they smeared paint upon themselves. [30] Another scenario, in which band member Steve Norman was tied to a tree and blindfolded, had a resident of the area concerned enough to call the police because of what they thought might be a satanic ritual in progress. [31]

"Paint Me Down" was filmed in one day for about £10,000, which the band felt would please their record company after the shoot for "Muscle Bound" was prolonged by weather and ran over budget. [32]

Aftermath

The song's number 30 peak came in the middle of recording the Diamond album, [33] and Hadley's frustration mounted because there were so many people in the studio watching him struggle with the songs as they did on "Paint Me Down". [34] Kemp acknowledged that he and Burgess—as songwriter and producer—were to blame for how things were turning out but that Hadley was getting the brunt of it. [35] Hadley lost his temper as they continued recording and was ready to throw a fire extinguisher through the control-room window but stopped himself and left the studio to calm down. [36] Before the album was released, a third single--"She Loved Like Diamond"—also performed poorly, [37] reaching number 49 on the UK Singles chart. [38] The band's manager, Steve Dagger, felt another single should be put out to help sell Diamond, [39] and the track from the album that most resembled a pop song, "Instinction", was remixed [40] and got them back into the top ten. [38]

Formats and track listings

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes for Diamond : [43]

Charts

Chart (1981)Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC) [38] 30

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spandau Ballet</span> English new wave band

Spandau Ballet were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European Dance Music" as "The Applause" for this new club culture's audience. They became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era of British pop and were part of the Second British Invasion of the Billboard Top 40 in the 1980s, selling 25 million albums and having 23 hit singles worldwide. The band have had eight UK top 10 albums, including three greatest hits compilations and an album of re-recorded material. Their musical influences ranged from punk rock and soul music to the American crooners Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

<i>True</i> (Spandau Ballet album) 1983 studio album by Spandau Ballet

True is the third studio album by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 4 March 1983 by Chrysalis Records. The band's songwriter/guitarist Gary Kemp realised after the release of their second album that the nightclub audience they initially wanted to attract had lost interest in them in part because of the band's transition from dance music to pop. He no longer felt obligated to keep writing music for them and shifted his focus to soul and R&B influences such as Marvin Gaye and Al Green for this album. Kemp thought that bandmate Steve Norman's newfound interest in the saxophone would be well-suited to the sound he was going for, as would the decision to record most of the album at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Kemp</span> English actor and musician

Gary James Kemp is an English singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and principal songwriter for the new wave band Spandau Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">True (Spandau Ballet song)</span> 1983 single by Spandau Ballet

"True" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released in April 1983 as the title track and third single from their third studio album. It was written by the band's guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp to express his feelings for Altered Images lead singer Clare Grogan, influenced musically by songs of Marvin Gaye and Al Green he was listening to at the time, and lyrically by Green and The Beatles. It eventually reached number one on the UK chart in April 1983 and made the top 10 in several other countries, including the US, where it became their first song to reach the Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">To Cut a Long Story Short</span> 1980 single by Spandau Ballet

"To Cut a Long Story Short" is the debut single by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 31 October 1980. The band began recording the song before they were signed to a record label because of the interest they had generated with a debut concert for patrons of the exclusive weekly London nightclub the Blitz as well as a Christmas party at that establishment. After having tried other popular genres, the band had been preparing to make their debut as performers of dance music and wanted the public to associate them with the young crowd who met at the Blitz every Tuesday. They needed their guitarist/songwriter, Gary Kemp, to come up with something that they could feel confident about presenting to the top tier of the club's regulars at their first performance.

<i>Journeys to Glory</i> 1981 studio album by Spandau Ballet

Journeys to Glory is the debut studio album by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 6 March 1981 by Chrysalis Records. All of the songs on the album were produced by Richard James Burgess and written by band guitarist Gary Kemp to appeal to the patrons of a weekly Tuesday night club the band started attending called the Blitz, where they were accustomed to hearing "white European dance music". Their performances at the Blitz and other exclusive venues attracted the attention of record labels eager to sign them, and one of the songs they had been performing, "To Cut a Long Story Short", gained popularity through a recording session made at BBC Radio 1.

<i>Diamond</i> (Spandau Ballet album) 1982 studio album by Spandau Ballet

Diamond is the second studio album by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 12 March 1982 by Chrysalis Records. As with their debut album, Journeys to Glory, all songs were produced by Richard James Burgess and written by band guitarist Gary Kemp. The music was inspired by a variety of genres, including the renewed interest in funk around Soho, American film scores with roots in eastern Europe, the second side of David Bowie's Low album, Pink Floyd records and the mood pieces of another English new wave band, Japan.

<i>The Twelve Inch Mixes</i> 1986 compilation album by Spandau Ballet

The Twelve Inch Mixes is a compilation album by Spandau Ballet. It was released on 30 June 1986 by Chrysalis Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold (Spandau Ballet song)</span> 1983 single by Spandau Ballet

"Gold" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 5 August 1983 as the fourth single from their third album, True. The song was written by the band's guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp as an homage to the film themes of composer John Barry that was especially influenced by his scores for the James Bond series. This was apparent to some music critics, but they were sharply divided in their reviews. Some appreciated the energy and drama behind it while others found it affected and overwrought. The song peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and made the top 10 in several other countries, but its number 29 showing in the US and the disappointing chart performances of the next two singles released there led to the band's decision to change record labels.

<i>Once More</i> (Spandau Ballet album) 2009 studio album by Spandau Ballet

Once More is the seventh and final studio album by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 19 October 2009 by Mercury Records. The album includes 11 re-recordings from the band's back catalogue and two newly written songs. The first single, the title track "Once More", one of the two brand-new songs, was released as a promotional single on 5 October 2009 and as a digital download on the same day as the album was released. The album entered at number seven on the UK Album Chart on 25 October 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lifeline (Spandau Ballet song)</span> 1982 single by Spandau Ballet

"Lifeline" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 24 September 1982 as the first single from what would be their third album, True (1983). The song confirmed the band's intent to transition from dance music to pop that was hinted at with their previous single, "Instinction". Some band members found an enjoyable chemistry with "Lifeline" producers Tony Swain and Steve Jolley that was lacking in recording sessions with previous producers. The new song received mixed reviews but reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also their first single to chart in the United States, missing the Billboard Hot 100 but charting on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 at number 8. The music video for the song received airplay on the U.S. cable channel MTV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Only When You Leave</span> 1984 single by Spandau Ballet

"Only When You Leave" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released as the first single from their fourth album Parade. It peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and made the top 10 in several other countries but only reached number 34 in the US, where it was their last song to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. Most critics were impressed with Tony Hadley's vocals and enjoyed the song. The music video used its theme of revenge as a way of paying tribute to the late film director Alfred Hitchcock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Through the Barricades (song)</span> 1986 single by Spandau Ballet

"Through the Barricades" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released as the second single from their 1986 fifth studio album of the same name. The song entered the UK Singles Chart on 8 November 1986 and became the band's tenth and final top-10 single, peaking at number six and spending a total of 10 weeks on the chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)</span> 1981 single by Spandau Ballet

"Chant No. 1 " is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 10 July 1981 as the first single from their upcoming second album, Diamond. The band's guitarist/songwriter, Gary Kemp, wanted to pay homage to the latest London hotspot, Le Beat Route, by emulating the funk music that was popular there and even using the club as the location for the music video, all in order to show that the band was still part of the trendy Soho scene. Except for the remix of the song from the album's box set, "Chant No. 1" received good reviews, and the 7-inch single became their third top ten hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instinction (song)</span> 1982 single by Spandau Ballet

"Instinction" is a song by Spandau Ballet whose original version was included on their second album Diamond as produced by Richard James Burgess. The song was written by band guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp. A remix by Trevor Horn was released on 2 April 1982 as the last single from the album and reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. This new version received good reviews but constituted a shift into pop music that did not interest the patrons of trendy London nightclubs that Spandau Ballet originally intended to represent. The band tried continuing their work with Horn on the songs for their next album but came to an impasse with him and moved on to a successful relationship with producers Steve Jolley and Tony Swain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muscle Bound</span> 1981 single by Spandau Ballet

"Muscle Bound" is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released as part of the third single from their debut album Journeys to Glory. In the UK, it was released as a double A-side with the song "Glow"; elsewhere, "Glow" was included as the B-side. "Muscle Bound" received mostly good reviews, and the combined single was their third consecutive top 20 hit in their native UK, reaching number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. The music video for "Muscle Bound" was more ambitious than their previous promotional clips and went over budget because of snowy weather that caused delays during the location shoot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Freeze (song)</span> 1981 single by Spandau Ballet

"The Freeze" is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 12 January 1981 as the follow-up to their debut single, the number 5 UK hit "To Cut a Long Story Short". As was the case with that release, the 7-inch single of "The Freeze" featured a dub mix on its B-side, and the 12-inch single had two additional mixes of the song geared toward dance clubs. The cover art used for both formats of the single also repeated its predecessor in having a simple black-and-white classical motif. This design, however, was also seen on the sets of the music video for the song. Reviews of "The Freeze" were mixed. It reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glow (Spandau Ballet song)</span> 1981 single by Spandau Ballet

"Glow" is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 27 March 1981 as part of their third single, which, in the UK, was a double A-side with the song "Muscle Bound". The combined single was their third consecutive top 20 hit in their native UK, reaching number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. Elsewhere, "Muscle Bound" was the A-side. "Glow" was written while their debut album, Journeys to Glory, was in the finishing stages and not included on it, but a few different versions of the song were on the 2010 reissue of the album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">She Loved Like Diamond</span> 1982 single by Spandau Ballet

"She Loved Like Diamond" is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 11 January 1982 as the third single from what would be their second album, Diamond. The music video and cover art for the single focused on the sexual themes in the lyrics and the allure of the title character. In writing the song, their guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp was influenced by American Jewish music with an eastern European flavour that he had heard in movie themes and musicals. Most reviews singled out lead singer Tony Hadley's performance as the main problem with the recording, which only mustered a number 49 peak position on the UK Singles Chart. The poor showing prompted the idea to release another song from the album, but the band realized that getting a new single to succeed would require a remix of the disappointing work of their current producer and decided to discontinue their association with him in doing so.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communication (Spandau Ballet song)</span> 1983 single by Spandau Ballet

"Communication" is a song by English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 4 February 1983 as the second single from what would be their third album, True. The song was recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas along with most of the material from that album and received several good reviews. It reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart and made the pop charts in other countries as well. The music video for the song was made to look like a film with lead singer Tony Hadley as the main character and received airplay on the U.S. cable channel MTV.

References

  1. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 134
  2. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 150
  3. 1 2 Kemp 2009 , p. 153
  4. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 153: "Unlike second marriages, second albums are notoriously difficult. Journeys had been developed over some time and played live before we went into the recording studio, with some songs being discarded at the last minute. It was a mission statement, cohesive and tight, with none of the indulgence that often plagues follow-ups."
  5. ↑ "Spandau Ballet: A Girl's Best Friend". New Sounds New Styles. No. 11. May 1982. p. 27.
  6. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 95
  7. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 95: As I sweated, the rest of the band watched from behind the glass that separated the studio from the control room. Everyone was willing me to get it right, which only made matters worse. Each time I messed up a line I sensed a collective rolling of the eyes... It was while I was wrestling with 'Paint Me Down' that Richard Burgess came up with what he thought was an inspired idea. He had heard - although precisely where from remains a mystery - that singers sometimes performed better lying down. He wanted to put me in a tent with a few candles to create a relaxed mood.
  8. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 95: When the band began laying down the backing vocals on ‘Paint Me Down’ it was clear to me they were flat. They sounded awful. Now it was my turn to watch in disbelief from the control room. I turned to Richard Burgess. ‘They’re out of tune,’ I said. I wanted to go back in and record my own backing vocals. He wouldn't have it. "It will be fine," he assured me. At that point, I realized he and I were on an utterly different wavelength. The backing vocals sounded out of tune to me, yet he was happy. Nothing made sense to me anymore.
  9. ↑ Black, Johnny (12–25 November 1981). "Spandau Ballet: "Paint Me Down"". Smash Hits . Vol. 3, no. 23. p. 23.
  10. ↑ Fletcher, Sunie (7 November 1981). "Spandau Ballet: "Paint Me Down"". Record Mirror . Vol. 28, no. 45. p. 13. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  11. ↑ Cook, Richard (20 March 1982). "Last Dance Of The New Romance: Spandau Ballet's Diamond". New Musical Express . London: IPC . Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  12. ↑ "Billboard's Recommended LPs > Pop". Billboard . New York: Billboard Publications, Inc. 24 April 1982. p. 68. ISSN   0006-2510.
  13. ↑ LeRoy, Dan. "Diamond – Spandau Ballet". AllMusic . Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  14. ↑ Thompson, Dave. "The Singles Collection - Spandau Ballet". AllMusic . Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  15. ↑ Hadley 2004 , pp. 99–100: Before the single was released, we went in to Top Of The Pops and recorded the track for them. After the success of the first four singles everyone was reasonably confident another hit was on the cards.
  16. ↑ Gimarc 1997 , p. 214
  17. ↑ "Paint Me Down – full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  18. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 100: "Paint Me Down" didn’t even make the Top 20, and our Top of the Pops recording never saw the light of day.
  19. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 100
  20. ↑ Darling, Cary (5 December 1981). "Music Monitor > Thames Top 10". Billboard . New York: Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 32. ISSN   0006-2510.
  21. ↑ De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. we wanted it to have two interlocking themes; the sort of epic flavour of 'Musclebound' as well as a more documentary approach which would cover the history of Spandau Ballet over the last 12 months.
  22. ↑ De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. I got the idea from a TV show I saw recently called something like Years Of Lightning.
  23. ↑ De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. We just used a collage of press cuttings and TV clips from programmes like Twentieth Century Box.
  24. ↑ De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. Around 10 o'clock we went down to Kings Cross Station with the intention of filming ourselves walking into the foyer and queuing for tickets and so on. But we ran into trouble there as well. You can't actually film in Kings Cross without official permission, you see, and we had to pay the station master a £20 facility fee and promise that we wouldn't be using the film for commercial gain.
  25. ↑ De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. We piled into the van again and went to Heathrow Airport where we got some footage of ourselves entering Terminal One, supposedly to board a flight somewhere or other.
  26. 1 2 De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021.
  27. ↑ De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. We broke for lunch when we'd got that lot finished and met Paula Yates in the pub. She'd come down to do a piece on us for the News Of The World Sunday magazine so we talked her into going topless and being in the film too! We ended up with this very powerful sequence where a drop of paint running down Tony's chest suddenly cuts to the same drop running down Paula's back.
  28. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 153
  29. ↑ Hadley 2004, p. 99.
  30. ↑ De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. We finally reached Primrose Hill at about 5.30 and then everything was in a rush to get the cameras ready. We wanted to get the shot of our silhouettes on the horizon against the warm orange glow of the sun and we thought it would look so much more powerful if we were to do it semi-naked rather than in dufflecoats and sweaters.
  31. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 99: Gary thought it would look good to have one of us blindfold, tied to a tree. To everyone else’s relief, Steve Norman (who knew an opportunity for a starring role when he saw one) volunteered. Not surprisingly, one of the local residents, disturbed at the site of five near-naked blokes cavorting in public at sunrise, called the police. Two squad cars pulled up to investigate reports that some kind of satanic ritual was under way.
  32. ↑ De Whalley, Chaz (28 November 1981). "A Life in the Day of Gary Kemp". Record Mirror . p. 12. Archived from the original on 2 October 2021. We decided to make the 'Paint Me Down' video as quickly as possible and get it all done in a day if we could. When we went to the Lake District to film the 'Musclebound' promo we were stuck there for three whole days and as a result Chrysalis, our record company, were presented with a bill for £26,000 which you can guess they weren't at all happy about. 'Paint Me Down' only cost about £10,000 which is relatively cheap.
  33. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 155: During the recording of the album, "Paint Me Down" failed to get us on TOTP and stalled at number thirty in the charts.
  34. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 96: I don't even remember which track I was struggling with. I just remember losing it. Again, the rest of the band was watching from the control room.
  35. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 155: The men who should have been taking the rap were me and Richard, but unfortunately the scapegoat for everyone's frustration became Tony.
  36. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 97: The day my temper finally snapped I grabbed a fire extinguisher and was about to hurl it through the control-room window… In the end I dropped the fire extinguisher and walked out. I just wanted to get the fuck away.
  37. ↑ Hadley 2004 , p. 100
  38. 1 2 3 "Spandau Ballet: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  39. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 162: "Look, Diamond has just come out; it can't survive without another single from it."
  40. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 162: "I'm worried it won’t be enough just to release 'Instinction'. We need something else. A remix maybe." Remix was a business euphemism for SOS. But Dagger was right – the song had more pop in it than anything we'd ever done
  41. ↑ Paint Me Down (7-inch single liner notes). Spandau Ballet. Chrysalis Records. 1981. CHS 2560.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  42. ↑ Paint Me Down (12-inch single liner notes). Spandau Ballet. Chrysalis Records. 1981. CHS 12 2560.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  43. ↑ Diamond (record sleeve). Spandau Ballet. London: Chrysalis Records. 1982. CDL 1353.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  44. ↑ Kemp 2009 , p. 153: "Paint Me Down"… emulated the successful formula of including the Beggar & Co. horns

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.