| "The Earth Dies Screaming" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover of the 12-inch single | ||||
| Single by UB40 | ||||
| A-side | "Dream a Lie" | |||
| Released | 24 October 1980 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:45 | |||
| Label | Graduate | |||
| Songwriter(s) | UB40 | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| UB40 singles chronology | ||||
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"The Earth Dies Screaming" is a song by British reggae band UB40, released as their third single in October 1980 as a double A-side with "Dream a Lie". It continued the band's chart success, peaking at number ten on the UK Singles Chart. [2]
The song was inspired and named after the 1964 science-fiction horror film. The lyrics were written by drummer Jimmy Brown, who in an interview prior to the release of the song said that when writing a song he liked to use "genre forms… using something popular to get our ideas across" and that in "The Earth Dies Screaming", "the story has a science-fiction setting to say what I want about now". [3] At the time, the fear of the threat of nuclear war was prevalent and this is what the band referred to in the song. [4]
The 12-inch version of the song differs to the 7-inch in that it begins with a dub instrumental before going into the main song. This diverged from the normal, with other 12-inch reggae songs typically featuring the dub instrumental after the main song. [5] The 12-inch single also featured a different cover sleeve, depicting the band performing. The 7-inch featured a picture of the British UB40 unemployment benefit card which had also been used as the artwork for the band's album Signing Off , and so to avoid confusion with the 12-inch release due to their similarity in size, the artwork was changed. [6]
7": Graduate / GRAD 10
12": Graduate / 12 GRAD 10
12": Graduate / 12 GRAD 10 (Netherlands)
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC) [2] | 10 |
| UK Independent Singles (Record Business) [7] | 1 |
Dub is an electronic musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style. Generally, dub consists of remixes of existing recordings created by significantly manipulating the original, usually through the removal of vocal parts, emphasis of the rhythm section, the application of studio effects such as echo and reverb, and the occasional dubbing of vocal or instrumental snippets from the original version or other works.
UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold more than 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish, and Yemeni parentage.
Signing Off is the debut album by British reggae band UB40, released in the UK on 29 August 1980 by Dudley-based independent label Graduate Records. It was an immediate success in their home country, reaching number 2 on the UK albums chart, and made UB40 one of the many popular reggae bands in Britain, several years before the band found international fame. The politically-concerned lyrics struck a chord in a country with widespread public divisions over high unemployment, the policies of the recently elected Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher, and the rise of the racist National Front party, while the record's dub-influenced rhythms reflected the late 1970s influence in British pop music of West Indian music introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean after the Second World War, particularly reggae and ska – this was typified by the 2 Tone movement, at that point at the height of its success and led by fellow West Midlands act The Specials, with whom UB40 drew comparisons due to their multiracial band line-up and socialist views.
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The Very Best of UB40 1980-2000 is a greatest hits album from the British dub/reggae band UB40.
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The Best of UB40 – Volume One is a compilation album by the British reggae band UB40. It was released in 1987 and includes a selection of the band's hits from 1980 to 1986.
The UB40 File is a compilation album of all of UB40's 1980 Graduate recordings. The album first appeared as a double vinyl LP in 1985 and features all the tracks from Signing Off on Record One, the 3 tracks from the 12" single that accompanied Signing Off on the A-side of Record Two with the tracks released as singles that did not feature on the debut album on B-side.
"Baby, Come Back" is a song by English band the Equals from their 1967 album Unequalled Equals. Written by Eddy Grant, the song was originally released as a B-side in 1966 and was later released as a single in continental Europe before being released as a single in the UK in 1968. "Baby, Come Back" charted in multiple countries, including number one on the Belgian, Rhodesian, and UK charts in 1967 and 1968.
The Singles Album was released in August 1982 and is a compilation LP and the first greatest hits by British reggae band UB40, featuring all of UB40's single releases on Graduate, including the 3-track Dutch 12" single "Tyler".
More UB40 Music is a compilation album of all of UB40's 1980 Graduate recordings. The album first appeared as a Dutch import on double vinyl LP and cassette in 1983 and features all the tracks from Signing Off, the three tracks from the 12" single that accompanied Signing Off along with the tracks released as singles that didn't feature on the debut album. The tracks from their 2nd and 3rd double A-side singles are all included in their 12" extended versions.
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"Homely Girl" is a song by American vocal group the Chi-Lites. Release in 1973, it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, number three on the US Hot Soul Singles chart, and number 54 on the US Billboard Hot 100. A cover by UB40 also became a hit between 1989 and 1991 in several countries.
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Speed 2: Cruise Control is the soundtrack album for the 1997 film of the same name. It was released by Virgin Records in May 1997, nearly a month before the film's release. Because of the film's Caribbean setting, the soundtrack features a variety of reggae music from artists including Common Sense, Jimmy Cliff, Maxi Priest and Shaggy. UB40, Carlinhos Brown and Tamia also have songs on the soundtrack, and appear in the film as entertainers on the cruise ship.
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