| "Warm Leatherette" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by the Normal | |
| A-side | "T.V.O.D." |
| Released | November 1978 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 6:15 |
| Label | Mute |
| Songwriter(s) | Daniel Miller |
| Producer(s) | Daniel Miller |
"Warm Leatherette" is a song by Daniel Miller's project the Normal, released in 1978. Grace Jones recorded a well-known cover of the song in 1980.
The lyrics of "Warm Leatherette" reference J. G. Ballard's controversial 1973 novel Crash , which had heavily influenced Daniel Miller. [1] Together with his college friend[ who? ] he had worked on a film script based on the book, but after the project was abandoned Miller decided to "write a song encapsulating [the script] in 2 and a half minutes". [2] The song was recorded in Miller's apartment using two Revox B-77 tape machines. A series of sawtooth waves were recorded on a Korg 700S synthesizer.
Miller took the record to a few independent music shops, including Rough Trade in London, where it would be played to customers. [2] "Warm Leatherette" was released as the B-side to "T.V.O.D.", the only single by Miller's musical project the Normal, and the very first release on his Mute Records label. However, since it was "Warm Leatherette" that gained more public attention, [3] it was featured as the lead song on subsequent single re-releases. Although Miller did not expect the single to be successful, [4] it sold 30,000 copies. [5]
The single was an early example of industrial and synth-pop music, emerging on a wave of numerous electronic pop experiments of the late 1970s in the UK. [6] [7] It has since been described as having "revolutionised electronic music with its punk aesthetic, stark sound and dark subject matter" [2] "Warm Leatherette" is considered to be a seminal track that influenced the emerging synth-pop of the 1980s [8] and has been covered by numerous artists, [4] including Grace Jones and Duran Duran, who performed it on a 2007 tour. [9] The song is featured in the 2020 American horror film Antebellum.
| "Warm Leatherette" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Grace Jones | ||||
| from the album Warm Leatherette | ||||
| Released | 1980 | |||
| Length | 4:25 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Daniel Miller | |||
| Producer(s) | ||||
| Grace Jones singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Grace Jones recorded "Warm Leatherette" for her 1980 album of the same name. The song was released as a promotional 12-inch single. In 1981, it served as the opening song of her A One Man Show tour.
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| United States (Dance Music/Club Play) [10] | 20 |
Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderman, Inspiral Carpets, Moby, New Order, Laibach, Nitzer Ebb, Yann Tiersen, Wire, Yeasayer, Fever Ray, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Yazoo, and M83.
Grace Beverly Jones is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She notably worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.
Construction Time Again is the third studio album by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 22 August 1983 by Mute Records. It was the band's first album to feature Alan Wilder as a member, who wrote the songs "Two Minute Warning" and "The Landscape Is Changing". The album's title comes from the second line of the first verse of the track "Pipeline". It was recorded at John Foxx's The Garden studios in London, and was supported by the Construction Time Again Tour.
The Normal is the recording artist name used by English music producer Daniel Miller, a film editor at the time, who is best known as the founder of the record label Mute Records.
Francis John Tovey, known also by his stage name Fad Gadget, was a British avant-garde electronic musician and vocalist. He was a proponent of both new wave and early industrial music, fusing pop-structured songs with mechanised experimentation.
"The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" is a 1966 song written by Smokey Robinson. It was a hit single in 1967 for the American girl group The Marvelettes for the Motown label, from their self-titled album released that same year.
Nightclubbing is the fifth studio album by Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released on 11 May 1981 by Island Records. Recorded at Compass Point Studios with producers Alex Sadkin and Island Records' president Chris Blackwell, as well as a team of session musicians rooted by rhythm section Sly and Robbie, the album marked her second foray into a new wave style that blends a variety of genres, including reggae, R&B, dub and funk. The album has cover versions of songs by Bill Withers, Iggy Pop, Astor Piazzolla, and others, and original songs, three of which were co-written by Jones.
Island Life is the first greatest hits album by Jamaican singer and songwriter Grace Jones, released in December 1985, summing up the first nine years of her musical career. The album sits among Jones' best-selling works.
Warm Leatherette is the fourth studio album by Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released on 9 May 1980 by Island Records. The album features contributions from the reggae production duo Sly and Robbie and is a departure from Jones's earlier disco sound, moving towards a new wave-reggae direction.
The Grace Jones Story is a 2006 anthology of songs recorded and released by Jamaican singer and songwriter Grace Jones, spanning from 1977 to 1993. It was released on 4th April 2006 as a joint venture from Island Records and Universal Music.
A One Man Show is a long-form music video collection featuring Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released in 1982. The video mainly consists of music videos, with some concert footage filmed when Jones was touring with the eponymous tour.
"Breakdown" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album. It became a Top 40 hit in the United States and Canada.
"Pull Up to the Bumper" is a 1981 song by Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress Grace Jones, released by Island Records as the third single from her fifth album, Nightclubbing (1981). Sonically, it is an uptempo electro-disco, post-punk, dance-pop and reggae-disco song with dub production, "pulsing drums and chic new-wave licks", as well as being described as a hybrid of funk and R&B. Its lyrics were written by Jones alone, while she, along with Kookoo Baya and Dana Manno, are credited as its composers. The song's instrumental part was originally recorded in 1980 during the Warm Leatherette sessions; however, it did not make the album as Chris Blackwell found its sound not fitting in the rest of the material. It was completed for the 1981 critically acclaimed Nightclubbing album and became its third single in June 1981. The song peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart and number 53 on the UK Singles Chart. When re-released in 1986, it peaked at number 12 in the UK. The track has come to be one of Jones' signature tunes and her first transatlantic hit.
Daniel Otto Joachim Miller is a British music producer and founder of Mute Records.
Some Bizzare Album is the first album issued by Some Bizzare Records. It was released in 1981 as a sampler of the label's musical ethos. The acts were not signed exclusively to the label at the time.
"Nobody's Diary" is a song recorded by British synth-pop band Yazoo. It was released in May 1983 as the first and only single from their second and last album, You and Me Both (1983). The song was written by Alison Moyet and produced by Yazoo, Eric Radcliffe and Daniel Miller. "Nobody's Diary" peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart.
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"Private Life" is a 1980 song written by Chrissie Hynde, and released by both English band The Pretenders, and Jamaican singer Grace Jones in 1980.
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"Warm Leatherette" had been one side of the lone single by the Normal [...] only two years prior. A cold, sparse bit of proto-industrial synth pop, the song's J.G. Ballard-referencing, car crash fetishist lyrics were the ideal, erm, vehicle for Jones' new direction.
