| "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.
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] and has been covered by numerous artists. [4] 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) [8] | 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-American model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones 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 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 and songwriter 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, art pop, dub, synth-pop 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.
"It's Called a Heart" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released as a single on 16 September 1985. "It's Called a Heart" was one of two new songs on the 1985 compilation albums The Singles 81→85 and Catching Up with Depeche Mode, along with the band's other single "Shake the Disease".
"Only You" is a song by English synth-pop duo Yazoo. It was written by member Vince Clarke, while he was still with Depeche Mode, but recorded in 1982 after he formed Yazoo with Alison Moyet. It was released as Yazoo's first single on 15 March 1982 in the United Kingdom, taken from their first album, Upstairs at Eric's (1982), and became an instant success on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number two on 16 May 1982. It would also reach the top 10 in neighbouring Ireland as well as Australia. In the US, "Only You" was released as the band's second single in November 1982 and charted at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also made the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
Island Life is a compilation album by Grace Jones, released in December 1985, summing up the first nine years of her musical career. The album sits among Jones' best-selling works.
"Always" is a song by British synth-pop duo Erasure. The ballad was released on 11 April 1994 as the first single from their sixth studio album, I Say I Say I Say (1994). Written by Erasure members Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, it was produced by Martyn Ware. Mute Records issued the single in the United Kingdom, and Elektra Records released it in the United States.
Warm Leatherette is the fourth studio album by 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 recordings by Grace Jones, spanning from 1977 to 1993.
"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 Grace Jones, released 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 elements of funk and R&B music. 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 Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the US and number 53 in the UK. 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 an English 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.
"I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" is a single by Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released in 1981. The song is a reworking of Astor Piazzolla's "Libertango".
"Demolition Man" is a song written by Sting and performed by Grace Jones as the A-side of a 1981 single. Sting's band, the Police, later released their rendition of the song on their album Ghost in the Machine. The lyrics to Demolition Man are featured in the art book RadioEYES: Great Rock Lyrics Set to Art. The song was illustrated by John Taylor Dismukes.
"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.
"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.
