| "Who Wants the World?" | |
|---|---|
| Single by The Stranglers | |
| B-side | "The Meninblack (Waiting For 'Em)" |
| Released | 29 May 1980 (UK) |
| Genre | Punk rock, post-punk |
| Length | 3.16 |
| Label | United Artists |
| Songwriter(s) | The Stranglers |
| Producer(s) | Alan Winstanley |
"Who Wants the World?" is a 1980 single by The Stranglers. The song, about alien visitation to Earth, [1] is regarded as a precursor to The Gospel According to the Meninblack album - which explored similar concepts in more depth. Like the band's previous single, "Bear Cage", it was a non-album track. "Who Wants the World?" peaked at No. 39 in the UK Singles Chart. [2]
The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning four decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" bands to have originated in the UK punk scene.
The Gospel According to the Meninblack is the fifth album by English rock band The Stranglers, an esoteric concept album released in 1981. The album deals with conspiratorial ideas surrounding alien visitations to Earth, the sinister governmental Men in Black, and the involvement of these elements in well-known biblical narratives. This was not the first time The Stranglers had used this concept; Meninblack on the earlier The Raven album and subsequent 1980 single-release "Who Wants the World?" had also explored it.
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-selling singles in the United Kingdom, based upon physical sales, paid-for downloads and streaming. The Official Chart, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and MTV, is the UK music industry's recognised official measure of singles and albums popularity because it is the most comprehensive research panel of its kind, today surveying over 15,000 retailers and digital services daily, capturing 99.9% of all singles consumed in Britain across the week, and over 98% of albums. To be eligible for the chart, a single is currently defined by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as either a 'single bundle' having no more than four tracks and not lasting longer than 25 minutes or one digital audio track not longer than 15 minutes with a minimum sale price of 40 pence. The rules have changed many times as technology has developed, the most notable being the inclusion of digital downloads in 2005 and streaming in July 2014.