Album Review: Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

Who knows what was going on in my mind yesterday when, whilst I was in the midst of doing some household chores, I thought to myself, You know what would be nice right about now? Sigue Sigue Sputnik. So, with me being a creature of instant gratification, I cued up their 1986 debut album Flaunt It and let fly! And I got to thinking, Hmm, does it hold up after 24 years? And the surprising answer is -- yes. Yes it does, and funnily enough, it almost sounds more apropos now as when it did back during the years of Reagan, the Cold War, and the burgeoning years of digitalism.


For here is an album that wears its star-fucking soul on its sleeve. It's no coincidence that the first time you hear Martin Degville's voice on album opener "Love Missile F1-11" he's saying over and over again, "I wanna be a star! I wanna be a star!" 


Founded by Generation X and Lords of the New Church bassist Tony James, Sigue Sigue Sputnik (named after a Moscow street gang, whose name translates roughly to "Burn Burn Satellite") was originally a concept borne from a desire to capitalize on the rampant commercialism on display in popular culture -- and make a killing while at it. Choosing the rest of the band pretty much based on their looks (vocalist Degville was a clothing designer whose retail shop, Ya Ya, was ransacked for the band's crazy outfits), the next step was to find a motto. "Fleece the World" seemed appropriate, and then the theme -- "Hi-tech sex, designer violence, and the 5th generation of rock n' roll." Thrown into the mix was a futuristic dystopian world run by multi-national corporations in which instant gratification could be yours with the touch of a button (sound familiar?), and everything was ready to roll!

Tapping Ray Mayhew and Chris Kavanagh for drumming duties, Neil X for guitar, and Martin's co-worker at Ya Ya, Yana on synths and "club effects," Tony James had finally all his pieces put together. Now it was time to put together an album and sell it to the unwashed masses!


Taking their cue from science-fiction films, exotic international locales, video games, sex magazines, high-design, haute-couture, Japanese manga, and the all-mighty dollar, Sigue Sigue Sputnik's sound was all over the map. Featuring heavy-duty rock guitars, heavy and intensive percussion, drone-y insect-like sound effects, vocal distortions, liberal usage of samples from films (Dirty Harry, Blade Runner, and The Road Warrior featured large), and even advertisements for products real and imaginary dispersed between the songs, Flaunt It was (and still is) a wild roller-coaster ride through the fevered imagination of a world in which anything and everything is for sale. Tracks such as "Rockit Miss USA," "21st Century Boy," and "Massive Retaliation" are prime examples of all these disparate influences at work at the same time, and frankly, are just a shitload of fun. "High-tech sex and rockets, baby," indeed, Mr Degville! Does Moscow rock your baby? It sure does.


Highly recommended after all these years, I cannot stress enough how fun this album is. If you haven't already, then check it out by all means.

sigue sigue sputnik

"21st century boy"

flaunt it

sigue sigue sputnik

"love missile f1-11"

flaunt it

Happy Hump Day!

picture: bonobos.com

Well hello there, people. It's Wednesday, which means that it's officially Hump Day. Yep, we're officially past the half-way mark to the next weekend - so bully for us! We here at the Second Drawer Up corral would like to take a moment to celebrate this ridiculously named moment in time and honor it the only way we really know how - with electronic music, of course! And look - we brought some sexy! Get it? Hump; sex? Haha, we're clever little bonobos, and on this day of the Norse god Odin (also known as Woden or Woten), we're going to share with you a couple of songs you may or may not be aware of that have to do with ... you guessed it, sex.

Roll that beautiful sex footage!

First up in our day's roster is an interesting little piece called "People Are Still Having Sex," by LaTour. Recorded in 1991 by William "Bud" LaTour, a successful voice-over actor, electronica artist and parody musician from Lowell, Massachusetts, this clever and rather catchy number was essentially a call for sanity during a period of time where AIDS was being used as a political tool by conservative fuckwits who wanted to press an agenda of abstinence (sound familiar?). The message then was the same as it is now: Abstinence education doesn't work, people. But the song? Pretty damn clever. Favorite spoken-word lyric: "When you see them holding hands, they're making future plans to engage in the activity - do you understand?" And here it is:

Second on our scintillating list is "Mystery Babylon" from My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. Taken from the Chicago, Illinois industrial collective's 1991 album Sexplosion!, this is a sprawling and deviously subversive piece, with its lilting jazzy piano, horns, and a distinctive Zydeco-influenced vest frottoir running throughout whilst a singsong-y chorus with breathy female voices goes on about sexual providence and passion. The song is interwoven with a running spoken conversation between a horny john and a couple of hookers. Best exchange: "What goes for ten dollars?" "Well, whaddaya want for ten dollars?" "I want something different, I want something special." "Ah no, honey, not for ten bucks."

Last and thirdly on our triptych of hanky panky is a song that just about every human being on the planet has probably heard at least once - but man, what a great freaking song it is. I'm speaking, of course, of "Strangelove" by the one and only Depeche Mode. Martin Gore's synth anthem to BDSM after spending a huge amount of time in Berlin's leather clubs and bars is just as cheeky, playful, and brilliant now as it was back in 1987 when it was released as the first single of their monumental album Music For The Masses. Sadly, WMG are being fucking pricks and have disabled embedding on all their videos (the kick-ass Anton Corbijn version is what I would have liked to have shown you, but oh well), so here's Dave, Martin, Andrew, and Alan "performing" "Strangelove" on a German television show in 1987. Enjoy!

So there you have it, pleasant and loyal readers. Happy Hump Day - and may all your ups and downs take place in your bed of choice. Ciao!