21st Century Boy – Sigue Sigue Sputnik (1986)

Description

Additional information about this Sigue Sigue Sputnik vinyl art.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik – The Artist/s

Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band formed in 1982 by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band have had three UK top-40 hit singles, including “Love Missile F1-11” and “21st Century Boy”. The band’s music, image and inspiration drew from a range of electronic and glam bands such as Suicide and the New York Dolls. The band, which is often just called “Sputnik”, was formed by Tony James, ex-bassist of the defunct Generation X, and Neal X (Whitmore), who recruited singer Martin Degville. Degville was a clothes designer and supplied the band’s wardrobe, and YaYa, the store where he worked, became the band’s base. Their first gig was in Paris, supporting Johnny Thunders, with James’ former Generation X colleague and then drummer for Thunders, Mark Laff, on drums.Mick Jones, formerly of the Clash, worked with the band as live sound engineer, helped manipulate their sound, and appeared with them when they opened for New Model Army. Fachna O’Kelly, manager of the Boomtown Rats who had provided much of the band’s equipment, provided the band with the name Sigue Sigue Sputnik, a reference to a Filipino street gang and meaning, in rough translation “go, go satellite” (“sigue” coming from Tagalog, and from original Spanish meaning “go on”, and Sputnik referencing the first man-made satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957). The band’s sound was, according to James, arrived at by accident, when he inadvertently mixed elements of film soundtracks with their demo track “Love Missile F1-11” while putting together a video compilation from his favourite films.

21st Century Boy – The Song

’21st Century Boy‘ is a song by British band Sigue Sigue Sputnik released in May 1986 and is the second single from their debut album Flaunt It. It was the band’s second biggest hit, peaking at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart. As indicated by the title, the lyrics of the song contain references to the then-future 21st century. The title itself is possibly a take on the T. Rex song “20th Century Boy”. The song begins with a sample of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor”. Capitalism and technology are themes of the song with the companies Cartier, Tissot, Timex, Coca Cola and Fender all mentioned. Countries such as China, Singapore and El Salvador are also mentioned with the implication that they are all wealthy countries in the 21st century. Another theme, common in the 1980s, is dystopian future with the idea of living on Saturn or Venus and of ‘sex machines’ and ‘sci-fi sex’ and the lyric ‘I am the ultimate product’ reinforcing this.

The Five Pointed Star – The Shape

This record has been cut into the silhouette of a five pointed star which was a symbol used on Sigue Sigue Sputniks promotional materilal.

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