SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK

'Sigue Sigue Sputnik' is a British pop-cyberpunk band led by former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band played a style of new wave music similar to New York electronica duo Suicide and Swiss techno-rock duo Yello, by layering vocals, yelps, guitar riffs, electronic sound effects and short samples over pulsating synthesizer bass lines. The band achieved moderate fame in the mid- to late 1980s, when the song "Love Missile F1-11" hit the pop charts around the world, in part to the song's use in the cult-hit movie ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''.
The themes and imagery in the band's songs were often influenced by futuristic, dystopian or post-apocalyptic films such as ''A Clockwork Orange'', ''The Terminator'', ''Blade Runner'' and the ''Mad Max'' trilogy. The band's music and image also mashed together a range of other pop culture influences, including the electronica/Krautrock influences of Kraftwerk, Marc Bolan's T-Rex, and the swagger and sex appeal of Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley and glam rock.

Contents

1980s: Early years

Mid-1980s: Singles and Albums

1990s and 2000s

Members

Discography

Videography

External links

1980s: Early years

The original line-up featured Tony James, Martin Degville, Neal X (Whitmore), Chris Kavanagh, and Ray Mayhew. Tony James's friend Mick Jones, a former member of The Clash, gave James advice about starting the band and selecting musicians. While searching for members, in 1983 Tony James tried out Andrew Eldritch from The Sisters of Mercy and, on Mick Jones' suggestion, auditioned the then-unknown Annie Lennox. As well, Jones gave James a Roland G-707 synth guitar, which at the time was a new device. The futuristic, electronic sounds of the synth guitar helped James to create Sputnik's new wave-cyberpunk sound.
The band took its name from a Moscow street gang called Sigue Sigue Sputnik, which means "Burn, burn, satellite." Their outlandish appearance and image, which included towering, multicoloured mohawk hairstyles, wigs, makeup, and gender-bending fetish clothing (plastic, rubber, or leather outfits, fishnet stockings, and stiletto heels) garnered a great deal of attention from the media. While these styles have since been used by a number of gothic or glam bands, in the mid-1980s, Sigue Sigue band members' appearance was unique and startling.
The "packaging" of the band's appearance and presentation was carefully considered well before the band ever performed in public. Inspired by the Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren's unorthodox methods of promoting a band, Tony James generated a great deal of hype about Sigue Sigue Sputnik, while wisely not allowing anyone from the music industry a chance to hear the band. Tony James famously showed record executives a short video collage of futuristic and science-fiction movie clips as a "demo tape" of the band. The buzz became a frenzy as several record labels began a bidding war to sign Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Tony James finally settled on EMI which was rumoured to have given the band a substantial advance.

Mid-1980s: Singles and Albums

In a flurry of publicity, Sigue Sigue released their first single, "Love Missile F1-11". It climbed to number three in the British charts and hit the charts in a number of other countries. The single, as well as the album that followed, was produced by Giorgio Moroder, an Italian record producer and film composer known for his innovative work with synthesizers during the 1970s and for producing disco hits such as Donna Summer's "I Feel Love".
The band underlined their cynical attitude towards the music business (expressed by the slogan "fleece the world") by auctioning advertising space between the tracks on their first album ''Flaunt It'' (released in 1986). Advertisements that did sell (including spots for ''i-D Magazine'' and Studio Line from L'Oreal) were complemented by ironic spoof ads including an advert for the Sputnik corporation itself claiming that "Pleasure is our Business".
James's claims to the media that the group members were selected solely based on image and appearance, coupled with the group's use of computers and synthesizers in the studio led critics to claim that the band mimed their live performances over pre-recorded music. However, live concert footage shows that the band does appear to be playing their instruments.
Sigue Sigue Sputnik lyrics combined futuristic imagery ("saturn dreams, laser beams," and "space cowboy") with camp, erotic, references to fetishized violence and B-movie imagery. Songs referred to a "love rocket red," "21st century sex machines," "Chinese-speaking strip TV's," and a "freako psycho horror show". This line could also be read as "freako psycho horrorshow (Russian: Хорошо)", a reference to ''A Clockwork Orange''. They also created images such as "hips and lips and beauty queens," and "venus ramp, sexy tramp...vegas vamp." "Love Missile F1-11"'s lyrics pushed the boundaries of parental tolerance and gained media attention with repeated double-entendre entreaties to "Shoot it up, Shoot it up, Shoot it up."
The group split soon after the release of their second album, ''Dress for Excess'' (the initial single from which, "Success", was produced by British hitmakers Stock, Aitken and Waterman). Tony James stated that the band "...couldn't sustain this pretend bastardized version of Sputnik". James also blamed the media for the band's fall from grace. When Sputnik's first singles were released, the media and James's promotional efforts worked symbiotically, sharing the benefits of the band's hype and shock value. Once the initial shock and tabloid outrage over the band's unusual image and appearance had worn off, media coverage became dismissive, criticizing the band's focus on image and style.

1990s and 2000s

Tony James went on to become a member of The Sisters of Mercy in 1989-1991. Chris Kavanagh went on to Big Audio Dynamite II joining Mick Jones. Ray Mayhew formed Mayhem Deranged. Tony James reformed Sigue Sigue Sputnik twice, albeit without all the original members. The band was reformed once in the 1990s (featuring Tomoyasu Hotei on guitar and Christopher Novak singing) releasing ''Sputnik: Next Generation'' and once again in 2001 with Martin Degville and Neal X, which resulted in the release of ''Piratespace''. The reformed Sigue Sigue Sputnik continues to play live, and it has also produced a number of remixes of other artists' work. In 2004, Martin Degville left the band to pursue a solo career (see Sputnik2 link below). Neal X has been playing with Marc Almond
In 2005 Tony James teamed up with Mick Jones to form the group Carbon/Silicon. The band has toured the United Kingdom and has performed a number of anti-fascist benefit concerts and have recorded three, as yet unreleased, albums: ''Sample This'', ''Peace'', ''Dope Factory Boogie and the Grand Delusion''. The band encourage their fans to share their music on P2P networks, and allow the audio and video taping of their shows. Their first song, "MPFree" is an anthem for P2P file sharing.
In 2004 Martin Degville formed Sputnik2 or ''Sputnik2 The Future''. A solo act with collaborations with other artists and stage shows across Europe. Collaberators included UK cyberpunk pop producers DiscoKingz who produce & perform ''sputnik-esque'' tracks as a band. DiscoKingz are currently recording their first studio solo album for release late 2007. Martin Degville is recording his first album since ''World War Four'' entitled ''Prophet of Freak'' (2007).
The song Love Missile F1-11 is featured in the 2002 PlayStation 2 videogame as part of the New wave radio station Wave 103.

Members

★ Tony James - synth 'space' bass guitar (Roland G707). (Now rhythm guitarist with Carbon Silicon)

★ Martin Degville - vocals (no longer with band, now solo artist)

★ Neal X - Gibson semi-acoustic lead 'Stun' guitar (now lead vocalist with SSS & guitarist/producer for Marc Almond)

★ Ray Mayhew - electro drums (Simmons)

★ Chris Kavanagh - electro drums (Simmons)

★ Yana YaYa (Jane Farrimond) - Space Echo (Roland). Since stylist for bands including pop act '5ive'.

Discography

'Albums'

★ 1986 ''Flaunt It'' UK #10

★ 1988 ''Dress For Excess''

★ 1992 ''The First Generation''

★ 1997 ''The First Generation - Second Edition''

★ 1998 ''The Ultimate 12" Collection''

★ 2000 ''Sci-Fi Sex Stars''

★ 2001 ''21st Century Boys: The Best of Sigue Sigue Sputnik''

★ 2001 ''Pirate Space''

★ 2001 ''A Gothic-Industrial Tribute to The Smashing Pumpkins''

★ 2002 ''Blak Elvis vs. The Kings of Electronic Rock and Roll''

★ 2003 ''Ultra Real''
'Singles'

★ 1986 ''Love Missile F1-11 (UK sleeve)'' UK #3

★ 1986 ''Love Missile F1-11 (US sleeve)''

★ 1986 ''Love Missile F1-11 (German sleeve)''

★ 1986 ''Love Missile F1-11 (Japanese sleeve)''

★ 1986 ''Love Missile F1-11 (Russian sleeve)''

★ 1986 ''Love Missile F1-11 (The Bangkok Remix)''

★ 1986 ''21st Century Boy'' UK #20

★ 1986 ''21st Century Boy (German Remix)''

★ 1986 ''Sex Bomb Boogie''

★ 1986 ''Massive Retaliation''

★ 1986 ''Sci-Fi Sex Stars''

★ 1988 ''Success'' UK #31

★ 1988 ''Success (Acid Mixes)''

★ 1988 ''Success (Pete Waterman Cover)''

★ 1989 ''Albinoni vs. Star Wars'' UK #75

★ 1989 ''Dancerama'' UK #50

★ 1989 ''Dancerama (Remixes)''

★ 1989 ''Dancerama (Picture Disc)''

★ 1989 ''Rio Rocks''

★ 1989 ''Rio Rocks (Samba Remixes)''

★ 2001 ''Love Missile F1-11 (Westbam Remix)''

★ 2002 ''Everybody Loves You''

★ 2004 ''Grooving With Mr. Pervert''

Videography

'Videos'

★ 1986 ''Love Missile F1-11''

★ 1986 ''21st Century Boy''

★ 1986 ''Sex Bomb Boogie''

★ 1988 ''Success''

★ 1988 ''Dancerama''

★ 1988 ''Albinoni vs Star Wars''

★ 1988 ''Rio Rocks''

★ 2003 ''Live in Tokyo''

External links

★ Official site, includes history by Tony James

★ Martin Degville Official site

★ Ray Mayhew and Mayhem Deranged Official site

★ Sputnik2 producers & Sputnik-esque cyberpunk/pop act DiscoKingZ

★ VH1 music TV station SSS

★ MTV music TV station SSS

★ NME magazine

★ Channel 4 SSS page