New Wave Outpost Forum

This thread got me thinking about "Warm Leatherette"...

http://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13558

I guess I actually must have skimmed over the part about its connection to JG Ballard's "Crash" novel in the "Rip It Up and Start Again" book...I had no recollection. I went back to read about this single (with the TVOD b-side), and had no idea the huge impact it actually had.

It's said to have been originally produced as a pure DIY product but sold a stunning 30,000 copies. Daniel Miller had scrolled "Mute Records" on the back of the single along with his home address, and soon started getting piles of demo tapes sent to him for review... despite him working from his home with no office, staff, distribution, etc. Thus was born Mute Records, most famously of Depeche Mode fame all the way to today's Goldfrapp and others.

So all you lucky folks who were able to catch that D-Mode/Goldfrapp bill earlier this year can actually thank "Warm Leatherette". Pretty cool! [8D]

I had/have at least 5 versions of Warm Leatherette somewhere.

The Normal
Grace Jones
Chicks On Speed
Sleep Chamber
and one by a band whos name I can't remember, I wanna say Angel Dust 212 or something.

Here's a page from the movie Crash and the connection with the song

http://www.finelinefeatures.com/crash/c ... ather.html

That single is one of my all time favorite records, and is still a b ig influence on some of the music I make. There was only 1 other release by The Normal, a 1-sided live LP billed as Robert Rental And The Normal. I've never been able to track this down in 20+ years of looking. Robert Rental made an album with Thomas Leer called The Bridge. It was released on Industrial Records (Throbbing Gristle's label) and is considered a milestone in the minimal electronic genre.

And then there was Silicon Teens and their album Music For Parties, which was Daniel Miller under another psuedonym, doing synth versions of '50s/'60s rock and roll hits. Brilliant idea and great album...



SPAZ
Born of innocence. Free of ignorance.

What the hell is a warm leatherette?????


B
A

-~Obscene dreams in rusty beds.~-

Click on the link I posted and you can find out.

[quote][i]Originally posted by Ollie Stench[/i]
<br>Click on the link I posted and you can find out.
[/quote]
Great stuff Ollie. Thanks. Just one of those things I'd never paid attention to.

Now I officially know there is a website for EVERYTHING.

The original lyric was not Warm Leatherette... it was Moist Towelette [:D][;)]
http://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11837

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